January 7, 2008 - The Gospel According to Matthew Chapter 7
General Comments: Chapter 6 introduced us to a minimal array
of spiritual practices meant to enhance our relationship with God. These (and
other) disciplines are the "treasures in heaven" one stores up, not
meaning "jewels in one's crown" but what we contribute to our
spiritual growth as we move toward the ultimate reign of God. Such
"treasures" are compared to our material treasures, and we are
admonished to have a sound eye capable of seeing the difference and
to understand where our greatest allegiance is. When our
priorities are clear, our focus can shift to the present moment, its
concerns and possibilities, or as the Vietnamese Zen Master, Thich Than Tu puts
it, "When you are doing the dishes, do the dishes."
Chapter 7 is a collection of sayings on differing subjects,
reflecting the way Matthew has taken them from varying sources to place them
here.
Matthew 7:1-6 Judging Others
The earliest Christian communities were certain
that Christ would be returning shortly, within their lifetime (a pattern of
thought repeated about every 200 years). Part of that assumption, inherited
from Jewish belief (Daniel 12:1-2, 167 BCE), was that after a general
resurrection a final judgment would occur, at which time, as Matthew would
later put it, the sheep will be separated from goats, (more violently described
in Revelation). The text assures that one who judges in this life will,
in the final judgment, be judged according to the same standard of
judgment one used. "...the measure you give will be the measure
you get." In keeping with such a theology, as the hyperbolic example of
the speck versus the log in one's eye demonstrates, we are only
reluctantly to judge others, and then only after due consideration of our
own faults. Here and later Matthew provides guidance regarding the
disciplining of fellow members of his Christian community in Antioch that
have gone astray, lapsed, or have acted in some way contrary to
community standards. They reflect this attitude of caution.
It would not be inappropriate to read within this text our
own personal behavior toward others. We might see a warning
against that off hand stereotyping of others using our own standards
of religion, ethnicity, sexuality, economic or educational status,
appearance, behavior, and a host of other ways of pre-determining
another's relative worth. We have phrases such as "holier than thou"
or a person being "self-righteous" to describe such behavior, the use
of which is itself judgmental. Life insists that we make wise judgments. When
we must judge, let it be done with mercy, compassion and forgiveness, and
while standing in front of a mirror.
Matthew 7:6 Profaning the Holy
What an odd little verse. No doubt it is a proverbial saying
but it is not found in Jewish or early Christian literature. Apparently it has
something to do with holiness. In the Old Testament "things" that are
holy generally refer to types of meat, food only for human consumption. It
could not be used to feed animals. Swine and wild dogs were always considered
unclean and were to be avoided at all costs. In that context the verse could
have meant not to allow things considered holy to be profaned by contact with
the unholy. It is thought by some that in the Christian context it relates to
unbaptized gentiles. In the Didache, a church manual written just after Matthew
and probably by the leadership of that same community, there is an
interpretation of this text reading "Let
no one eat or drink of your Eucharist except those baptized into the name of
the Lord; for, as regards this, the Lord has said, `Give not that which is holy
unto dogs." implying that it refers to the practice of
disallowing the unbaptized person from participating in the Eucharist because
the elements were considered holy. That might be as good as any interpretation,
or as we often say when confronted by obscurity, "It is just one of those
great mysteries of life." We can only hope that explaining this verse will
not be a test question when we meet Peter at the pearly gates.
Matthew 7:7-12 Being Open to God's Will
In the Jewish scriptures ask, seek and knock all have the
same meaning, to offer prayer. In each case the object of prayer is to have
God's will revealed. The promise is that the result of earnest and honest
prayer we will be to receive, to find and to have the door of
understanding opened. Jesus characterizes God's willingness to answer such
prayer with two proverbs relating to the relationship between parent and
child, playing on the similarity between a loaf of barley bread and a stone,
and between a snake and a certain kind of fish that looks like an
eel. We all want to know God's will. And there are hosts of preachers and
teachers who are willing to tell us exactly what that will is. But the will of
God is particular to the one who seeks it. In a general sense, as Christians,
we have a source in the Scriptures. Within the New Testament we have the words
of Jesus. Certainly both Testaments provide very well attested
understandings of God's will. Surely we can discern that part of God's
will, as proclaimed by the Prophets and affirmed by Jesus, involves
practicing justice, mercy and compassion to everyone, particularly to the poor,
the alien among us and to those otherwise disadvantaged. Certainly we can
discern that there is a profoundly stated hope for a better world, at peace,
free of war and violence of any kind, free of hunger and thirst, free of any
distinction among the nations of the world. One might object that these are
generalized aspects of God's will. What about God's will for the individual?
Perhaps the only cautious answer is to understand the meaning of the Greek word
most commonly used for love in the Bible. As used in relation to God, it
speaks of God's unconditional love for humanity to be inculcated in our
relationships with others. It is used to translate what Jesus said in answer to
the Scribe's question of which Commandment was the greatest. Jesus responded by
quoting the Shema, the Jewish profession of faith, "You shall love the
Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your
mind. This is the greatest and first Commandment. And a second is like it:
You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all
the Law and the Prophets." That word for love, agape, God's love for humanity,our
love for God and for neighbor, is about as close as I can come to knowing the
will of god.
Matthew 7:13-28 The Way of Faithfulness
These several paragraphs offer ways of thinking about our
faithfulness as the called Disciples' of Jesus. In that faithfulness we
practice the Golden Rule as we honor what Jesus said about loving your neighbor
as yourself in our actions, in how we act towards another "In
everything..." (v12)
We know that being a disciple isn't easy, in fact it can be
difficult as we are constantly being swayed, pulled in one
direction and another by the many demands on our lives, The wide road
is easier and more welcome, but it is the narrow road to which we seek to
return, knowing it is the better way; (v13-14)
As a productive tree bears good fruit, we
are mindful of the effect our actions and our words have on
others. We never know who will be looking to us to see what a Christian
"looks like." in real life. How do we act in the home, at work, in
school, in social settings. To bear good fruit is to be seen in all settings as
a good example of what it means to be a faithful Disciple. Our very presence
can be prophetic to another. (v15-20)
To practice the spiritual discipline of the Golden Rule, to
strive for the narrow road, and to bear the good fruit of personal,
prophetic witness, Jesus says these also are within God's will for us
and the criteria by which others will judge our faithfulness. (v21-23)
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