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B.C.P. Trinity 6 : Matthew 5:20-26.

There are two sermons on this page with some similarities...

20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. 21 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: 22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. 23 Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; 24 Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. 25 Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. 26 Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.

A Baptist bishop has shocked lawyers and defendants by offering complete forgiveness to a nationalist priest and nine followers accused of a string of attacks on non-Orthodox churches and pastors. Bishop Malkhaz Songulashvili, who is the General Secretary of Evangelical Baptists in Georgia, addressed the court for three hours about the ecumenical movement, Christian values and religious liberty before being asked what he was demanding. His answer, "I demand that these people are pardoned and released from prison", shocked everyone including the leading defendant, renegade Orthodox priest Basil Mkalavishvili. The prisoners have since written to the bishop expressing their thanks and Bishop Malkhaz has written to the President of Georgia asking for their release. [ 25/11/04 ]

This is what Jesus was talking about when he said that his disciples' lives should surpass the righteousness of the Pharisees and teachers of the law in our gospel reading.

The Pharisees had 613 commandments that they lived by, every day. Yet they failed to live up to God's perfect standard because they assumed that their race and religion made them right with God, and neglected justice and mercy.
Jesus calls his disciples put on radical, holy lives. Putting God and other people before our own interests. Trusting in him, not in wealth, status, possessions, physical qualities or military might.

Our holiness does not earn us favour with God. In fact, we are unable to earn God's favour because we are not good enough. Only Jesus was good enough, and he offered himself to die in our place on the cross. We are saved through his undeserved favour to us. Our holiness is a result of our salvation, not the reason for it.
This contrasts with many people's impression of what a Christian is. They think that you become a Christian by being a good person. The Bible says we should become better people once we become Christians.

In Matthew 5 Jesus' contrasts his teaching with many common interpretations of the Mosaic Law held by the Pharisees. He begins, "You have heard that it was said . . . ," and then concludes, "But I tell you . . ." Jesus revealed the true intent of the Old Testament law, rather than its legalistic interpretations. In most cases Jesus looks at what is happening inside a person, rather than merely what they do.

In today's reading Jesus draws a parallel between someone who is a murderer and someone who is angry with a fellow Christian. He speaks of different kinds of abuse to drive his point home. He is not saying there are different degrees of punishment depending upon the term of abuse used. Jesus is saying that anger is often at the root of murder and that a disciple is not righteous if he/she is angry even though they have not killed the one whom they are angry with. Someone who is angry may well have the same low view of his victim as a murderer.

Often churches are not very good at dealing with conflict, often pretending that it doesn't exist, but spiritual growth and healing can flow from Christian protagonists meeting in an atmosphere of love and forgiveness. Jesus says that Christians will be judged by their response to God's grace. If they are unrighteous this can show that they are not true followers.

This does not mean that it is never right to be angry. Jesus was angry at injustice, sin, unbelief and the exploitation of others. His followers, however, are more likely to get angry at other things, such as personal insults, which is what Jesus is talking about here. We need to be very careful that we get angry for the right reasons. For example it is right to be angry at the way that the world's richest countries have failed to implement the writing off of the debts of developing countries, are been parsimonious in their aid to developing countries, and continue to uphold unfair trading conditions.

Jesus uses two pictures to show the need for reconciliation.

Firstly in worship.
We should not worship God before ensuring that we are right with fellow Christians. We may think that we have done nothing wrong, but Jesus says that if we are aware a fellow Christian has a problem with us we are to go to them to try yo be reconciled. This shows that we understand that the Christian faith is about reconciliation rather than empty ritual. Christianity involves the reconciliation of man to God and of man to man.

Secondly in the law courts.
In Jesus' day a debtor could be put in jail until what he owed was paid. Of course, whilst in jail he couldn't earn anything to pay off the debt. Therefore, he would be wise to reach an agreement with his creditor before things came to court.
Both of these illustrate the need for urgency in being reconciled with one another before God judges us.
In the Lord's Prayer, which Jesus gave to his disciples soon after this teaching, we say, 'forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us'. Our forgiveness of others shows that we understand the undeserved nature of our own forgiveness.

To summarise this passage. Disciples of Jesus are called to live righteous lives as a sign that they have truly received God's grace in Jesus. This involves not being angry with others. However, if we know that anyone has a problem with us we are to try to be reconciled with them as a matter of urgency.

Mark Twain; "Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heal that has crushed it."

PRAY

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My sister recently sent me some liquorice root, something I used to chew during the day while I was at school, and keep in my blazer. Our school uniform was a distinctive blue to identify which children belonged to our school. A uniform can also help to identify children who have misbehaved, so it can encourage good conduct. Often transgressors were identified by their uniform and their deeds, together with the inevitability of their identification, was proclaimed in assemblies.

Children are identified with a school and are expected by the school to behave in a certain way, and Jesus expects those who wear his colours to live life his way. This is what Jesus was talking about when he said that his disciples' lives should surpass the righteousness of the Pharisees and teachers of the law in our gospel reading.

Jesus calls his disciples put on radical, holy lives. Putting God and other people before our own interests. Trusting in him, not in wealth , status, possessions, physical qualities or military might.

This contrasts with many people's impression of what a in verse 10Christian is. They think that you become a Christian by being a good person. The Bible says we should become better people once we become Christians.

Jesus is saying that anger is often at the root of murder and that a disciple is not righteous if he/she is angry even though they have not killed the one whom they are angry with. Someone who is angry may well have the same low view of his victim as a murderer.

Often churches are not very good at dealing with conflict, pretending that it doesn't exist, but spiritual growth and healing can flow from Christian protagonists meeting in an atmosphere of love and forgiveness. Jesus says that Christians will be judged by their response to God's grace. If they are unrighteous this can show that they are not true followers.

This does not mean that it is never right to be angry. Jesus was angry at injustice, sin, unbelief and the exploitation of others. His followers, however, are more likely to get angry at other things, such as personal insults, which is what Jesus is talking about here. We need to be very careful that we get angry for the right reasons. For example it could be right to be angry at the way that the world's richest countries have failed to implement the writing off of the debts of developing countries and been parsimonious at the recent G8 conference.

It could be right to be angry about the 12 year old U.N. sanctions on Iraq that is killing children there. The government have failed to honour it's election promise to cancel the geographical differences in the amount that schools get paid. So it could be right to get angry about the fact that schools in Staffordshire get £1,400 per child whereas in Surrey they get £2,400. Perhaps these things put into perspective the things we may become angry about.

Jesus uses two illustrations to show the need for reconciliation.

Firstly in worship.

We should not worship God before ensuring that we are right with fellow Christians. We may think that we have done nothing wrong, but Jesus says that if we are aware a fellow Christian has a problem with us we are to go to them to try to be reconciled. This shows that we understand that the Christian faith is about reconciliation rather than empty ritual. Christianity involves the reconciliation of man to God and of man to man.

Secondly in the law courts.

In Jesus' day a debtor could be put in jail until what he owed was paid. Of course, whilst in jail he couldn't earn anything to pay off the debt. Therefore, he would be wise to reach an agreement before things came to court.

Both of these illustrate the need for urgency in being reconciled with one another before God judges us.

In the Lord's Prayer, which Jesus gave to his disciples soon after this teaching, we say, 'forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us'. Our forgiveness of others shows that we understand the undeserved nature of our own forgiveness.

PRAY