Monday, February 17, 2014

Called to be righteous...again.

Most of the news I watch is the early morning news, usually the Today show. Karla and I try to remember to set the cable box to Local 2 the night before so in the morning we can reverse the DVR back an hour or so to skip through the commercials. Whatever morning news you watch – unless you are at work by 6 in the morning, and I have learned recently that there are many of you out there – you will find that the amount of commercials aired on these programs is by minimum standards, plenteous; annoyingly plenteous.
 

Last week on the Today show, Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, was being interviewed by Savannah Guthrie as the tenth anniversary of the social networking site dawns this year. When asked about Facebook’s success, he replied that he has helped millions of people connect to others. Zuckerberg said, “To be able to come into work every day and build things that help a billion people stay connected with the people they care about every month, that’s just unbelievable, I mean, you get to build things here that touch a billion people.”


I found the language that Zuckerberg used particularly interesting. He used words like “help people” and “touch people”. These words evoke some emotion. Although there was language in this interview that described Facebook as a corporate, for-profit entity, he also used language that pointed to something greater than that. That greater something is a component of our humanity that we all share: the desire to be in relationship.

 

The gospel lesson for Sunday, February 16 is yet another challenging lesson for us by Jesus. He brings up the law again. There seems to be a message of “do this and get that” in Jesus’ words. But Jesus, I think, has no interest in our punishment for breaking laws; rather, Jesus is interested in our knowledge of God’s love for us and our lives being filled with the grace of God. There is a deeper meaning behind Mark Zuckerberg’s words about the public’s use of Facebook. Likewise, there is a deeper meaning behind Jesus’ words about the law. (No, I am not comparing Mark Zuckerberg to Jesus! But they do both beckon us into relationship; the motives differing.)


Christians, especially in modern times, have not done a very good job at conveying Jesus’ message about right living very well. What if I told you that there is more that Jesus cares about than whether or not we break a law? What does the average non-churchgoer think of when they are asked what God is or who Jesus is? Many out there, and perhaps many church-going Christians for that matter, may imagine God to be the old man with a white beard, sitting on a throne, watching us, judging us, and keeping score on all the good and bad we do; perhaps a little like the old Christmas jingle about Santa Claus making his list and checking it twice. If we imagine God as merely a dictating authority figure in our lives and the lives of others, we run the great risk of missing out on the grace that God promises and indeed pours upon us continually.


As one reads through Matthew’s gospel, you begin to identify a recurring theme where it becomes apparent that Matthew is very interested in right behavior. Today’s lesson is certainly within this theme. Today, we are called to righteousness…again. And not only righteousness, but Jesus is even challenging us to be perfect. If you remember last week’s gospel lesson, Matthew does just this. Jesus says, “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
 
 
How, we might ask, is this possible? And furthermore, how on earth would this expectation even begin to attract someone to be a follower of Jesus? How can anyone’s righteousness exceed the righteousness of those who have studied the law and have interpreted it for the people? This statement is like telling congregations that their righteousness must exceed that of their Bishops; or for Episcopalians, their founding members—or founding rector! It’s hard to imagine that those who heard Jesus’ words, among whom were ordinary fishermen and women would have taken any comfort in such high standards.
 
 
But let’s be careful not to soften Jesus’ words. I think Jesus does hold us to a higher standard. I think Jesus does want us to be exceptionally righteous, that is, virtuous. But perhaps there is more to what Jesus is saying. Perhaps Jesus is illustrating to us what the kingdom of God is like. Jesus, who is the human embodiment of the living God, is teaching a critical lesson on what it means to be a member of God’s community.
 
 
Jesus presents six antitheses (or contrasts) that further illustrate that obedience must become internal if it is to bring genuine life. He refers to traditional teachings that are understood to be true and then goes on to deepen and extend their meanings. He says, “You have heard that it was said ... but I say to you.” Jesus has already proclaimed that he came to fulfill the law and the prophets. Thus no commandment of the law is abolished by these teachings, as Jesus instructs his disciples to not only observe the law, but also realize and adhere to its spirit and intention. In each case, he probes beyond the act that was prohibited to identify its root cause.
 
 
Jesus’ strong language today reminds us of what is really important to God: our relationships. Not only our relationship with God, but with each other. David Lose calls God a “relational God”. How else do we proclaim and live out our faith than to treat others as we would like to be treated? We can see evidence of God’s desire for us to live in peaceful relationships as we ourselves come to gather together. Social media even provides some evidence, as millions upon millions seek to be connected with others. Not that social media is in and of itself godly, but it does point to something about us and our human desire, that is, to be connected and to be in relationship.
 
 
Mark Zuckerberg wants us to continue to be in relationship and stay connected because it affects his bottom line. So he uses words like “help”, “serve”, “care”, and “touch”. These words may evoke a warm feeling in us. Businesses realize what humans care about and they use words and phrases to attract us to win our loyalty. But we must be careful of who wins our loyalty.
 
 
It is no wonder then, that Jesus calls us to a higher standard. No, there was no Facebook or Twitter, or any social media in Jesus’ day – heck, there wasn’t social media ten years ago (well, remember chat rooms)! But there have always been distractions that seek to win our loyalty and turn us away from where our loyalties should be. Jesus gives us a gift in his words to us and to those fishermen and women disciples of his. And his gift is for us today as well. The gift of God’s kingdom, of God’s community, and as our Presiding Bishop would say, of God’s “dream” for us.
 
 
Hence, as David Lose illustrates in his writing on this gospel, “to confess that our relationships matter to God is to reinterpret the law in a way that is more faithful to this passage and the larger biblical witness about the nature and purpose of God’s commands. As to this passage: notice that each of these different injunctions concerns how we treat each other. Jesus doesn’t just heighten the force of the law, he broadens it:
  • It’s not enough just to refrain from murder. We should also treat each other with respect and that means not speaking hateful words.
  • It is not enough to avoid physically committing adultery. We should also not objectify other persons by seeing them as a means to satisfy our physical desires by lusting after them.
  • It is not enough to follow the letter of the law regarding divorce. We should not treat people as disposable and should make sure that the most vulnerable -- in this culture that often meant women and children -- are provided for.
  • It is not enough to keep ourselves from swearing falsely or lying to others. We should speak and act truthfully in all of our dealings so that we don’t need to make oaths at all.”

“All the hyperbole”, he adds, “of cutting off body parts and burning in hell serve to magnify just how important our relationships are to God.”
 
 
Now, I want you to do something. I give you another interactive sermon today. I want you to call to mind one of the relationships in your life that is most important to you; one that is healthy and whole and good and sustains you (Jeopardy music?). Now, think about what makes that a good relationship, about why it’s so important to you. Now, I want you to give God thanks for that person and the relationship you share with them.
 
 
Now I want you to call to mind another relationship that is important, but has suffered some damage. This may be a little more challenging. You don’t need to figure out who was to blame for the hurt, but just hold that person and relationship in prayer. Offer that broken relationship to God as an offering and as an invitation of God’s healing.

 
Let us pray.
 

Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen (Prayer of St. Francis, BCP 833).
 
I love what Karla Works writes on this topic from workingpreacher.org: “Jesus wants his disciples to be people of integrity, people who are faithful to their promises, people who have no need to swear that they are telling the truth because they are truth-tellers. They should be people who honor their commitments in marriage and who respect the commitments of others. The women in their midst are not people to be used and abandoned at will, but fellow disciples. They are among the ones who are now blessed by God’s reign. For the church to claim Jesus’ message of God’s kingdom come, it must strive to be the kind of place that reflects God’s reign.”
 
I think I’ll leave it there. Amen.

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