“Look at the birds of the air, they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”
That part of today’s gospel begs the question about God’s providence. Jesus tells us not to worry, saying “What will we eat? Or What shall we drink? Or What shall we wear?” Yet most of us do worry about such things. We worry about our security, about our retirement, about food and clothing. I believe that we all have a responsibility to work to our capacity, to plan for the future, and to provide for ourselves so that we do not become an unnecessary burden on others.
Some of you know my first career was as a biologist. I know that not all the birds of the air get fed. Often only a small fraction of a species survives to adulthood. Often it is only the strongest that survive. It is the way of nature, and it is a good thing because otherwise the world would be grossly overpopulated. We live in a world where children starve to death at an unconscionable rate, not because there is not enough food but because of political division. Of course we should worry.
I am talking with a congregation that knows some people do not get enough to eat or drink, who do not have enough clothing to stay warm on a cold day, who do not have a place of shelter to sleep comfortably. I am talking to people who know that some people die without enough to keep them alive, not even enough to be buried properly.
I cannot in good conscience preach prosperity theology, which says that if we only believe the right things, live a righteous life by following the rules, that we will be blessed with material affluence. But the corollary of prosperity theology is that if you are poor, that you have been cursed by God. I don’t believe that, and I don’t think that Jesus believed it either.
So how are we to interpret today’s gospel?
First, let me say that God has provided us a great deal, and he has provided in abundance, but we may not view abundance in quite the same way. Each one of us has been given the great gift of life itself. We have been given a share in God’s creation to enjoy it, sometimes to use it as co-creators with him. We have all been given the gift of time in equal measure every day, to use as we see best. We have been given the dignity of being made in God’s image. Homeless or not, hungry or not, we are all precious in God’s sight. We have been given the opportunity to have a spiritual relationship with God, and he has promised to be with us in suffering, to be available when we seek him. He has promised to love us through thick and thin. Each of us has been given gifts of the Spirit that helps to build up our community. These are not to be sneezed at.
The trouble is we have been conditioned to be concerned about what we do not have, rather than to be grateful for what we do have. The whole purpose of advertising and marketing is to inform us that we need something that we do not already have, or that we need something better than what we have. We are cajoled into comparing ourselves to some airbrushed standard of beauty, and find ourselves lacking. That lack can only be fixed if we buy such and such shampoo. Or our 19 inch television is so out of date – we need, NEED, the 36 inch high-def model. We have been conditioned to believe that we are never good enough, never worthy enough, never have enough. We are conditioned to measure our worthiness by what we possess, and so we are anxious to accumulate more and more. Like the bumper sticker says, “He who dies with the most toys, wins.”
Second, God’s abundance seems to come to us when we share. I know that most of you have had the experience of helping people, through the Red Door, or the Gathering, or mentoring kids, or other ministry. I know, and many of you know, that we almost always feel that we receive back from that ministry more than we gave. Perhaps not in material goods, but in that most precious feeling that we have done some good for someone else. When we share and give of ourselves we become God’s providence to other people.
That highlights the other abundance that cannot be measured in dollars. True riches are found in relationships, I believe. We are made by God to be social animals. We could not survive alone. We need the intimacy of friends and family to be healthy and whole. A recent study has shown that loneliness can actually make us sick and shorten our lives as much as smoking a pack of cigarettes a day. Giving of ourselves, sharing what we have, is the basis of righteousness and the foundation of community. And when we find ourselves in situations where we lack what we need, the communities we belong to will often help fill our own need. That too is God’s providence for those who live righteously.
Third, I don’t think that Jesus is trying to say that our own material necessities are not a proper matter of concern for us. But he does say that we should not worry about it, we should not be anxious about it. There is a difference between proper concern and obsession. Indeed, we do not have to look far to see folks who have been obsessed by their possessions. They become possessed by what they own, not the other way round. For them, their identity, their worthiness is defined by what they have and can control. In a twisted sort of way, their success tells them that they have earned God’s favor. But we know that our dignity and worth is given by God as a free gift. Our identity is defined not by what we own, but by being children of God.
All of this is quite as counter cultural today as it was in Jesus’ time. We live in a time and a place where individual choice is one of our highest values. But we choose to find our freedom in serving God and others. That is counter cultural. We live in an economy which seems to depend on ever growing consumer demand. But we choose to live simply, sharing what we have in gratitude for what we have been given. That is counter cultural. We live in a culture where independence is a right. But we choose to live in obedience to a higher power, interdependently with our community. That is counter cultural.
We are not perfect at following those choices, of course. We too are tempted by the glitzy offerings of the market, and to the extent that they offer real progress, they are not bad things. We too want to assert our independence, especially when the community decides on something with which we disagree. We too want to make our own choices. But we do not measure our success in the perfection of our living. We measure our success in the seeking to be good people living good lives.
Jesus said “strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” When we seek to be in relationship with God and Jesus, we will know the peace and love which affirms our worthiness. When we seek to lead a good life, a righteous life, we will grow in character, becoming fully human as God means us to be.
Seek first the kingdom of God, seek first righteousness. I can’t promise you a Mercedes Benz, but I believe you will find a providence and abundance of spirit which surpasses our earthly expectations.
Sample sermons from the Rev. David Drebert. Contact me for additional information.
Epiphany 7, 2011
Most of us would like to be judged on our good intentions, not necessarily on things we actually do. We want to do the right thing, but so often temptations or distractions get in our way. I may intend to eat properly in order to stay on a healthy diet, but if I am distracted and eat too many treats, my body is not going to judge me by my intention. I will gain weight. Some good intentions which go astray are less benign. I’m sure that when a newly elected senator or congressman first is elected, they have all sorts of ideas of the good that they are going to do in Washington. But soon, their intentions are corrupted by the need to raise money for reelection; they become captive to the interests that support them, and they become part of the system. I understand that even Osama bin Laden did not start off with the idea that he would start a terrorist organization; his intention was to help the poor people of Saudi Arabia. What starts off as well intentioned can soon become corrupted by our human desires for power, or recognition, or security. The best of intentions can turn evil.
Our institutions start with great purpose to serve humanity, but they can be corrupted too. We all get caught up in them, we become enmeshed in them. There is a scene in John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath in which a bank manager comes out to a farm to tell the owner that his farm has been foreclosed. The manager is his neighbor and friend, and he would do anything to help, but he is an agent of the bank and has to do his duty. It’s just business, and they are both caught up in the system. The leaders of Egypt probably wanted a good life for the people, but threats to their power resulted in a brutal repression instead. They too were caught up in their corrupted system. Our own banking system exists to help people with financial concerns, but it became corrupted by greed, lost its bearings, and almost brought down the whole financial system. Our healthcare system is in place to help people who are sick and injured, but it has become so big, and people, hospitals and insurance companies are making so much money from it, it is draining our economy without improving our overall health. Even churches whose purpose is to form people with the Good News of Jesus, providing hope for the world, are susceptible to power plays, sexual misconduct, and doctrinaire and exclusionary behavior. It is so with all of our human institutions, and we are caught up in the corruptions of the systems, sometimes as victims, sometimes even as perpetrators.
The thing is, we need these systems. They exist for good reasons, they begin with good intentions. They provide governance and justice, help the sick, give people jobs, help with finances. We need government, we need churches, we need banks, and we need healthcare. How do we deal with them when they become corrupted, when they do not live up to their good intentions? If they cannot be destroyed, they must be redeemed.
Our temptation is to destroy evil and to kill our enemies. Walter Wink calls this the myth of redemptive violence. It is a myth that is ingrained in our culture. It is in many of our movies and stories. Clint Eastwood comes to town and blows away the bad guys, and everything is supposedly returned to its state of goodness and light. But something happens to the Clint Eastwood character along the way. Violence has hardened him, he has taken on the evil that he came to destroy. The townspeople, feeling relieved but guilty and cowardly, ask him to leave.
But in today’s gospel Jesus says we are to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us, so that we may be children of our Father. We cannot love our enemies by killing them. The sun rises on the evil and the good, the scripture says. God loves even our enemies. Even our enemies are children of God, made in his image. We cannot destroy what God loves. If they cannot be destroyed, they must be redeemed.
That does not mean that we should not resist evil institutions or become victims of our enemies. Jesus resisted the power of the Roman empire and the Jewish establishment. He refused to follow the purity codes that kept people in their place, he treated women as equals, he defied the laws that maintained the hierarchy, he held up the dignity and equality of every human being, not just the rich and powerful.
And in today’s gospel he shows how to resist our enemies without killing or destruction. “If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other cheek.” This is not a manifesto for victimhood. It is actually a call to nonviolent resistance and insistence on one’s own dignity. Walter Wink explains that when you strike someone on the right cheek, you can only do it with your right hand by a backhand blow. That was only done to slaves, women, and others who were ‘lesser’. To turn the other cheek required that the person had to be hit like an equal.
“If anyone takes your coat, give your cloak as well.” In other words take off all your clothes and stand there naked. While that may have been shameful, it would be even more shameful for the one who forced you into nakedness. You would be exposing not only your body, but the injustice of the situation. It is also a way of asserting your personal free will in a situation of force.
“If anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile.” It was Roman law that a soldier could press anyone into service by requiring them to carry their pack for one mile. This was the law that allowed them to require Simon of Cyrene to carry Jesus’ cross. But there was a limit, only one mile. To go also the second mile again asserted one’s autonomy in an otherwise dehumanizing experience. It could also get the soldier in trouble if their superior officer found that the gear was carried farther than was allowed.
Rather than giving in to the oppression of the powers that ruled over them, the scenarios that Jesus describes are acts of defiance. By taking the injustice and expanding them to their ridiculous conclusion, these acts highlighted the injustice. By doing so there might even be a chance, just a chance, that the enemy will realize their inhumanity and act differently. In any case, the victim has asserted their humanity and made a statement against the injustice without violence or breaking the law.
By such acts of resistance and by loving our enemies we have a chance to redeem at least a part of the systems we are caught up in. It can actually work. Witness the remarkable events in Egypt last week when nonviolent protest brought down a corrupt regime. The protesters insisted on their own humanity and dignity. They called out and named the corruption that oppressed the people. They brought the government back to its best intention and its original purpose to provide justice and opportunity for all.
Loving our enemies is not for namby-pambies. It takes a lot of courage to turn the other cheek, or strip naked, or go the extra mile. It took courage to protest in Tahrir Square in Cairo. But that is what God calls us to do. We are to love our enemies, correct them when they are wrong, pray for them to see the light. We are to love our enemies back to their best intentions, back to goodness, back to their sacred purpose. Because that is exactly what God does for us. When we wander off our path, God loves us back to our best intentions and highest purpose. God loves us into redemption.
Our institutions start with great purpose to serve humanity, but they can be corrupted too. We all get caught up in them, we become enmeshed in them. There is a scene in John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath in which a bank manager comes out to a farm to tell the owner that his farm has been foreclosed. The manager is his neighbor and friend, and he would do anything to help, but he is an agent of the bank and has to do his duty. It’s just business, and they are both caught up in the system. The leaders of Egypt probably wanted a good life for the people, but threats to their power resulted in a brutal repression instead. They too were caught up in their corrupted system. Our own banking system exists to help people with financial concerns, but it became corrupted by greed, lost its bearings, and almost brought down the whole financial system. Our healthcare system is in place to help people who are sick and injured, but it has become so big, and people, hospitals and insurance companies are making so much money from it, it is draining our economy without improving our overall health. Even churches whose purpose is to form people with the Good News of Jesus, providing hope for the world, are susceptible to power plays, sexual misconduct, and doctrinaire and exclusionary behavior. It is so with all of our human institutions, and we are caught up in the corruptions of the systems, sometimes as victims, sometimes even as perpetrators.
The thing is, we need these systems. They exist for good reasons, they begin with good intentions. They provide governance and justice, help the sick, give people jobs, help with finances. We need government, we need churches, we need banks, and we need healthcare. How do we deal with them when they become corrupted, when they do not live up to their good intentions? If they cannot be destroyed, they must be redeemed.
Our temptation is to destroy evil and to kill our enemies. Walter Wink calls this the myth of redemptive violence. It is a myth that is ingrained in our culture. It is in many of our movies and stories. Clint Eastwood comes to town and blows away the bad guys, and everything is supposedly returned to its state of goodness and light. But something happens to the Clint Eastwood character along the way. Violence has hardened him, he has taken on the evil that he came to destroy. The townspeople, feeling relieved but guilty and cowardly, ask him to leave.
But in today’s gospel Jesus says we are to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us, so that we may be children of our Father. We cannot love our enemies by killing them. The sun rises on the evil and the good, the scripture says. God loves even our enemies. Even our enemies are children of God, made in his image. We cannot destroy what God loves. If they cannot be destroyed, they must be redeemed.
That does not mean that we should not resist evil institutions or become victims of our enemies. Jesus resisted the power of the Roman empire and the Jewish establishment. He refused to follow the purity codes that kept people in their place, he treated women as equals, he defied the laws that maintained the hierarchy, he held up the dignity and equality of every human being, not just the rich and powerful.
And in today’s gospel he shows how to resist our enemies without killing or destruction. “If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other cheek.” This is not a manifesto for victimhood. It is actually a call to nonviolent resistance and insistence on one’s own dignity. Walter Wink explains that when you strike someone on the right cheek, you can only do it with your right hand by a backhand blow. That was only done to slaves, women, and others who were ‘lesser’. To turn the other cheek required that the person had to be hit like an equal.
“If anyone takes your coat, give your cloak as well.” In other words take off all your clothes and stand there naked. While that may have been shameful, it would be even more shameful for the one who forced you into nakedness. You would be exposing not only your body, but the injustice of the situation. It is also a way of asserting your personal free will in a situation of force.
“If anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile.” It was Roman law that a soldier could press anyone into service by requiring them to carry their pack for one mile. This was the law that allowed them to require Simon of Cyrene to carry Jesus’ cross. But there was a limit, only one mile. To go also the second mile again asserted one’s autonomy in an otherwise dehumanizing experience. It could also get the soldier in trouble if their superior officer found that the gear was carried farther than was allowed.
Rather than giving in to the oppression of the powers that ruled over them, the scenarios that Jesus describes are acts of defiance. By taking the injustice and expanding them to their ridiculous conclusion, these acts highlighted the injustice. By doing so there might even be a chance, just a chance, that the enemy will realize their inhumanity and act differently. In any case, the victim has asserted their humanity and made a statement against the injustice without violence or breaking the law.
By such acts of resistance and by loving our enemies we have a chance to redeem at least a part of the systems we are caught up in. It can actually work. Witness the remarkable events in Egypt last week when nonviolent protest brought down a corrupt regime. The protesters insisted on their own humanity and dignity. They called out and named the corruption that oppressed the people. They brought the government back to its best intention and its original purpose to provide justice and opportunity for all.
Loving our enemies is not for namby-pambies. It takes a lot of courage to turn the other cheek, or strip naked, or go the extra mile. It took courage to protest in Tahrir Square in Cairo. But that is what God calls us to do. We are to love our enemies, correct them when they are wrong, pray for them to see the light. We are to love our enemies back to their best intentions, back to goodness, back to their sacred purpose. Because that is exactly what God does for us. When we wander off our path, God loves us back to our best intentions and highest purpose. God loves us into redemption.
Epiphany 6, 2011
You have heard the responses that come out when there is a public scandal. They are predictable. First there is the denial. “I didn’t have an affair, I didn’t mismanage the funds, I didn’t lie.” Then when it is apparent they did what they did, there is the denial of the denial: “I misspoke myself.” Then finally there is the apology for hurting anyone involved, but they didn’t break any laws, “Everything I did was legal.” Sometimes that part might even be true, but it doesn’t mean that people have acted ethically and morally. Some folks confuse acting ethically with following the law. There are laws of ethics that go beyond written statutes.
Laws are good things. As long as human beings act selfishly, we need laws to regulate our relationships with each other. Unless we want to go back to a system of vigilantes and retribution, we need laws to provide justice for our society. Remember, the concept of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth was a huge advancement in justice, when people killed each other for revenge. A system of laws is necessary for a civilization to advance.
In Deuteronomy, the Lord says if you obey the commandments he has given us, then God will bless us. The law is the difference between blessings and curses, between life and prosperity or death and adversity. Choose life, he says. Choose to follow the law. Indeed, being a nation of laws has brought us in this country to a level of prosperity and blessing that the ancient Israelites could not have imagined. But even they were not able to follow the commandments, decrees, and ordinances consistently. It was said that if everyone were able to follow the law completely even for one day, it would usher in the kingdom of God.
Following the law is not enough. What kind of eulogy would it be if all we could say about someone at the end of their life is that they never broke the law? The commandments, and much of our law, are set up as a series of negatives – don’t do this, don’t do that, don’t murder, don’t steal. We expect good people to do something positive.
And then there is the matter of how laws can be manipulated. Many of our laws in this country have been formulated with the help of lobbyists who influence the laws to favor a particular client. Sometimes it seems certain laws legalize a sort of corporate theft. If you have enough money, it seems you can buy the laws that you want.
In Matthew’s gospel today, Jesus tells us that following the letter of the law is not enough. He offers a law behind the law. He looks to the root of our outward behaviors to our inner orientation. It is there in our innermost being that we become alienated from God, even if we are doing all the right things on the outside. If sin is the seeking of our own will distorting our relationship with God, that sin begins in our inner need for control, in our self-centeredness, in our humanity. If we find it difficult to follow the commandments in our outward behavior, we will find it impossible to follow Jesus’ new law behind the law. But that doesn’t mean that there isn’t much to gain in trying.
Jesus says, “You have heard it said ‘You shall not murder… but I say to you if you are angry with your brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment.” How many of us have never been angry with someone else? I know I have been. Happily, there are laws against murdering someone, but there is no law, no commandment, that says we cannot be angry. I’m not even sure I can stop myself from getting angry, even if I know I’m doing it. But I think there is a big difference between that sudden thought of anger, that sudden surge of emotional adrenalin, and dwelling on it. When we nurture that grudge, ruminate on how we might get even, then our anger destroys our relationship, and it eats away at our spirit.
I believe that we can cultivate the positive virtue that counteracts our anger, which is reconciliation. That is the antidote to anger and alienation. I think we can also cultivate an attitude or understanding, respect and love for the other person which will reduce the impulse to anger. When we see in each other the image of God, however faint, then we will not be able to harbor hatred and malice to them.
Jesus said, “You have heard it said, ‘You shall not commit adultery’…but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in her heart.” Obviously lust is not limited to one gender. Now, in most states, there is not even a law against adultery anymore. There is still plenty of social opprobrium, but no law. There isn’t even a law against most pornography. But Jesus says that to even look at another person with lust is wrong. Again, I’m not sure that we can control our thoughts so rigidly that we might not have a passing appreciation for another. It’s been said somewhere that adolescent males have about 30 sexual thoughts a minute. No wonder they have trouble with homework. But the sin is not in the passing thought, but in the treasuring of those thoughts. Lust is not about healthy sexual relationships, but is about devaluing the other person to merely the object of our desire.
Cultivating an attitude of respect and love for the other person as a whole person, tames our lust and disciplines our sexual desires for the one we love.
Jesus goes on to condemn divorce. In his context, I think that he was also condemning the corruption of the law which made it easy for a man to divorce his wife. It wasn’t so easy the other way round, for a woman to divorce her husband. Here was a law that was patently unfair. Of course we still have laws which make divorce legal, and we have worked hard to make the law more fair. But Jesus suggests we look beyond the law to the commitments we make with each other. Now I know that divorce is sometimes the only solution to a troubled marriage, but it is always a sad and tragic event. All of us who pledged our support at the marriage ceremony have some responsibility in it.
Finally, Jesus tells us that we should not swear at all, by heaven or earth. Let your yes be yes, and your no be no. There are folks in some churches who take this literally and refuse to take an oath at a legal proceeding. But that is just the outward behavior of legalistic thinking. If we have to swear to something it suggests that our answer without such a safeguard might be untrustworthy. Wouldn’t it be better if we were known to be such truth tellers that no one would question our veracity? This too is a capacity that can be cultivated.
The law has been a great gift to humanity. It has ordered our dealings with each other, made them less chaotic. Laws have allowed civilization to exist. But Jesus says that ordering our outward behaviors do not go far enough. We must learn to order our inner lives as well, by cultivating virtues of love and truth. We must learn to discipline our desires so that our every whim need not be satisfied. We practice the disciplines of prayer, of forgiveness and reconciliation, of generosity and compassion, of fasting and examination of conscience in order to cultivate our virtues, not for some external standard, but for the desire to be good people and to respond to the love God has for us.
As the external law has prepared us for civilization, cultivating the internal law will transform us, make us to be good people, and prepare us to be citizens of the kingdom of God.
Laws are good things. As long as human beings act selfishly, we need laws to regulate our relationships with each other. Unless we want to go back to a system of vigilantes and retribution, we need laws to provide justice for our society. Remember, the concept of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth was a huge advancement in justice, when people killed each other for revenge. A system of laws is necessary for a civilization to advance.
In Deuteronomy, the Lord says if you obey the commandments he has given us, then God will bless us. The law is the difference between blessings and curses, between life and prosperity or death and adversity. Choose life, he says. Choose to follow the law. Indeed, being a nation of laws has brought us in this country to a level of prosperity and blessing that the ancient Israelites could not have imagined. But even they were not able to follow the commandments, decrees, and ordinances consistently. It was said that if everyone were able to follow the law completely even for one day, it would usher in the kingdom of God.
Following the law is not enough. What kind of eulogy would it be if all we could say about someone at the end of their life is that they never broke the law? The commandments, and much of our law, are set up as a series of negatives – don’t do this, don’t do that, don’t murder, don’t steal. We expect good people to do something positive.
And then there is the matter of how laws can be manipulated. Many of our laws in this country have been formulated with the help of lobbyists who influence the laws to favor a particular client. Sometimes it seems certain laws legalize a sort of corporate theft. If you have enough money, it seems you can buy the laws that you want.
In Matthew’s gospel today, Jesus tells us that following the letter of the law is not enough. He offers a law behind the law. He looks to the root of our outward behaviors to our inner orientation. It is there in our innermost being that we become alienated from God, even if we are doing all the right things on the outside. If sin is the seeking of our own will distorting our relationship with God, that sin begins in our inner need for control, in our self-centeredness, in our humanity. If we find it difficult to follow the commandments in our outward behavior, we will find it impossible to follow Jesus’ new law behind the law. But that doesn’t mean that there isn’t much to gain in trying.
Jesus says, “You have heard it said ‘You shall not murder… but I say to you if you are angry with your brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment.” How many of us have never been angry with someone else? I know I have been. Happily, there are laws against murdering someone, but there is no law, no commandment, that says we cannot be angry. I’m not even sure I can stop myself from getting angry, even if I know I’m doing it. But I think there is a big difference between that sudden thought of anger, that sudden surge of emotional adrenalin, and dwelling on it. When we nurture that grudge, ruminate on how we might get even, then our anger destroys our relationship, and it eats away at our spirit.
I believe that we can cultivate the positive virtue that counteracts our anger, which is reconciliation. That is the antidote to anger and alienation. I think we can also cultivate an attitude or understanding, respect and love for the other person which will reduce the impulse to anger. When we see in each other the image of God, however faint, then we will not be able to harbor hatred and malice to them.
Jesus said, “You have heard it said, ‘You shall not commit adultery’…but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in her heart.” Obviously lust is not limited to one gender. Now, in most states, there is not even a law against adultery anymore. There is still plenty of social opprobrium, but no law. There isn’t even a law against most pornography. But Jesus says that to even look at another person with lust is wrong. Again, I’m not sure that we can control our thoughts so rigidly that we might not have a passing appreciation for another. It’s been said somewhere that adolescent males have about 30 sexual thoughts a minute. No wonder they have trouble with homework. But the sin is not in the passing thought, but in the treasuring of those thoughts. Lust is not about healthy sexual relationships, but is about devaluing the other person to merely the object of our desire.
Cultivating an attitude of respect and love for the other person as a whole person, tames our lust and disciplines our sexual desires for the one we love.
Jesus goes on to condemn divorce. In his context, I think that he was also condemning the corruption of the law which made it easy for a man to divorce his wife. It wasn’t so easy the other way round, for a woman to divorce her husband. Here was a law that was patently unfair. Of course we still have laws which make divorce legal, and we have worked hard to make the law more fair. But Jesus suggests we look beyond the law to the commitments we make with each other. Now I know that divorce is sometimes the only solution to a troubled marriage, but it is always a sad and tragic event. All of us who pledged our support at the marriage ceremony have some responsibility in it.
Finally, Jesus tells us that we should not swear at all, by heaven or earth. Let your yes be yes, and your no be no. There are folks in some churches who take this literally and refuse to take an oath at a legal proceeding. But that is just the outward behavior of legalistic thinking. If we have to swear to something it suggests that our answer without such a safeguard might be untrustworthy. Wouldn’t it be better if we were known to be such truth tellers that no one would question our veracity? This too is a capacity that can be cultivated.
The law has been a great gift to humanity. It has ordered our dealings with each other, made them less chaotic. Laws have allowed civilization to exist. But Jesus says that ordering our outward behaviors do not go far enough. We must learn to order our inner lives as well, by cultivating virtues of love and truth. We must learn to discipline our desires so that our every whim need not be satisfied. We practice the disciplines of prayer, of forgiveness and reconciliation, of generosity and compassion, of fasting and examination of conscience in order to cultivate our virtues, not for some external standard, but for the desire to be good people and to respond to the love God has for us.
As the external law has prepared us for civilization, cultivating the internal law will transform us, make us to be good people, and prepare us to be citizens of the kingdom of God.
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