What is one of the most remarkable things about Jesus' teaching is that He always points to the heart of the matter with laser like precision. He cuts through all the preconceived notions and the way we developed our thoughts about God and makes the truth shine in contrast. It's human nature to take what we hear in our culture or even popular sayings and adopt them as truth. We hear what we want to hear and believe what we like to believe. The modern version of this, moral relativism, is like a salad bar. When you look at truth as relative you will you pick and choose what you like (bacon bits) and ignore what you don't like and sometimes have never tried (like anchovies). This means that your theology is customization, personal, and arbitrary instead of being rooted in the character of God and the truth He has revealed. Jesus challenges the basis for the beliefs of the religious people of His age and takes them to the real "Why" of these issues.
In the best sermon ever, the famous Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7 click this before and read before continuing), Jesus takes the way that we have come to look at how the world works and flips it on it's head. Instead of the rich, reassured, ruthless, rotten, rebels ruling the world, getting eternal life, and seeing God, Jesus says it's the opposite. It is the poor in spirit, the mourning, the meek, those longing for righteousness, the merciful, the pure, the peacemakers, the persecuted (for righteousness), and those insulted for doing good.
Jesus then starts talking about how these kind of people should let their light shine in the world. Boy do we need more of salt and light today!
After that brief discourse he talks about his approach to the law which is then followed by a series of "you have heard it said statements. Many of these statements correspond to biblical commands from the Old testament which had been reinterpreted by tradition and time to become external observances and miss the heart of God entirely.
He takes 7 things that the religious people of his day thought they knew to be true and elevates them to a whole "new" level.
1. MURDER
So even if you have never murdered someone (which I hope you haven't), but have still hated them in your heart, you are no less guilty of sin as someone who did the deed. You may not be able to be found guilty in a court of human law, but in God's court, Jesus, the righteous judge says you are. He urges his followers to deal with this sin right away because it not only puts your soul in danger, but it kills relationships.
2. ADULTERY
Then Jesus takes what the people think they know about adultery and takes it past just the act of cheating on your spouse to looking at someone lustfully and thus cheating in your heart. God takes marriage seriously, but he also takes purity seriously. So seriously that Jesus suggests extreme measures in dealing with sin like this. He doesn't just say, "come on guys sin is bad, cut it out". He actually says, "cut it off, gouge it out, throw it away". That is something you do when you are absolutely disgusted with something, you get it as far away from you as possible. That is what He is saying you should do with your body parts should they cause you to sin. Well, metaphorically speaking that is how we should deal with sin - get rid of it completely and ruthlessly. Cut it out of your life. Still, can you imagine what curious people Christians would be if they did in fact take this literally? We'd have a lot of blind, handless people who couldn't clap along much less sing in worship.
3. DIVORCE
The practice of divorce in Jesus time was ruthless (not a joke about Boaz before marriage) . Given that in that culture women didn't have the rights they do today and were counted as property, they could be completely destroyed, disgraced, and abandoned if a husband finds something that "displeases" him about her. All he had to do was give her walking papers and he could go and find a new wife to shack up with that would "please" him. The maker of marriage says that this kind of behavior is morally wrong. God has always hated divorce (Malachi 2:16). He made an allowance for it, knowing that man's hearts are wicked, but He hates it none the less. God values fidelity because it reflects who He is, just as the loving marriage relationship communicates so much about lordship, submission, honor, forgiveness, and grace.
Now, Jesus says that apart from the spouse committing sexual immorality, this must not be or it is a disgrace on both of them and if they get remarried it is adultery. This is a tough teaching. Especially for the people of the time who thought that divorce was no big deal and it required no solid grounds.
As a side note, the key issue here is fidelity to the marriage covenant. Jesus discusses such oaths next, but this covenant breaking is not what He is talking about. For the sake of victims of abuse and abandonment, I believe that the violator of those crimes has broken the marriage covenant, discarding it, essentially rejecting the victim in order to have their way and do what they want which may as well be called adulterous. I wish to say more about this at another time.
4. OATHS
Many people rush into promises, but have no intention of keeping them. They are not people of integrity. They are anything but trustworthy. That is not what God's people are supposed to be. We are supposed to be honest and true. So, when we make commitments we don't need to swear by any other authority. We just say the truth, "yes or no". We don't need anything else because we already come under the authority of God and should live like it.
5. REVENGE
The law of retribution or Lex Talionis was put in place to make sure that someone didn't excessivly take out their wrath on another person in their pursuit of vengence. It meant that if you brother punches you that you should hit back twice and twice as hard. It meant that you don't kill someone for knocking a tooth out, not that it was a requirement for you to take their tooth as well, but it was a limit. Jesus takes it even further and makes it all about loving your enemy (previously discussed in the Beattitudes section). He suggests not pursuing your rights for revenge at all in favor of caring for others and seeking their betterment. Crazy? No! Counter cultural and revolutionary? Yes, and very much what He did and still does for us.
7. HATE YOUR ENEMY
We have no problem with the first part of the statement "Love your neighbor..." right, but Jesus points out that the second part, "hate your enemy" has no place in the lives of the people of God. Do I really need to say more? Our culture seems to think it's okay to hate our enemies. After all, they hurt us/ hate us/ harm us, so why shouldn't we hate them? Because we can't be "good" godly people and hold these opposites. It doesn't work. What do we do instead? We love our enemy! We pray for them! Not for their destruction, but for their good. "But it's not fair! Why should we want the prosperity of people who do wicked, hurtful things to us?" Because that is what Children of God do, God will sort them out, you need to be the people God made you to be - like him!
You can't say that Jesus was just a "good teacher" if you really understand the Sermon on the Mount. He was a revolutionary teacher - the BEST! Beyond that, he lived what he taught. He loved us while we were still sinners, he showed the right way to relate to Him and eachother. and showed us our true value on the cross. If you don't know Jesus or all he has done for you, I'd be happy to introduce you to Him. He has changed my life and taken what I thought I knew about the world and life and brought it to a whole nother level. He is always expanding my understanding and growing my love for Him and for others. He can do the same for you. If you want to know more, read the Gospels and discover Jesus.
In the best sermon ever, the famous Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7 click this before and read before continuing), Jesus takes the way that we have come to look at how the world works and flips it on it's head. Instead of the rich, reassured, ruthless, rotten, rebels ruling the world, getting eternal life, and seeing God, Jesus says it's the opposite. It is the poor in spirit, the mourning, the meek, those longing for righteousness, the merciful, the pure, the peacemakers, the persecuted (for righteousness), and those insulted for doing good.
Jesus then starts talking about how these kind of people should let their light shine in the world. Boy do we need more of salt and light today!
After that brief discourse he talks about his approach to the law which is then followed by a series of "you have heard it said statements. Many of these statements correspond to biblical commands from the Old testament which had been reinterpreted by tradition and time to become external observances and miss the heart of God entirely.
He takes 7 things that the religious people of his day thought they knew to be true and elevates them to a whole "new" level.
- Murder( and conflict)
- Adultery
- Divorce
- Oaths
- Revenge (justice)
- Loving your enemies
1. MURDER
So even if you have never murdered someone (which I hope you haven't), but have still hated them in your heart, you are no less guilty of sin as someone who did the deed. You may not be able to be found guilty in a court of human law, but in God's court, Jesus, the righteous judge says you are. He urges his followers to deal with this sin right away because it not only puts your soul in danger, but it kills relationships.
2. ADULTERY
Then Jesus takes what the people think they know about adultery and takes it past just the act of cheating on your spouse to looking at someone lustfully and thus cheating in your heart. God takes marriage seriously, but he also takes purity seriously. So seriously that Jesus suggests extreme measures in dealing with sin like this. He doesn't just say, "come on guys sin is bad, cut it out". He actually says, "cut it off, gouge it out, throw it away". That is something you do when you are absolutely disgusted with something, you get it as far away from you as possible. That is what He is saying you should do with your body parts should they cause you to sin. Well, metaphorically speaking that is how we should deal with sin - get rid of it completely and ruthlessly. Cut it out of your life. Still, can you imagine what curious people Christians would be if they did in fact take this literally? We'd have a lot of blind, handless people who couldn't clap along much less sing in worship.
3. DIVORCE
The practice of divorce in Jesus time was ruthless (not a joke about Boaz before marriage) . Given that in that culture women didn't have the rights they do today and were counted as property, they could be completely destroyed, disgraced, and abandoned if a husband finds something that "displeases" him about her. All he had to do was give her walking papers and he could go and find a new wife to shack up with that would "please" him. The maker of marriage says that this kind of behavior is morally wrong. God has always hated divorce (Malachi 2:16). He made an allowance for it, knowing that man's hearts are wicked, but He hates it none the less. God values fidelity because it reflects who He is, just as the loving marriage relationship communicates so much about lordship, submission, honor, forgiveness, and grace.
Now, Jesus says that apart from the spouse committing sexual immorality, this must not be or it is a disgrace on both of them and if they get remarried it is adultery. This is a tough teaching. Especially for the people of the time who thought that divorce was no big deal and it required no solid grounds.
As a side note, the key issue here is fidelity to the marriage covenant. Jesus discusses such oaths next, but this covenant breaking is not what He is talking about. For the sake of victims of abuse and abandonment, I believe that the violator of those crimes has broken the marriage covenant, discarding it, essentially rejecting the victim in order to have their way and do what they want which may as well be called adulterous. I wish to say more about this at another time.
4. OATHS
Many people rush into promises, but have no intention of keeping them. They are not people of integrity. They are anything but trustworthy. That is not what God's people are supposed to be. We are supposed to be honest and true. So, when we make commitments we don't need to swear by any other authority. We just say the truth, "yes or no". We don't need anything else because we already come under the authority of God and should live like it.
5. REVENGE
The law of retribution or Lex Talionis was put in place to make sure that someone didn't excessivly take out their wrath on another person in their pursuit of vengence. It meant that if you brother punches you that you should hit back twice and twice as hard. It meant that you don't kill someone for knocking a tooth out, not that it was a requirement for you to take their tooth as well, but it was a limit. Jesus takes it even further and makes it all about loving your enemy (previously discussed in the Beattitudes section). He suggests not pursuing your rights for revenge at all in favor of caring for others and seeking their betterment. Crazy? No! Counter cultural and revolutionary? Yes, and very much what He did and still does for us.
7. HATE YOUR ENEMY
We have no problem with the first part of the statement "Love your neighbor..." right, but Jesus points out that the second part, "hate your enemy" has no place in the lives of the people of God. Do I really need to say more? Our culture seems to think it's okay to hate our enemies. After all, they hurt us/ hate us/ harm us, so why shouldn't we hate them? Because we can't be "good" godly people and hold these opposites. It doesn't work. What do we do instead? We love our enemy! We pray for them! Not for their destruction, but for their good. "But it's not fair! Why should we want the prosperity of people who do wicked, hurtful things to us?" Because that is what Children of God do, God will sort them out, you need to be the people God made you to be - like him!
You can't say that Jesus was just a "good teacher" if you really understand the Sermon on the Mount. He was a revolutionary teacher - the BEST! Beyond that, he lived what he taught. He loved us while we were still sinners, he showed the right way to relate to Him and eachother. and showed us our true value on the cross. If you don't know Jesus or all he has done for you, I'd be happy to introduce you to Him. He has changed my life and taken what I thought I knew about the world and life and brought it to a whole nother level. He is always expanding my understanding and growing my love for Him and for others. He can do the same for you. If you want to know more, read the Gospels and discover Jesus.