Good morning, Friends! Thank you all for coming today.
This week a lot of us have been remembering the events which happened 25 years ago. To many of us, it still seems like yesterday.
I remember one story, from the many stories of heroism and self-sacrifice that day. One of the fire fighters climbed up dozens of stories in the World Trade Center, trying to guide people to safety.
As the panic-stricken people crowded the stairways, he kept telling them, “Down is good! Down is good!” Such a simple thing to do, but he saved many lives. He himself didn’t make it out of the tower.
This week on Friday, many of us gathered at the stadium down town, to climb the stairs in memory of those who died on 9/11. I saw one young fire fighter, who was probably in pre-school 25 years ago, holding the hand of his young son, who was only 4 or 5. I saw another fire fighter on Friday, with his wife and his two school age girls. The younger girl was trying on her daddy’s helmet. Let’s not forget in the years to come!
For several weeks, we’ve been reading each Sunday from the Sermon on the Mount in the gospel of Matthew. We talked about how simple prayers are usually the best ones. We heard Jesus talk about how useless it is to worry all the time. He said we can’t make our lives even one hour longer by worrying!
Last week, we heard Jesus tell us not to judge – how the same yardstick that we use on other people will be used on us. Judging other people is so tempting, but it’s spiritual poison. It destroys us from the inside, even when it makes us feel good about ourselves.
Jesus covered a lot of different ideas in the Sermon on the Mount, and it says that people were astounded at what he was saying. What Jesus said felt right to them, but it also went against so much that they thought they knew. Let’s get started!
Don’t think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets! I haven’t come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.
Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 5:17-20
We’re going to talk about a lot of things this morning. But there’s one idea that runs through all of them. Jesus says that there’s a deeper understanding, a higher way, a way we haven’t tried before.
There’s the old way – the way we grew up with, the way we learned in our childhood. It’s spelled out in the old laws, in the Ten commandments and all the other expectations we absorbed.
But there’s also a new way, the way Jesus came to teach us. It’s the way of the gospel, the way of God’s kingdom. It asks something more of us. It challenges us to go beyond the letter, to the spirit behind the letter.
That’s what we’re going to be talking about today – the higher way, the deeper way, the way that makes us live differently. The way that turns things upside-down, and changes us, forever.
Rather than read it all to you this morning, I’ve asked some of you to read it to the rest of us. This stuff isn’t my opinion. These are Jesus’ words. And even if they make us uncomfortable in places, Jesus is calling us to something better.
You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’
But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who insults a brother or sister, is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.
Matthew 5:21-22
So, this is an example of how Jesus says we need to take an old law, an old commandment, and raise it higher or take it deeper.
We’re not supposed to kill. It says so, in the Ten Commandments.
But there’s always a lot of argument, about whether it’s always wrong to kill, or whether it’s just wrong to murder someone, which means to kill someone unlawfully, without a legal excuse.
Is it OK if the government orders it? Is it OK if it’s self-defense or stand your ground, or if you’re protecting someone else?
These arguments aren’t new. In the Old Testament, there’s endless examples of what it calls “shedding innocent blood.” I’m sure that Jesus knew every one of these arguments. And you know what? He doesn’t get into them. Instead, Jesus says, “What’s behind murder and killing? It’s anger. It’s insulting other people. It’s calling names. These are what lead to murder.”
Jesus says to go beyond the letter of the law, to the spirit behind the law. If we don’t want to get involved with murder, we need to cut out rage, and insults, and name-calling.
That’s worth thinking about, in today’s world.
Here’s another example:
You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Matthew 5:27-28
We all know that adultery’s wrong. It’s the seventh of the Ten Commandments. In Old Testament times, adultery was subject to capital punishment – although King David committed adultery, and sort of got away with it.
Adultery isn’t a crime in North Carolina, though it can be a factor in alimony and divorce settlements. The entertainment industry would wither up and die without affairs and adultery. But it’s still ugly.
It’s breaking a promise, and that’s not good. And again, Jesus said, long before a person commits adultery in fact, they’ve done it in their heart. Whoever starts dreaming about breaking a marriage promise, has already taken the first step.
Don’t start down that road, Jesus said. Keep your eyes and your hands for the one you’re promised to.
Divorce happens, Jesus said, but don’t be the one who causes it to happen.
There’s one more thing I would say, though. In all the years I’ve been a minister, I have never told anyone to stay in a marriage that was violent, or abusive, or where there were drugs involved.
In a situation like that, the promise is already broken, and I’ve never told anyone they should stick around. There are times when it’s better to divorce, and pick up the pieces, and if someone is in that situation, I’m not going to make life harder for them, and the church shouldn’t, either.
Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Don’t break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.’
But I tell you, don’t swear any oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King.
And don’t swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.
Matthew 5: 33-37
This is another case where Jesus calls us not just to obey an old commandment, but to push it to a higher level.
Promises to God should always be kept. Swearing when you don’t keep your promise, or when you’re deliberately lying, is like committing perjury before God. But both back then and today, people don’t tell the truth. We fudge, we spin, we stretch, we lie.
There’s a famous Springfield story, which many of you already know. One Sunday back in February of 1942, our meetinghouse caught fire.
Everybody rushed to save the building. The young people carried out all the hymnals. The men unscrewed the pews and carried them out onto the lawn. But the fire department wouldn’t come and put it out, because the city line stopped at Model Farm Road, and they couldn’t come and fight a fire that was outside the city limits.
One of the legendary elders of Springfield – Tom and Tim Terrell’s grandmother – told the fire chief that she had called the mayor, and that he had given his personal permission for the fire department to make an exception and put it out, and so they did.
It turned out later that she hadn’t talked to the mayor at all. She made it all up. And she said, “A lie is an abomination unto the Lord, and a very present help in time of trouble!”
Quakers have always taken this section of the Sermon on the Mount very seriously. We look at courtroom oaths and loyalty oaths and exaggerated promises as setting a double standard. If we don’t take the oath, Quakers ask, does that mean we’re lying? Quakers have always listened to Jesus saying, “Let your yes be yes, and your no be no; anything beyond this comes from the evil one. . .”
You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’
But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.
And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles.
Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.
Matthew 5:38-42
I hope that you’re all picking up on that formula, “You have heard that it was said. . .but I tell you. . .” It’s in every one of our readings this morning. But this one – this is one of the hardest things Jesus ever said.
Revenge. Getting even. It’s payback time! This is part of human nature. It’s something we learn on the kindergarten playground, no matter what the teacher tells us.
It ruins personal relationships. It causes wars and international conflicts. We all know fights which have lasted for generations, because people just won’t forgive or let it go.
But this is what Jesus did. He turned the other cheek. He gave to people who didn’t deserve it. He walked the long mile. He never turned people away.
This section is one of the hardest sayings of Jesus in the entire Bible. It isn’t easy. It seems impossible. Sometimes it may even take a miracle.
But maybe that’s what we need sometimes.
If we know what Jesus tells us to do, we can ask for him to help us. If we know that it’s impossible for us to forgive, we can pray for a miracle. Sometimes, the higher way is a miracle in our own heart.
OK, here’s the last reading for this morning:
You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’
But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?
And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
Matthew 5: 43-48
“Love your neighbor and hate your enemy” is NOT actually one of the commandments in the Old Testament. It’s more like common sense or everyday human wisdom. And it’s something we’re pretty good at.
But again, Jesus calls us to a higher standard. Anybody can love their family and their friends. Even people who don’t believe in God can do that!
Jesus calls us to a higher way. He calls us to God’s way. Long before we love God, God loves us. That’s the thing, isn’t it? Even when we’re still sinners, God loves us.
God doesn’t hate us. “God so loved the world that he gave is only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish, but have eternal life. God didn’t send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the whole world might be saved through him. . .” (John 3:16-17)
It’s all about amazing grace. Redeeming love. The higher way. And when we join in that amazing grace and redeeming love, here on earth, we’re all just a little bit closer to heaven.