Epiphany 6, Year A 2020

Grace Episcopal Church, Galveston
Gospel: Matthew 5:21-37
February 16, 2020

What we hold in our hearts matters
to God!

Our Gospel reading is again taken from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.  Here Jesus continues to speak of a higher righteousness.  We today have before us 3 different examples of how Jesus takes an existing commandment and extends it to be more comprehensive.  These examples show what Jesus meant earlier by righteousness that exceeds the scribes and Pharisees.  What was inferred in last week’s Gospel, is made explicit today: the higher righteousness required in the Kingdom of Heaven is beyond the unaided power of human beings, and therefore points to the need for Grace!

In the 1st example, Jesus starts with the commandment to do no murder.  But Jesus goes beyond a restriction on overt human behavior to show that God judges what is on the inside of a person.  We know the commandment, “You Shall Not Murder, but Jesus tells his disciples they should not even be angry with one another.  Certainly, feeling anger in a given moment might come upon us suddenly and hardly seems under our control.  But making a place in your heart for anger is surely a slippery slope to violence.  Perhaps, Jesus is making such a wide fence around the Law of Moses, that his disciples would never come near to breaking a commandment.  But, it is more than that, because Jesus is making a point: none of us can by our own efforts present a pure heart before God.  Righteousness before God requires God’s Grace.  I’m reminded of the versicle from Morning Prayer: “Create in us clean hearts, O God” (BCP, p. 98).

Jesus uses the commandment against adultery as the 2nd example.  And Jesus extends this to a higher level.  The Law states, “You shall not commit adultery,” but Jesus tells his disciples they should not have lustful thoughts about another person who is not their spouse.  Then Jesus goes on to say something even more remarkable.  And, written words can’t do justice to the way Jesus delivered these words.  In my own imagination, it went something like this (in a mock serious manner): “Well, if your eye causes you to sin, if that is what the problem is, your eye, then by all means pluck it out.”  But here’s the deal: we all know the problem is not the eye, or the hand for that matter. There is no surgical procedure that can save us from sin, salvation comes only by Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross of Calvary.  The problem is not the eye or the hand, the problem is the human heart, and our desires have all fallen short of the standard.  The only way the wayward heart can be brought back into the fold is by the transformative power of God’s Love.

The 3rd example here is the prohibition against swearing falsely.  Perhaps, Jesus has in mind the 9th of the 10 Commandments, “You shall not be a false witness.” But Jesus tells his disciples they should not even swear (or make oaths) at all, much less make false ones.  The interpretation of this prohibition, though, has been problematic in history.  At one point the Anabaptists in England (who insisted upon a strict, literal, interpretation of the Bible) believed that Jesus’ new rule meant Christians could not swear to tell the truth even in a court of law. (But, we know from scripture that Jesus later testified under oath before the high priest, Caiaphas.  See Mt 26:63-64.) Our Anglican ancestors in the faith believed that Jesus was speaking of a Christian rule of conversation and not of courts of law, or marriage vows, or solemn declarations before God such as used in ordinations of the clergy.  You can read this snippet of Anglican theology for yourself: Of the 39 Articles of Religion, it is the 39th and entitled “On a Christian Man’s Oath.” It may be found in the Historical Documents section of the Book of Common Prayer pp. 867-876.  (At the liturgical quiz bowl among Galveston Episcopal Churches, if there ever is one, you may be asked to list something which may be found in the Historical Documents of the BCP!)

So, what’s wrong with swearing you have told the truth in a casual conversation among friends?  As a student in college, I tried to compliment my French professor, Madame Schaeffer.  As class was about to begin, I remarked, “Madame Schaeffer, you look very nice today.”  She immediately responded in a perturbed voice, “Mr. Dearman!  What do you mean….today?”  My comment about today, had left in question every other day.  It is the same when a person swears that they are telling the truth.  Does this mean typically that person should be suspect and only to be believed when they are swearing?

In the higher righteousness required by the Kingdom of Heaven, Jesus’ disciples are always to tell the truth.  There should never be a need to protest that any one particular thing among others we say is the truth.  God demands that it all be the truth and nothing but the truth.  But, consider exaggerations, hyperboles, obfuscations, spreading rumors, “putting lipstick on a pig,” or what I call neural misfires. It is all too easy to say something that is less than true.

So it is that we stand judged by the light of Jesus’ extension of the Law.  Its primary purpose is to show that we, by our own efforts, can never earn God’s favor.  We can do nothing good without God, so we always pray for God’s Holy Spirit to make up for what is lacking in our well-intentioned efforts.  It is all Grace!

And now, we will move forward this morning with the Baptism of little Owen.  How astounding it is that we will claim an infant to be an inheritor of the Kingdom of Heaven.  Owen is to become the newest Christian on the Earth, not by virtue of anything he has done to earn it.  We will enact the outward and visible portion of Baptism with water and oil, and he will have the promise of his parents, sponsors, and others to guide him going forward. But just know this...the inward and spiritual part of Baptism, the heart of the matter, is solely the Grace of God!  AMEN.