Law and Grace

Matthew 5:21-37
            What a great text to hear right after Valentine’s Day!  Not really.  If this text makes you think of one thing it is likely the law.  Instead of a text filled with love, at first glance we hear a text filled with law.  In our text today Jesus emphasizes the laws not to murder, not to commit adultery, not to divorce, and not to swear falsely.  He gives consequences to these sins that involved dismemberment, literally cutting off our sinful appendages.  In a sermon on a similar text in Mark a while back I talked about those sinful appendages.  We are sinful people and if we cut off every sinful appendage, there likely wouldn’t be much left of us.  At the same time the laws and commandments are not meant to be completely disregarded either.  Jesus’ consequences are meant to be taken seriously.  He doesn’t just say “if you sin you should be sorry.”  Jesus calls for us to take sin seriously, but he also offers grace through his death on the cross.

            So how do we strike a balance between disregard for the law and fear of losing all of our appendages?  I think it starts with our understanding of the law.  It is very easy to look at the law and think that it was created to keep us in right relationship with the law.  We could believe that the law was created solely by God for the sake of the law.  I think God had something bigger in mind when he created the law though.  What if we considered that the law was created by God for our sake?  Then we would have to change our understanding of the law.  The law was created by God to keep us in right relationship with other people.  The law was created because God cares about us and our relationships with other people.

            If we focus on this understanding of the law, that it was created out of God’s concern for us and our relationships, then maybe this text is appropriate for this Valentine’s Day weekend.  God loves us so much and cares so much for our relationships that he expands the law.  One of my favorite theologians, David Lose, puts God’s broadening of the law this way:  “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.”

            Now if we think back to the hyperbole of cutting off our sinful appendages we might look at it a little differently.  What if these consequences are so exaggerated so that we will realize just how much God loves and cares for us and for our relationships with others.  Think of the law as similar to the rules that parents make for their children: hold my hand when crossing the street, don’t touch the stove because it is hot, and don’t talk meanly to your siblings or friends.  Those rules are created out of deep care and love that comes from a parent to a child. 

The laws that Jesus speaks about in our text today are similarly created.  If you recall our text from last week, towards the end Jesus said, “Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”  That text comes immediately before where we begin today.  Notice that whether we break the law or keep the law, we are still in the kingdom.  These laws are created out of deep care and love that comes from our parent, God, to us, God’s children.  Because of that care and love that comes from God, these are grace filled laws.  And while we should strive to keep them, we should also notice the grace that is given when we fail at keeping them.

There was a group of ten men who were soldiers.  These soldiers had been locked in vicious battles for three years, and in one battle, all ten were killed.  All ten went up to the pearly gates of heaven to see Simon Peter who was the guardian of the gates into heaven.  Simon Peter came out and said, “Good to see you men here today.  I have been expecting you although you had not been expecting to see me.  Would you please sit in those ten desks there, right outside the pearly gates?  I will give you each a piece of paper and a pencil.  Please write the numbers one to ten on the paper.”  All the big burly soldiers, still in their military fatigues and splattered with mud and blood, did what they were told to do and sat down at the desks. 

Peter then instructed them, “You answer ‘yes or no’ to these ten questions.  Question number one: Did you love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and soul, and your neighbor as yourself?  Yes or no.”  The soldiers looked at each other, puzzled, not sure if they should be truthful or not.  Didn’t seem wise to lie to Peter.  Peter said, “The second commandment: you shall not take the name of the Lord God in vain.  Did you ever swear when in your life or recently when you were a soldier?”  The soldiers, knowing their everyday vocabulary, looked at each other puzzled.  “The third commandment: you shall remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.  Did you go church on a regular basis and worship God with other Christians?”  The soldiers became agitated and nervous.  The fourth commandment, “Did you honor your parents and all in authority at all times?”  Silence.  The fifth commandment: “You shall not kill.  Did you soldiers kill?”  The soldiers knew their jobs for the past three years.  How many people had they killed?  Who knew?  Who kept track?  It was a bloody war.  Peter continued with the questions about the sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth commandments, and the soldiers seemed to be slipping deeper into their fox holes. 

Finally, after the questions were finished, the leader of the platoon raised his hand and asked, “Simon Peter, how many do you have to get correct to get into the pearly gates?”  The men nodded in appreciation.  The platoon leader continued asking the questions on behalf of the men, “What if you get two right?  Maybe three?  Maybe four?  Is that good enough to get in?”  Simon Peter, with his steely gray eyes, looked right at the leader and spoke without a hint of hesitation: “You have to get them all right.  You have to get l00%.”  The soldiers reacted as you would have guessed.  They turned over their papers in disgust; they collectively grunted their disapproval.  They put down their pencils and threw up their hands in disbelief.  About that time, Jesus walked through the pearly gates and into the classroom of desks where the men were seated.  Jesus said, “I have taken the test for you and I have scored l00% for you.  Come into my kingdom.”

That is the big truth about grace.  Jesus has already taken the test for us.  The law should be followed, but when we stumble and fall (and we will because we are all human) there is grace to pick us back up.  When we have sinned and should be removing one of our appendages we can look to the cross where Jesus gave his whole life, not just his appendages, for the sake of the world.  Through the cross we can also recognize that whether we keep the law or break the law there is still a place in the kingdom of God for us, because grace abounds.  And in that moment we can also acknowledge that the laws were created because God loves us and cares about our relationships with others.  Amen.

Salt, Light, and Good News

Matthew 5:13-20

Does this text sound familiar?  If you feel like you recently heard several sermons on this text that is true.  Last November this text was used as the them for our focus on stewardship, so you heard it consecutively for three weeks.  That is a challenge to me, as your pastor to say something we didn't say just a few months ago.  It is also a challenge for me because I received a phone call from Pastor Bruce this morning notifying me that he had returned from Nicaragua, but he had returned with a severe case of laryngitis.  So with just a few hours before worship I had to whip up a sermon...yikes.  That is one of my biggest fears...but I guess now I can say fear conquered!

            As I read this text today I couldn't help but notice that this text is related to the opening question I have planned for confirmation next week.  Who was the first person to tell you about Jesus?  What do you remember that person telling you?  I would invite you to turn to a neighbor and answer that question.  Who was the first person to tell you about Jesus?  What do you remember that person telling you?  I think I first remember my Grandma Marilyn telling me about Jesus.  What I remember is her singing songs to me as a little girl and then as I got older I remember her teaching me those songs.  From the time I was little my grandma was salt and light, not only to me, but to others.  In fact, she still is salt and light to me and to others at the age of 81. 

            Jesus doesn't ask us to be salt and light, because it will be good for us.  The entire premise of this text is that we are salt and light for others.  We let our light shine so that others may see Jesus shining through us.  We make our lives salty so that others may taste the goodness of the Lord through our very presence.  It is our characteristics of salt and light that make a difference in the world.  It is the salt and light that allow others to see the work of Christ.

            So why did Jesus use the example of salt and light?  Salt and light were precious commodities in his time period.  Both salt and light sustain life.  They are useful resources.  Salt was used to preserve food.  They didn't have refrigerators or ice cube makers, so they used the salt to preserve the vegetables and to dry out the fish for winter.  They would also wash newborn babies in salt water, because it was supposed to preserve their life.  During wars they would rub salt into soldier's wounds as a treatment.  They would use it as a contract, instead of writing the contract down each party would bring salt from their house and throw it over the other person's shoulder as a sign of the covenant they had together.  Light also sustained life.  Life before Thomas Edison was much darker, so the moments where light existed were fewer.  But those moments where light existed were even more important than light is today, because it wasn't taken for granted.  Jesus joined these two commodities together to explain to us that preservation from salt was not enough, we also needed light, to expand the kingdom of God.  Salt wasn't enough for Jesus to make his point, he needed to use light too.

            We are salt and light, not because we need those characteristics for ourselves, but because others need to see those characteristics in us.  We exist not only for ourselves, but for the entire kingdom of God.  The same is true of salt and light.  Think about their purpose, the reason for their existence.  Salt does not exist for itself.  Salt doesn't need salt.  The same is true of light.  Light does not exist for itself.  Light doesn't need light.  Salt and light only fulfill their purpose when they are used, shared, given a purpose. 

            The salt and light within us are necessary in order for us to be good news sharers.  They give us the tools we need to be bringers of the kingdom of God.  It is salt and light that made my grandma able to share the good news of Jesus with me.  It is salt and light that allowed someone to share that same gospel message with you.  Without salt and light we are useless.  We are like salt without saltiness or a light under a basket.  We are like news sharers with no good news.  The good news of the love and grace that comes from Jesus Christ are hidden. 

            Before we head out to the streets with our message of salt and light I think we need a bit of a pep talk, not from me, but from Kid President.  I saw this video last weekend at the continuing education event I was at and I found it very inspiring and motivational.  I hope you find it to be the same.  Here's the Kid President's "Pep Talk!"

            Now, I know Kid President is not speaking in terms of our faith, but I think it can be applied to our faith.  This is your time.  This is my time.  This is our time.  Together we can make a difference.  Truly, we have a message to share.  We have light and salt to bring.  We don't need to do that alone.  Jesus gave his life, his very self, to make a difference, to make a change.  Together we too can make a difference.  Together we can make a change.  Together we can give salt and light to the world.  So, be filled with salt and with light.  Share that salt and light with others.  And let the good news lead you down the path less traveled.  Amen.