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.