22^nd February 2011

Rev Dr Max Champion at St John's UCA Mt Waverley Sunday 13 February 2011

Lessons -- Deuteronomy 30:15-20; Psalm 119:1-8; Matthew 5:17-22,27-30

Jesus said: 'Do not think that I have come to abolish the law and the
prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfil.' (Matthew 5:17)
'See to it that your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and
Pharisees.' (v20)

It is fashionable to think that those who keep the commandments are rigid, authoritarian and legalistic in contrast with those who are flexible, open and loving. The battle lines in so many debates (in church and community) are drawn between narrow conservatives and broad-minded liberals.
Invariably Jesus is aligned with the liberal-minded. It is assumed (with Marcion in C3rd) that Jesus meant to say, 'Do you think I've come to fulfil the law and the prophets? I have come not to fulfil but to destroy.' (Cited in D Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, p109.)

So it comes as a shock to find (in Matthew) that Jesus' followers are to be 'more righteous than the religious conservatives' -- to realise that the gift of God's grace and the summons to act rightly belong together in the Christian life. Grace which does not issue in a new way of living is not grace! And right actions which do not originate in God's grace are not indicative of the righteousness that 'exceeds' that of the religious experts.

The specific examples of righteousness in our readings show what it means to go beyond the letter of the law. What Jesus says is startling and confronting. Faced with prohibitions against murder (and anger) as well as against adultery (and lust) our most harmful desires are exposed.

Not all of us have committed murder or adultery. But not one of us can say that we have never desired the demise of a troublesome brother or sister.
Not one of us (man or woman) can say that we have never desired to have power over the body of a sister (or brother). Jesus exposes the fact that anger and lust poison our hearts and souls, separating us from God and our brothers and sisters.

Today we are told to express our negative feelings about others as it is unhealthy to 'bottle up our anger'. Righteous indignation is encouraged as victims of injustice (imagined or otherwise) freely blame others for what has happened to them. TV programs rate highly when they show hatred, humiliation and resentment. What Jesus says about anger is not well received!

We are also told it is unhealthy to repress sexual feelings. Evidence of the harmful effect of adult pornography is dismissed because we are free to watch whatever we desire. TV programs and advertisements rate highly when they play on our subconscious sexual desires. What Jesus says about lust is not well received!

It is important to see what Jesus is saying -- and not saying -- here.
Otherwise we will be unable to distinguish between healthy desire and unhealthy desire. In failing to do this we will justify the widespread criticism of Christians as a life-denying bunch afraid of their passions and pre-occupied with not doing the wrong thing and unsuccessfully trying hard not to have bad thoughts or feelings about others.

* In the Bible much is said about anger. God is angry about much that is not right in the world he loves. Jesus is angry at the failure of Pharisees and disciples to respond to God's grace. He calls the Pharisees 'fools' and 'whited sepulchres' (Matthew 23:17, 27). The money-changers in the temple get a fearful tongue-lashing (Matthew 21:12). Disciples are ticked-off for sending the children away (Matthew 19:14). Peter is described as satanic (Mark 8:33). Jesus is not well pleased with much of what goes on around him! Judgement on those who do not act rightly is severe. They 'will never enter the kingdom of heaven' (5:20,22,30).

We should be very angry about things that mock God's will and demean human dignity! But in speaking the truth unapologetically, our ultimate desire as a Christian community is that the unrighteous and the self-righteous shall repent and be reconciled to God. There is no place for hating, abusing, slandering, insulting or humiliating even our most strident critics. Our desire is not vengeance but that they hear the truth, come to glorify God and act rightly. This is the point of Jesus' attack on anger.

* In the Bible much is also said about lust -- a timely subject when the Valentine's Day issue of The Sunday Age is called 'The Love (and Lust) Issue'. It also reminds many of us of lectures given to us as teenagers by
stern clergy and straight-laced spinsters on the perils of lust.

The Bible certainly is candid about the harm done by misplaced sexual desire. The Jews are forbidden to take part in pagan sexual rites to please the gods and ensure the fertility of the crops, herds and tribe.
Abraham's desire for Hagar threatens the covenant (Genesis 16:1f). David
is shamed by his desire for Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11:1f).

As the Gospel moves into pagan territory, Paul urges Christians to withstand the desire to go along with permissive practices. They are not to give in to 'licentiousness, impurity, fornication, carousing and the like' (Galatians 5: 19f) -- attractive words for unattractive behaviour.

What is often forgotten in these negative statements is that they are the flip-side of a magnificent, positive and God-given desire. Adam and Eve rejoice in their nakedness (Genesis 2:25). Indeed, as Bonhoeffer notes, 'one can imagine no more ardent, passionate, sensual love than is portrayed' in the Song of Songs (Letters and Papers from Prison p303 20/5/44). 'O loved one, delectable maiden,' says the man, 'you are as stately as a palm tree, your breasts are like the clusters of the vine . .
. your kisses like the best wine,' to which she replies, 'Let us go into the vineyard; there I will give you my love.' (7: 1f) Steamy stuff! And a reminder to read our Bibles with greater thoroughness and enjoyment!

This is desire at its best! The Old Testament, unlike many Christians, isn't afraid to express such earthy affection. In the both Old Testament and New Testament the most splendid of our desires -- marriage between a man and a woman -- is God's desire for our most intimate sexual relationships. So highly is marriage esteemed that it is also used as central image to describe the intimate union between God and Israel and between Christ and the Church.

Passion certainly can be harmful. Many lives have been spoiled by misplaced love. But, in the right context, it is also part of God's splendid creation. We can even say that it is God's desire that husband and wife should lust after one another! Nor is it God's desire that we shy away from looking at the beauty of women or men. The problem arises when, in deed or thought, we desire to use a woman or a man for our own sexual gratification, thus treating them as objects and robbing them of their dignity.

The difference between the two kinds of desire is wonderfully expressed by Martin Luther in speaking of his pleasure in his own wife, Katie: 'When I look at all the women in the world, I find none of whom I could boast with joyful conscience of my own. This one God himself gave to me and I know that he and all the angels are pleased when I hold fast to her in love and fidelity.' (The Minister's Prayer Book, Ed. JW Doberstein 1986,
frontispiece.)

* How, given the fact that all of us are guilty of harmful desires such as anger and lust, is such a way of life possible? Simply being law-abiding is not enough. As Jesus says here, piety and decency can cover up our baser desires. The key is in the fact that it is Jesus who calls his disciples to live this radical life. Apart from being united with him we would be left with two choices: either to uphold the letter of law
(conservatives) or to follow our own desires (libertarians) in our own strength.

As always we should never separate Jesus' teaching from who he is: the One who embodied God's love and was crucified by upholders of the law.
Consider that he who calls us into union with him is the One who has revealed God as the loving Father of all and has identified himself as the most gracious brother of all.

Therefore when Jesus says, 'But I say unto you . . . ' he is acting with the authority of the God who loves us. And, in calling us to a 'better righteousness', he does not separate himself from our flawed humanity. He both embodies God's desire to be reconciled to us and our desire to glorify God and be reconciled to our neighbours.

This is supremely demonstrated on the Cross where 'God's only begotten Son bore the shame and insults for his Father's glory' (D Bonhoeffer, p117).
Jesus did not desire to get even with his enemies. He did not return hatred with hatred but sought mercy. He died as the brother of sinners, including those whose immoral thoughts and actions had been transformed by contact with him.

It is only as we contemplate the extraordinary righteousness of Jesus -- Son of the Father and our brother -- that we begin to see what it means to be called into union with God and with our brothers-and-sisters. As Jesus has borne our anger and forgiven our immorality, we may rejoice that God has reached out to us, with all our flaws, in love. That being the case we are to relate to our brothers and sisters as those who like us have Christ as their brother and God as their most merciful Father.

This does not mean that we have 'arrived'. Because we have not yet reached the fullness of our humanity in Christ, we must be alert to temptation. In learning to see our brothers and sisters through Christ -- in the light of his unsurpassable love for all -- we may (as Jesus says) need to 'pluck out an eye' or 'cut off a hand' (but hopefully not 'lose one of our
members'!)

Anger and lust are temptations for many of us. We may need to seek the guidance and support of a Christian sister of brother who can bear witness to God's grace by 'bearing our burden' with us (Galatians 6:2).

The Church also has a public responsibility. In a culture saturated with permissive sexuality and righteous indignation we should stand against everything that demeans our humanity and mocks God's righteous love. We need to show the chasm between self-indulgent desire and the desire to say what we think about others (on one hand) and (on the other) the proper desire for God which issues in love of the earth and our human family.

It should therefore be our desire that even the angriest or most lustful sinner will be reconciled to God. It is our joy and privilege to invite others to glorify God and enable them to know what it is to be children of God and the brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ his only Son, our Lord.

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Rev Dr Max Champion is minister in the St John's Uniting Church, Mt Waverley, Victoria, Australia. Dr Champion is Chair of the Assembly of Confessing Congregations within the UCA.