Epiphany + 6, February 13, 2011
There's a movie Andy & I like to quote to each other from time to time, because it portrays so well the way people in relationships so often communicate with each other. It's from the movie The Break-Up with Jennifer Aniston & Vince Vaughn, about a couple whose relationship has hit the breaking point. It all boils over one night after a dinner party when Jennifer Aniston's character, Brooke, asks Vince Vaughn's character, Gary, for help cleaning up the kitchen. He has no interest in hopping up off the couch – he's caught up in his video game – and so a fight breaks out. Gary, trying to avoid the conflict says, “What, do you want me to do the dishes?” And Brooke's response is classic: “I want you to want to do the dishes!” “Why would I want to do the dishes?” Gary says. “Oh honey, that's just never gonna happen...” We laugh, but as Homer Simpson says, it's funny cuz it's true. It's not always enough to do something for someone – sometimes it's the inner motivation, the reason why, that really counts.
That's part of what's going on in the gospel lesson we just heard. Here Jesus is reminding his audience of disciples that it's not enough to just do what seems right on the outside – because what's on the inside matters too. See, Jesus has just finished saying this: “...unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Mt. 5:20). And at first glance, what he says next seems like it's his instructions on how to do this, a description of what it looks like for someone's righteousness to exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees.
“You have heard it said,... But I say...” Over and over again, Jesus lays out the situations. He talks about what the religious law and commandments say – Don't murder, don't commit adultery, don't abandon your spouse (that's what divorce amounted to back then), don't swear falsely. These are what the rules are, Jesus says. Everybody knows them, and nobody knows them better than the scribes and Pharisees. But Jesus says, “Don't be too sure of yourself.” Don't strain your arm patting yourself on the back because you haven't murdered anyone or because you've been physically faithful to your spouse and have followed through on whatever it is you “swore to God” you'd do. The scribes and the Pharisees – and lots of other people for that matter – manage to follow the letter of the law.
But then Jesus pulls an Emeril on his listeners & kicks it up a notch. “You have heard it said... But I say to you...” Never murdered someone? Okay, but I bet you've been angry with them. Never cheated on your spouse, but you've looked at someone with lust, haven't you or given that time & energy that should go to your spouse to something else – your work, your hobbies, TV, the Internet? Carried out the vows you made to the Lord, but why is it that your word alone isn't good enough for people to believe you'll do what you say you'll do?
I imagine that these words from Jesus struck fear into the hearts of many listening to him that day. Probably strikes some fear into some of our hearts too. Because if following the letter of the law isn't enough, if what we think and feel in our hearts and minds counts too, if our inner motivation makes a difference, then what hope do we have? Because the examples Jesus gives reveal to us in no uncertain terms that none of us is off the hook. If the scribes and Pharisees weren't righteous enough to enter the kingdom of heaven, then how can we ever hope to be?
That's because we think that what Jesus says here is all about fulfilling the law. We think that Jesus is mainly concerned with us learning to follow the rules perfectly, inside and out, just for the sake of following the rules. Our main motivation for following the rules is so we can avoid punishment – the judgment or the council or the hell of fire that Jesus talks about – or because we think we can somehow live up to the rules and so earn our place in God's good graces, so we can deserve to enter the kingdom of heaven someday.
But we've got it all wrong. Because even though our main concern may be following the rules so that we can avoid judgment or earn rewards, what Jesus really cares about is our relationships. The rules aren't there simply to give us a moral checklist to follow. They're there to help us to learn how to live with God and with each other. When Jesus is asked elsewhere in Matthew about what commandment in the law is the greatest or most important (Mt. 22:36), this is what Jesus says, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Mt. 22:37-40). (That's in chapter 22, in case you want to look at it later.)
Love God. Love your neighbor as yourself. That's what all the commandments, all the laws boil down to. They're there to show us what it would mean if we really did love God and our neighbor.
But it isn't enough simply to follow the letter of the law. It's not enough to do the dishes... Jesus wants us to want to do the dishes. Because we can obey the law on the surface, while the whole time we are wishing harm on others. We may never have killed someone, but many of us can point to times when we've thrown someone under the bus or stabbed them in the back. We can stay physically faithful to our spouses, yet let our minds and our hearts wander. It's easy enough most of the time to keep the commandments, until we realize that God's law goes much deeper than our outward acts and down into our hearts too. God's will for us extends into the core of who we are. And it's not about the rules so much as it is about the relationships. Underneath these laws Jesus talks about there is a deep concern for community, for how people live with and treat one another.
And so Jesus lays out a vision here, one that reveals something about what it looks like when God's will reigns in our lives, when God's followers live out that prayer for God's will to be done on earth as it is in heaven... Because when God's love rules in our lives, we stop worrying so much about obeying the law to keep God happy or avoid making God mad. We start to see ourselves as the beloved, cherished children of God that we are. We start behaving as the salt and light Jesus tells us we are – and we look beyond wooden obedience and slavish rule following to see what God's heart desires for us: a community of people where everyone matters, where we learn to let go of anger and make the first move toward reconciliation, where we stop objectifying others and see them as human beings, where a person's word is good enough and there's no need to swear to God to convince anyone that you can be trusted. It's a community where we seek after health and wholeness and after those things that give life to each other. This is the kingdom Jesus initiates. It's the kingdom he lives out. It's the kingdom he invites us to enter and live in even now. It's not about rules. It's about relationships. It's not about the law. It's about love – God's love for each of us, the love that then spills over from us to each other. Let's let that love rule.
Amen.
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