February 23, 2020

Helen Jacobi

Ordinary 7     Leviticus 19:1-2, 9-18     Matthew 5:38-48

Video available on YouTube, Facebook

My reaction to this gospel today is really? Seriously? Be perfect?

If last week’s gospel wasn’t enough – Jesus carries on with “you have heard it said, but I say to you” – stating and then redefining the law and the expectations of his followers. And the kicker at the end “Be perfect therefore as your heavenly Father is perfect”. Give me a break!

If you ever had a romantic view of the sermon on the mount – Jesus there sitting on a rocky outcrop with his disciples all gathered around listening to poetic blessings – today’s section finally puts paid to that idea. So today we are “turning the other cheek”, “going the extra mile”, “giving someone the coat off our backs” – interesting how this section of the sermon has found its way into the sayings of the English language.

As Cate said last week there are different ways to approach passages like this – we can go down the rabbit hole of explaining each line and understanding its cultural context – for example

39 Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also;

Striking someone on the cheek was done by a slave owner or someone of higher authority to indicate submission; to turn the other cheek could indicate that you were not being submissive but standing up and looking them in the eye; and saying bring it on!

Or 41 and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile.

This one is for the Romans. In Roman law any citizen could be conscripted and made to carry the heavy gear of the soldiers for the distance of one mile (think Simon of Cyrene carrying Jesus’ cross).

They restricted it to one mile to stop the resentment of being forced to march with the soldiers over long distances – not good for the levels of civil unrest. To carry two miles would mean the soldier had violated his own law and could be subject to discipline. So we could do fun facts about tricky bible verses.

Or we could avoid these verses altogether because like last week’s gospel they have been used in the history of our church to suggest people should put up with unjust suffering. Women suffering violence from partners have been told to “turn the other cheek” and “pray for those who persecute you”. People enslaved and oppressed have been told to “love your enemies”. Oppressors will use any tool at their disposal including sacred scripture to corrupt. Watch out for the prime example of that in next week’s reading.

Or also as Cate said last week, we can allow ourselves to be confronted by these tough words, confronted by “the notion of a God of accountability with expectations” [1].

Jesus is very confronting in this passage – he says to his listeners “You have heard it was said … but I say to you.” You have heard it said – not just by your neighbor up the street – but you have heard it said by Moses, in the Torah, in the book of Leviticus and other books of the law – but I say to you… So Jesus’ listeners are quite rightly going to say – who is this who thinks he is better than Moses and our ancestors who passed down the law and interpreted it for us generation by generation. Confronting all right – this is what got Jesus killed. Claiming to have a new teaching a new way. 

Can we in our time and culture allow ourselves to be confronted and find what it means to resist evil and violence in the way that Jesus meant. Not by being walked over but as Myer Boulton says: looking for “a deeper, more radical resistance; non cooperation in the underlying paradigm of hate and brutality involved in evildoing.” [2]

Stanley Hauerwas says this is not just about Christian ethics, doing the right thing. There are plenty of good people who abhor and work against violence who are not religious.

“The sermon (on the mount) is not a list of requirements, but rather a description of the life of a people gathered by and around Jesus.” [3]

So if we are a people gathered around Jesus we will seek and grow within ourselves the ability to live out this new paradigm, this new way of being. We will fail all the time but we will believe it is possible to get up and try again. We will believe that because of Jesus, and because of the cross.

As we get ready to enter Lent and begin to walk the way of the cross we will be reminded again that in the cross Jesus faces all the violence of the world and does overcome. On Ash Wednesday we are marked with the sign of that cross on our foreheads “remember you are dust and to dust you shall return; turn from your sin and be faithful to Christ”. We take time to be real about the sin and sorrow of our world, and our myriad failures as a community and as a people; and we seek to reset, to start over. This does not make us perfect but it does join us to Christ’s overcoming of evil and to the hope that the world will one day see an end to violence.

Hauwerwas again “Perfection does not mean that we are sinless or that we are free of anger or lust. Rather, to be perfect is to learn to be part of a people who take the time to live without resorting to violence to sustain their existence.” [4]

When Jesus says: Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. The translation is a bit limiting – commentaries say the word telos means goal or end or purpose; so something which is brought to its completion; lacking nothing; perfection as in fulfillment or reaching one’s intended outcome. [5]

I had a look at different translations to try and understand this word and the Maori translation uses “tika” which means correct, or on a straight path; it can mean truth or justice. I think “tika” is better than “perfect”.

The Message version of the Bible says “Grow up. You are kingdom subjects; now live like it; live out your God created identity.” [6]

If we are created in the image of God we have it within us to love our enemies; to not accept the premises violence, greed and oppression which sometimes seem to rule our planet. We cannot change the whole world and stop war and famine. But we can control how we behave at work, at home, in community. Is there violence in our home/ or the home of someone we know? What do we do about it? Is there bullying in our workplace? Do we stand up to the bully look them in the eye and say enough? Or do we collude with their behavior?

In this election year will we pay attention to policies around child poverty or the living wage, or climate change; or will we just look for the best tax cut for ourselves? Is there someone we cannot forgive; someone we hate; someone who has control over our hearts?

Be perfect as God is perfect; be tika; be the people we are created to be.

It is so hard – but what option do we have?

[1] Sermon 16 February 2020

[2] Feasting on the Word, Year A vol 4 p 385 

[3] Matthew, 2006, p 61 

[4] Matthew, 2006, p 72 

[5] http://www.davidlose.net/2017/02/epiphany-7-a-telos/

[6] The Message by Eugene Peterson p1753