Exceeding the Clergy in the Practice of the Law

6 Epiphany   A    February 12, 2017   
Deuteronomy 30:15-20  Psalm 119:1-8
1 Corinthians 3:1-9  Matt.5:21-24,27-30,33-37

Lectionary Link

The Beatitudes of Jesus are teachings about our relationship to the law.  In the time of Jesus the law had many of the same complexities that we experience in our world today.  Laws need to have authority behind them.  The greatest authority of the law in the time of Jesus was the Caesar of Rome and the enforcement agencies of the Caesar in Palestine through puppet kings and governors.  They used their legal system, soldiers and police to enforce the law.  Within the Roman control, the Jews had their own practice of law which pertained to social, cultural and religious behaviors.  But the Jewish practice of their laws did not and could not have the same force of law which the Roman law had.  We today often have the conflict of conscience between the laws and practices of religious people and our own American Constitution. 

Jesus told his followers that their righteousness had to exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees.  The words of Jesus called the Beatitudes, are in my mind, are teaching insights about how we are to be related to God's law.

Scribes and Pharisees were the clergy of their time.  What is the relationship of clergy to religious law?  In Christianity, religious law is called canon law.  Canon law is for the church what Sharia law is for the Islamic community and what the Torah is for the Jewish community.  If one's religion dominates an entire group of people then the religious law and the secular laws can seem to be one and the same.

What do clergy do?  They enforce religious laws as administrators and religious legal judges.  In the Episcopal Church we have laws.  The Constitutions and Canons of the Episcopal Church, the Constitutions and canons of the Diocese of El Camino Real and the parish by-laws of St. John the Divine Episcopal Church.  When I was ordained I made a vow to keep church laws and to enforce them.  As an American citizen, I make a pledge of allegiance to our country and our Constitution.

One relationship with the law might be called the enforcement of prescribed behaviors.  The clergy whether priests, scribes or Pharisees had the duty of enforcing the religious rules for the upkeep of their official religious institutions.  An observant Jew would make every public effort to appear to be in compliance with the religious rules of the Jewish institutions, in order to be in good standing for  participation in the synagogue or Temple rituals.

St. Paul wrote as a rabbi who had been taught to be a fully observant Jew.  He was also a Roman citizen from the city of Tarsus and so he would have also complied to the rules of the Roman authorities.  But St. Paul was one who wrote an entire letter to the Roman church about a different kind of law.  He called it the law of the Spirit.  In the law of the Spirit, he said that love fulfilled the law because from the inner motive of love one would always do what is right.  He said that the law of the Spirit was in contrast to the law of the flesh.

The Beatitudes are actually a presentation of the law of the Spirit within the narrative of the words of Jesus Christ.  The Roman law and the laws of the Temple and synagogue enforced a kind of social engineering of human behaviors.  One purpose of the law is to train people to behave in ways that can keep public order and support the over riding purpose of the community.

Roman laws were for the purpose of maintain allegiance to the Emperor and especially paying taxes.  Synagogue rules were for the purpose of keeping members distinct and separate in their Jewish identity.  What Paul and Jesus both revealed is that people could be observant Roman citizens and observant Jews but still have the wrong motives within their hearts.  People could observe all of the religious rituals but at the same time neglect people who were suffering and in need.

The beatitudes reveal the divide that happens between the practice of rules and the actual law of the heart.  With the exaggerated statements of the beatitudes Jesus was trying to show how the people who practiced religious laws often missed the point of the great laws of the Torah.

What was the point of the great religious law?  Yes, it was to instruct, teach and prescribe right behaviors, but it had a greater purpose.  The greater purpose was to expose the impossibility of keeping the law of God perfectly.  While we may think that we can keep the ten commandments by loving one God, not having idols, keeping Sabbath, honoring family, respecting life,  telling the truth, not stealing or lying, the last commandment of the ten is the impossible one.  Thou shalt not covet.  You shall not have wrong desires.  And that is where we all fail.  We may not murder but we have may have anger and desire of harm toward others.  We may not kill someone but we easily call them a "stupid fool."  We may not commit adultery but we may have the wrong desire of lust for someone.  So while on the outside we can appear to be good and law abiding, on the inside we can be seething cauldrons of contrary desires.

So why are we made in the way that we are made?  Why are we given laws to follow and yet inside of us often have desires that are wildly non-compliant with the laws?  Is not this the great moral dilemma in life?  To be required to be good and perfect even while we don't always actually desire to be so?

The secret of the contradiction between desire and behaviors, is that in the moments of despair, guilt, disillusionment and failure, we are brought to seek to find the perfect Spirit of God within us.  The demand of the law brings us to seek the perfection of knowing God's Spirit within us.

When Jesus reveals the variance between wrong desire and actual behaviors, he is showing us to the redemptive moment when like the Psalmist we cry, "Create in me a clean heart O God and renew a right spirit within me."  Without having our wrong desire exposed, we might just believe that our good public religious behaviors are enough to attain.  Many people attain religious behaviors and in so doing become "holier than thou" people who use their performance to judge others harshly.

But Jesus said that if anyone looks honestly within, they will have to admit that their desires and their behaviors are often in disagreement.  Behaviors are indeed very important, especially in things like murder, lying and stealing, but when Jesus gave us the standard to be perfect like the Father in heaven is perfect, he gave us the true and indeed impossible standard.  And who can keep that standard?  The Holy Spirit.  And Jesus is one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit resides within us and become our perfect heart, even while the rest of us continually is to learn to be better in the direction towards God's perfection.

The words of the beatitudes of Jesus are shocking words because they show that God loves us so much to give us such a high standard.  God wants us to know that only through the grace of God's Spirit within us can we participate in a perfection which is derived from God and not our own.

God wants our relationship with the law to be better than the apparent way in which the clergy practice it.  Clergy have to practice religious laws; it's their job and they are paid to appear to do so.  We have to exceed the righteousness of the clergy; we need to seek the law of the Spirit.  We need to be always seeking to have a clean heart and a renewed right spirit within us.  We need to have the energy of coveting desires converted and transformed to become worship energy toward loving God and our neighbor.

Let us be thankful that Jesus exposes the desires of our hearts because he cares about how the deep energies of our lives become articulated and used for the creative words and deeds of love, kindness and justice.

May God help us to be shocked by the desires of our hearts to seek the clean heart that only God can give us when we discover the Holy Spirit in our lives.  Amen.

Sunday School, February 12, 2017 6 Epiphany A

Sunday School, February 12, 2017    6 Epiphany A

Themes:

Doing the right thing and being the good inside

Jesus told some riddles about how sometimes we have to do good things even when we don’t feel like doing them.

Sometimes we have to do chores like cleaning our rooms or washing the dishes, even though we don’t feel like doing them.

Sometimes there are laws and rules that we don’t like to follow.

What does it like not to like doing something that is good?  Why do we often not like to follow the rules and the law.

Sometimes we think that we are better than other people because we keep rules that they don’t keep.  If I know the rules of playing soccer but my little brother doesn’t.  I might think that I am better than my little brother.  I might get angry at him for breaking a soccer rule that he doesn’t even know.

But my anger at my little brother is much worse than my brother not knowing or keeping the rules of soccer.  What good is it for me to know the rules of soccer if I use the rules to be angry at my little brother.

I need to know the rules of soccer and I cannot be angry at people who don’t know the rules.  If I know the rules of soccer, then I then to be patient to teach my little brother the rules of soccer.

Jesus said that there were people who were keeping the rules but they were very proud about keeping the rules.  They were angry at people who did not know and keep the rules like they did.  He said that their anger was just as bad and harmful as those who did not know or keep the rules.

We can sometimes ruin very good rules and laws by the way that we use the rules.  If we keep the rules and think that we are so much better than people who don’t know the rules or don’t keep them, then our pride, anger and impatient is breaking the greatest rule of all, to love our neighbor.

If we keep the rules and understand how good the rules are, then instead of being angry at other people who do not keep the rules, we will be patient to show and teach other people how good the rules are.

Jesus said the rules were given as a gift to teach and share with others.  The rules and laws of God were not given to us so that we can pretend that we are better than other people who do not know or keep the rules.

We have to learn how to keep the rules and at the same time we have to have the greatest rule of love in our hearts even for people who do not know or keep the rules.

Jesus reminds us that we have to both do good and be good inside.  The purposes of training ourselves to keep the rules is to learn how to make ourselves good inside, good with love and kindness and sharing.

Sermon:

Can you tell this?  Let’s say there is a candy bar on the table that belongs to someone else.  Which is worse?  Thinking about taking the candy bar?  Or Taking the candy bar?

  Of course, taking the candy bar is worse.  If we do everything that we desire, we can get into trouble.

  Today we read some words of Jesus.  And Jesus spoke in some riddles. And sometimes his riddles are hard to understand.  In the riddle of Jesus, he said that it is just as bad to be angry with someone as it is to kill someone.  Now that is quite a riddle.  Why would Jesus say something like that?

  Jesus was talking to some people who thought that they were better than other people.  And he wanted to teach them a lesson.

  What if you came to my house and played a game with me.   Let say we were playing soccer and I kept touching the ball with my hands.  And when I touched the ball with my hands, you wanted to call a hand ball foul and get a free kick.  But what if I say to you, “This is my house and my ball and so I get to use my hands and you don’t.”  What would you say to me?  You would say to me, “That’s not fair.  I did not know your rules before we started to play and if I had known your rules, I wouldn’t have played with you.”

  So Jesus saw that some people were making special rules that other people did not know about.  And they thought they were better because they made and kept special rules for themselves that other people did not know about.

  And Jesus reminded them that they were not perfect.  And since they were not perfect they did not have the right to say they were better than other people.

  And how did Jesus show them that they were not perfect?  He said to them, “You may look good in what you do?  But what are you like inside?  Do you have anger inside of you?  Do you ever want what is not yours?  Have you ever wanted to push or shove someone?  Have you ever wanted to call someone a bad name?”

  So no matter how good we think that we are, we always have room for improvement.  Jesus reminds us that we need to be good on the inside and we need to also do good things.

  It is sometimes hard to be good on the inside.  Can you and I control all of our thoughts?  Can we control all of our emotions?  What about when someone pushes or shoves us?  Is it hard to control our feelings of anger?  Can we always control our desire to want to eat 10 pieces of candy when we know it is best if we only have one or two pieces of candy?

  So do you see the meaning of the riddle of Jesus?  Jesus was saying no matter what we do, we always need God’s help to make us good and clean inside.  And no matter how good we are, we can always be better.  And no matter how good we are, we still need God’s love and forgiveness to help us become better.  And no matter how good we are, we should not think that other people are worse than we are.

  If we are always aware of how much we need God to make our insides good, then we will be forgiving of other people.

  Can you remember this riddle of Jesus?

St. John the Divine Episcopal Church

17740 Peak Avenue, Morgan Hill, CA 95037

Family Service with Holy Eucharist

February 12, 2017: The Sixth Sunday after The Epiphany

Gathering Songs:

Hallelu, Hallelujah, O, Be Careful, I Come With Joy, He’s Got the Whole World

Liturgist: Blessed be God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit

People: And Blessed be God’s Kingdom, Now and forever. Amen.

Liturgist:  Oh God, Our hearts are open to you.

And you know us and we can hide nothing from you.

Prepare our hearts and our minds to love you and worship you.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Song: Hallelu, Hallelujah   (Christian Children’s Songbook, # 84)

Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelujah, Praise ye the Lord. 

Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelu, Hallelujah, Praise ye the Lord.  

Praise ye the Lord, Hallelujah, Praise ye the Lord, Hallelujah. 

Praise ye the Lord, Hallelujah, Praise ye the Lord.

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People:            And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

O God, the strength of all who put their trust in you: Mercifully accept our prayers; and because in our weakness we can do nothing good without you, give us the help of your grace, that in keeping your commandments we may please you both in will and deed; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Litany of Praise: Chant: Alleluia

O God, you are Great!  Alleluia

O God, you have made us! Alleluia

O God, you have made yourself known to us!  Alleluia

O God, you have provided us with us a Savior!  Alleluia

O God, you have given us a Christian family!  Alleluia

O God, you have forgiven our sins!  Alleluia

O God, you brought your Son Jesus back from the dead!  Alleluia

A Reading from the Book of Ecclesiasticus

For great is the wisdom of the Lord; he is mighty in power and sees everything; his eyes are on those who fear him, and he knows every human action. He has not commanded anyone to be wicked,
and he has not given anyone permission to sin.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord.

Peope: Thanks be to God

Please read with me from Psalm 119

Happy are they whose way is blameless, * who walk in the law of the LORD!

Happy are they who observe his decrees * and seek him with all their hearts!

Who never do any wrong, * but always walk in his ways.

.

Litany of Thanksgiving: Chant: Thanks be to God!

Litanist:

For the good earth, for our food and clothing. Thanks be to God!

For our families and friends. Thanks be to God!

For the talents and gifts that you have given to us. Thanks be to God!

For this day of worship. Thanks be to God!

For health and for a good night’s sleep. Thanks be to God!

For work and for play. Thanks be to God!

For teaching and for learning. Thanks be to God!

For the happy events of our lives. Thanks be to God!

For the celebration of the birthdays and anniversaries of our friends and parish family.

   Thanks be to God!

Liturgist:         The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew

People:            Glory to you, Lord Christ.

Jesus said, "You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, `You shall not murder'; and ‘whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.' But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, `You fool,' you will be liable to the hell of fire. So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way to court with him, or your accuser may hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. Truly I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.

Liturgist:         The Gospel of the Lord.

People:            Praise to you, Lord Christ.

Lesson –  

Children’s Creed

We did not make ourselves, so we believe that God the Father is the maker of the world.

Since God is so great and we are so small,

We believe God came into our world and was born as Jesus, son of the Virgin Mary.

We need God’s help and we believe that God saved us by the life, death and

     resurrection of Jesus Christ.

We believe that God is present with us now as the Holy Spirit.

We believe that we are baptized into God’s family the Church where everyone is

     welcome.

We believe that Christ is kind and fair.

We believe that we have a future in knowing Jesus Christ.

And since we all must die, we believe that God will preserve us forever.  Amen.

Litany of Asking:  Chant: Christ, have mercy.

For fighting and war to cease in our world. Christ, have mercy.

For peace on earth and good will towards all. Christ, have mercy.

For the safety of all who travel. Christ, have mercy.

For jobs for all who need them. Christ, have mercy.

For care of those who are growing old. Christ, have mercy.

For the safety, health and nutrition of all the children in our world. Christ, have mercy.

For the well-being of our families and friends. Christ, have mercy.

For the good health of those we know to be sick. Christ, have mercy.

For the remembrance of those who have died. Christ, have mercy.

For the forgiveness of all of our sins. Christ, have mercy.

Youth Liturgist:          The Peace of the Lord be with you always.

People:                        And also with you.

Offertory:  O Be Careful (Christian Children’s Songbook #180)

O be careful little hands what you do, O be careful little hands what you do.  There’s a Father up above and He’s looking down in love, so be care little hands what you do.

O be careful little feet where you go….

O be careful little lips what you say….

Doxology (Stand)

Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

Praise Him, all creatures here below.

Praise Him above, ye heavenly host.

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Prologue to the Eucharist.

Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, for to them belong the kingdom of God.”

All become members of a family by birth or adoption.

Baptism is a celebration of our birth into the family of God.

A family meal gathers and sustains each human family.

The Holy Eucharist is the special meal that Jesus gave to his friends to keep us together as the family of Christ.

The Lord be with you

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts

We lift them up to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to God.

It is right to give him thanks and praise.

It is very good and right to give thanks, because God made us, Jesus redeemed us and the Holy Spirit dwells in our hearts.

Therefore with Angels and Archangels and all of the world that we see and don’t see, we

   Forever sing this hymn of praise:

Holy, Holy, Holy (Intoned)

Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, God of Power and Might.  Heav’n and earth are full of your glory.  Hosanna in the highest.  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.  Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna in the Highest.

(All may gather around the altar)

Our grateful praise we offer to you God, our Creator;

You have made us in your image

And you gave us many men and women of faith to help us to live by faith:

Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah Jacob and Rachael.

And then you gave us your Son, Jesus, born of Mary, nurtured by Joseph

And he called us to be sons and daughters of God.

Your Son called us to live better lives and he gave us this Holy Meal so that when we eat

  the bread and drink the wine, we can  know that the Presence of Christ is as near to us as  

  this food and drink that becomes a part of us.

And so, Father, we bring you these gifts of bread and wine. Bless and sanctify them by your Holy Spirit to be for your people the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ our Lord.  Bless and sanctify us by your Holy Spirit so that we may love God and our neighbor.

On the night when Jesus was betrayed he took bread, said the blessing, broke the bread, and gave it to his friends, and said, “Take, eat: This is my Body, which is given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me.”

After supper, Jesus took the cup of wine, gave thanks, and said, “Drink this, all of you. This is my Blood of the new Covenant, which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Whenever you drink it, do this for the remembrance of me.”

Father, we now celebrate the memorial of your Son. When we eat this Holy Meal of Bread and Wine, we are telling the entire world about the life, death and resurrection of Christ; and that his  presence will be with us in our future.

Let this holy meal keep us together as friends who share a special relationship because of your Son Jesus Christ.  May we forever live with praise to God to whom we belong as sons and daughters.

By  Christ, and with Christ, and in Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit all honor and glory

 is yours, Almighty Father, now and for ever. AMEN.

And now as our Savior Christ has taught us, we now sing

Our Father (Sung): (Renew # 180, West Indian Lord’s Prayer)

Our Father who art in heaven:  Hallowed be thy name.

Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done: Hallowed be thy name.

Done on earth as it is in heaven: Hallowed be thy name.

Give us this day our daily bread: Hallowed be thy name.

And forgive us all our debts: Hallowed be thy name.

As we forgive our debtors: Hallowed be thy name.

Lead us not into temptation: Hallowed be thy name.

But deliver us from evil: Hallowed by thy name.

Thine is the kingdom, power, and glory: Hallowed be thy name.

Forever and ever: Hallowed be thy name.

Amen, amen, amen: Hallowed be thy name.

Amen, amen, amen, amen: Hallowed be thy name.

Breaking of the Bread

Celebrant:       Alleluia! Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.

People:            Therefore let us keep the feast.  Alleluia!

Words of Administration.

Communion Song: I Come With Joy   (Renew! # 195)

I come with joy a child of God, forgiven, loved, and free, the life of Jesus to recall, in love laid down for me.

I come with Christians, far and near to find, as all are fed, the new community of love in Christ’s communion bread.

As Christ breaks bread, and bids us share, each proud division ends.  The love that made us makes us one, and strangers now are friends.

Post-Communion Prayer

Everlasting God, we have gathered for the meal that Jesus asked us to keep;

We have remembered his words of blessing on the bread and the wine.

And His Presence has been known to us.

We have remembered that we are sons and daughters of God and brothers

    and sisters in Christ.

Send us forth now into our everyday lives remembering that the blessing in the

     bread and wine spreads into each time, place and person in our lives,

As we are ever blessed by you, O Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Closing Song: He’s Got the Whole World (Christian Children’s Songbook, # 90)

He’s got the whole world; in his hands he’s got the whole wide world in his hands.  He’s got the whole world in his hands; he’s got the whole world in his hands.

Little tiny babies. 

Brother and the sisters  

Mothers and the fathers

Dismissal:   

Liturgist: Let us go forth in the Name of Christ. 

People: Thanks be to God!  

 

Law as Covenant Transforming Love

6 Epiphany       February 16, 2014          

Deuteronomy 30:15-20  Psalm 119:1-8

1 Corinthians 3:1-9  Matt.5:21-24,27-30,33-37

Lectionary Link

  What is the purpose for the speeding laws of the State of California?  Are they to encourage all of us to transform lives towards health and public safety or are these laws given for me to proclaim my moral superiority over my wife who has received many more speeding tickets than I have? If we understand this distinction, we perhaps can appreciate the issue in the Gospel riddles of the ironic words of Jesus.
  When law is reduced to legalism, then the law is used to build a moral resume for one’s own self-promotion and as a standard to compare oneself with others who do not attain the same moral resume.

  In the ministry of Jesus, he is often portrayed as confronting those who would reduce the great law to legalism.

  The great law was given to humanity as something like a marriage vow with humanity.  It was given to express a covenant relationship between God and humanity.

  The first commandment expresses the primary commandment; love God with all our hearts, soul and mind and strength.  And by the way, if are achieving this, it will affect your entire life.  You will have to spend some time with God so it will show in Sabbath time, prayer time.  And it will help and show in your family relationships with your parents and your spouse.  And it will help in your community relationships as in being truthful, respecting life and respecting the property of others.  And it will help you be contented with your life and not have to live in envy of other or wanting what others have.  If you work on your relationship with God these issues in your community life will improve.

  But  this great love and covenantal relationship with God can be reduced to some rules that the clergy and some of their groupies are able to keep and build their specialized moral resumes to prove to everyone how much better they are than the rest of those who are not a part of the legalistic cabal.

  Jesus came to countryside people who were being told that they were excluded because they did not have the same moral resumes as did the clergy and their groupies.  Jesus came to oppose the clergy who reduced the great covenant of a love relationship with God to very exclusive moral resumes for the religious legal experts.  So these clergy who were promoted as the official representatives of God could in fact misrepresent God and as a result they could make lots of people feel as though God did not care for them or that God was in no way relevant to their lives.  If God does not care for us and is not relevant to our lives, then what’s the use?

  Jesus came to oppose this misrepresentation of God.  If the ancient covenant of God was about a love relationship, then what was the purpose of the love relationship or covenant with God?  The purpose of this ancient love relationship or covenant with God was for the transformation of the lesser being to become more like the greater Being.

  If humanity was in covenant with God then the purpose of the covenant was to make us more God-like.  And what would it be like to be more God-like in the human situation?  The excitement of this ancient covenant with God is discovering what it is like in the human situation to be more like the God with whom we have this covenant of love?

  The specific rules and laws in the context of the people of the Hebrew Scriptures were simply the effort to try to chronicle what it means in specific situations to become more God-like.  But sometimes we can begin to assume righteousness by association rather than as a matter of practice.  There were those in  Israel who came to believe in their own automatic exceptionalism because they had discovered this great covenant relationship with God and because they had become specific in their rules and laws in how this covenant could make them exceptional and different within the world in which they lived.  We, Amercians, can and have done the same thing with our Declaration of Independence and Constitution; we often are very proud of our exceptionalism because of our association with these great documents but we often have not lived up to the great principles and spirit of these amazing documents.

  Jesus was confronting people who were reducing God to a legal resume.  I feel pretty good about myself.  I’ve never killed anyone.  Good job; I can put that on my resume.  I’ve never committed adultery; so I can put that on my moral resume.  I’ve had a divorce but when I divorced I followed the specific Moses instructions in how I carried it out.  Good job, ole boy, I’ve got that on my moral resume.  I’m a pretty jolly good fellow and look that all of those moral reprobates in the countryside; they’re a bunch of moral barbarians.  I’m certainly glad that I am not them.

  And this is when Jesus came at them with full blazing exaggerated rhetoric to blast them off of their pedestals of moral superiority.   Jesus was saying to them, “Instead of using the great covenant with God for the continuous transformation of your life to be more like God, you have used your definitions of moral attainment as justification for self-congratulation and for reasons to separate yourselves from people whom you will never welcome into your company.  And these are people that you exclude in the name of God.”

  If you are in a covenant love relationship with God, you know that God is so perfect that you will always be called to better living.  Long before Sigmund Freud told us that the unconscious interior life is polymorphously perverse, it was well known by the prophets that the human heart could entertain all sorts of perversity. 

  Jesus was saying to the religious people who were certain of their righteousness, “Yes you may think that with social pressure you can clean up your external behaviors, but what about your insides.  You may not kill anyone, but how many times have you wanted you?  You may not have acted out in adulterous acts, but how many times have you wanted to?  You may not have stolen anything, but how many times have you coveted?”

  Jesus was saying to everyone, “Do not reduce the law to a legalistic moral resume.  The law is to encourage the continuous transformation of one’s life towards being more like God.  And this is a continuous and great task.  And each person is in a different phase of this transformation.  And if we give exemplar behaviors, it is only for us to encourage a moral direction.  We are not to use exemplar behaviors as the final goal of this covenantal relationship with God.”

  Jesus reminded us that yes we can sometimes look like we clean up well for public presentation.  But then there is that interior cauldron that can have more counter tendencies flying around than the heevie jeevies of Pandora’s box.

  If we reduce the great covenantal law of transformation to the appearance of good public performance we make goodness into human work and the fortune of good social upbringing.  The greater work of God involves the engagement of our interior lives, our hearts and this is where we need to experience the work of God’s grace.

  Jesus was inviting everyone to this covenantal and transformational relationship with God.  This transformational relationship was the entire purpose of the Covenant expressed in the Mosaic Law.  It was not meant to be used as the basis to be a moral resume for people to use to establish their moral superiority.

  If you and I are about legalism and about establishing how much better we than others, then Jesus offers us the same convicting words.  “Okay, you can look good on the outside, but what are you going to do about cleaning up the inside, the part that is secret and hidden?”

  So what is the point about the exaggerated words of Jesus?  The point of Jesus is that the Law can only show us what we are like inside in spite of everything that we do on the outside to clean up our behavior for proper presentation to the public for whom we care.

  And if we know the division between the interior thoughts, motivations and desire and the way in which we actually behave, we will understand our need for grace to be tolerated by God and by our honest selves.  And knowing this we will not ever over-estimate our moral resumes to criticize how badly others are failing.

  Jesus was simply telling people to be honest and know their own insides and then to find themselves in the same place as everyone, namely, in desperate need of God’s tolerating and saving grace and in need for a touch with the higher power of God to do things that we know we cannot do if we are left to ourselves alone.

  We often find ourselves in a continuous battle not to act out on interior tendencies and this common battle for each of us is what makes us always equal in the need for God’s grace.  We can receive the Law not as condemnation but as an invitation to a covenantal love relationship with God in a path of transformation.

  This is how Jesus promised that his way would fulfill the entirety of the Law.   How, in honesty about our interior lives, we can be desperate always to know God’s grace and the power of God’s Spirit for transformation of our lives.   Those who are in the path of transformation are too busy looking at the next goal to worry about the goals which others may or may not be achieving.

  Yes, there is juridical law for the governing of society and we need to follow those laws; but the covenantal law of God in Jesus Christ is given to us for the transformation of our lives through the continual awareness of the need for grace.  I’m here today, because I need God’s grace; will you join me in this need today?  Amen.