13th February 2011----Sixth Sunday after Epiphany
“How to Live as Christians today”
Matthew 5:21-37
Wherever you go, people are complaining about the quality of life these days. Folk are harking back to the “good old days” when things were solid, durable, and dependable. Signs of decay are everywhere---the dress that begins to unravel before you even wear it; the $150 chair that comes from the store with a wobbly leg; the $8,000 car that cannot be tuned to run smoothly. The good old days, the good old days, take me back to the good old days! When the conversation turns from durable goods to morality, the good old days begin to look even better. A generation or two ago people had deep roots in local communities. They went to church more often, or so it seemed. People knew right from wrong. And in a crisis, there was a clearer sense of what a person had to do or leave undone.In those days, so it seemed, it was a lot easier to make a decision.
In those people called the Pharisees, the early Christians in Matthew’s day had a fine example of morality. We frequently allow the criticisms of the Pharisees in the gospels to blind us to their dedication and obedience. For them the Law of God came first. They knew the difference between right and wrong. On top of all the taxes they paid, Pharisees donated a tenth of their income to charity. Many became martyrs under foreign rule rather than break the Sabbath regulations.
So we share the confusion of those first century believers over the troubling sayings of Jesus, “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Notice that Jesus does not deny the righteousness of the Pharisees. But he does say that his own disciples must take a further step. Jesus’ injunction is as baffling to us as it was to his first hearers. How are we to live as Christians today?
Our daily life constantly requires choices. We can well identify with the man hired by a farmer to work for him. The farmer told him his first task would be to paint the barn and said it should take him about three days to complete. But the hired man was finished in one day. The farmer set him to cutting wood, telling him it would require about four days. The hired man finished in a day and a half, to the farmer's amazement. The next task was to sort out a large pile of potatoes. He was to arrange them into three piles: seed potatoes, food for the hogs, and potatoes that were good enough to sell. The farmer said it was a small job and shouldn't take long at all. At the end of the day the farmer came back and found the hired man had barely started. "What's the matter here?" the farmer asked. "I can work hard, but I can't make decisions!" replied the hired man.
What should I do now? I can’t make up my mind. Should I do this, or should I do that? Before I even get to the breakfast table I've made any number of small decisions. Admittedly most of them appear to be of no real importance at all! Generally it matters little whether my clothing for the day runs in the bluegrey colour scheme, or whether I choose something brown. No matter what the ads may wish to claim, the brand of toothpaste I squeeze out on to my toothbrush, or the kind of shampoo I use for my hair, does little to affect my day. Just the same it requires a decision. A choice must be made!
But there are other much more decisive moments in my life, when the choices we make seem to have much greater consequences. There was that decisive moment when my parents and sponsors brought me to be baptized. There God claimed me through his amazing transforming grace. There was that act of commitment made when at my confirmation I promised faithfulness to the Lord by whose spirit my faith and life have been continually made sure and strong. There was that day when you and someone else promised faithfulness to one another in that choosing by which we become husband and wife. It was an event in our life such as this when the choice we made had a significant impact on shaping the future contours of our living and being.
Today’s Gospel calls for similarly decisive choices. Jesus calls us, to keep our word, to love our spouse, to care for our neighbour! We have the hard sayings in Matthew chapter 5 about turning the other cheek, going the second mile, and loving our enemies! We also know the human situations into which we’re thrown. If they are ambiguous----and they often are----there is homework to be done on issues like racial justice, abortion and world peace. The choices are not easy. Sometimes we feel torn between genuine needs. A lonely widower next door needs a friend. A neglected child down the street needs a parent figure. A handicapped person needs assistance shopping. An elderly grandmother needs a ride to church. A friend going through a divorce needs hours of active listening. And, even more difficult, you and I are faced with choices, not between two rights, but between the lesser of two evils.
In the end the only thing to do is to pray to the Holy Spirit to guide and direct us! Trusting in a Christ who risked his life for us, we take a risk, we commit ourselves, we act boldly! Never knowing for certain if our actions are in line with God’s will, we trust in his forgiving love! As we struggle to do what he calls us to do, he continues to love and forgive us!
Our Old Testament text sets us in the midst of a critical decisionmaking time, when the people of God were urged to choose wisely and well. It was just after their long awaited entry into the Promised Land. Here was life at the crossroads. All around them lay the bait of the Canaanite gods and false securities of the new land. The time had come to make a choice. Would they be faithful to their God and to his commandments? Would they walk in the ways laid down by God, by loving him and each other? Or would they choose the way of disobedience? Israel was reminded that her future depended on a choice of singleminded loyalty to God! ---the God who in his covenant had made his offer of the blessing of life, but expected the obedient response of a people who walked in his ways.
Are we not also today at a new turning point in our history as a nation? We are losing faith that technology can produce the good life. We have lost faith in our politicians. Our attitudes and feelings reveal that we have grown discontented and confused. Yet, when we face an election, we must make a choice! The principle applies to the church as well. The life and well-being of your congregation is due certainly to God’s love and favour. But also it is due to a host of very carefully worked out choices made by many dedicated members in the past. There was for example the decision to build a church. And whether our church will have a life-filled tomorrow is to a certain extent dependant upon the kind of choices made today!
To be sure, this business of choosing is a serious business. Even today we see things before us as good and bad results of our choices, in our life, our marriages, our family and our church. But there's something mighty comforting about it all when we realize that, before, during and after our choosing, God has chosen us to receive his spirit by which we are led to life. The Christian witness is that God willed to love us in that one whom we know as Jesus the Christ.
As we live as Christians today, Jesus calls us to make those hard decisions—to keep our word, to love our spouse, to care for our neighbour. As we struggle to do it, he continues to love and forgive us. Sooner or later these issues will hit home to us. When they do, pray God that we hear the words of Jesus—loving words, even though with a cutting edge, “You have heard it said...but I say to you...” Then---however he may finish this sentence, he will take you back---one way or another---- to the old, old law of God: I say to you...love one another, as I have first loved you.” Amen.
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