Raising the Bar

            In last week’s gospel lesson, we heard Jesus say, “I did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill the law.”  Another way to understand this is to hear Jesus saying, “I have come not to destroy the law but to restore the spirit of the law.”  In today’s section of Jesus’ famous Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is reminding the people of the true intent behind the laws that God has given to his people Israel.

            The main trouble with the people of Israel is that the law is being used in a way that it was not intended to be used.  Instead of using the law as a way to build moral character, as a way to keep the people in communion with God and neighbor; the law has turned into a means of self-justification; the law has turned into weapon, a weapon to convict others of their sins, rather than a tool to help the people recognize their own sinfulness so that they may repent and return to the Lord.  Later in this sermon Jesus asks, “Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye but do not see the log in your own eye?”   

            Simply put, the law is being used only to convict the worst kind of sinners but those who are moderate sinners get off free because at least they aren’t doing anything illegal! They say, it’s okay to be angry just as long as you don’t kill someone.  It’s okay to lust after another in your heart just as long as you don’t act on that sexual desire.  It’s okay to get a divorce as long as there is a proper legal document.  It’s okay to swear as long as it isn’t done falsely.

            I’ll never forget what a close friend of mine said after he did a two-month Bible study in a local prison.  I asked him, “What was the biggest surprise?”  He said he was surprised to learn that he could have been one of those men sitting in prison. 

I was sort of taken back and asked him to clarify.  I said, “But you are a good guy, what do you mean?”  He went on to tell me that he felt like one of the lucky ones.  He said the only difference was that he didn’t get caught. My friend also recognized that he lived in a system where even if he did get caught, then he would have the means to get out of jail.

In the end, my friend felt as if he was just as deserving as a prison cell as those to whom he ministered to.  Even though he didn’t get caught, he still knew the sin of his own heart and his own capacity for evil.

In order to restore the spirit of the law, in order to remind the people that the law is a wonderful tool and not a weapon, Jesus must reinterpret the law.  Instead of seeing the law as something only criminals need to worry about, Jesus is raising the bar so that even the righteous Pharisees are convicted of their sins.  Last week we heard Jesus say, “unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Today’s gospel lesson shows us what it looks like to exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees.  Jesus says it isn’t good enough to say you haven’t committed murder; you must also refrain from anger.  And if your anger threatens to kill a relationship, you must be reconciled with that person before approaching God at the altar. 

Jesus says it isn’t good enough to say you haven’t committed adultery; you must also refrain from looking at another in lust.  Jesus goes as far as to say, “if your right hand causes you to sin, then cut it off; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to go into hell.”     

If we take this passage from Jesus too literally, then I’m not sure we could have communion this morning.  But if you want to go that route then you have about 15 minutes to either go out into the world and be reconciled to every person you have offended or at the very least start cutting off limbs.  But I’m not sure that is what Jesus is hoping that you take away this morning.

Our gut reaction is to simply take these sayings from Jesus as a prescription on how to live a better life.  While these sayings are certainly good advice for a better life, the problem is that we are people who do not take the medicine as prescribed. 

We might start off strong but at some point along the way we will miss a dose and then start unraveling.  After a few days, we stop taking the antibiotics, ditch the prescription, and believe we can continue to get better on our own.  Through the narrative of scripture, it is clear that humanity cannot sustain life on its own.  Like we affirm in our baptismal covenant, in our commitment to live in God’s kingdom, we need God’s help. 

The Sermon on the Mount is especially difficult to apply because it is calling us mortal creatures to a standard that can only be accomplished in heaven, in a place free from sin.  While I have no doubt that you desire this good life that God puts before you through the law, we are a people who are incapable of choosing this good life because the temptation of the flesh is too strong.  Eventually, we will run out of gas.  We cannot exceed the righteousness of even the Pharisees. 

So what is the remedy?  The short answer is Jesus.  But what does that look like in real life?  In tangible terms, how is Jesus saving our life today?  How is Jesus helping us get out of the ditch that we have dug for ourselves?  How is Jesus ending the desires of the flesh?

For me, the cross of Christ is the tangible way in which God helps us out of the ditch.  First of all, the cross is a gruesome display of the severity of human sin.  The desires of the flesh, the desire for power, wealth, prestige, even the desire to pursue our own good works not only kill God through a terrible display of injustice but our worldly desires end up destroying the image of our common humanity as we see when Jesus is stripped from any dignity and hung on the cross. 

The cross should emblazon in our minds the truth that human sin will ultimately cut us off from God and each other.  The cross is the painful reminder that over the course of time humanity is destined to a world of destruction. The cross is the place where the whole world is silenced, the place where the whole world is put to shame, the place where not even the Pharisee can say, “I am not a part of the problem.” 

But the good news begins to take a hold when we also see the cross as the place where both the prisoner and the Pharisee kneel before God to beg mercy. The good news is proclaimed to all the world on the cross when Jesus utters some of his last words, “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.” 

Like the opening collect says, God’s help comes only when we have the grace to know we can do nothing good without God.  And in my experience, I am only able to cling to grace when I am made low, when I am humbled, and there is no place more humbling than the place at the foot of the cross.

Simply put, grace is a gift first recognized at the foot of the cross.  Grace is not something human wisdom and intellect can acquire.  Instead, grace can only be accessed through God’s foolishness on the cross which is wiser than human wisdom.  

At the foot of the cross, humanity is shown that their sin is much more devastating than they could have ever imagined.  But the cross is also the place where humanity is shown that God’s love and compassion is bigger than they could have hoped – Father, forgive them.

And the good news gets better.  Jesus lives beyond the cross.  Jesus makes a world that was once unavailable because of human sin available now because of God’s faithfulness despite our unfaithfulness.   Jesus is the One whose life, death, and resurrection make our hearts want to follow the way of life and peace. Jesus is the One who makes us exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees not by demanding we follow a law we can never live up to but instead by following him – the only One who is righteous before the law. 

Jesus calls us to righteousness first by humbling us at the foot of the cross where we are allowed to die to our vain and destructive attempts to be perfect and rise to a life where God makes us perfect through his great love poured out for us in his Son our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Beloved, may Jesus’ perfect love poured out for you on the cross make your hearts and minds love to do the will of God in both word and deed.  Amen.