The Sixth Sunday after Epiphany
February 12, 2023
Matthew 5:21-37
The Savior’s Sermon— Live a Holy Life!
21“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ 22But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.
23“Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.
25“Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still with him on the way, or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. 26I tell you the truth, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.
27“You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ 28But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.
31“It has been said, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’ 32But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to become an adulteress, and anyone who marries the divorced woman commits adultery.
33“Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.’ 34But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; 35or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. 36And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. 37Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ’Yes, and your ‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one. (NIV1984)
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
Have you ever noticed how people try to “re-define” God? They try to bring God down to a level where they can understand Him, where they can understand what He does and what He says. They try to take the God who asked His servant Jeremiah the rhetorical question, “Do I not fill heaven and earth?” (Jeremiah 23:24) and make Him “small enough” to “fit” between their ears.
As we conclude our sermon series on The Savior’s Sermon we come to a portion of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount which reveals to us that people’s attempt to “redefine” God and what He says so that it “fits” inside their head— is not new. This futile attempt to “re-define” God and what He says has been going on for at least over 2,000 years! Since we are not immune from that type of thinking we need to listen very closely as our Savior says to us: Live a Holy Life!
Our text for this morning hinges on what Jesus had just said to His disciples, “For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.” I’m not sure if we can imagine the powerful impact of that statement! The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were considered to be the “best of the best” when it came to being “holy.” They were commonly seen as the most “religious” and the most “righteous” people you could ever meet. This is what the Pharisees and the teachers of the law maintained concerning themselves. This is what God’s people— including Jesus’ disciples!— were led to believe from little on. When it came to God’s holy Law the Pharisees and the teachers of the law firmly believed that they were doing everything that was necessary to earn their own salvation. They were fulfilling everything God demanded of His people. They were living examples of everything God wanted His people to be. For Jesus to tell His disciples that unless their “righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven” — well that was a soul-shattering statement!
To open the eyes of His disciples so that they could see the sharp contrast between the “righteousness,” the “holiness” that the Pharisees and the teachers of the law claimed to have and the “righteousness,” the “holiness” that God requires us to have, Jesus uses four powerful examples of how people try to “re-define” what God says in order to make it appear as through they are living “holy” lives. In each of these examples Jesus starts with an ”accepted” understanding of God’s Law, a teaching that everyone “assumes” to be true and then He fills them in on the Truth, God’s Truth.
Jesus begins by focusing our attention on the Fifth Commandment. Look at what our Savior says in verses 21 and 22 of our text, “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder,’ and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment. But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.”
“You have heard that it was said…but I tell you.” Is Jesus questioning or dismissing or downplaying what we know as the Fifth Commandment? Not at all! He is the One who gave the Commandments to His people on Mt. Sinai! What Jesus is doing is calling out the commonly accepted interpretation of the Fifth Commandment, the interpretation that was held and taught by the Pharisees and the teachers of the law. What the Pharisees and the teachers of the law maintained was that as long as you did not actually physical murder anyone you can say that you have kept the Fifth Commandment. Sounds familiar doesn’t it! Many people today hold to that same misunderstanding of God’s Command: “Do not murder!”
Here in His sermon Jesus emphasizes that keeping the Fifth Commandment begins in the heart. Even if we never physically take someone’s life, harboring hatred and anger towards someone in our heart is just as evil and just as sinful in God’s eyes as murdering someone! The same is true for using spiteful words or a disdainful sneer towards someone. While the world may not consider that on the same level as committing murder— God does! In order for us to live a life that God considers to be “holy” we cannot allow any anger or any hatred toward anyone to take up residence in our heart!
To help us see just how serious this is, Jesus goes on to emphasize the lengths that we need to be willing to go to get rid of any hate and any anger that is in our heart. Look at verses 23 to 26 of our text. If we have sinned against someone else or if someone else has sinned against us we need to do everything we can to “reconcile” with that person. If our heart is burdened with anger or hatred the guilt of that unrepented sin prevents us from worshiping God in a way that is pleasing and acceptable to Him. In order for us to live a life that God considers to be “holy” we must do everything we can to live in peace and harmony with others— especially our brothers and sisters in the faith!
Now look at verses 27 and 28 of our text. Jesus continues to emphasize sins of the heart by focusing our attention on the Sixth Commandment. He says, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
“You have heard that it was said…But I tell you.” Once again Jesus is not questioning or dismissing or downplaying the Command that He Himself gave to His children. What He is doing is calling out the commonly accepted interpretation of the Sixth Commandment— an interpretation that is widely held by many people right down to this very day, namely, You can look, but don’t touch! That is how many people understand the Sixth Commandment. As long as you do not actually commit the physical act of adultery— you’re okay! “Not true!” says the God who gave us the Sixth Commandment!
Just as harboring hatred or anger in your heart towards someone is equal to murder in God’s eyes, so also, simply looking at someone with lust in our heart is equal to committing adultery in God’s eyes. Looking at someone with lust in our heart is certainly quite common in our day and age, isn’t it. The world has long recognized that “sex sells.” Whether it’s pornography on the Internet or a half-time shows during a football game Satan is the expert at getting people to allow their heart to be filled with lust.
To help us see just how serious this is, Jesus goes on to emphasize the lengths that we need to be willing to go to get rid of anything and everything that could cause us to violate the Sixth Commandment— whether physically or in our heart. Look at verses 29 and 30 of our text. Using powerful graphic language Jesus makes it unmistakably clear that we cannot allow anything to jeopardize our eternal salvation— not even our eyes or our hands! Is Jesus advocating that we literally “gouge” out our eyes or “cut off” our hands if they are leading us to lust after someone? Of course not! Remember that Jesus Himself taught us, “Out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander” (Matthew 15:19). What Jesus is saying is that in order for us to live the “holy” life that God requires, we need to banish lust from both our lives and our hearts!
Jesus then goes on in His sermon to talk about something very closely related to the Sixth Commandment— marriage and divorce. He says, “It has been said, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to become an adulteress, and anyone who marries the divorced woman commits adultery.”
Again we have the contrast, “It has been said…But I tell you.” The problem Jesus is addressing here is that the Pharisees and the teachers of the law had a very casual attitude towards marriage and divorce— not unlike the casual attitude that many people have in our own day and age. While Moses did allow a man to divorce his wife by simply giving her a “certificate of divorce,” Jesus reminded the Pharisees that Moses did this “because your hearts were hard” (See Matthew 19:1ff). While the Pharisees and the teachers of the law were willing to misuse Moses’ command to permit a man to divorce his wife for just about any and every reason, Jesus reminds us that “adultery” — and along with it desertion (See 1 Corinthians 7:15)— were the only situations that allow for a divorce to take place.
To help us see just how serious divorce is in God’s eyes, Jesus goes on to explain that if a man divorces his wife without Scriptural justification he stigmatizes her in the eyes of others. Other people will assume that she had been unfaithful to her husband and is therefore an adulteress. And if another man marries her, people will assume that he is marrying an adulteress— which would make them both guilty of adultery. In order for us to live a life that God considers to be “holy” we must have a proper God-pleasing view on marriage and divorce.
The final point that Jesus emphasizes in His sermon focuses our attention on the Second Commandment. Look at verses 33 and 34. Jesus says, “Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.’ But I tell you, do not swear at all.”
Once again we have that pattern, “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago…But I say to you.” Once again Jesus is pointing out how the Pharisees and the teachers of the law were misusing and misapplying what God says in His Word. In Leviticus 19:12 God tells His people, “Do not swear falsely by my name and so profane the name of your God. I am the LORD.” The Pharisees had developed an elaborate system whereby some oaths were less binding than others. This was their way of not being bound by their word and/or avoid telling the whole truth.
While it is not wrong to take an oath (Jesus took an oath when He stood in front of the Sanhedrin— see Matthew 26:62-64) Jesus reminds His disciples that they are to be people of such high integrity that other people can trust what they say— without having to take an oath! To help us see just how serious this is Jesus says, “Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No, No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.” In order for us to live a life that God considers to be “holy” we cannot do or say anything that would lead others not to trust us and what we say!
So let’s summarize, shall we. When our Savior says to us in His sermon Live a Holy Life! He expects that we never harbor any anger or any hatred in our heart toward anyone; we never allow lust to enter into our heart; we must have a God-pleasing view of marriage and divorce; and that we are people of such impeccable integrity that others will always be able to trust what we say.
Based on what our Savior says here in His sermon, I have failed. I am not able to live the “holy” life my Savior expects me to live. How about you? Based on what Jesus says to you here in His sermon have you been living the “holy” life He expects you to live? Before you answer that question remember that all the way through this portion of His Sermon on the Mount Jesus has been talking about sins of the heart— and He is able to see into the deepest recesses of your heart! Does this lead us to despair? Not at all! It leads us to lift up our eyes to the cross and listen as our Savior proclaims, “It is finished! I have reached my goal! Your sins are forgiven!” It leads us to eagerly receive the Sacrament of Holy Communion where our Savior gives us His true body and His true blood as visible tangible assurance that all of our sins are completely forgiven. It leads us to ask the Holy Spirit to help us grow in our faith so that we can grow in our ability to live the “holy” life our Savior expects. All of that then leads us to say:
To God be the glory!
Amen