SEVENTH SUNDAY after PENTECOST

February 20, 2011

Text: Matthew 5:38-48

Pastor Dale G. Bauer           

Last week we looked at Jesus’ words from the Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon on the Mount are words of Jesus to his disciples and followers. They are both sublime and difficult. I suggested that these words of Jesus are the road not taken. I used Robert Frost’s poem, “The Road Not Taken.”

            Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

            And sorry I could not travel both

In the poem he takes the one less traveled and ends the poem by saying that it made all the difference in his life.

I believe the Sermon on the Mount is the road less traveled. And we’re back on that road, again. Jesus calls us to make the decision to travel it. And it can make all the difference in our lives.

The Sermon on the Mount. It’s is a phrase I’ve been throwing around for the last three Sundays. What is the Sermon on the Mount? Here’s the traditional site. Doesn’t look like much of a mountain to me. Looks more like a hill gently sloping to the Sea of Galilee. But Matthew is clear that Jesus went to a mountain as he began the Beatitudes. That’s because on mountains the distance between heaven and earth is thin and God speaks. You know, as in Mt. Sinai, where God makes a covenant with the Hebrews. So, this little hill, a mountain, is the place from which God speaks in Christ Jesus. And the stuff that follows is important.

I’ve said this road is a tough one. (That’s why it is not taken often). Let’s go:

            You have heard that it was said,

            “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.”

            ... But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek,

            turn the other also.

Jesus suggests here that we go beyond Lex Talionis. The Talio is the maximum an injured party could exact from the one who harmed you. You find the principal in Exodus and Deuteronomy. Lex Talionis was between two parties, to be settled by the parties, with intervention of the state. Talio limits. So, if someone puts out your eye, the maximum justice you could exact from the perpetrator is his eye. Not his arm or leg, or beat the you-know-what out of him. It was written for an age when families took care of justice. In that time, if you killed me, my brother would be responsible for justice, up to and including killing you. But that’s all.

Today, we have handed justice over to the larger community, the state. If you killed me, the police would arrest you, the courts would judge you, and prescribe justice. Justice comes from your peers, not your family.

Jesus understands the law, and raises it to a new level. Lex Talionis rests on getting even. Jesus is asking where getting even gets us. The principle is that we ought to worry less about ourselves and more about others. He is saying that from the perspective of the kingdom, where God promises life with him and life in the future, we can live with a little less personal satisfaction. Jesus says, don’t spend your life trying to get even. Getting even, unfortunately, escalates into a spiral of violence.

Now, I am saying these words. They are hard for me, because I am the guy watching the latest crime drama and wanting to put a bullet into the head of the obvious bad guy, getting even and satisfied.

Next.

                                                Love Your enemies.

Jesus again quotes Lex Talionis from Leviticus 19:18, Love your neighbor and the Rabbinic commentary on it, hate your enemy. Makes sense. Then he turns it around: it’s easy to love your neighbor. It is not so easy to love your enemy. But he implies that everyone is your neighbor, not your enemy, so love him.

Martin Luther King, Jr., wrote a sermon on these words from the Sermon on the Mount. He gave reasons for loving your enemies. These are: (1) Returning hate for hate only multiplies hate. (2) Hate damages the hater. (3) Only love transforms the hater. The reason I quote Martin Luther King, Jr., is that he lived out a creed of loving enemies. And the transformation that love brought about in the race relations in this country over a relatively short amount of time is remarkable.

You can see why the Sermon on the Mount is the road less traveled. And it takes thought and courage to take it. So think upon these words. The other road is much easier, seems so much more natural, and takes very little hard thinking.

Amen.