Matthew 5:21-37
“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire. So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.
“It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
“Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to the Lord what you have sworn.’ But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.
Grace, mercy and peace are yours through Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. The lesson for meditation is St. Matthew chapter five verses 21 through 37. The Gospel lesson which is already been read, why is your pastor gone today? Well, conventional pastor our wisdom is to get us up whenever thorny topics come up in the lectionary. Indeed, today one hardly feels like saying this is the gospel, the good news of our Lord after the gospel lesson. Here we read of anger, lust, divorce, and taking an oath in court. Again, I asked why is your pastor whisked away in the trunk of an unmarked car this week? Well, for good reasons at your service, but the strength of the law today prepares you for the full constellation of the gospel. Please be joined me then to see how these four topics anger, lust, divorce, in the oath, teach you to walk in the way of the Lord, and to seek Him with your whole heart. You have heard that it was said, but I say to you, with these words, Jesus interprets the law on the basis of his own authority. San Agustin said, The New Testament is in the old concealed, the old is in the new revealed. That is to say, the Old Testament you have heard gives you a shadow of the New Testament, and the new But I say to you gives us the fulfillment of the Old Jesus, then the New Testament in the flesh, amplifies the laws of old, he turns its volume all the way up. He moves from action to contrition, from outward compliance to inward attitude, by enlarge, to simplify from keeping the law with your hands, which is what the Jews of his day did to keeping the law with the penitent heart. And so Jesus preaches the law this way, again, turning the volume way up, to drive the religious Old Adam, yes, the sinner in you to despair, and to drop dead at the foot of the cross where there is life. And so you have heard it said, Do not murder, and whoever murderers will be liable to judgment. And now you're thinking to yourself, or you might be thinking, Well, I'm off the hook on that one, Jesus. I haven't strangled, stabbed, shot or any kicked anyone in the shins? Well, at least not since sixth grade recess back in grammar school. And I'm generally kind to people and I help the old ladies cross the street. And I would never purposefully harm anyone in his body. And then Jesus comes with his New Testament fulfillment. But I say to you, yes, I say to you that everyone who is angry, angry, yes, angry with his brother will be liable to judgment. And whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council. And whoever says you fool will be liable to the hell of fire. Yes, that little altercation that you had in the parking lot. That flash of road rage of the guy who cut you off on the eighth or the five, that simmering anger that you are harboring, overwhelmed, whatever, if Jesus had not become the murderer in your place, the hell of fire would be yours for yes, we have all been unrighteous really angry with our brother. Moreover, you have heard of old that it was said do not commit adultery. And again, you might be tempted to think well, I've got that one covered. You might be thinking I'm faithful in my marriage. I have never strayed, I've always come home on time and so forth. True story. A man once bragged to his pastor, I would never cheat on my wife. And the pastor actually said you just haven't met the right woman yet. And and he's absolutely write for no one is above temptation and the pride of saying I would never comes before the fall. Almost every man in the crowd who heard Jesus that day probably thought he was in the clear after all, they stoned adult urges they stoned adulterers to death. That is to say they set the penalty so high it made it unlikely anyone would ever be actually guilty of physical adultery. But again, I say to you Yes, I say to you, what about the heart? Everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Yes, that's right. Even a look with a live or online at the beach at a club. It doesn't matter. Guilty as charged for the law has no loopholes, no mercy, no easy way out Guilty as charged. And more. You have heard that it was said, Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce. The Jews of Jesus day, placed the certificate of divorce into the hands of the wife in front of three rabbis who served in witnesses. And then the man would say three times, I divorce you, I divorce you, I divorce you. Okay, sounds a little bit crazy. And yet we have something just as crazy, namely, no fault, divorce. Thank you, California. It's a detour around repentance for nobody is without fault and a moral failing that is divorce. But I say to you, yes, I say to you, once again, cutting through the outward justification what I have done with my hands to the heart, everyone who divorces his wife, except on the grounds of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery. And whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery. Yes, in the thinking of the one who made us male and female and said, the two shall become one flesh. There is no divorce that can ever be legitimized much less sanctified by a piece of paper for divorce and adultery, go hand in hand and call us all to repent. You have heard that it was said, Do not swear falsely, but perform to the lord of what you have sworn? Well, once again, you might be thinking, Well, I do pretty well there Jesus, I tell the truth, nothing but the truth. So help me God. And when I pledge to give a certain amount of money, I do it. When I say I swear to God, I need it. And I do it. And I certainly would never ever cheat on my tax return. Thus the Old Testament, and its misunderstandings in Jesus day of thinking you could actually keep the law. But I say to you, yes. Jesus says to you, don't swear at all, by heaven, by the Earth, or by the hairs of your head. The very fact that you and I ever should place our left hand on the Bible and raise our right hand and say, so help me God reminds us that we are as senators, people of the line who could use a little legitimate fact checking now and then yes, that you have to put under oath, that sometimes we have to coerce the truth out of people says that we are by nature, liars, liars to the core and the half truth, the untruth, the big fish story and is called that comes out of the sinful mouth much more easily than the whole truth. And once again, it calls you not to say I've kept it but to read.
So there it is, anger, lust, divorce, and they taking an oath for tough topics. For guilty verdicts and date, I say not a confirmation verse to be found anywhere in today's Gospel lesson. And for good reasons for the coming 40 days of Lent. You have heard, but I say to you, so here you have a very deep diagnosis, don't you? The one that you probably don't want to hear, at least as a sinner. But sin is not superficial and topical, it is deep. And it is totally, totally an utterly corrupt. It's not just a matter of a bad word here, or a bad thought there a bad or sinful action now and then though that's part of the scheme. Sin is a deeply corrupted orientation of the heart since Adam's fall. And I dare say that no one left the sermon on the mount that day, at least this portion of it terribly happy feeling justified about himself. And anyone who left the Sermon on the Mount thinking, Well, I'm doing pretty well here. God must be pleased with me, was not listening very carefully. So Moses on Mount Sinai, about 1500 years before Jesus gave the Law in summary form, the 10 commandments that Jesus amplifies here, Jesus amplify them to make sure you understand their depth and you see the need for repentance. And let us add this morning that about 1500 years after Jesus, Martin Luther expanded on the 10 commandments, for the same reason, take a look at his explanations. In the Small Catechism, we should fear and love God so that we do not but we do again fear and love God and this is what you Do not to do. And this is what you are then equipped to do in Christ. And there's that little word, but again, we do not, but we do. So we do not hurt or harm our neighbor in his body in any way. Again, I dare say we've never murdered anyone, but you can hurt and harm your neighbor in various ways, but rather help and befriend him in every bodily need. So, for Moses in the 10 commandments, Jesus amplifying them on the Sermon on the Mount, and Luther explaining them in the Small Catechism, we see that not an iota, not a.we would say not a word or a continent would ever pass from the law until all was fulfilled. Why? Why do we Lutherans, best known for the fullness of the gospel also love the law. Because every loophole in the law, every erased Iota, or dot, every self justification takes away something from Jesus death on the cross, to chisel away at the law and say, well, this just doesn't apply to us in a modern culture or whatever the next excuse of the day may be to hate the law. Every one of those gradually chips away at the gospel as well, until the cross is no longer preached. In the fullness of the gospel then and for the sake of the fullness of the cross. Jesus came to fulfill the law completely, not just in the places where we need a little help even more. So. He came to save you from your unrighteous anger through his own righteous anger against all that is against God's word, especially in cleansing and clearing out the temple that would once again be a place where the Lord is worshipped. Jesus came to rescue you from pig and unholy lust, by making your salvation his greatest desire, the thing that he wanted the most was to save you for he does not want to live without you his own dear child, and divorce. Recall this language is used in the Epistles where we read that Jesus is faithful to you, his own bride, even when you are unfaithful to him, by your own sin, He loves you that much and he would never ever divorce you. And his work transcends any concept of taking an oath for JESUS IS TRUTH incarnate, and he simply cannot lie or deceive. I baptize you. He says, I forgive you all your sins. He says through your pastor, this is my body. This is my blood of the New Testament. Oh, this is no right hand on the Bible and take an oath but rather truthful words from the truth made flesh who stood before Pilate. And as you recall, Pilate asked, what is truth, unaware that the answer was standing right in front of him not so much in words, but in the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ, who is the truth made flesh. This, then, is the gospel in today's Gospel lesson. Jesus became sin for you dearly beloved, that you might become the righteousness of God. He died under the crushing weight of your sins which are many, and he rose from the dead triumphant over sin and death. And you in turn, live this out through daily repentance and faith for you, forgiven, lest and redeemed, live under Him in His kingdom, a kingdom where you are free to walk in his ways to seek Him with your whole heart. For His Word is your light and your salvation. God granted unto you this epiphany for Jesus sake, on the peace of God, which passeth all understanding keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai