A Matter of the Heart

Wow! I think that is probably an appropriate response to the words of Jesus here. Wouldn’t you agree? I mean these are some strong words on some strong topics. Anger, Lust, Oaths; Jesus doesn’t hold anything back. Not exactly the kinds of things that you might expect to hear a sermon on the day before Valentine’s day, and yet here we are.

Remember that as we are looking at these readings there are a few things that we need to keep in mind. The first is that we are still in the season of Epiphany and celebrating how we see God revealed in Jesus, and Jesus revealed in his people. The second is that these verses are part of a sermon that Jesus gave, that we know as the Sermon on the Mount. So they would not necessarily be read in isolation like we are doing today. Keeping that in mind helps us in our understanding and interpretation of the reading for today.

Remember also that Jesus is talking about living life in God’s kingdom and what that life looks like. We have been talking about what it means to be blessed. Being blessed in God’s kingdom is truly being blessed even though it will not look that way in the eyes of the world. As we live life in this kingdom we live life as God’s people in the world; we live life for the sake of the world. Therefore we are salt and light.

So these next verses fill out that picture a little bit more as Jesus tells us what life looks like in that kingdom. But really, we should go back to verses 17 – 20. This is where Jesus tells us that he has not come to get rid of the law, but to fulfill it. And that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the religious leaders and gurus, well you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

It is at this point that he begins to talk about anger, lust, divorce and oaths. And what Jesus is getting at here is not just the way that we live our lives and the outward appearances that we give. But what is ultimately at issue here is our hearts. What is in the heart? That is what is going on. See, this ends up being the perfect Valentine’s day text.

Living out our faith (righteousness) is not just a matter of doing things on the outside and making sure that we are going through the right actions and the right motions. The religious leaders of Jesus’ day took God’s law and turned it into nothing more than a check list. Do this, don’t do that. It is not just a matter of a good appearance. But what is really important, and what really matters is where the heart is. Righteousness must exceed the simple keeping of a check list. Even though the list that was made was not necessarily an easy one to follow.

For Jesus we do not keep the law in our outward actions, but in our hearts. So where is your heart? How are you doing? How are we doing? Don’t worry. You don’t have to raise your hand or fill out the interest sheet, you can answer the questions in your heart.

Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said do not murder. But I tell you do not be angry with a brother or sister.” Most of us have never killed another person, but how many of us have been selfishly angry? Maybe you didn’t like something that a neighbor or a family member did. Maybe you didn’t like something that took place in a worship service or at a sporting event. How did you respond? What did you do? Do we insult, or complain or hold grudges or gossip?

Perhaps you have heard, or have even said at some point in your life that sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me. Of course we know full well that words can cause a lot of pain. And that is the point. What we say, especially about others is a reflection of what is in our hearts. Do you see the connection here? Do you see why this matters and is important?

Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said do not commit adultery. But I tell you that if you look at another with lust in your heart you have committed adultery.” Believe it or not, in Jesus’ day marriage was not as highly valued as it is today. I know that that is not saying a lot. For a lot of people marriage was not about love or commitment or God’s intent for how human beings are to live life together or a reflection of God’s love and relationship with his people. For a lot of people marriage was a financial thing that was entered into for money. So you can imagine that there were a lot of unhappy people as a result looking for a fix.

The Message does this nicely. “Don’t think you’ve preserved your virtue by staying out of bed. Your heart can be corrupted by lust even quicker than your body. “ Again we are talking about a matter of the heart. What we do in our hearts, in our thoughts in this case, is just as important as what we do in real life. It matters. It is important.

We see this same idea come out in Jesus’ words about oaths. The point is that we should not utter our words deceitfully. Don’t commit to something when you don’t plan on following through. These things matter and are important, because ultimately they are matters of the heart.

So what do we find in our hearts? Well, if we are honest with ourselves, not much that we can be proud of. It’s much easier to point it out in the world, or in other people, it is much more difficult to be honest about this stuff being in our own hearts as well. But it is there. Our lives may be absent from the outward kinds of actions that Jesus talks about, but what about what is in our heart?

Sin is serious business. It is not something that we write off or ignore. It is not something that we can pretend isn’t a problem or make ourselves feel better because at least I am not as bad a sinner as that person over there, let me tell you what I saw them do.

Sin is serious business because it breaks and destroys relationships. It separates us from God and from one another. It makes it impossible for us to live and experience the kind of life that God wants us to live and experience. We know that it is serious because of the hyperbole that we see Jesus using here. If a part of your body causes you to sin, cut it off.

But again, at the end of the day it all comes down to the heart. And that is the point to understand here. Because we are all sinners, that means we all are in need of God’s grace and mercy and forgiveness. We are all in need of Jesus.

His sinless life, death on the cross, resurrection from the grave and ascension into heaven mean that the sins in our life, both the “big” outward actions, and the seemingly “small” inward actions of the heart, have been paid for. God will not count them against us. The righteousness of Jesus is given to us. This means that we can stand before God confidently, not because our hearts are good enough on their own or we do enough or give enough. But because Jesus did enough and we have in him the gift of forgiveness, life and salvation.

Feel like a weight has been lifted? Yes. That is the thing about living life in God’s kingdom. We experience this forgiveness. Even though we experience brokenness in our lives and world, in Jesus God gives and works healing, forgiveness and reconciliation.

And where God gives and works healing and forgiveness and reconciliation with us and him, we then have what we need to be able to live our lives together with healing and forgiveness and reconciliation. That is we are able to live lives together where we love one another. What Jesus is doing here is not giving us a new law, but calling us to a better way of life.

People like to place themselves above other people, we like to be better than the rest. But the fact of the matter is, here, in this place there is not one person who is better or more important than the rest. We may have different, jobs, roles and gifts, but that is because each of those things are needed for this community of faith to be healthy, strong and to grow. As we live our lives together, as we live out our faith together, we show a reality that is different from the one that our world knows. We show life with hope and forgiveness and healing.

Because that is what it means and what it is to live life with our God. Now we will not always do this perfectly. We will make mistakes, we will mess up, we will sin. But life isn’t about attaining a state of sinlessness, that is not possible this side of the grave. Instead life is about living in God’s grace and sharing that grace and making it known in our words and in our actions. So that others might also know of God’s love and grace and mercy in Jesus. It is really an awesome thing. God heals our hearts because of and for the sake of Jesus, so that we can then love one another. And in loving and caring for each other and the world around us, we are making God’s love known.

Of course that makes perfect sense. After all, you are the salt of the earth. Seasons greetings. Amen.