Wiggle Room

Sixth Sunday after Epiphany – Year A

February 16, 2014

Matthew 5:21-37[Jesus said:] "You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, 'You shall not murder'; and 'whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.' But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, 'You fool,' you will be liable to the hell of fire. So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way to court with him, or your accuser may hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. Truly I tell 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 lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to 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 anyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of unchastity, causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

"Again, you have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, 'You shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you have made to the Lord.' But I say to you, Do not swear 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 swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let your word be 'Yes, Yes' or 'No, No'; anything more than this comes from the evil one."

If you're like me, and I'm pretty sure at least on this point you are, we are ready for all this winter stuff to just end. The snow can stop falling from the sky – regardless of how pretty it is, and how much we could use the moisture. The temperature can definitely go up 20 or 30 degrees and I doubt many of us will be complaining. I am so looking forward to waking up in the morning and not having to wonder about clearing the driveway. I want to be able to head out on my errands and responsibilities without feeling like I am wearing half my closet just to keep warm. I can't wait for the day when I can wear my flip-flops and shorts again. I am looking forward to that day in the next month or so when I can throw open the windows of the house for the first time and clear out all the stale winter air.

Winter is a tough time to be a parent. When it is as cold outside as it has been this winter, it's not easy to send the kids outside to play in the snow; it's just too cold. Unfortunately, that means for the last few months our kids have had to spend a lot of time inside, trapped in the confines of the house. Last week I talked with one of the teachers at the Elementary School, and she said the kids are all acting like caged animals – itching to run, yet unable to play outside because of the cold. And of course, their being inside hasn't done wonders for the sanity and peace of us parents. I think there have been times when we have all sent our kids outside, even if it was perhaps a bit too cold to do so.

I was so thankful this past Wednesday that the temperature began to rise ever so slightly. We were going to take advantage of the warm temps (isn't it depressing when we describe 15 degrees as warmer?) to walk to school. Now, walking to school is something that takes a few minutes longer than driving, so we had to ensure we got going just a few minutes earlier than normal. Walking also meant that everyone had to have their winter gear on.

Well as often happens we were running just a few minutes late. I told the girls to put on their snow pants and get ready to leave. A few minutes later when I checked on them they were still not ready to leave. They had their snow pants on, but not their boots or their coats. I asked them why they weren't ready yet and they responded, “You only told us to put our snow pants on” Aargh!! There are times I really get frustrated with my kids, and their tendency to be really literal in following directions is one of the things that can really frustrate me.

You tell them to pick up their rooms, and they tell you they can't because their room is too big, or too heavy. You give them instructions or verbal discipline, and because you only used one of their names, it's seen as only applying to the one who has been named. You tell them to clean up their floor in the bedroom, and everything gets moved from the floor onto the beds. You tell them to clean their room, and everything ends up in the closet. Aargh!

Children are sometimes a little too good at being human. As human beings we tend to do things by the rules – exactly what the rules say. There is always a little room somewhere for debate about what the rules are. Like a child looking for wiggle room in instructions on cleaning their room, or getting dressed. The speed limit is 65, yet don't we all just assume there is a little wiggle-room there? The owners manual for our car tells us that we are to follow a pretty specific schedule when it comes to oil changes, filter changes, rotating tires, etc. Yet, how often do we really follow them, instead seeking whatever wiggle-room we can find?

In matters of faith, we tend to try and find the wiggle-room too. Scholars will delve into the ancient languages and texts, seeking to determine what was meant exactly; what did the words that are used mean in the context and culture in which they were written? And how does that understanding impact the way we understand the passage – which normally means wiggle-room. If you think this is a tendency that is relatively new, it's not. The scholars in Judaism have been discussing and arguing about what exactly is meant by different passages, and different laws.

The Old Testament tells us to avoid doing labor on the Sabbath, so as to keep it holy our of reverence to God. So what is work? Is opening the gate to allow your donkey out work? Is pouring water into a cup work? Is making the bed work? Or is work something else? The scribes and pharisees would go round and round for years arguing about just one small thing that was to be found in the law. They would be seeking clarification, but they would also be seeking wiggle-room.

Today we continue our reading of the Sermon of the Mount, with Jesus addressing some specific issues where there seems to have been some discussion about what exactly was meant by the law. In and of itself, there isn't anything bad about trying to determine what it is God (and Jesus) desire of us in the way we live our lives. It's good to have guidance, to have some idea about what is right and what isn't. Can you imagine what life would look like if there weren't rules of some kind? The danger lies in making the adherence to rules and expectations more important than they are meant to be. When we make the rules of utmost importance we end up on the dead-end road of legalism.

In our text today, it seems to me that Jesus is delivering a rather strongly worded teaching against literalism. Jesus seems to be pointing out that we need to look at the spirit of the Law rather than trying to find out exactly what the law is saying – and thus discover its wiggle-room. In his words Jesus is revealing that at the heart of these rules and at the heart of his teaching is relationships – the relationship between God and us and the relationships we have with each other.

Because most of us were raised within the church, we forget sometimes how different our God is than a great majority of the gods that have been worshiped though human history. The God we look to is not the god of philosophers who sits unmoved in the heavens. Our God is not the god of the Greeks who looked at humans as barely more than things to be played with and manipulated. Our God is not the god of eastern religions that is our spiritual guide, or the director of our fates, our karma. No, the God we worship is a God that cares deeply about us, who loves us. Our God cares about the relationship we have with God and cares deeply and passionately about our relationships with each other, about the way we treat each other. God cares because God loves each of us much.

So, when Jesus speaks to the crowds he does so from a position of love, from a position that reflects the love and care God has for each and every one of us. Of course God doesn't want us to kill each other. But Jesus explains that God's desire is deeper and stronger than that. If we just avoid killing one another, we can still hate each other passionately and feel that we are doing okay; at least we aren't killing someone else. But, what does that say about the relationship? Jesus' concern is the relationship, and the ways in which we have found wiggle-room in just avoiding killing each other. God desires relationships where we treat one another with respect, where we avoid speaking words of hate to or about another.

Jesus doesn't congratulate those present because they have avoided having an affair, he points out that it's never right to look at another person as an object. As the phrase goes, “I'm a person, not a piece of meat!” Another woman or man, as handsome or as beautiful as they are, are people first, are people that are God-created and God-loved first. We are not to see them as means of satisfying our physical desires, lusting after them. When we do so, even when we avoid adultery itself, we have demeaned and objectified the other person; and the relationship that God desires for us is destroyed.

Marriage is a covenant that is entered into that is meant to endure. It's not something that is disposable when we get bored, or unhappy. In Jesus' time marriages were often things of convenience, and they were far from the union of two equal parties. A man who married one woman, then divorced and remarried was not looked on as being somehow flawed. But, if a woman were to be married, and then divorced, she would likely never marry again. Her divorce meant she was most-likely literally out on the street with no way to support herself and any children she may have had. Alimony was not something that was known. The relationship of marriage should be cared for and tended to, and following the letter of the law yet not caring for the most vulnerable does damage to God's desires.

Speaking in truth should not be something that requires an oath before we do it. If we need to promise to tell the truth or else, in order to ensure that we are in fact telling the truth it's a sad commentary on our lives, and our relationships with one another. We should strive to be honest with one another, to speak the truth in love to each other. To not do so is to disrespect those we are in relationship with.

Jesus wants us to see that following the letter of the law, looking for the wiggle-room, and ignoring the effect we can have on the lives of others is as bad as not following the letter of the law. In our lives it is more than possible to do business in ways that are completely legal, but that leave workers destitute and unhealthy, to behave in legal ways that destroy and damage our environment. It is possible to lead nations and organizations in ways that are totally within the law, but that serve only ourselves and leave others broken. It is easy to apply the law as a weapon, to learn to use it with lethal accuracy and to manipulate the world to our own agendas with it, and leave victims in our wake. This applies equally to religious and ‘secular’ law. But, when we do this, the law becomes incomplete, broken, a shadow of what it was created for.

Jesus wants his disciples, his followers, us, to be people of integrity, people who are faithful to their promises, people who have no need to swear that they are telling the truth because they are truth-tellers. They should be people who honor their commitments in marriage and who respect the commitments of others. The women and men in their midst are not people to be used and abandoned at will, but fellow disciples. For the church to claim Jesus’ message of God’s kingdom come, it must strive to be the kind of place that reflects that Kingdom. That is our calling that is our duty. May God's Kingdom grow, and may we be good representatives of that Kingdom. Amen.