Yea A 6th Epiphany 2023 Root Out the Cause

 Year A 6th Sunday after Epiphany,  12 February 2023

St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA

“Rooting Out The Cause”

Collect: O God, the strength of all who put their trust in you: Mercifully accept our prayers; and because in our weakness we can do nothing good without you, give us the help of your grace, that in keeping your commandments we may please you both in will and deed; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

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.”

Today’s readings are hard. They are seemingly impossible, and even horribly legalistic. But Jesus did not come to be nit-picky with us, the Pharisees were doing a fine job of that. He wanted us to look at the laws we had, and see them as important and good as they were, yet even these were inadequate. We could do everything right and still be cold-hearted stinkers.

There are some funny laws on the books. They make no sense, unless of course you know the context which made it make sense for the legislators to pass them. Some laws on the books in Virginia currently…

• Use profane, indecent, or threatening language on the phone. This includes the language you use in your text messages.

• Tickle a woman. Men, however, may be tickled.

• Hunt any animal other than a raccoon on a Sunday. If you are going to hunt a raccoon on a Sunday, however, you must do so by 2 a.m.

• Illegal to flip a coin to decide who pays for coffee in Richmond.

• Illegal to wash a mule on the sidewalk in Culpeper.

• Illegal to spit on a seagull in Norfolk. 

[Source: https://www.kffjlaw.com/faqs/strange-virginia-laws.cfm]

The context makes sense of these, maybe. But somewhere somebody did these things and someone else was so upset that they felt the need to make a law to prevent these bizarre things from happening again.

We make laws to control behavior, to hopefully prevent someone from doing something we collectively have decided that we should not.

There are human laws, which can be ridiculous as shown, and then there are God’s Laws. Those Ten Commandments are the biggies, but in the Torah (the first five books of the Bible) there are more than 600 more, all with the intent that we would live good, godly, respectable lives. Some of them are godly. Some of them are contextual.

The laws stating that we cannot eat shellfish, anything without gills, is one I have a hard time keeping. I like my shrimp and oysters. I like my scallops. 

The law stating that I cannot eat pork is another one. And being a Virginia boy, the idea that a bacon wrapped scallop is anathema to the Almighty I find hard to believe. Bacon wrapped scallops are a gift from God not a sin, in this Virginia boy’s humble opinion. But these kosher dietary laws make total sense for a wandering nomadic people in a desert climate. These things do not keep and become dangerous once they turn. Another reason to thank God for Virginia. Contextually obvious, but when made universal it strains credulity.

Laws are made to keep us on the straight and narrow, or safe and healthy. And here we see in our third installment on the Sermon on the Mount in as many weeks, that Jesus wants us to not just be good, but holy or set apart from the rest of the way the world does things.

Two weeks ago I preached on how I read the Beatitudes, how all are welcome and loved and wanted in this new Kingdom of God Jesus is preaching about.

And last week, I preached that we are called to a higher place, to be the Light of the World and the Salt of the Earth. This naming of Christ’s expectations is transformative. Jesus does not want his followers to just get by, but to live abundantly. As he says in John 10:10, “I have come that you might have life and have it abundantly.” If that is the case, he has some work to do.

I taught for a long time. I wanted my students to excel, to be curious, to have a passion for learning and growing. Too often though, the question was asked, “Is this going to be on the test?” If I said no, then the lights went out and I turned into the teacher on Charlie Brown. “Wa wa wa wa wa wa.”

Jesus wants us to excel in life, and in his Sermon on the Mount he is aiming for that abundance for us, so he starts with the problem.

He names some of the Ten Commandments. Some that most people then could easily say that they had not broken. Don’t Murder. Don’t Commit Adultery. But then he names one that is much easier to break. Don’t Swear Falsely. And he presents a response to these commandments that may from the outset seem more legalistic and impossible than the Ten Commandments. Jesus seems a puritanical meanie. But what he is aiming at is the foundational problem of the human condition.

I know people who have committed very little sinful acts, but they are not nice or even good people. They are malicious, self-righteous, judgy, and no fun to boot. I am not saying being sinful is fun, but having an unloving and grace-filled heart is as bad as breaking the Big Ten (Commandments). As Jesus said, “The measure you give is the measure you get back.” (Luke 6:38)

Jesus starts with the biggies because he is juxtaposing the elementary school teaching from Moses coming down from the mountain, with his own Graduate School for those who recognize that we need something deeper and more the toddler’s NO! of the “Thou Shalt Nots.” Jesus is doing a traditional rabbinical technique, arguing with another rabbi from previous times, rebuking or clarifying or adding nuance.

To his listeners, he was as I mentioned in the previous weeks, another Moses with New Commandments that went beyond the “Thou-Shalt-Nots” and got to the root of the problem. The problem was not with what we did, but with who we are.

The heart of the problem is the problem of the heart. We are deep down not who we can be, who we should be. To be about the Kingdom, Jesus is calling for heart transplants for us all!

The Root of Sin lies in the motivations of the human heart.

The Ten Commandments were about chopping down trees. Jesus was about plucking out the seeds before they ever sprout. This is a drastically different approach. It means that we do not let the things that could grow into sin even begin in our hearts.

There is a famous Cherokee story which makes much the same point.  

A young boy came to his Grandfather, filled with anger at another boy who had done him an injustice.

The old Grandfather said to his grandson, "Let me tell you a story. I too, at times, have felt a great hate for those that have taken so much, with no sorrow for what they do. But hate wears you down, and hate does not hurt your enemy. Hate is like taking poison and wishing your enemy would die. I have struggled with these feelings many times."

"It is as if there are two wolves inside me; one wolf is good and does no harm. He lives in harmony with all around him and does not take offence when no offence was intended. He will only fight when it is right to do so, and in the right way. But the other wolf, is full of anger. The littlest thing will set him into a fit of temper."

"He fights everyone, all the time, for no reason. He cannot think because his anger and hate are so great. It is helpless anger, because his anger will change nothing. Sometimes it is hard to live with these two wolves inside me, because both of the wolves try to dominate my spirit."

The boy looked intently into his Grandfather's eyes and asked, "Which wolf will win, Grandfather?"

The Grandfather smiled and said, "The one I feed."

[SOURCE: https://theacademy.sdsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/two-wolves-cherokee-story.pdf]

Jesus is telling us not to feed the anger which grows to hatred which grows to murder. Jesus is teaching us that that sideways glance to get that sexy peak, gives birth to lust, and lust is the parent of adultery. Jesus says clearly that we need to be people of integrity and our word needs to be so trusted that people can take it at face value, our yes is yes, no question. Our no is no, no question. We begin to invoke the powers when we begin to “swear to God” or anything or anyone else.  And this slippery slope begins to lead us to bear false witness. These great Big Ten sins begin so small. Like pug puppies, they may be so ugly that they seem cute. But know what they are. Seeds which grow and become much bigger than we want to face much sooner than we might think. Don’t feed the wolf. Don’t water the seed.

The heart of the problem is the problem of the heart, and Jesus is teaching AND ENABLING us to be the type of people fit for the Kingdom. We cannot just act good, like Eddie Haskel from “Leave It To Beaver” behind when Mr. or Mrs. Cleaver is around. We need to not just do good, we need to BE GOOD. And if we are of Christ’s Kingdom of God it is truly about BEING HOLY.

When I was a child I loved blowing the seeds off of a dandelion. It was with great joy that I would find a full head of seed spores, and I would huff and puff and blow them all away.

Then I got to the age where I had to weed the yard. Scattering those seeds became a terrifying thought. Friends, unless you want a lot of weeding to do, do not scatter those wild oats or seeds or whatever. Play it smart. Play it safe. Listen to Jesus. Follow his teaching without being legalistic and rigid.

He wants us to be Blessed like he talked about in the Beatitudes. He wants us to be the Light of the World and the Salt of the Earth, our message he has given us to share is so necessary, and oh, so needed.  He encourages us today to be holier than the biggest holier-than-thou you have ever met in your personal ethics, and as gracious as God is in dealing with everyone else. This is utterly impossible if we try to do it on our own. But it is also his calling for each of us who take on his name. May it be so. Amen