In Matthew's Steps: Indestructible Worth

The First Steps: Read: Matthew 10

Focus Verse: “And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” Matthew 10:30-31

Meditation: Indestructible Worth

At my ordination, my pastor from internship preached a sermon I will never forget. He had with him a perfect baseball card and a crisp one hundred dollar bill. He held up the baseball card and told us that it was worth $100. He held up the hundred dollar bill and said the same thing. This is worth $100.00. The card could be traded in for $100.00 worth of merchandise. The cash could too.

“But here is the difference,” he said as he crumpled up the $100. “This bill is still worth $100. Tattered and even torn, this cash still retains its worth. However...if I were to do the same to this baseball card, it would become worthless! No one would want it torn up and dirty!”

Jesus reminds us that we are God’s currency with indestructible worth in today’s reading from Matthew. On first glance, this reading sounds rather depressing. It’s the exact opposite of the “prosperity gospel” preached by so many today. Instead of promising wealth, health, and happiness, as Joel Osteem and others might want to preach, Christ preaches about suffering, hardship, persecution, and stress.

“I am sending you out like sheep among wolves...”(10:16)
“Be on your guard against men...”(10:17)
“Brother will betray brother to death and a father his child; children will rebel against their parents and have them put to death. All men will hate you because of me...” (10:21-22a)
“If the head of the house has been called Beelzebub, how much more the members of his household!” (10:26)
“I have not come to bring peace, but a sword...”
“I have come to turn ‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law–a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.”(10:35-36)

Nowhere in any of these texts does Christ promise prosperity and wealth and happiness. He doesn’t even promise that we’ll live happy lives with our family surrounding us or that we’ll live a long time. What Christ does promise, if we put ourselves in the apostles’ shoes, is a hard life. A life of pain and suffering. A life where what we believe may separate us from the people closest to us. A life where everyone will NOT love us, but will hate us and arrest us and harm us.

And yet, among all these depressing promises, Christ tells us something profound: “So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”(10:31)

It’s almost like the bright light of dawn after a hard night of stormy weather. They are words of hope. Words that touch us deep inside. Words that speak to our hearts.

These words remind us that our worth to God has nothing to do with what others think of us. Even our families! It has nothing to do with how much money we do or do not make, how well we’ve taken care of our bodies, or how well-adjusted our families are. Our worth to God has nothing to do with how little we’ve been scarred, how few mistakes we’ve made in our lives, or how morally perfect we’ve kept ourselves.

Our worth is dependant upon Christ. Just like the $100.00 bill which retains its worth no matter how crinkled up, tattered, and torn it is, we too are worth “...more than many sparrows’ no matter how torn up, abused, betrayed, worried, poor, arrested, beaten, afraid, or lost we may be. In fact, it seems, Christ seems to relish in our scar marks. Maybe because Christ himself emerges from this world beaten and scarred and through His scars, in his hands and feet, his side and his heart, we are saved.

“You are worth more than many sparrows!” May that assurance comfort and sustain you when life is at its best and at its worse. When people are praising you and when they’re criticizing you. When your family is together and when they’ve been torn apart. You are worth Christ’s blood on the cross. And He loves you...no matter what! Amen!

Questions to Ponder...
1) If you had a herd of disciples that you were sending out, what would be your “pep-talk”? Is Jesus words here “peppy” enough? Or are they just a tad depressing?

2) Think of other things that are worth something no matter what condition they’re in. Where does something like that become worthless?

3) What persecutions have you faced for the sake of Christ? Have they been inside the church mostly or outside the church?

A Prayer to Pray...Lord Jesus, we find ourselves among your apostles as you send them out, two by two, into the world of lions and wolves. Make us wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Give us eyes to see that, even when live is at its worse, we are still worth the world to you. In Your Holy Name we pray. Amen.

In Matthew's Steps: No Sacrifice Needed. Just Mercy.

The First Steps: Read Matthew 9
Focus Verse: “On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what theis means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Matthew 9:12-13

The Devotion: “No Sacrifice Needed. Just Mercy.”

It’s a fact of winter. You can never throw just one snowball. Imagine it’s wintertime and you’re in Montana, enjoying the snow. It’s right after a big snowfall, and you’re outside with your kids playing. You reach down and make a snowball, just for fun. And, just for fun, you toss it at your oldest son who gets this surprised look on his face.

You think: That’s the end of it, right? Things will go back to normal. It’s only one snowball, why should it be that big of a deal...

That is... until your oldest reaches down to the snow himself and makes his own snowball to throw at YOU. Until your other two kids get in on the action and, before you know it, you’re in a typical snowball fight that doesn’t stop until someone calls a truce and another person shows mercy. Even when you try to stop it, the snowballs keep flying and the fighters grow more and more cold the more snow hits them where their outer clothing isn’t covering. Truce is only achieved when mercy is granted to the first thrower and grace brings both parties together.

That is precisely what Jesus hopes to bring to life in this chapter of Matthew. Mercy... grace... a truce! Jesus says it best in verse 13.

“But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’”

Throughout this chapter, Jesus shows what it means to show mercy. Over and over again, Jesus is running around being merciful to those who need mercy and compassionate to those who need compassion.

He shows mercy to the men bringing the parayltic to him...and forgives his sins, raising him up from his mat to walk.
He shows mercy to Matthew, at tax collector, and calls him to be one of his disciples.
He is merciful to a dead girl and to a sick woman who touches his robes to be healed.
He is merciful to a blind man who calls out for mercy and heals him “according to his faith.”
He is merciful to a demon-possessed mute and drives out the demon to spare him.
And he is compassionate and merciful as he heals the crowds coming to him “beacause they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

Over and over again in this chapter, Jesus shows great mercy and compassion to those who come to him in need. He doesn’t treat them as they deserve. He doesn’t keep throwing snowballs at them either. He calls a truce! An end to the conflict, a cease to sacrifice and suffering, and a renewal of mercy and compassion in their lives. In his compassion, Jesus becomes mercy, offering up the healing and peace that only mercy can bring. Mercy that brings forgiveness. Mercy that brings healing. Mercy that brings life and salvation. This is Jesus’ mercy chapter...and he does mercy here quite well.

We too are called to share mercy with others. To reach out in a spirit of love and compassion to those around us. Imagine if our lives were ruled by this thought: “I desire mercy...not sacrifice.” So that when we see the homeless on the streets, we do not just pass them by or offer our sacrificial offering someplace else, but we find a way to show mercy to them. Or when we see our neighbors struggling next door, we don’t just turn a blind eye to their problems, but we reach out in mercy to help them. Or when others are warring against us or when we have conflicts with them, we don’t just give them the silent treatment and imagine they just don’t exist, but we love and care for them, despite our differences in opinions.

Mercy was important to Christ. So important that, if the choice is between offering a sacrifice to God and showing mercy to your brother or sister, Jesus says choose the mercy route!

"Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift." Matthew 5:23

Mercy is more important than sacrifice to God. Sacrifice itself is rather easy. It’s easy to go out and purchase whatever is required or fulfill whatever requirement is necessary to sacrifice on the altar to God. It’s easy to do just what is expected of us, no more and no less. It’s easy to extend our lives only as much as its convient to us and "required" by God. But to show mercy? Where does that end? Where can we say we’ve “had enough” of mercy? Or that we’re “taking a break” from being merciful? Where is the line we draw between us and them? If mercy is the rule of the day, when does it stop?

Recently we’ve experienced some rather disturbing events here in Montana. One of them in the town where we live, where a good friend of mine committed suicide. And the other in Tuscon where a young man went shooting up a group of people at Safeway. Where is mercy shown in both of these cases? Where is the grace? What would it mean to put off sacrifice to God here and replace it with mercy to our neighbor? How might we extend ourselves out to those in need? I wonder if we would put aside our own worship of individuality and reach out in mercy, love, and compassion to those crying out quietly in need. I wonder how many tragedies might be averted? I wonder how it would change our lives too.

The good news in all this is both simple and profound. God has shown mercy to us. Christ Jesus is the mercy of God in the flesh. We have been shown mercy at great cost to God. God hasn't treated us as we ought to be treated. Instead, he has been merciful and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. If we are God's children(and we are!)...shouldn't we be treating others the same way? Amen.

Quesitons to Ponder...
1. Look up the word “mercy” in the dictionary. What are the other meanings of this word? Which meaning will you follow?

2. Think of people in your own life who could use a “Jesus-style” of mercy and compassion. How might you become the mercy and grace for them now? How might you set aside the sacrificial knife you hold over their lives to embrace them for who they are now?

3. Some people think the church is too judgmental and hypocritical. How might a look at this passage in Matthew change that view? What does God want?

A Prayer to Pray...
Holy God, through the eyes of your Son we see what a holy life looks like and how we should live. Teach us your mercy, grace, and compassion that we might look at others and see them as you do. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

In Matthew's Steps: No Time For Opinion

The First Step: Read: Matthew 8
The Meditation: No Time for Opinion

Focus Verse: “When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick.” Matthew 8:16

Simon and Garfunkle sing a song, “The Sound of Silence”, which speaks of a dream, a frightening dream really. One of the verses says(You can sing it if you remember the tune too...)...

"Fools", said I, "You do not know
Silence like a cancer grows
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you"
But my words, like silent raindrops fell
And echoed
In the wells of silence

Despite wanting silence when my kids are around sometimes, I too find the sound of silence to be rather frightening. Silence that comes after a performance, with no applause. Silence that comes as you sit together in the midst of a tragedy. Silence that falls from the lips of those who dislike you.

Silence is quite scary, especially if you’re wanting a response. If you’re waiting for someone to say : “Good job” or “Better luck next time” or anything, silence can be rather deafening. Silence between people speaks more than words ever could. Disagree with someone, have a conflict with someone, and the silence that you share is louder than any fight you could put up.

Jesus, though, doesn’t seem to mind. After the HUGE sermon on the mount, probably the longest sermon in the history of sermons, Jesus doesn’t wait for a response. He doesn’t ask his disciples what they think. He doesn’t do a survey, critiquing his style or the content of his message. He just gets to work. And fast too. Immediately after coming down from the mountain, Jesus is healing people. First a man with leprosy, then a centurion’s servant, than Peter’s mother-in-law. Then we’re told that Jesus is healing MANY people. “Everyone” who comes to him.

And does Jesus stop there? Does Jesus ask the disciples and those around him what they think now? No. He’s off then, calming the storm. Healing two more who are demon-possessed. In fact, the ironic part of this chapter is, the criticism Jesus receives is that he’s doing too much. After he casts the demons into the herd of pigs, “...then the whole town went out to meet Jesus. And when they say him, they pleaded with him to leave the region.”(vs. 34). The only critique Jesus receives and listens to is... “You’re doing TOO MUCH!”

It’s amazing as you read through the book of Matthew how little time Jesus wastes gathering or listening to the opinions of other people. They hit him eventually. In the very next chapter, Jesus faces words from his critics. Later he’ll hear his disciples start to complain. And it is in the end the opinions of his own people that put him on the cross. But here, right after the big Sermon on the Mount, there is none of that. No time to talk. Just work.

What if we were the same way? What if we stopped listening so much to our critics and the opinions of others and focused instead on what we’re suppose to be doing? I’m always amazed how much time the media spends in polling. “What do you think of what Obama is doing today?” “What do you think of his recent vacation?” “What do you...” Ahh! It’s rediculas! How much time would we save ourselves, how much hastle and grief would fade away, if we shrugged off the opinions of those who disliked us and focused instead on the task Jesus places at our feet: bringing good news to the poor, tending the sick, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, providing for those who have none, sitting with those who are in distress.

Or, better yet, what if we stopped criticizing others and focused on the people we can help in our lives. How much time would we save if we focused on the positive rather than drudging up the negative? Instead of criticizing our neighbors, what if we brought over dinner to them? Instead of nagging about our co-workers behind their back, what if we brightened up their day with a card, or just a word of thanks? Then, in peace, we might enjoy the blessed sound of silence...together! Amen.

Questions to Answer
1) What sticks out at you in this chapter of Matthew? What do you think of Jesus’ frantic activity here?
2) Often we break this chapter up in church into its various healing stories. What insights are gained in reading this chapter as a whole, rather than as one healing story or another?
3) How have you listened to criticism? Has it entergized you or depressed your spirits? How have your words affected others?

A Prayer to Pray
Almighty God, your son Jesus comes to do your will, to heal the sick, cure the lame, and proclaim liberty to all. May we join him on his walk to the cross. Keep our eyes set upon you that we may continue to work despite the opinions of others, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

In Matthew's Steps: It's Not all Good...but don't judge!

The First Steps: Read Matthew 7

Focus Verse: “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” Matthew 6:1

Meditation: It’s Not All Good....But Still Don’t Judge Others

Have you ever heard someone say: “Don’t worry... It’s all good.”

I’ve heard that phrase used...frequently in fact. Sometimes they don’t say “It’s all good...” Sometimes they’ll say something like... “Well... it’s their life...” Or “It’s okay...”. Either way, the assumption is simple: It’s all relative.

Often you hear it in this context...

“They never did care much for anyone...but it’s all good.”
“They were a hard person to live with...but it’s all good.”
“They made some bad choices...but it’s all good.”
“They really don’t go to church...or care about God...or give to anyone but themselves...but it’s all good.”
“They’ll probably drop out of church after confirmation...but it’s all good.”

Usually the “it’s all good” is a judgement made afterward in response to whatever it was. And sometimes it’s not even spoken. It’s the assumption that whatever choice is made that choice is good and right and should be affirmed. Divorcing your spouse? It’s all good. Smoking or drinking a little too much? It’s all good! Sleeping in on Sunday? It’s all good!

Of course we say that within reason. There is a line we draw even on our own relativity. Beating your spouse is never good in anyone’s eyes. Neither is taking drugs or any other of the cardinal sins. It’s the gray areas of life, the areas left unspoken to by our culture that our relativity dwells. You are free to be as grumpy or nice, as thoughtful or as thoughtless, as rude or as kind, as stubborn or as pliant as you want to be. You’re free to say whatever you want and do pretty much whatever you want, even if what you want will lead to your destruction. Don’t worry...it’s all good.

Jesus reminds us in the seventh chapter of Matthew that everything is not all good. There are bad things even in the gray areas of your life and you can mess it all up. There are bad people even in religious circles and not everyone has your best interest in mind. There are wrong paths to take. Not every path leads to God. You can mess up your life... so beware!

Over and over again in this chapter, Jesus warns us against our bad choices!

“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruits you will recognize them.”(vs. 15)
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”(vs. 21)
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock...BUt everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.”(vs. 24,26)

There is a real black-and-whiteness to Jesus words today. There is a right way...and there is a wrong way. There is a good way...and there is an evil way. There is a narrow gate...and a wide gate. There is good fruit...and bad fruit. Wise builders...and foolish builders. It is not “all good”! There are real dangers in the world! Dangerous choices that can lead us astray!

But before Jesus says all of this. Before he colors the world black-and-white and sets before us good choices and bad choices... Jesus tells us something else...

“Do not judge or you too will be judged!”

Why did Jesus start this passage this way? Do not judge? What is he nuts? How can we help our neighbor get over his or her bad habits and get on the right path if we can’t judge them first? Don’t we need to judge them first before we help them? Don’t we need to label them “needy” or “lazy” or “greedy for handouts” before we come, in our good graces, and help them in the goodness of our own hearts? Don’t we need to judge they’re on the wrong path before we can move them away from it? Isn’t that the way it works for us as we help out the homeless and the poor in our communities? They need a label before we can help. Right?

Of course we forget that Christ resides especially with those we label. Those we label “criminal”, “poor”, “homeless”, “lazy”, and “loser” are precisely those with whom Christ dwells. Later in Matthew we’ll read Jesus’ parable of the sheep and the goats, where Jesus says, as if in answer to this question of labeling: “Whatever you did not for one of the least of these, you did not do to me.”(Matt. 25:46).

It’s as if Christ is telling US to beware! “Beware!” Jesus says. “There are other paths you can take and they aren’t all good. Take that path to self-righteousness and you’ll wind up with a tree with bad smelling fruit. Follow after that prophet who promises prosperity for just a little of your change and you’ll follow after a wolf. Be sure to take my words, all of my words, and put them into practice or you’ll end up building your life upon a big pile of sand. Take heed. There are bad choices in this world.

You see, Jesus words here are for US. Not for “them.” They’re for US to put into practice and listen to. They’re meant to warn US...not to act as a ruler to judge THEM. That’s why Jesus warns us against judging before he says anything in terms of warning.

I always chuckle when someone approaches me after church and says: “Pastor, my son really should hear that sermon.” I wonder(silently)... “That’s nice. But don’t YOU need to hear it too?”

Jesus is talking to US here...not to the “them” we have tucked away in our heads. He’s telling us: Don’t judge people first. Do to others as you’d have done to you first. And then...beware! Beware you’re not running after the easy. Be careful you’re not worshiping yourself instead of God. Don’t take what you’ve been given and throw it to the pigs. Value the Word of God. It is for you! And you’re the one who needs to worry whether their house is built on the sand or on the rock. You’re the one with the plank in your eye. You’re the one who needs to hear this...not them! Stop judging others. Stop thinking “it’s all good”. And pay attention to Christ in your life! Amen!

Questions to Answer
1) In what context have you heard someone say: “It’s all good.” Is this statement a judgement too? Is everything really all good?
2) When are you most tempted to judge other people? How do their failures remind you of your own?
3) How can you better put Christ’s words into practice? Where is your “house” needing a better foundation?

A Prayer to Pray
Holy Jesus, it is so easy to go around criticizing and complaining about other people instead of seeing your presence before us in our lives. Open our eyes that we might see the right paths you have set before us. Forgive us for the wide gates we choose to enter and rescue us from our sinfulness, in your most precious Name we pray. Amen.

In Matthew's Steps: Good Deeds Gone Underground

The First Steps: Read Matthew 6

Focus Verse: “Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:1

Meditation: The Good Deed Gone Underground

It was a typical Sunday. I was sitting with one of the many Bobs I know, sipping Kool-Aid to his coffee, reflecting on church and life in general as we passed the early Sunday afternoon away.

Bob was a thin, frail man in his seventies. Though one with strength and determination. Despite his hands being twisted with arthritis, he still managed to run and operate the local antique store with his wife. At every town event, particularly at their International Food Festival, Bob was the one in charge. He had a voice about him and a way of presenting himself that made others stand up and pay attention to him.

Bob was a quiet man. Never known to have much of an opinion about anything. So it was with some wonder this day that I heard him speak out. I was talking about this or that. I think it was about our stained glass windows which had been donated by one family in the congregation. Raising his head from his glass, he pointed up into the church.

“You see that cross up there, pastor?”

“Yeah...”

“You know where that comes from? It came from my family.”

“Oh really...”

“And the lights. The lights were donated by them too.”

Then Bob continued on with a laundry list of things that he or his family had done or donated to the church.

As I listened to him, I realized something. You never know. You never know the good deeds being done behind closed doors. You never know the prayers being said, the alms being given. You never know what is done in secret. And you’ll never because what is done in secret isn’t for you. It’s for God.

Today’s reading really brings up the “Why” question. Why do you do what you do? Let’s take the first one. Giving.

The IRS is gracious enough to reward us for giving alms. It’s called a tax deduction. A tax deduction works, especially for those who itemize their taxes, on a dollar to dollar basis. Every dollar given away is another dollar deduction. For itemizers, this works wonderfully. Every dollar given and recorded on their account can be taken off of their taxes.

But imagine if this program ceased. Imagine if this tax deduction went away. Would you still give alms? Even if no one noticed? Would you still give money to the church and to your various charities if the deduction suddenly disappeared? If not... why are you really giving your money away?

Prayer is another way people display their righteousness to others. Usually not in Lutheran circles, though. (Lutherans are rather shy about praying in public most times)...but in other Christian circles long drawn out prayers are the norm. So... why do they pray like that? To worship God? Or to raise themselves up? Why pray like that when “...your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” (Matt. 6:8)

Fasting is one spiritual discipline most of us never do. Fasting is traditionally going without food. Starving yourself to aid your soul. Jesus points out that it was used in his day as a sign of how spiritual you were. “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting.”(Matt. 6:16). Traditional fasting is used still today, often in groups and for various service reasons, but fasting itself has changed. Now, I think, fasting has become volunteering. The giving of one’s time to a certain cause and here too we fail to keep it secret. I can’t tell you how often I’ve heard how much time so and so has spent volunteering for this or that and giving their time for this cause or that cause. I wonder if they tell others this as well. Fasting of the activities we enjoy, should also be kept secret I think. We needn’t seek pity or complain about what we’re doing. Instead we should know that “...your Father who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”(Matt. 6:18).

Behind everything we do is truly the question: Why? Why do we pray? Is it for others benefit? Or our own? Are we trying to make a image for ourselves? Or are we just talking to God? Why do we volunteer? Is it to appease ourselves, to look good for others? Is it to quell the feelings of guilt we have bubbling up inside? Or is it to genuinely help others in need? Why do we give alms? For the tax deduction? Or because we’re called by God to give to others in need?

Once again Jesus looks beyond the obvious and looks at the motivation, calling us to a life of perfection. And, let’s face it, we’ll never get it all right. Motivations are complicated things. Even the best of our deeds have complex motivations. But still Christ calls us to re-examine what we do, to take a look at the “whys” of what we do, and to throw ourselves at the foot of his cross, sin-tainted people that we are, knowing that God’s very public act of salvation applies to us as well.

So... take heart! Your deeds, those done in secret and those done in public, those done for yourself and those done for others, those with simple motivations and those with complex ones, have all been done in Christ and, by His grace, are done to the glory of God the Father! Amen.

Questions to Answer
1) Which of these three do you have the hardest time with? Prayer? Fasting? Giving Alms? Where do you struggle?
2) Why do you think Christ tells us to do these spiritual things “in secret?” What is he trying to get at here?
3) List the “random acts of kindness” you have practiced lately. Cross out all those people who are aware of your involvement. What does that leave you?

A Prayer to Pray
Heavenly Father, your Son calls us to find our treasure in you, to seek the hidden and secret places to fast and pray and give alms. Forgive our complex motivations. Bless the work of our hands. May the prayers we say, short or long, be to your Glory. For Jesus Sake. Amen.

In Matthew's Steps: Impossible!

The First Steps: Read Matthew 5
Focus Verse: “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Matthew 5:48

Meditation: “Impossible!”
No one is praised more than in their obituary. There the past mistakes are forgotten. The vices are put to rest and the virtues remain to be broadcast to anyone reading them. Obituaries contain such a variety of praises from the simple:

“He was a role model and a friend...”

To the more general...

“She’d do anything for anyone.”

We’d all like to think there’s something good about us. Something to be said to our praise. Some legacy by which we might be remembered. We’ve all imagined and wondered what they’ll say about us at our funeral, hoping beyond hope that the good in us outweighs the bad. That at the end of our lives people remember the good in us and forget the bad.

Praising someone’s virtue at the end of life is never a bad thing, except if you believe or expect that virtue to get you anywhere with God. You see, God’s bar is set high...very VERY high in fact! We don’t have just ten commandments to follow in the Bible. We have hundreds, even thousands. And if you’re expecting to get anywhere on your own righteousness than you’d better consider what you have in store for you.

Christ Jesus in his infamous sermon on the mount in Matthew ups the ante on most every one of God’s commandments. Even the ones most of us avoid.

“You have heard that it was said to people long ago, ‘Do not murder,’... But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother or sister will be subject to judgement.(vs. 21-22)
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.(vs. 27)
“You have heard it was said... ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person.”(vs. 38-39)
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy’ but I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”(vs. 43-44)

And just in case anyone is still standing up by the end of those verses, Jesus slams us again with two impossible standards:

“For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.”(vs. 20)
And again...
“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”(vs. 48)

Are you still standing on your own two feet? Has your own righteousness prevailed? Are you perfect as Jesus demands you to be? No? What do we make of all of these? What do we do with these statements?

The first thing we need to do is admit: We don’t measure up! And we never will! We will never be righteous. No matter how good we are or how good we do, we will never ever ever measure up to a perfect God. God loves everyone! God cares for the wicked and the good alike? Do you? I have to chuckle when I read or hear someone say, usually of someone deceased: “They were friends with everyone they met...” because that statement begs an “except.” Except for who? For Jews? For foreigners? For Jehovah Witnesses? For Muslims? Except for who? Do you really mean “everyone”?

God does! When God “sends rain on the good and the bad alike...” God doesn’t exempt anyone from the blessing. God blesses them all. Rich and poor. Good and bad. Gay or straight. Everyone! Are you ready to get along with anyone? Are you ready to love everyone? Are you ready to lay your life down for even Charles Manson?

The fact of the matter is we aren’t... and we don’t. We don’t measure up! And we never will! Why even our good deeds are tainted with sin. Isaiah says it best...

“All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags...” Isaiah 64:6

The word for “filthy rags” here is the same word used for used sanitary napkins! That’s what our good deeds are! A dirty, stinking, bloody mess compared to the perfection of what God wants, desires, and expects. That’s our righteous acts. What about our unrighteous ones? What about those? If everything we do, and I do mean everything, drips in sin, than without Christ, we are lost indeed!

So stop pretending otherwise! Quit flaunting your own good deeds and comparing yourself with anyone else. If there’s anything that this chapter of Matthew teaches us is the impossibility of measuring up. Don’t do it anymore. Don’t try to be perfect. Instead just be human.

God is pleased to dwell within our humanity and when we show that humanity to others, when we are vulnerable and compassionate toward others, than we become Christ to our neighbor. Christ has died and given us his righteousness. God’s requirements for life have already been taken care of. Jesus Christ, the same Jesus who ups the ante on the Law, bleeds and dies to redeem us out from under it. And now we’re all together. Now there is no longer Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female, gay or straight, right or wrong, for all have been redeemed by Christ the crucified.

Perhaps we ask our obituary should include something of the truth: “In life they were both a saint and a sinner. They could be the nicest person in the world and the biggest pain in the rear you’ve ever met. They were a sinner of our Lord’s redeeming. But they were loved by God, cherished by Christ, and now they are home. That’s all that really matters anyhow.” Amen.

Questions to Answer
1) What would you like said at your funeral? How might you live into that reality now?

2) What ways do you fail to measure up to the image of Matthew 5? What is Christ trying to get at here?

3) Why do you do what you do? What motivation is behind it?

A Prayer to Pray
Almighty God, even the simplest of your laws are impossible for us to follow. Lavish on us your grace that we might be forgiven of our sins and strengthened in our calling to be your children in the world, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.