So…
Here is the key to understanding the Sermon on the Mount,
Matthew’s presentation of Jesus most extensive teaching on the Kingdom of God.
The Kingdom of God is not about rules, but about values, the
most important one being love. And not that Valentine’s Day all gushy warm and
fuzzy love that is here now and gone when problems and challenges set in, but
the kind of love that is chosen, intentional, unflagging, and doesn’t require
the others love in return.
We love, because God first loved us, and when we act in
unloving ways, like treating other people with disdain, contempt and
indifference, or choose to make their lives harder while not helping them
succeed, and even beyond that know God’s love in a way that transforms them
into lovers themselves, we do not “live” in the Kingdom.
Call your brother or friend “raca” and you are in danger of
hell fire. Cheat on the ones you love with someone else, you are not a Kingdom
person. Leave a loving spouse to try and create another relationship, you have
slipped off the edge.
But if you are struggling, and sincerely seeking God’s help
you are blessed, being made holy, fitted, shaped, molded, engineered, loved
into Godly shape by the Holy Spirit for the Kingdom of God.
Got it?
So, one should always be suspicious of any movement,
religious, political, economic, Zumba (just checking if you are with me) that
suggests you have the right to not love others as God does.
Love is a lot of things, but it is not weak, not a pushover,
not willing to let others be abused.
It is as Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 13 patient, kind,
it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud, it does not dishonor
others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of
wrongs, it does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth, and it always
protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
So, how does today’s reading fit with all of that?
Here it is, love doesn’t lie!
Essentially, Jesus is reminding folks of the character of
the Kingdom; we do what we say we are going to do!
Lying is not part of the character of a follower of Christ. That’s
basically the point of the ninth of the ten commandments, the one that says we
are not to give false evidence.
We tell the truth, even when that truth is difficult or
painful, even when it is to our disadvantage to do so.
We are not afraid of the truth, rather we speak it as well
as live it, because we are trying to live as Jesus did.
Truth telling is a Kingdom value. It is evidence in a world
that easily lies that we are in this world, but not of it.
Which is why, when you are asked to tell the truth or make a
promise, you do tell the truth and you keep promises.
I remember, several years ago when Elder Adam Battles said
that when he was working as a social worker and had counseled with a person, he
would always promise to do one small thing for them and then he would do it.
Why?
Because he knew that by promising and then keeping the
promise he had made, that the person he had worked with would know something
important about Adam’s character, that he was a man who could be trusted to
keep his word.
And that then there was an incentive for that person to do the
same, to be honest, clear, fair, and do what they had promised in return to do
for themselves.
As Kingdom people, we are invited to be people of the truth.
Not necessarily the online truth, because who knows where that supposed truth
has come from, but rather God’s truth and our own.
Sometimes it is easy to tell God’s truth, because everyone
is in agreement. Sometimes it isn’t, but we tell it anyway.
And, sometimes it is easy to tell God’s truth and use it as
a weapon. That’s missing the point, because if you hear Jesus’ teaching and
watch his example you will know for sure that Jesus did not go around hurting
people.
He encouraged them, invited them, pointed out when they were
missing the path, but, like the best of coaches and trainers, he always sought
ways to pick them up, dust them off, give them a good pep talk, and get them
back on the path.
When Brian first started with the Minisink swim team years
ago we marveled at his coach’s ability to distinguish between swimmers, and how
he challenged the strong and nurtured the weak.
In both cases the swimmers got better, because rather than
running roughshod over them, he got all of them to do their very best!
Just like Jesus when he told Peter three times to “feed my
sheep”. Get up Peter, get back at it. Be the disciple, the follower, the apostle,
the sent one you were made to be!
And the same goes for us Get up. Get back at it. Remember
who you are and to whom you belong and what your calling it.
Be honest with your own truth, and then become a truth
teller, sharing the good news of God’s great love with everyone you meet.
Come to the table of mercy
Prepared with the
Wine and the bread
All who are hungry and thirsty
Come and your souls
Will be fed
Come at the Lord's invitation
Receive from His
Nail-scarred hand
Eat of the bread of salvation
Drink of the blood of the Lamb
Prepared with the
Wine and the bread
All who are hungry and thirsty
Come and your souls
Will be fed
Come at the Lord's invitation
Receive from His
Nail-scarred hand
Eat of the bread of salvation
Drink of the blood of the Lamb
Amen.
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