Looking for Loopholes

 

Matthew 5:21-37    

6th Sunday After Epiphany

 

W.C. Fields, the great comedian known for his womanizing and drinking, was a self-admitted agnostic, and so it surprised his friend, Gene Fowler, to find Fields reading the Bible. ”’What are you doing, Bill?’ asked the incredulous Fowler.  ‘I’m looking for loopholes,’ Fields whispered.”[1]

W.C. Fields isn’t the only one to look for an easier way out.   Years ago, I attended one of my husband’s high school reunions in Rocky Mount, North Carolina.  Griff’s friends gathered around to greet us.  He introduced me and told them that I, his wife, was a preacher.  “And y’all thought I was going to hell, didn’t you?” he said with that beautiful big grin on his face.  Looking into the eyes of his friends, I replied, “He still is.”[2]

Jesus’ exposition in our reading this morning might have you looking for loopholes.  “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.”  When is the last time that you were angry with someone?  When is the last time that you insulted someone, even if it was not to their face?  And when is the last time you called someone a fool?

Jesus’ discourse escalates.  “If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away…And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away.”[3]  Jesus never mentions anesthesia.

Our readings seem to reinforce the image of God as a law giver, and a harsh dispenser of judgment.  It may be easy to lose sight of the fact that the law is given to us as a gift.  God gave the law to Moses to give to God’s people, not so that they could earn their way to God by adhering to the law and climbing the ladder of perfection to reach God.[4]  God gave the law so that we can live with one another.

The first way God uses the law, in the words of Tim Wengert, is:

to promote the life of creation and to restrain evil. Luther noted that God, “who overflows with pure goodness,” uses creatures who “are only the hands, channels, and means through which God bestows all blessings.” But God also forces humanity to come face to face with its sin (the second way God uses the law).  In all of this, however, Luther’s point was that God uses the law on humanity, not the other way around, and uses it to benefit life on earth and life with God. [5]

Jesus strengthens the law, and it becomes clear that we cannot justify ourselves. Jesus intensifies the law so that we don’t excuse ourselves for our neglect and mistreatment of others. He catches us looking for loopholes, we who say we never murdered anyone while at the same time speaking of people in the worst possible way.  Luther, in his Large Catechism, which we will be studying, explains the fifth commandment, “Many people, although they do not actually commit murder, nevertheless curse others and wish such frightful things on them that, if they were to come true, they would soon put an end to them.”[6][7]

The law is about relationship.  God gives us the law, and Jesus strengthens the law, because God created us to be in a right relationship, with God, with those we love, and with those we do not love.  It’s that important.  We test Jesus on this all the time. Remember those little plastic Jesus’ on our dashboards?  You haven’t seen them recently, have you?   People are too ashamed to let him hear all the things we yell at other drivers.  “Who is my neighbor?” we ask, hoping that it does not include the guy who took our parking space, or someone with a different gender identity, or the one who needs a job, or the one fleeing from another country.

We have a long family history of trying to escape compliance with God’s desires for us ever since Adam wimped out, saying, “SHE made me do it!” Then there was King David, and that whole scandal with Bathsheba and the Uriah cover-up.  Judas violated his relationship with Jesus for money, and a short time later, Peter tweeted, “#notmymessiah.”

Have you been hurt by things people have done or have not done?  Are there people you have hurt by things you have said, or have not said? Can you picture someone’s face in your mind’s eye?   Jesus tells us to pluck out our eyes, and hack off our hands.  Our connection to others is that important.  We all have all disappointed people, and we have all been let down.  When it comes to relationships, we seem to have the knack for messing them up. Yet God has told us that there is nothing more important:

… a lawyer asked [Jesus] a question to test him.  “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?”  He said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.  This is the greatest and first commandment.  And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.[8]

The very thing that God asks us to do is the very thing we can’t.  We have not loved God with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We have all sinned in thought, word, and deed.  Together, after we confess our brokenness, we are reminded that in the mercy of almighty God, Jesus Christ was given to die for us.  We will eat his broken body in the bread, and drink his blood in the wine, consuming Jesus that his love will consume us, and that receiving his forgiveness, we can begin again, giving thanks that for Jesus, in

Jesus, there are no loopholes.

~Pastor Cheryl Ann Griffin

[1] http://quoteinvestigator.com/2016/05/08/loopholes/  Web.  Accessed February 8, 2017.

[2] Please know that I was just kidding! Griff is baptized!  See Luther’s Small Catechism, The Sacrament of Holy Baptism, the second statement.  [Baptism] effects forgiveness of sins, delivers from death and the devil, and grants eternal salvation to all who believe, as the Word and promise of God declare. [Taken from The Book of Concord.  Tappert, Theodore, ed.  Philadelphia:  Fortress Press, 1959.  348-349.]   

[3] My hope is that Biblical literalists do not take this literally!

[4] For further reading on this aspect of Lutheran theology, see Gerhard O. Forde’s book, Where God Meets Man.  Minneapolis:  Augsburg Books, 1972.

[5] Wengert, Timothy J.  Martin Luther’s Catechisms.  Minneapolis:  Fortress Press, 2009.  32.

[6] If you don’t know what the fifth commandment is, come to the study!

[7] Kolb, Robert and Wengert, Timothy J., eds.  The Book of Concord.  Minneapolis:  Fortress Press, 2000. 411.

[8] Matthew 22:35-40

Author: Pastor Cheryl Griffin

Pastor Cheryl Ann Griffin thinks God has a sense of humor for leading her into ministry, but can’t imagine doing anything else! Pastor Griffin received her BA degree from the College of William and Mary. She worked as an accountant before God led her to the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, where she received her Master of Divinity degree. In the Virginia Synod, Pastor Griffin is a member of the Ministerium Team and frequently leads small groups at synod youth events. She is also a representative to the VA Synod Council.

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