"But I Say to You..."

Jesus taught in a striking, authoritative way that amazed people (7:28-29). In Mt 5:17-20 he affirmed the Law and emphasized righteousness exceeding "the scribes and Pharisees," teachers noted for rigorous obedience to every commandment -- a 'fence around the law.' The law was moral / civil / criminal, enforceable by public courts and subject of debate.

If judgment found you in the right, you were right with God. Biblical code plus tradition.

Jesus' language creates an expectation that he sets up a more rigorous fence. Then Jesus gives a series of contrasts that use that expectation but undermine and transform it. Jesus is not giving new law, rather showing us a new starting point for thought and action, a new default.

Deeper and Different

Jesus' first contrast/antithesis is both serious and outlandish. The law is reasonable, enforceable: Don't murder -- stopping bad action, real harm. Then court, witnesses, guilt or innocence.

Jesus changes two things: First, substance. Avoiding murder doesn't get us to God's will, real righteousness. A person's heart is the real center. Thus Jesus focuses on anger, contempt -- thinking that produces action. Second, Jesus exaggerates legal language with memorable irony to show God's will can't be reached by legal rigor: Take someone to the Sanhedrin for saying 'Raka'!? Jesus trusts us to have a sense of irony and proportion as we listen to him!

Anger and Contempt

Jesus' Kingdom righteousness goes straight to our inner practices of heart and will that may or may not break out to harm a neighbor, but definitely harm and destroy us like a cancer. Anger, like judging, may have its place, but we are self-deceived and not good at it!

Jesus slaps us in the face with the Sanhedrin and Gehenna fire for everyday insults. Not a new, harder legalism, but powerful images that get inside our imagination. A sense of where the problem lies. Sin-management isn't enough. A new orientation of mind, heart. A new love.

Are we responsible for our anger? We blame: "You make me angry." No! We choose anger. We use anger and contempt to block reconciliation. "It's their fault. They don't deserve it." Jesus focuses on relationships close at hand: brother/sister, where it's hardest, like marriage.

Reconciling with People and God

Jesus tells two parables. First, reconciliation is to crucial to God! Jesus is remaking disciples' hearts for the Gospel that explodes from his death and resurrection -- he dies to reconcile us enemies to God. Don't just avoid the evil; actively live out God's grace toward others.

Leave the gift at the altar! God want's reconciliation more. Strive to heal your brother's anger or hurt, whether it's justified or not. Proactive forgiveness and reconciliation is what we experience from God. That love should be the default position of our hearts.

Beware the Myths of Controlled Anger

Second, Jesus warns against thinking we can use and control conflict, anger. Both get out of hand with destructive results. Make friends! You're not as intimidating as you think. You might lose big. Even if you "win" by destroying your antagonist, you lose. Choose love.

The almighty God chooses to forgive and reconcile and gain a beloved child. As disciples, we imitate. As we received God's love, we seek reconciliation. Love even enemies.

Larry Mudd speaks on worship as part of the Vine found in the book of John.

Priests of Tradition against Foolish Faith

Tensions rise as Jesus teaches in the Temple. He has challenged and condemned the priestly aristocracy that ran the Temple. He answered the Pharisees and Herodians about the tax.

Now the Sadducees, the theological organization of the leading priests, return. They opposed the Pharisees, rejecting resurrection, tradition not in Genesis-Deut., angels, etc. [Act 23:8] Temple tradition and priestly standing was all. Resurrection and judgment was a threat. It's the here and now of ritual, liturgy, temple that matter, not faith in some future life.

They bring a question to show that Moses' law [Dt 25:5-6] has no place for resurrection life. It's intended to make the idea of resurrection look silly. Just think of the soap opera!

Resurrection Life and the Power of God

Jesus firmly agrees with the Pharisees on the basic teaching! Sadducees miss on the basics: the scripture and the God it reveals. They assume resurrection is resuscitation to ordinary life rather that transformation / new creation. When death is destroyed, there's no need for new offspring. Only the relationship, love, delight, identity of marriage remains.

The Sadducees know the scripture Jesus quotes [Ex 3:6], but they don't "know" it -- what it says about God. God say "I am" not "I was." Abraham is not only past but present with God. Resurrection is God's "No!" to death. It can't crush his creation of life -- God's power. Every life matters. Each of us can receive God's Spirit, God's life. Physical death can't even destroy the our natural life/soul/psyche. Only God can do that. God cares for the life he creates. Resurrection takes death/suffering seriously and affirms God's creation power.

People are astonished as with his Sermon on the Mt. Resurrection reveals the heart of God.

Finding the Greatest Commandments

The Pharisees return with a challenging question but not a trick question. How can Jesus both agree and disagree with them? They sometimes spoke of core commands like Mic 6:8.

But their basic intent was to elaborate the law to touch every part of life; to call all Israel to carefully implement every law of tithing, purity, Sabbath, etc.; thus create a holy nation.

The question has the implication that Jesus exalts some commands and ignores others. How else could he welcome sinners (against the law)? Jesus says "Yes!" There is a "first" and a "second" command. All the Law and Prophets depend on these. They form a kind of lens through which to see the meaning of everything else -- a basic guide to interpretation.

He starts in a well-known center, the "Shema:" "Hear, Israel..." -- a core statement of faith and relationship. Note that it is a commandment that could never be enforced in court. Not like laws about murder, oaths, divorce, even Sabbath: "Love God with all your heart."

The second he picks from a clause in Lev 19:18, among other regulations. Jesus says it's most important. Why? It's unenforceable! Because it corresponds to the character of God and our relationship with God. Jesus interprets/expands its meaning: Love enemies [Mt 5:43-48].

How do I Love the God of Life?

Jesus says the heart of God has always been for us. God acted in love to save his creation by saving Israel. He has always been the God of life. He called them to a relationship of love. Not an alliance with one nation-state regulated by law, excluding all others. A passionate love for God is acted out in loving justice and service for "the least of these" [Mt 25:40].

Only when we see what God counts most important, can we understand cross and resurrection.

Pharisees and Herodians Challenge Jesus

Since Jesus arrived at the Temple for Passover, Mt has described the growing conflict with the chief priests -- like the prophets' condemnation of Jerusalem leaders before the exile.

Passover was a time of intense feeling about deliverance from oppression as in the Exodus. Rome had overthrown the last independent Jewish kings, and used the upstart Herod to drive out Parthian forces and secure the region. When Herod died, they divided it among three sons. The son that they put over Judea and Samaria, Archelaus, was a poor ruler. Rome deposed him in ad 6 and took over direct rule under a Roman prefect (now Pontius Pilate). They carried out a tax census and imposed direct head tax on the population (Zacchaeus).

Many devout Jews were radicalized (became Zealots), like Judas the Galilean [Acts 5:37] and other Pharisees: Jews must recognize no Lord but God, pay no taxes, drive out oppressors. Herodians hated the expulsion of a Herodian ruler. The census tax embodied oppression. That Roman control/census enforced by oppressive governors led to war in ad 66-73.

Jesus steps into that volatile scene talking about God's kingdom. People know only one way that kingdoms collide. Surely God's kingdom is on our side against oppression -- just war! Wouldn't it have been great for Jesus to take over the government -- Caiaphas and Caesar!?

They ask Jesus the question, backed with flattering expectations. Jesus pushes them to look at coin they hold. It's Caesar's coin -- his image, his claims of divinity -- given by him, that they're using. Give it back to him! Pay the tax? Get rid of such a coin? Jesus's response is terse and ambiguous, a response to the entrapping question, not a detailed policy.

Giving God's Things to God

But Jesus doesn't stop. He adds what's most important: "and give God's things to God." The questioners might puzzle over "Caesar's things" -- from the coin to all the claims that governments good and bad make on those under their rule. But the far vaster category is "God's things." What exactly falls in that category. Is there any part of life that is outside? And how do I give "God's things to God"? "Seek first his kingdom..." [Mt 6:33]. Jesus whole teaching about life and discipleship is his answer to the question -- remaking all of life.

Jesus helps his disciples see that God's kingdom functions on a basis fundamentally different from any and every nation/empire/government of our world. Every government works by the control of power/force. Sometimes well-used, sometimes oppressive. Often both at the same time. No nation works by "obedience unto death, even death on a cross" which embodies God's love that is the very heart of Jesus' kingdom. [Mt 20:25-28; 26:52; Jn 18:36].

Jesus' disciples knew the world's way of greatness and defending the right with the sword. Jesus helped them trust a different reality. When Constantine in the 4th cent. claimed to see a vision telling him to conquer rival armies by the sign of Christ, it wasn't from Jesus. The Roman empire did not become a Christian empire, it became an empire of this world that used some of the structures of Christianity to enforce its purposes. The church lost.

Living the Kingdom of God inside the World's empires

Most people have a natural love of 'father-land,' patriotism. We share a nation's life, know its culture, love/hate its political leaders, etc. It's home. Christians have a larger patriotism. Our father's land is the whole earth. We give "God's to God" including all of culture.

We're called to participate well/beautifully in all parts of human life including government, to bring our best to all that contributes to the common good now. But always knowing that this passes away. What will last is that love embodied in the cross that is the heart of God.

Temple Fortress against the Invasion of God's Kingdom

Mt is leading us into and through the conflicts that led to Jesus' crucifixion. Jesus from the start proclaimed the inbreaking of the Kingdom of God/Heaven [Mt 4:17-23], like the herald of Isa 52. But the Jerusalem temple was already under control of chief priests (Caiaphas and others), powerful aristocrats, politicians, playing powers off against each other. They have no place for a strange, army-less, money-less prophet like Jesus, defining God's rule.

Remember the journey: Sign of the humble king on a donkey, branches, children [21:1-16].

Sign of the fruitless fig tree, moving the mountain [17-22]. Question of Authority from priests, John the Baptist [23-27]. Parable of Father and 2 Sons, tax collectors, prostitutes [28- 32]. Parable of Vineyard Planter and Tenants, they say put them to miserabledeath[33-41].

Jesus holds two ideas in tension: A powerful invading kingdom, overthrowing corrupt, old structures. A radically different kind of power, of God. The son dies, transforms, reconciles. There was no ready language, no prepared images for Jesus' way of the Sermon on the Mt.

Rejected Stone -- Disdained Kingdom

Jesus uses a scripture parable of the Stone (from the Psalm the crowds sang, Ps 118). Rejected, but placed by God as the cornerstone. As a warning to the Priests, he combines it with images from Isaiah 8 and Daniel 2 of God's stone that destroys human structures of power. The chief priests hear this prophetic judgment and begin trying to arrest Jesus, but their fear about their Roman power-base opposing the people makes them timid, not prophetic.

Jesus tells another parable of a human king holding a royal wedding for his son. [Note that Jesus uses the same basic story-type to tell a very different parable in Lk 14:16-24.]

It's no ordinary wedding: A state occasion, the future king and queen. The king invites/ summons, not everyone, but the elite of the cities and regions of his kingdom. All okay.

But everything goes awry. The invited ignore the great occasion, the king's authority, the meaning of the event. They don't want to come. But the king is gracious. He sends servants to describe the festivities in terms of all that is prepared for these disdaining subjects. They pay no attention. Indeed, they insult and kill the king's messengers. Full-fledged rebellion has broken out, the king and kingdom are attacked by these elite.

Jesus is describing the temple leaders in terms that echo the scriptural indictment of the Jerusalem leaders before the Babylonian exile and destruction of the temple [2Ch 35:15-16]. He describes their fate in destructive terms they understand. The kingdom won't stop.

The Summons to All and the Missing Wedding Garment

But Jesus adds another element that touches his indictment that "tax collectors and prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you" [21:31]. Servants are sent to the main roads to bring in as many as they could find. They bring in "both bad and good" and the wedding is full. Many of us wish that Jesus had stopped the story there: Jesus welcomes sinners!

But Jesus doesn't stop. He adds the difficult element of the guest with no wedding garment. His plight seems reasonable given the way the outsiders were brought in. But parables are almost always strange in ways the challenge the listener. This kingdom not only changes old structures, but transforms the disciples themselves: thus the wedding garment.

Jesus has repeatedly emphasized how his teaching must change disciples in distinct ways. The whole Sermon on the Mt describes the "wedding garment" -- being light and salt, rejecting anger, seeking reconciliation, rejecting possessiveness, speaking truth, not reacting to evil, loving enemies, trusting God, seeking his rule, not judging, acting with love toward others.

God's kingdom is a stone that breaks up everything and rebuilds with God's transforming grace.

Jason Isbell, the Children and Student Minister at the Manhattan Church of Christ, brings a message exploring the connection between FATHERHOOD and Jesus’ self-identification as a shepherd in John 10:11-18. The sermon looks beyond a simple calling to be a "Good Father" and challenges the church body to be people, in words of Jesus to Peter, that "feed my sheep." This sermon was delivered on the Sunday immediately after the horrific attack on the Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina.

The 3rd - 7th graders sing the "Alleluia Canon" under the direction of Larry Mudd for Father’s Day. Accompanied by Richard Danly on the piano and Emily Cahnmann on the flute.

The Crash of the Rejected Stone

Matthew is describing Jesus' second entry into the temple. The first as humble king on a donkey [Zech 9:9] with people crying 'Hosanna to the Son of David, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord' [Psa 118:25-26]. It led to confrontation with the chief priest [21:15]. The second begins with the sign of the fruitless fig tree. It continues with parables of vineyards unworked by those who promised to work, or held hostage by tenants who refuse to give the harvest to the one who planted it and kill his servants and his son.

The confrontation is deep and fundamental and Mt is helping us understand it by focusing on its scriptural roots and how Jesus understood its surprising character and impact.

Jesus quotes Ps 118 just before the 'Hosanna' portion. A stone rejected by the leaders becomes the cornerstone -- the kingdom of God, with God's anointed king, the Messiah, 'Son of David.' It echoes Isa 28:16. Jesus adds references to Isa 8:14-15, Dan 2:34-35 -- God's stone of stumbling and the stone that crushes the idol of human power to chaff.

It's all focused on the chief priests. In Mt 2:4 they know the signs of the Messiah. But when Peter confesses Jesus as Messiah, Jesus immediately refers to his coming suffering at the hands of the chief priests and elders [Mt 16:21, 20:18]. They believe neither John nor Jesus.

The Dead Prophet who Reverses Religion

Jesus focuses the problem through their rejection of John the Baptist [21:23-32]. They claim the right to judge Jesus' authority, but could not recognize God's work in the Elijah-like work of John. They admit their spiritual blindness as temple leaders by saying, 'We don't know.'

Jesus had invited them in, if they could believe John. He tells a simple parable. Easy question. But he follows it with a devastating application. The most condemned in society -- tax collectors and prostitutes -- are entering God's Kingdom ahead of the priests. They could recognize John's prophetic call to repentance. The priests evaluated him politically as a threat to them. They were so locked into their structure of power, they couldn't change.

Everything's upside down. The priests don't know God. The sinners recognize God's call. Just as Jesus had been judged for calling 'tax collectors and sinners' [Mt 9:10-13], so it continues.

The Murdered Son who Overthrows the Powerful

Jesus tell another clear parable leading up to a question with a clear answer. He echoes a famous prophetic parable in Isaiah [5:1-7] pronouncing judgment on Jerusalem and Judah. Jesus changes the focus from the vineyard itself to the 'tenants,' standing for the chief priests. They don't produce fruit because they don't really believe in God's real power. The only power they know is that of control and violence, none of God's self-giving love.

The 'Son' is that 'Son of David' who is also God's Son [2Sam 7:14], the Messiah. He embodies Israel. He's rejected by priests as not bringing God's authority. Listeners answer the question with their version of judgment on Caiaphas and the aristocratic priesthood.

'This is the Lord's Doing' -- The Unexpected God

But it doesn't fit. The Son gets killed! That wasn't supposed to happen to the Messiah. Jesus uses the parable to re-write expectations of how God works. The Son is killed, the stone is rejected. But that doesn't stop the transforming power of God. The chief priests will watch as their power base (trying to collaborate with Romans and appease zealots) evaporates into war and the destruction of the temple in ad 64-70. Sadducees cease.

But the Son who is killed becomes the cornerstone of the fulfillment of the prophecies in a way that they could not imagine and wanted to block. His death will invite them into life and forgiveness, renewal of Israel as a light to the whole world. God really is surprising!

Invading a Temple of Symbols

Jesus enters the Jerusalem Temple, the most powerful symbol of Israel in his day. Since God gave the Tabernacle at Sinai, it symbolized God's presence and covenant with his people. The priests who presided in the Temple were the most powerful group among the Jews.

But the Temple was in deep dispute. Ezekiel described the departure of God's glory, destruction. Malachi foretold the return of God to his temple, but warned of its judgment. Jewish kings in 2nd cent bc usurped the role of high-priest HP. Essenes Dead Sea Scrolls rejected the corrupt temple. Herod assassinated HP families and installed his own; richly rebuilt temple. Now Romans named the HP, Caiaphas and family, wealthy collaborators, Sadducees. John Bap. called them a 'brood of vipers' 3:7-10. For others Temple was focus of insurrection.

People hoped for a Messiah/Son of David to purify the temple, drive out Gentiles. 'Hosanna, Son of David!' was for many a call for Jesus to set up a new regime. Mt describes Jesus twice entering the temple. The first preceded by the sign of the Humble King [Zech 9:9]. The second preceded by the sign of Judgment on the Fruitless Tree [Jer 8:10-13; Mic 7:1-2].

Both lead to Jesus confronting the chief priests/Sadducees, prepared for earlier in the Gospel. Chief priests see but confuse meaning. Babies praise God better than these leaders. They sell out to the Romans, partly by letting the temple be a center of anti-Roman violence.

A Fig Tree, a Mountain, and Faith

The story of the fig tree bothers us. It seems petulant magic. Jesus statement about faith seems to say that if we believe hard enough, we can make God do whatever we want.

It's important to see that it is a prophetic sign, like the donkeys. Both John the Baptist and Jesus condemned the Sadducees and Pharisees for not 'bearing good fruit' [Mt 3:7-10; 7:19]. Jesus enacts the judgment of Jer. 8:10-13. Note the weighty language 'forever.' As often happened, the disciples only partially understand the sign. Jesus draws them in.

The heart of Jesus' indictment of the chief priests is their loss of any real faith in the God whose temple they run. They have lost their identity, they're at odds with themselves.

Jesus has highlighted real faith -- the centurion [Mt 8:9-10], the Canaanite woman [15:22-28] -- people who recognize God's power/authority in Jesus' work and won't hold back. The Sadducees/chief priests don't know God's power [22:29]. God's house is their power base.

When Jesus says, 'this mountain,' remember he is approaching Jerusalem, Mt. Zion. Jesus may be echoing the vision of judgment in Zech 14:4,9. The rich stones Herod built will be torn down; the temple will move to where God's Spirit works. A unexpected transformation.

Can You Recognize God's Work when You See It?

Jesus enters the temple again, and they challenge his authority, implied in 'Son of David.'

The question of Jesus' authority has run through his ministry. People recognized it in his teaching and healing [Mt 7:28; 9:6-8, healing a paralyzed man]. That authority implied Jesus' identity and mission. To speak, heal, forgive sins as he did put him in the role not only as a prophet but as the temple itself, the place where one met God and received forgiveness.

Jesus asks about John the Baptist. The priests could step forward and join Jesus, but they can't muster the courage. The people knew John as a prophetic messenger of God, but the priests felt the sting of his voice and did not want to change. Who was he to judge them?

But Jesus was baptized by John, anointed by the Holy Spirit, affirmed by God [Mt 3:16-17]. Affirming John affirmed Jesus! The priests embody doubt. God doesn't enter their reality. God has come to his own house in Jesus, can we recognize him, step forward, join him?

Why Do People See Jesus so Differently?

When you hear people's opinions about Jesus, you hear variety. Many are ok with God, with spirituality, but Jesus? Exclusive. Narrow. Who was Jesus? A myth, revolutionary zealot, a man with a wife and kid who loved the divine feminine, a village philosopher, a corrupter of humanity teaching a slave mentality, a world-denying ascetic, a good pharisaic rabbi?

Matthew is leading us into the final, most crucial part of his Gospel, the end of Jesus' story, and beginning. He draws on many memories written and oral, but his aim is to help us to encounter Jesus. He's writing the past history of a living person. The challenge is not so much getting a set of facts right as helping us actually to meet the living Jesus. Mt takes us into the throngs. Helps us hear questions. Gives us resources to see ourselves and Jesus.

Looking at the People Looking at Jesus

The crowds. They weave in and out of the narrative. We stand among them. Gathered for something big. They're following Jesus, hoping to see something. With ordinary eyes.

Two blind men. In Jericho they've heard of Jesus. Need. Desire. "Son of David" -- that means King, Messiah, wealth, power, benevolence. Stories of healings. Go for it! It can't hurt. They cry for mercy and won't be silenced. (The crowd sees them hindering the big event.) They ask for the impossible. Eyes are opened. All they imagined and more. They follow.

Two disciples. Learners. Apprentices. They help Jesus arrange this preaching by dramatic enactment of prophecy. They follow Jesus' instructions. Potential objectors cooperate. They join all disciples to share in drama. Cloaks on donkeys, part of Passover celebration.

Crowds. Join the drama. Cloaks, branches, the coming of the king. They lead the way and follow, singing Psa 118. "Hosanna! Save, we pray, Son of David." Like the Blind men's cry! Their eyes are opening? Jerusalem, the city feels the earthquake. "Who is this?" The city is self-centered, more ignorant than the blind men. The Crowd lets them know the big news, the Prophet, Jesus, from the distant village in Galilee. A Prophet means God's messenger.

The Prophets. Behind the story are the prophetic words of scripture like a character: Isaiah, Zechariah, Jeremiah, the Psalms. They embody hopes, promises waiting to be filled with meaning. The Daughter of Zion, Israel's ideal self, is waiting, looking for the humble king.

Temple Traders. The confrontation begins. Jesus acts first. A prophetic sign that challenges everyone to interpret and understand. The traders express a policy, a false understanding of God, shown in the way the temple as God's house was used. A house of prayer for all.

The Blind and Lame. Traditionally excluded from the temple. They were beggars at the gates. Jesus brings them in and heals them as an embodiment of Isaiah's vision of inclusion.

Children. Innocence, vulnerability, the future? They join the Blind men and the crowds.

Chief Priests and Scribes. Those who run the temple; authorize the traders. They quote the prophets and should know the work of God. They see the wonders, hear the songs, but they're indignant, angry and see blasphemy. They rightly sense Jesus' dangerous challenge to everything they've built in their temple regime. It is a vast well-oiled complex. The only thing missing is God. What the blind, the crowds, the children see, they can't see: The long-expected Messiah, Son of David, coming for deliverance of his much-abused people.

What Do You See? What Do You Hear?

But none at that time could see fully what Matthew wants us to see. A piece is missing, even

for those closest to Jesus. God will act -- Jesus' death and resurrection. Only then will the depth, meaning of this drama emerge. God came to his temple, in judgment and renewal. Where are we among the throngs? What do we see? What do we sing? Whom do we follow?