October 20, 2023

TODAY’S SCRIPTURE READING:

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” (James 1.27)

“First go and be reconciled to them.” (Matthew 5.24b)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

As a reminder, these reflections are centered around the question, “How do we keep ourselves from being polluted by the world?”

Yesterday, I alluded to Jesus admonition concerning the righteous understanding and application of it as it pertained to the rule of righteousness as stated in the Decalogue, “You should not resort to murder to establish peace.” Of course, in the course of Israel’s history, death (as with most countries) is seen as an acceptable loss in order to gain the high ground and prove superior to all other forces. There is even question about the commands of God to “slay the enemies” who hold the high ground of the Promised Land as to apparent contradiction. We are left to discuss that in a different venue. What is important for today’s reflection builds on, as Matthew records it from his memory of the teaching, “…but I say to you….” What did Jesus say? He defined the “letter of the Law” without adding or changing it by refining one’s understanding of the root of the problem which leads to “murder.” For Jesus, who knew and knows the heart and mind and spirit of human beings, it was and continues to be: anger. We can call it “bitterness, envy, strife, selfishness or even a misunderstanding.” But, Jesus does not misunderstand it at all. Such examples of that behavior are evidenced within “The Circle of the Twelve.” Peter, the bold and brash who carries a sicarri under his tunic. James and John, known as the sons of Thunder roar against Samaritans who are inhospitable and seek permission to call down hellfire and damnation upon them. We have a tax collector whose life was always between life and death as a friend to no one. We have the soldier at arms who was most likely a Maccabean ally and commissioned to bring death to the infidels of Rome and the unholy Temple leadership. We even have Judas of Kerioth who intentions are known fully to Jesus as to insurrection and revenge. Death was always around Jesus from His birth to His crucifixion. And where did that death come from? From the heart of humankind turned away from the reality of God as God of gods, immovable and unshakable, creator and sustainer of all life who is a light which the darkness of death cannot overcome. Only God, and that would be understood as the Triune God, was perfectly balanced to keep His actions pure, holy and on target with the end in mind. What is that end?

Well Jesus tells us in that teaching on “do not murder and do not strike out in anger” what the end is. “First go and be reconciled to them; then be confident and humble enough to offer your tithe before God.” (Matthew 5.24b) And watch what Jesus said as the introduction to that command. He said, “If when you go to offer your tithe and sacrifice before God, you remember someone has something against you; go and be reconciled.” This would tell us that the expression of anger is always rooted in what is unresolved and misunderstood between two or more parties. We simply cannot be happy with “it is what it is.” What it is is sin; a foothold for sin to break through the rock of ages like a tree growing from a sprout in a niche. The lack of tending to such disruption is actually the enabling of it. Ignoring it won’t make it go away. Saying it doesn’t make it less a threat. And surely, the command would be two-fold working both ends toward the middle ground of reconciliation. Reality says, however, someone must be the better party and take the step toward the other. Whether they accept it or not depends on the vitality of the initial relationship before it was infected with the “stench of death.”

Further, I would ask you to consider, that when Jesus was speaking these teachings on the mount[ainside], He was speaking to most Galileans and outcasts from Judah and Jerusalem. There may have also been Samaritans and Greeks among them at that time. Contention and suspicion, bitterness and unresolved feelings, confusion and misunderstandings were abundant between the members of the “family of God.” They had their own clan, north versus south, me against the world internal conflicts of heart, mind and spirit. One thing they did have in common at the time was the ruthless and despotic presence of the chaotic Roman Empire. Pax Romana, the Peace of Rome, was quite a misnomer. There would only be “peace in Rome” when everyone agreed with who gets the money. Rome would allow anyone to believe almost anything except sedition against Rome as long as they “paid their dues.” Hmmmm, shall I say it here: the love of money is the root of all evil. Is it any different today? Shall I refrain from comment concerning our own world governments who are vying for “pay your dues” so there will be peace? Jesus said, “True peace comes from that which I give you. Such peace the world cannot give.” (John 14.27) The peace of contingencies is not peace. It is a bartered fast of momentary choice that survives only as long as those who fast together fast together. In a world that is hungry, fasting is not satisfactory. Hungry lives crave food at no expense in mind. It is merely survival. Mighty ones of God, we are not to live in survival mode even if it means to lay down our lives for another so that the “end” will be achieved. Remember, that end is reconciliation. What joy there will be on that day when peace comes to dwell among us and around us as we honor the Father of all as one family together in Jesus’ name.

PRAYER IN LIGHT OF GOD’S WORD:

Father, You have revealed to us best in Jesus the Christ. By Him and Him alone shall we gain the eternal life and our place in eternal rest, living for You always. Show us more and by Your Holy Spirit instruct us in the way we should go, the truth we should reveal and the life we shall live with you forever. In Jesus’ name, we pray. AMEN.