November 7, 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)

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’  But I tell you, do not resist an evil person.’” (Matthew 5.38-39a)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

Let’s be honest. Even in the compassion and relationship-minded culture and climate espoused by the Church, we still see enemies as someone or something to fight against. Insurrection, tyrrany, despotism, mob violence, murder, war, racism (inclusive of all races, creeds, ethnicities, religions, genders and philosophies as well as politics) as well as bitterness, disappointment, jealousy, envy, lust, covetousness and selfishness are all easily used as “enemy” identifiers. Do we find ourselves on that list somewhere? Do we have the guts to confess a bit of finger-pointing and yadayadaing? Jesus might say, “Let the one without sin cast the first stone” and slowly write your name or my name in the dust under our feet. We should be taking our shoes off recognizing we are standing on hallowed ground. No? Do you think that wherever Jesus walked was not holy, sacred, hallowed and impacted by the Kingdom of God in Heaven on earth? And should it not also be that way with every step we take? Do we not long for and in some measure acknowledge we have a oneness with Christ Jesus as He had and has with His Father in Heaven? Is it not true that when we professed Jesus as Lord and the Christ of the world on earth and received the blessing of the Holy Spirit that God is thus recognized as our Father, the Abba of spirit and truth?

And in our sin, even as we have received the gift of salvation being perfected but not yet perfect, are we not like an enemy to God representing Him to be something He is not because we are not? When James spoke of a perfect religion being both a ministry to widows and orphans who are not able to fend for themselves in sufficiency because there is no one (read carefully…”no head of household which God intends to be the male of the species”) to care for them in a “right relationship” and as being engaged in a manner of life so as not to be polluted by the ways, means and precepts of the world broken by sin, wasn’t he speaking of being engaged in eliminating the “mean mentality of making enemies, keeping enemies and thus becoming an enemy”? Yes, I know that sentence should be broken down into more digestible parts. I know it is a lot to consume. I know most will not have the mind to continue to read back through it and parse it out for themselves. Even I have done it several times as I have written and considerable these sentences which followed it. I am still doing it because it is a full and necessary statement. It can easily lead us back to the teaching of Jesus on the mount[ainside] and to listen to His collection of full and complete thoughts. I doubt that anyone brought scroll and pen; hammer, stylus and stone; or some kind of recording device to listen to Jesus in perpetuity. I know that there were undoubtedly several there who were ADD or ADHD. They would have become fixated on something they heard and agreed with or didn’t understand. Whatever followed next was a blur of hearing. It was not listened to and thus not able to be understood. They had questions which were not being answered. In their desire to rehear and rehearse, they may have asked a neighbor “What did He say?” or “What do you think He meant?” In that moment, that neighbor may have been so involved in hearing and listening to Jesus that such an interruption immediately threw the inquirer with a need to know into an enemy camp. They were shhhed, hushed, redirected, scowled at or told to “go away, you bother me.” Wow, did we even think of that person as an enemy when this started? Further, did we consider that in that moment we were becoming an enemy?

Jesus said, “You have heard it said ‘An eye for an eye; a tooth for a tooth.’ But, I say to you, ‘do not resist an evil person.’” It is the precursor to His teaching which will follow in the next pericope “Love your enemy.” As it “had” been said, the declaration of enemy was one on whom you sought to avenge yourself. They had wronged you in some fashion and you claimed a right to exact justice. Moses had to have God define such “justice” out of which came the lex talonis (eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth). But, the list became too long to adequately rule over. Because of that kind of mentality, the Pharisees (a ruling party which rose up following the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem and the exiles in Babylon coming home) turned the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments, into a voluminous tome of 613 laws. The desire to control every nuance of human life in order to “keep the people on the straight and narrow” became a yoke of death on the necks of every Jew. Well, every one except those who could afford to escape such scrutiny. As Jesus watched them, He saw them as enemies of the faith of Moses. It was as if Moses wasn’t good enough to be “the lawgiver.” The Pharisees considered themselves to be “Thee Lawgivers” as well as judge, jury and executioner. They even had Jesus in their sights, among others. So, as Jesus was wont to do, gave the people (His enemies included) examples of who the enemy was: 39a- one who slaps you on the cheek; 40a- one who sues you for your shirt; 41a- one who forces you to go a mile with them; and 42a- the one who insists on asking and borrowing things from you. Notice how Jesus likes to radically challenge the “ethic du jour”? The Ten Commandments were the applications of the “Two Great Commandments.” The Law of the Pharisees was the expansion of the Ten Commandments. But, Jesus figuratively goes straight to the heart of the matter. It wasn’t merely about “revenge” or “justice according to what was done to me” which Jesus saw as the “spirit of the law.” It was about our attitudes toward the inconvenience caused by actions and requests made. It speaks to our “first thoughts.” Jesus was directing, and continues to do so, us to be proactive instead of reactive. He directive on this is the same as His teaching on when the Messiah will come to “put all things right”: be ready, be prepared, practice what is preached and watch for the times when right action will be required of you.

It isn’t always about “who is my enemy” as in the question of the rich young ruler “who is my neighbor.” It is more about “who could be my enemy” according to the teaching of Jesus. Further, “How might I become someone’s enemy myself by not putting myself in their shoes?”

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.