We continue in our series of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus now begins his 11 teachings that supersede that of Moses. This is more than amplifying the teaching of Moses because of the strategically placed "but" in each teaching. As we study them I think you will agree that Jesus teaching does in fact supersede these teachings of Moses. Particularly the fifth one where Jesus says not to resist an evil person. This verse has a fascinating history of influential people that have applied it with amazing results.
SHOW NOTES
C. Jesus’ teachings which supersede Moses’ teachings.
We now focus on 11 of Jesus’ teaching: anger, lust, divorce, oaths, gentleness, unconditional love, generosity, prayer, fasting, possessions and worry.
1. Anger noun a strong feeling of annoyance, displeasure, or hostility. "she could barely restrain her anger at this comment" Verb fill (someone) with anger; provoke anger in. "she was angered by his terse answer"
Matthew 5:21 (NIV) “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgement.’”
Jesus is quoting Moses in Exodus 20:13, “You shall not murder.” He then continues.
Matthew 5:22–26 (NIV) But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgement. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell. 23 “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift. 25 “Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still with him on the way, or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. 26 I tell you the truth, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.
Apparently, Jesus equates anger with saying “you idiot,” or “you fool,” or failing to seek reconciliation with an adversary. We certainly don’t equate these behaviours, and Jesus’ equivalence seems preposterous on first thought. I would prefer my adversary to be a hypocrite when he is angry with me. I prefer him to feel angry rather than assaulting me.
When we are angry with another person, we are confirming that we are citizens of this World rather than citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven. In heaven the idea of anger against another is unthinkable. It is as foreign as a fish out of water or as a bird out of the sky.
It must be a mystery to heavenly angels how we can be so callous and wicked in our thinking and feeling. We have the opposite problem to the heavenly angels. It is difficult for us to imagine a society where anger, alienation and accusatory language is totally absent. In his sermon on the mount Jesus is describing the Kingdom of Heaven as contrasted with the Kingdom of this World.
He is describing rather than prescribing. When a sunset is described, it has no prescriptive value, except possibly for artists. In the same way Jesus is describing, in a sense, his former life in heaven and his present life in God.
In this teaching Jesus is placing emphasis on the way we think and feel rather than on behaviour. This is because behaviour is the result of our thoughts and feelings. Jesus is drawing attention to our character, the summation of our thoughts and feelings. Disciplined people can mask their character but they know their thoughts and feelings.
2. Lust (Controlling desire. Men lust for money, sex and power. Women lust for revenge.)
Matthew 5:27 (NIV) “You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’”
Jesus is again quoting Moses as recorded in Exodus 20:14 You shall not commit adultery. Jesus now teaches as follows.
Matthew 5:28–29 (NLT) But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 So if your eye—even your good eye—causes you to lust, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.
Only two of the Ten Commandments are referred to by Jesus, murder and adultery. This is the second. Sexuality is a powerful force which plays out in our lives on earth. It is essential for the continuation of humanity and brings great joy when treated with respect. Rampant sexuality without restraint is the cause of horrible heartache, often mostly for women.
In these teachings, a Jewish man is teaching Jewish men, but the principles are universal for Jesus is the Second Adam, the ultimate man.Jesus’ ability to describe the temptations of men means he noticed the young women in Nazareth and dealt with potential lust. Unbridled lust leads to crimes with disastrous results for women and the family. Firstly, it leads to anger against women, then to lust and often divorce. These three teachings against anger, lust and divorce are connected.
3. Divorce (End of a permanent, intimate relationship.)
Matthew 5:31 (NIV) “It has been said, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.”
Jesus is quoting from Deuteronomy.
Deuteronomy 24:1–4 (NIV) If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him because he finds something indecent about her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house, 2 and if after she leaves his house she becomes the wife of another man, 3 and her second husband dislikes her and writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house, or if he dies, 4 then her first husband, who divorced her, is not allowed to marry her again after she has been defiled. That would be detestable in the eyes of the LORD. Do not bring sin upon the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.
Based on this Mosaic injunction the Pharisees confront Jesus as follows:
Matthew 19:3-12 NLT Some Pharisees came and tried to trap him with this question: “Should a man be allowed to divorce his wife for just any reason?” 4 “Haven’t you read the Scriptures?” Jesus replied. “They record that from the beginning ‘God made them male and female.’” 5 And he said, “‘This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.’ 6 Since they are no longer two but one, let no one split apart what God has joined together.”
7 “Then why did Moses say in the law that a man could give his wife a written notice of divorce and send her away?” they asked.8 Jesus replied, “Moses permitted divorce only as a concession to your hard hearts, but it was not what God had originally intended. 9 And I tell you this, whoever divorces his wife and marries someone else commits adultery—unless his wife has been unfaithful.”
10 Jesus’ disciples then said to him, “If this is the case, it is better not to marry!”11 “Not everyone can accept this statement,” Jesus said. “Only those whom God helps. 12 Some are born as eunuchs, some have been made eunuchs by others, and some choose not to marry for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven. Let anyone accept this who can.”
It is likely that this last statement is self-revelatory by Jesus. He did not marry because of the complications it would bring to the kingdom. If one followed the lead of unconditional love Jesus was proposing it would decrease divorce significantly.
4. Oath Breaking (5:33-37)
Matthew 5:33 (NIV) “Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.’
Moses is being quoted from Leviticus 19:12 (NIV) “Do not swear falsely by my name and so profane the name of your God. I am the LORD.”Jesus is addressing the matter of personal integrity and kindness towards each other, especially a spouse. The person we hurt most when we break a vow or an oath or a promise or an agreement is ourselves. We now know we are not a person of integrity, and this causes us to suspect others are also this way. Adultery is the breaking of the marriage oath. Divorce is the breaking of the marriage oath. There is a line running throughout theses teachings.
5. Revenge and Gentleness (5:38-42)
Matthew 5:38 (NIV) “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’”
Jesus is quoting Moses in Exodus 21:23-25 (NIV) But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise. (Leviticus 24:20; Deuteronomy 19:21)
Matthew 5:39 “But I say, do not resist an evil person.”
This is a puzzling verse because it is almost inconceivable to live one’s life this way. To find the meaning of this statement by Jesus we need to view the context.
Matthew 5:38-42 NLT “You have heard the law that says the punishment must match the injury: ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’ 39 But I say, do not resist an evil person! If someone slaps you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek also. 40 If you are sued in court and your shirt is taken from you, give your coat, too. 41 If a soldier demands that you carry his gear for a mile,[b] carry it two miles. 42 Give to those who ask, and don’t turn away from those who want to borrow.
In 1908, Indian revolutionary, Taraknath Das wrote to Leo Tolstoy, by then one of the most famous public figures in the world, asking for the author’s support in India’s independence from British colonial rule. On December 14, Tolstoy, who had spent the last twenty years seeking the answers to life’s greatest moral questions, was moved to reply in a long letter, which Das published in the Indian newspaper Free Hindustan. Passed from hand to hand, the missive finally made its way to the young Mahatma Gandhi,
Leo Tolstoy (1828—1910), a famous Russian novelist, some of whose major works are War and Peace. Anna Karenina, and The Kingdom of God is Within You. This last work, written in 1894, was a life- changing commentary on Matthew 5-7 for Tolstoy who came from a military judicial background. whose career as a peace leader was just beginning in South Africa. He wrote to Tolstoy asking for permission to republish it in his own South African newspaper, Indian Opinion. Tolstoy’s letter was later published in English under the title: A Letter to a Hindu.
The exchange sparked an ongoing correspondence between the two that lasted until Tolstoy’s death — a meeting of two great minds and spirits, eventually collected in Letters from One: Correspondence (and more) of Leo Tolstoy and Mohandas Gandhi and rivalled only by Einstein’s correspondence with Freud on violence and human nature. https://www.themarginalian.org/2014/08/21/leo-tolstoy-gandhi-letter-to-a- hindu/
Tolstoy’s nonviolent belief also influenced Martin Luther King Junior. www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2010/jan/06/more-to-tolstoy-war-peace
Gandhi was also powerfully influenced by Raychandbhai through personal contact; Tolstoy by his book,
Before Ruskin turned senile in the last decade of his life, it was this ethical command that made him a 'director of conscience' for the rapidly industrializing Europe. No wonder Tolstoy counted him among "those rare men who think with their hearts, and so he thought and said not only what he himself had seen and felt, but what everyone will think and say in the future.”
John Ruskin’s Unto This Last, a collection of four essays on the “politics of economics” is one of his most "The Kingdom of God is within you"; and Ruskin by his "Unto This Last". Besides these three personalities, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, the Gita and the Bible were also life-long sources of inspiration for Gandhi. influential works, so much so that even Mahatma Gandhi said it was “impossible to lay aside”. Ruskin puts forth the idea of an economy based on the consideration of humanity and the virtue of pursuing
money for vested interests, and that economics must have its roots in ethics. As he was determined to change his life according to the ideals of the book, Gandhi established the Phoenix Settlement, a place in Africa where people followed communal living, nonviolence and spirituality based on Ruskin’s teachings and even translated the book into Gujarati, titled Sarvodaya.
With The Kingdom Of God Is Within You, Leo Tolstoy invoked a storm within the Christian community by stating why people must dismiss violence and look inside themselves for answers pertaining to morals. Tolstoy challenged the modernization of the church and spoke of a society based on following Jesus’ literal teachings of “turning a cheek” instead of the various other meanings interpreted throughout time. When Gandhi was growing sceptical of non-violence, it was his favourite author’s book that helped ease
his mind. He even mentioned in his autobiography that this book made him a firm believe in ahimsa. Gandhi’s other favourite books by Tolstoy include The Gospel In Brief and Letter To A Hindoo.
The Grand Tradition of nonviolence is only espoused by a few: Jesus Christ, the Anabaptists, the Mennonites, Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud, Henry Thoreau, John Ruskin, Leo Tolstoy, Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jean Sheldon, FT Wright, Sigve Tonstad, Greg Boyd, William Paul Young, Brian Zahnd, Brad Jersek. Of course, there are more but these are sufficient for me.
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