These teachings this week (Matthew 5:21-37) have a way of striking a chord with people. Especially when we aren’t, as I suggested last week, thinking about them through the lens of the Beatitudes.
It might sound like Jesus thinks anger is as bad as murder or lust is as bad as adultery.
And even as it seems to be what he’s saying, he isn’t saying anger is the same as murder. Nor is he suggesting we punish it like we punish murder now.
Comparing our hearts with our actions has a way of messing up our delicate understanding of the world.
What Jesus does seem to do in these related teachings is highlight the importance of responsibility and integrity. That we struggle with one another because we struggle to take responsibility ourselves.
This is certainly subject to the same jumping to conclusions described above. We often hear the phrase “personal responsibility” as an antidote to governance. That, if we all just “took Jesus into our hearts” we wouldn’t need government, laws, or social structure of any kind.
Wrong. This is extremist thinking. And not anywhere close to Jesus’s point.
Life is a group project. And victims of abuse aren’t the ones who are liable for that abuse. We, together, however, need to hold responsible those who are liable and help restore the community.
Our tendency, however, is to place liability on some and walk away or avoiding responsibility all together. And that seems to be what Jesus is trying to change.
Here are some ways I approach this text:
- Reflection
- Reflection on liable
- No in-between Epiphany 5A and 6A
- video