We Live in Two Worlds
Rev.
Finley Schaef, preaching
Park Slope United Methodist Church, Brooklyn, NY
Sunday,
February 11,
1996
Text Matthew 5:21-37 (the following:)
Conventional Wisdom Jesus
------------------- -----
You have heard it said... I say to you,...
You shall not murder. If you insult a brother or sister,
or if you say, "You fool," you
will be liable to judgment.
You shall not commit Anyone of you who looks at another
adultery lustfully has already
committed adultery in your heart.
Anyone who divorces his Whoever divorces his wife causes let
wife, let him give her her to commit adultery.
a certificate of divorce.
You shall not swear Do not swear at all.
falsely.
Today's scripture reading is a portion of the Sermon on the Mount.
We hear Jesus giving us 4 instances of conventional wisdom, 1 "do" and 3 "don'ts": (I)Don't murder. (II) Don't commit adultery. (III) Do give your wife a certificate of divorce when you divorce her. (IV) Don't swear falsely.
"Conventional wisdom" is what we learn at our mother's knee -- learning that is reinforced by teachers at school and priests at church and synagogue. We are taught that the whole world expects us to live by this wisdom. If we live up to this expectation, we will be rewarded; and if we transgress, we will suffer a penalty of some kind.
However, Jesus says that these rules of conventional wisdom are inadequate.
Let's take a look at the 4 alternative teachings that were enunciated by Jesus.
(1) "If you are alienated from brothers or sisters, go to them and be reconciled."
Jesus goes much further than condemning murder -- he condemns insults. My hunch is that Jesus was a frequent witness of humble people being scolded and ridiculed by educated and esteemed people -- the celebrities of their day. Jesus wanted humble people to be honored, not insulted because of their low estate. Can't you picture a self-righteous person proclaiming "Thou shalt not kill." And you want to say to that person -- "What about the mean way you treat your housekeeper? That's a kind of murder!"
The standard "Thou shalt not kill" is not high enough for truly decent-minded people.
(2) We can understand Jesus' teaching about lust this way: Sexual desire is normal, natural, and good. This is our starting point. We don't want to go back to the time when we were taught that sex is bad, so we start here: Sexual desire is normal, natural, and good. (And it should be fulfilled.)
"Lust," however, is desire carried to an extreme. Lust is sexual desire being expressed in an unloving way. Lust leads to crude, compulsive, and aggressive sex -- such as harrassing women on the street, obsession with sexual talk, and rape. That's why we have 12-step groups at which people deal with their sexual lust. People in these groups find that they go too far -- sex becomes the most important thing on their minds, a compulsive craze, a fixation, an addiction.
God gave us healthy desires. But sometimes they dominate us. Our desires should be balanced not crazed. When sexual desire becomes lust and takes over our whole being, we're going the wrong way. "Don't let a part of you get in the way of the well-being of your whole self."
(3) If you're married, work it out.
We do realize -- as all societies have always realized -- that marriage can become a loveless frustration and in some cases terribly destructive. In such instances, the welfare of all concerned, including the children, may best be served by separation.
Jesus is counseling is endurance and perseverence. Divorce can become an easy a route to choose. This is religious counsel, and it is buttressed by the fact that separation doesn't necessarily make people happier, but simply sends them off to loneliness or to a new partner with their old problems untouched. Conventional wisdom in this instance is too permissive.
(4) "When you make a promise, keep it."
"Swearing" in Jesus' day was like a legal contract. "I swear by Jerusalem," or "I swear by Heaven." You could be taken to court for violating such an oath. Jesus was saying: stay clear of legal involvements and just keep your word. If you said you'd pay it back, pay it back. If you make a pledge, keep it. If you said you'd be there, be there. Jesus was encouraging people to rise above a legalistic way of life and treat each other as dignified equals.
* * * * *
A careful analysis of the 4 teachings of conventional wisdom shows clearly that Jesus was criticizing the privileged class of his day. People of means and honor were the ones who benefited from the rules of conventional wisdom.
For example:
"You shall not murder" leaves the door open to mis-treating the hired help; by insulting them and calling them fools. You can cheat them and if they're here illegally you can pay even less than the minimum wage.
"You shall not commit adultery" leaves the door open for men to mistreat their wives in a multitude of ways other than adultery.
"When you divorce your wife, give her a certificate" -- this is a legalistic way of protecting the woman from being abused by her husband after the separation. But Jesus wants to know: why is the man divorcing the wife in the first place?
Swearing by God is a legalistic way of transacting business, and the rule "You shall not swear falsely" is basically a business ethic.
In essence, what Jesus is saying in his teachings is that the privileged classes benefit by rules and regulations which they impose on everybody else. They seem like strict rules -- but in fact these rules tolerate and disguise abuse of workers by their employers, and abuse of women by men.
Jesus was championing the oppressed when he said things like, don't call anyone a fool, and be affectionate to your wife instead of divorcing her. Swearing was worst of all because it cloaked business in a religious garb: "I swear by God!" was another way of saying, "It's a deal!"
* * * * * * *
Now let's go beyond these actual teachings.
What Jesus is implying here is that we live in 2 worlds. There's the everyday world that teaches us one way and the religious world that teaches the opposite. Both of them tug at us for our loyalty and we live in the tension between them.
Like all good prophets, Jesus challenged the conventional wisdom of his day. Jesus felt that the conventional wisdom of his day was contrived by privileged people which served their interests only. But this conventional wisdom, he taught, does not promote our wellbeing as God would want. Following conventional wisdom, in his day and in our day, is like driving the wrong way down a one-way street.
Jesus is telling us to turn around and drive the right way.
If I asked why you [the congregation] are here this morning, we'd get a variety of answers, ranging from "My mother made me" to "This is where I follow my bliss."
We can explain our presence here in church by taking a clue from this morning's Gospel lesson. The primal purpose of religion is to explain and celebrate our existence in this world. But given the fallen nature of human society, the truth is that we are seduced away from true religion by false values disguised as wisdom. The second purpose of religion, therefore, is to untangle us from these false values and conventional wisdom.
Can you name one item of conventional wisdom which has seduced us? (Answers from the congregation: (1) If you work hard & put in long hours,
you won’t lose your job. (2) Material wealth leads to happiness. (3)
Leave it to the experts. (4) Hard work will lead to success. (5) Use
Certs and find true love.
(Examples: It is best to feed babies with bottles. The best way to solve crime is to build more prisons. It's OK to persecute people who are not white-skinned. Film and sports celebrities are the best people. It follows that fame is the highest goal of life. And wealth is the measure of worth.)
"Conventional wisdom" is what the prophet Jesus is trying to pull us away from. That's why he taught, "You have heard it said,.... but I say...." "You have heard it said,.... but I say...."
We have all been trained to go down a one-way street in the wrong direction, and our religion is intended to turn us around. Our spiritual destination is in the other direction.
We're here ( & we want --->> Spiritual destiny
to go this way) --->> (a good heart)
But we're actually going this way -->>Worry & frustration..
(because we're following conventional wisdom)
You may not be aware of it in those terms, but that's why we come to church. We want to go the right way. Think of your religion not as a set of correct beliefs but as a way, a way to go, a way to grow, a way to live.
And it is exactly that Way that Jesus is describing for us when he teaches, "The conventional wisdom imposed on you is the wrong way. You are being mis-led by special interests. The best way is reconciliation -- not insults, not swearing oaths, not sex carried to ugly extremes. The best way is reconciliation, and affection."
Amen.
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