SUNDAY, February 13, 2011
On Psalm 119:1-8
Matthew 5:21-37
Just two weeks ago, we heard that the downtrodden, the persecuted, the depressed are blessed. Then, last week we were told that we are the salt and the light of the world.
And today, we hear Jesus continuing his sermon on the mount. Again, his words sound condemning and harsh and impossible. And the reading of the OT text and the psalm are not more comforting or reassuring either: According to Deuteronomy we are to choose between “life and prosperity, and death and adversity”. The psalmist also makes clear that those are blessed whose way is blameless. Those who walk in the law of the Lord and keep God’s decrees… those who do no wrong and follow God’s commandments diligently as he has required… those are happy… those are content.
Are they? Is there anybody on this earth who follows God’s statutes and laws and rules and commandments to the letter? As the psalmist says, when only we try hard enough, and focus on following God’s ordinances we will not be put to shame. God will look with favor upon us.
We all know what it is like to want to do what is right. We all know what it is like to have good intentions. One starts on a diet. For too long food has been a comforter, growing a shield against the hurts and injuries to the soul. Yet, as the doctor keeps saying, it has become dangerous to live on like this. And this time one is confident that it’ll work. But soon, when it shows that it is not that easy, doubts creep in.
Or one decides to cut back on drinking. It was fun at first. Also, the liquor was numbing the inner pain of living, of the nagging feeling of being a failure, lonely, inadequate. And then it became too much and one is ready to quit – only to discover that it doesn’t necessarily work.
Or one intends to become more loving and understanding when the children come home. There is this pattern that as soon as they walk through the door the mood changes, and it is not for long and the fighting starts. For too long disappointments and misunderstandings have mounted, and now each sits on their side of a wall that grows higher and higher. This has to stop because it is depressing and destructive. But then, these patterns are sooo easy to fall back into.
Like us, the psalmist today has best intentions to be good and to do good in the eyes of God. But after the initial declaration of what he plans to do, he seems to develop second thoughts. And soon enough his motive for his zeal to be law-abiding becomes clear: he wants to observe God’s statutes, in the hopes that God would not to utterly forsake him.
How often have we done that? How often have we bargained with God? “If I go to church every Sunday, if I volunteer my time in the congregation and the community, if I pray every day, if I generously put into the offering plate then you can’t drop me.” Just like the psalmist declares “If I follow all your commandments you can’t forsake me.”
There is not much confidence left when it comes to our relationship to God. We are wondering where we stand at best of times. And on days like today, when the Bible passages point out so harshly our shortcomings and inadequacies, it can make us insecure and fearful. What if God really is that legalistic? What if God really judges us the way we deserve it?
And we come to the point that we have to admit, that we can’t live up to God’s expectations. We are never good enough, loving enough, pious enough. Laws, commandments, rules or statutes… we can’t measure up. And the laws, commandments, rules or statues can’t make us righteous before God either – no matter how hard we try!
The psalmist is pleading with God – a God who is listening to these pleas. These words are not just spoken somewhere, thousands of years ago. But, together with the multitude of God’s people and the psalmist, we utter these words of insecurity and fear to a God who graciously hears and listens. For the God of Israel is a Living God – living amongst his people and in earshot. And Israel’s God is our God. This God of all is merciful. This God of all owns and embraces our fears and feelings of inadequacies and struggles by speaking these words with us.
In fact, Jesus in today’s gospel reading is pointing out that measuring up to God is not the point. God’s laws and rules are about how to live with our neighbor… how to reconcile with our neighbor without fear of failure. Instead of cutting relationships when things become rocky Jesus encourages us to make peace with one another. Instead of relying on the legal system of the time Jesus asks us to work out issues with our neighbor directly. Jesus doesn’t speak against us not fulfilling the law meticulously but against an unmerciful system. God does not condemn and abandon us because of our imperfections.
Jesus speaks God’s mercy and compassion to us, the same mercy and compassion that compels God to speak with the psalmist and his people. And just last week Jesus told us that he has come to fulfill the law. Jesus has come to fulfill the law for all people.
It was the Law that nailed Christ to the cross to die. And Jesus overcame the punishment of the law once and for all. Jesus is raised from the dead and turns the punishment into mercy. God hears, remembers, and takes seriously our fear of abandonment.
God’s commandments and statues, God’s laws and ordinances are not about pleasing God, as the psalmist and we often, too, understand it. And God does not forsake or condemn us for being imperfect. But God gave us rules to know how to live with one another. And Christ died to show us that these commandments don’t save us, but God’s relationship with us and God’s commitment to us does… A relationship and commitment that does not rely upon our trustworthiness and faithfulness but on God’s alone.
It is at God’s table and among God’s people that we can let go of our fears and anxieties of not measuring up. It is in the body and blood of Christ that God frees us into a community of honest imperfection and helplessness. Here we receive courage… a courage that springs forth from God’s words of forgiveness. And it is through God’s grace and forgiveness that God gives us the confidence and boldness to reach out to those around us. And we are free to love and care for one another, however imperfectly we try.
Amen.
