In the name of God- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Little
giants, original copy, random order, crash landing. We all know oxymorons when we
hear them. The word itself comes from a Greek phrase meaning “sharp dull.” We
often use them as a way of expressing an illogical, but very real,
contradiction. Sometimes, in the case of “military intelligence,” they are
meant to poke fun. Other times they express the complexity of a situation, such
as a “beautiful mess.” And still other oxymorons defy reason when two things
that can’t possibly go together are, nevertheless, united- “virtual reality,” “sound
of silence,” or “exact estimate.” Even though these phrases are funny and nonsense,
we still know exactly what they mean when we hear them.
I
begin with these sort of contradictions because there is a phrase in
Christian-speak that we often assume is an oxymoron, but today I will suggest
that perhaps there is more truth in it than we might acknowledge. Isaiah speaks
about the Law and the ways of living righteously. Jesus then says that he has
come not to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it. Now we tend to think of laws as
things that are restrictive, things that limit our freedom and constrain us.
Laws are handed down from above, whether from God or the human authorities with
power over us, and are imposed on us. Laws can often be unfair and prejudiced,
working against the very peace and justice that they seek. For the most part,
laws are something that we realize that we need, but ultimately wish we could
dispense with.
And
there is a phrase that you’ll often hear that is spoken as an oxymoron- the Law
of grace. As I said, we tend to think of laws as necessary evils because we’re
not good at self-regulation. While grace is often thought of as elegant
movement, benevolent goodwill, or in the language of the Church, as free and
unmerited forgiveness and salvation. Law is about restriction, and grace
freedom. Law are rules and grace is love. And, in this line of thinking, the Law
of grace is, indeed, rather oxymoronic.
I’m
not a psychologist or neuroscientist who can explain it, but there is something
in our human nature that likes to make distinctions between things. Light
versus dark, in versus out, and old versus new. It is that last distinction
that I think can be troublesome. People often speak of the God of the Old
Testament versus the God of the New Testament, saying that God was vindictive,
legalistic, angry, and war-crazed, but now God is loving, peaceful, and
redeeming. But as you and I know, we aren’t polytheists. The God of Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob is the God of Jesus. The God that led Moses through the Red
Sea is the same God that raised Jesus from death. So to claim that in the Old
Testament that God is vengeful and harsh is to mean that it is oxymoronic to
say that God is love, or God is peace. And I want no part of a religion in
which there is a logical contradiction between God and love.
When
we see God as changing personalities (there’s another oxymoron for you: God’s
personality) between the Testaments, then we’re left with the God of the Law,
the God of the Torah, being a lesser God than the God of the New Testament; we
are left with the Torah being lesser than Jesus, with grace being superior to
and in contradiction with the Law. And, lo, the Law of grace becomes an
oxymoron. And I’d challenge the assumption that it is an oxymoron. As our Psalm
today begins- “Happy are they who fear the Lord and have great delight in his
commandments!”
Enter Jesus,
saying “I have come not to abolish, but to fulfill.” If indeed the Law was bad,
why wouldn’t Jesus abolish it? If the Law was oppressive, why would Jesus want
to fulfill it? To answer those questions, we need a bit of the context of this
passage. Last Sunday, you’ll recall, we celebrated the Presentation of Jesus in
the Temple, with those readings replacing the regular Scripture passages for
that day. And while I certainly understand the thinking that goes into that
decision, it’s a shame because we skipped a really, really important passage
last Sunday. Had last Sunday not been February 2, we would have read Matthew
5:1-12, which is the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount and the well-known
Beatitudes. Over the next several Sundays, we’re going to be hearing from
chapters 5-7 of Matthew, which is all the Sermon on the Mount. So while it was
nice to celebrate the Presentation last Sunday, it’s too bad that we missed the
introduction to this cycle of readings.
The Sermon
on the Mount is often considered one of the most influential and essential
parts of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus’ Sermon the Mount is seen as a
direct parallel to Moses going up on the mountain to receive the Law from God.
But in both cases, we err when we read these sayings of Jesus, or any of the Law,
as anything but grace. As crazy as it sounds, the Law was never about rules,
nor is anything that Jesus will say in the Sermon on the Mount. I know when he
says “if you have two coats, give one away,” it really sounds like an
imperative, but it’s not.
The Law, whether the Torah or Jesus’
teachings, is not a strategy for achieving a better society. Few people hear
the Beatitudes and rush out to become poor; no one desires to become persecuted.
And in the same way, I know that “keep the Sabbath holy” or “honor thy father
and mother” really do sound like rules, but they aren’t. The Law is not a guide
to make the world more like the Kingdom of Heaven, nor are Jesus’ words. It’s
not that by simply following these rules that we’ll achieve God’s dream for the
world. Instead, the Law and the Sermon on the Mount are descriptive instead of
prescriptive. The Law paints us a picture of the in-breaking of a new society,
of the Kingdom coming on earth as in Heaven. And this applies not just to the
Law, but all of the Bible. We forget that Scripture isn’t about what we are
supposed to do, but is about who God is. What we do is a response to who God
is, as revealed in Scripture.
And so
what if we read passages such as when Isaiah says “Is not this the fast that I
choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let
the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread
with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the
naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?” not as rules,
but rather a vision of what we are called towards? As a picture of who God is? Jesus
tells us to turn the other cheek when we are slapped, not because it is
effective or a good rule to follow, but because that is how God is- kind, even
to those who do us harm and are selfish.
The
Law is not a burden, but a blessing; not a something to follow, but a vision to
strive towards. My 14 month-old daughter is getting to the point where she is becoming
aware of the concept of free will. She is beginning to get the concept of
rules- don’t take a bone out of the dog’s mouth, don’t pull on electrical cords.
Now, of course, these rules are in place to keep her safe, but more than that,
they are there because of the vision that I have for her. My dream for her is
that she grows up to be happy and healthy, that she grows in the faith and
knowledge of God, that she realizes her potential as an unprecedented and irreplaceable
unit of God’s grace. And that is why I sometimes am a law-giver. It has nothing
to do with limiting her or restricting her sense of freedom or exploration; it’s
not even about keeping her safe, because, in the end, I know that is a futile
task. No, I sometimes give her laws to live by so that she might grow into the
vision I have for her that comes out of my deep love for her. And I believe
that the same is true for God’s Law, and that indeed, it is full of grace.
There
was recently an article published called “Millennials Invent New Religion,”
about a religion professor who routinely assigns her world religion students to
work in groups to come with their own religion at the end of the semester. And
she notes that students today tend to borrow from what they’ve learned all
semester- including meditation practices from Buddhism, the idea of pilgrimage from
Islam, and karma from Hinduism. But she also noticed that these made-up
religions lack regular gatherings of believers, clergy, and concepts of hell. And
these religions lack rules, with the students saying “we don’t need the church
telling us what to do.”
The
professor then concludes that these students are missing the point of all of
these practices that they’ve synthesized into their individualistic and ego-satisfying
religions. They miss the fact that yoga isn’t about feeling good, but rather
clearing your mind for contemplation on divine things. The Hajj, walking the Via
Dolorosa, or any other pilgrimage, isn’t about a fun road trip, but is a means
to more deeply understand the suffering and plight of others. Reincarnation isn’t
about getting to relive all the good times, but rather is something to avoid,
not seek out, as it is a process of learning the lessons of life that you didn’t
learn the first time. And they avoid including any notion of Law into their
religion because they see the “Law of grace” as an oxymoron. To many people,
Law is not life giving, it is not a blessing; it is something to leave behind,
like the God of the Old Testament. It is easy to miss the fact that Law is
life-giving, redeeming, restoring, liberating, and loving. No wonder Jesus said that he came not to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it.
These
next few Sundays, until Lent begins, we’re going to be hearing more from the Sermon
on the Mount, and you’re going to hear lots of things that sound like the prescriptive
and restrictive Law. You might wonder, “where is the Good News in this?” or ask
“how is grace compatible with this?” And those are good questions to ask. As we
more fully enter into the Sermon on the Mount these next few weeks, let us
remember that though it sounds like an oxymoron, the law is indeed full of
grace. The Law shows us something of God’s dream for us, and beckons us to join
in that vision of a place where the meek are blessed, and the hungry are fed,
the peace of God known, and the love of God made manifest in every interaction.
So
after having preached about the Beatitudes, Jesus then follows it up
immediately by saying “you are the light of the world.” In Hebrew thought, it
had always been assumed that light only came from God. But here, God invites us
to join in on giving the light of life to the world. Spend some time reflecting
on the vision that God calls us towards in the Law, and spread the Good News of
that vision to others.
As our passage today concludes,
Jesus talks about entering the Kingdom of Heaven. Let us try to see this phrase
as not being about some reward in the afterlife, but about entering the Kingdom
today. Maybe we can translate it not as “entering the Kingdom,” but “encountering
and experiencing the Kingdom.” The way to do this is to live into God’s vision by
embracing the Law of grace. I can’t put it any better than today’s Psalm, so I’ll
end by saying “Happy are they who fear the Lord and have great delight in his
commandments!” Amen.
