Sermon on the Mount
#8: Fakes Exposed
November 19th, 2006
Gary Harder
Texts:
Romans 2:1-4
Matthew 7:1-12
Introduction
The Matthew text for today divides neatly into two chunks, but then each chunk has an awkward appendix.
Part one is about a critical spirit. Part two is about trusting in God.
1) Judging others
Jesus hits us between the eyes on this one. For two whole chapters of Matthew, of this Sermon on the Mount, Jesus has been helping us focus on God and on how God wants us to live. But having heard all that, we humans are inclined to start thinking of the people around us whom we judge aren’t really living that way. We start to point fingers. “You and you and you are falling short. It’s clear that you haven’t been listening, dear neighbour. I see anger in your eyes, brother. I see lots of worry on your face, sister. Didn’t I hear you swearing an oath, my friend? And look at you with your new house, greedy and security conscious as ever. Is everything that Jesus is teaching us just rolling off your back like rainwater? You’ve got to change your life, you know.”
And then we hear the words,
“Do not judge, so that you may not be judged”.
But finding fault is what we do. We are just trying to help you, point out your failings and weaknesses so that you can improve yourself and become a better person.
“For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get.” Ouch.
A critical spirit. Always critical of the people around us. Critical of our family members. Critical of our neighbours. Critical of people in leadership. Critical of people in the church. Always got something negative to say. Always pointing out some fault. The first words that jump onto our tongues are tinged with acid. People around us feel put down. They feel reduced, made smaller.
But why is this is this admonition by Jesus such a hard one for us to deal with? Why do we continue to struggle with a critical, judgmental spirit? Why does the New Testament need to warn us over and over again not to judge others?
Like Paul, in Romans 2. “Therefore you have no excuse, whoever you are, when you judge others; for in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, are doing the very same things. You say, ‘We know that God’s judgement on those who do such things is in accordance with truth’. (In other words, we claim Scriptural basis for our criticism. We hit someone over the head with the Bible). Do you imagine, whoever you are, that when you judge those who do such things and yet do them yourself, you will escape the judgement of God? Ah, maybe there is a truth in how Paul states this. “Do you imagine, whoever you are, that when you judge those who do such things and yet do them yourself…”.We judge in others what we try to hide about ourselves. We project our own failings onto others, and then lash out at them.
Most likely it is when we are not feeling good about ourselves, when we are struggling with our own self-worth, when we feel inadequate, when we can’t face our own inner demons, that we are most critical of others, most judgmental, most negative. We visit on our loved ones what we can’t quite face in ourselves. Perhaps it is when we are struggling the most with our own sexuality and our own relationships that we project moral depravity onto others and most forcefully proclaim moral absolutes. Something like was exposed in the life of Ted Haggard in the last few weeks.
What we need to realize deep within us is that our own inner struggles, with our sense of self-worth, our self-criticism, our sense of inadequacy – these cry out for healing and forgiveness. They do not cry out for transfer onto others. They cry out to be touched by grace and by love. They cannot be dealt with by extending judgement and criticism onto our loved ones.
James continues the onslaught on our judgmentalism. “Do not speak evil against one another, brothers and sisters. Whoever speaks evil against another or judges another, speaks evil against the law and judges the law; but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is one lawgiver and judge who is able to sage and to destroy. So who, then , are you to judge your neighbour?” (James 4:11-12) Who then are you to judge your neighbour?
I don’t think that Jesus and Paul and James are telling us not to be discerning, not to offer wisdom and insight to each other, not to think carefully and critically in the church. Each of them does that a lot. Each of them will in fact not hesitate to confront people who are missing the mark. I think that a spirit of discernment does come from God. But a critical spirit, a negative spirit, comes from within ourselves. To discern together is far different than to judge each other.
The whole point of what Jesus is teach
ing us in the Sermon on the Mount is that it focuses on God and God’s Kingdom and God’s will. It is an invitation for us to join God’s work. And doing that we may realize where we fall short, where we are failing. And that may cause some introspection, some self-reflection. The last thing that is intended is for us now to use these teachings of Jesus to measure how our neighbours are doing, to use them as an excuse to judge their life and their faithfulness, and their motives.
Jesus isn’t done with the judging theme yet. But now he lightens it up, puts a humorous twist on it, makes of it a joke which nobody can miss. “Why to you see the speck in your neighbour’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye?” Or how can you say to a neighbour, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ while the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbour’s eye.”
You are walking around with a huge log in your eye, crashing into things, knocking over all the furniture. Everyone is scrambling out of your way lest you knock them down. And then you have the audacity to say to your neighbour, who has just had to jump out of your way, “neighbour, I see a little speck in your eye. I will gladly remove it for you”.
And even as we laugh at the absurdity of the picture, we realize the truth behind it. We tend to deny the logs in our own eyes. The bigger our own log, the more we project it and see it in our neighbour’s eye. The more we stumble about and knock things over, the more critical and judgmental we get about others. Sometimes we need to do some logging in our own vision centres before we dare to suggest that there is a tiny speck that, if removed, would give clearer vision to a neighbour.
Profaning the Holy (Verse 6)
And then comes verse six. I don’t know what to do with verse 6. Does it belong to this whole section of judging others? Does it belong by itself, a kind of isolated saying unrelated to anything else? Maybe you have some insight here. Here is how vs. 6 reads.
“Do not give what is holy to dogs; and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them underfoot and turn and maul you.”
Wow. So out of the blue. What does it mean? Mostly interpreters will say they have no idea what Jesus intended here. I am inclined to agree.
But I offer one hesitant, tentative thought. It is clear that in the Jewish world swine and dogs were considered unclean. Usually we think of that which is holy, the pearl, as it were, as the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That is what it is in the parable of the pearl of great price. (Matthew 13:45-46). But then it would mean that we shouldn’t give this Gospel, this holy pearl, to the unclean – to non-Jews, to Gentiles. But this makes absolutely no sense coming from the mouth of Jesus. Above all he said that his good news was for all people, Jews and Gentiles.
What if, in this context, that which is holy, the which is a great pearl, is our relationship with each other in the church? The relationship we have with each other is a holy, sacred thing. By judging each other, by nurturing a critical, unloving spirit, we are making this relationship unclean, we are destroying it, trampling it underfoot. Maybe it does tie in with what Jesus has just said. By lashing out at each other we are destroying our holy relationship with each other; we are throwing it to the dogs and swine who will trample it to dust
2) Ask, search, knock
Let’s go on to the much more positive text of verses 7-11. “Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.” An exuberant, almost exhilerating, text. No limitations to the generosity of God.
We only need to ask, and it will be given. We only need to seek, and we will find. We only need to knock, and every door will be opened. Everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. Everyone who knocks finds doors swinging open.
An exuberant outburst of absolute trust in God. And this is strengthened yet more by two illustrations taken from daily Jewish life. “Is there anyone among you, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone? Of if the child asks for a fish, will give a snake? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him?”
The flat bread of that day looked a bit like a flat stone. The fish looked a bit like a snake. Just substitute one for the other. Good joke. Fake bread. Fake fish. Fake food. But you can’t imagine a parent playing such a cruel joke on their children.
But one thing does pop into mind. As parents we did not give our children everything they asked for, everything they wanted, even everything they begged for. As grandparents we don’t either, although we are probably a softer touch for our grandchildren than we were for our own children. We would never withhold good food. But we did withhold things they wanted but didn’t need, especially things that were not good for them, or were simply expensive fads. I won’t be lining up for the latest $700.00 Soni whatever its called no matter how much any grandchild begs for it.
But for now, in this text, there is no
hint of wise withholding for our asking, seeking and knocking. Just a radical trust, an exuberant faith, an all giving God. Unequivocably stated. Ask, and you will receive.
Which crates a dilemma for us, doesn’t it? That’s not how I/we experience prayer. Sometimes its about getting and sometimes about not getting. Sometimes its about finding and sometimes about not finding. Sometimes its about doors opening and other times about doors closing.
We have ways of softening this, of course, to make it better fit our experience. Maybe it’s my fault, I just didn’t trust enough, have enough faith, pray hard enough. Or, maybe its that God will answer in God’s time, whatever that is, not in my desperate time. Or maybe I just don’t know what is good for me, good thing God doesn’t answer many of my prayers. And these softenings are all valid. It is deeply true that asking and seeking and knocking aren’t really about always getting my own way, aren’t about success and about wild dreams fulfilled.
And come to think of it, Jesus didn’t get his way either. He spent his infancy as a refugee in a foreign country. During his adult years he didn’t have a home to name his own. He spent a long time in the wilderness struggling with his identity and his mission. His cousin John was imprisoned and then beheaded. He knew suffering first hand. Often his own followers did not understand him. In the end he died a horrible death. No, Jesus didn’t get his own way all that much. And yet he prayed constantly. He did a lot of asking, seeking, knocking.
What is the bread we are promised? What is it that we can find? What are the doors that do open for us?
I don’t think these mean success in life – a good life, an easy life, a suffering free life, a life where every loved one immediately gets healed when we pray.
I think it does mean finding meaning in life. It does mean finding life itself, real life, authentic life, not the fake life, the substitute life we are inclined to live when we don’t ask and don’t seek and don’t knock. It means a life-long quest for authenticity and meaning and purpose, a life time of asking and seeking and knocking which is not deterred by a daily not getting our way. It means being in a loving, trusting relationship with God.
Because in the end what Jesus claims here is that God can be trusted. In the end the good news is that God’s passionate desire is to be in relationship with us. The Biblical good news is that God is quite in love with us. This God welcomes our asking and seeking and knocking.
The bread that God gives is real It is not a fake stone. The fish that God gives is real. It is not a trick snake. So even as we pray and seek, our own falseness, our own fake-ness, our own pretenses, fall away, exposed by a greater love. And what we receive, and find, is a true life filled with love.
(I enjoyed, and used in parts, a sermon by Mary Shertz entitled “On every side I find thy hand”, printed in Vision, a journal for church and theology, fall 2006, vol.7, no.2).