Reading: Matthew 5-6, Psalm 83

I worked at a major retailer for many years. In that time frame, it became popular to package certain large soft items in clear plastic zippered bags that make one think that the product was put in them by normal humans. I am convinced that they were actually manufactured inside the bag and left there, as re-encapsulating a sheet or blanket into one of these bags without destroying it is a near impossible task. It order to discourage the practice of yanking the product out of an already clear container, manufacturers began putting holes in them so the consumer could feel the product as well. To no avail. Able to both see and touch a product was insufficient for the consumer. One must also unwrap and fully engage a product before choosing to buy one of the ones still in it’s nice packaging and leave the now obviously inferior sample on the ground. Sheets, blankets, bed cover, pillows, and myriad other home products would lie on the floor, their apparently offensive packaging lying nearby as horrified employees stood in dread of reassembling the department from its decimated state.

Trying to fit everything that it going on in even one chapter of the Sermon on the Mount into a reasonable number of words feels similar to trying to stuff a massive duvet cover back into a package. There is simply too much there to put it back in a bag. What Jesus does here is blow Jewish theology wide open, and it simply cannot be reduced to a list of principles. So I will not try. Instead, I will give an overview of what I think Jesus, and Matthew, are doing here, and how it relates to the great Story that he has been reminding us of every few lines of his book so far.

First off, we have the famous beatitudes. Here Jesus turns the concept of who is “blessed” by God on its head- it is the poor in spirit, not the rich, who will gain the Kingdom of Heaven. It is the mourners, not the celebrants, who are comforted. It is merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers who are blessed by God. Not the powerful, the pure in actions, or the victorious. This is revolutionary, though it may not seem like it to us. While we have a culture that elevates self and self definition to the highest good, we still give at least lip service to the idea that there is something inherently better in being persecuted than being a persecutor. But that is because of these words of Jesus and their enormous impact on human civilization in the last two thousand years. In the ancient world it was hardly a given that it was morally superior to be oppressed rather than to oppress. Jesus kicks off his great teaching with a radical inversion- the greatest are least, the poor are the rich, the persecuted are the privileged.

Having suitably shocked his audience, he proceeds to tell them that they are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. This is much more up the Jewish people’s alley. Students of the Hebrew Scriptures, they know their role from Exodus 19: you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. But then he starts talking about the salt losing its saltiness, and the light being under a basket. This is less comfortable. Is he saying that the chosen people could become un-chosen? Matthew has been playing up the history of Israel all along so far, but now he presents a little bit of a challenge to it- Jesus, the Jewish Messiah, is putting them on notice. It is possible to lose saltiness, and to hide your light.

Then he turns to the Hebrew Scriptures. This whole business of losing saltiness could be seen as a threat to teaching the Scriptures. But Jesus answers that directly. I have not come to abolish, but to fulfill the Law and the Prophets. Jesus puts no limits on the authority of the Scriptures, but he presents himself and his teaching as the fulfillment of them. This, of course, is what the post-exile Jews have been waiting for. The fulfillment of the Scriptures is the Messianic Kingdom of Heaven. This is another way of Jesus saying that the Kingdom is at hand. But then there is another gut check. Anyone who would enter said kingdom must have a righteousness exceeding that of the scribes and the Pharisees. Uh oh. Those guys are the most technically righteous people who ever lived, learning and following every minutiae of the law. How could anyone be more righteous than they?

Jesus gives instructions in a series of you have heard it said… but now I say to you. First is anger. Want to be more righteous than the Pharisees? They do not murder. But you should not even be angry in your heart with your brother. Because man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart. Then lust. Don’t commit adultery, sure. But if you want to be more righteous than the Pharisees, don’t even look with lust in your heart. Or divorce. Yeah, if you are going to dump your wife give her a certificate that sets her free. But if you want to be more righteous than the Pharisees, don’t divorce your wife at all. Humans have a problem, learn to deal with each other. Oaths. Don’t swear things you cannot know about. Leave the future in God’s capable hands. Because you are not who you think you are. Generosity. Retaliation. Prayer. Fasting. Jesus takes all the practices of the Scriptures, which the Pharisees carried out to the letter, and drags them from human actions into the human heart. How does one exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees? By having a new heart.

How do we get a new heart. A heart that can enter the Kingdom of Heaven? Jesus gives instruction on that too. Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Jesus says to look to God for your wisdom. For your treasure. For your sustenance. One might say for your knowledge of good and bad. Why are you anxious? The Designer, the Creator, knows what you need. Trust that it will come. Jesus turns the world of fear and scarcity- the world of the cursed ground- to one of confidence and abundance- the world of the Garden. There is a ton more to say about that, but it will have to wait. Because though Jesus has just blown huge holes in the common understanding of righteousness, he isn’t done. Tomorrow he will turn to the consequences of accepting or rejecting the new heart.