“Abandon Hope?” (Matthew 5:21-37)
One of the themes of the Sundays after Epiphany is how Jesus
shows his divine authority through his teaching. The crowds were often amazed at his
teaching. In fact, at the end of the
Sermon on the Mount – from which today’s Gospel reading is taken – St. Matthew
writes, “when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his
teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their
scribes” (Matt. 7:28-29).
The Sermon on the Mount begins with the Beatitudes … the
“Blessed ares.” There, the blessed life
of a disciple of Christ is described.
Contrary to the powerful and mighty of the world, Christ’s disciples are
poor in spirit, meek, and lowly. They will
be persecuted. Nevertheless, united to
Christ’s life and love, they are citizens of the kingdom of heaven. God’s Word and Spirit rules and reigns within
them. As a baptized, believing child of
God, this describes you.
Our Lord goes on and describes his Church as “salt” and
“light.” He calls you to be a seasoning
and preservative influence in the world.
Shining your light – which is the light of Christ in you – you do good
works in his name. People will give
glory to your Heavenly Father when they see your good works.
Jesus then explains that he came to fulfill the Old
Testament Scriptures. He fulfills the
entire Law of God. At the same time,
there is no relaxing of God’s commandments.
His Law remains righteous and holy.
And, as Jesus said, “unless your righteousness exceeds that of the
scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matt.
5:20). The scribes and Pharisees were
incredibly diligent in keeping the letter of the Law. The trouble is, they were self-righteous and
lacked true repentant faith and trust in Christ.
If being a part of God’s kingdom were all about keeping the Law,
every one of us would be in trouble. We
might as well put a sign up outside the church which reads, “Abandon hope, all
ye who enter here.” That’s actually a
line from the Inferno, a poem from
the 14th century by the Italian poet Dante. It’s the
inscription on the gates of Hell.
There’s nothing funny about hell, of course. But I did get a kick out of something I saw
in Philadelphia. This was on one of our Higher Things trips. Philadephia has a museum dedicated to the
works of the French sculptor Auguste Rodin.
Outside the museum is a beautiful pillared gateway and garden that is a
popular location for weddings. However,
our guide on the tour bus pointed out that at the same time the lovestruck
couple is saying their vows, right on the other side of the garden is Rodin’s sculpture
“The Gates of Hell” with those infamous words “Abandon hope, all ye who enter
here.” Not exactly what you want to have
associated with your nuptial festivities.
Dante’s fanciful poem describes nine circles of torment
in hell. Three of those circles
correspond to three of the issues in our text today. Dante names the three circles under
consideration “Anger,” “Lust,” and “Fraud” and describes the particular
punishments that the eternally condemned face there for their sins.
Anger corresponds to our Lord’s words about hateful,
spiteful words spoken towards your brother in Christ. What are you really saying when you call your
brother – or anyone else, for that matter – a “fool”? What did the psalmist say? “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God’”
(Ps. 14:1; 53:1). When you call someone
a “fool” you’re essentially wishing they would go to hell. Maybe you’ve gone so far as to say that to
their face. This is murder. In fact, it’s worse than murder. Do you really wish this upon someone for whom
Christ gave his life?
Lust corresponds to our Lord’s words about forbidden
desires. This is the rationale we often
use: “It doesn’t hurt to look.” But it
does. This is adultery. You have adulterated the good gift that God
guards in the Sixth Commandment. You have mixed in impure desires. You have a desire in your heart for something
that only belongs within the bonds of marriage.
“And you want me to do what, Jesus?
Poke out my eye and cut off my hand?
I might as well abandon all hope right now.”
Lust leads to brokenness in marriage, too, and results in
divorce. Divorce was very easy for a man
in those days. A woman had little recourse. A man could dismiss his wife simply because she
left his dinner in the oven too long. This
easy, no-fault divorce system created many adulterous marriages. This is exactly what Jesus is criticizing. Truth be told, this is not unlike our own day
and age. This is not to deny that divorce
can be painful, nor that there can be innocent parties. Maybe some of you who have been through ugly
divorces can relate to that sign in the popular wedding venue at the Philadelphia
Rodin museum. You tried and tried to
work things out, but it just seemed so hopeless.
Fraud corresponds to our Lord’s words about oaths. Instead of swearing an oath to God about one
matter or another, people would substitute something connected to God, such as
heaven, earth, or Jerusalem, or even their own head. That way, if you didn’t keep your oath, you
had an easy way out. “Well, I really didn’t swear to God, so it’s okay.” Taking an oath is not absolutely
forbidden. You do it in a marriage
ceremony or in a court of law. But here
Jesus is criticizing oaths that people take without the intention to ever truly
keep them. Jesus means for us to be
people of our word. To be honest. To keep our promises. Not to feel the need to swear an oath in
trivial matters. Let your “Yes” be “Yes”
and your “No” be “No.” Sadly, promises
are constantly being broken among us … in our marriages, in our business
dealings, among friends and family and other relationships.
So what do we do? Abandon
hope?
No. We repent. Return to the Lord in faith and trust. Receive the forgiveness that Jesus won for
you.
Jesus received angry, hateful words from the mob while
suffering and dying for you. He suffered
the pains of hell while bleeding and dying in agony for your sins. He paid the price for your sins, down to the
last penny, every single debt that you owe.
Now you are reconciled to your Father in heaven.
Jesus is the faithful groom of his Bride, the Church. He calls you his beloved. You are united to him in Holy Baptism and by
faith. You are a member of his Body. He will never cut you off from him and his
love.
And God always keeps his promises to you. He made a solemn oath to David that he would
establish one of his descendants as King forever (Ps. 89:3-4; 132:11). He swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that all
nations would be blessed through them.
And all this was fulfilled in the birth, life, death, resurrection, and
ascension of Jesus. Here’s how the
prophet Micah put it: “Who is a God like
you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his
inheritance? He does not retain his
anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love. He will again have compassion on us; he will
tread our iniquities underfoot. You will
cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.
You will show faithfulness to Jacob and steadfast love to Abraham, as
you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old” (Micah 7:18-20).
Forgiveness, life, salvation, eternal life all belong to
you now in Christ Jesus. St. Paul says
in 2 Corinthians 1 that “For all the promises of God find their yes in him. That is why it is through him we utter our
Amen to God for his glory. And it is God
who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also
put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee” (2
Cor. 1:20-22). A guarantee of what? Of the promise of the Second Advent of Jesus
and the promised new heaven and new earth.
But don’t be impatient. Listen to
St. Peter: “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness,
but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all
should reach repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9).
All is fulfilled in Christ Jesus.
Our Lord’s delay in returning is for more people to hear the Good News
of Jesus, repent, and receive the promise of eternal life even now (John 3:16; 1
John 2:25).
Abandon hope? Not
a bit! Remember, it’s not about how well
you keep the Law of God. Jesus has kept
it for you. Persevere in hope! Rejoice that you have a faithful Savior! Forgiven, fed with his Body and Blood, go forth
from this altar today with his gifts given to you to reconcile with one another,
to live a chaste and decent life, and to keep the promises you make in all the
relationships in which God has placed you.
Amen.
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