Do Unto Others…
NL123 for February 5, 2023
The Text
Last Time on ‘The Story’
Since our last reading, Jesus has continued through the Torah teaching colloquially called the ‘Sermon on the Mount.’ He has reflected on the Torah given through Moses, and the deeper moral truth behind it (you have heard it said… but I say…). He has reflected on religious practice, emphasizing a deep commitment to God and others rather than superficial appearances. The sermon ends with a collection of sayings, some in larger blocks and some just swept along. Today’s reading is the end of that collection, and an end of the full recorded sermon.
Ultimately this sermon was likely not one single one, but a collection of Jesus’s teaching collected by Matthew into one large semi-cohesive unit.
Overview of Matthew
Let us look at today’s text in the overall structure of Matthew’s Account of the Gospel.
Ch. 1-3 Overture
1:1-2:23 Nativity
3:1-17 John the Baptizer
Ch. 4-7 Jesus’ early ministry, culminating in giving Torah (Sermon on the Mount)
4:1-11 Jesus’ Temptation
4:12-25 Jesus begins ministry in Galilee, gathers disciples, and ministers with the message “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has drawn near.”
5:1-7:29 First set of Torah
5:1-2 Introduction
5:3-20 Opening Manifesto
5:3-11 ‘Beatitudes’ Opening Manifesto
5:13-16 Salt and Light
5:17-48 Moral Torah (instruction)
5:17-20 Not come to abolish the Law and prophets, but to fulfill (complete).
5:21-26 Torah on anger
5:27-30 Torah on adultery
5:31-32 Torah on capricious divorce
5:33-37 Torah on making oaths
5:38-42 Torah on retaliation (and non-violence)
5:43-48 Torah on relationship with neighbors (love)
6:1-18 Religious Torah
6:1-4 Torah on giving alms
6:5-15 Torah on prayer
6:16-18 Torah on fasting
6:19-7:20 Torah concerning other people
6:19-21 Torah on storing up treasures
6:22-23 ‘the eye is the lamp of the body, proverb
6:24 ‘cannot serve God and wealth’ proverb
6:25-34 Torah on trusting in God’s providence
7:1-5 Torah on judging others
7:6 ‘pearls before swine’ proverb
7:7-11 Ask, Seek, and Knock
7:12 the ‘Golden Rule’
7:13-14 ‘The narrow and wide gate’ illustration
7:15-20 Torah on false prophets’
7:21-29 Closing
7:21-23 Not everyone who says to me “Lord, Lord”
7:24-29 Illustration of the house built on rock vs. sand.
Ch. 8-10 Enacting the Kingdom, culminating in Jesus’ instruction to his apostles (sent ones) as they go out.
Ch. 11-13 Responses to Jesus, culminating in Parables about the Kingdom
Ch. 14-20 Various Expectations of Messiah, culminating in Jesus preparing his disciples/apostles for his death
Ch. 21-25 Direct Confrontation with the Religious elites, culminating with a blistering critique of the Pharisees
Ch. 26-28 Crucifixion and Resurrection
Today’s Story
Judging Others: Jesus begins this section with the instruction not to judge others. The specific reason that is given is so that you might not be judged. Here we have the connection with the judgment given and the judgment received, much like the previous prayer statement of “And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” (6:12).
The first place that we tend to go with this is God’s ultimate judgment, making all things right. That we will be rewarded (or punished) for our actions on this earth. This can be very helpful and hopeful language, especially for an oppressed people. However, it can also be damaging and a way to keep oppressed people in line. The idea that “ Religion is the opiate of the masses” from Karl Marx is a critique about how this verse can and has been weaponized against people.
I think that there is also a very practical and this-worldly side of this statement. If you judge everyone around you harshly, then it is more likely that you will be judged yourself. Some siblings might call this karma, but whatever you call it, what you give out will often be what you get back. We see this played out in the lives of politicians who may be critical of certain groups (say, The Queer community, for instance), and then it comes to light that they themselves participate in it. There is rightfully a good deal of consternation over those who are perceived as ‘judgmental’ against others, and yet seem to think that they are immune from such judgment themselves. The word used for them (and for us) is the same that Jesus uses, Hypocrite.
Part of the challenge of this age of the church is that we are perceived to be (and often actually are) in that same camp. Christians in general are seen as judgmental, and therefore are sometimes judged more harshly. Here our Western/American emphasis on individualism can get in the way of really addressing some of these issues. We can claim “I’m not that kind of Christian” until we are blue in the face, but that means little to those who have been hurt, and even traumatized by our siblings in faith.
The Log in Your Own Eye: Jesus then brings in a humorous example, calling us to focus on our own faults, before we focus on the faults of others. He calls us to imagine ourselves trying to pick a speck out of a neighbors eye, when we have a log sticking out of our own. It is ridiculous, and intentionally so.
I always find it humorous that we as human beings have no problem focusing on ourselves in some cases. We put our own comfort, safety, security, preferences, opinions, group, privilege, etc. first all the time. We are constantly ignoring those who have less than us, and come up with all sorts of examples of why it is right to do so. We spend so much time thinking about ourselves, that the mere thought of considering others is sometimes a unique one. However, there are other times when we should actually focus on ourselves, like self reflecting on our judgmental nature, or our need to give sacrificially, or to volunteer, etc, and suddenly we want to focus on how other people are doing it. We focus on ourselves when it is to our benefit, and on others when it makes us feel better about ourselves.
You notice, however, that it is also not just a laissez Faire attitude, it is not anything goes. Can we discern that others have a speck in their eye? yes, says Jesus, but only after we have gone through our own transformation and self-reflection will we be able to help someone else. “first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye.”
Anonymous and 12 step programs have this pattern down well. Those who discern that they are struggling with addiction to alcohol, gambling, etc, are able to gather with those who are also in recovery. As an individual journeys on the way to recovery, after they have removed the log from their own eye; they are better able to help those who have just started their own journeys. New members are connected with ‘sponsors’ who have been in the program longer, and have learned a few things about themselves. The first step to recovery is always to acknowledge that you have a problem.
Perhaps we would do well in the church to acknowledge our problems more than we usually do. Perhaps if those around us heard more “Hello, my name is Aaron, and I am a sinner” than “you are a sinner,” perhaps people would be willing to listen more. If we showed in our actions and conversations how broken we are, and the things that we have gotten better in, then perhaps others would trust us with their own journeys of faith and recovery.
Pearls Before Swine: Honestly, I don’t know what to do with this one. I think it may be a little bit of the ‘shake the dust from your feet’ vibe from the next set of Torah instruction (10:11-15). Don’t waste your time and effort on those who are unwilling to listen?
Ask, Seek, Kock: “Not all who wander are lost” Gandalf. I often hear these words of Jesus with a measure of hope. Perhaps it is an answer to the previous statement. There is nothing wasted. Those who truly ask, will receive and answer; those who are truly seeking will find; and those who knock will gain entry. I think a lot of this one is about the willingness to let go of our control of the situation. The Evangelical ethos that many of us grew up with tends to make us think that we play a direct part in the salvation of other people. We are supposed to ‘win people for the Lord,’ and ‘bring them to Christ.’ Yet I think a lot of it is much more about being willing to serve as a conduit of God’s love for people; to give others the opportunity to experience a glimpse of what the Kindom looks like. It is an act of faith to say that those who ask, seek, and knock, will have an answer (even if it might not be the answer that we might pick for them). In general, our church communities need to be better at being places where honest questions can be asked, and wrestled with; where easy and pat answers are problematized and deepened; and where “I don’t know” isn’t a four-letter word. Like fish in water, we sometimes forget about the things that make up our environment. There are often implicit rules about what questions are off-limits, what paths should not be seeked out, and what doors never to knock on. There was an adult Sunday School teacher at a previous call who would always ask (what were, in fact, rhetorical) questions. My spouse, not knowing the ‘rules’ (and then knowing them, and purposefully defying them) would answer his questions, much to his consternation. For myself, I think it is always so wonderful to have members of Bible Studies and discussions who did not grow up with these implicit rules, and ask the ‘wrong’ questions. They allow us to re-examine our faith and lead to deeper understanding and faith.
In general, our Jewish siblings do this so much better than we do (especially Western/American Christians). There is a deep tradition of arguing with the text, and with one another. The Hebrew Scriptures describe the righteous person who ‘mutters’ (meditates, considers over and over) the Word. This is a lifelong journey that we should be invited into.
The Golden Rule: This one is so simple and beautiful that we can teach it to preschoolers, and so difficult to do that we need to be reminded of it over and over again. This is the reverse of the log/speck thing, where we are tempted to focus on the other for judgment rather than ourselves. Here we consider our actions, our words, our policies, etc. in how they will affect others, rather than just how they will affect us. This is so hard sometimes. Our culture is built on the exact opposite, we are formed in so many subtle and insidious ways that we are the most important, and the acquisition of things, of power, of influence, of whatever is the most important thing in the world. Other people can be too often seen as means to an end, as those who might take away from what you have. We are inculturated into a zero-sum game, where someone getting something means that you have somehow lost, where equality feels like oppression, and the economy is the only bottom line that matters.
We are so bad at this, that we hardly ever get to think about the companion to the Golden Rule, the Platinum Rule: Do unto others as they would have you do unto them. I do not think that this is the intent, but the Golden Rule itself is completely oriented around the self. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. The ‘you’ is still the center of the equation, and any consideration of the other is in reference to the self. This is a great way to teach children, but as adults we can do better. How does it work to treat the other as you would want to be treated if you happen to be a different person than they are (likely). How does it work if they are an introvert, and you an extravert? They will not likely appreciate you taking them to a party or a club to make them feel better. What if they are from a oppressed community, and you are coming from a place of privilege? What if they are poor, and you are wealthy (If they have no bread, then let them eat cake)? Or what if they feel more comfortable with one pronoun, but you have known them by another pronoun? What if you are told to treat others the way that you want to be treated, but trauma and abuse have twisted the way you feel about what you deserve or expect? Could the deeper implication of the Golden Rule to treat others as they would like to be treated, to get to know your neighbor well enough to actually meet their needs?
Narrow and Wide: This is another fun one. The Modern interpretation usually falls along the lines of only a few actually get it right (and lucky us, we are the ones on the narrow way). We will usually read this in a self-congratulatory way, assuming that we are the few who have it correct, and everyone else is going to hell.
I wonder if the important part is not about how narrow or wide that the paths are, but the other adjectives: how easy or difficult it is. How would it change the meaning if we emphasized that part of it?
Enter through the narrow gate; for the road is easy and the gate is wide that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. For the road is hard and the gate is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.
This might be helpful, especially in our culture and context that emphasizes comfort as the highest of values. This might be really tough for our mostly-white, mostly-boomer congregations that perhaps their comfort is not only the most important thing, but could actually be detrimental to their faith.
Aside- God is Dead: Many of us are familiar with the Nietzsche quote that “God is dead” but rarely go beyond the popular Christian movie franchise. We get the vague idea that Nietzsche (who by the way was a godless communist) was basically saying that the idea of God is passe, and no longer should have anything to do with our everyday experience… kind of, but not quite.
The quote comes from the “parable of the madman” where a madman comes into the marketplace looking for God. Those there (who don’t believe there is a God) laugh at him. The startling thing comes with his next move, “Whither is God?” he cried; “I will tell you. We have killed him– you and I. All of us are murderers… Backward, sideward, forward, in all directions? Is there still any up or down? Are we not straying, as through an infinite nothing?” The madman’s point is that because we have unmoored our cultural identity from God, we now remain unfixed. The call for the modern/post-modern age is to, in the absence of a culturally agreed upon center, center our own lives upon something.
I have for a while been saying that the decline of Christianity, and the fact that it is no longer the 50s, 70s, or even 90s or 2000s, is actually a good thing. It may not be the best thing spiritually to be in a place where one can be (at least in theory) a disciple of Jesus Christ with no actual effort. We must be Christians (or Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Atheists, etc.) on purpose, by choice. Following Jesus should not be something that we do because the rest of the culture herded us into it, but because it is a conscious spiritual choice. Easy is the way, and wide is the path that leads to destruction, and many follow it. But hard is the way, and narrow is the path that leads to life, true life, abundant life; and few enter by that way.
Roman Roads: In meditating on the political and economic situation of first century Palestine, we might also discern another way to see this parable. The Romans were famous for making roads everywhere they went. They did this to boost the economic situation, and the ability for merchants and others to travel along it. These roads were often created by the use of enslaved and/or forced (enforced) labor. Roman soldiers could compel able bodied men in an occupied territory to prepare roads for the Empire. Those roads were also patrolled by and used to for travel of roman centurion soldiers. These regular shows of force of the most powerful army in the world at the time (at least in the Western World) were meant to assert their dominance and create an atmosphere where everyone knew who was in charge. It was said that every road led to Rome, and this was especially the case for taxes, which were transported by way of these Roman roads. So these wide roads in the first century might easily be seen as signs of the imperial hegemonic power of Rome, and more broadly all empires. Quicker, easier, more seductive are the ways of empire, but those who use them (whether nations or church institutions) are headed to destruction.
False Prophets and False-Righteousness: For whatever reason, the Narrative Lectionary committee decided to skip verses 15 to 23. It may be that the thinking was to avoid potential anti-semetic rhetoric, since the ‘false prophets’ and religious elite were primarily Jewish. However, there are some very interesting things for us to listen to nonetheless. Teachers being judged by the fruit they produce is a decent standard. Recognizing that just because we are doing things in Jesus’ name does not mean that we are doing his work, nor that we know him, is a humbling but necessary self-reflection to undergo.
Solid Rock: Jesus/Matthew ends this teaching section with a short story about two house builders. This story is an example of the broader point: Just hearing these words is not enough, you have to actually put it into practice. Francis Chan says that Americans are really good at conviction, we hear sermons and say amen (or make a contemplative ‘hmmm’ noise, as with us Presbyterians), and then we walk away and don’t put it into practice. We separate our theology into ‘philosophical theology’ (or real theology, as the professional theologians like to think of it), and ‘practical theology’ (which tends to have a ‘lesser than’ quality in academic circles). But if there is no praxis to our theory, then what good is it? If we do not practice what we preach, what is the purpose? If we do not build our faith, our theology, our institutions on the solid rock of Jesus Christ, what do we really have.
I live in the New Orleans area, and we know quite a lot about building on sand. Most of the land here is, in fact, reclaimed swampland, and there is no telling what is under the ground, sand, soul, mud, clay, and probably all of them. When my spouse and I bought a house here, we learned a whole lot about the foundation considerations unique to this area. To combat the challenging foundational problems, housebuilders will bury 50 or 60 pylons, cement pillars, that will anchor the house into some semblance of a solid foundation. That is not the end of the concerns, however; every year or two responsible homeowners need to bring in additional soil to combat the natural erosion that constantly washes away the ground on which the house is built. New holes can appear where the rain (which we get a lot of) sweeps away sand from beneath the house. In addition to the normal things one considers when buying a house, here, we learned a whole lot about what happens when this erosion and constant maintenance is not kept up. If issues are not addressed, individual or groups of pylons may slip, and your foundation is no longer level. We looked at one house that had a 9° differential, it may not sound like much, but walking from the kitchen to the living room felt like going up hill (because it objectively was). Not only do we have to have a good foundation, but that foundation needs to be maintained and examined. The natural spiritual erosion of life, of laziness, of complacency, etc. can sweep away our foundation.
Teaching with Authority: The people are amazed at Jesus’ teaching, because he taught ‘with authority’ and was specifically contrasted with the teaching of their religious elites. People get a glimpse of what true authority looks like, and suddenly the fake authority that we so often put up to counteract our insecurity doesn’t hold up.
Pop Culture References
A great example of the measure of our judgment and the measure of the judgment we receive is in the Dickens classic, a Christmas Carol. In the story (which you all know, I know) Scrooge is visited by the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, and Scrooge listens in on those who mock the death of a hated and unfortunate person (who turns out to be Scrooge himself).
I already referenced the “parable of the madman” by Friedrich Nietzsche
Monty Python’s Life of Brian has a great scene on all of the ‘benefits’ of the Roman occupation.
In “Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back”, there is an interesting conversation about the Dark Side, Luke asks if it is stronger, Yoda says that it is easier but not stronger.
Hymn Suggestions
Seek Ye First, GTG 175
Spirit of God, Descend Upon My Heart, GTG 688
Somebody’s Knocking at Your Door, GTG 728
Jesus, Thou Joy of Loving Hearts, GTG 494
My Life Flows On (How Can I Keep from Singing) GTG 821
Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken, GTG 81
My Hope is Built on Nothing Less, GTG 353