Jesus on Anger – Matthew 5:20-26
We live in a moment that can be described as the "Age of Outrage". Harboring anger, retaliation, and contempt for others has become normalized. However, Jesus calls his followers to a different way of embracing reconciliation over outrage.
Jesus leads us into a fresh appreciation of the scriptures
17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. – Matthew 5:17–20 (ESV)
Things to be reminded of as we go through the Sermon on the Mount
The Sermon on the Mount is not an isolated speech.
The whole sermon is Christ describing what life in the kingdom and allegiance to him looks like.
Obedience to the Sermon on the Mount is a practice in imagination.
Where we’ve been–
Blessed are those who have been crushed and those who advocate for the crushed. (Matt. 5:1-11) Listen to that message here.
We become salt and light, revealing the goodness of God, as a community. (Matt. 5:12-16). Listen to that message here.
Today, we’ll reflect on how Jesus and his followers interact with the bible.
The bible is a library of ancient literature revealing God’s activity to bring about beauty and flourishing out of the chaos of our world.
In modern history, the bible was turned into things it was never meant to be.
Thomas Jefferson, one of the founding fathers of this country had the audacity to take scissors to his copy; cutting out any claims of the miraculous or the unexplainable. Anything that challenged his ideas of how the world worked.
In the antebellum South, the victims of American Slavery were given bibles, with Exodus completely removed because it is a dangerous thing for the slaver– if the slave knows God is a liberator.
Today this library we call the bible, sits at the center of the culture wars. With both the right and the left claiming their ideologies as the way to interpret the Bible.
In many ways, the conflict within the church of the west can be boiled down to how we read the bible.
For those that grew up around this book and with versions of it illustrated for children– we may retain a false sense of knowing it.
We read the Bible as a story fulfilled in Jesus.
17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.
The Law and the Prophets – Jesus’ phrase for what we call the Old Testament
The Law (the Torah, the teachings) – Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, and Numbers
The Prophets– Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther. Also the Latter Prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obediah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi
The Writings– Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon.
Jesus is the fulfillment of the law & prophets –
This is to say that Jesus understood himself as the climax of the scriptures. Like any the apex of any good story, Jesus is in complete alignment with everything that came before him, but now we can look back on everything previously in a new light.
Jesus teaches as one with authority because it is about him– “28 And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, 29 for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.” –Matthew 7:28–29 (ESV)
Jesus anticipates two misunderstandings
That he came to set aside the law and the prophets
that he came to say the same thing
Jesus interprets the Law and the Prophet by affirming and extending.
“[Christ’s] sayings were no repeal of the former [the Old Testament], but a drawing out and filling up of them.”
– Chrysostom
The Next 28 verses will be affirming and extending – The Ethical commands
21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment. But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment…. You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” – Matthew 5:21-22,27-28
For Jesus shows us a new way to be human.
31 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. 33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” –Jeremiah 31:31–34 (ESV)
Jesus calls for a renovation of the heart, imprinting the external law upon our very hearts.
The culmination of this ‘renovation of heart’ is becoming a person of love.
“a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”– Matthew 22:34–40 (ESV)
But this new way to be human is crushing unless we understand the forgiveness of Jesus.
19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
In taking the Lord’s Supper week after week– We confess the condition of our heart and are reminded of his forgiveness.
Our God knows how little control we have.
In coming to the table we learn forgiveness
He reminds us that it is “not healthy who needs a doctor, it is sick.” – Matthew 9:12
The table of the lord is both a reminder of forgiveness and an operating table for our hearts.
