Friday 26 February 2010

Bible Book:
Matthew

"For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." (v.20)

Matthew 5:20-26 Friday 26 February 2010

Background

In God's eyes it is a dreadful thing to breach the fellowshipamong the disciples of Jesus, or to disrupt that community indestructive ways. Jesus' vision was of disciples of great diversityliving together in peace and mutual respect. That vision is damagedby outbursts of anger and inner feelings of contempt. Such 'sins'are as serious as an act of murder.

The commandment against murder appears in Exodus20:13 andDeuteronomy 5:17. Hence the reference inMatthew 5:21 to "those of ancient times", ie when the Law was givento Israel through Moses. Once confirmed in court, the sentence formurder was death (Leviticus 24:17). In Matthew 5:22 Jesus pilesup metaphors to put the expression of negative feelings against a"brother or sister" on the same level: anger, insult (or, saying'Raca', which was presumably a term of abuse) and contempt areworthy of condemnation by the courts and merit God's judgement,which is here pictorially conveyed by the smouldering fires in themunicipal rubbish dump outside Jerusalem, called Gehenna.

In Jesus' teaching, it is crucial that disciples see how serious itis when they are the cause of a falling-out with a fellow-disciple.Indeed God cannot receive the worship, offerings or prayers ofsomeone until they have made peace with an offended brother orsister. Being in the wrong and failing to put things right as soonas possible puts a disciple under God's judgement (verses25-26).

To keep the new community up to Jesus' vision for it is the'greater' righteousness which is expected of disciples, comparedwith the righteousness practised by the scribes and Pharisees(verse 20). (The Pharisees were a lay movement advocating strictadherence to Moses' Law and to a supplementary body ofinterpretation which had been developed by the 'scribes' - thetrained and accredited pharisaic teachers.)

To Ponder

How significant is the sharing of the peace inChristian worship for settling arguments between members of acongregation?

What sort of experiences make you lose yourtemper? And what have you learned which best helps you to controlyour temper?

Thursday 25 February 2010
Saturday 27 February 2010

Privacy information

This site uses cookies and other web storage technologies. You can set your privacy choices below. Changes will take effect immediately.

For more information on our use of web storage, please refer to our Privacy Policy

Strictly necessary storage

ON
OFF

Necessary storage enables core site functionality. This site cannot function without it, so it can only be disabled by changing settings in your browser.

Analytics cookie

ON
OFF

When you visit our website we use Google Analytics to collect information on your journey through the website. This information is anonymous and we do not use it to identify you. Google provides a Google Analytics opt-out add on for all popular browsers.

Marketing cookie

ON
OFF

When you visit our website we use a Facebook Pixel to collect information on your journey through the website. This information is anonymous and we do not use it to identify you.

Your privacy choices for this site

This site uses cookies and other web storage technologies to enhance your experience beyond necessary core functionality.