….you will be liable to the hell of fire.
….you will be thrown into prison. Truly I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.
If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.
And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to go into hell.
I say to you that anyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of unchastity, causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
All of these statements were read as quotes from Jesus in churches around the world on Sunday. I had planned to preach on the epistle for the day, but as I read these words and looked out at the dismayed faces of the congregation, I realized I would need to say something to try to take the sting out of the message. I said something about the gospel before moving on to the sermon, but I came away from Sunday newly aware of what an awful job the Church sometime does of presenting its “good news.” I was particularly concerned about visitors, about anyone who might be just sticking their toe in the church’s door after a long time away or maybe even for the first time. Two people later reported hearing from their spouses about the reading, one saying, “that’s the kind of reading that makes me never want to come back to church.”
So did Jesus really say that?
The first place I go when I don’t like the gospel message and need to go looking for loopholes is to the book, The Five Gospels, an examination by a group of New Testament scholars known as the Jesus Seminar of what Jesus did and did not really say. Christians have known and taught in seminaries for over a hundred years that many words attributed to Jesus are actually the words of a particular writer or community who had their own take on what Jesus was about. That doesn’t make the words of the gospels any less capable of connecting us to God through Jesus, in fact that perspective often helps make the connection. It does suggest, though, that we might use a little discretion in the way we present Jesus to those who are trying to make a connection.
The fellows of the Jesus Seminar doubted that any of the quotes listed above came directly from Jesus. The reading in question is from Jesus’ sermon on the mount, which runs for three chapters in Matthew’s gospel. The only quotes in those three chapters the fellows felt surely belonged to Jesus were the section where Jesus talks about “turning the other cheek” if someone strikes you and giving more than what is asked, as well as “love your enemies” and the words “our father” when Jesus introduces the Lord’s prayer.
In addition to the lines they feel sure about, the fellows of the Jesus Seminar classify many of the Jesus quotes in scripture as not exactly what Jesus said but probably very close to what he might have said. None of the quotes from Sunday fit even into that category.
And then there is the cultural problem.
We now have liturgies for the ending of a marriage. The church, at least the part with which I am in conversation, sees the ending of a marriage not as a sin, but as a sign of something broken that should be grieved. It involves the death of a relationship and ways we hurt each other, but divorce is to be prayed over, blessed, healed and forgiven. No one who is going through the pain and guilt and sorrow of divorce needs to hear the gospel reading appointed for this past Sunday when they come limping into church hoping for some sign of God’s love and acceptance.
We can do better.
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t want to pick the readings for Sunday. I like the challenge of having to preach on difficult texts. But I am putting a note in my lectionary about the sixth Sunday after Epiphany in the year we read Matthew’s gospel. I don’t plan to read that one again. Not as the gospel on Sunday morning. Of course I can do better too. Part of what shocked me on Sunday morning was the realization that I had decided to preach on another reading without thinking of how this particular gospel reading would hit people. It is the preacher’s job to help the congregation find something useful in the hard readings. I should have said all this on Sunday. I blew it. The good news I should have delivered runs something like this.
We, just like some of those first Christians, find it easy sometimes to put words of blame and condemnation in Jesus mouth. It’s been going on for two thousand years, and it is a real problem. I decided long ago to stay in the church anyway because there is something here I need. Sometimes you have to dig deep to find it. But in this case, modern scholarship and a church that really is being transformed lead me to believe in my heart of hearts that if you want to know where Jesus stands on anger, lust and divorce, the topics of Sunday’s gospel, you have to read between the lines. There, you will hear Jesus saying with some authority, “turn the other cheek, love your enemies, and talk to God as someone you would expect to love and care for you, no matter what.” Next time, I think I’ll just read those lines.
John Baker
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