Matthew 5:21-37
Kingdom Ethics: Rules and More Rules
James Sledge February 13, 2011
It is fairly common for big sporting events to make the national news – things like the Super Bowl, championship games, or a major recruiting scandal – it is more unusual for everyday contests and games to be featured there. But last summer, an exception to this was coverage of Derek Jeter, shortstop for the New York Yankees, pretending to be hit by a pitch so that he could get on base.
In case you missed it, Jeter was at bat against the Tampa Bay Rays, and as the pitcher throws the ball, Jeter squares around to bunt. But the pitch is way inside, and Jeter pulls back, sliding his left hand off the bat as the pitch strikes the bat right on the knob at its base. Jeter throws the bat away and begins shaking his hand in pain. The trainer runs out to examine his “injury.” Then the umpire awards Jeter first base and he trots down the base path still shaking off the pain.
Replays clearly showed that the baseball never came anywhere close to Jeter’s hand, and Jeter himself later admitted as much. And from this episode a debate ensued about whether Jeter had pulled off a savvy play, or if he was a cheater. And it was this debate that landed Jeter’s at-bat on the evening news.
In some ways, this debate hinges on what you think of rules. What is their purpose? What are they for? Are they simply meant to define limits and boundaries, or are they meant to create an ethos, a way of understanding or viewing things? Those who see Jeter as a consummate competitor understand winning as the ultimate goal which is to be pursued by whatever means not actually prohibited, while those who see him as a cheater understand the rules to create something bigger than winning.
All of us function in a world filled with various sorts of rules. I remember going into my daughters’ elementary school classrooms and seeing the “Class Rules” listed on a poster. Every day most of us see speed limit signs. Sometimes we obey them and sometimes not. And questions about whether speeding is wrong or if it’s okay as long as you don’t get caught probably mirror questions about whether or not Derek Jeter was cheating.
And what about religious rules? The Bible is full of rules. There are well known rules such as the Ten Commandments. (Well, at least the fact of the Ten Commandments is well known; most people can’t name them.) Then there are more obscure rules. Flip through the pages of Leviticus or Deuteronomy some time. Did you know that there’s a rule against eating shrimp? It’s also forbidden for a woman to wear men’s clothing. And speaking of clothing, you had better not be wearing anything made of a blended fabric. If that label says “cotton/polyester,” you’re breaking the rules.
Of course most of us don’t get too worried about such rules. We’re Christians, and so we don’t have to obey those Old Testament rules. As long as we believe in Jesus, as long as we have faith, we’re okay.
But in the portion of the Sermon on the Mount we heard last week, Jesus said that he didn’t come to call off the law, the rules. He says that he comes to fulfill the law, and not a single letter of the law will pass away. And as he continues speaking to us today, far from calling off rules, he seems to be adding to them. Don’t murder is doable for most of us, but Jesus stretches the rule to include not getting angry. And in Jesus’ new version of the rules a middle aged man going through a mid-life crisis needn’t have an affair. He can just think about it, and it’s pretty much the same thing.
Now if we were to take Jesus seriously, it might be pretty troubling, which may explain why Christians have long opted for belief over any real attempt to do what Jesus says. But what if Jesus is not talking about raising the entrance requirements for heaven to some nearly impossible level? What if these expansions of the Law are instead meant to reveal what life in God’s Kingdom looks like? What if they are not frighteningly difficult demands but a description of new life that is possible in Christ?
Most of us are probably used to thinking of rules in terms of constraints on our freedoms, as components of some sort of reward and punishment system. But I’m not sure Jesus is using them this way. I think Jesus is using his rules to describe a new world, a new way of being, a new relationship to God and one another, one rooted in love and reconciliation.
Take Jesus’ new rule, “Do not swear at all.” We could view this as simply another rule to implement, and indeed a few Christian groups do just that, forbidding their members from taking an oath in a court of law. But think for a moment about why oaths are necessary in the first place. Why is the witness sworn in before taking the stand? And why does the attorney who has just asked a probing question add, “Now remember; you’re under oath?”
Our courts presume that people will lie, that without threats of punishment they will do whatever it takes to protect themselves or have the case go their way. But Jesus imagines a completely different world, one where your “Yes” means yes and your “No,” no. In this world Jesus imagines, there are no personal agendas or a desire to triumph over others, and so no need to lie, and so no need for oaths.
Rather than creating more demands on us, Jesus is describing something wonderful and new. He is describing the life we were created to live, life that rests so securely in God that we no longer need to impress people or be right all the time or win or have all the things other people have. In this new dominion of God, people would stand up in the middle of the worship service and say, “Stop! I need to reconcile with my neighbor. Then we can go back to worshipping.” Imagine that.
In this new day Jesus imagines, relationship with others, the dignity and well-being of others matters far more than any want or desire I might experience. But it is an imaginary world, isn’t it? It could never exist. People who tried to live by such rules would be chewed up and spit out by the real world.
But if the world thinks the day Jesus imagines impractical, foolish, and naïve, does that make it so? Being “in Christ,” is supposed to pull us out of the ways of the world, isn’t it? Richard Rohr, whose words have become a big influence in my spiritual life, wrote “We cannot see what we are never told to look for.”[1] And rather than binding us with new rules, I think Jesus is trying to open our eyes and show us the shape of what we, in our innermost beings, are meant for, even hope for and long for.
This new day Jesus envisions will not emerge because we work harder at keeping the rules, but it can begin to emerge when we open ourselves to Jesus and the Spirit. When we allow God’s living presence to touch us deep inside, what Jesus envisions becomes our deepest longing. And that begins to transform how we live as individuals and as a faith community.
New days never arrive without a vision of them, a dream. And Jesus casts a dream before us, and beckons us to become a part of it. Jesus doesn’t bring the Kingdom, God’s new day, by force or with an army. He does it by capturing our hearts and transforming our vision so that we see and long for and work for what the world cannot see. And as our lives and our mission show forth that vision, we beckon the world to catch the dream, too.
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