[AI translation] By way of introduction, I would like to clear up two misunderstandings in Jesus' words. The first is the view, still prevalent in certain Christian circles, that the Old Testament law ceased to be valid with the coming of Jesus at His sacrifice on Calvary. Here, the law is understood to be mainly the Ten Laws given to mankind by God through Moses on Mount Sinai, which we call the Ten Commandments for short. Well, he did not abolish it, in fact - you heard Jesus - he says: the Old Testament law which God gave is an eternal law, holy and inviolable, belonging to the created universe, the moral part of the eternal harmony of the universe, the order of human life as ordained by God. It can neither be taken away from it nor added to. Every word, every letter of it is eternal, the eternal basis of all human ethics, it cannot be changed. Either humanity stands and lives on this basis, or it will destroy itself.When Jesus says: "It was said to the ancients, ...I say to you..." (Mt 5,21-22), it is not a disparagement of the old, not a repeal of the law, but the highest honouring. It is precisely the old law, that which the ancients were told, that Jesus takes up and explains to his own disciples, precisely to underline that the old law is absolutely sacred, inviolable, something that remains unchanged through the changes of time. So the old law is indeed in force, but not as the Pharisees thought, and as many still imagine it today. And that is the other misunderstanding. How did the Pharisees conceive of the law? They believed that by outward keeping of the commandments, by mechanical, literal fulfillment, they were pleasing to God, made more righteous before God by performance.
According to Talmudic dogmatics, there is a certain contractual relationship between God and man. God, like a merchant, is constantly accounting for man's debts and claims. Every good deed that man has performed is credited by God to that man. Every act of fulfilling the law was a merit, and every transgression of the law was a demerit, which increased man's debt. Further merit could be earned before God by almsgiving, fasting, practicing special works of charity, and studying the law. If merits thus outweighed demerits, one was counted righteous before God, and if demerit points outweighed demerits, one was counted guilty. And if you do good works you man, you get a plus, and you stay healthy, your income increases, you get blessings. If you do something bad, you get a minus, you get sick, you get poor, you get misfortune. Terrible, isn't it? But is this piety, this attitude towards God, so alien to us? Even Reformed people often say: what wrong could I have done to be punished by God in this way? I did not deserve this!
Well, it is against this Pharisaic piety that the whole Sermon on the Mount speaks. Such righteousness based on merit, on merit, was utterly rejected by Jesus. It is blasphemy, he says. "If your righteousness be no more..." (Mt 5,20) More: something of a different quality, something overwhelmingly different. So let the quality be more, let it be different in our whole life of faith, in our whole piety, than the Pharisaic righteousness was. This more, this other - this is what Christianity is. What this more means is immediately demonstrated by Jesus in some concrete examples.
"He told the ancients: Thou shalt not kill, for he that kills is worthy of judgment" (Mt 5,21). Do not kill! This is plain speaking. It's really not hard to keep after that. In fact, the best way to keep it is to care as little as possible for a fellow human being who causes you problems. If I only care about myself and my best friends, I am not in danger of killing someone! God can only be pleased that I am so good at keeping His commandments! Many Christian people think like this, and are convinced that they are living a very God-pleasing life, because they don't kill, steal, etc. But Jesus pulls the mask off all this Pharisaical behaviour by adding to the old law, "But I say to you..." God's law not only applies to our actions, but goes deeper: down to the very origin of our actions, to the source of our actions, to the spirit behind our actions. Of course we are not murderers in the literal sense. In this respect we are all wearing more or less a big vest. But what does the heart behind that vest look like? Haven't you ever been frightened by the terrible, savage passions that lurk in your heart? Of course, under normal circumstances, they hide or sleep in such a way that one would think that such beasts do not exist inside. They hide behind good manners and inhibitions and fear of consequences. But if one then comes into such circumstances of life that these inhibitions are let loose, or the nerves are overstretched, at once oh, what a foaming hatred awakens in us and seeks a way out in words and movements!
Indeed, in spite of all our correctness and civilisation, we are still where Cain was, even if the impulse does not immediately turn into action. This is why Jesus gets to the root of things and shows that anger equals murder. Yes, the anger that rages inside you so much that it may not even show on the outside, because you have pushed back the bitterness that is about to burst out against the other, and you are just quietly apprehending [resenting, sulking]. Either you turn away from the other person in silent hatred, or perhaps it has already burst out of you and you are indignant, throwing unfriendly, harsh, insulting words at him, saying: crab, meaning empty-headed, or fool, meaning godless, hell-bent. Yes, all that, all murder against the other. It is a transgression of the law not to kill. Thou shalt not kill thy neighbour's body, saith the past; thou shalt not murder his soul, saith Jesus.
Yes, the anger you have inside you against someone, whether for a reason or not, mysteriously radiates out of you and murders, devours the soul of that other person. Psychologists could tell you some interesting, poignant facts about this. But isn't it enough for Jesus to say that every bitter impulse against another person, every envy, hatred, belittlement, gloating, every insulting, harsh word thrown at the head in anger: murder? Do not tolerate any anger within yourself! Be reconciled to your brother by any means, by any means! This is the command of Jesus. The Christian must always strive to bring about reconciliation between himself and the other person. Jesus does not even raise the question of who is to blame, who is right, in a quarrel. According to Jesus, it is always the one who is angry with the other who is at fault - so it is he who must begin the reconciliation. Whether you are right or wrong, Jesus holds you alone responsible for reconciling with one another. If "your brother has a grievance against you... go away, first be reconciled to your brother..." (verse 23) - says Jesus. There is no being offended by him, let him make the first move. No. Jesus always expects the first step from you. Don't let anger rule you for a moment, or it will poison every source of life in you!
A village woman once came to the doctor with a nasty quirk. She asked him to put a patch on it, but she would not allow the doctor to cut it with a knife and slice it open. The doctor told her that the poison must be removed because it could go to her heart and cause her death. But the woman just held on to the patch and wouldn't let him cut her. She went home. A few days later, it happened just as the doctor said: the poison went to her heart and she died. Jesus warns us against making things worse with a band-aid, a band-aid of self-righteousness, of excuses, of a Pharisaical spirit. Lest the poison penetrate our innermost being and cause our spiritual death! Oh, how many such bitter passions, such poisonous substances, are left over in the souls of men from the past or the present! "Carry it no longer," says Jesus, "let it be cut out, let it be pressed out, before it is too late! It is that the validity of the divine command reaches down to its very roots. And something else. The fact that in Jesus' ethics, faith in God and love for man are more closely intertwined than anywhere else. For this is what these words of his mean: 'If you take your gift to the altar and there remember that your brother has a complaint against you: Thou shalt leave thy gift there before the altar, and go, first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and take up thy gift." (Mt 5,23-24)
In the highest manifestation of a devotional relationship with God, Jesus throws in this disturbing thought: 'Well, what about your brother? It's good, good, fine to want to offer sacrifices on the altar of God. Yes, it is absolutely a good thing to read your Bible regularly, to lead a deep life of prayer, to prepare yourself for the Lord's Table - all of this is good and good and necessary. But don't you have some unfinished business with someone, a person? Because God would consider it blasphemous if you were not reconciled to someone with whom you have unfinished business, and yet you want to appear before him. Until my relationship with another person is cleared up, all prayer, all Bible reading, all forms of worship are not only pointless, meaningless, but an aggravating circumstance - sin. Blasphemy. Thou shalt not blaspheme God, saith the past; neither shalt thou blaspheme man, saith Jesus: for if thou blaspheme him, thou blasphemest God. A conversation in which you seek reconciliation with another person is infinitely more important and absolutely more necessary before God than going to church and taking communion.
As long as you are in a lawsuit with someone, as long as they have a complaint against you, your relationship with God is broken, broken. You notice this as soon as you start to pray. I can't. Of course not, because Jesus identifies Himself with the other person. We have a God who does not sit enthroned above us in some distant, otherworldly inaccessibility, but who wants to meet us here, and who demands obedience, love and sacrifice from us by putting the Son of God in our way: perhaps the very person we least want to meet. We have a God who looks at us through the eyes of another man. Aren't you too perhaps looking for God and waiting for some special experience, some mysterious, uplifting experience of meeting Him, and not realizing that God has been looking at you through the eyes of the Son of God for a long time?! God is already close to you, much closer than you might like. Yes, how much God likes our worship depends on how peacefully we can live together with people. That's why Jesus says, "Be a good-wisher to your enemy quickly, while you are on the road with him, so that your enemy may not give you into the hand of the judge, and the judge may not give you into the hand of the tax collector and throw you into prison. Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt not come out of thence, till thou pay the last penny. (Mt 5:25-26) In Jesus' day, it was still the right of a man to imprison his perverse adversary until he paid his debt. It was still advisable to make an agreement with him on the way to the judge, to reconcile, because once the judge had made a decision, there was no appeal against it.
We are all going to a great trial, where God is the judge. Who among us has all things right? So we'd better make up while we're on the road. For once the main trial begins, there is no more room for peaceful settlement. No appeals. Yes, so inextricably intertwined are faith in God and love of man. This is the surplus of Jesus. This is the different quality of piety.
To conclude: How can Jesus wish this of a man? Yes, Jesus alone can make such a demanding demand of a human being. Jesus, who Himself fulfilled this law - thus fulfilled the divine law. He has fulfilled it: not for you - not so that you are now free from the law - but He has fulfilled it for you so that you are now able, under Him, not to kill, not to be angry, to be reconciled. With everyone. Whoever himself lives in forgiveness of sin, drawing on Jesus' atoning sacrifice, can pass it on. And only he can live this law in practice. But Jesus said to these: his disciples! This is not civil morality, it is the most specific Christian way of life. Why else would we be Christians? It is precisely by this, by your attitude towards your fellow litigant, that you can judge whether you have accepted Jesus' sacrifice! Don't be angry, be reconciled - not in order to gain merit before God, but in gratitude that God is not angry with you, that God is reconciled to you!
Looking on the blood of your holy Son,
Do not bring us to judgment,
And rebuke us not for our transgressions,
But in all things grant,
As we also will indulge,
If they have sinned against us.
(Song 483, verse 13)
Amen
Date: 25 August 1963.
Lesson
Mt 5,17-20