Anger, and Lust, and Lies: Oh My!
(Free Version) The Sixth Sunday After Epiphany: Deuteronomy 30:15-20; 1 Corinthians 3:1-9; Matthew 5:21-37
This week’s readings can be found here. For more reflections and illustrations on the readings, see our Paid Subscriptions.
Our readings this week reveal two paths: the way of evil, which leads to death, and the way of obedience, which leads to life. These paths are not arbitrary. They show us something about who God has revealed Godself to be and who we are in relationship to him.
Our Old Testament reading (Deuteronomy 30:15-20) lays out the two paths. God’s people are invited to live in congruity with who God has created them to be and to be obedient to his commands. To do so leads to life and blessing for the land. There is an alternative, however, to live incongruously with God’s laws leads to death and it will cause them to be displaced from the land to which God has led them. It matters the kind of people they choose to be.
Paul tells the church that it is God who really matters (1 Corinthians 3:1-9). The factions which have developed among the people show that they are not really living in harmony with God’s Spirit. It doesn’t ultimately matter which leader you most identify with; God is the only one who does anything anyway, even as each of us are invited to play important roles.
In the backdrop of the New Testament, there is one major cultural conflict: the issue of different ethnicities within the church. The Holy Spirit works among the Gentiles and the Jewish Christians are unsure how to think of these new converts. Up until that point, Christianity was a Jewish religion. Now, the church was asking: do we make these new converts take on a culturally Jewish identity? Or can they keep their culture?
The church wrestles with this for a long time and its quite messy throughout the New Testament. Ultimately, in Acts 15, the Council of the Church in Jerusalem says that Gentiles are welcome into the family of God without having to give up their cultures. This means that they do not have to undergo circumcision. They do not have to observe the Jewish festivals. They are simply part of the family by faith.
The council prescribes two things for Gentile converts: 1) Do not eat meat that has been previously sacrificed to idols (Though strange to us, this practice was a big deal at the time and a not insignificant part of society and commerce). 2) No sexual immorality.
To us, these two “rules” may seem arbitrary. Why these two rules? The council could have chosen anything and they chose that? Such a conclusion might even seem to give proof to the claim that Christians are obsessed with both ritual and with sex.
There is an important reason why these rules were chosen. They are extremely practical. The Jews could not, as a matter of conscience, eat meat sacrificed to idols. And the church council knew that the only way for this church to truly become reconciled was if they could eat together. It was so critical that the church be able to sit at the table together.
Secondly, the church council knew what happens when people sleep around outside of marriage: it breaks community apart. If the early church was sleeping around with each other, it would never be who it was supposed to be.
The early church leadership is concerned with two things: reconciliation and faithfulness. They wanted the church with all her different ethnicities to be reconciled. And they wanted the church to be faithful.
Why? Because God is the one who is always reconciling and who is always faithful. This is who God is; this is the way to life.
This theme is consistent in the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus identifies the importance of reconciliation in the kingdom of God (Matthew 5:21-37). Anger is connected to murder because, if left unchecked, that is always where anger leads. This is true for individuals, communities, and nations. Reconciliation is so important to Jesus that it ought to take precedence over worship. Just as anger leads to murder when it is left unchecked, so lust leads to adultery. You must deal with it vigilantly. Be transparent about it and cut it out of your life. Likewise, be careful that you clearly say what you mean and do not lie. Do not tell someone you are going to do something and then act other than what you said. These two things: lust and lies often lead to divorce in the context of a marriage relationship. Divorce is grievous and always hurts both parties. It should never be entered into lightly. The best way towards healing is to cut a path through lust and lies. This is incredibly challenging and this is why it will take more than just willpower or moral effort. It requires the deep work of transformation by God’s grace.
The calling from our readings today is not to do anything. The calling is not to fix anger or to fix lust, or to stop lying. The calling is to trust the one who reconciled us on the cross, who showed God’s faithfulness, and who is trustworthy through and through. May we know this God and may we be formed into the image of His Son.