If ever there was a more contradictory personage, it had to be Jesus. Within less than the span of ten minutes, he says one thing and then goes off in another direction with it. You can’t just read his words in small chunks. The broad picture is the fuller canvas.

He’d just finished saying don’t misunderstand why he came. But then he takes the core teachings of the centuries and gives them a spin that would make any brain dizzy.

Oppositional Teaching

“You have heard that people were told in the past….”

Yes, we’re told often enough what’s right, what’s wrong, where to toe the line. After all, some of it was written in stone and the rest filled out by those religious sentries. No new light on this one.

“…but now I tell you...”

Wait a sec there, good guy. Didn’t you just say you came to “fulfill the law”, that is, keep it and stretch it so we’re bound even more by it? Where is this “but” going?

That’s so…and it’s not. The rules haven’t been changed that much, at least the ones that have to do with how you treat people. Murder still isn’t excusable, adultery can’t be justified, divorce could be contested, and your promises had better be kept.

Jesus, you’re not going to add to all that, are you?

Oh, but he does. But not like anyone but God would know. The Trouble with Jesus speaks in that place where the heart finds expression, in thought-life and resulting emotions, a messy place in which we live, When it breaks out in action it has the potential to destroy and separate people from each other and from God.

Selective legalism here is shot full of holes and sunk to the bottom. Familiar justifications and rationalizations are knocked out of orbit. With his kind of radicalized ethics, Jesus doesn’t erase the teachings of the law but restores its original intention to reveal the mind of God.

For now though, watch how Jesus dives into real life, where we all live and have to negotiate our relationships. Give him credit for showing how God enters into the complicated mess of our lives.

When You’re Mad as All Get-Out:

Are you angry against someone, really mad, like white-hot, can’t stand the sight of that person? Jesus knew that murder more often than not is precluded by antagonism and wrath, a hate that provokes and boils until it erupts. So don’t even try to go before God asking for forgiveness for yourself if you can’t reconcile with your anger and the one who is its focus. If you want relationship with God, tend to your relationships and the feelings you harbor toward them

Anger is an emotion that operates on emotional power. However, nurturing that power beyond its momentary reaction becomes dangerous when allowed to fester. In the end, it distorts and views others as of no value as if they should be removed from life itself.

Having a Fling, Playing Around, Hanky-Panky Cheaters:

You know how it happens. A side-long glance, a mental undressing, a fantasy in a private moment. Arousal takes over. Desire is placed where it shouldn’t. Doesn’t matter if nothing really happened, nobody even said anything, no outright suggestions were made. He said, cut off the offending member, even your eye or dominant hand. Adultery can take place in the mind as well as the bed.

In the eyes of God, marriage is the highest of all human relationships sealed in a covenant promise. It’s centered in love, faithfulness, valuing of one’s spouse before all others. Violation of that relationship happens in more than sexual activity. 

Break Ups, Splitsville, Parting-of-the-Ways Partners:

Divorce. Not an option most of the time except in instances of adultery. You just can’t make a life-long vow and then walk away. If you keep the door open to leave, you’ll not have the commitment to stay. “If it doesn’t work out…” is not on the table.

For those hearing this right from Jesus’ lips, they understood how trivialized marriage was made to be. Women could be divorced just for being not the best cook in the world. Once she was out the tent door, she often had no support. While pushing back on this kind of gender oppression, Jesus also was insisting relationships are not to be dismissed just because they take hard work and understanding.

To State Under Oath

Finally, watch how you make a promise. Sure, “by God, I’ll …” seems to add a measure of power and potency to your statement. But the sacredness of words should never be risked. That remains solely with God. Let your Yes be Yes, and your No be No. “Your word is enough. To strengthen your promise with a vow shows that something is wrong.”

Again, in that day most dealing took place by the giving of one’s word, not in writing. People were thinking that using heaven or earth or whatever appealed to them as having higher authority. Jesus here again raised the bar. One’s promises, oaths, vows sit upon the highest standards of personal integrity and in God’s eyes should hold no questioning or doubt.

Paradigm Change

“You have heard that people were told in the past….” What they were told still is in play. No change there. “…but now I tell you.” In typical fashion, he spins past the excuses, the rationalizations that lead to the offense. “Guard your thoughts,” was the proverbial wisdom.  Jesus knew that if you never think it, you’ll never do it. The power of thought leads to emotion, desire, to broken relationships and broken promises.

So this is how Jesus teaches: he takes the outside perspective, what can be seen and observed, and turns it inward. He reverses the law turning its real impact from done deed to secret wish, connecting the dots. One is as bad as the other.

The broader picture he came to reveal is what is inside, where our motivations really lie, and how so very much new perspectives on what was said of old slam into the bottom of choices that are made today. Freedom of choice and will is always available; what drives it originates in the rationale and rumination behind it.

Ultimately, Jesus upholds and reorders relationships through upholding trust and compassion. Godly behavior begins with a heart oriented in love. By this, while recognizing on our own people can’t be perfect, Jesus demonstrated how to live into being the people God would have us be.

In this, Jesus fulfills the law.

Matthew 5:21-37