The Seventh Sunday after the Epiphany, 19 February 2017
Leviticus
19:1-2,9-18
Psalm 119:33-40
I
Corinthians 3:10-11, 16-23
Saint Matthew
5:38-48
In the
Gospel for today, Jesus quotes the so called lex talionis (law of retribution), and in doing so connects the
reader or hearer with a long tradition of legal codes in the ancient near
east. The real foundation is in
Babylonian Law and the Code of Hammurabi. The intents of both this code and its
Hebrew descendent were to limit retributive
actions in a tribal culture that seemed to relish vengeful actions. This law
was meant to make certain that the retribution was no worse than the crime,
although in Babylonian usage, this understanding was mitigated by social
status. The Roman law of retribution revolved around monetary compensation
rather than vengeance. Leviticus outlines the Hebrew understanding, “And a man who injures his countryman – as
he has done, so it shall be done to him, fracture for fracture, eye for eye,
tooth for tooth,” (Leviticus 24:19-20). In the later rabbinic period, the
understanding moved to a pecuniary compensation. Jesus radicalizes even this
understanding, reinterpreting it as a matter of “turning the other cheek.”
First Reading: Leviticus 19:1-2,9-18
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
Speak to all the congregation of the
people of Israel and say to them: You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.
When you reap the harvest of your
land, you shall not reap to the very edges of your field, or gather the
gleanings of your harvest. You shall not strip your vineyard bare, or gather
the fallen grapes of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the
alien: I am the Lord your
God.
You shall not steal; you shall not
deal falsely; and you shall not lie to one another. And you shall not swear
falsely by my name, profaning the name of your God: I am the Lord.
You shall not defraud your neighbor;
you shall not steal; and you shall not keep for yourself the wages of a laborer
until morning. You shall not revile the deaf or put a stumbling block before
the blind; you shall fear your God: I am the Lord.
You shall not render an unjust
judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great: with
justice you shall judge your neighbor. You shall not go around as a slanderer
among your people, and you shall not profit by the blood of your neighbor: I am
the Lord.
You shall not hate in your heart
anyone of your kin; you shall reprove your neighbor, or you will incur guilt
yourself. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your
people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.
You
may want to wander back to Chapter
17 and 18 to remind
yourself of the Holiness Code, of which this pericope is both part and heart.
It’s purpose is to convince the people that they are to exhibit the holiness
seen in the God that they worship and adore. Verse 2 summarizes the intent: “You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God
am holy.” The purpose of this reading from the lectionary, however, is not
to address that mighty theme but rather to look at how the holy community
addresses and gives place the poor and the stranger. Thus we skip to the 9th
verse to see the provisions for the gleaners. The care of the community’s
common wealth, its produce, its honesty, its care of the neighbor, and its
justice become the focal points of our consideration this morning. It is
especially poignant given the political atmosphere in our country, where these
injunctions seem to speak against what is being recommended to us as a way of
dealing with terrorism and warfare. Leviticus seems to make real the messianic
promises of what is owed the poor, the sick, and the oppressed. This might
prove to be the platform for a powerful and challenging sermon, or period of
private meditations.
Breaking
open Leviticus:
1.
What does holiness mean to you?
2.
Where do you see the holy in your
world?
3.
In what ways are you holy?
Psalm 119:33-40 Legem pone
33 Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes, *
and I shall keep it to the end.
and I shall keep it to the end.
34 Give me understanding, and I shall keep your
law; *
I shall keep it with all my heart.
I shall keep it with all my heart.
35 Make me go in the path of your commandments,
*
for that is my desire.
for that is my desire.
36 Incline my heart to your decrees *
and not to unjust gain.
and not to unjust gain.
37 Turn my eyes from watching what is worthless;
*
give me life in your ways.
give me life in your ways.
38 Fulfill your promise to your servant, *
which you make to those who fear you.
which you make to those who fear you.
39 Turn away the reproach which I dread, *
because your judgments are good.
because your judgments are good.
40 Behold, I long for your commandments; *
in your righteousness preserve my life.
in your righteousness preserve my life.
As a way of introducing your self to this rather
long psalm, a meditation on the Law, you might wish to review the comments made
on the psalm for the Sixth
Sunday after the Epiphany. It is an ideal accompaniment to the first
reading for this morning, in which some of the same themes are addressed. There
are several mentions of the “heart”, which in ancient times was seen much as we
see the mind today – it was the center of understanding and comprehension. What
we see here, in this psalm, is a piety centered on the Law, a piety that was
perhaps necessary at the reintroduction of Yahwism during the period anticipating
or after the Exile. Artur Weiser, in his commentary on the Psalms, describes
the psalm as “particularly artificial”, and as a “many-coloured mosaic.”[1] Seeing
any kind of stylistic homogeneity or organization reaches beyond the psalm.
It’s theme, however, is singular – a love of the Law.
Breaking
open Psalm 119:
1.
What does the Law mean to you?
2.
Does the Law ever cause you grief?
3.
Does the Law bring you a sense of
satisfaction?
Second Reading: I Corinthians 3:10-11,16-23
According to the grace of God given
to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is
building on it. Each builder must choose with care how to build on it. For no
one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that
foundation is Jesus Christ.
Do you not know that you are God's
temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple,
God will destroy that person. For God's temple is holy, and you are that
temple.
Do not deceive yourselves. If you
think that you are wise in this age, you should become fools so that you may
become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is
written,
“He
catches the wise in their craftiness,”
and
again,
“The Lord
knows the thoughts of the wise,
that they
are futile.”
So let no one boast about human
leaders. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the
world or life or death or the present or the future-- all belong to you, and
you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.
Paul is
concerned about the Body of Christ, at Corinth, that is being torn apart by
divisions and quarrels. Thus our pericope begins with the notion of a building,
along with Paul’s self-understanding of himself as a “master builder.” What
follows then is understanding of Jesus as the foundation and cornerstone. What
follows then is that each of us is a builder building on the foundation of
Jesus.
The next
natural metaphor and point of reference is the Temple, the building
par-excellence, and in Paul’s vision the individual Christian and the dwelling
place of the Holy Spirit. His concern is much like that of the author of
Leviticus – holiness, and how to achieve it. Evidence of the Spirit’s presence
is the wisdom that comes from her, and so he compares it with worldly wisdom,
which is characterized as “foolishness
with God”. As if to heal the breach mentioned earlier, the factionalism
surrounding Paul, Apollos, Cephas, etc., Paul reminds the reader that we are
not to boast about our human leaders but to only have our portion with Christ,
and thus with God.
Breaking
open I Corinthians:
- What is your understanding of the Body of Christ?
- How is that understanding lived out in your congregation?
- Are their factions in your church? How do you deal with that?
The Gospel: St. Matthew 5:38-48
Jesus said, “You have heard that it
was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, do not
resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the
other also; and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak
as well; and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. Give
to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow
from you.
“You have heard that it was said,
‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your
enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of
your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good,
and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those
who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the
same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing
than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as
your heavenly Father is perfect.”
In
a manner similar to the Levitical Holiness Code, and indeed in some respects
the musings of Psalm 119, Matthew organizes Jesus’ teaching on ethical issues
in the Sermon on the Mount. What follows the Beatitudes, which we reviewed some
Sundays ago, is a series of instruction on various matters that expound the Law
of Moses and its provisions. Here we have two pericopes. The first (verses 38-42) discusses
a matter that has plagued the ancient near east for millennia – retaliation.
The second (verses 43-48)
looks at how we treat enemies.
The
section retaliation takes as a starting point the lex talionis (see Background
above) that was actually a limitation on the excesses of ancient near
eastern patterns of retribution. Jesus takes it even further, giving the
advantage to the one who strikes, or sues, or presses into service. This
radical approach, and attempt to understand the real intent of the law, is best
seen in the final verse of this pericope, “give
to every one…” Here Jesus addresses what were the actualities of life and
indebtedness in the Palestine of his time. The Law against usury (Deuteronomy 23:20) was
quite clear. The circumvention of this understanding was made possible in the
verse that follows in Deuteronomy (23:21). Legal fabrications
made it possible for the intents of the Law regarding indebtedness to be
disregarded or ignored.
The
quotation that begins the second pericope is from Leviticus 19:18, with the
second half regarding the enemy probably coming from post-exilic commentary on
relationships with gentiles. In the manner Jesus introduces in the first
pericope, above, he moves beyond the spirit of the Law and its interpretation
to a new understanding of how the enemy and neighbor is to be treated. He
remarks on the prodigality of God who causes the sun to shine on both good and
evil, and the behaviors of people who have been treated as evil, but who have
made for good. Jesus sees good behavior in the universe of all people. Here the
disciples are called upon to exceed these deeds.
Breaking
open the Gospel:
1. What is the root of your life in Christ?
2. How do you try to meet the letter of the law?
3. What do you do when you fail?
After
breaking open the Word, you might want to pray the Collect for Sunday.
O Lord,
you have taught us that without love whatever we do is worth nothing: Send your
Holy Spirit and pour into our hearts your greatest gift, which is love, the
true bond of peace and of all virtue, without which whoever lives is accounted
dead before you. Grant this for the sake of your only Son Jesus Christ, who
lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Questions and comments copyright © 2017, Michael T. Hiller
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