Today I want to look at verses 43-48, once again focusing on who Jesus was speaking to, and on the context of the entire message.
Matthew 5:43-48
(43)“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ (44)But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, (45)so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. (46)For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? (47)And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? (48)You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect."
So here we have a wrap to the section of examples Jesus gave to show that it is more than just our obedience that makes a relationship with God. He starts with, This is the way you have been doing it, love your neighbor and hate your enemy. This makes sense to us, as false teaching often does. Not that Jesus is giving a false teaching, I believe He is exposing a false idea that it is okay to love your neighbor and hate your enemy. It plays upon our own sense of what is fair. We are often manipulated by our own conceptions of what is right. Like in the AT&T commercial here. In the ad, Lily gives a little girl a lollipop, then gives her brother a bigger one. The girl says, "That's not fair!" Lily responds, "At AT&T we think it is only fair that all customers get our best deals." Then she exchanges the girl's small lollipop for one equal to her brothers. But what is not fair about getting a free lollipop? Small or big, what is not fair is that this girl is complaining about a gift that Lily was not obligated to give at all. Maybe I am too old school, but fair is to take the lollipop, whatever size you get, and say Thank-you. To be fair, she did nothing to earn the lollipop. It was a gift. But what AT&T wants is for us to walk away from the ad thinking, "What a great company! They know how to treat people fairly." But for how long did AT&T only give new customers such benefits? Gotta love marketing! Baaaa! <-Sheep sound
Jesus shares what is fair in God's economy. But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. What is fair, Jesus seems to be sharing, is for you to treat others, not as they have treated you, but as God has treated you. Remember the Golden Rule? Matthew 7:12, “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets." It is not about treating others as they treat us, it is treating others as we wish they would treat us. Huge difference! And the basis for this idea comes from how God has treated us. It is only when we realize the enormity of God's grace on us that we can do this.
Now the teaching makes sense. Why turn the other cheek, go the extra mile, give to others, etc.? It is because we see how God has treated us! We see a God who is rich in grace and mercy, and want to pass that on to others, not out of some moral obligation to appease God, but out of the joy we have in serving a God who has granted us salvation and more. This is the relationship that God desires we have with Him.
Edited 2/7/2020
No comments:
Post a Comment