New Thoughts (06/20/10)
While the immediate application of this passage is clear enough, the higher point to what Jesus is saying is not so clear. For my own part, I have not made this any easier by relocating the verses here from their original settings. Those settings are quite different, so much so that some are convinced that the two authors are actually covering separate events. This is not out of the question, certainly. The Teacher, having earlier found a particular imagery apt to convey one point might later find the same imagery equally apt to address another. The question for me is whether there are indeed two different applications being got at, and, just what is the intended application?
Such a determination, in this case, dare not lose sight of the context provided. So, looking briefly at this context, what is found? In Matthew, the setting is in the midst of the Sermon on the Mount. In immediate context, beginning with Matthew 5:17, Jesus has been addressing the Law and how it applies in this age of kingdom immediacy. If I were to summarize, He has made plain that the Law stands, that our compliance to the Law must exceed the efforts of the Pharisees with all their tradition. He has laid out His meaning by considering the Law regarding murder, showing the full range of behavior that law was intended to cover, and from there, has noted how this interacts with religious observances. If your brother has any cause to be upset with you, go be reconciled before you make any offering to Me. It is at this point that the current passage enters, and following that, Jesus takes up the Law concerning adultery as a further example of His meaning. As such, Matthew’s presentation clearly associates this passage with the overarching topic of “thou shalt not murder, no, nor even come close.”
What of Luke? Here, the topic has been preparedness for that same kingdom, waiting for the Master’s return (Lk 12:36). Much has been made of faithful service and preparedness, with particular focus on the fact that we are not going to know the moment of the Master’s arrival. On the heels of this, Jesus has commented on the way we have overestimated our wisdom. Sure, we can sense what weather is coming our way, but we completely fail to consider the implications of the times we live in (Lk 12:54-56). Then comes this passage, about our incapacity to even discern right from wrong, never mind the signs and portents. What, then, is the thread that ties this section together? It remains a focus on preparedness for the kingdom, with clear admonishments as to the many ways in which we are in no wise as prepared as we like to think.
This begins to provide a common thread that runs through both accounts. We are not as prepared as we like to think. In Matthew, the focus in on our tendency to think we’re doing pretty good with the moral code and all. We’ve been through all that before, the way we will lower our standards until we have them low enough that we can achieve them, and then we’ll be all excited as to how good we are, how pleased God must be. This same tendency to impress ourselves far more than we ought runs through the text from Luke. As servants go, look at yourselves. Are you preparing for your master or lounging about in the certainty that he won’t be back for awhile yet? Like teenagers with the run of the house while the folks are away, you’re pretty sure you can have a wild bash and they’ll never know, because you’ll clean up before they get home. Except, it seems that parents are forever coming home earlier than expected, or else our cleaning skills just aren’t as good as we think, and we get found out.
So, we find Jesus pointing out or deficiencies. Ready? You can’t even tell the time! You aren’t even able to figure out the difference between right and wrong in your own actions, and you think you’re ready for the King? Get over yourself! Far from being ready to receive the Holy One of Israel, your need for repentance is great. You want to see yourselves as keeping the Law? Far from it, you don’t even understand the Law yet. If you did, such a thought of your own compliance would never cross your mind. Get off the letter and into the meaning! Same with your vast knowledge and capacity for digesting facts. You’ve got lots of facts, it’s true, and you can do all your sums and multiplication tables, even your integrals and differential equations, but so what? You don’t see what it means. You don’t, frankly, care what it means. You don’t even consider your own actions, whether they are truly righteous in God’s sight, or just prideful indignation.
You don’t need to rush to court, you need to repent! This is the thing that both settings lead me to. Think about it. The setting: You’re off to court to deal with a lawsuit between yourself and your accuser. Now, notice that there is no doubt offered as to the outcome. If the judge hears this case, you will lose the case. You will pay the penalty. You see, there is no least question of your guilt. ALL are guilty before the Law of God. There’s no point asking, and certainly no grounds for thinking that you’re the exception. Do you really wish to tell Me that the thought never crossed your mind? That your eyes never even once strayed to a physical attribute they had no cause to consider? You’ve never been offended by a brother? Never considered anybody a bit daft (at least compared with your own towering intellect)? Never?
This is the thing. If we were making a legitimate estimate of our own situation, we would want nothing to do with the courtroom! The only reason we’re rushing in there is because we’re stupid. We are so blinded by our prideful self-esteem that we don’t even consider that we have need to repent rather than to rush in there to accuse our brother. Now, here’s the somewhat amusing, maybe ironic part of the deal: Both you and your opponent are in the same boat. The only possible outcome of your trial is that both of you shall lose. This is no question of right and wrong. It’s a question of wrong and wrong! You are both nuts to even think about dragging your self-righteousness before the court of heaven.
Be, then, reconciled to your brother. You make the effort to settle your differences privately. Indeed, there’s that passage from Proverbs 25:8-10 that backs this point. Not only ought you to seek settlement without the help of the courts, you ought do so in privacy, for the fallout from it being a public display will not quickly fade. Your own self-interest should prompt you to do the right thing, here. The court case will of course be splashed across the news, but news of a public shouting match will be just as swiftly disseminated through those who know the parties involved, and neither shall benefit from the notoriety.
Repent! The kingdom is at hand, and the King shall be along at a most unexpected hour. It will not matter that He is unexpected. Your readiness will be expected; required. For my part, I want to be found ready when He comes.
So, with an eye to repentance, I want to come back to that verse I selected as being key to this passage. “Why do you not even on your own initiative judge what is right” [NASB]? In order to judge, we must make a determination. We must make distinction between one thing and another. We cannot judge where all things are considered equal. If what’s right for me may not be right for you, then there is no right and there can be no judgment, but that’s not how it is. Let me offer up two other translations of this passage. The Bible in Basic English renders it thusly, “why are you, in your hearts, unable to be judges of what is right?” Then, the Living Bible offers up this paraphrase: “Why do you refuse to see for yourselves what is right?”
The problem grows steadily worse with each translation. We move from you don’t to you can’t to you refuse to. I would not also that we progress from question to answer. You don’t because you can’t. You refuse to. You have neither the capacity nor the inclination. You have chosen to put mental blinders on your eyes, and stick mental filters on your ears lest they inform you of the reality of the situation and you find yourself needing to repent. Let me be a bit blunt about this. The only reason we cannot discern right from wrong is because we refuse to. The capacity is there. I was prepared to write, “particularly in the believer,” but that’s not really the case. We may be more sensitive to it. Maybe. But, the capacity is there in all mankind. The real issue is that we are not willing, we refuse to consider just how deeply, profoundly wrong our actions are. In others, yes, we’d likely notice and express our disapproval. But, in ourselves they are changed to minor thing, inconsequential. Unfortunately for us, God doesn’t see it that way.
It is of great consequence. Rebellion is rebellion, whether allowed to reach full flower or cut off while yet a seedling. The crime against heaven’s government is really no less. Is the terrorist any less a terrorist because his incompetence led to him failing of his goal? No. The crime is already fully satisfied in the intent. Thou shalt not. And, as the Matthew context was saying, thou shalt not even begin the thought process that might lead there.
It’s rather like the prohibition against even fresh grapes for the one under a Nazarite vow. It’s not that there is something inherently sinful about grapes, no, nor even wine. But, intoxication, particularly in the pursuit of serving a holy God, this is intolerable. So, much like the approach that the Pharisees began with, the boundaries are set such that there is no least chance of violation. Don’t eat the grapes because there’s always the off chance, however small, that they shall be found to have fermented under the sun, and you shall be in violation. So, with the Law in all its requirements. Don’t stop just short of murder. Stop short of anything that might have any possibility of ever becoming such. Even the low opinion, the relegation of another to the status of fool, for the fool you will be far less concerned about, and his death you will come to see as well deserved.
Repent! You are that fool! You are the one guilty before God’s court. Yes, you. Saved though you be, though you be assured of a judgment of penalty paid, yet you are guilty. Should you insist on a fair trial, understand what the outcome shall be. How much better for you if you are wise enough to heed what the Judge Himself is telling you here. Go find your adversary and be restored to him. Settle your differences and restore friendship. For, if this case is heard, you shall certainly suffer for it.
If we are to heed the truth of this advice, we must face the truth of ourselves. We must refuse to think more highly of ourselves than we ought. We must face the fact of our own terrible unrighteousness. We must realize that however right our cause may seem to us, we are wrong where it most counts. We are not pretty good people and we are not in the right. We are yet sinners before an angry God. It is not for lack of love that He is angry, but for a surfeit of love. Oh, don’t misunderstand me. There is certainty of forgiveness in Him, but that certainty is built on the thread of this message, repent and turn away from that stuff. And, dare I say, particularly between members of His family!
