The Unbusy Pastor, 27 October 2009

So, I've been preparing for the message this Sunday in Augusta. I'm speaking on the 8th commandment in Exodus 20:15, "you will never steal". As I was reading the Greek and thinking through the implications of the vocabulary, grammar and context, I started thinking about the way Jesus reinterprets Exodus 20 in Matthew 5:21.

I mean, the message in Exodus 20 is pretty clear, especially on the last six. They're written using a Greek construct called the imperatival future tense, which is basically just a verb in the future tense with a negating particle in front of it. It's solemn legal language, which really isn't very interesting considering the context. God is emarking on the formation of covenant with Israel, so the legal tenor isn't surprising. It's the difference between, "don't steal" and "you will never steal", which implies that there are consequences for breaking the rule. It's real, real simple. Don't take stuff that doesn't belong to you. Don't take paper clips home from the office. Whatever. It's bad and we all get it, right?

Jesus takes the Law head on in this section of Matthew. He quotes the Law in Rabbinic tradition, which would have been followed by a detailed explanation and elaboration, or that’s what his audience was expecting. Instead, he ups the ante. Like the parables, the twist at the end is what grabs the listener’s attention. He says in essence, “so, you’ve learned that you shouldn’t kill anyone. That’s great. You haven’t killed anyone all day long. I’m sure that God is jumping for joy”. I mean, it’s great that you don’t sleep with other women. Really, it is. But in what ways are you unfaithful to your wife? He strongly implies that though we know the law and obey the letter of it, there is another standard. What other standard could there be? There is only his standard because he doesn’t replace the law; he fulfills it. He says that they can only obey the Law by following him. He takes simple, legalistic rule-following and exposes the lack of love underlying it. He splits open the sinner, pulls out the hopelessness of our condition and lays it in front of us. Nobody gets to walk away from Jesus feeling like they have it nailed. We suck and we know it.

It's easy to fall into a trap here, and it's a trap most of us are vulnerable to in our culture. It’s easy to think that Jesus is just arbitrarily raising the bar, like we are crushed under the weight of an angry deity who will never be pleased no matter what we do. That’s not true, though it may have been true of our earthly fathers…the point isn’t that it’s not good enough for God, it’s that it’s not good enough for us. It’s not that he expects more of us, it’s that He has more for us than that. God wants his *best* for us. We're taught by our culture to connect love with achievement, but that has no place in our relationship with God. We are loved because we are His. We are loved because that is what He has for us; it is His best for us. There is no achievement, only undeserved merit, favor and grace. Justification is *totally* relational, and though there is some synergy in terms of our acceptance of his favor, the rest of the deal is utterly one-sided. We are all Abraham, sleeping through his half of the convenant-making ceremony.

When we love Him and ask Him to change us, then he pursues that goal tirelessly, no matter what it costs us or what it costs him. The result can be painful, but to ask for anything else is to ask for less love, not more. You are the masterwork that He will take endless trouble over, though from time to time you may wish that you were a thumbnail sketch.

Stealing is bad though. I don't recommend it. I'm just sayin'.