“TRINITY SIX”
Saint Matthew 5: 20-26
6th Sunday after Trinity: 16 July Anno Domini 2023
Fr Jay Watson, SSP
“For I say unto you…” Well, you muse, that is indeed how Saint Matthew begins today’s Gospel pericope from verse 20 of the 5th chapter. Matthew is quoting Jesus’ words. Yes.
More. Jesus had ascended when the Blessed Evangelist wrote down these words; words meant to be read by pastors and heard by listeners. And before his literary authorship there was the kerygma—the oral, aural, PREACHING (per St. Paul) of this event by Matthew himself. So, “in the stead, and by the command” So, Matthew is also saying “For I (Matthew) say unto you!” Likewise, this morning St. Matthew’s distant successor is saying “I, Pastor Watson say unto you.” Not an opinion, The Word of The Lord!
God, Christ says “he who hears you, hears me.”
Current July 16th active proclamation; NOT history of past facts.
Unless your own personal status with The Triune God surpasses that of what the Scribes (Old Testament experts) and the Pharisees (better Old Testament experts) thought they had accomplished you will not be admitted to Christ’s kingdom! Well, on the surface level—the level the Pharisee’s loved dealing with—you get a hard “F!” You may look at Scripture from time to time, you may even read sections daily. But you do not swim in the saving Gospel of Christ in the Hebrew text the way God demands you to. You do not see Jesus where you should—even, yes, in 1st Chronicles.
But thanks be to God you are not hypocritical, at least not to the level of the Pharisees. You know you are sinful and unclean. You know that “tithing mint, dill, and cumin” and observing the Levitical dietary laws do not make you right with The Lord!
The 10 Commandments kill. “Lex Semper Accusat” (The Law always accuses).
From before Cain murdered his Shepherd brother, from Abraham and the Patriarchs, to the actual physical (solid incarnate means) delivery of the stone hard enduring universal Law “in 10 Words” God has said—Christ has said—I as New Testament Apostle say—“thou shalt not kill.”
I am guilty. I should be damned. I have murdered, probably, dozens of people since last preaching from this pulpit a week ago. How many of God’s children have you murdered the past 7 days? If you say “zero” then you are a damned Pharisee.
Because “whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment.”
That is warning number 1.
Jesus said “he who lusts in his heart is an adulterer.” He who hates in his heart is murderer. We are all serial murderers. Christ gives an example in warning 2: “whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council.” Yes, maybe the Sanhedrin had punishments for defamation and slander, but how much more so the Heavenly Council of Angels and Archangels, and Saints (per Revelation) shall judge the guilty with severity. Raca is the English transliteration of the Aramaic reqa and it means having utter contempt for a man’s head—his total person. It is not just calling someone a scoundrel but worthless, loathsome, piece of refuse. Can you see why God would hold you guilty of treating His blood-bought children with such a feeling?
But with The Lord’s final warning (#3) you may be puzzled. Why would calling somebody a “fool,” to be sure a hurtful designation, put the guilty party in danger of “hell fire,” in the Greek Matthew says ‘Gehenna of puros.’ Literally, ‘Geenna’ was Jerusalem’s city dump with smoldering nasty stuff. But too it is a picture of the final judgment for the wicked.
Christ is not damning you if you observe, remark, or counsel a love one, or any neighbor against making a “foolish” choice or decision. King Solomon, by The Holy Spirit, uses the term multiple times in his Proverbs. And then if the person persists in doing something, yes, objectively foolish you conclude by saying “you are fool for having done that.” That is not God’s point.
Here the word “fool,” has deep theological meaning. In Greek the word is “muros” meaning, well, foolish and stupid. It is probably where we get our English word moron. But in context, Jesus says it shows the heart, the lack of faith, the absence of mercy and forgiveness, for the person using the word. It is tantamount to cursing and damning a fellow human—a “neighbor.”
Because you too often do not “forgive those who have trespassed against [you]”—you hold hurts and grudges for years and decades sometimes—you are in danger of God not forgiving you your trespasses.
Far too often you act like the servant forgiven the great debt who then goes out immediately and throws into prison the fellow servant who owes a trifling [Mt. 18].
In Jesus’ day the people still brought blood sacrifices to the Temple in Jerusalem. As in the Exodus, lambs, sheep, goats, and oxen were still “gift[s] to the altar.”
Jesus is the only gift. Christ is the only Lamb Whose Blood can propitiate, wash-away, cleanse, absolve, and forgive. Yes, Jesus says “be reconciled to they brother.” “BE” is not a suggestion or a goal, it is LAW! So, do it. Forgive. Make apologies, take apologies, forgive, and reconcile. And you do this by the power of The Holy Spirit, because it is Jesus Himself, Who took His gift, The Gift, of His Body and Blood to the altar of Calvary’s cross. Christ paid the “uttermost farthing:” “not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood, and with His innocent suffering and death” [SC II.2].
Jesus reconciled, made Righteousness flourish between God and man, between God and you, in the flourish of His holy blood gushing out of that sinless Body given. The reconciliation was accomplished, God said it: “Father forgive them!” The reconciliation is accomplished, I forgive you all your sins…
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of The Holy Ghost
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