“You have heard it said, ‘ Love your neighbour and hate your enemy ‘. But I tell you love your enemies, and pray for those persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. ” Matthew 5:43-45
Jesus of Nazareth was Jewish. He believed in the Law of Moses, and was in conversation with Jewish leaders of his time about what the Law might mean for the world. In the biography of Matthew, there is a sermon by Jesus. The quote above comes from that sermon. Five times Jesus begins his points by saying “ you have heard it said.” Five times in the sermon, Jesus says these words, and he is re-interpreting the sacred law of the Jewish faith. He is changing the fundamental parts of the Jewish faith. My understanding of Jewish faith discussions is that everything is always up for discussion. Ideas are always changing. What kinds of questions do we ask Jesus today ? We have changed from 2000 years ago.
Yesterday, when I got to the light at the Tim Horton’s corner, I could not go through. The traffic was backed up all the way to Crossroads Restaurant , and maybe beyond. When we first moved to this area there was one streetlight in Elmira, and now there are four. Is this progress or is this just frustration. How do we deal with change ?
In 1976, the Canadian government announced they would have a lottery to raise money for the Montreal Olympics. They would hold it, and then there would be no more. They raised so much money, and it was so easy, that they have continued to do it, and every province and territory hold them now. It seems strange to hear on the radio about the “ minister in charge of gambling”. But as a government, we love the revenue ( regressive tax ?), even if the lotteries cause some social problems and addictions. The lottery was begun to raise a little extra money for a sporting event. Where did it go ?
And now the provinces and the federal government are deciding on revenues from projected sales in marijuana, beginning on July 1, 2018. So, we might find a new cabinet minister who will be in charge of “drug sales” in the near future. The governments want to regulate the sale of this drug, so that there is not the criminal element, and to raise some tax revenue also. Where will it go into the future ?
Jesus, who was Jewish ( is Jewish in heaven too ?), wanted to call people back to God, and to the Law of the Ten Commandments. When Jesus begins these statements with “ you have heard … but I tell you “ he is causing an earthquake for the believers. Then his resurrection that we celebrate on Easter Sunday rocked the world of the Jewish believers. This is not how God should work in the world. Things change
Who in the church is saying , “ you have heard … but I say to you “ ? And can we believe them. Are they the voice of themselves, or are they the voice from God/Jesus/Holy Spirit ? Peter, a disciple of Jesus, and an early church leader, has a dream that all foods were now able to be eaten. As a good Jewish person, it would be an abomination for him to eat pork, but the Holy Spirit invited him to change his mind . He believed the Holy Spirit . Can we listen and hear the Holy Spirit that we can be a voice of peace, justice and compassion ? At least that is my bias of the Spirit.
Fred Redekop
Ponder Anew 