Is it one or the other or even more?

Don’t blame women for what they wear.

In the news recently we may have heard of the ongoing debate on HS2, and whether it might ever make it to Scotland, HS7? People and businesses have been evicted to make the streamlined rail service even quicker to go from one place to another. It is either one or the other…or was it even more? For the greater good…

I have read of the transformation of Glasgow with the building of the M8. It cut, literally, through the heartland of central Glasgow with a vision of open spaces, greater access and economic renewal. Families were moved out of where they had lived for decades, their roots permanently disturbed for the benefit of others: others who may have not lived in Glasgow. Many of the residents who were moved out of the area due to this urban transformation may well have struggled to see the benefits: they may well have been unable to see life in these developments. The residents of these areas wanted to be respected, be valued; when developers were viewing the greater picture, the wider economic benefit. Again, it was either one or the other.

The binary

Think of a question, and often it has an answer which is either this or the that. If we look at a drum or a cylinder, we can see the circular end, or we might possibly see a rectangle. It is only when we move away from the shape might we see it in greater clarity.

We can read the Bible literally and make statements based upon what it says. We might also see the context of who wrote that passage, when, why and to whom. So it isn’t one or the other, but when we might see God’s message to us beyond the words, speaking direct to us.

Abolish but fulfil

Jesus comes along and seems to want to change everything. At first glance, he appears to buck the traditional view, to abolish the everything they knew. But those first verses suggest the opposite. “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets”…” I have not come to abolish but fulfil”

He refers to the super religious Pharisees, the ones that followed the Hebrew Scriptures exactly. Unless our righteousness exceeds the Pharisees you will never enter the Kin_dom of G_d. It is easy here to see a binary argument: be as the Pharisees or the opposite, but this is where our thinking is constrained in two dimensions. We need to go beyond that.

Back to the road

If the tradition was the old road, and the Pharisees wanted to redevelop the road, the road which takes people to a specific direction. Jesus wants us to see what the road could be, for the benefit of the people. The road as it currently is built goes to a destination, there is a finishing point. Once that road is complete, we’re on a road to nowhere, which isn’t a cue for a song…

Jesus is envisioning a road that continues onwards, that can be continually be redeveloped,
so its potential can be fulfilled.

Dial D for do not Murder

We start with Do not murder, but let’s not stop there at avoiding murder. Beyond tradition, let’s stop the name-calling that precedes such an act of violence. Then go further still: seek reconciliation – don’t wait until the relationship is no more. Don’t consider murder as an act but think of the relationship: dehumanising but now reconciling. We are not to seek out to be in the right but to proactively seek to be in relationship : kin_dom. Jesus is asking us to stop the chain reaction that can cause such violence. 

Blame who?

Avoid adultery. Go further says Jesus. Extend that road, manage your lustful desires. Seek to stop the journey towards such desires at the root. If we venture towards online sites then ask ourselves what’s the reason for doing that: and divert then, before it is too late. Note also : The burden here is placed on the man: women are not seen as responsible for enticing men into sexual misadventures. 

Don’t blame women for what they wear.

Avoid Divorce (Context warning). For those who have experience of divorce, let’s consider the context of these words. At that time, to divorce a woman was relatively easy for a man to do, but it could leave a woman destitute and leave the wife open to charges of adultery and lack of social and financial stability. It is breaking up of that relationship. Don’t consider it an act, a process, but consider the person. Hence, there may well be grounds for divorce : so let’s consider those rather than solely moving on, without thinking of the person.

Breakdown of relationships

Promises

Avoid vows. Not often we encounter these are there? Unless we consider a vow as something we say but not do. If we live a truthful life- then there is no need for oaths. If what we do shines out to others, there’s no need to stand up and say it. Think of politicians…

It isn’t one or the other but God overall

“I believe what compels Matthew’s Jesus to take up the scriptural tradition and re-form it is not that he lacks respect for the Scriptures, but that he believes strongly in the real, ongoing presence of the God of the Scriptures.” (Mark Davis, Political Theology Network)  If we are to be Pharisees, as they are described in the Bible, then we can hold firm to what the Bible says literally and not heed the living Jesus. Jesus is one whom sought relationship, kinship, that love between one another and not a literal holding to Scriptural laws of old. He fulfilled the destiny of the Law and Prophets. 

How do we become a place of reconciliation? Well, it could seriously buck the trend with some people. To make that first step to restore relationships. We could make direct amends to those people we have hurt, except when to do so would injure them or others. Even there they are seeking to reconcile and build up people if possible.

Is that what we can do? What is stopping us?

A previous blog on this passage is available here.