Title: Woe to Those Who Caused Sin
Contents
1. The Blessed Path to the Kingdom of Heaven
Thank you for meeting the members of Saegil Church again and sharing the word with us. Although the title of the sermon sounds scary as if it were referring to judgment, what we are going to deliver today is what Matthew 5:20 is saying, and it is the good news that shows the path of righteousness through which we can truly enter the kingdom of heaven.
Chapters 5-7 of Matthew have been referred to as the 'Gospel on the Mount', where Jesus taught his disciples on the mountain, and people have thought of this as a virtue or ethical lesson for Christians to observe. However, in reality, Jesus' Gospel on the Mount is an eschatological proclamation that confronts the scribes and Pharisees at the time, exposing their injustice, and proclaiming to them that if they do not practice the true 'righteousness' of the law, they will be judged. When Jesus finished all the Gospels on the Mount, the 'crowd' were astonished that Jesus' teaching was "because they were different from their teachers of the law" and the conclusion of the Gospel of the Mount in Matthew 5:20, "Your righteous deeds are And unless you do better than the righteous conduct of the Pharisees and the Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Then, what is the way for us to gain 'righteousness' and true salvation to enter the kingdom of heaven? In Matthew 5:21-48, Jesus confronts the hypocritical teachers of the law at the time by saying, "You yourself have heard it say ... But I myself tell you." Today, for the sake of time, we will only look at the text from 5:21-26.
2. Woe to the one who made you sin!
First, looking at the passage from Matthew 5:21-26, Jesus says to his audience, "You have heard that it was said to the ancients, 'Do not murder. Whoever murders will be brought to justice.'" This is the word in the Ten Commandments of the Old Testament. Jesus has some amazing things to say about this. "But I tell you, anyone who is angry with his brother or sister will be judged. Anyone who insults his brother or sister will be brought to the council, and whoever calls his brother or sister a fool will be in hell. will be thrown into the fire."
Here, Jesus, surprisingly, says not 'murderers' but 'those who get angry and insult their brothers and sisters and call them worthless' will be judged. Did Jesus here enact a law that is more severe than that of Judaism by enacting a law that Christians in general should follow? no. These verses relate to the situation at the end of the Jewish War of 67-70 AD, and are aimed at Jews who were condemning others as sinners with their 'Thou shalt not murder' law.
The Jewish people, who were originally one nation, were divided into north and south, and were at odds with each other. At the time of Jesus, the rich and powerful in Jerusalem, who colluded with Rome, exploited them, calling them Gentiles and sinners while receiving temple and land taxes from their fellow Galileans in the north. Because of this, the people of Galilee, who were despised and exploited not only by Rome but also by their own people, began to fight for their survival, and the Jewish people started the war of independence in AD 67-70. In the process, the Galilean Zealots killed with a dagger the aristocrats and priests in Jerusalem who had pushed them to Rome and killed them. In this very situation, without even thinking about the cause, the religious devotees to formal religious practices and worship services, blaming the Galileans as 'murderers' and sinners by blaming the law.
However, Jesus sees those who were treated as 'sinners' by the scribes at the time with a completely different perspective. In Jesus' eyes, they are 'poor and hungry people' who deserve mercy, and they are 'innocent people' who groan under the yoke of sinners under the legal system of that time. To the Jews who took issue with eating the ears of wheat on the Sabbath because they were hungry, Jesus said:
“If you had known what I meant when I said that I want mercy and no sacrifice, you would not have called innocent people sinful” (Matthew 12:7).
In Matthew's Gospel, Jesus is not a 'sinner', but a 'sin-causing man' (Matthew 5:29-30, 18:8-9) and "Woe to the world that makes the helpless little ones sin." (Matthew 18:7) says. This is also evident in the text of Matthew 5:27-32. At that time, Jewish men legally gave up their wives, who had done nothing wrong by interpreting the law to obtain a woman other than their wives. At that time, women abandoned by their husbands had no other way than to find another man to survive. Then the husbands called the women 'adulterers' because they found another man even though their husband was still alive. But Jesus criticizes, “You are the one who made the woman, who did not commit adultery, commit adultery” (Matthew 5:32). And through the parable, "If your right eye causes you to sin, pull it out and throw it away; if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off." Says.
3. The person who abuses and exploits a brother must first go to him and be reconciled!
So, what about those who make others sin, so to speak, those who despise, revile, and exploit their fellow brothers as strangers and sinners, so that their hearts are filled with resentment and finally murder? In Matthew 5:23-24, Jesus says:
“Therefore, if you are going to offer a sacrifice on the altar, and you remember that your brother or sister has a grudge against you, you must place the sacrifice before the altar, and go first and be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come back and make the sacrifice. give me".
4. "Hurry on the way!, otherwise you will be judged".
But what happens when a person who despises and exploits his brother fails to act that will bring about true reconciliation? Will he just eat well and live well? Not at all. In Matthew 5:25, it is said that a person who has suffered injustice complains to heaven and sues the heavenly court. And, in Matthew 18:10 and Luke 18:1-8, it is said that God will never turn away from the prayers of those who cry and plead for their injustice. So, Jesus tells him to be reconciled to him, “on the way to court with the accuser, quickly.” That's right. If you go astray, there is no way to reconcile. And God, who hears the cry of the oppressed, will never forgive the unrighteous, who have made the helpless stumble and fill their hearts with resentment. In fact, during the Jewish War, the rich and nobles of Jerusalem, who oppressed and exploited the poor, were killed by the enemy, Rome, and all their houses and land were taken and burned.