Han Shot First

Last week I talked about how Jesus points out that we're living in an upside-down world—of course, if an upside-down world is all you've ever known, being shown that it's upside-down feels like having your world turned upside-down. In any case, what Jesus tells us is that the winners at life—are actually the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, those who are persecuted—and reviled.  Weird, right?

This week, Jesus tells us that we're responsible for going out into the upside-down world and, you know, actually do something about it.  He uses some really great poetic imagery that some guy made a song out of once, but that's essentially the idea:  You're good, so go out and do something about this upside-down world!

Then Jesus says something that I've always had difficulty with:

Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfil. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Really?  Not one stroke of a letter?  What about the parts that assume it's ok for us to keep slaves?  What about the ban on short people being clergy?   What about the part that says we should stone our rebellious children to death?  Is Jesus really saying that we need to do those things and teach them to others?

I don't actually think so, and not just because the idea makes me feel all squidgy.  Jesus would be contradicting his own teachings if that's what he meant.  (Check out Matthew 15:1-20 for just one example.)  In fact, Jesus tells us exactly how he interprets the Law and the Prophets when he answers the question, "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?":

He said to him, ‘ “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.’

This Rule of Love is why we don't keep slaves or ban short people from being clergy or stone our rebellious children to death.  Well, that and the fact that we'd go extinct, right?

So what does Jesus mean?  Well, we should absolutely follow the Rule of Love.  But more than that, I think that Jesus is trying to point out that these upside-down things he's saying really do come out of his loving understanding of the Law and the Prophets—of scripture.  It's just that there's a difference between building on one's tradition and getting stuck in the past.

It's like when George Lucas re-released Star Wars Episodes IV-VI in their Special Additions.  Some of us were going to love them no matter what because, well, Star Wars!  Some of us went ballistic because how dare he change even one tiny piece of our beloved classic?  And some of us really struggled with the changes we noticed, one by one, and had to admit that some of them were for the better, some of them really didn't matter—and some of them were terrible.

In all honesty, I understand all three reactions but I only really respect the last one.  It feels equally unwise to love something without acknowledging its flaws as it does to hate something just because part of it changed.  But if you said, "Josh, some of the additional affects actually helped tell the story better.  But the extra ring in the final explosion looks silly to me.  And what's with Han shooting first?" I'd say, "Yeah, the ring is kind of silly.  But it doesn't really matter to the story.  Han shooting first changes his part of the story entirely though!  If he isn't an amoral scoundrel at the beginning of the story then it's not much of a surprise when he returns to save Luke at the end of the film."

Jesus is asking his audience to have the wisdom to go through the same process with scripture.  And Christianity is clearly at a point where we need to do the same with our current traditions.  We need to figure out which pieces are good, which don't really matter—and which are just terrible mistakes.

Be good to each other,
Rev. Josh
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The scripture lessons for February 9th—The Fifth Sunday after Epiphany Year A—are:
Isaiah 58:1-12—Psalm 112:1-10—1 Corinthians 2:1-16—Matthew 5:13-20