Reading 8
Good Advice Is Not Good News—Matthew 7
Reading 8Chapter 7 brings us to the end of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, and, as in the previous two chapters, it is chock full of some of Jesus’ most quotable quotations. They have taken on almost proverbial status as one-liners, usually lifted out of context. Admittedly, some of them work well as stand-alone proverbs. We might all do well to remember the log in our own eye when examining the speck in our neighbor’s eye in our interactions on social media.
However, as Matthew is at pains to show us, good ethical advice, scrubbed free of the particularity of Jesus the Messiah—the fulfillment of God’s promises to Israel—is not the Gospel.
Bearing this in mind, Jesus tells us not to judge—not for the sake of being nice—but because we are not The Judge—he is. Throughout the rest of Matthew’s Gospel, we will see more images of Jesus as the Judge, just as we do in 7:21-23. We prefer to skip over these parts; they make us squeamish. We hate judging.
But a quick gut-check will reveal that we hate human judgment. For God, who is goodness, to uphold the Good—that’s good news! And that’s what Jesus is showing us here. To not judge others (which is to let God be God), to see the log in our eye (which is to confess our sins), to ask (which is to pray), to do the good to others we would like in return (which “good” Jesus tells us is found in the law and the prophets)—this is the good that the true judge upholds.
And that is the other context. Not only was Jesus a Jew, he was the Son of God, who himself was—and is—the exemplification of this goodness. To live in accord with the Sermon on the Mount is not to try to live up to the impossible standards of an arbitrary judge. It is to be drawn into the life of God, who is good, and calls the church into this goodness. That’s worth a lot more than good advice!
To Consider:
- How does remembering that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Sermon on the Mount change how you read it?
- How does remembering that this Sermon is for the community – the church – and not just you as an individual, change how you read it?.
Good and gracious God, thank you for the gift of Jesus and his Sermon, which shows us what life in you looks like. Help us see and confess our sin, and give us grace to live according to your will and goodness, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Laura Weant is privileged to be the pastor of the good folks at Bethany Lutheran in Boone, where she enjoys daily sunrises over the mountains, the sound of the babbling brook in her backyard, chasing chickens, avoiding her children when they’re arguing, and talking theology with her pastor-lumberjack-husband. Also, music. And faking-it at gardening.
