Weekly Bible Reflection
Matthew's Communities of Justice

Second Sunday after Trinity

Matthew 7. 21-end: "Be Warned"

Begin by using the Bible Study method as outlined

Sharing together

Can you recall a time when your Christian community received a warning of some kind, through preaching, group discussion, a word of prophecy or some other means? Or think of an occasion when your local community or society at large was issued with warnings. What shape did such warnings take and how did it effective a change in peoples' behaviour?

Reflection on the text

This reading, which marks the end of the Sermon on the Mount, is part of a series of firm warnings. Jesus talks of narrow and broad gates and hard and easy roads (vs 13-14), good and bad fruit-bearing trees (vs 15-20) and of wise and foolish builders (vs 24-27). Hopefully, Matthew's community will get the point one way or another.

Entry into the kingdom of heaven is not assured for the church. Matthew never identifies the church with God's reign. God's reign is what the church must seek (6 v 33) for it belongs only to those who actively seek and practice God's justice. Churches exclude themselves from God's reign by failing to do what Jesus teaches. Verbal claims of allegiance are insufficient (v21 see also Matthew 25 vs 41ff). True followers are those who 'do the will of my Father in heaven'. It's all about understanding Jesus' teaching and making it real in church life and relationships and in the use of resources and, by extension, in one's own life and relationships and use of resources beyond the gathered community (see also 28 v 20). Justice-making activity is to be hammered out primarily in the church 'household' community, not in isolation.

One of the hazards in seeking God's reign and practicing God's justice is the presence of false prophets intent on seducing people and leading them away from Jesus' way (see also 24 v 4-5,10-12, 23-28). For example, in Jesus' own day there were false Messiahs who led some people to their deaths through rebellion against the Roman occupation. Jesus' way is not the way of violence but of suffering love. His is not the way of exclusion but inclusion. His is not the way of greed and wealth acquisition but of generosity, simplicity and wealth redistribution.

Application: some questions for group discussion:

1. . Who or what are the false prophets of our day? How can we help people distinguish between the false and the true?

2. Can you point to examples of churches and/or individuals today or in recent history who lived by the teaching of the Sermon on the Mount?
   
   
3. Where does the Sermon on the Mount sit in the life of your Christian community? Why do so many shy away from it? Should it become the basis of preparation for baptism?

Praying Together

Use the following lines of the Lord’s Prayer as the basis of your prayers as a community.

Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven:

Pray for the end to specific conflicts in the world, and for the success of initiatives that break the terrible cycle of violence and retaliation.

Pray for the healing of marriages and broken families.

Pray that truth will be told and that people will be faithful to one another.

Pray for the love that creates community through forgiveness, reconciliation and peacemaking.

End your time of prayer by saying together:
Loving God, bring your healing and deliverance to the whole earth. As we pray these prayers we are conscious that so much that is wrong on the earth. Give us strength to be seekers after justice no matter the cost. We ask this in the name of the Just One, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

More background information

1. It seems that Matthew’s communities faced two major threats: the revival of strict observance of the Law as advocated by the Pharisees on the one hand and charismatic extremism on the other. The way of true discipleship lies in nether extreme but in practical acts of love and mercy. In other words, it’s not just a matter of hearing Jesus' teaching but putting it into action. The words of Jesus are not really ‘heard’ until they start to transform attitudes and behaviour. That’s what distinguishes the wise from the foolish housebuilder.

2. In an article entitled ‘The House Built on the Stumbling Rock’, Andrew Marr says: ‘Jesus' words then, are about the way we create human culture. That is to say. Jesus is enjoining us to build a whole new culture, not and just an ethic for the rare individual who is willing to try and be good.’ See http://andrewmarr.homestead.com/files/housebuilt.htm.
   See also http://girardianlectionary.net/year_a/proper_4a.htm and scroll down to Matthew 7.