Matthew 5:27-37

Until my daughter suffered her brain injury, I had trouble understanding theses passages. As a result of injury to her frontal lobes, my daughter had and has difficulty with impulsiveness. Impulses are thoughts, desires and ideas that spring unbidden. If I see a friend standing across the street and without thinking I just cross the street in the middle of the block without looking either way, that is impulsive.

Acting without judgement. One of the most difficult parts of growing up is learning to control that impulsiveness. Often people never fully out grow it. ( Which why grocery stores put candy at the check out counters.)

What I understand from these passages is that God expects us to use judgement in our relationships with others. Marriage is not to be an impulsive act, enter into lightly. When we do marry, we are expected to to be serious about it. We are human and will have problems, but we are to work at reconciliation. I note that Jesus in verse 23 admonished us to not wait for our partner to admit wrong doing, or apologized first, but to leave the altar and go ourselves and initiate reconciliation .

This same seriousness of how we act is discussed with the giving of oaths. Don't embellish your promise. Say what you mean simply, Yes or No. I will or I won't. If you say yes mean it. That means that it must not be impulsive. It must be thoughtful, something you know is right and that you mean to do. In our society we place so much emphasis on speed that we have forgotten how to be thoughtful. If someone does not reply immediately with a snappy answer, we think less of them than the person with quick and witty response.

One of the results of this is a society in which quitting is a perfectly acceptable way to deal with problems. Difficulty with a marriage, walk away. Difficulty with the church, walk away. Difficulty with a committee, quit.

These passages for me talk about grace in action. These thing are not possible with grace or Grace.


Father,
It is so easy to walk away, to wait for my brother to act first, to do the easy. I pray for patiences to listen, to think, to act with care and grace.