There’s Grace Enough for Everyone
“But I say to you that anyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of unchastity, causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.” Jesus’ words in Matthew 5:32 strike guilt and shame in the hearts of millions. It sends some preachers running away from it and others towards it, eager for the opportunity to point out yet another way that their congregations are falling short.
What do you say? Let’s take on this difficult passage — Matthew 5:21–37 — head on. This is a passage that requires us to put our inner fundamentalist in the corner. Jesus says, “whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.” But a few verses earlier he says, “if your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away.” We can’t be be literal about one thing and not the other. What is Jesus teaching here? What is He wanting us to know
What He’s teaching us is that there is grace enough for everyone. This is not a passage about judgment and punishment, it’s a passage about our continuous need for the grace and mercy of God.
Back in February, we had a terrific Vestry retreat. It ended with dinner at my house, where I made fajitas. Turns out, I got plenty of chicken but not enough beef. There was chicken enough for everyone but not quite enough beef for everyone. We make the love of God to be like chicken fajitas but the grace of God like beef fajitas. There is love enough for everyone. We know that. God is love! Chicken fajitas.
But does grace, like beef fajitas, run out? Perhaps you think that the grace of God is finite, that it will eventually run out. I’ve got Good News! God’s grace is not finite. Just like God’s love is eternal, God’s grace is eternal. God’s forgiveness is eternal. There is no end to the grace of God for you. Do you believe this?
The simple truth is that God’s grace has to be eternal because we are forever in need of that grace. Most Christians believe that God is going to run out of patience with them, like I ran out of chicken fajitas. This is not the case!
I want you to notice something in this gospel passage. In each of the sections Jesus says, “you have heard it said, but I say to you”. He’s explaining what the common understanding of these teachings is and then comparing it to what his understanding of these teachings is.
For example, “you’ve heard it said you shall not murder but I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you’ll be liable to judgment” (v. 21–22). It’s not enough just to not murder, you have to also not even be angry. What does this mean? It means that we are in constant need of God’s grace.
Among the many fashion trends that I don’t understand, perhaps the biggest one is the phenomenon of ripped jeans. Have you seen this? My daughters have them. And I want to say to them, “you have heard it said that ripped jeans are all the fashion and it’s what looks good. But I say to you ripped jeans make you look like a person who has no non-ripped jeans, and that you are forced, by some misfortune, to wear those holey jeans.” I’m in favor of being holy, but I’m not in favor of holey jeans.
Do you see what Jesus is doing here? You have heard it said “x”. But I say to you “y”.
Here is the problem with the people that Jesus was addressing in this teaching. Jesus knew that they were trusting in their own righteousness. He also knew that trusting in your own righteousness is a recipe for spiritual failure and sickness. The people who were listening to his teaching were thinking “I’m not a murderer. I haven’t committed adultery. I haven’t been divorced. I don’t swear.” I’m OK!
Jesus is saying that’s not enough. It’s not near enough to keep some minimal, external part of the law and be satisfied with yourself. Is that what you are doing?
Jesus is addressing a spiritual problem that many Christians have: thinking that you are righteous in your own strength and power. The problem is thinking, “I’m not that bad! Compared to those people over there I’m doing pretty good!” Jesus is saying — please understand — that God does not grade on a curve.
It’s not a bad thing for you to think that you need of the grace of God — all the time! In fact, it’s an excellent thing for you to think. This is the position that Jesus wants us to get us into with this teaching.
It’s important to see that Jesus isn’t telling us to be perfect. He’s reminding us that we aren’t and can’t be perfect. This is amazing news!
Let’s go back and think about holey jeans. It turns out that all of us have holes in our jeans. Big holes in our jeans. We get ourselves into trouble when we think our jeans are perfect when our jeans are holey. Do you want to transform your church? Make it “The Fellowship of People with Holey Jeans”. Rather our churches being a place where you have to have your life together, where you have to exhibit some sort of man-made external standard to be admitted or accepted by God or by the church, what if we made our churches to be places where grace flows and fills in the holes?
We need to seek the righteousness that comes from God, not the righteousness that comes from ourselves. When we really get a hold of this, we will lead moral lives because we are thankful: because we are children of grace, not because we are afraid of judgment. This is a huge and important difference. Oh, how I wish more Christians understood this!
Jesus takes on four topics in this passage, let’s quickly look at each one in turn. First, anger. Anger is a big problem for a lot of people. Certainly, anger is more than murdering someone. In this teaching Jesus is encouraging us to be reconciled as quick as we can to the people that were angry with, the people that we are having a hard time forgiving.
Did you know that this is where we get the idea and concept of exchanging the peace? Exchanging the peace is not about saying hello to the people that you like the best. Exchanging the peace is an opportunity to go and extend forgiveness and achieve reconciliation from anyone in the church that you’re having a hard time forgiving or someone that you need to restore a relationship with. Jesus is telling us here, “you have heard it said you shall not murder, but I say to you that your anger issues will get the best of you if you don’t tend to them”.
Next, adultery. This teaching is pretty straightforward, isn’t it? Adultery is wrong. It’s a bad thing to do, but so is letting your eyes wander and allowing your mind imagine things that they shouldn’t be looking at or imagining. Jesus is telling us here “you have heard it said you shall not commit adultery, but I say to you keep your eyes and your mind in check!”
Next, this difficult teaching on divorce. One thing you have to know when reading this passage is that there was a real problem back in Jesus’ time with the frequency and ease with which men could divorce women. In fact, it was such a problem that many women were refusing to marry because of how wantonly and easily men were able to divorce them. This teaching from Jesus actually is one of Jesus’s clearest and best teachings that upholds the rights of women. Jesus is teaching that the family is to be a stable unit and that marriage is the one of the best ways to keep that family unit stable. I’ve yet to meet anyone who got married who wanted the relationship to end in divorce. If divorce has touched your life or is touching your life, I want you to know that there is grace enough for you. Do your best. Say your prayers. And know that everyone deserves to have love in their life and that’s especially true for people who have known and recovered from failed marriages in their past. Divorce is painful enough, the church ought not to be another source of that pain.
Finally, the teaching on oaths. Don’t swear by your head for you cannot make one hair white or black. Ain’t it the truth? Jesus is teaching us, “you’ve heard it said that you shall not swear falsely, but I say to you don’t swear at all”. Let your yes be yes and you no be no.
What are we to learn from this teaching from Jesus? You need not rely on your own righteousness. Doing so puts you in spiritual danger. Let’s all just go ahead and admit that we have holey jeans. Let’s not expect each other to be perfect or to live perfect or to be on the lookout for some external proof that we’re living lives that are right and righteous in the sight of God or in the sight of one another. Instead, let’s make our churches places where, if you are in need of grace we say, “Awesome! Here’s a seat, you’ve come to the right place.”
It’s time for you to lay down that exhausting work of trusting in a righteousness that comes from yourself. It’s time. Seek the righteousness that comes from God, the righteousness that flows from the cross of Christ, the righteousness that comes from the grace of Jesus Christ, the righteousness that we can’t possibly attain on our own, flowing from a source of grace that never, ever, ever runs out. There is grace enough for the person you may have been thinking of as you’ve read this. There is grace enough for that person you’re having trouble forgiving. And yes, my friend, there is grace enough for you. Beef fajitas! There’s grace enough for everyone.
