It is Known

2-12-17 (Epiphany 6A)

Deuteronomy 30:15-20; Matthew 5:21-37

It is Known

There’s a saying that gets thrown around in both the book series and the television adaptation of George R. R. Martin’s Game of Thrones that immediately came to mind for me this week as I read through this next portion of Jesus’ sermon on the mount.  It comes from the nomadic warrior people, called the Dothraki, and it’s a phrase that is used over and over again to indicate that a piece of information is common knowledge, accepted as absolute fact, unchallenged for centuries kind of wisdom: they say “It is known.”  And then usually someone repeats the phrase for emphasis and agreement.  “It is known.”  In the Game of Thrones universe, the things that are known are numerous, though they are not always known in the same way by one of the main characters, who finds herself thrust into an alien culture and has to learn everything by trial and error.  “It is known” that dragons have been extinct for centuries.  “It is known” that Dothraki women are subservient and to be used in whatever ways their husbands deem fit.  “It is known” that when a Dothraki leader dies, his wife or wives are to retire to a specific “widow’s hut” in the Dothraki capitol and live out the rest of their days as kind of a council of wise women.  “It is known” that slavery is a fact of life in their particular world, and that it is a huge source of prosperity for certain nations.

As we come to this next section of Jesus’ sermon on the mount, we hear a similar pattern.  If Jesus were a Dothraki, it might sound something like this:

“You shall not murder.  Whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.  It is known.” And then the crowds would have confirmed it - “It is known.”

“You shall not commit adultery.  It is known.”  (It is known)

“Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.  It is known.” (It is known)

“You shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you have made to the Lord.  It is known.” (It is known)

        You start to get the idea - the things Jesus is saying are well-accepted, time-honored statements of cold, hard fact that have been passed down through generations of children of the covenant in Israel.  They’re maxims that have their root either in the ten commandments themselves or in the further works of law developed in the Torah that expand on and build the expectations of covenant life for God’s people.  It’s statements like these to which Moses is directly referring in Deuteronomy when he says “See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity” and entreats the Israelites to obey the Lord their God, to choose life for both themselves and their descendants.

But here’s the thing about these statements - in Game of Thrones, whenever anyone tells Daenerys about something and says “It is known,” chances are that it’s going to end up being something that Daenerys either completely proves wrong, or it’s something that she decides to challenge because it’s wrong in her eyes.  As Daenerys begins conquering various kingdoms, she abolishes the slave trade in them despite her people telling her that “It is known” that slavery is just a part of life in their world.  She hangs onto the dragon eggs and they eventually hatch, even though “it is known” that dragons are extinct and no longer exist.  When her husband is killed, she takes over the leadership of her tribe, even though “it is known” that women cannot be leaders in Dothraki culture.

Jesus, however, takes a different approach to these “it is known” statements.  As he gives his sermon, it’s not to challenge certain aspects of the law or to question their validity - remember, just a few verses ago it’s Jesus who says that “not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished.”  And yet Jesus nevertheless makes this series of qualifying statements after each of the “It is known” statements that he addresses.  “It is known” that you shall not murder - but I say to you that if you are even angry with your brother or sister, you are liable to judgment.  “It is known” that adultery is wrong, but I say to you that even looking at another person with untoward thoughts means you have already committed adultery with them in your heart.

So what is Jesus doing here, if he’s not challenging the known-ness of the law?  In a sermon that has thus far been subversive of so many of the accepted “norms” of first-century Jewish culture, what is Jesus doing now to subvert these widely accepted laws?  And why he going about doing so by making those laws stricter, of all things?  Jesus isn’t challenging the laws themselves so much as he is challenging the general understanding of the laws, and even more so, the purpose of the laws in the first place.  Just before this passage, Jesus tells them that their righteousness has to exceed that of the scribes and the Pharisees if they are to even hope to attain citizenship in the Kingdom of Heaven.  In these next verses, Jesus lays out exactly what that looks like.  He knows the so-called “righteousness” that the scribes and the pharisees practice - the very “letter of the law” to which they subscribe and the kind of living that they deemed as being “inside” the law.  He knows these things and he challenges them - instead of trying to live into the letter of the law, Jesus is pushing the people to get to the heart of the law, to understand the intention behind it, the relationship that the law was built to create between people and between God.  It's not enough to just "not murder people,” Jesus says - you have to move past not killing them to actively loving them.  It’s not enough to just not commit acts of adultery - we need to let our hearts and spirits be so transformed in the love of Christ that we actively work against even the objectification of others in our thoughts and culture.  We need to work for a culture where women are no longer shamed and blamed for being victimized, where men and women aren’t arbitrarily “rated” based on their appearance, but valued and accepted as fellow children of God, and where the discussion in the locker room is about the game and not about the cheerleaders.

Jesus subverts the statements about the law as the people understand it by raising the bar instead of outright destroying it.  Jesus’ challenge to the gathered people moves them beyond just following the law to outright fulfilling it.  Just as Moses stands before the people of Israel and urges them to choose life, Jesus’ words here should carry that same message to us today.  Choose life, and choose a life of fulfillment.  Choose to live a life that is held to a higher calling, centered squarely in the grace and love of Christ.  Choose life, not out of fear of breaking any law, but because we have been freed to serve Christ in love and gratitude.  Choose life because life is what has so freely been given to each of us out of nothing more than Christ’s love.

We gather today around a table that is a deeply visual reminder of the choice which Jesus offers us - at this table, we are reminded that Jesus chose to dwell among us, that he chose to give his life that we might live.  We are reminded of the promise that Jesus’ choice embodies for us in our own reality, and we are filled with the hope of the resurrection that that promise offers each of us.  And as we partake in that holy meal, it is a physical living out of the choice that Jesus invites each of us to make - to place our trust in him, to let our lives be led and transformed in the power of the Holy Spirit, and to be fulfilled in the presence of the body and blood of our Lord.  Let us always make that choice for God, to whom be all glory, now and forever.  Amen.