Matthew 5:27-32
“Notice what you notice.” I seldom can read today’s adultery passage without recalling Jimmy Carter’s (ill-advised) Playboy magazine interview during the 1976 election when he admitted to “lust in my heart”. He got a lot of grief for that, especially from people within his evangelical Baptist background. But it was also widely suggested that so many of the critics were probably equally guilty. One of my study Bibles suggested that “lust” was more than simply admiring someone beautiful in form and feature (my words), that “lust” had deeper, even sinful thoughts, much more than “just looking”. A natural outgrowth of “lust in my heart” is pornography – a problem that Pastor David suggests is much more common than any of us would like to admit. For all of us, much better to simply Rejoice in the wife of your youth (Proverbs 5:18).
As to the adultery passage, Matthew is the only Gospel that allows for the “sexual immorality” clause. See Mark 10:2-12 and Luke 16:18. Here’s a good website that puts them all together: https://www.westmont.edu/~fisk/Lecture%20Outlines/DivorceAndRemarriageInTheGospels.htm . Divorce has become so easy in civil society, and the church has all to easily accommodated society in this regard. Carol and I have been blessed with a happy marriage; not everyone has. But I do believe that working together through some tough times can help troubled couples overcome their differences (to a large extent, if not fully), such that divorce becomes less an issue. I watched my dad and stepmother “battle” each other for 15+ years before they really settled down into a love relationship for their last few years together. And as I noted yesterday, Carol and I accommodated a non- or low-paying tenant for quite some time, hoping that we could lessen the financial battles they were facing. Although they could not battle through it, I’m convinced that we took the right road – even though we probably stayed on that road too long!
I’ve always loved Jesus’ contrasting of the two phrases, “You have heard it said…” and “But I say unto you…”. That pairing occurs six times in Matthew’s chapter 5, and twice today. When He says “But I say…” I feel like He really means it and whatever follows, you can “take it to the bank”! The closest other Gospels come to this pairing is Luke 6:27, But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you…, which obviously has the second half of the pairing, but not the first.
Enough for today.
Blessings!