A Community of Sexual Wholeness
For Meditation (Corey Widmer)
In this section of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus offers six “case studies” to demonstrate his relationship to the Law and the Prophets. In each case, he takes a law from the Old Testament, clarifies the true meaning or deeper wisdom behind it, and calls for a deeper righteousness that befits his Kingdom. Last week we saw how Jesus handled the 6th Commandment which prohibits murder. Jesus revealed that the true meaning of the Law is not just a prohibition of killing, but a preservation of the image of God in fellow human beings.
Now in verses 27–30 Jesus examines the 7th Commandment, which prohibits adultery within marriage. While on the surface it looks like a fairly straightforward commandment to keep, Jesus reveals that this law is not just about the prohibition of sex with someone other than your spouse, but also requires a deep purity of heart. To surely the shock to those listening, Jesus accuses those who look at a woman with lustful intent as breaking the 7th commandment.
What’s wrong with lust? In the same way that sinful anger violates the image of God in another human being, lust violates God’s image in another by treating them as a commodity for one’s own self-gratification. Just as committing adultery is physically “taking” another person’s spouse, lust does this same “taking” of another within the heart. Jesus dives deep into the human heart and excavates the darkness he finds there!
To be clear, Jesus is not against sex. The reason he is so vehement about the dangers of lust is because he comes from the Biblical tradition that values sex so highly. Because sex is created and given by God as the way for a man and woman to experience profound physical and spiritual union, any way that sex is misused, even within the imagination, is a violation of God’s design. Sexual Love is about communion; Lust is about commodification. Love is about giving; Lust is about taking.
It is also striking that Jesus especially addresses men. In a culture that saw women as the problem when it came to sexual temptation and put strict parameters on how women dressed or in the ways they needed to be isolated from men, Jesus sounds shockingly modern in pointing the finger at men. In a culture that externalized the problem of sexual sin by planting it on women, Jesus internalized the problem of sexual sin and demanded that men deal with their inner desires. Jesus does not call us to repress our sexual desires, but to rightly order them under his love.
All of this points to a beautiful creation design for the relationship between men and women. In creation, we see men and women together reflecting the image of God. When we sexually commodify each other, we do not treat each other as partners in mirroring God’s image, but more like animals or objects for our own use. But Jesus calls us, whether we are married or single, to see the opposite sex not as a person to use but as person to honor, respect, and partner with, reflecting God’s image in the world.
As you prepare for worship this week, consider the following:
How do Jesus’ strong words about lust reflect his very high view of sex? Where do you see that high view of sex in the Bible?
What do you think Jesus means when he suggests that people take such drastic measures to deal with sexual temptation ? (v.29-30). What might modern examples of this look like?
How do you think our church or Parish Group could better model healthy partnerships between men and women that we see reflection in Creation?
Matthew 5:27-30
27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.