Matthew 7:6-12

Posted by DJL on Feb 22, 2014 in Daily Bread | 1 comment

“Do not give what is holy to dogs; and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under foot and turn and maul you. Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone? Or if the child asks for a fish, will give a snake? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him! In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets.”

Have you ever heard a retrospective of a great leader’s speeches? Maybe it was Martin Luther King, Jr., or John F. Kennedy. The editors put together a collection of little snippets from a variety of speeches to give you not so much a historical record as an impression. That is, the resulting montage does not reproduce any single speech but instead gives you a deep sense of the person, the heart of his or her life, message, and mission.

I think that’s kind of what’s going on here. Matthew, drawing from numerous sources some forty years after Jesus’ ministry (and without the aid of video or audio recordings!), does not aim, I think, to give us a blow-by-blow account of one sermon of Jesus.  Rather, in this sermon-montage delivered to the disciples from a mountain (in Luke, interestingly, Jesus preachers to a great crowd from a plain – see Luke 6:17ff.), Matthew strives to capture and present for us the essence of Jesus’ ministry and mission.

Among other things, this explanation helps explain the peculiar collections of varied sayings we will bump into throughout this chapter. So rather than wonder why Jesus isn’t staying on topic – jumping from swine, to prayer, to the golden rule – we might instead wonder how these snippets lend insight into the heart of Jesus’ ministry.

Which leads me to notice this: In everything Jesus talks about – certainly in this passage but also throughout the Sermon on the Mount – he is inviting us to evaluate our priorities. Take stock of what is most important – don’t throw pearls before swine. Ask God to provide what is most important – ask and it will be given to you. Treat others as if they are most important – do unto others as you would have them do to you. Throughout, Jesus invites us to reconsider what we have determined – or perhaps what the world has told us – is most important in light of the promise of God’s coming kingdom.

And one thing more: at the heart of these priorities, as we’ve seen, are relationships – don’t judge, treat others as you want to be treated, watch how you speak to others, turn the other check…. Tying together all of the varied subjects Jesus touches on in this signature sermon and montage is his contention that we honor and tend our relationship with God by honoring and tending our relationships with others. Why? Because this is the heart of the law and the prophets that Jesus came to teach, keep, and fulfill.

Prayer: Dear God, the world holds before us so many things it says are important – wealth, fame, power, beauty. Teach us that these are but fleeting things and fasten our eyes instead on matters of grace, compassion, mercy, and truth. In Jesus’ name, Amen.