Jesus offers the antithesis of Matthew 5 (vs. 21-48 - 6 antithesis: murder, adultry, unnecessary divorce, oath swearing, retaliation, and enemy hating) to get at the root of what causes these broken ways of relating to others to enter into our lives. He is not merely seeking to convict us of our brokeness in effort to have us run into the arms of an merciful God (although this is an adequate reponse!). This is not simmply about conviction, mercy and justification. No, he is calling us to live lives that are beyond our current ability to live and is calling us to ask for God’s grace to enable us to grow in grace. The Sermon on the Mount is a call to enter into an ongoing transformation of the "heart". Here we have an invitation to enter into the process of learning how to live lives characterized by right and good relationship with others.
The antithesis are a call to grow in grace. They call us to pray for God's grace to help us live a life that is beyond our natural ability to live. And so, let us pray: may God help us move from: (1) anger, to love, (2) from lust, to respect and right relationship, (3) manipulative relationships, to mutual love and care, (3) to swearing of oaths and signing contracts claiming power and rights, to open, trusting, whole relationships where we have faith in one another’s integrety, words and intentions. May God help us, by grace, to move from: (5) retalitation, to disproporiate acts of humility and service, (6) hatred of our enemies, to an "unnatural-othercentered-upsidedown-agape" way of life. May we grow in grace from broken relationships with ourselves and with others, and be made whole persons who live in community of wholeness.
The antithesis are an invitation to enter into the process of such a transformation, as well as a call to live in a a communal way of life that is made possible only by growth in God's grace.
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