From within people, from their hearts,
come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit,
licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly. All these evils come from
within and they defile.
The Lord Jesus
Christ reveals the truth of who we are; he has looked deep
into our hearts and seen our truth. But how do we hear these words of Jesus
this morning? Perhaps as a kind of indictment? Do these words of the Gospel
sound like good news to us? Is Jesus trying to stop us short, call us to
attention? Is he arrogant and self-righteous? Certainly not. What Jesus
offers us is not a smug assessment of our sinful nature but a compassionate
understanding of how we get pulled and deceived, a very real look at our
tendencies toward sin. His gaze tests our hearts, scrutinizes, but it is
always a gaze of love and longing, a gaze of understanding. And if he reminds
us of the evil that can take root in us, it is only for one reason, one reason only - because he longs to be
merciful to us.
Made like us
in all things but sin, Jesus needed no one to tell him about the human
heart, for he has taken our heart as his own heart. Can we say that Jesus knows
from within his own heart all that tempts us and can drag us away? Does this
sound blasphemous? You know what the Letter to the Hebrews says, that Jesus was
tempted in every way that we are but did not sin - in every way that we are.
Imagine the breadth of that statement. Think of all you go through, all
you feel, all the ways you are tempted; and imagine Jesus feeling it all with
you. It never ceases to astonish. The Letter to the Hebrews tells
us: “We do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our
weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet
apart from sin. Therefore, let us draw near with boldness to the throne of
grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
Jesus knows,
Jesus understands. He shares our flesh and blood and knows well what yanks at
our hearts because “he himself likewise shared the same things, so that through
death he might destroy” all that threatens to draw us away from
God. Jesus speaks to us this morning not from above, but
from deep within, very near. If as we believe, Jesus is fully human, fully
divine, like us “in every respect” but sin, then he knows well the vagaries of
our human hearts. But unlike us, though tempted, his heart was always set on
the Father’s will. May he continue to teach his way.
Photograph by Brother Brian.
