Explore the Bible: Carrying his values

• The Explore the Bible lesson for Jan. 17 focuses on Matthew 5:17-22, 43-45.

As part of my seminary work many years ago, I served an internship as a hospital chaplain. It was one of the best experiences of my life. After my mentor worked with me for about six weeks, he retired—a bit of a shock to me. The hospital administrators asked if I would be willing to serve as the interim chaplain until they hired another one. In my eagerness, I quickly said I would. Little did I know all the things I would experience. 

One of my main takeaways was the value of human life. I watched, every day, as doctors and nurses did everything they could to save lives, improve the quality of lives and simply bring comfort to the sick. Of course, I prayed for people, held many hands, wiped the tears of many people, and washed my hands—a lot! But through it all, I walked out with a better understanding of the sanctity and value of human life. I even stayed in the room one time as a nurse, with great dignity, took care of a human body whose soul had slipped away to eternity. I will never forget the kindness and care shown to the deceased. It was truly life changing.

Jesus’ take on life

There are many sins Christians find easy to attack. Abortion, homosexuality and drug addiction come to mind, just to name a few. All of these sins, from a biblical perspective, degrade human life. We would do well, as believers, to continue to shine the truth of Christ on these issues and many others.

But Jesus does something absolutely fascinating in this Scripture passage. When Jesus was teaching, I assume there were not many murderers listening. When I preach on murder, I assume few murderers are in the room, if any at all. When a person never has committed a particular sin, it is easy to sit in the wrongful seat of judgment regarding that sin, and most often, also in judgment of the person who has committed the sin. 

Jesus is a genius. Consider carefully the following verses: “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment.” (Matthew 5:21-22b). Probably like you, when I hear several of the Ten Commandments—such as “do not murder” and “do not steal”—I think to myself: “No problem. I’ve never done those.” But Jesus teaches the heart of each commandment is much broader in scope and completely ignored by the Pharisees and teachers of the law. They were all about the external adherence to the law. Jesus constantly pointed out their internal sins. And he takes a moment here to point out their internal sins—and ours!

“Do not murder.” Simple enough. Few people have been convicted of murder. It makes me think, “Doesn’t apply to me.” But Jesus broadens out the heart of the commandment when he proclaims, “Anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment.” Wait a second, Jesus! I’ve been angry with my brother before, plenty of times. 

Here is the amazing truth: Your sin is worse than you think. Jesus is teaching that, in we have all broken the sixth commandment, “Thou shall not murder,” in some way. And the one who has broken the commandment will be subject to judgment. Ouch! He goes on to teach that, while from an external perspective few people have committed adultery, “Anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28). Internally, Jesus was teaching, almost every man was guilty of the sin of adultery. You see, your sin is worse than you think.

But Jesus does something else in his teaching about murder. He raises the level of human life to a proper place of dignity. He goes above and beyond in teaching that human life is so sacred that we shouldn’t even speak poorly against another life. He goes on to teach, “love your enemies” rather than hate them. Jesus wanted his audience to understand that true human sanctity goes beyond the external; it includes attitudes of the heart. Why? 

Again, Jesus is brilliant. The practice of modern abortion didn’t begin with the medical procedure of abortion. Rather, it started with the unseen, internal sin of not valuing another human life. Every murder starts with an attitude of not viewing another life with the proper value that God intended. Sin almost always begins internally. 

Jesus’ teaching is clear: Human life is to be valued. It is precious. It is a gift of God. When we sin with our bodies, we sin against God. When we sin against others, we sin against God. And our sin is worse than what we think.

Value stories

Serving as a chaplain truly was life changing. I was able to see, first hand, the high value of life.

An individual was arrested and brought to the hospital because of an injury. This person refused to reveal his or her gender, and it wasn’t obvious. Rather than just “looking under the sheet” immediately, they gave this person chance after chance to reveal his or her gender. They even called me in to try to get the person to reveal the information, to assure the individual he or she had great value to the staff. Ultimately, after about four hours of being patient, they “looked under the sheet.” Their patience and kindness was astounding. Life was treated with value.

On my last day at the hospital, I was in the room when different people died, a hard day for the entire hospital. One middle-aged man died in the ER of a heart attack after doctors worked about 45 minutes trying to revive him. I stood with the family as they cried and said goodbye amidst the chaos. A senior adult died in hospice care at the hospital after a long battle with cancer. I was there with the family. They were devastated, even though they knew for many years it would happen, and even prayed for her to suffer no longer. I sat with a nursing home patient as she died in the hospital, the last remaining relative of a family. A nurse and I wiped our own tears as we had given care to her for several weeks. On that day, I realized that, no matter the death—whether shocking, expected, prayed for, or even someone you barely know—there always is tremendous grief in death. I often say, “We don’t fully appreciate the sanctity of life until we lose someone we love” 

Before my mentor retired, I remember visiting a man in his early 70s. We carried on a very normal conversation with him and prayed for him. Then, it all fell apart. He started to tell us wild stories about the FBI tracking him, aliens abducting him, secret covert operations he had done just the night before, and how he had even flown a secret mission to the moon. I stood there so very shocked! My mentor, a well experienced and trained chaplain, just listened and smiled as this man went on and on. When we walked out the door he said: “I’m not quite sure what is wrong with that man, but I’ve learned people always deserve to be listened to. Listening is always the Christian thing to do.” Life was treated with value.

Indeed. It’s why I say a blessing over my congregation almost every week. Part of the blessing simply states, “It was in the goodness of God that you were born into this world.” 

Yes, indeed. Jesus taught of the high value of humanity. Then he gave us life because of that high value.