Honoring Others
“But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment.”
Matthew 5: 22, NIV
“But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
Matthew 5: 28, NIV
“But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, makers her the victim of adultery.”
Matthew 5: 32, NIV
In this section of the Sermon on the Mount (Week 3: Honoring Others) Jesus provides us three case studies of applying the Torah to its fundamental meaning defined by God. The first one is Murder which is equivalent to not treating someone as the image of God when someone’s existence is, in itself, the image of God that deserves respect. The second one is Adultery which is in essence objectifying someone’s life only to serve your own pleasure. It’s an act that values your wants over a person’s own inherent value. The third is Divorce as rooted in dignity for women. The narrow justification for divorce is important because it is not something to be treated lightly as a whim by mainly the men in the ancient world who held power over women. The bottom line is this: God’s wisdom targets our core desires and motivation behind how we treat people. When in fact, people are created in the image of God and so how we treat others is a reflect of how much we honor God’s creation itself.