The Sermon on the Mount has been studied and written about by great Bible scholars over the years, so what could I add that hasn't been said? Do I have even a right to correct or expand on what we know about this Scripture? While I too have studied Matthew 5 - 7 many times, the last time i was teaching from these verses i was also teaching organizational psychology. This is where i began to ask questions like:
If obsession with justice is central to human nature, then is it a flaw in our Christian life?
What is it about justice as a guiding principle that interferes with the privileges and provisions of the Heavenlies?
Pursuing these questions caused me to understand what Jesus was saying in ways I had never before. Maybe it will you too. For instance:
In the Beattitudes Jesus is explaining the sources of our joy as a Kingdom dweller. Guess what Jesus did not say? "Oh the joy of being fair", and what He did say, "oh the joy of being merciful." Mercy is treating others as if they did not offend us at all.
Then Jesus says something remarkable, "Do not think I came to destroy the law but to fulfill it." The law is the basis for justice. Its the benchmark by which we determine guilt and punishment. He said, I didn't come to negate the immutable nature of God (justice), but I came to take care of it for you. In other words we no longer have to be obsessed with justice, Jesus has ushered in a Kingdom where it is no longer the basis for being right and enjoying the benefits of life. The key to dwelling in the Kingdom is a righteousness that far exceeds our being just in what we do and having others being just in how they treat us. He then goes on to explain what this is like by explaining how our carnal mind (one obsessed with justice) makes sense of things in contrast with how the Kingdom mind makes sense of the same thing. Some examples:
You hide behind laws of murder, adultery, and marriage to satisfy justice, but you do so to serve self while your heart is defiled with contempt, lust, and power. The Kingdom mind (Grace) creates a heart of thanksgiving where laws are not needed, and therefore justice is not the point.
Jesus gives several examples of where justice (eye for an eye) causes us to demand our rights, but the Kingdom mind leads us rather to rest and be blessed in our Heavenly privileges (turn your cheek, go the extra mile, give your cloak too).
Jesus teaches His disciples to give and to pray where these are not exchanges to gain the favor of others. Notice in the Lord's Prayer Jesus never says, "lead us into a life of justice, help us be fair." Rather He petitions the Father for our desire to forgive (do not even see the offenses against us).
There's many other examples where Jesus is repudiating our obsession with our role in enacting justice. The most obvious is "Judge not." What is judging? It is simply the determination of guilt. How much more direct can Jesus be about life in the Kingdom. Determining someone else's guilt is your natural tendency. Don't you realize that in the Kingdom the issue of guilt has been taken off the table for you, so why do you put it back on the table for others. In fact (Jesus goes on to say), judging others robs you of the privileges and provisions of the Kingdom because it distorts your relationship with God. You cannot make sense of your relationship with others without this perspective affecting how you make sense of how God sees you.
While we employ God's character of justice to play a role in our civil practices to maintain order, we are free from being agents of His justice in our relationships with others. If God does not deal with us thru the lenses of justice, but rather Grace, then why do we feel we must carry the mantra of justice for God. Is that His great commandment, "be just in all you do." No, its love God with all your heart and others as if they were you. Grace frees us to love. Justice binds us to guilt and fear.
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