Heart Lust

In this presidential election season, we have heard so many outlandish statements, it is hard to believe there was a time when a comment about The Bible by a president caused a great stir across the country.

The president was Jimmy Carter.  They year was 1976.  The magazine interviewing him was Playboy, and the topic was adultery.

You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.- Matthew 5:27-28

In today's Gospel from Matthew, we have the quote from Jesus that caused the president to stumble.

Carter admitted to lusting in his heart.  He said, "I've looked on a lot of women with lust. I've committed adultery in my heart many times."

Now, the feeling he described may not have been a shocker to the average Playboy reader, but the admission, and calling it adultery was.  Fast forward to President Clinton, twenty years later, and we have a sexual act being played down as nothing.

In that case, the public supported the President and the term sexual relations took on a whole new meaning.

So, what do we do about Jesus and his statements about sin?  He advises us to do whatever it takes to avoid it, even cutting off a hand or plucking out an eye, yet we know not to take him literally.

The problem, I guess, is we don't take him seriously at all.  The use of a metaphor here, a technique that worked well in the parables, just doesn't hit home for us.

Adultery is adultery.  Murder is murder.  And yet we don't all agree, do we?  We see many situations where special circumstances apply.

You would think the task of adhering to just a few laws, like the ten commandments for example, would be easier than trying to follow hundreds or thousands like we have in all levels of jurisdiction in this country, but we always need further clarification, deeper and more detailed classifications of what is right and when.

With that in mind, I can understand the simple message from Jesus, just avoid the temptation.  Do what it takes to prevent yourself from falling into the trap of sin.

Easier said than done, I guess, since we find ourselves thinking about it, whether we act on it or not.  And if giving thought to a deed is as bad as doing it, we should all be locked up.

Oh, well.  No good advice here.  Time to go back to watching Scandal.

Let me know if you come up with a good way to avoid thinking about anything bad.

More to come...