Moral UnderstandingWhen Jesus deals with moral evil and goodness, he does not begin by theorizing. He plunges immediately (Matt. 5:21–44) into the guts of human existence: raging anger, contempt, hatred, obsessive lust, divorce, verbal manipulation, revenge, slapping, suing, cursing, coercing, and begging. It is the stuff of soap operas and the daily news—and real life. He takes this concrete approach because his aim is to enable people to be good, not just talk about it. He actually knows how to enable people to be good, and he brings his knowledge to bear upon life as it really is, not some intellectualized and sanctified version thereof. He knows that people deeply hunger to be good but cannot find their way. No one wishes to do evil for its own sake, we just find it unfortunately "necessary." We want to be good but are ready to do evil, and we come prepared with lengthy justifications. […] Having illustrated concretely, in situations of grimy realism (Matt. 5:20–44), what it is like to be a really good person—one who has found the kingdom and is living in its ways—Jesus then proceeds, in the immediately following verses, to give his overall picture of moral fulfillment and beauty in the kingdom of the heavens. It is one of heartfelt love toward all, including those who would be happy if we dropped dead. This love does not consist of acts and projects but is a pervasive condition of vision, joy, and love in which we habitually reside. It is a love of the same quality as God's love (Matt. 5:45–48). We are to be "perfect" or whole as our Father, the one in the heavens, is perfect and whole. (EDITED) From The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering Our Hidden Life in God. Copyright © 1997 by Dallas Willard. All rights reserved. Used with permission of HarperCollins Publishers. |
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