Jésus a-t-il vraiment soutenu la peine de mort pour avoir maudit un parent?

⮜ Questions avec réponses

Les "dictons" des écritures sont souvent ceux dont nous tirons le plus d'enseignements. Elles nous libèrent de nos préjugés culturels. Elles nous amènent à voir le monde à travers un système de valeurs différent. Comme la loi biblique est le reflet écrit de la nature de YHWH, les "dictons de la loi biblique" sont ceux qui peuvent nous apprendre le plus sur ce qu'il valorise. C'est le système de valeurs de YHWH que nous devons intérioriser, en rejetant tout ce qui entre en conflit avec notre propre système de valeurs.

Nous commençons par Matthieu 15, où les scribes (qui étaient les "experts en droit" du premier siècle) avaient voyagé de Jérusalem à Génésareth (une région proche de la Galilée). Cela montre à quel point ils ont traité Jésus de manière significative. Aucun scribe ne quittera Jérusalem pour aller pinailler votre prédicateur de rue moyen. Ce serait comme si un professeur de droit constitutionnel de New York se rendait à la deuxième église baptiste de Smalltown, aux États-Unis, parce qu'ils l'ont entendu dire quelque chose de "subversif". Les scribes ont manifestement considéré Jésus comme une menace.

Bien sûr, Jésus et ses disciples en étaient conscients (les avocats des grandes villes ne se faufilent pas dans un endroit comme Gennésaret). Comme d'habitude, Jésus faisait des choses qui provoquaient délibérément une confrontation avec les chefs religieux. Auparavant, il cueillait du grain (Matt. 12:2), et guérissait (Matt. 12:13), le jour du sabbat (!). Maintenant, ces fauteurs de troubles défiaient la "tradition des anciens" :

2 “Why do your disciples disobey the tradition of the elders? For they don’t wash their hands when they eat bread.” Matthew 15:2WEB

Bien sûr, il n'existe pas de loi biblique qui oblige une personne à se laver les mains avant de manger. Cette règle a été inventée par les Pharisiens, et Jésus a intentionnellement permis à ses disciples de la transgresser. Jésus répondit:

3 He answered them, “Why do you also disobey the commandment of God because of your tradition? 4 For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him be put to death.’ Matthew 15:3-4WEB

Remarquez comment Jésus a réprimandé les Pharisiens en utilisant la loi biblique. Il a cité deux commandements des Écritures hébraïques : le cinquième commandement (Exode 20:12) et un autre commandement de la loi qui prévoit la peine de mort civile pour avoir enfreint le cinquième commandement d'une manière particulièrement odieuse (maudire son père ou sa mère, Lévitique 20:9).

Who's the hypocrite?

Let's just bracket out what Jesus says next about "Corban." You can read about this in any commentary and get a good explanation. Basically, Jesus is pointing out a tradition which the Pharisees teach, that allows people to dishonor their parents. Next, Jesus says:

7 You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, Matthew 15:7WEB

Jesus had already, multiple times, referred to the Pharisees as "hypocrites": Matt. 6:2, 6:5, 6:16. Remember what Jesus had already proclaimed publicly:

17 “Don’t think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I didn’t come to destroy, but to fulfill. 18 For most certainly, I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not even one smallest letter or one tiny pen stroke shall in any way pass away from the law, until all things are accomplished. 19 Therefore, whoever shall break one of these least commandments and teach others to do so, shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven; but whoever shall do and teach them shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven. Matthew 5:17-19WEB

In the current exchange with the scribes and Pharisees, Jesus had just quoted from God's commandments (including the death penalty commandment) in order to show that they were "making void" God's command by their tradition.

So here's the question:

If Jesus actually came to abolish the death penalty for cursing one's parents, wouldn't Jesus be the real hypocrite, and not the Pharisees?

A sermon which you will (probably) never hear

You may never in your lifetime hear a sermon on this exchange that Jesus had with the scribes and Pharisees, which talks about Jesus supporting this death penalty. You might hear plenty of sermons on Jesus and the woman taken in adultery (from John 8), because that passage is easier for antinomians to pervert. But you cannot treat Matt. 15:3-5 that way, you can only gloss over it.

God gave us the Fifth commandment ("honor your father and mother") to uphold the institution of the family, which is the foundational cultural institution of human civilization. As Paul says, it is the first (though not the last) commandment with a promise: 3 “that it may be well with you, and you may live long on the earth.” Ephesians 6:3WEB.

God gave us the Eighth commandment ("thou shalt not commit adultery") to uphold the marriage covenant, which is the covenant that forms the family. It isn't surprising that he also attached a mandatory death penalty to it: Leviticus 20:18.

God gave us the Ninth commandment ("thou shalt not bear false witness") to uphold the integrity of the Biblical justice system, which is founded upon witness testimony. Again, we find a death penalty required for bearing false witness in capital cases: Deut. 19:18-21.

God attaches civil penalties to only a small number of his commandments. A civil death penalty, tied to a commandment, shows how important it is not to break it. For example, in Biblical law, if you accidentally (or even on purpose, because you were starving) ate an animal that was ceremonially "unclean," you would have to wash your clothes, and you would be ceremonially "unclean" until evening (Leviticus 11:40). That's all. And there was no civil enforcement of this penalty.

If you stole someone's sheep, and were caught, you would have to pay them back two sheep (Exodus 22:4). Compare this with British common law, for example, under which stealing a sheep (classified as "felony theft") got you the death penalty. In Biblical law, there is never a death penalty for property crime. They are always dealt with by restitution to the injured party (not restitution to the civil government).

Then there is a category of crimes which are so threatening to social order and civilization that God ordered humans to deal with them using the ultimate penalty, death. Murder, rape, adultery, kidnapping, bearing false witness in a capital trial, and others. One of these others was cursing one's father or mother. Another was striking one's father or mother.

Dieu accorde une telle importance à l'intégrité de la famille et au respect de l'autorité parentale qu'il a fait de ces violations de la famille l'équivalent d'un meurtre. Si vous pensez que la peine de mort pour avoir frappé ou maudit ses parents est "trop sévère", alors vous montrez que votre système de valeurs n'est pas comme celui de YHWH. Il ne ressemble pas non plus au système de valeurs de Jésus, car il est YHWH et il a cité ce commandement avec approbation.

Et c'est le sermon sur Matthieu 15 que vous n'entendrez probablement jamais prononcer par un pasteur chrétien moderne.