Pentecost 23
Jesu Juva
“Putting
the ‘Christ’ in Christians!”
Text: Matthew
22:34-46 (Leviticus 19:1-2, 15-18)
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father,
and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
“Rules are made to be broken.” You’ve heard
that. Maybe even said
it. But we know it’s not
true. We usually say something like that
right before we intentionally break a
rule, or right after we have broken a rule, or
while we are trying to get someone else to break a rule with us. We say it so that we can get away with
breaking a rule that we don’t agree with, or think is unreasonable; hoping to
shrug it off; hoping that others will too.
Because misery loves company. If I am the only rule-breaker in the room, I
stand out like a sore thumb, and I’m pretty uncomfortable. But if everyone’s in it with me, then I don’t
feel so bad, and if I don’t feel so
bad then I’m not so bad, and if I’m not so bad, I must be doing pretty
good! And so, yeah, I’ve broken a few,
some, many rules . . . but, you know,
after all, rules are made to be broken!
(wink, wink!)
But
against that rather cavalier attitude towards sin comes the thundering voice of
God that we heard this morning from the Old Testament: “You shall be holy.” When it comes to God, there are no
exceptions, no loopholes, no “wink, wink!” And just because it comes from the Old
Testament doesn’t mean it doesn’t apply to us anymore! It most certainly does. His rules, His commandments, were not given
to be broken. They are to be kept, and
if you don’t, it will cost you your life.
You shall be holy. Not:
try to be holy. Not: be holier
than the next guy. Not: feel
holy. You will be . . . or else.
The
question for us, then, is this: What does it mean to be holy? How can I be holy? And, what must I do to be holy?
Now
our first inclination, when thinking about holiness, is to do what the
Pharisees did: turn to the Law. Because
our thinking goes like this: holiness means keeping the Law. Keeping the Law means being
good. Therefore if I am good,
then I will be holy. Right? Right!
Okay. So they turn to Jesus: “Teacher,
which is the great commandment in the Law?” (If you’re going to be good and holy, might
as well start out with the great
commandment!) And in response, Jesus
gives him two answers – sort of
answers (1.) and (1a.), if you will. “You
shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and
with all your mind.” And, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love God, love your neighbor. “On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” These two statements are a summary of the Ten
Commandments. If you do this, you will
be holy. Which actually doesn’t sound so
bad, does it?
Except there’s one really giant problem. One thing
about these two statements that show us that the Commandments were not
given to make us holy, and that they, in fact, cannot make us holy. And it is simply this: you can’t command love. You
can command actions, you can command deeds, you can command behaviours – but
you can’t command love. Because as soon
as you command someone to love you, or to love someone
else, the very opposite happens: they hate you.
They hate you for asking them to do something they don’t want to do, and
in fact, can’t do! And so I’m
supposed to love the God who is not just asking
me, but telling me, to love someone
who is (quite frankly) unlovable. To love someone who has hurt me. To love my enemy. To love my neighbor who plays his music too
loud. To love my children when they
fight and yell and scream and sass and deliberately disobey. To love the guy who drove up the shoulder in
the traffic jam and cut me off. To love
the lady who dented my car and didn’t leave a note. To love the doctor who performs
abortions! To love my spouse who cheated
on me. To love the kid at school who
makes fun of me. To love the person who
tattled on me and got me in trouble. To
love the person who stole my idea and got the credit for it. To love my boss who continues to make the
stupidest decisions on earth! To love these people! We might
be able to restrain ourselves and not hurt these people back. We might
be able to hold our tongues and not say anything bad about them. We might
even be convinced to do something nice for these people – even if we have
to grind our teeth the whole time! But love ‘em! You can’t be serious! It takes every bit of power in us to just tolerate ‘em!
But
God is serious. These Pharisees got more
than they bargained for. They came to
test Jesus with their question. But
while Jesus passes the test, it is the Pharisees who fail it. They cannot do this. Same as we. Be holy.
Love God. Love your
neighbor. And as much as we may try to
water these down, or make excuses, or make ourselves feel better, there is only
one thing these three things are: Be holy, love God, love your neighbor are strike
one, strike two, and strike three.
But
it is exactly to strike us out that God gave the Law, the Ten Commandments, and
this summary of it. Contrary to what
many people think, God did not give the Law to teach us how to be holy, or to
make us holy, but to show us that we’re not holy, not even close; and that no
matter how hard we might try, it is simply beyond our grasp. We’ve fallen and we’re broken, and all the king’s horses and all the king’s men
cannot put us back together again.
But,
Jesus wants you to know, what all the
king’s horses and all the king’s men can’t do, the King’s Son
can! There is a way to holiness, to wholeness, again, and that is why Jesus
follows up the Pharisees’ test question with one of His own. That if we want to be holy, we would stop
looking at ourselves and what we can
do, and start looking outside ourselves, to someone else. And so He points the Pharisees away from
themselves – and what seems at first to be a totally unrelated question, turns
out to be the very answer they were looking for! And so Jesus asks them: “What do you think about the
Christ? Whose son is He?” They answer: A King’s son. “The son of David.”
And they’re right! Jesus does not
dispute them. But that is only part of
the answer. For the Christ is not only
David’s son, David also calls Him his Lord. How can
that be? Jesus asks them. How can He
be both David’s son and David’s Lord at the same time? There is only one answer: that David’s Lord,
the Almighty God, became David’s son in the flesh. That the King of the universe came down into
time and was born in David’s household, to one of David’s descendants. That the God of love so
loved His enemies – the unloveables – that He came down to save them. To love with a love that we
do not possess. To love them to death.
To come and not command this love and holiness, but live it, and show
it, and give it.
Well,
the Pharisees “are not able to answer Him a word,” for they do not yet see
that this man standing before them, Jesus of Nazareth, is this Christ. And as we stand before Him this day, and every
day, we also cannot answer Him a word! As
we stand before Him as sinners, we have no justification, no excuse, for our
behaviour and sin – for our lack of love.
We cannot glibly shrug it off or hope to get away with it. Our
words only condemn us.
But
while our words condemn us, His
Word saves us! His
Word which points us not to ourselves and what we are able to accomplish, but
to Him and what He has accomplished for us. His Word which points us to
the cross. The cross which shows
our lack of love for what it really is. The cross which shows us the love of God, who would endure this for
us. The cross where we see the
verdict of God upon our sin – guilty, most guilty, and deserving of death! – but where we also then hear the verdict of God upon you and
me – “Father,
forgive them.” . . . And with that, the King’s Son has made us
whole again. He has lifted up those
fallen into sin, and put us back together again. Back together with God. And His resurrection was the proof of that – proof
that all our enemies – sin, death, and devil – were defeated by Him. All put under His resurrected feet. Sin paid for and forgiven. Death defeated and stripped of its
power. Satan’s head crushed.
And
so where before was only brokenness and death, there is now holiness and life. In Him. By Him. From Him. A holiness and life that we cannot do,
but can only receive. For what do we
do in Holy Baptism but receive the Word and Spirit that
come to us and give us new life. What do
we do in Holy Absolution but receive the Word of forgiveness that
comes to us and declares us holy and whole.
What do we do in Holy Communion but receive the body and blood of the
Word made flesh that comes to us and puts us back together again. Back together again as children of God. Back together again as the Church, the Body
of Christ. . . . And in receiving the life of God, we receive
His love. The very
love that He commands. And so we can now begin to love – to love God and to love our
neighbor, to keep the Commandments – not to be holy, but because in Christ Jesus, we are holy. Because we have been given His holiness. Because now we are simply giving back to Him what
He has first given to us.
And
that is why the fights that we hear about so often today are so misguided. The fights about posting the Ten Commandments
in school rooms, in courtrooms, and in other public displays, thinking that by
doing so, we will become a Christian nation. It just is not so. Because it is not the Ten
Commandments that make us Christian.
It is not the Golden Rule that makes us Christian. It is not being nice that makes us
Christian. These things cannot. There is only One
who can make Christians – the Christ Himself.
The Christ of the cross. The Christ of the empty
tomb. The Christ ascended into Heaven, and who will soon return again. The Christ who is both
David’s Son and David’s Lord. Because
it is not about what we do, but about
what He has done. Then and now, always the same.
Therefore
we can be sure. Therefore we can
rejoice! Therefore we can sing (as we
just did!), “Lord, Thee I Love with All
My Heart” and know that those words are true. Not because of me, but because of Him. And therefore we can also pray with
confidence the last verse of that hymn, and know that it is true for us as well:
Lord, let at
last Thine angels come,
To Abram’s
bosom bear me home,
That I may
die unfearing;
And in its
narrow chamber keep
My body safe
in peaceful sleep
Until
Thy reappearing.
And then from
death awaken me
That these
mine eyes with joy may see,
O Son of God,
Thy glorious face,
My
Savior and my Fount of grace.
Lord Jesus
Christ, my prayer attend, my prayer attend,
And I will
praise Thee without end. (TLH
429, v.3)
In the Name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of
the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Now the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts
and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.