Pentecost 15
Jesu Juva
“Not Enactment, but Enfleshment!”
Text: Mark 7:1-8, 13-14,
21-23
Grace, mercy, and peace to
you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
Dear fellow . . . hypocrites.
You probably thought I was going to say “Dear fellow
redeemed,” or “dear fellow saints,” or something along those lines. Not today.
Today we need to come to the realization that when Jesus criticizes hypocritical
behaviour (as we heard in the Holy Gospel), we don’t have to look far to see
who He’s talking about! It’s not just
about Pharisees – it’s about you and me.
For think about it: the Pharisees criticized Jesus’
disciples for eating with ceremonially unclean hands. But
what about me, when I criticize all those people who don’t come to church,
but forget about all those times when I’m here physically but my mind is absent;
a thousand miles away, thinking about all kinds of things. Even when I come to church, do I come to
church?
The Pharisees acted holy but failed to see the sin
within. But what about me, when I confess my sins at the beginning of the
service, but also thank God that I’m not as big a sinner as that guy! Or when I ask forgiveness for all my many
sins, but refuse to forgive the one my neighbor did to me.
The Pharisees wanted people to think a certain way
about them, and maintain a certain status.
But what about me, when I
live and act one way here around my fellow Christians, but another way at
home. Humble here, but proud at
home. Sinner here, but
holier than thou at work. Or when
I’m glad my Christian friends know I’m a Christian, and when my unchristian
friends think I’m just like them. When
it’s not only true about
It’s me . . . it’s you, isn’t it? The dictionary definition of a hypocrite is
one who plays a part; or who wears a mask.
And we all do that. But I think
there’s more to it than that. That there’s another way to think of what a hypocrite is, and to
reveal the hypocrite in each of us.
And it’s this: it’s when we
think how much better a world this would be, if only everybody were just like me!
Well I got
news for you:
everybody is just like you, and that’s why the world is the way it is!
“For from within, out of the heart of man, – [Jesus said; out
of your heart; and my heart!] – come
evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting,
wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.” And if you don’t believe all those things are
in your heart, then add one more to the list: calling God a liar.
Dear fellow hypocrites, it’s time to stop playing a
part; it’s time to come clean. It’s time
to repent.
Because that’s what the phrase “to come clean”
means! It doesn’t mean what the
Pharisees thought, and what so many today think – that I have to clean myself
up before I can come to God, before He’ll accept me. No! Isn’t
it interesting: the phrase “to come clean” means to confess; to come here unclean and admit that I am unclean. And for a Christian, to do so, so that Christ may make me clean. And He does!
For it is the very thing He has promised to do. To clean us from the inside out, that who we are on the outside, and who we are on
the inside, may not be different, but be one and the same.
For so it was with Christ. With us,
words and deeds are often two different things.
We say one thing, we do another.
We make promises we cannot keep. We
often play the part and wear the mask people expect of us. The mask of what we think a Christian is supposed to be like, not wanting others
to know what we’re really like, and
the struggles of faith that we have. But
you know what, all that doesn’t help, does it?
It just increases fear. The fear
of being found out. The
fear of being rejected.
But it is not
so with Christ. For words and deeds are not two things with Him, but as the Word
of God made flesh (John 1), He is the Word of God brought to life, that we may not only hear
the Word of God, but see it. You know,
we often use that phrase of movies and plays, that they are a particular book
“brought to life.” But with those, there
are actors playing a part and wearing
masks. It is an enactment, not an enfleshment.
But it is not
so with Christ. He is the very Word of God enfleshed
and brought to life, and so when you see Him, you see the truth of God. When you see Him, you see God. When you hear Him, you hear God. He is no mask, no part, no
play – as some early Christian heresies insisted. He is the real thing. All the Word of God brought to life in Him,
and lived perfectly by Him, even when living that Word meant laying down His
life for us on the cross. He does not
make promises He cannot or will not keep.
He does not say what He does not mean.
If Jesus said it, you can be sure of it.
For His Word is no empty Word, but the Word of God that does what it
says – from the beginning to the end; from creation to redemption. He speaks, and it is so.
And today He speaks to you and me to stop acting, to stop playing the hypocrite, that the Word of God may not just be enacted by us, but enfleshed in us.
And you see, that’s the
difference between all false religion and true religion. We prayed that in the Collect for the Day
today: that God would “increase in us
true religion.” It’s kind of an odd
phrase, until you realize what it means.
It means that there is religion in this world that is false. Religion in this world that tells us to enact the Word of God; to act it on the
outside as if that were good enough, or maybe in the hope that we would be
helped and improved from the outside in.
That by doing good, we would eventually become good.
But notice how different the Gospel, the true
religion of Christ, which says do not just enact, but be enfleshed. You cannot change from the outside in. Acting good will never make you good. You must be changed from the inside out. And, the Gospel tells us, this is the very
thing God would do for us! It is why He
sent His Son into our world as the enfleshment of His Word. It is why He sends Him to us still today – to
enflesh that same Word in us. That we no
longer act or simply play a part, but be who we are.
And so when our once crucified but now living
Saviour comes to us today, in water, in Word, and in bread and wine, it is so
that the Word of God be enfleshed in us. It is not instruction, but
transformation. It is not telling us to
change, but changing us. It is not
simply our determination to “start over” and live a new life, but actually dying and rising with our
Saviour to live a new life! All of which
is to say it is not something that we can do at all! But what our Saviour does for us. Coming to us and living in us. Forgiving our sins, turning
our minds, cleansing our hearts, giving us His wisdom, “increasing in us true religion.”
For the true religion is this: not to act a part, but to repent and believe the good news! Believe that your God has done it all for you
and saved you! That by coming in the
flesh and taking all your sin upon Himself, that your
sin has been atoned for. That if it is
on Him then it is not on you. And that
when you see your Saviour on the cross, humiliated, bleeding, and dying, then
you are truly seeing the heart and love of God for you. There is no greater revelation. God loves you so much that He would rather He
die than you die. And so He did, thus
banishing your sin and death that you might live. That the Word of God be
enfleshed in you by grace through faith.
That you not act the part of a
Christian, but be
a Christian. And so you are.
So today, come clean again. Come unclean and be cleaned by your
Saviour. Come repent and wash in His
forgiveness; come eat and drink His body and blood; come to the Word of God
enfleshed, that that same Word be enfleshed in you.
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.