This sermon was delivered on February 16th, 2020 the sixth Sunday after Epiphany, Year A at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, Rock Valley, IA
Grace and Peace to you, from the one who is, who was, and who is to come, Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
I am going to be honest. When I saw this week’s texts and the harshness of Christ’s words, I was very glad we were celebrating with the youth and particularly our sister Emilee’s first communion. I had, if I choose a way out of preaching about Christ’s and Moses’ hard words. I could have written a nice little sermon on the meaning of communion, building on the message the youth shared this morning.
Communion is important. In it we receive God’s grace and the new covenant in Christ’s blood. Christ is with us, in, with, and under the bread and wine, supporting and sustaining us. But it is particularly important for us to remember that in baptism and in communion, we have entered into a new covenant, a relationship of trust and promise with God, through Christ and the Holy Spirit.
Last week, our Gospel reading came from the verses immediately before this week. Last week, we heard Jesus say:
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:17-20)
The scribes and the Pharisees and other righteous people of the time were following the letter of the law. They presumably were not murdering people, committing adultery, and lying to everyone they met. But Jesus came not to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. Today’s text is an intensification of the law. It points Jesus followers to more than the letter of the law, but more importantly the spirit that rests behind the law.
It is easy to say, well Jesus didn’t actually mean that we need to do (or not) do these things, the point of making the law more strict, was to reveal to us that we are not capable on our own to be righteous, sinless people. That instead we are in need of God, through Jesus death and resurrection, to begin to become righteous people, or at least people that God will “reckon” as righteous. And in part that is true. Luther talked about two uses of the law. The law can serve as a restraint to human nature, pointing us to follow the law and work towards the common good of all of creation. The second use of the law, the spiritual / religious use, is that the law reveals to us that we are incapable of meeting the requirements of God to be righteous people. It brings us despair when we recognize that we will always fall short.
I am not sure about all of you, but I regularly become angry. I don’t always react and say something. After just spending a couple of moments on facebook, twitter, or news websites, I am cursing the messages or people involved. I wish that all I thought about some people was “you fool,” my mental language, and often times spoken words are a bit more earthy and colorful.
Heck, Friday I went to the ministerial association, a weekly gathering of pastors from Rock Valley to raise up an organization, or other prayer concerns of the community. It is a time of prayer and fellowship with the clergy of the community. Afterwards, some of us met for a meal and conversation. Friday was one of those days. When I left the meal, I most definitely had some anger and less than pleasant things in my mind about the other pastors. They are good people, but some of their thoughts, values, and beliefs are substantially different from me.
Maybe for you it is the traffic here in our busy little town of Rock Valley. I too occasionally have choice words for other drivers. And I know that this might not apply to some of you, but I have never gotten behind a manure spreader that is dropping its contents on the road or throwing it on my truck and thought, “oh, how wonderful that they are doing their job feeding and fueling our country and the world.” I am definitely thinking something, but it isn’t anything positive or that I ought to repeat from the pulpit. They might be throwing actual manure, but I am throwing mental and spiritual manure right back in their direction.
The law, when it points out our inability to be righteous people on our own, drives us to the foot of the cross and the Gospel message. That we are saved by grace through faith. It isn’t anything that we have or could possibly do that makes us saved or reckoned to be righteous, it is through the mercy and grace of God through the death and resurrection of Christ that we are able to say with Paul in the first letter to the Corinthians:
“Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?”
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Corinthians 15:55-57)
That is the easy reading of this text. We cannot do these things that Christ commands us, so we should just trust in God’s grace more. This reading of the text tells us that belief is all that is required, and actions are unnecessary. But that is cheap grace. It doesn’t cost us anything, it makes no demands on us, and it changes nothing. It isn’t what Luther taught and it isn’t what the Gospel truly means.
God’s grace and mercy changes us. We are transformed through grace and not to conform to the world. Jesus death and resurrection calls us to live out the coming kingdom. Daily we must make the decision, which is only possible because of God’s grace, to be God’s people, to show God’s love and Grace to a world that desperately needs to hear and see it. Daily we are called to say yes to Jesus.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote in 1938 a sermon for a confirmation service. Bonhoeffer left the safety of New York City where he was teaching at Union Theological Seminary, and the safety of London. He returned to his home in Germany, because as a pastor he was called to be with God’s people while they suffered, and he was called to proclaim the truth to one of the most oppressive and destructive governments in the world. In the sermon for the confirmation students, Bonhoeffer wrote:
"You have only one master now...But with this 'yes' to God belongs just as clear a 'no.' Your 'yes' to God requires your 'no' to all injustice, to all evil, to all lies, to all oppression and violation of the weak and poor, to all ungodliness, and to all mockery of what is holy. Your 'yes' to God requires a 'no' to everything that tries to interfere with your serving God alone, even if that is your job, your possessions, your home, or your honor in the world. Belief means decision."
That is what this week’s gospel text and our reading from the Hebrew Bible sets before us. It is a choice. Are you going to believe and be changed, or are you going to give lip service and just do the minimum required? It isn’t an easy decision, but thankfully God is with you, supporting you, and guiding you.
God calls us Christians and God’s Church to be radical and non-conforming to the world. God call us to see the injustice around us and to work to end it. God calls us to see the people that it is easy to ignore, the poor, the homeless, the disabled, the people who are different from us, the people that we are told to hate or fear. We are told to see them for who they are, a part of God’s beautiful creation and children of God. We are called to be the body of Christ in the world. We are called to use the gifts, talents, and the privileges we have been given and have benefited from for the benefit of the marginalized.
God of Justice, we tremble before you, knowing that we deserve nothing less than your righteous judgment and justice, we pray for your mercy and forgiveness. Your people and your Church repent of the ways we have benefited from systems of injustice. We repent that we have not been a voice for the weak, the vulnerable, and the marginalized. We have valued our own safety and prosperity and remained silent when we were called to speak truth to power and comfort to the oppressed. Strengthen our resolve to be your faithful people. Calling evil what is evil and lifting up the good. Help us to use our positions of privilege to the benefit of those suffering injustice, marginalization, and oppression. Be with these, your beloved. In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, we pray, Amen.