This sermon was preached at St Peter’s Evangelical-Lutheran Church, Public Schools Club, Adelaide, 9am
Grace, mercy and peace be to
you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbour as yourself.
Prayer: May the words of my
mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord,
our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Our Gospel reading for today comes from a section of Matthew’s Gospel which is between two major events in Jesus’ life. In chapter 21, the chapter before our reading, we read about Jesus riding into Jerusalem on a donkey on Palm Sunday. In chapter 26 and 27 a few chapters later, we read where Jesus suffers and dies. So what does that tell us about our reading today? It means that the discussions that Jesus was having with these people in our reading today happened in the few days between Palm Sunday and Good Friday, during what we call Holy Week. This discussion happened at a time when Jesus knew he going to die at the end of the week. If you knew that you would die at the end of the week, what do you think you would be doing? Jesus dedicates himself to one thing: he teaches.
And this is a wonderful example for us today, because the church of God on earth is always a teaching church. It always has something to teach, and right until the very end, this is its task.
In this chapter, we read about where Jesus tells a parable about the wedding feast, and the guest who came in without a garment. Also, he teaches them about paying taxes to Caesar. Then, we also read about where the Sadducees came to him and tried to put to him a curly question about how the resurrection would work for a lady who marries and outlives seven different husbands.
Now, we come to our reading today where we read about the Pharisees. We read: When the Pharisees heard that [Jesus] had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”
Our reading here talks about the law of God, and the commandments. Now, before we go on, I think it will be a very useful thing to take a few minutes to talk about what we call in the Lutheran church, the “Law” and the “Gospel”. In the Lutheran Church, we make a very sharp distinction between these two teachings or doctrines in the Scripture, the Law and the Gospel. Actually, it is not simply a tradition of ours in the Lutheran Church, or a kind of custom, or an old favourite thing that we just happen to like to talk about. We teach this because the Scripture itself teaches these two doctrines.
So, first of all, we have the Law of God. The Law is that part of God’s word which teaches us what we should do and what we should not do, and also what God promises to do if we keep these things or threatens to do if we don’t do these things.
But then, secondly, we have the Gospel. The Gospel is that part of God’s word which teaches us what Christ has done for sinners who have broken God’s law, in shedding his blood for them, rising from the dead, and promising the forgiveness of sins and eternal life to them.
The Law never makes a person a sinner. It only finds the sinner, and shines a laser beam on them. The Gospel never finds a saint. It only makes a saint.
The Law of God shows us that we are sinners, that we have sinned, that we have fallen, and what we need. But the Gospel points us away from ourselves and shows us our Saviour.
Now, there are many things we could say about Law and Gospel. Actually, there are many good books written about this topic. Even when it comes to a pastor, and whether he teaches rightly or wrongly, whether he is an orthodox preacher, it is not enough that he simply speak the truth, but that he also separate the Law and Gospel. Actually, the proper distinction of the Law and the Gospel is the highest art that a pastor, and in fact, any Christian, learns. It is something that we continue to learn our whole life long.
When we come to the Law and the Gospel, sometimes people completely misunderstand these things. In my years as a pastor, I think the most common misunderstanding of Law and Gospel is that the Law of God is the nasty parts of the bible, and Gospel is nice parts of the bible. You would be surprised how many people think like this! Now, it is true, that the Law accuses us, shows us God’s anger, his wrath, his judgment, which causes us fear and trembling to our hearts and consciences. And it is true, that the Gospel gives us tremendous comfort, which soothes us and is a healing medicine for our souls.
However, let’s say, we’re talking about where Jesus says: Love one another. We might say, “that’s nice!” Love is a good thing! I’m happy to hear about this. But the command of God to love one another is not the Gospel, even though it’s “nice”, but it’s law.
On the other hand, let’s say we’re talking about Jesus’ blood and the nails that went through his hands and feet, and the way in which he sacrificed himself, completely and totally so that you would enter heaven to be with him. All of this history of Christ’s crucifixion is unpleasant and gory, but it is the Gospel. It is the event where Christ offered himself for the sin of the world, for you.
Now, when we talk about the Law, there are three ways in which God’s law applies to us, which we call “the three uses of the law”. The first is the fact that God simply orders the world through his law. God’s law prevents people from doing wrong and doing good in our every day lives. Second, the law of God shows us our sin, and the fact that we haven’t kept it. And this is a very important function of the law, because unless we confess that we are sinners, and know that we have not kept the law, then we have no need of Jesus. But then third, the law of God also gives us direction and guidance and instructions for us as Christians, we who have already been converted, who have been baptised, and have received the forgiveness of sins, and now shows us how we should live our lives.
In the church today, many Christians don’t like to hear the law. They think it’s all thunder and lightening, they it’s all doom and gloom, they think it’s all “thou shalt” or “thou shalt not”, and they shy away from it. In fact, when Moses received the law on Mt Sinai, the people talked exactly like this. They were afraid of the law.
Many Christians only want to hear the Gospel. And sure, the Gospel is a wonderful thing. We all need to hear the Gospel as the living word of God that opens the kingdom of heaven for us. But the Gospel is not there to make us lazy, or to give us an excuse not to do anything, or to give us a license to do whatever we like. That’s not how it works. However, what the Gospel actually does do, is takes away the condemnation of the law, in such a way that we can now live a Christian life without the accusation of it. So in Romans 8:1, it says: There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. And so, as we live a Christian life, we are continually learning, and putting our lives up against the 10 Commandments constantly, so see where we have failed and to show us how we can do better. We are always learning, and we should always want to improve our lives, and do better than we have previously done, but not in such a way that we have to earn God’s grace. No—God’s grace and his favour and his forgiveness is already given to us.
So we read in our reading, where the lawyer from the Pharisees says: Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law? And Jesus said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments depends all the Law and the Prophets.
It’s strange: the lawyer wants a straight answer, he wants one commandment, which is the greatest. But Jesus gives him two commandments. And in doing so, he actually summarises the entire law. The great and first commandment is directed upwards toward God, and the second commandment which is like it is directed sideways to our neighbours and the people. First, Jesus teaches us about love towards God, and then love towards our neighbours.
In fact, this was how the Garden of Even would have been before the fall. Adam and Eve would have had a wonderful, pure, devoted, and full love towards God alone, and also a wonderful love towards each other. We, on the other hand, don’t live in that time, but we live in a sinful world, that has been infected by sin.
And so let’s listen to Jesus’ words: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. The problem for us is that our hearts, our souls and our minds are often occupied with other things. The evil one, Satan, has a very close ally in our sinful hearts, and we are often tempted to go along with him rather than walk with God. Our whole world is corrupted, and we are tempted by its things, and by its pleasures, and by its deceits, and its traps. Instead of trying in every thing to love and please God, we often simply try to please other people, most of whom care nothing for God. And the world is so full of hate, hatred toward this person, that person, this person is rubbish, this person is cancelled, this person is filth—hatred, hatred, hatred is all around us. And then the world takes its hatred and then calls it love, and then calls the true speaking the truth in love hate-speech. We Christians are always having to relearn things that we learnt wrongly, and we need to learn what God teaches about love.
And then, many of us, as Christians, think that because we have the forgiveness of sins, that we don’t need to devote our hearts and souls and minds to God, to make any effort, or ever to take a stand, or to say no to what is wrong and yes to what is right. The Pharisees of Jesus’ day who were asking these questions—who did not have Jesus as their Saviour, and did not have the forgiveness of sins—were probably much more devoted in heart and soul and mind to God than many of us are today. Many Jews even today are constantly concerned with holiness and pleasing God in every aspect of their daily life. Many Muslims all throughout the world devote themselves to prayer five times a day.
What about us Christians? Don’t we know that when we lie down at night and get up in the morning, that our bed, our pillow, the blanket, the roof, the lampshade, the side table, the sheets, the mattress, everything is a gift of God? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if every Christian would thank God for each of these things? Do we thank God for the water when we go in the shower? Do we praise him when we eat a small biscuit by ourselves in the kitchen, or have a cup of coffee? Don’t we know that Jesus has provided for us the wonderful sunshine and the rain and the clouds? Don’t we know that he has provided for us our wonderful country and the people who live in it? And what about our loved ones, our husband or wife, our children, our friends? What about just the fact that you can hear, the fact that you can see, the fact that you can talk, and walk, and smell and taste?
All these things are such wonderful gifts of God! What a wonderful thing it would be that we would dedicate ourselves to God in every minute, every hour, every part of the day! And yet, we could find ourselves quite burdened by these things, and worn out! We could easily then say a prayer, or whatever, out of a sense of duty, and be completely overwhelmed by a life of prayer and devotion to God, and it still would not be love! Jesus doesn’t just say: offer yourself to God, sacrifice yourself to God, commend yourself to God. He says: You shall love the Lord your God. This love can only come forth from our faith, when we know just what a wonderful Saviour we have, and what he has done for us in his tremendous sacrifice for us on the cross.
And then Jesus says: You shall love your neighbour as yourself. The love of God and towards the neighbour goes against ourselves. The world wants you simply to love yourself, to do what makes you comfortable, to do what makes you happy, but it doesn’t turn you outward. The world doesn’t turn you away from yourself and upwards and outwards. Jesus has sacrificed his life for us. And now, St Paul says that through baptism, you have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer you who live, but Christ who lives in you. So put to death the old person that you carry around with you, the old selfish person, that only looks out for number one. Give that dead body to Christ, and he will resurrect it with his own life, and give you a completely new life. The life we are called to live as Christians is a wonderful life, because it is with Christ. It is a selfless life, which is directed towards others, in service to God. Of course, it is a life that our sinful flesh hates, because it goes against the flesh. But is a wonderful life, because it is lived with the resurrected Jesus, the resurrected Christ, the resurrected Son of God. As St John says in his letters: We love because he first loved us.
Now, I don’t say all these things to burden you. Of course, the law burdens us, it always accuses us, because there is always too much that we are called to do, there is always much more expected of us in God’s law than we can possibly do. But we put to death our old selves, we lay our dead selves, our crucified selves, at the feet of Jesus. Jesus knows what to do with us, he knows how to make our dead bones live, he is far more loving that we can ever know or comprehend, and he is able and willing and powerful to train us and empower us and fill us with his love, and to lead the selfless life with him. This is our endless task that only just begins on this earth, and is fulfilled in eternity in a perfect way, when Jesus raises us to be with him so that we radiate his perfection and his glory. In the meantime, we say to him, “Jesus, I who am so unholy, teach me to be holy. Jesus, I who am so weak in faith, uphold and sustain my faith. Jesus, I who am so unloving, teach me your love, the love towards God and the love towards my neighbour.”
Now, in the second part of our reading, we read something very interesting and mysterious. Jesus doesn’t simply let the Pharisees off, just then and there. Jesus gave a good answer about the law, and they simply could have gone off thinking that Jesus answered rightly and truthfully, and now that’s it. But he says: While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.” He said to them, “How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying, “The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet”’? If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?” And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.
When we think about the commandments from before, to love God and our neighbour, Jesus says about the second commandment that it is like the first. Why is loving our neighbour like loving God? In some sense, we could think that they are entirely different things. However, Jesus is both. He is a human being, a neighbour, a friend, a person that people met down the street. But he is also our true God. To love God and to love our neighbour comes together in the person of Jesus.
St Paul calls love the greatest virtue. He says: Now these three remain, faith, hope and love, and the greatest of these is love. Love is a wonderful thing, but it comes from faith. The power and the quality and the actions and the workings of our love don’t save us. Love is something that we are always learning, and as we learn it more, it can accomplish great and wonderful things. But it is faith in Jesus Christ that saves us. He has offered himself on the cross for us, and he has risen from the dead for us. He has borne the load of our failed love, our cold love, our weak love, and died for it.
And so, Jesus puts a question to the Pharisees, making them think about something: how is that the Messiah, the Christ, is both the Son of David and also David’s Lord? Jesus was born in Bethlehem, in the city of the David, from the family of David, as the Son of David. He is a true human being that was born of that lineage. But also, he is David’s Lord, because he created David, and Abraham, and even Adam and Eve, and even gave the law and planted the Garden of Eden.
Jesus is both our true God and our true man. And this one fact is of such tremendous comfort for us. It means that when he offered himself on the cross, that everything was real, it was real human blood, real human hands and feet that were nailed, a real human head that had a crown of thorns placed on it. But also, because Jesus is true God, it means that this sacrifice is completely and totally sufficient and perfect and nothing less than perfect. You can cling to him in faith and in love, knowing that he has done such a wonderful thing for you, and knowing that your heavenly future with him is beyond what you can possibly imagine.
So we have in our reading
both the Law: the love towards God and towards our neighbour, and also the
perfect person of Jesus Christ the Son of God. Without him there is no
salvation, and there really isn’t any love. Without him, and without his
sacrifice, and without his forgiveness, and without him completely wiping away
and cancelling our guilt and condemnation, all we have is striving, grasping,
and a kind of empty hope that maybe God will receive us. Jesus promises us so
much more. He has bound himself to his own words, and promised that whoever
believes in him will never be put to shame. So let’s put our trust in him,
let’s commend our lives to him, our hearts, our minds and our souls, and learn
from him each day in our every day lives that perfect love, that bears all
things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things, and that
never ends. Amen.
And the peace of God which
passes all understanding, keep your hearts and your minds safe in Christ Jesus
our Lord. Amen.
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