Tuesday, February 18, 2020

Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany


Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany (A)
February 16, 2020
Text: Matt. 5:21-37
            You have heard that it was said… ‘You shall not murder’… ‘You shall not commit adultery” (Matt. 5:21, 27; ESV).  Of course, it wasn’t just human beings that said it.  These are, word for word, two of God’s Ten Commandments, spoken by God, written in stone with the finger of God Himself.  So it’s not just that it’s been said, it’s that it’s been said by God, and it’s serious business.  It is His holy Law, which is good and wise.  If we could live by the Law, we really would be living our best life.  Having transgressed the Law, we are liable to divine wrath and judgment.  The problem Jesus is addressing is not just some man-made tradition tacked onto the Law, but man’s redefining God’s Law to make it manageable.  And so the Pharisees, for example.  They are very good at keeping the Law outwardly.  Don’t murder.  Got it!  Haven’t killed anyone.  Don’t commit adultery.  No problem!  Haven’t slept with anyone but my spouse.  And that really is a good thing.  But it isn’t yet the fulfillment of the Law.  For all their skill in outward keeping of the Commandments, and myriad ordinances and traditions besides, the Pharisees don’t take sin very seriously.  For they fail to recognize that God’s Law is a matter of the heart, and sin is what comes out of the hearts of sinners.  That is where Jesus nails us with the Law.
            Three Commandments in particular come into focus in Jesus’ preaching to us this morning (again, a portion of the Sermon on the Mount).  These are the 5th, the 6th, and the 8th Commandments.  This is worthy of some catechetical review. 
            The Fifth Commandment: “You shall not murder.  What does this mean?  We should fear and love God so that we do not hurt or harm our neighbor in his body, but help and support him in every physical need.”[1]  You have heard that it was said, “You shall not murder,” but you have to understand that this includes more than the criminal taking of your neighbor’s life.  It includes any physical, or mental, or emotional harm perpetrated against your neighbor.  It is anything you do that embitters your neighbor’s life.  And it is despising your neighbor in your heart, unrighteous anger, insults (whether spoken or harbored in the secret of your mind), regarding him as a fool, hating him.  We do this all the time.  We're very good at thinking ill of our neighbor.  And we’re very good at ignoring his needs, turning a deaf ear to his cries for help, giving the cold shoulder when he needs mercy.  We should love him with the very love of God, as one for whom Christ died, redeemed and holy.  We should do everything we can for his welfare and benefit, for his bodily comfort and to fulfill his needs.  When we don’t, we sin.  Repent. 
            A big part of this, too, is forgiving those who sin against us, and seeking forgiveness from those we sin against.  Beloved, always seek reconciliation and peace with a neighbor who has something against you.  Jesus uses the very practical illustration of a lawsuit or a criminal trial to make His point.  But what He is getting at is, if you have not made the effort now, in this life, as soon as possible, to reconcile with your brother or sister who has sinned against you, you are the guilty one.  Not forgiving is murder in your heart.  And you don’t want to face the Day of Judgment, the Tribunal of the true Judge of all, with that on your conscience.  This is a matter of first priority.  Before you give an offering, before you come to the altar to receive Jesus’ Offering to you, His true body and blood for your forgiveness, go and be reconciled.  That is why we pray in the Lord’s Prayer before the Communion, “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”  We are not only asking forgiveness from God, we are declaring forgiveness here and now for the sins of all those who have sinned against us.  Forgiving and being forgiven, we can now go joyfully to the Supper to receive that forgiveness tangibly under bread and wine. 
            Then the Sixth Commandment: “You shall not commit adultery.  What does this mean?  We should fear and love God so that we lead a sexually pure and decent life in what we say and do, and husband and wife love and honor each other.”  This doesn’t just mean not straying when you’re married.  It means saving yourself for marriage so that you can give your body to your spouse alone.  It means upholding marriage as holy, God’s own institution, not to be entered into lightly.  One man, one woman, united in love and fidelity, for life.  You should not get a divorce.  Unless your spouse has committed adultery (v. 32) or maliciously deserted you (1 Cor. 7:15), you are not to divorce him or her.  And even then, by the way, you are not obligated to divorce.  It is always good when the marriage can be saved; good for the spouses, good for the family, good for the Church and the greater society. 
            But adultery is even more than that.  It is even the looking at another with lustful intent.  It is the illicit web search.  It is the turning of the head when a particularly attractive person walks by.  God is interested in your heart.  Regard your neighbor’s body as holy.  Do not treat him or look at her as an object to be used for your own fleshly pleasure.  Treat your spouse’s body as holy.  Reserve your body for him or her alone.  Treat your own body as holy, as a temple of the Holy Spirit, redeemed by Christ the Crucified, sanctified for God’s own use, a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God (Rom. 12:1).
            Finally, the Eighth Commandment with reference to oath taking.  That is, do not make careless promises or swear in unimportant matters.  When you do make a promise, keep your word.  The Christian’s yes should be yes, your no, no.  You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.  What does this mean?  We should fear and love God so that we do not tell lies about our neighbor, betray him, slander him, or hurt his reputation, but defend him, speak well of him, and explain everything in the kindest way” (or as many of you learned it, “put the best construction on everything”).  This has to do with all manner of dishonesty.  God never lies.  Christians should never lie.  God covers the sin and shame of sinners with Christ and His righteousness.  Christians should do the same for one another.  God always keeps His promises, and never an empty word falls from His mouth.  Thus should His children keep a guard over the door of their lips.  There are times when you should swear, and you should swear to God (not, as Jesus points out, by things less than God, like heaven or earth, Jerusalem or your own head, as if that makes the swearing less serious… no crossing your heart and hoping to die, no stack of Bibles, needles in the eye, or your mother’s grave).  You should swear to God when the matter is of great importance and your neighbor needs you to swear.  Such as in court, or when you make a contract, or take an oath of office.  Such as that made at your Baptism and Confirmation, and to your spouse before God and His people at your wedding.  And you should keep that word.  It is so important.  Your neighbor really needs it.  We shouldn’t swear in unimportant matters so that when we do swear, our neighbor knows we mean it.  And we follow it up with action.
            Now, examine your life in light of these Commandments.  How are you doing?  It is a fearsome thing.  The Law always accuses, doesn’t it?  You know that by personal experience.  Perhaps you are harboring a grudge right now that needs some resolution.  Maybe you think your spouse is a fool.  Undoubtedly your eyes have wandered.  Maybe even intentionally.  Perhaps you are divorced, and it isn’t for a biblical reason.  None of us gets past this morning’s text unscathed.  The Law kills us all.  It falls on us like a hammer and breaks us to pieces (Jer. 23:29).  Christ have mercy on us.  Repent.  And by the way, that business about gouging out your eye and cutting off your hand?  Don’t miss the point of that.  Please do not mutilate your body.  You know, if you gouge out your eyes and cut off your hands, you’ll just be an eyeless, handless sinner… but a sinner you’ll still be.  No, the point is, mortify your flesh.  Drown Old Adam.  Crucify him.  Die to yourself.  Return to your Baptism.  There will be a lot of talk about this in Lent, and the entire life of the Christian is a life of repentance. 
            And this business of repenting is not an exercise in self-flagellation.  It is a turning from sin, from yourself, to Christ.  Examining yourself, you find yourself full of sin, dying and dead and damned.  But now examine Christ.  He has taken an oath from all eternity and He will not change His mind.  He will save you.  You belong to Him.  Engraved on the palms of His pierced hands.  His suffering.  His cross.  His blood.  His death.  All for you, for the forgiveness of all your sins.  All those promises you did not keep.  All those times you did not live up to your word.  Forgiven.  In Him. 
            He has taken the Church of God, you, to Himself as His Bride, and He is ever faithful.  Never do His eyes stray.  He only has eyes for you.  He loves you.  He gave Himself for you, to present you to Himself holy, spotless, without wrinkle or stain.  You belong to Him, body and soul, and He gives Himself to you, by His Spirit and in His very body in the Supper. 
            Not only did He not murder, He was murdered, by you… for you.  He did not even defend Himself, though He could have called on His Father and at once twelve legions of angels would have come to obliterate us all and save Jesus from death.  But not Him.  He was determined, to go to the cross.  For you.  He does not hate you.  He loves you.  He bore the insults for you.  He was counted among the fools for you.  Despised.  Forsaken.  All for you.  And now He is risen, and lives, for you.  He rules all things for you and He gives you your daily bread.  He provides for all your needs of body and soul.  He gives Himself to you, His resurrection life, so that you can really live.  
            Where, then, does this leave us this morning?  God’s Law has been fulfilled on our behalf.  By Jesus.  And we get all the credit.  Our failure to keep the Law has been atoned for in the death of Jesus.  And we are forgiven.  More than that.  Baptized into Christ, God’s own Child, I gladly say it.  We have eternal life.  You have heard that it was said to those of old, do the Law and you shall live.  Today in the Gospel, you hear that Christ has done it all, and His life is yours.  Live it, with great rejoicing.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son (+), and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.           
             


[1] Catechism quotes from Luther’s Small Catechism (St. Louis: Concordia, 1986). 

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