Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany

Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany (A)

February 12, 2023

Text: Matt. 5:21-37

            Now that in Christ Jesus, your righteousness does exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees (Matt. 5:20), because your righteousness does not come from your own efforts or state of being, but is Jesus Christ Himself…  Now that you are justified by faith alone, freely, for Christ’s sake, apart from works, or any merit or worthiness in you, on account of His death on the cross for your sins, and His justifying and life-giving resurrection from the dead…  Now that you are baptized into Christ, and the Holy Spirit rests upon you, calling you and gathering you into His Church, enlightening you with His gifts in Word and Sacrament, sanctifying you, and keeping you with Jesus Christ in the one true faith…  Now that all of that is the case, you (you all, whom He has gathered here) are given to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world (vv. 13-14).  This has concrete consequences for the way you live your Christian life here and now.  It is true, the Law always accuses, but it doesn’t only accuse.  We must receive the Law both ways, as it comes to us.  For the Law is also the revelation of the life God wills for us in His Kingdom.  And that life is beautiful.  It is the way things should be, and were created to be.  It is the way you should be, and were created to be, and are being created anew to be.  Christ has won for you the forgiveness of sins, righteousness, salvation, life, and all that comes with it.  Now, having received all of this by faith, you are given to live in faithfulness to your faithful Lord. 

            This means that you regard your neighbor’s life as precious and holy.  “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder’” (v. 21; ESV).  But you know that this is not merely a command not to shed the blood and extinguish the life of another human being.  It is not even merely a command not to perpetrate physical violence against your neighbor.  Jesus makes clear that the Commandments are not merely a matter of outward observance.  They also apply to your words and to the thoughts of your heart.  We confess that we sin against God in “thought, word, and deed.”  When you are angry with your brother, such that you despise him in your heart, bear ill will toward him, think less of him than you do yourself… when you do not love him as yourself… you are guilty of murder.  You have broken the Fifth Commandment.  You have sinned in thoughts.  When those thoughts bubble over into words, such as when you insult your brother, or call him a “fool,” or… well, you can think of the names you call him and the things you say of him… you are guilty of murder and liable to judgment and the hell of fire.  You have sinned in your words.  From the same mouth that blesses our Lord and Father comes cursing.  “My brothers, these things ought not to be so” (James 3:9-10). 

            So… Repent.  Confess.  Be absolved.  Your Lord Jesus died for your murderous sins of thought, word, and deed.  You are free!  Now, go fear and love God so that you do not hurt or harm your neighbor in his body, or embitter his life by your words and actions, or think evil of him and despise him in your heart, but help and support him in every physical need, speak well of him and encourage him (and here we are touching on the Eighth Commandment), and love him as you love yourself.  Love him with the love of Christ, the love that forgives him and bears with him, the love that regards him, and the life God has given him, as precious and sacred, created in God’s image, and redeemed by Christ the Crucified. 

            Now, when you come before the altar of God, for Sacrament or sacrifice, to receive the Lord’s body and blood, or to pray, and you there remember that your brother has something against you, it is a matter of first importance, as one redeemed by Christ the Crucified, as one whom God has forgiven all your sins, that you go and be reconciled to your brother.  Jesus does not say, “when you remember that you have something against your brother.”  That, you deal with in the Lord’s Prayer, which you always pray before you come to the altar, wherein you not only pray that God would forgive you your trespasses, but announce that you hereby and in this moment forgive anyone who has trespassed against you.  You know that having been forgiven your unimaginable and hell-meriting debt to God, you cannot possibly hold your neighbor’s sins against him.  There is no room for grudges at the Lord’s altar.  So that is taken care of in the Fifth Petition as you pray it.  But when you have sinned against your brother, it is imperative that you run to him, confess your sin, and be forgiven and reconciled, so that you can come to the altar together with a good conscience.

            Have you failed to do that?  Have you held on to grudges in your heart, and neglected to take responsibility for the sins you’ve committed against brothers and sisters in Christ?  Repent.  Confess.  Be absolved.  You are free!  Now, extend the peace your Lord Jesus speaks upon you and into you, to your neighbor, forgiving as you have been forgiven by God, and asking forgiveness from, and seeking reconciliation with, the neighbor against whom you have sinned.  This is God’s will for you under the Fifth Commandment.

            So also, you should regard your neighbor’s body and sexuality as precious and holy.  “You have heard that it was said, “You shall not commit adultery’” (Matt. 5:27), and that is absolutely true, but you know that this is not merely a matter of not cheating on your spouse by sexual intercourse with another, fornication (which is sex before marriage), cohabitation (that’s living together outside of marriage), promiscuity, or sexual perversion.  To be sure, you must not engage in these wicked deeds that treat your neighbor’s body as an object for your own fleshly pleasure.  Isn’t it ironic (and tragic!) that we call these illicit activities “love” when they are anything but?  Sex is holy, a precious gift from God, to be enjoyed within the sacred context of Holy Matrimony.  It unites husband and wife as one flesh.  And its natural result is children.  Not always, but when God gives them.  This is the way in which we are given to participate in God’s creative act.  Let’s not call it reproduction, as so many do (this isn’t an assembly line, and children are not a commodity), but procreation.  In this way, within Holy Marriage, between one man and one woman who are committed to one another, exclusively, for life, a commitment sealed by sacred vows, with witnesses… in this way, sex is kept holy.  Your body, your spouse’s (or future spouse’s) body, is kept holy.  Your neighbor’s body, your neighbor’s spouse’s (or future spouse’s) body, is kept holy.  The sanctity of the human body is upheld.  Where you have sinned sexually, repent, confess, be absolved.  You are free!  Now, go fear and love God so that you live a sexually pure and decent life in what you say and do, and husband and wife love and honor one another. 

            But again, it is not merely a matter of outward keeping of this Commandment.  You should not even look at a person of the opposite sex with lustful intent.  That is adultery in your heart, a sin of thought.  The stray glance.  The feasting of the eyes on one who is not your spouse.  Movies and television programs that sexually objectify bodies.  And here we must say a word about pornography.  There is no redeeming quality in pornography.  So do not believe that satanic lie.  It is simply and entirely evil.  It is a special tactic of the devil in which he bends our minds to think of human bodies as beastly flesh, sacks of meat, or again, objects to be exploited for our own fleshly pleasure.  It is a direct demonic attack on the incarnation of our Lord, who took an earthly body, conceived and born of the Virgin Mary, God in human flesh.  And it is a direct demonic attack on the sanctity of our own bodies, made in the image of God, redeemed by Christ’s bodily crucifixion and resurrection.  When you allow yourself to be captivated by pornography, you are dabbling in the things of demons.  But there is freedom, beloved.  Come to your pastor.  I won’t be surprised, and I won’t think less of you.  Come and confess.  Be absolved.  I will walk with you in the struggle.  And you will know that the demons have no claim over you, for you have been purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ.  You belong to Him.

            See, though, how the lust of the heart leads to the fascination of the eye, and finally to the deed of the hand?  Now, it is true, it would be better to tear out your eye or cut off your hand than to be cast into hell.  But you know that blind men also lust, and maimed men also sin.  Were you to mutilate your body (which, let’s be clear, you should not do), you know you’d still be a sinner.  This is why Christ has redeemed you, body and soul, your eyes, your hands, your mind, and your heart.  He took on human eyes and hands and a mind and heart to redeem these very things.  But do think about this a moment.  If what Jesus says is true of eyes and hands and cutting them off, it is certainly true of televisions, internet, and smart phones.  Or many other things.  There is no sin in using these tools as gifts from God, but when they lead you into sin, it is better to cast them away than to go to hell with them in your cold, dead grasp.  Here is wisdom.  Think on it. 

            Finally, Jesus warns us not to take hasty oaths.  And no, you can’t make the oath less serious by swearing by lesser things than God, like heaven, earth, the Holy City, or your own head.  Now, there are times you should take an oath, like in marriage, or in court, for political office, or as you do at Baptism and Confirmation.  But you should not swear in inconsequential matters, and you certainly should not swear in matters of deception.  Instead, let the Christian’s yes be yes, and your no, no (James 5:12).  Keep your word toward your neighbor.  We Christians know that words are sacred.  We live by every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God, the Gospel Promise of our life and salvation in Christ, the Word who became flesh for us, who is Truth Incarnate.  So our words should be sacred and truthful, as are His Words.  Where you have taken a hasty oath, broken a promise, betrayed a confidence, spoken deception or evil, or perpetrated any other sin of the tongue… repent!  Confess.  Be absolved.  You are free!  Now, go fear and love God so that you put away falsehood, and each speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another (Eph. 4:25). 

            Now, if only there were time, we would read the rest of Matthew 5 and our Lord’s sermon about turning the other cheek, giving to the one who begs, and loving our enemies, but alas, we can’t do everything at once.  I simply commend it to your own reading and meditation this week.  But here is the life your Lord wants for you, a life lived in holiness and peace, and in sacred love and unity with one another.  A life of joy, redeemed and blessed. 

            For this reason, that we may have this life, God sent His Son.  Jesus did not come to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it, and bring us to the fulness of it.  He does so in His human body, bearing our anger and insults and violent assaults, our lusts and impurities and sexual unfaithfulness, our hasty oaths and false testimonies and every sin of the tongue… our every sin… he bears them in His holy body, giving Himself to be murdered by us on the cross.  To make atonement for all our sins.  And rising again on the Third Day in His holy body, He gives us new life and His own righteousness in place of our sins.  He washes us clean and marks us by His cross to be His own.  And He breathes His Spirit into us, and puts His body and blood into us.  He is our faithful Bridegroom, who will never divorce or forsake His Bride.  That is why, beloved, you can be salt, and you can be light, and you can live already now in the new life of God’s Kingdom.  That life is beautiful.  It is the way things were created to be.  And that life is God’s gift to you here and now in Christ Jesus.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.