Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity

St. Matthew 22:34–46

The Pharisees question Jesus - James Tissot

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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. It might help you to better understand what’s going on, if you knew a little about who these Pharisees and Sadducees are, and what’s the difference between them. Just like in our day, there were factions among the people—groups, movements, political parties. The Pharisees and Sadducees were two of these groups.

The Sadducees were what we might think of as the liberals, but not the radical left. They were not the kind that led protests or riots. The Sadducees were the establishment. They held the levers of power in Jerusalem around the Temple and in the Sanhedrin, the ruling council of the Jews. They were liberal in two ways. They were culturally and politically liberal because they had adopted the decadent culture of the Greeks, and they collaborated with the political power of Rome. Remember, the Jews at this time did not have their own kingdom. They were under Roman occupation, with a Roman governor and Roman military officers in charge. But the Sadducees managed to keep some power for themselves by colluding with their Gentile overlords. The Sadducees were liberal theologically as well. They only accepted the Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament, and disregarded the writings of the prophets. And they did not believe in the resurrection of the dead, which was the debate they started with Jesus just before our reading. But they lost—He silenced them.

So, with their political and religious enemies licking their wounds, the Pharisees took their turn with Jesus. The Pharisees were the conservatives. They were known to be righteous, rigorous keepers of the Law. They were the Bible-believing, hard-working, decent people. And they were not impressed by the wealthy or powerful who were caught up in a corrupt and immoral society. We tend to just think of the Pharisees as the “bad guys,” but there’s a reason Jesus spends so much of His time arguing with the Pharisees: they were the closest to Him! They took God’s Word seriously, but they were still blind. They saw God’s Law, but they couldn’t see that they were incapable of keeping it perfectly. They saw this Teacher from Nazareth, but they refused to see Who He really is.

This is why Jesus asks them His question. Who is the Christ? Jesus is trying to get them to see that the Messiah, the Christ, cannot only be King David’s son, a man. He must also be David’s Lord, the Son of God. Only this Christ, true God and true Man, could make satisfaction for their sins, die for all, rise for all, and give forgiveness and life to all. See, you have to get to the Christ, or the Law will do you no good. The Law, without Christ, only leads to the death of sinners. Sinners need the Law to realize their sin, but then they also need the Christ who saves them from the Law, from sin and death. 

Jesus wants them to see this. He wants the Pharisees to be saved! This conversation actually happened during the last week of Jesus’ earthly life, after Palm Sunday and before His arrest. He’s trying, even in those last days, to save these stubborn, blind fools. Sadly, they will team up with their rivals, the Sadducees, in order to get Jesus condemned. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. And people who disagree on a lot of things, can still find ways to unite in their hatred of Christ.

The Pharisees knew what Jesus is claiming here—that He is David’s Lord. In fact, they will use this conversation against Him at His trial. They will say to Pilate, “We have a law, and according to that law He ought to die because He has made Himself the Son of God” (John 19:7). But no matter what they say on Good Friday, Jesus wants them to have heard the truth from Holy Scripture. They might still reject Him, but He wants them to know Him, because He still loves them.

If we were to look for comparisons in our day, it’s actually very likely that many of us would fit in with the Pharisees. Like them, we care about the Bible, and God’s Law, right and wrong, justice. We might not like the rich political insiders, the liberal fat-cats pulling the strings in New York and DC. We might think the country’s falling to pieces and somebody’s got to lay down the law.

But without Christ, the Law does you no good; certainly not man’s law, but not even God’s Law. It can’t save you. There are decent, moral people who are not Christians, and they do what’s right and benefit society. But they don’t know Christ, so they are not saved from sin, death, or hell. Outside the Christian Church, you will not hear about the Christ, the Savior, David’s Son and David’s Lord. We’re the only ones preaching this message. We’re the only ones with a message that can actually save the world. I don’t mean save it in a political sense, or make it a bit better for right now. I mean save it for eternity. The only way we get to the resurrection and the life of the world to come is to know the Christ who died and rose again.

I’m all in favor of working for a better society. In fact, God is in favor of this as well. It is His will that all things good, true, and beautiful should flourish and be protected among us. We should care about the kind of education are children are getting in history, science, and literature. We should pay attention to our political system (there’s nothing technically wrong with politics). We should elect wise leaders who will make prudent decisions for our nation. And we must teach and learn God’s Law. And we must condemn the sin we see in society and in our own lives. 

But as the Christian Church, the Gospel is our main thing. Like Jesus, we want to get people to see the Christ. We want to get sinners to the justification of God on account of Christ’s innocent suffering and holy blood. We’ve got something for the world that nobody else has. We’ve got a message that brings real peace, a washing that cleanses every sin and stain, guilt and shame, and a food that makes you immortal and will carry you into a world you can’t even imagine. That’s what we’re all about.

If people know anything about us Christians, that’s what we want them to know. People are going to hate the Christian Church, no doubt about it. There’s always going to be unlikely allies who team-up to take her down. But if people want to hate the Christian Church, let’s make sure they know our real message first. If enemies want to team up like the Pharisees and Sadducees, then let’s meet them head on with the Gospel: the story of the King who was hated by this world, was hung on a cross, and did it all out of His own great love. We don’t need them to just know the commandments of the Law, but to also know the Christ, whose Son He is, and what He does for you.

In the Holy + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity

St. Matthew 22:34–46

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The world has never really understood the Church. The world cannot really understand how the Church can talk about loving God and talk about people’s sins in the same breath. For the world, there is a disconnect: either you have your relationship with God, and all your other actions shouldn’t matter to much; or your actions do matter, but they don’t care about your God. More and more now, the world wants the Church to preach according to the world’s doctrine, preach against the sins that the world condemns, but they want the Church to stay silent when it comes to God. At least when it comes to the God of the Bible, who has His own Law. To most of the world, what we call God’s Law is just a list of outdated rules—a bunch of things the Church thinks you shouldn't do. And it doesn’t have anything to do with whether or not you believe or love God.
      The Pharisees who tried to test Jesus had some similar ideas. The Pharisees knew God had given plenty of commandments in His Law. So their plan was to get Jesus to pick a commandment. That way, whichever one He picked, they could come up with arguments about why He was wrong. They could just pick another commandment. To them, the commandments are a big list of disconnected rules. 
      Too bad for the Pharisees, Jesus doesn’t play their game. He doesn’t pick one commandment. It’s not even worth saying that He picked two. He summarized them all. He connected all those seemingly disconnected, arbitrary rules in a very simple way: “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 neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” I’ll admit Jesus numbers two commandments here. But first of all, He is not picking two out of a pile. He is summarizing all the commandments into these two. And even more than that, these two go together so tightly they form a unit. They cannot be divided, because on this unit hangs all the Law and the Prophets. The Word of God is summed up in this way: Love God and love your neighbor.
      The Pharisees saw a disconnect between all the commandments of God as if you can play one off against another. Sometimes, we in the Church have also disconnected the commandments and applied them arbitrarily, picking on certain sins while ignoring others because of what was or is considered acceptable in society. But thinking of God’s Law in this way does give the world the impression that God’s Law is really nothing more than a bunch of random and oppressive rules. 
      Jesus sees things differently. The Law is not simply a bunch of rules—the Law shows us the will of God. And the will of God is this, that we fear, love, and trust in the one true God, that is we believe in the Holy Trinity; and that we live according to His Word and His plan, His order, in how we think, speak, and act. If we don’t believe in God, we sin. And if we commit other sins, we do not fully believe in God as we should, with all our heart, soul, and mind. Love God and love your neighbor. Faith in God and actions in ourselves and actions with others. These two commandments go together. Jesus will not let them be divided. On them hangs the Law and the Prophets. On this unit hangs the will of God.
      So, the Law must be preached. The will of God must be shown from His Word. That means the Church must continue to preach about God and about sins. The Church must still tell people when their lives are contrary to the will of God, whether it’s in their thoughts, words, or actions. The Church must still call people to repent in order that the message of forgiveness can also be heard. The Church must still proclaim God’s Law and Gospel, even to this unbelieving world that doesn’t understand it.
      Yet, how much can we really expect from the world? Time and again we are disappointed by the world’s rejection of God’s Word. While we must not let the Law fall silent outside the Church, because it still must be preached to unbelievers, we must also not let the Law fall silent inside the Church. To whom much is given, much will be required. Think of it this way: Who is worse, the child or the adult who steals from a store? Even though the child may know what he’s doing is wrong, because he is immature and doesn’t fully comprehend the seriousness of his actions, we can at least partially excuse his behavior. But the mature adult, who knows full well that what he has done is forbidden and consciously violates the law, we cannot excuse. And when it comes to God’s Law, we are the mature adults—us within the Church—not the immature children of the world. We are not ignorant of God’s Law and yet we violate it anyway. We are fully aware of what God says about sin.
      Simply look at how well we attempt to cover up our evil deeds, deny them, sweep them under the rug. Over time, with enough practice, we can begin to convince ourselves that if we just stay quiet (and since no thunderbolt has fallen on us) we must be getting away with it. God must be turning a blind eye to our sin. This attempt to keep quiet and hide sin away is not only foolish, since God sees everything, but it is also dangerous, because it can make our hearts turn cold and hard, so that eventually we can’t even repent and then it’s too late for forgiveness. Lord, have mercy!
What more is there to say that that? Not, “God, give me another chance…” Not, “God, I really didn’t mean to…” Not, “God, I promise to make it up to you…” Just confess the sin, pull it out from under the rug, and get it out in the open. Stand naked before God, and say the only thing there is to say: "Lord, have mercy! I have not kept Your Law."
      And your Lord wants to give mercy. He doesn’t delight in the death of a sinner. He delights in being merciful. Jesus even tried to lead the Pharisees to this mercy. Before they had a chance to come up with another question to stump Jesus, He asked them a question. But when our Lord asks a question, He’s never trying to trick or humiliate the person—He’s trying to teach them. “Whose son is the Christ?” The Pharisees answered correctly, “The Christ, the Messiah, the promised Savior, he is the son of King David.” Although that’s only part of the answer. Jesus points out that in Psalm 110, David called the Christ his Lord: “The Lord God said to my Lord, the Christ, ‘Sit at My right hand…’” So if the Messiah or Christ is David’s son, why would he call Him “my Lord”? The Pharisees didn’t believe the answer even though it was staring them in the face. Thanks be to God we have and believe the Scriptures which teach us the answer: Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the promised Savior, David’s son and David’s Lord. He is true man and true God. And this is who He is all to save you from your sins, from you're breaking the Law.
      The Pharisees thought the Christ would be great because he would be the son of David the King. He would lead their armies and set up his kingdom on earth. Jesus teaches us that the Christ is great because He is the Son of God come down to earth and made man to suffer and die for sinners. David’s Lord became David’s son. The God-Man, Jesus the Christ, came to show mercy on sinners. He died and rose and has received the throne given to Him by His Heavenly Father. And now He reigns, still David’s son and David’s Lord, all so that He can give mercy to you.
      Your prayers of Lord, have mercy! for breaking His commandments are heard at that throne. And the King who sits on that throne has nail marks in His hands and feet and a spear mark in His side. He received those marks for you, in your place. He shed His blood for you, in your place. That blood—descended from David, descended from Adam, the same kind of human blood that runs in your veins—that blood was joined to the Son of God. And offered to the Father as a perfect and holy payment for all our sins, all the commandments we have broken. 
      Our Lord is a man so that He could be judged by His own Law, just like we are. He is the only man to ever love God with all His heart, soul, and mind. He is the only man to ever love His neighbor as Himself. He didn’t deserve the Law’s punishment. But He paid our debt in full. So the Law’s judgment no longer applies to us. The thunderbolt has fallen but not on us. It fell on Jesus the Christ—not a mere man, but the Lord Himself, so that we may go free. All that happened on the cross is still true with Him on His throne. He is the King of mercy and love. He hears you and He forgives all your sins. And He gives you gifts so that you may begin now to love God and love your neighbor; so that you may begin now to turn away from sin and strive to do His will; so that you may begin now to receive eternal life from Him.

In the Holy + Name of Jesus. Amen.


Preached at Trinity, Clinton, IA, and Immanuel, Charlotte, IA

Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity

St. Matthew 22:34–46

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Today’s Gospel is a theological debate—a debate about Scripture and doctrine. It’s a debate between the Pharisees and Jesus. It’s a debate between those supposed experts in the Law and the very Gospel Himself: Jesus the Christ. Although, the Pharisees don’t recognize that’s who He is.

One of the Pharisees, a Law expert, asked Jesus a question to test Him: “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law? Pick a commandment Jesus, and then we’ll have some fun debating Your answer.” Jesus quotes Deuteronomy. After all, He is the One who gave them Deuteronomy. Jesus gives the perfect answer. He doesn’t play their game. He doesn’t just pick one commandment. He summarizes the entire Law: “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 neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” There it is. The Law expert asked a Law question and Jesus gave him the perfect Law answer. Debate over.

Most people think this answer is really what Christianity is all about: love God and love people. Well, most people don’t think it’s quite that simple. More like, love God in your heart, on your own, keep your religion private. And don’t just love people or serve them, but accept them as they are, affirm them, celebrate them as they are, and never tell anyone they should change their ways. That’s not what Jesus says, but that is what our world says these days.

Jesus’ original answer is right though. Love God with ALL your heart, soul, and mind—nothing held back, no doubts, no other commitments. Give your all, your everything to God, and trust only in Him for this life and the next. Never avoid hearing His Word, never forget to pray, and never look for a solution or give credit anywhere else other than the Lord. And love your neighbor as yourself—again, nothing held back, no suspicions against other people, no favoritism for the people you like or feel close to. Everything you would keep for yourself, give that also to others. Never disrespect someone, never hurt someone physically or emotionally, never even think an impure thought about someone, never cheat someone, never talk about someone behind their back (even if it’s true), never even want something that someone else has. 

There’s the Law. The perfect demand from God. Love God and love your neighbor. The true Law really is that simple. But that cannot be what Christianity is all about. The Law cannot be the only part or even the main part of Christianity. Because as perfect as this Law answer is, it is impossible to do. The Law does not give life. The Law does not comfort. If you have broken even one of these commandments then the Law will only kill you and damn you to hell. Then the debate will really be over.

But Jesus isn’t finished with the debate. Jesus isn’t finished with these proud Pharisees and He isn’t finished with you. Jesus doesn’t finish with the Law. He has His own question, and it’s very different from the Pharisee’s question—about as different as Law and Gospel. “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is He?”

First, let me explain that term, “Christ.” We call our Lord, Jesus Christ. Jesus is His name, Christ is His title. Christ is a Greek word that means, “Anointed One.” Greek is the language of the New Testament. God’s Old Testament people, the Israelites, didn’t speak Greek, they spoke Hebrew. And so in Hebrew the term for “Anointed One” is Messiah. So, Christ and Messiah mean the same thing. Our Lord is Jesus the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One. And that means He is the promised Savior, the One chosen by God the Father to save the world from sin. Now, of course, the Pharisees know all this, so when Jesus asks them, “Whose son is the Christ or Messiah?” They answer correctly, “He is the son of David,” that is a descendant of King David. But that’s really only half of the right answer. And so Jesus needs to teach these experts. Their debate might be over. But His Bible class is just getting started.

Jesus quotes from one of the Psalms of David: “How is it that David, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, calls the Christ 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 the Christ his Lord, how is he David’s son?” Everybody tracking with Jesus? The Pharisees, and all the Jews, and all Christians, know that the Christ, is the son of David, meaning He is a human descendant of King David. But in Psalm 110, David calls his descendant his “Lord.” And this Lord, this son of David is even going to sit at God’s right hand. David is worshiping his descendant. Kinda weird stuff. And the Pharisees aren’t sure what this means.

You Christians already know what this means though. Jesus the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed and promised Savior—He is David’s son and David’s Lord. How can that be? We learned the answer by heart in the Small Catechism: I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord. Jesus the Christ is one Person with two complete natures. He is fully and truly God—the eternal Son of the Father. And He is fully and truly man—a descendant of David, the son of Mary. David’s God became a man, born from his own bloodline. Our God is a man: Jesus the Christ.

But our God did not come in the flesh just to repeat the Law to us. He did not become man just to answer the Pharisees’ questions and give us impossible demands that leave us suffering in hell. He came to be the Christ. The Father anointed and sent His Son to save us from the accusations of the Law.

The Christ had to be a true man. The Law was given for man to fulfill, so the Christ had to be a man in order to do what the Law commands in our place. The Law also demands punishment for those who break its commands, so the Christ also had to be a man in order to suffer in our place all the punishments of the Law that we deserve. The Christ had to be a true man so that He could die as the innocent sacrifice for sin.

And the Christ had to be true God. If Christ was only a man then He couldn’t take the place for all of us. Only God can pay the price for the sins of the whole world. Only God can take care of hell’s punishments for all eternity. The Christ had to be true God so that He could die for all and rise again for all.

So now, with this right knowledge about the Christ, let’s go back to Jesus’ first answer about the Law. He sums it all up: Love God and love your neighbor. He shows the unity to God’s Law. It’s not a list of random rules. And He shows that the Law has a unity of purpose: the Law accuses everyone. It tells everyone: You have fallen short. You have not loved God perfectly. You have not loved your neighbor perfectly. You have failed. You must be punished. Debate over.

But each of us has a little Pharisee law expert inside our hearts. We think we can keep the Law, that we can debate with God and prove our own righteousness. So, the Collect of the Day is a prayer against the little Pharisee inside each of us. This prayer admits the truth: O God, without You we are not able to please You. Without God’s mercy we have no hope. No matter how expert we think we are in loving God or loving neighbor, we are not good enough to please God. So the Collect continues: mercifully grant that Your Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts. We need God’s intervention. We need His saving help. We need the answer to Jesus’ question about the Christ. We need the Christ Himself—the Messiah, the Anointed One, the promised Savior, who gives His Holy Spirit for our good.

This Christ loves you. And He actually loves you so much that He will not overlook your sins. He died for them, so He can’t just let you go on living with them. He paid the price for your sins with His blood of the New Testament. So, He calls you to repent, leave your sins, and trust in Him.

The Christ is the only one who kept the great commandments perfectly. He loved God His Father with all His heart, soul, and mind. He loved you His neighbors as Himself. He did what you cannot. He saved you to have you as His own. With the Christ your Savior, the Law debate really is over. He washed you and made you holy. And He fills you with His true body born of Mary, yet also the body of your God. The blood of the New Testament is poured for you from a cup into your mouth to forgive your sins. He gives you His Holy Spirit who directs and rules our hearts so that we want to do God’s commandments and we are able to begin doing them. Jesus is and does all of this for you.

Do not despair. Do not give up hope. You suffer some of the consequences of sin in this life, but none of it is the suffering of hell. Your sins are forgiven. The Law cannot condemn you or punish you because you are with Christ. And the suffering you have right now, this difficult life of struggling against sin, struggling to love God and love your neighbor—all that suffering, all of that struggling will be brought to an end. Because the Christ is David’s son and Lord—your human Savior and your Divine brother—and He is coming again soon.

In the Holy + Name of Jesus. Amen.

A few sentences and ideas came from Rev. David Petersen (Trinity 18, 2014; and Issues Etc. Interview, Trinity 18, 2015)