Trinity 18
Beloved. Today’s Gospel account takes place during Tuesday of Holy Week, that final week before Jesus’ death and resurrection. This Tuesday was the last day of His public preaching. Scripture records nothing of Wednesday. And Jesus’ teaching on Thursday was only to the disciples. So what we have today in our text is one of the final words Jesus spoke publicly; it is one of the last things the public heard Jesus preach. Before and after our text, Jesus warns people to repent; He warns them against their religious leaders; He teaches a lot about the judgment, the Last Day. He also is asked various questions, all in an attempt by the religious leaders to discredit Jesus in the eyes of the people. And that’s where our text comes in. One religious group tried to trip up Jesus by making the teaching of the resurrection look ridiculous. But, using the OT Scripture, Jesus showed the truth of the resurrection. And so the result of these religious leaders trying to mock the doctrine of the resurrection and trying to disgrace Jesus? And when the multitudes heard this, they were astonished at His teaching. So far from being discredited, Jesus and His teaching received more honor.
So next batter up trying to discredit Jesus! Our text: When they heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees met together. One of them who was an expert in the law asked him a question, trying to trap him. “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment of the Law?” And what is Jesus’ response? Was it some grand commandment that would wow the crowd? It was the simple commandment of love—love of God and love of neighbor. Jesus said to him, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. The second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commandments.” But Jesus doesn’t stop there. On this final day of public preaching He not only brings the people back to the basic of God’s holy law—loving Him and neighbor, but He also brings forward and puts front and center the central Person of the OT—the coming Messiah, the Christ: While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question: “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The Son of David.” He said to them, “Then how can David in the Spirit call him Lord, saying, The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet’? “So if David calls him Lord, how is he his son?” So notice what Jesus does on this final day of His public preaching: although He talks about a lot of different topics, He does not fail to go back to the basics and emphasize them. He keeps the main thing the main thing.
We do well to remember that in the upcoming days and months. As a congregation, there will be a lot of questions arising—and not all of them good and salutary; there will be a lot of things vying for our attention and distracting us. But keep the main thing the main thing. What we are as a church is place where God’s holy Law is preached and where Jesus, the Savior of sinners, is preached and His saving work freely given out in word and Sacrament.
“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment of the Law?” The Jews counted in the OT 613 laws. They counted 365 prohibitions—the things that are forbidden; the “thou shalt nots”—equal to the number of the days in a year. And they counted 248 positive commandments—the things that are commanded that we do; the “thou shalts”—equal to the parts of the body, as they counted them. So which of these 613 is the greatest commandment of the Law? Really, when it all comes down to it, all the commandments of God are equally great because God gave them. That means that no matter how insignificant that law may seem, it is still great because God gave it. So what does Jesus do? He gives the summary of the whole Law: love—love of God and the neighbor. All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commandments. This is what we call the moral law; it is the law that God has written on every human heart; in sum, it is the Ten Commandments. This moral law is binding on all people of all times. This is the Law of God we need to hear proclaimed to us week in and week out. This is the Law of God that we hold up and proclaim to the world, all in an attempt to slow down its growing lawlessness and to bring people to a recognition that they are sinners who need a Savior.
What is this holy demand of love? Jesus said to him, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. The second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” Love of God is to be our motive for our every action. The Law of God demands our feeling, spirit, and heart. The love for God is not some quick, superficial love that easily falls to the wayside when something else that seems to be more appealing to us comes our way. The love for God is not just a Sunday morning thing that is put on the back-burner the rest of the time. Instead, our love of God is a love that loves Him with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This love of God is a love with every power of body and soul; a love with our senses; it is a love that is shown outwardly and inwardly with our thoughts, words and works.
So in other words, dear Christian, dear member of Faith, keep the main thing the main thing by loving God, by loving Him with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. Yes, it is easier said than done. We all have our old sinful self with us until our final breath. But we also have in us the Holy Spirit leading and empowering us to love the Lord and live that life that shows our love of God by thinking, doing, and saying what is in accord with His will. This command to love God with our whole self and being is not to be a difficult drudgery. After all, what does Jesus say? Love the Lord your God … Notice it’s your God. We, dear Christian are already in relationship with Him. He became our God and dear loving heavenly Father and Savior when He came to us in the water of holy baptism, washed away our sin, gave us the gift of faith, brought us into His holy family and made us heirs of heaven. He has given us every grace and blessing; He loves us with a deep love. He gave Himself fully and completely to us in love. He continues to come to us in His word and sacrament giving us Himself, His Holy Spirit, every heavenly gift and blessing. We simply respond to His love He has first shown us in great abundance, fully and freely: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment”. That’s keeping the main thing the main thing.
This love of God then flows into love of our neighbor: The second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’. The commandment of loving the neighbor is equally important. That love, too, is to be a strong fervent love. It is to be a love as yourself. We see our neighbor, the person the Lord places in our path, as a second self. We see our neighbor as yourself, as someone like me who is created by God and loved by Him. How can we not love and do good to someone God loves as much as us? Wouldn’t not loving our neighbor be, then, like not loving God?
How vital this is in a Christian congregation that we Love your neighbor as yourself! And especially now as Satan will try to work despair and strife to try to destroy God’s faithful group here at Faith! Don’t let him! Keep the main thing the main thing as you Love your neighbor as yourself.
Closely tied in with this is that other main thing about the Law of God, namely, that we use it rightly to examine our heart and life, conscience and works to see where we have sinned—where we have not loved God perfectly with our whole being, or our neighbor as our self—and where we see that to sorrow over our sin and to turn to Jesus for forgiveness; and in faith to receive that forgiveness. And then having experienced that love and mercy and forgiveness, and in love of God and by the power of the Holy Spirit we strive to root that sin out of our life and to live a life of fervent love toward God and our neighbor. Here we are also humbled and so learn to endure, put up with others and forgive them. And so peace reigns in our lives and in the church.
But Jesus doesn’t stop with the Law. In great love, even of these who had tried to catch Jesus in His words and discredit Him, who even now were planning to put Him to death, Jesus asks them a question in order to teach them about Himself, to lead them to the conclusion that He is God incarnate, that He is the God-man. While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question: “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” The main thing is not just the law of love; the main thing is also teaching about Jesus, who He is and what He has done. That’s why it’s vital that as a church we keep proclaiming Jesus front and center. The holy Christian faith is all about Jesus. True saving faith means knowing rightly who Jesus is—true God and true man and the Savior of the world/ my Savior from sin and death. “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The Son of David.” He said to them, “Then how can David in the Spirit call him Lord, saying, The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet’? “So if David calls him Lord, how is he his son?” The religious leaders supposed the Christ/ the Messiah who would be a mere man: Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The Son of David.” So, in great love even of His enemies, Jesus shows them that they are wrong by going to the psalm of David and asking: Then how can David in the Spirit call him Lord, saying, The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet’? In writing the Psalm, David was writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, David in the Spirit. He could not and would not call anyone Lord except God. It is a divine title for God alone. The Lord said to my Lord. And what did the Lord, the true God, say to David’s Lord, the true God? ‘Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet’ The Christ, the Messiah—Jesus—would rule with the Father in the same majesty, power and glory. The Messiah/ Christ would not sit on the earthly throne of David but at the right hand of God. And Jesus’ question? “So if David calls him Lord, how is he his son?” So what is the point that Jesus is making? It’s simply this: According to His human nature, yes, the Messiah/ Christ/ Jesus is true man and David’s son/ a descendant from him. But according to His divine nature, the Messiah/ Christ/ Jesus is true God and so David’s Lord.
So keeping the main thing, the main thing means that Jesus—true man and true God is our only Savior from sin, death, devil and hell. It means that front and center of all that we believe and teach is that we are saved by God’s grace through faith in Jesus, that He has done everything to save us from our sin and reconcile us sinners to the holy God, that He rose from the dead and ascended into heaven opening it to us.
‘Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet’ means that now Jesus has conquered and triumphed over all our enemies and He is living and reigning over all. That means that He is ruling even over Faith Lutheran. We are in His gracious hands. Yes, there will be difficult times ahead but remember Whose you are. Remember He is your dear, gracious God and Savior. He will work mightily for you. Keep your church in your prayers. Pray for your congregational leaders. Pray for the wisdom and guidance of the Holy Spirit as you move forward. These are scary but exciting times but remember Jesus is sitting at the right hand of the Father. Do not be afraid. Through it all keep the main thing the main thing: Love the Lord and your neighbor—especially your fellow parishioner—and trust in Jesus. INJ
Trinity 18
20 October 2019
St. Matthew 22.34-46
Keep The Main Thing The Main Thing
Beloved. Today’s Gospel account takes place during Tuesday of Holy Week, that final week before Jesus’ death and resurrection. This Tuesday was the last day of His public preaching. Scripture records nothing of Wednesday. And Jesus’ teaching on Thursday was only to the disciples. So what we have today in our text is one of the final words Jesus spoke publicly; it is one of the last things the public heard Jesus preach. Before and after our text, Jesus warns people to repent; He warns them against their religious leaders; He teaches a lot about the judgment, the Last Day. He also is asked various questions, all in an attempt by the religious leaders to discredit Jesus in the eyes of the people. And that’s where our text comes in. One religious group tried to trip up Jesus by making the teaching of the resurrection look ridiculous. But, using the OT Scripture, Jesus showed the truth of the resurrection. And so the result of these religious leaders trying to mock the doctrine of the resurrection and trying to disgrace Jesus? And when the multitudes heard this, they were astonished at His teaching. So far from being discredited, Jesus and His teaching received more honor.
So next batter up trying to discredit Jesus! Our text: When they heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees met together. One of them who was an expert in the law asked him a question, trying to trap him. “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment of the Law?” And what is Jesus’ response? Was it some grand commandment that would wow the crowd? It was the simple commandment of love—love of God and love of neighbor. Jesus said to him, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. The second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commandments.” But Jesus doesn’t stop there. On this final day of public preaching He not only brings the people back to the basic of God’s holy law—loving Him and neighbor, but He also brings forward and puts front and center the central Person of the OT—the coming Messiah, the Christ: While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question: “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The Son of David.” He said to them, “Then how can David in the Spirit call him Lord, saying, The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet’? “So if David calls him Lord, how is he his son?” So notice what Jesus does on this final day of His public preaching: although He talks about a lot of different topics, He does not fail to go back to the basics and emphasize them. He keeps the main thing the main thing.
We do well to remember that in the upcoming days and months. As a congregation, there will be a lot of questions arising—and not all of them good and salutary; there will be a lot of things vying for our attention and distracting us. But keep the main thing the main thing. What we are as a church is place where God’s holy Law is preached and where Jesus, the Savior of sinners, is preached and His saving work freely given out in word and Sacrament.
“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment of the Law?” The Jews counted in the OT 613 laws. They counted 365 prohibitions—the things that are forbidden; the “thou shalt nots”—equal to the number of the days in a year. And they counted 248 positive commandments—the things that are commanded that we do; the “thou shalts”—equal to the parts of the body, as they counted them. So which of these 613 is the greatest commandment of the Law? Really, when it all comes down to it, all the commandments of God are equally great because God gave them. That means that no matter how insignificant that law may seem, it is still great because God gave it. So what does Jesus do? He gives the summary of the whole Law: love—love of God and the neighbor. All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commandments. This is what we call the moral law; it is the law that God has written on every human heart; in sum, it is the Ten Commandments. This moral law is binding on all people of all times. This is the Law of God we need to hear proclaimed to us week in and week out. This is the Law of God that we hold up and proclaim to the world, all in an attempt to slow down its growing lawlessness and to bring people to a recognition that they are sinners who need a Savior.
What is this holy demand of love? Jesus said to him, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. The second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” Love of God is to be our motive for our every action. The Law of God demands our feeling, spirit, and heart. The love for God is not some quick, superficial love that easily falls to the wayside when something else that seems to be more appealing to us comes our way. The love for God is not just a Sunday morning thing that is put on the back-burner the rest of the time. Instead, our love of God is a love that loves Him with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This love of God is a love with every power of body and soul; a love with our senses; it is a love that is shown outwardly and inwardly with our thoughts, words and works.
So in other words, dear Christian, dear member of Faith, keep the main thing the main thing by loving God, by loving Him with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. Yes, it is easier said than done. We all have our old sinful self with us until our final breath. But we also have in us the Holy Spirit leading and empowering us to love the Lord and live that life that shows our love of God by thinking, doing, and saying what is in accord with His will. This command to love God with our whole self and being is not to be a difficult drudgery. After all, what does Jesus say? Love the Lord your God … Notice it’s your God. We, dear Christian are already in relationship with Him. He became our God and dear loving heavenly Father and Savior when He came to us in the water of holy baptism, washed away our sin, gave us the gift of faith, brought us into His holy family and made us heirs of heaven. He has given us every grace and blessing; He loves us with a deep love. He gave Himself fully and completely to us in love. He continues to come to us in His word and sacrament giving us Himself, His Holy Spirit, every heavenly gift and blessing. We simply respond to His love He has first shown us in great abundance, fully and freely: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment”. That’s keeping the main thing the main thing.
This love of God then flows into love of our neighbor: The second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’. The commandment of loving the neighbor is equally important. That love, too, is to be a strong fervent love. It is to be a love as yourself. We see our neighbor, the person the Lord places in our path, as a second self. We see our neighbor as yourself, as someone like me who is created by God and loved by Him. How can we not love and do good to someone God loves as much as us? Wouldn’t not loving our neighbor be, then, like not loving God?
How vital this is in a Christian congregation that we Love your neighbor as yourself! And especially now as Satan will try to work despair and strife to try to destroy God’s faithful group here at Faith! Don’t let him! Keep the main thing the main thing as you Love your neighbor as yourself.
Closely tied in with this is that other main thing about the Law of God, namely, that we use it rightly to examine our heart and life, conscience and works to see where we have sinned—where we have not loved God perfectly with our whole being, or our neighbor as our self—and where we see that to sorrow over our sin and to turn to Jesus for forgiveness; and in faith to receive that forgiveness. And then having experienced that love and mercy and forgiveness, and in love of God and by the power of the Holy Spirit we strive to root that sin out of our life and to live a life of fervent love toward God and our neighbor. Here we are also humbled and so learn to endure, put up with others and forgive them. And so peace reigns in our lives and in the church.
But Jesus doesn’t stop with the Law. In great love, even of these who had tried to catch Jesus in His words and discredit Him, who even now were planning to put Him to death, Jesus asks them a question in order to teach them about Himself, to lead them to the conclusion that He is God incarnate, that He is the God-man. While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question: “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” The main thing is not just the law of love; the main thing is also teaching about Jesus, who He is and what He has done. That’s why it’s vital that as a church we keep proclaiming Jesus front and center. The holy Christian faith is all about Jesus. True saving faith means knowing rightly who Jesus is—true God and true man and the Savior of the world/ my Savior from sin and death. “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The Son of David.” He said to them, “Then how can David in the Spirit call him Lord, saying, The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet’? “So if David calls him Lord, how is he his son?” The religious leaders supposed the Christ/ the Messiah who would be a mere man: Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The Son of David.” So, in great love even of His enemies, Jesus shows them that they are wrong by going to the psalm of David and asking: Then how can David in the Spirit call him Lord, saying, The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet’? In writing the Psalm, David was writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, David in the Spirit. He could not and would not call anyone Lord except God. It is a divine title for God alone. The Lord said to my Lord. And what did the Lord, the true God, say to David’s Lord, the true God? ‘Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet’ The Christ, the Messiah—Jesus—would rule with the Father in the same majesty, power and glory. The Messiah/ Christ would not sit on the earthly throne of David but at the right hand of God. And Jesus’ question? “So if David calls him Lord, how is he his son?” So what is the point that Jesus is making? It’s simply this: According to His human nature, yes, the Messiah/ Christ/ Jesus is true man and David’s son/ a descendant from him. But according to His divine nature, the Messiah/ Christ/ Jesus is true God and so David’s Lord.
So keeping the main thing, the main thing means that Jesus—true man and true God is our only Savior from sin, death, devil and hell. It means that front and center of all that we believe and teach is that we are saved by God’s grace through faith in Jesus, that He has done everything to save us from our sin and reconcile us sinners to the holy God, that He rose from the dead and ascended into heaven opening it to us.
‘Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet’ means that now Jesus has conquered and triumphed over all our enemies and He is living and reigning over all. That means that He is ruling even over Faith Lutheran. We are in His gracious hands. Yes, there will be difficult times ahead but remember Whose you are. Remember He is your dear, gracious God and Savior. He will work mightily for you. Keep your church in your prayers. Pray for your congregational leaders. Pray for the wisdom and guidance of the Holy Spirit as you move forward. These are scary but exciting times but remember Jesus is sitting at the right hand of the Father. Do not be afraid. Through it all keep the main thing the main thing: Love the Lord and your neighbor—especially your fellow parishioner—and trust in Jesus. INJ