Vicar Christopher Gillespie
Immanuel Lutheran Church of Frankentrost
Saginaw, Michigan
Sixth Sunday after Trinity (June 29th, 2008)
Text: Matthew 5:20-26

MP3 Audio

The text for our consideration today is Gospel of Matthew, chapter five just read.

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:17-20 (ESV)

O Lord, Almighty, Everlasting, God, Gracious Father, Grant us the spirit of meekness, that we may patiently bear the enmity, injustice, and injuries which our enemies inflict, even as we know You bore them on earth, and do bear them even unto this day. Grant that we commit no injustice in deed, seek no revenge in words, desire no vengeance in our hearts, and so absolutely depart from all hatred that we may serve our enemies with all our powers, praying for them, and desiring every good thing for them. Thus let us live, that we may remain children of You, who causes the rain to fall upon the just and the unjust alike; and to be the servant of Thy dear Son, Who, even on the cross, did intercede for his enemies. Grant also, dear Father, that they with us, and us with them may be reunited in constant love; to walk together in the way that leads to the heavenly home. There, let us finally rejoice, jointly and severally, in Thy love, unto all eternity. Amen. (W. Loehe, adapted, Seed Grains of Prayer, p. 561)

The teaching of Christ for today is taken from of his Sermon on the Mount as it is recorded in the Gospel of Matthew. The focus is primarily upon anger. But it comes in the the context of a larger teaching about the kind of righteousness God expects, which exceeds that of the scribes and pharisees and the literal reading of the commandments brought down from Mt. Sinai by Moses.

Jesus here addresses the Pharisees who are legalists. A legalist is someone who demands perfect obedience to the law. In the church, this might be someone who says - you must worship on Sunday, you must dress a particular way, you must keep your children silent, you must not drink alcohol or smoke, you must do these things or you will be cast out from this congregation. The legalist says: “God demands perfect obedience to all Law, divine and human.”

Not long after Christ we meet the opposite of the legalist, the antinomian, that is, the one against the law, especially in Paul’s eipstles. He says we are free to do and say as we please. There is no law, there is only freedom. No one can tell the antinomian what to do, how to act, or how to treat his body. The antinomian says: “God has freed me to live in the way I see fit.”

I have a professor who likes to quip “Scratch a legalist and you’ll find underneath an antinomian.” The funny thing is that a legalist is always an antinomian too. How is this? The legalist demands obedience to the laws as he desires and not the ones he doesn’t like.

Jesus preaches to these Pharisees the kind of sermon no one wants to hear. The think they keep Moses’ Law to the letter. But they neglect the spirit of the Law. Their legalism demands that one murder, commit adultery, divorce, take oaths, pray at particular times and occasions, and more. These are all Laws that are easily kept. But they are truly antinomians, against the law, for they spare a man’s life in their anger yet still seek to hurt the man in words and other deeds.

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.” Matthew 5:21-22 (ESV)

Jesus takes his command and magnifies it. He is the preeminent preacher of the Law. Both the legalist and the antinomian cannot escape the judgment of God. For the legalist and the antinomian both, there is not one who can avoid anger in his sinful heart.

“For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:20 (ESV) Our Lord does not demand merely obedience to the code of Moses. He demands perfect obedience in both our hearts and our actions.

Yet some believe that we can yet keep Christ’s command here for exceedingly great righteousness. In our time they are those who demand “holiness.” Watch out for those who claim that the Christian can attain heaven through his obedience to the Law. Our attempts to be more righteous than the Pharisees lead us only to self-righteousness.

Instead, we know the whole story. We don’t end with the Sermon on the Mount. We end with the crucifixion, the resurrection, the sending of the Apostles armed with the Holy Spirit, the one Christian church, the resurrection of the dead, and the life everlasting. Christ’s Spirit brings to us true righteousness, bringing forth righteousness that exceeds the Pharisees. He is the redeemer and the sanctifier. His grace grants us His perfect obedience, even to death on the cross.

On the last day, Christ will reject those who claim they have kept the Law and so deserve his eternal dwelling. But he teaches us today by the evangelist Matthew that those who call themselves Christian yet act as though the Spirit of Christ is not within them will also be cast out in the desecrated valley of judgment.

It is unbecoming for people of faith to hold hatred, resentment, and anger toward another. Christ equates even the feeling without the action as equivalent to murder. Under the Law as Christ teaches it, no Pharisee or legalist can escape condemnation. Not one can call himself holy, blameless, and without sin.

How can Christ demand such obedience of us, Christians, who yet remain sinners? The work of the Holy Spirit to purify our hearts and lives is begun but not yet completed. The Holy Spirit dwells within us, preserving us in faith. This preservation does two things. One - it enables us to lead holy lives according to the Word of God. Two - it calls us to repentance where we fail.

The legalist and the antinomian have one thing in common - Neither repent. They refuse to acknowledge their sinfulness. And so neither will inherit the kingdom of heaven. Why? Because refusal to repent is refusing the gift of forgiveness. To reject absolution is to call our Lord a liar. Rejection of forgiveness is rejection of Christ’s atoning work for all mankind.

Anger, hatred, and name-calling…such emotions are contrary to the Spirit. Such emotions reject the newness of life granted in our Holy Baptism. We who are baptized are dead to sin and alive in Christ. The faithful Christian repents.

“For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.” Ephesians 5:8-11 (ESV)

Instead of holding within our darkness - that is, our anger, our grudge, and our name-calling we expose the darkness and call it what it is - sin. We confess that we are unworthy and unclean and that these thoughts and deeds deserve nothing but eternal punishment. Our Lord takes this sin away from us and bring us back to the path of light. This is living in our baptism, daily confessing and receiving the promised forgiveness.

There is a flip-side to our confession. In order to repent and ask forgiveness to our brother or sister, we reveal to them their same need of repentance. Those who dwell in Christian love seek to make things right, to be reconciled. Christ as preacher of the Law today teaches us that anger, hatred, and holding a grudge has no place in a Christian congregation. He rightly commands us to fear the coming wrath if we refuse to obey. Be reconciled! Confess your anger and hatred! Forgive each other! Do this not just for your own good but the good of your brother or sister, that they too may dine at the heavenly banquet on the last day.

The ancient church took this instruction to heart. They recognized Christ’s specific word about leaving the gift and reconciling before approaching the altar as referring to examination before communion. No where quite like the Lord’s Supper are the people of God joined together in the blessed union of Christ and the church.

To keep His command, they practiced the kiss of peace. You may have noticed our Divine Service is actually two services - the Service of the Word and the Service of the Sacrament. This conduct for worship is the practice of the Christian church to the earliest records. Our Lord himself first taught the Emmaeus disciples and then made himself known in the breaking of the bread. The Acts of the Apostles records that the fellowship of believers “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” (Acts 2:42 ESV)

So too we have our service of the Word, followed by the Service of the Sacrament. But we have lost the tradition of greeting each other in the name of the Lord and most importantly reconciling before communing together at the altar rail. I suppose I’m not surprised since reconciliation is such a hard thing to do. The ancient Christians recognized this truth and used on of the more intimate ways of people greeting, the kiss. Two people who are are angry, unwilling to speak, or holding a secret grudge would be unable to embrace each other in this way.

Now, I’m not advocating we reinstitute this practice with a kiss. But you may have been to another church where there is a similar greeting, perhaps before the service or even after the offering. This remnant of the original kiss of peace rarely carries the same connotation of reconciliation but usually devolves into a bit of social time. I have witnessed two Christian people who refuse to speak or shake hands during this greeting and yet commune at the same altar. This is a great offense to the body of Christ, to receive Him without contrition and repentance. In reality, those who approach his altar without repenting of their resentment towards another, eat and drink to their judgment. For Christ grants to us His holy supper that we might not just receive him bodily but spiritually, giving us forgiveness and nourishing our soul to live in His baptismal grace.

“Christ loved the Church and game Himself up for her, that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that He might present the Church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.” Ephesians 5:25-27 (ESV)

Those present who are wicked are not part of the holy Christian church. The Holy Spirit is not at work in their heart. Faith in the pure doctrine of the Gospel and the Holy Sacraments is absent. The communion of saints have the same fellowship of the same Gospel and the same Holy Spirit, who renews, sanctifies , and governs their hearts. (Ap. Art. VI and VIII, 8)

The church is not just people who get along. It is not not just outward order of goodness. The church is not a people of the Law, like Israel, but it is God’s true people, born of the Holy Spirit. The Gospel brings the Holy Spirit and righteousness. By the Gospel we are righteous before God. (ibid, 14-15)

As Christians we live in the kingdom of repentance, where retaliation and the common order of justice no longer apply. Living as followers of Jesus often means being strangers in the world, something people find absurd, provocative, unrealistic, or ridiculous. At the same time, we bear witness to Christ and open the eyes of those who are “of the truth.” (Bo Giertz, “Tuesday after the Fifth Sunday after Trinity”, To Live with Christ, p. 456)

Amen.