LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE.
Jesus speaks to you all today saying,
Here it is. The epitome of what it means to be a sinner and
receive God’s Word and commands. Jesus lays it all out. Your righteousness needs
to be so high or you don’t get in. Murder is not just a criminal offense but a
thought-crime as well and until you pay the full price for these transgressions,
you will remain in the big house.
And the sinner will use this pericope in this way: to point
at and condemn his neighbor, instead of seeing his own guilt. Of course, he
will first set out to amend his life under this heavy burden, but once he has had
one “day of sinless living” under his belt, he will be sure to let everyone
know about it.
Where we and our neighbors need comfort and healing in light
of this, we only bring more impossible lists of things to do and tell them,
“Just put away your anger” or “give it to God”. We medicate ourselves with more
Law and its impossible demands of perfection and then wonder why no one, much
less ourselves, believes anymore. If we simply train and order ourselves under
the Law, we quickly wear out and give up and wonder where the goodness of God
is, because the Law is without mercy.
The big picture we miss when we are so focused on getting
rid of sin, is that the fullness of God and His righteousness for salvation has
been manifested; made flesh, quite apart from the Law. So while the Law of God
is Good and Wise, it cannot advance us on our path to holiness much less offer
us any consolation.
Yet where is that peace and comfort in today’s Gospel
reading of Law, Law, Law? Is it simply that Jesus has taken care of things for
us so we don’t need to worry? Is God flippantly telling us to do our best and
He will do the rest?
It cannot be, for God is a God of Justice. What is wrong
must be made right. What is transgressed must be paid for. He cannot overlook
one criminal deed or else our entire future will be bleak. It does no harm to
God, but for us, a breech in justice means no mercy.
Repent. We think that because we have a Bible, that we know
the right way to use His words. As it turns out, every time we try is filled
with sin and transgression. We tell our neighbor to not be angry, ever, but
excuse our own anger as a “temporary lapse”
The disconnect for us comes when we try to make “keep my
commandments” only about doing them “as best we can”, when really “keep my
commandments” means not just doing them, not just keeping them fresh in your mind
and in church, but also it means promises of what is and what will be.
Think about the commandment “you shall not murder”. Yes
there is the actual murdering, the “thinking about murdering”, and the anger
bit. But what is the command trying to get at? It is trying to get at a world
where there is no murdering and no anger. It is trying to show that there is
such a place and it is promising us that we will get to be a part of it.
This works for the rest of the commands as well. They are
not only “you shall nots”, but also “you shall haves”. For the “shall” is not
just imperative voice, but imperative future, meaning you will have these
things. You will not murder. If you have been forgiven, baptized, and are dead
to your sin, murder is just something you won’t do, because it is something the
Lord does not do.
Jesus did not just live the perfect life for us to show off
nor as just an impossible example for us to follow. He lived the perfect life
to show us Who He is and what our lives with Him will look like. God keeps all
of His commandments perfectly. He lives them for all eternity. If we hope to
live with Him, then we must do that also.
Life with God is a life where all the commandments are kept
every second of every day, not just once in a while. Thus, when Jesus comes in
the flesh to live that godly life, He is not just proving it can be done, but
also bringing that same life into ours. Now, flesh and blood can obey the
commands of God and God gives us this same life in Christ.
And we have it. Right now. Yes we transgress the
commandments every day and are guilty of breaking all of them all the time. But
the declaration from God is made apart from the Law which condemns. This
declaration is made in His Son on the cross. And that Gospel declaration is:
Justification.
It is not how well or how un-well we keep the commands. It
is how perfectly Jesus kept the commands for us. Because He not only gives us
credit for His perfect life, but also gives us His perfect life. This means,
that in faith, you have never or will never murder a day in your life. Today,
you have no anger. Today, the heavy guilt that the Law lands on your head is
not there.
There is no sin in God. There will be no sin living under
our Lord Jesus Christ, when we serve Him for eternity. Therefore the commandments
are promises to us as well. Promises of what we have in Jesus and what we will
be after we die. Promises that are even fulfilled in us today.
For, baptism is a death and resurrection and a pledge from
Jesus that He is sanctifying our lives from all sin. In it, we are united to
His death and His resurrection. We are dead to sin. The gift we get, not for
our own sake, but for Christ’s sake is the resurrection in front of God free
from sin.
Now, what do you have in Church? What kind of life does Jesus
give you and what kind of life are you receiving in the sacraments? It is the
righteous life that exceeds the righteousness of the Pharisees. Its yours. You
get it. For free.
What else? You are not a murderer. Not that you get a free
pass if you kill people on earth, but that the condemnation that the Law brings
no longer holds sway over you. You are not angry. You do not insult. You never
say “Thou fool”, although Jesus does too!, this is just not attributed to you,
because of Christ’s righteousness.
You are at peace with your brother, you love your accuser,
and you will never taste eternal prison. These are all attributes tattooed on
your forehead where you were baptized. These are all qualities you possess because
you believe. These are all descriptors of your new life which you ingest at the
Lord’s Supper.
The Gospel in today’s guilt-ridden reading is that it is
describing the life Christ purchased and won for you on the cross. Yes, it is
good news that Jesus has died to rid you of the guilt that rises to the surface
when we hear these hard words, but it is also the good news that we will be
like Christ. Not through our own efforts, but through the efforts and success of
He Who is, Who was, and Who will be.
This is how you should think about the phrase “life in
Christ”. That it is a baptized life. That it is a gift already given, not a
gift to be pursued. We will be on a life-long quest to better ourselves and
attain some form of righteousness and holiness as can be had in this life. But
that never ends and we will not reach the end of that path, even if we die.
For the end of the Law is not us nor death, but Jesus.
Obedience has an end. It has a time when it will be completed and perfected.
Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. He is not a way, a truth, and a
life, but quite literally these things. It is not our way, our truth, our life,
but His and He Himself, as it always will be, and the only way we get it is by
receiving the gift; Body and Blood.
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