Adultery [Trinity 2; St. Luke 14:15-24]

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE.

Jesus speaks to us today, saying,

“But they all alike began to make excuses.”

In the 6^th command from God we hear a call to purity and chastity, in the words, “You shall not commit adultery.” In this command is the leading of a life that considers sexuality a good gift from God. That marriage be honored as God’s institution and a lifelong union of one man and one woman.

That sex is reserved for marriage alone and should be put under control in a God-pleasing way. There is to be no unfaithfulness. There are to be no sins of rape, homosexuality, incest, child abuse, obscenity or pornography. Our thoughts and desires are to be taken captive if they step out of these bounds. We must avoid all temptation, cleanse our thoughts, and only use this gift in a God-pleasing way.

Because of our abuse of this gift, it is difficult to think of it in terms of godliness, much less in terms of Christ and the cross. Because, really, where does the cross go when you talk about adultery?

Immorality. Fornication. All are in the lists of those who won’t be getting into heaven. At this point, you may think that it’s the guy who made the excuse of having a wife, in the Gospel today, but you’d only be partly right. The adultery comes in making the excuse in the first place.

If you think about Adam and Eve, got kicked out of the garden for not giving their heart to God, you’re wrong. Eve was listening to and obeying a man/thing that was not her husband. She committed adultery by cherishing and honoring the serpent.

The Babylonian Exile and the complete destruction of Israel was not because the people didn’t have enough Jesus, but because the people were playing the harlot with other gods. This is adultery.

“The Lord said to me in the days of King Josiah: “Have you seen what she did, that faithless one, Israel, how she went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and there played the whore? 7 And I thought, ‘After she has done all this she will return to me,’ but she did not return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it. 8 She saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one, Israel, I had sent her away with a decree of divorce. Yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but she too went and played the whore. 9 Because she took her whoredom lightly, she polluted the land, committing adultery with stone and tree.” (Jer. 3:6-9)

Repent. What we constantly do not believe is that adultery is first and foremost a sin against God. It is not just a matter between husband and wife, but Christ and His Church. The fruits of adultery create an excess of all sins, faults, and vices, and a lack of all virtue, chastity, and decency. Then there is only a bold, wild, desolate life, with no fear of God and no shame before man, and the you become a beast, heedful of neither God nor men.

“For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.” (1 Jn. 2:16)

True adultery is turning your heart away from God in unbelief, which then makes you scorn His gift of sexuality and marriage. It is not believing that marriage between one man and one woman is the way God has made things. It is believing that by progressing, we can create something better and still believe it to be God’s will.

The Lord will restore the fortunes of Sodom and Gomorrah before He turns away from our adultery (Eze 16). This mystery, this gift of marriage is great, but I am speaking of Christ and His Church.

The Good husband loves His wife and gives Himself up for her. He loves her as He loves His own body and nourishes it and cherishes it. He takes the bullet. He dies that the Bride might live. In Jesus, the Bridegroom, God establishes His covenant with you and it is a marriage contract. A marriage contract sealed with water and blood.

For it is the water and the blood that cleanse and purify, that the Bride might be sanctified for every good work. It is the water and the Word that wash and bathe the Bride in salvation. And it is for this glory, the glory of brining back the adulterous wife and purifying her back to virginal state, that the Son leaves the Father and clings to Bride and the two become one flesh.

In this one flesh union, all that the Bridegroom has is the Bride’s. The Groom took her out of her blood of sin and washed and clothed her in His righteousness. Jesus snatched you from the jaws of death with His own suffering and death and has adorned you as a Bride, with everlasting life.

You have been bought and paid for. You have been sealed with the death and resurrection of Jesus in baptism, you have been instructed and brought to new life in the Gospel, and you have been nourished by the very Body and Blood you formerly despised in your sins and crucified.

This is the new covenant God makes with the world. A covenant that cannot be broken by earthly means or soiled by sin and death, for its purity depends entirely on the Pure Bridegroom and His perfect life. Its rigidity rests solely on the merits and worthiness of Jesus, Who, for the joy set before Him, obeyed His Father even though it caused His death on the cross.

In this solitary, necessary way, the Lord of Life buys back His Bride from her adultery. He completely covers her debts and creates a new heavens and a new earth in the Church, where the marriage vows can never be broken again. For in the Word and sacraments, it is His Word against hers, yet in this marriage, Her word becomes His Word. One flesh.

In the Divine Service, it is the Lord’s Word that is preached. We do not allow ourselves the temptation to come up and each one speak for himself, for we know it would only bring us deeper shame. In the Sacraments, God’s promises are the crucial ingredient in making them work. We would never think of trying to take credit for our “choice” to take them or receive them, in fear of our own sin corrupting them.

The Divine Service stands as the life of the true Bride to be lived out by us and the Sacraments are the marriage certificate. The life of the Bride is so marked by the Word and prayer and her existence as a Bride confirmed by water and Blood. In these things, there is no adultery. In these things, there are no broken lives or promises, only forgiveness.

In the Divine Service, we are subject to our Husband, Who has suffered and died for us. In this way, He is our Lord and head, and we are His Body. We keep silent in Church that He might speak to us His faithfulness. Our mouths are shut up so His mouth would proclaim our pardon.

In committing adultery, we not only ruin our lives and the lives of those involved, but we also declare that God commits adultery, since we dare to call ourselves His. Yet, because of Jesus the Crucified, not even our own adultery can separate us from the love of our Good Husband.

So now, when we hear “You shall not commit adultery”, it is not only the stern words of a jealous God, but the sweet words of Promise from our crucified husband. That now, in Him and in this marriage, “you shall not commit adultery” is a promise; a wedding gift given; a life to be lived in faith and belief that the Son will never leave us or divorce us.