Sermon for the 13th Sunday after Pentecost

My sermon from August 30th. You can watch me this time too!

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Let us pray, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. Psalm 19:14”

Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in the God the Father and the Holy Spirit.

In the Lutheran Church there is dyad, this concept, of Law and Gospel. For Luther, the idea that we must work to earn our salvation was inherently wrong but Luther never said we should abolish the law. The Law is our moral guide, our moral code. I would add that the Law is what reminds us of our own humanity.

But the word LAW usually send shrivels up the spins of Lutherans because we are afraid to say “you must do this” or “you must do that.” It is one of the reasons why Martin Luther wanted to remove the books of James and John, traditionally known as the Catholic Letters/Epistles, from our canon—from the bible. Luther never like the theology of the book of James— “Faith without works is dead”—because of the negative interpretations that the church once had for this line. James wrote that line more likely out of necessity because the early church was taking Paul’s words to literally and practicing a Theology of cheap grace—you don’t have to anything like go to church or volunteer to help the less fortunate because we are going to heaven.

So now how does the Lutheran Church view this idea of Law and Gospel? I am going to try my best to explain without breaking a few heresies along the way. The first use of the law is the Civic law—do not kill people, do not steal, ect. The second use of the law is the knowledge of sin—we know we have sinned because we are told this is wrong. The Third use of the law is a guide to Christian living—we should do this because this is what God wants us to do.

Now the Gospel fits into this scheme in a very different way. We have this law that guides us tells us we should live this way but then we have the Gospel that says it is okay if we can’t live up the standards set before us. Martin Luther never believed that we could ever maintain perfection—other reforms did such as John Wesley. Luther would have said that the law was very good and necessary but not a tool of bondage. We are not bounded to the law. It creates a protection to us so that we cannot be accused of not living a good moral life but it would also guide us so we can live this good and moral life.

So knowing all of this about Law and Gospel, our readings from Deuteronomy and Mark should make a bit more sense. In Deuteronomy, the Israelites believed the law was a divine gift that provided guidelines for living out the covenant. The law is very important to the Israelites and to this day stays important to the Jewish faith. But like any good thing, overuse of the law had become a problem. The law became oppressive and discriminated against the less fortunate of society. What was once seen as free had become a prison filled with guards and wardens who did not believe in grace.

I love Jesus’ response to the Pharisees. He is able to quote scripture so eloquently:
Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written,
'This people honors me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me;
7in vain do they worship me,
teaching human precepts as doctrines.'
8You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition."
Lets focus on that last line—“ You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.” God’s command is law and the Pharisees are sticking with the law right? Jesus is not questioning their ability to hold to the law—personally I think it’s good to wash your hands before you eat and make sure the food is clean—but to deny an individual rights at the table because they do not have the ability to wash their hands or hold to the law is a bit much. Jesus is protesting against the human customs being given the weight of divine law, while the essence of God's law is ignored. God’s law was to ensure the wellbeing of ALL of God’s people and not just the few who stuck with the law.

So here we are left with this concept of Law and Gospel. The law is our guide and the Gospel—not just the New Testament but the entire bible; Hebrew Scripture and the Christian Canon—the Gospel frees us when we cannot hold to the law. Just as our Lord said, “15there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile." 21For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, 22adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. 23All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person."

Our sin is made evident in what we do and what we say. We are the essence of sin but thankful there is a God who redeems us and loves us even when we cannot live up to God’s standards. So go and do what Luther said, “Sin and Sin Boldly.” Do whatever is necessary to live out your baptismal calling. We are all still called today to do the work of the church. We might not be able to build bridges or knock on doors but we can all still love one another because it is by God’s grace, God’s wonderful and mysterious grace, that we find God’s salvation. May God grant us this grace this day in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.