Sermon - Trinity 18

TEXT: Matthew 22:34-46
34 But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” 41 Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, 42 saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.” 43 He said to them, “How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying,44 “ ‘The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet’? 45 If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?” 46And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

When I was training to be a school teacher in college I was taught that there was no such thing as a bad question. But that isn’t necessarily true. I learned the first weeks I taught school that students loved to ask questions that would distract me or get me off the topic. They would ask questions that they knew were a hot topic for me in the hopes that I would get on my soap box and go on and on, thus running short of time and forgetting to give to give them their homework assignment. Their questions were not always asked with the best of intentions. Sometimes their questions were meant to make me look foolish.

The Pharisees were no different than some of my former 7th and 8th grade students. Their seemingly seriously devout religious question was only meant to tempt Jesus.

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” one of the Pharisees (lawyer) asked. The Pharisees had taken the 10 commandments and expanded them a little bit so that they were enlarged to include some 613 commandments. Many of them were ritual and dietary commandments. Different groups of Pharisees emphasized some as more important then others. The question was devised to cause trouble for Jesus.

Jesus answers them using Deuteronomy 6:5, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” And from Leviticus 19:18: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Even better than 613, Jesus two commandments were all-encompassing. To love God and your neighbor could be applied to daily living in thousands of ways. And no matter how you applied God’s command to love Him and your neighbor, there was one truth that was sure to become accusingly true: No one could ever love God and His neighbor exactly the way God commanded. The Pharisees were concerned about living a perfect life. That was their plan to get to heaven. Follow the Law. Do the 613 commandments without failing. Earn your way to heaven.

But Jesus turns them away from the Law and rather faces them squarely on the Christ. There’s a better question. Jesus asks them, “What do you think about the Christ?” In other words, “Get your minds off of yourselves and your petty commandments. Set your minds on things above, on Christ, not on these earthly silly little laws that you’ve created.”

Too many Christians today are consumed with (4 words) “I, me, my, mine.” They want to love a Jesus that will mold and bend to their needs, their likes, and their love. Never mind that Jesus wants to love us. Never mind that Jesus loves us perfectly with His whole heart, soul and mind. Sinners cry out… “that’s not enough Jesus. I want my world perfect. And I want it perfect now! And by perfect I mean I want a beautiful body with a beautiful spouse with beautiful children with a beautiful house with a beautiful garage for my beautiful car.” Sinners consider themselves beautifully moral people who really don’t need confession and absolution. Sinners see Baptism and the Lord’s Supper as foolish little church rites that really don’t mean anything but we do it because grandma and grandpa did and the pastor says we should. It is true of too many Christians, and it’s true of you and me.

Let me ask you a question, “What do you think about the Christ?” Opinions may very. Some may say that He was a Great Prophet. Others may say that He said many wise and moral things and did many socially beneficial acts of kindness. Some may think that He was a Jewish outlaw who roamed the streets of Jerusalem and was eventually sentenced to death for His crimes. May this never be true for you.

What does the Bible say of the Christ? Christ is the Son of God whose personal name is Jesus. He is the Son of David and David’s Lord all at the same. That’s because He is true God and true man at the same time. You and I didn’t love Him and all too often we still don’t love Him. But he loved you and He has never stopped loving you. Out of His great love for you, God became man. As a true man He loved the Lord His God with all His heart and with all His soul and with all His mind. He did this for me. He did this for you. He lived a perfect life under the Law for you. And even though He never sinned, not even once…. He laid down His life as a ransom for the entire world so that you might be declared justified.

The Christ is your God who has shown you love with all His heart by calling you to be His own dear child in Holy Baptism. He loves you with all His soul by giving you His own Body and Blood for the forgiveness of sins. He loves you with all His mind by hearing your confession and pronouncing His forgiveness in the words of your pastor.

That’s the plain truth about the Christ.

In Jesus’ Name. Amen.