Tenth Sunday After Trinity (5 August, 2018)

Warning: Falling Rocks

The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: "Stand in the gate of the LORD's house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the LORD, all you men of Judah who enter these gates to worship the LORD.  Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place.  Do not trust in these deceptive words: 'This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD.'  "For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly execute justice one with another, if you do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own harm, then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your fathers forever.  "Behold, you trust in deceptive words to no avail.  Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, 'We are delivered!'--only to go on doing all these abominations?  Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it, declares the LORD.  Jeremiah 7:1-11

A Psalm. A Song for the Sabbath. It is good to give thanks to the LORD, to sing praises to your name, O Most High; to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night, to the music of the lute and the harp, to the melody of the lyre.  For you, O LORD, have made me glad by your work; at the works of your hands I sing for joy.  How great are your works, O LORD! Your thoughts are very deep!  The stupid man cannot know; the fool cannot understand this: that though the wicked sprout like grass and all evildoers flourish, they are doomed to destruction forever; but you, O LORD, are on high forever.  For behold, your enemies, O LORD, for behold, your enemies shall perish; all evildoers shall be scattered.  But you have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox; you have poured over me fresh oil.  My eyes have seen the downfall of my enemies; my ears have heard the doom of my evil assailants.  The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.  They are planted in the house of the LORD; they flourish in the courts of our God.  They still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green, to declare that the LORD is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.  Psalm 92

What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law.  Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, as it is written, "Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame."  (...)   Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved.  For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.  For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness.  For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.  Romans 9:30-10:4

And when He drew near and saw the city, He wept over it, saying, "Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.  For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation."  And He entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold, saying to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be a house of prayer,' but you have made it a den of robbers."  And He was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people were seeking to destroy Him, but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were hanging on His words.  Luke 19:41-48

Contrary to pop-cultural opinion, Christ's teachings are not about our best life now.  Quite the opposite.

As humans, we default to being legalists.  We find, or formulate, rules that will lead to success in some fashion.  Whether its pleasing ourselves, others, or God, these rules will bring wealth, health, and happiness.  If we can just try a little harder.  Be a little holier.  Give a little more.  Say the right prayers, with the right emphasis.  Feel those emotions, which we all know is God's way of saying "yep, you've got the holy spirit flowing through you like a fire."

Jeremiah, the Psalmist, Paul, and Christ Himself all disagree.

The Lord sent Jeremiah to preach to a peoples steeped in sin and self-righteousness based on pagan laws, rituals, and worship.  Time and time again the prophet warned them "turn back to God or be destroyed."  And ever time the people rejected the word of God.  They followed their emotions.  They sought riches and comfort.  They took advantage of the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widowed.  And they payed the price: exile.  That's how the Law works.

The Psalmist also knows how evildoers work.  He compares them to grass, weeds really, which sprout up quickly and everywhere.  They spread and seem to take over places.  But they are easily destroyed.  Not like the righteous ones of God.  These are the ones God has made righteous, and because of that delight in the Lord and His Law.  Their roots are deep and unshakable.

Perhaps that is why St. Paul was willing to go to the Gentiles instead of the Jews.  After all, Paul was a Pharisee, a Jewish theological genius.  Who better to prove Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah?  But Paul knew the Jews were seeking a righteousness through keeping an un-keepable law.  The Gentiles, though, received the Messiah in faith.

"But how can this be," the Jews (and other legalists cry out).  God established the Law.  And you must keep the Law, lest you die and go to Hell.  All these pagans who know nothing about God and His temple are just able to waltz in and be "equals" to the children of Abraham seems wrong.

Maybe it is, but who are you to question God?

Christ lays down some Law in Jerusalem.  At the very epicenter of what should be understanding God's Law is instead legalism, idolatry, and fraud.  So He first passes judgement on Israel, prophesying the destruction of Jerusalem.  Then He cleanses the temple.  That's right, one last act of grace before His death.  One last chance for the Jews to come clean before the last vestiges of the old covenant are swept away.

And in its place is a new covenant, where the Law is loved and obeyed instead of worshiped.  Under this new covenant we are free to obey the Law, instead of slaves to the stumbling block it once had been.