Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity (30 Sept. 2018)

Rule Number One...

"And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD, which I am commanding you today for your good?  Behold, to the LORD your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it.  Yet the LORD set his heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples, as you are this day.  Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn.  For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe.  He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing.  Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.  You shall fear the LORD your God. You shall serve him and hold fast to him, and by his name you shall swear.  He is your praise. He is your God, who has done for you these great and terrifying things that your eyes have seen.  Deuteronomy 10:12-21

Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!  Oh, fear the LORD, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack!  The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.  Come, O children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD.  What man is there who desires life and loves many days, that he may see good?  Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit.  Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.  The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry.  The face of the LORD is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth.  When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears and delivers them out of all their troubles.  The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.  Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all.  He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken.  Affliction will slay the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.  The LORD redeems the life of his servants; none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.  Psalm 34:8-22

Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes, To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge-- even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you-- so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.  God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. 1 Corinthians 1:1-9

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

Much of the time, we want to either make the Law "go away" or fit into nice, neat categories we can accomplish on our own.  We think "if I can do this, then God will like me," or some other equally silly and shortsighted thing.

But there is some truth to the notion that there are different "degrees" of Law.  In the time of Israel under the Sinai covenant, there were Civic, Ceremonial, and Religious laws.  Some of these were tired into the covenant, while others were only for the "state."  The foundation, though, was the moral Law written on every person's heart.  It is this Law, broken in Eden, that condemns us to hell.  It is this Law that is stated plainly in the Ten Commandments.

Except, it isn't.

The religious leaders of the Jews through they knew the Law.  In fact, they though they knew the Law so well that they could stump Jesus.  "Which of the Ten is the best?"  Jesus, the author of the Law, sets everything on its head.  Or rather, sets everything back the way it was meant to be.

There are only two Laws: Love the Lord your God, and love your neighbor.  The buzzwords for these two Laws are the "First and Second Table," because Ten Commandments, and all other law, both divinely instated and composed by humanity, are founded upon them.

The First Table is denoted in the First, Second, and Third Commandments, although breaking any of the Ten breaks the First: you shall have no other gods.  This is because any infraction against God's Law is placing our trust and worship in something or someone who is not God, and therefore not worthy of our fear, love, and trust.

The Second Table is the Fourth through Tenth Commandments, and express how we, as God's people, are to live holy, blameless, and pleasing lives.  These express how we are to live vocationally (the Fourth), care for our neighbor (Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh), and refrain from seeking that which does not belong to us (Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth), be it physical items, honor, or relationships.

In this light, when viewed through the Cross, we see the Law as not a burden that must be completed, but a way of life we are free to strive after.  But we are only able to seek this because Christ is Lord, both of the Gospel and the Law.  They are not diametrically opposed.  They do not stand in conflict.  They are not even in balance, like some eastern philosophy.

Rather the Law and the Gospel are constantly at play, fully.  Both are good, but one is tasked with condemning sin to its rightful place, hell, and the other is the free gift of God that saves us from our own faulty self-righteousness that can never save.