Sermon: Trinity 18 - 2020

11 October 2020

Text: Matt 22:34-46

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

Once more, the Pharisees, hearing that Jesus had “silenced” their opponents “the Sadducees,” tried to entrap Jesus in the Law.  They have a lawyer in their midst ask Him: “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law.”

Do you see the pattern here?

Law, law, and more law.  Let’s get a lawyer to ask Jesus about the Law.  The Pharisees loved the Law.  And indeed, we are told many times in the Scriptures that we should love the Law of the Lord, to meditate on it, and to teach it to our children.  We should love the Law because it is the Lord’s Word, and it is how He teaches us, how He leads us to realize our need for a Savior.

But, dear friends, this is not why the Pharisees love the Law.  They love it because they use it and abuse it, in order to give the impression that they are righteous.  They want everyone to believe that they keep the Law.  They even invent new laws to keep, they require everybody else keep their invented laws, and they create every manner of workaround to convince themselves that they keep the Ten Commandments.

But as our Lord points out, “On these two commandments” – namely: “You shall love the Lord your God” and “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” – depend all the Law and the Prophets.”  In other words, keeping the Law isn’t really about following rules.  It is about love: love for God and love for neighbor.  If you live a life of love, you don’t have to think about the commandments, for you will be keeping them.  Of course, that is easier said than done for us poor, miserable sinners.  And the Pharisees were about as loveless, about as self-centered, about as hypocritical as they could be.  The Law did not do its work with them, because they were too loveless and too proud to apply it to themselves.

The Law, rightly understood, condemns all of us.  It stings us.  It cuts us to the core.  It exposes our unrighteousness, our sinfulness, our failures, and our lovelessness.  The Law, rightly understood, calls us to repent, to confess our transgressions and to strive to replace our self-righteousness with God’s righteousness, to replace our shallow love of self with the richness of love of the Lord our God and of our neighbor.  The Law, rightly understood, points us to our Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ, “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”  The Law, rightly understood, leads us to the Gospel.

The Pharisees, seeking only to trip Jesus up, do not understand just who is speaking to them, nor what He is offering them.  They are blinded by the very Law that is sent to all of us to open our eyes to the truth that we need a Savior.

And so the Teacher teaches them about Himself: “Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, saying, “What do you think about the Christ?”  Now it is our Lord’s turn to ask the questions.  He is giving them a chance to confess: not only their sins, but to confess Him as the Christ.  Jesus has already given them signs and wonders and has taught and preached to them from the Law and the Prophets just who He is.  And, dear friends, there is no more profound question in the universe than: “What do you think about the Christ?”

Jesus narrows the question for them, bringing the Old Testament Scriptures in the form of one of the Psalms that they routinely sang in their worship services.  He asks, concerning the Christ, concerning Himself: “Whose Son is He?”  They replied, “The Son of David.”  And they are correct.  The Christ, the Messiah, will be a descendant of King David, as the Law and the Prophets and the Psalms proclaim.  Our Lord asks them a difficult question.  Difficult, because they don’t really understand just who the Christ is.  Jesus asks: “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 David calls Him Lord, how is He his Son?”

In other words, David’s own words teach that the Christ, the Messiah, will not only be one of David’s descendants, but He will also be the Lord, that is, God, in the flesh.  Jesus is pointing them to Himself, the man who is God, the Son of David who is also the Son of God.  

This, dear friends, is what we call the “elephant in the parlor.”  It is that thing that everybody is thinking, but nobody wants to come right out and say.  They have seen the miracles.  They know that Jesus fulfills the ancient prophecies.  They cannot trip Him up as a teacher.  He is clearly a prophet, and more.  He preaches with the authority of God Himself.  John the Baptist proclaimed Him to be the “Lamb of God,” and the One whom John is not worthy to untie His sandals.  

The Pharisees are terrified.  Jesus continues to outwit them and expose their entire religious system as a sham.  Like the Pharaoh’s magicians, they cannot replicate or even explain His miracles.  The people follow Him – the same people that used to fawn all over the Pharisees.  

And this last exchange is the last straw.  As St. Matthew records, “And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask Him any more questions.”  What else is there to do but kill Him?

Dear friends, “What do you think about the Christ?”

Is Jesus just a great teacher, a nice guy, an example of a good person?  Is Jesus your buddy that you talk to on Sunday if you come to church?  Is Jesus like a character in a movie or a story?  Is Jesus a new law-giver who scolds you for not keeping the commandments?  Is Jesus a far-off God that isn’t really part of your life?

“What do you think about the Christ?”

I’m not asking this question, Jesus is.  It was not my decision to lay this question before you today, it is the work of the Holy Spirit.  For God Himself asked the question, inspired the question to be written, and caused it to be posed to you again, right here and right now.  It is a question to be pondered. 

And if we do believe Jesus and if we do believe the Scriptures, the Christ is the Savior, He is Jesus of Nazareth who was born of the Virgin Mary, who was crucified as the one all availing sacrifice for the sins of the world – including your sins and my sins.  He is truly the “Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.”  He is our Savior, our Rescuer.  He is the one who overcame death by dying, into whose triune name – the name that is above every name – into which we have been baptized and sealed by the Holy Spirit according to the Father’s will.  

Jesus is not a genie in a bottle, but is Almighty God.  And yet, He is a fleshly man who loves you, who hears your prayers, and who governs all things in the universe according to the Father’s will.  Jesus is more important than anything else in this life.

Hopefully, this is how you answer His question: “What do you think of the Christ?” 

Indeed, he is David’s Son and David’s Lord.  He is God’s Son, and He is God the Son.  He is your Lord, your Savior, and your Teacher.  He is your only hope of salvation in this world of sin and death.  He is the one whose question: “What do you think about the Christ?” is the most important question you will ever be asked.  And unlike the stubborn Pharisees, let us be bold to answer Him, and let us rejoice in everlasting life according to His promise!

Amen.

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