“THE TRIUNE COMMUNITY OF HOLY BAPTSIM”
Saint Matthew 22. 34-46
18th Sunday after Trinity: 23 October Anno Domini 2011
Fr Jay Watson SSP
He, (Christ) puts Sadducees to silence. He puts Pharisees to silence too. He puts the sinner to silence by killing him with the Law.
Knowledge, doctrine, obedience (the way of the Pharisee) does not satisfy the Law and leads only to death
Empty ritual, ceremony without content, rubrics and vestments for mere show, do not satisfy the Law and lead only to death.
Whenever you try to justify yourself, to avoid criticism and punishment you will always end up attacking your neighbor and tempting/trying the Lord Himself. You argue with God all the time - - quibbling over details, interpretations, and exceptions to the rule. There are no exceptions to the rule. Zero tolerance to law breaking applies when it's God's Law.
Asking which is the greatest commandment in the law is like asking which day of the week you should love God and you neighbor. All the commandments flow from the 1st: to love the Lord above all things [Thou shalt have no other Gods before me: what does this mean? We should fear, love and trust in God above all things - - M. Luther]
If this Law, and the breaking of it which you daily do, does not terrify you, does not cause you to hang your head and pound your chest, than it's not just that I'm not preaching worth a darn, but that your Old Adam is a bigger Pharisee/hypocrite than you know. Why do you have so much hate and anger? Why are you not more joyful and helpful? Why do people who don't do things your way; who don't think your way; upset you so much?
Your desire to hang others for their sins and transgressions (call it projection if you want to talk like a shrink) is self-justifying Phariseeism. You should be strung up. Every sin of yours is a capital offense. But Jesus was lynched instead… as your substitute in your stead and by His command. Because you don't do the words of God given by Moses and the Prophets, the penalties were born by Jesus and He was hanged high upon the Cross.
Christ Jesus is the keeper of all the Law. The Lord is the satisfier of all the Father's Commandments. There was no compulsion that mandated Jesus keep the Law and pay the just (Justice) penalty for your being just so…so mean-spirited; so disagreeable and surly; so good at putting other things along side God; and so good at not loving your neighbors with a sacrificial love. Jesus paid for these your daily sins and because of his suffering and death you are not going to hell. You believe in Jesus. You receive Him and His words. He is the answer, the solution and the key. By having Him in Faith, you have the Favor and Good Will of God.
The answer is Jesus. This is the answer He gave to his questioners with own His question and His own answer to it: "What think ye of Christ? Whose son is He?" His adversaries who certainly didn't think Jesus was the Christ, said, that the long-waited for Anointed One would be the son of King David. That answer while technically correct from human lineage and physical descent, nonetheless missed the Gospel. If the Christ were only an earthly king; only a man, than we are all doomed to eternal death and eternal hell. If Jesus was only the Son of David, true man, than He is still dead and His bleached white bones have probably turned to dust deep under some Jerusalem hilltop. Kings and their heirs, even ones as good and famous as David and Solomon, are fallen sinners who can't save themselves much less all of you. The Good News is that Jesus is not simply a good man.
The Good News is that you are alone no more. The only hermit recluse is Satan…and those he pulls into the solitary confinement of eternal damnation with no parole. God is love which mean God is community - - COMMUNION. And God is Man. Jesus is God.
God is One in Three and Three in One - - TRIUNE.
The Good News is that: "The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit Thou on My right hand, till I make Thine enemies Thy footstool."
The Father speaks to the Son, your Lord Christ Jesus, and King David records this for your hearing by the Holy Ghost. The Godhead is a communion of love, and peace into which you have been placed into.
The Good News is your Baptismal + Life into Jesus. "He who has "seen" Me Philip has seen My Father; no one can say Jesus is Lord but by the Holy Spirit; for in Christ dwells the fullness of the Godhead, bodily" [Col 1. 3]
The Good News to you dear children of the Heavenly Father, IS you are + baptized and your sins are forgiven. You have been gathered here this morning by the Holy Ghost through the Word, which is, Who is, Christ Jesus, to say "Our Father…" You have re-marked yourself with the sign of + the cross, because He (the Blessed Trinity) first marked you in His watery branding and spirit resuscitation in the Word Made Flesh.
Your Father speaks to you, not in His own disembodied spirit voice, but in the human voice of His Son the God/Man Jesus; by the pen of Holy Spirit's inspired/breathed human authors. You are enlightened and + enlivened by being placed into the Son by the Spirit so that you have the Son's Father as yours.
The baptismal life is the Christian life. The watery life of drowning the old Adam to be regenerated by Water from the Rock, the Son, is the life of the Holy Trinity. The Three in One and One in Three is you…all of you. You are the bride, the Lord is your Groom and the love between you, the Church, and the Church's Head, is the life of the Spirit.
Your Lord has accomplished all the tasks that need to be accomplished. He places the completed list into your hands of faith by His Gracious obedience. Your Lord has paid the penalty, the sentence, the execution, and the restitution for all of your crimes. He places the pardon, remission and forgiveness into your hands of faith by His Favor and Mercy. You are in Him by being placed into His Holy side, His Holy heart at the font. He is in you by being placed onto your tongue in His Sacramental Body and Blood. The family meal is a FAMILY MEAL. Love has a new number and the number is Three. You are in that equation by being in Jesus the 2nd Person of said Trinity.
With your family, forgiven and restored, fortified and full, at rest and at peace… what more can be said than
In the Name of The Father + and of The Son and of The Holy Ghost