“TRINITY EIGHT”
Saint Matthew 7: 15-23
8th Sunday after Trinity: 30 July Anno Domini 2023
Fr Jay Watson, SSP
Yes, yes, in The + Name of Jesus—but Who is Jesus? He’s God’s Son, that is, The Son of The Father. Yes. Good A- answer. But the full A+ answer is the first Creed: “Ieusus es Kurios,” i.e., Jesus is LORD. The Word Lord here means God. Jesus is God. God The Father, “our Father Who art in heaven” is Spirit. God The Holy Ghost—The Lord and Giver of Life—is Spirit (The Holy Spirit). But The 2nd Person of The Trinity is The Word Made Flesh. Jesus is the God/Man, and His Body and Blood is the veritable Body and Blood of God.
Jesus is THE Prophet. A prophet speaks God’s Word on behalf of God; reveals knowledge of The Lord by Words spoken and deeds done. Yes, we have Abraham, Moses, Samuel, Elias, Elisha, Esaias, Jeremias, Ezekiel, Daniel, and John The Baptist; but we now in these last days have The Son—Christ Jesus is THE Prophet of The Trinity.
Jesus warns His Church against false prophets. They can, of course, be heathens and Hebrews, i.e., Muslims, Hindus, Atheists, and Jews, but in reality The Lord Christ is warning you against traitors seeking to subvert the Church and all of you from within—“false sons within the pale” as the hymnist writes. In Christ’s visible ministry it was the Pharisees and their ilk and in the time of the Apostles and the Blessed Paul it was the “Judaizers.” Very soon after that John would deal with the proto-Gnostics. The early Church, through the Middle Ages would have to guard against one heresy after another. But we are not hear today to “smack down” the Docetists, Pelagians, Arians, Nestorians, Iconoclasts, or Manicheans. And while Jesus’ Words can be applied to the worst of Rome’s errors and the odd denial of His truthful Words which many Protestant sectarians indulge in, that is not who sits at His Altar this morning. You do.
Am I a false prophet? Am I a rotten and corrupt tree? But also, are any of you false prophets, false Christians, evil trees? It matters not how many times I mention The Savior’s + Name in this homily nor does it accrue any benefit to you how many times you throw around “religious talk” and pseudo-theology or mere Biblical history and memorization talent. Anyone can wear a fake “truly a spiritual polyester” lamb skin. Not only does Satan have the ability to appear as an “angel of light” but so too do all of your “old Adam” sinful natures, (mine as well) of doffing masquerade costuming. Anyone, for a short while at least, can “mouth” the words. But to truly sing the tune of Christ is to harmonize with the great Melody of His Mercy to participate by Grace through Faith in the celestial Creed and Confession of Christians, of all ages, of all places. “Ye shall know them by their fruits” speaks The Lord. That is it…period. The Sheep will know whether or not they have a Christ-called (“in the stead and by the command”) Shepherd by his fruits—what he preaches, what he teaches, what he does in fulfilling his Holy Call to the parish. And likewise, a pastor, a New Testament Priest will know whether his parishioners are Jesus’ sheep or whether they too might be ersatz goats, or worse, wolves in disguise. By your fruits will I know you, will your fellow Saints know you, and will Christ know you.
And what is that fruit? And that is the question. Is the fruit your faith; my faith? Well, yes, but no. Is the fruit the good works that you do (from faith and by faith)? Well, yes, but no. Your works do not save you but you must DO good works. Your faith does not save you—in so far—as it does not keep The Law perfectly as God demands, nor does it love the neighbor perfectly as God demands. Your faith did not get nailed to the cross at Calvary to bleed, suffer, and die for the sins of the world—for your sins. NO.
You know the answer. The answer is the mercy and Grace of God found only in Jesus Christ. Jesus is the fruit—the good fruit—the good news, i.e., the Gospel. The very evangel is His Words, but even more so in His Body and Blood. The fruit is That pure, precious, sinless, Body of The God/Man hanging on the new tree of life—the scarlet soaked Crucifix. And since Calvary, and the Cross no longer exist, and since you cannot time travel to stand with John the The Blessed Virgin, that fruit comes to you. That good fruit from the most good tree comes in the Chalice and paten upon this altar of good wood.
Not my opinion. Not some Missouri-Synod version, but God’s Word. The Holy Ghost inspired St. Paul to tell Corinth, and all of you this morning, about the fruit: “For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: but we preach Christ crucified” [1 Cor. 1.23]. Christ Who is The Way, The Truth, The Life, is the only Good Fruit. Christ Who is The Door, The Rock, The Light, is the only Good Vine/Tree—Fruit. If the Pastor does not give This Christ Crucified for the forgiveness of your sins, for life and salvation. He is wolf and should be treated as such. If a person claiming to be a Christian does not have This Christ Crucified—His true Body and real Blood—on his lips, in his mouth, in his heart, soul, and spirit, he is a wolf and needs to be avoided—at least until The Holy Spirit works faith and converts the predator and makes another lamb found and restored.
Though Jesus is of course The Good Shepherd, we focus also, especially during The Mass, on His equally true identity as “Agnus Dei” (The Lamb of God). His clothing becomes your clothing. His skin is placed on your bruised and bloody body—you are + Baptized. Come now and eat and drink The Divine and Celestial Fruit of eternity—Angel’s food, the actual Bread of Heaven in Christ’s fruitful Supper. When you eat this fruit—from this tree/vine, your juices of faith and works will show forth who I am, and who you are.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of The Holy Ghost
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