The Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity - 9/21/08

The Church Season of Trinity
The Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity, One Year Series
Our Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (September 21, 2008)

“MY LORD AND MY GOD”

Readings:

Psalm 34:8-22
Deuteronomy 10:12-21
1 Corinthian 1:1-9
Matthew 22:34-46

Sermon Form Deductive

+INI+

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from the Father
and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen

The text for today is as recorded in the Gospel Lesson from the 22nd chapter of St. Matthew, especially the following verse:

Matthew 22:34-46

34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37 Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” 41 While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, 42 “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” “The son of David,” they replied. 43 He said to them, “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’? For he says, 44 “ ‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.” ’45 If then David calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?” 46 No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

Our text took place during Jesus' last week before He died, He would soon weep because of human unbelief. Mt. 23:37. For some Jesus was a man to be hated, but we also read that some of the common people heard Him gladly. At this last attempt to convert His enemies Jesus offers them the clear teaching of the Old Testament of what the Word of God says and of who He is. Jesus is true God and true man. This teaching by Christ also reveals the nature of how we are to read the ten commandments, by first telling us how we are to love God, and then how we are to love our fellow men. If you will remember last week as we spoke the First Commandment and the response that we learned in the catechism, then today’s lesson will sound familiar too. But as sort of a reminder, when we look at those ten commandments as a whole, scribed by the finger of God and handed to Moses, we recall that God gave Moses two tablets, actually four if you also remember that Moses broke the first two as he threw them down in anger at the Israelites who had built a false God. But, remember that we as Lutherans do not look at those tables as having 5 commandments on the first table and five on the second, rather we see three on the first table and seven on the second table. And so you may ask why? Well in today’s lesson Jesus Christ answers that question, because the first three commandments deal with God and our relationship with Him, let’s call that our vertical relationship, and the next seven commandments deal with our relationship with our fellow man or our worldly or horizontal relationship.

So the first of the greatest commandments of which Jesus speaks is “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”(v. 37) Meaning, you will love the Lord, your God, with your entire person. Jesus is not talking about affection or mere feelings. He is talking about an attitude. To love God with one's entire being means to trust Him and his promises, especially those about Jesus. The first commandment says: "Thou shalt have no other gods beside Me." How do we do that? All we can really give to God is our sin. We have no righteousness to offer God. Our righteousness is as filthy rags. But Christ is our righteousness. That is ours by faith and trust in the Gospel. At the beginning of this service we confessed our sins and remember that is the time when the pastor forgives you your sins, in Jesus' Name. That is the first step in loving God with our whole being. God says that we should cast all our care on Him for He cares for us. When we do that, we love God with our whole being that is a vertical relationship and it’s very important also to remember that that relationship comes down from heaven to us, it is not dependent on how much we love God, rather it is fulfilled in Jesus and that is how much God loved us to send His only son to die for us.

Then Jesus talked about the second greatest commandment and He said it was like the first, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”(v. 39) But remember these experts in the Law had originally only asked for one answer but Jesus gave him two, again the second answer was, “You will love your neighbor as you love yourself.” Jesus was not talking here about affection or mere feeling. He is talking about an attitude. He does not say that our neighbor must be our friend. But He does say that we should love him as we love ourselves. The best example of that is the account of the Good Samaritan who cared for and rescued the wounded man lying at the side of the road. We should be like God who is merciful to all people. He sends His sunshine and rain to all alike. When people asked Jesus for help he gave it to them, He gave it even when they did not ask. To love the Lord with our whole being and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves summarizes the teaching not only of the OT but also of the NT too. We pray in response to God’s gifts, Lord, give us faith in You and love for our neighbor.

But Jesus was not yet done teaching this crowd and so continued by asking them a question about scripture. Jesus quoted Psalm 110, inspired by God and penned by King David which states, “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’? For he says,“ ‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.” ’45 If then David calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?” Now I have an admission to make, I had to read that one a time or two, and read the commentary a time or two before I understood it. And I thought that when I learned a little Greek, when I read that passage, it would be crystal clear. But the Greek did not unlock what the commentaries told me I had to wait until I took Hebrew to confirm what I had already been told. And in Hebrew this verse reads “Yahweh said to Adonai.” And that made it all clear for me, but probably makes it clear as mud for you. But know that Psalm 110 is a grand prophecy of Jesus' person, Word, work, and victory over all His enemies. This Psalm is often quoted in the NT. Jesus' enemies believed that it was the inspired Word of God and that it prophesied about the Messiah. But they refused to admit that Jesus was the Messiah. and that is very sad! The Jews still pray for the coming of the Messiah but they still reject Jesus and that is very sad too! In our text Jesus summarizes His entire Word in two sentences and identifies Himself as the God-man, who is the son of David, Who is also the Son of God.

So this verse is a confession by David, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, first about who Christ is. Remember I said the first line in Hebrew states, ““Yahweh said to Adonai.” well that means: "The Father said to my Lord Jesus 'Sit at My right hand'." (We know the true interpretation of this line from Acts 2:34 and 35 and Heb. 1:13.) Even Jesus' enemies admitted that Jesus was the son of David, the son of man. But they would not confess that He was the Son of God, the Lord of David. Jesus is David's son but also David's Lord, true man and true God in one person. When Jesus was asked at His trial (Mt. 26:63-66): "Are you the Christ, the Son of God?" Jesus said: "I truly am." They called that blasphemy. The OT also tells us what He did for us. God has exalted Jesus to his right hand because Jesus has paid for our sins, conquered death and conquered the devil. (I Cor. 15:25.27, Heb. 2:8.) When Jesus completed His work of redemption on earth, He ascended into heaven and He is not locked in heaven. He is everywhere with us, even to the end of the age. To sit at God's right hand means that He now has all power as He said in Mt. 28:19 "All power is given to Me in heaven and on earth." The God-man, Jesus Christ, is King of kings and Lord of Lords and He shall reign forever and ever. Some day in heaven we shall see Him not only as our brother and our shepherd but also as the King of kings.

Jesus' enemies were always giving him trouble. Even today they make fun of Jesus and His Holy Word. But the common people gladly heard Jesus and these common people just like you were baptized into His Name. And though we may seem to be common in this world, God in Christ Jesus has made us quite uncommon. Because, Jesus conquered the world and in Him we conquer death too. Through Jesus Christ who loved us even to death, He protects and keeps us until that day when we will see Him, our Lord AND our GOD reigning on His throne and we will see Him there forever and ever. Amen.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

+SDG+