Proper 25 / Ordinary Time 30
Preaching
Lectionary Preaching Workbook
Series IX, Cycle A
Theme of the Day
It's what God does, not what we do, that counts!
Collect of the Day
Addressing God the holy lawgiver and the salvation of His people, petitions are raised by the faithful to be renewed in His covenant of love and trained to care tenderly for all neighbors. Justification and Sanctification are emphasized.
Psalm of the Day
Psalm 90:1-6, 13-17
• A prayer for deliverance from national adversity, in the genre of a group lament.
• A hymn-like introduction declaring God's eternity and the transience of human life (vv. 1-6). In God's time a thousand years is like an evening.
• The actual prayer for deliverance follows, asking that God would make the people glad as many days as He afflicted them, prospering the work of their hands (vv. 13-17).
or Psalm 1
• A psalm on the contrasting fate of the righteous and the wicked. This is a Wisdom Psalm.
• Those who avoid sin are happy, delighting in the Law of Yahweh and meditating on it (vv. 1-2). They are like trees planted in water, which yield fruit. They prosper in all they do (v. 3).
• The wicked are like chaff that the wind drives away. They will not stand in the judgment (vv. 4-5).
• Yahweh watches over the way of the righteous, but the wicked will perish (v. 6).
Sermon Text and Title
"Moses the Law-Giver Must Pass Away"
Deuteronomy 34:1-12
1. Theological Aim of the Sermon and Strategy
To proclaim the proper role and status of God's commandments (the law) in the life of a Christian. This is a sermon about Justification by Grace and Sanctification (Good Works as Spontaneous).
2. Exegesis (see Introduction to Selected Books of the Bible)
• The death of Moses. This account seems to resume the story from the end of Numbers 36.
• Leaving the plains of Moab (east of the Salt Sea) north to Mount Nebo (located in the Transjordan region, east of Jericho) to the top of Pisgah (a peak in that mountain range), Yahweh shows Moses the whole land -- Gilead, Naphtali, Ephriam, Manasseh, Judah, the Negeb, and the Jericho valley (vv. 1-3). All these regions, Yahweh claims, were promised to the patriarchs (v. 4a).
• Moses was only permitted to see the land and not cross into it (v. 4b).
• Moses the servant of the Lord then died, at Yahweh's command (v. 5). He was buried in a valley in Moab, but no one knows his burial place (v. 6). He was 120 when he died and still vigorous (v. 7).
• The Israelites mourned in the plains of Moab for thirty days (v. 8).
• Joshua the son of Nun was full of the Spirit of Wisdom, because Moses had laid hands on him, and the Israelites obeyed him as the Lord had commanded Moses (v. 9).
• Never since has a prophet arisen like Moses, whom Yahweh knew face-to-face (v. 10). He was unequaled for all the signs and wonders that the Lord sent him to perform (vv. 11-12).
3. Theological Insights (see Charts of the Major Theological Options)
• The text affords insights on the role of the law (Justification by Grace and Sanctification [Good Works as Spontaneous]).
• With regard to Moses' death John Wesley writes:
Neither his [Moses'] piety nor his usefulness would exempt him from death. God's servants must die, that they must rest from their labors, receive the recompense, and make room for others.
(Commentary on the Bible, p. 150)
• Commenting on this text Martin Luther notes:
The endurance of sight and strength in Moses signifies, according to the allegorical meaning, that the power of the law does not grow less through length of days or magnitude of deeds; but it always oppresses and rouses guilty consciences until it dies, that is, until it is done away with through Christ and the new ministry of grace is established.
(Luther's Works, Vol. 9, p. 310)
Finally, Moses is signified for his greatness... It also signifies that nothing greater can be taught and transmitted, so far as laws are concerned, than the Law of Moses.
(Ibid., pp. 310-311)
• About Moses, Luther adds:
By the law Moses is able to do no more than indicate what men are to do and not to do; but the power and ability to do and not to do it he does not give, and so he lets us stick in sin.
(What Luther Says, p. 977)
• Regarding the proper role for the commandments of Moses (the law) Martin Luther notes:
The gospel of Christ is the sun, the law is the moon. The moon is alike a bronze kettle when the sun is not shining. If you do not have the gospel, the law inspires fear and terror. But when the sin's light is reflected by the moon it, too, is a brilliant and shining light... so long as the two lights are shining, you can distinguish between day and night, between light and darkness; but when these two lights disappear, you have total night, complete darkness, absolute blackout.
(Complete Sermons, Vol. 7, pp. 68-69)
• In order to endure the chaos and apparent meaninglessness of life, we need to deny our feelings and let the word of God have the final say. Martin Luther well expressed these sentiments:
13. To this I reply: I have often said that feeling and faith are two different things. It is the nature of faith not to feel, to lay aside reason and close the eyes, to submit absolutely to the word, and follow it in life and death. Feeling however does not extend beyond that which may be apprehended by reason and the senses, which may be heard, seen, felt, and known by the outward senses. For this cause feeling is opposed to faith and faith is opposed to feeling.
(Complete Sermons, Vol. 1/2, p. 244)
4. Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights
• For data on the legalistic propensities of Americans, see the next-to-last bullet point of this section for the Second Lesson, Advent 2.
5. Gimmick
The story of the death of Moses. The great man of God, the giver of the Law of God, never got to the Promised Land. Use the last two bullet points of Exegesis.
6. Possible Sermon Moves and/or Stories/Examples
• Ask what this story has to do with us. Suggest that it has everything to do with the church this Sunday, with the 397th anniversary of the reformation this week. This is also a relevant story in view of American legalistic understandings of Christian faith. Follow the leads in Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights.
• Point out how this way of thinking (that works save) was precisely what Martin Luther was rejecting in the reformation (Luther's Works, Vol. 31, p. 39). Besides, the popular view in America on the need for keeping the commandments in order to be saved makes life a heavy burden, a guilt-trip.
• Moses, the great man of God, the man who embodies God's revelation of the Ten Commandments, passed away. What he embodies (a life lived according to the commandments of God) must die too.
• Use the second quotation by Martin Luther in the third bullet point of Theological Insights. The Law of Moses, the Ten Commandments, best embody how we are to live and what God demands.
• Great as Moses was he still was not exempt from passing away. Use the quotation by John Wesley in the second bullet point in Theological Insights to make this point.
• Just like Moses, like all of us, the commandments of God, the law, will and does pass away. Use Luther's comments in the fourth bullet point of Theological Insights. The commandments of God only indicate what we should do. They do not give us the power to do these things. So about all the commandments of God is to show us how sinful we are! (Consider leads in Theological Insights for the First Lesson, Lent 1.)
• Moses must die. The commandments of God must pass away, or we would be forever in this misery -- knowing what we should do, but not doing it. Use Martin Luther's statement in the first quotation of the third bullet point of Theological Insights. Only God's forgiving grace and love can put to death the commandments of Moses. And until that happens we will be oppressed, filled with doubt and guilt, always feeling we could and should do better and always feeling we have fallen short.
• Tell stories of Myrtle and Jim in the congregation, two people who represent congregational demographics. They want to do the right thing. They try hard and work hard. But they are falling short of their goals and don't always do the right thing -- lie sometimes to get ahead, back-stab, and never seem to have enough in these hard economic times. They know they are not doing all God expects of them, and it's a guilt-trip.
• Guilt is a life of misery. It is like the ancient Roman playwright Plautus once said: "Nothing is more wretched than the mind of a man conscious of guilt."
• Use the quote by Martin Luther in the next-to-last bullet point of Theological Insights. We need to shine the light of God's word of forgiving love (the gospel) on Moses' (on God's) Law. The gospel, its wonderful word of love and comfort, outshines the commandments and overcomes our guilt! It assures us Jims and Myrtles that everything will be all right, we are forgiven and can begin again.
7. Wrap-Up
Continue to elaborate on the quotation noted in the last bullet point. Note how we really need both the gospel and the commandments. Together they make life bright and give us guidance. Like the sun illumines the moon, the gospel helps us love Moses' vision and helps us love the commandments of God. That's why even though Moses is dead, we remember him and his legacy. The gospel makes us love him and it, gives us hope and forgiveness to plunge into life again (in the words of the Collect, caring tenderly for our neighbors). When we do this we not only live as God intends. We also celebrate the heritage of the reformation.
First Lesson Complementary Version
Leviticus 19:1-2, 15-18 (see First Lesson, Epiphany 7)
• Part of a discourse on the life of holiness. Reference is made to loving one's neighbor as oneself.
• The reference to loving the neighbor links with the Gospel Lesson (Matthew 22:39). Thus it makes sense to draw on insights from that Gospel Lesson, to show that the law's purpose is to condemn our sin. Insights from any of the assigned lessons for the day can be useful for that purpose.
Sermon Text and Title
"A Little Chiding Along With the Gentleness of that Gentle God of Ours"
1 Thessalonians 2:1-8
1. Theological Aim of the Sermon and Strategy
To proclaim our sin (that we need to be chided with God's Law in order to see it) and especially the comforting good news of God's gentle love for us (Justification by Grace) and its implications for Sanctification.
2. Exegesis (see Introduction to Selected Books of the Bible)
• Part of Paul's description of his life and work at Thessalonica.
• Paul notes that the Thessalonians know that his coming to them was not in vain (v. 1). Though suffering at Philippi, he had the courage in God to declare the gospel to them in spite of opposition (v. 2).
• He insists that his appeal does not spring from impure motives but has been entrusted by God to speak not to please mortals, but to please God who tests the hearts (vv. 3-4).
• God is Paul's witness that he never came with flattery or with a pretext for greed, nor did he seek praise (vv. 5-6).
• He does concede that he might have made demands as an apostle of Christ but always in a gentle way like a nurse cares for children (v. 7).
• Paul notes how he deeply cares for the Thessalonians and is determined to share the gospel and himself with them, for they are very dear to him (v. 8).
3. Theological Insights (see Charts of the Major Theological Options)
• A reflection on ministry (how to do it), with special attention in the sermon to the need to condemn sin in order for us to hear and receive the joyful word of God's loving gentleness and forgiveness.
• Offering a comment most relevant to this text, Saint Patrick once wrote:
Now, I call God as witness upon my soul that I am not lying, and that I have not written to you as an opportunity for flattery or greed, and that... He who promised is faithful; He never tells lies.
(Life and Writings, p. 120)
• Reflecting on Paul's observation in the text, John Calvin writes:
Let us know, therefore, that true ministries of the gospel ought to make it their aim to devote to God their endeavours, and to do it from the heart, not from any outward regard to the world, but because conscience tells them it is right and proper.
(Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. XXI/2, p. 250)
For where avarice and ambition reign, innumerable corruptions follow, and the whole man passes away into vanity, for these are the two sources from which the corruption of the whole ministry takes its rise.
(Ibid., p. 251)
• Famed nineteenth-century Danish theologian N.F.S. Grundtvig comments on why it is necessary to proclaim the Law of God (make demands) for the good news of the gospel to be heard:
It is irrevocably true that whoever is not convinced by what his own conscience tells him about his natural sinfulness, his inability to accomplish that which is good by his own strength, and his lack of any sincere desire for eternal life and happiness -- such a person -- will really never, in spirit and truth, become a Christian, for he is simply not conscious of any personal need of the forgiveness of sin.
(What Constitutes Authentic Christianity, p. 97)
But through the proclamation of the teachings of Christianity they were made very conscious of that deep void within themselves which Christianity promises to fill.
(Ibid., p. 99)
4. Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights
• Americans do not want to hear about their sin. They think they are basically good. See the last bullet point of this section for the Gospel, Good Friday. The results of a 2012 Roper Public Opinion poll undergird this as 63% of Americans seem to believe that most people who want to can work to get ahead.
• As recently as in a 2005 poll by the Associated Press it was found that 69% of the American public believe that Americans are more rude than twenty or thirty years ago.
• The good-feeling monoamine (brain chemical that reinforces new neural connections and behavior) oxytocin is relevant to this text (esp. to v. 7). It produces calming effects and also has a positive impact on health. This monoamine is especially secreted in parental nurturing of children, an image on which Paul relies to refer to his care (and so God's care) of the Thessalonians. See Kersin Uvnas-Moberg, The Oxytocin Factor: Tapping the Hormone of Calm, Love, and Feeling. Also see the last bullet point of this section for the Gospel, Epiphany 6.
5. Gimmick
Cite the data in the second bullet point of Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights.
6. Possible Sermon Moves and/or Stories/Examples
• Elaborate on how little we seem to care in America, noting our rudeness to each other, bad manners, lack of customer service, the sense of many that we are on our own, and it is up to each of us individually to take care of ourselves. That is why so many of us want "small government."
• In our lesson, Paul makes clear that such brusqueness and rudeness is not his way and not God's way. He commends gentleness, which is the way of God (vv. 7-8).
• Consider the quotation by Saint Patrick in the second bullet point of Theological Insights to elaborate on Paul's intentions, that ministry and Christian life is not all about fake flattery and niceness, it is about being gentle, but also being faithful and not telling lies.
• Review Paul's point in verse 7 again. Gentle as he tried to be, nurturing as God is, still it is necessary to make some demands of faithful folks like us, of Americans. Consider the second quotation by John Calvin in the third bullet point of Theological Insights.
• We do not want to hear such demands, especially because they make us feel guilty; they condemn us. They reveal our sin. Use the quote by Martin Luther in the fourth bullet point of Theological Insights for the First Lesson, and the quotation by famed father of existentialism Søren Kierkegaard in the last bullet point of that section for the Second Lesson, Reformation.
• Americans do not believe or want to hear this word of condemnation. Use data noted in the first bullet point of Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights. A little chiding, done gently, sets the stage for the good news that we have a gentle God who forgives.
• Note that sometimes in our desire to be gentle we fail to condemn sin and that leads to a kind of permissiveness in society, a feeling among Christians that God is getting a good deal loving us (not much to forgive). That mindset opens the door to secularism, a life without God. Ask the congregation if this might account for the increasing growth of secularism in America. Note the data in the last bullet point of Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights for the First Lesson, Advent 3, and for the first bullet point of that section for the Gospel, Christmas. A 2010 Pew Forum poll indicated that the Millennial Generation is the fastest growing segment of the population with no religious affiliation.
• It is clear that we need this word of condemning our sin to get us away from the secularist mindset that we are good enough to get along quite well without God. Use the quotation by famed nineteenth-century Danish theologian and hymn writer Nikolai Grundtvig in the last bullet point of Theological Insights.
• God's gentleness and forgiveness (what Paul refers to in v. 7) fills our emptiness, because of our inadequacies and sense of being adrift in life. The tender gentleness of God keeps us going and gives us strength. It is as Chinese author Elizabeth Comber wrote (under her pen name Han Suyin): "There is nothing stronger in the world than gentleness." Such sentiments were expressed early in the seventeenth century by the French Catholic saint Francis de Sales: "Nothing is so strong as gentleness, nothing so gentle as real strength."
• As Paul nurtured the faithful like a nurse or mother cares for a child (v. 7), this is God's style for us. Repeat the terms "nursing" and "nurturing." Note the data about such interactions of gentleness and care that our brains are saturated with the calming brain chemical oxytocin. See the last bullet point of Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights. Paul's way of condemning our sin and caring for us with love, our way of doing it to ourselves and others, is God's way of chiding us along with a lot of gentleness. This way leads to happiness and is good for our health.
7. Wrap-Up
Reiterate the last two sentences in the previous bullet point. How wonderful, gentle, and caring that God of ours is to us. This is what the reformation (commemorated this week) is all about.
Sermon Text and Title
"The Great Commandment: It's All About God and What He Does"
Matthew 22:34-46
1. Theological Aim of the Sermon and Strategy
To proclaim our inability to fulfill the law and the great commandment on our own (Sin), but that the Holy Spirit and lover of God forgive us and inspire us to do spontaneously what God demands (Justification by Grace and Sanctification [construed in terms of the Spontaneity of Good Works]).
2. Exegesis (see Introduction to Selected Books of the Bible)
• Dialogue with the Pharisees about the great commandment and David's son.
• When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees [regarding the resurrection] (vv. 23-33), they gathered together and a lawyer among them raises a question to test Jesus regarding what the greatest commandment is (vv. 34-36).
• He cites Deuteronomy 6:5 that we are to love the Lord God with all our heart, soul, and mind (vv. 37-38). But adds that a second like it is to love thy neighbor as oneself (Leviticus 19:18) (v. 39).
• On these commandments, Jesus adds, hang all the law and the prophets (v. 40).
• While the Pharisees were gathered, Jesus asks them a question of what they think of the Messiah, whose son He is (vv. 41-42a). The Pharisees say that the Messiah is Son of David (v. 42b).
• Then Jesus asks how it is that David by the Spirit calls the Son Lord, citing Psalm 110:1 (vv. 43-44). For how could David call the Lord his son? The Pharisees fail to respond and from then on dare not ask further questions (vv. 45-46).
3. Theological Insights (see Charts of the Major Theological Options)
• The text proclaims God's Law (which condemns sin), but then the sermon proceeds to assure us of our forgiveness (Justification by Grace) and how the Spirit inspires us to love God and our neighbor (Sanctification as the Spontaneity of Good Works).
• Preaching on this text Martin Luther notes:
Therefore consider it an established fact that reason can never understand and fulfill the law, even though it knows the meaning of the law.
(Complete Sermons, Vol. 3/1, p. 177)
You may indeed do works outwardly, but God is not thus satisfied, when they are not done from the heart, out of love; and this is never done except man is born anew through the Holy Spirit.
(Complete Sermons, Vol. 3/1, p. 180)
But besides the Holy Spirit is given us, who kindles a new flame of fire in us, namely, love and desire to do God's commandments.
(Complete Sermons, Vol. 3/1, p. 188)
• In other sermons he writes:
Accordingly, we need to understand these two points well and make this distinction: Moses and the law belong to this life; but for the life to come we must have the Lord, who is called Christ... through the law and through works we cannot achieve the life to come. (Complete Sermons, Vol. 7, p. 57)
• Pope Benedict XVI reminds us that the love commanded in the text is really God's love:
No longer is it a question, then, of a "commandment" imposed from without and calling for the impossible, but rather of a freely bestowed experience of love from within, a love which by its very nature must then be shared with others. Love grows through love. Love is "divine" because it comes from God and unites us to God; through this unifying process it makes us a "we" which transcends our divisions and makes us one, until in the end God is "all in all."
(God Is Love, pp. 46-47)
• Mother Teresa offers interesting insights relevant to this text:
People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered;
Forgive them anyway...
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you've got anyway.
You see, in the final analysis, it is all between you and God;
It was never between you and them anyway.
In another context Teresa claimed: "I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world."
4. Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights
• For data on the legalistic propensities of Americans, see the next-to-last bullet point of this section for the Second Lesson, Advent 2.
5. Gimmick
Dramatically tell the story of the encounter between Jesus and the Pharisees, using the second, third, and fourth bullet points of Exegesis.
6. Possible Sermon Moves and/or Stories/Examples
• Say: "the great commandment." Repeat it and the second, of loving the neighbor. Note how this is music to most Americans' ears, because they think this is what Christianity is all about. Cite the data referred to in Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights.
• Too much attention to the great commandment seems to authorize this false belief of most Americans that they can be saved by the lives they live. But in fact it is just the opposite.
• Use the first two quotations by Martin Luther in the second bullet point of Theological Insights.
• Also consider the leads in Theological Insights for the First Lesson, Lent 1, to make clear how thoroughly mired in sin we are.
• We are so messed up in sin that when we hear the commands to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind and to love our neighbors as ourselves, we actually think we can or are doing it.
• Use Luther's comments in the last quote of the second bullet point of Theological Insights and in the third bullet point of that section. We need God to make these commandments happen. His Holy Spirit is what it takes for us even to come close to keeping them! God and the Spirit get us on fire to love the law and to yearn to want to keep these commandments. In that sense the great commandment and the one about loving our neighbor are not so much about what we do as about what God does!
• Use the quotation by Pope Benedict XVI in the next-to-last bullet point of Theological Insights. The great commandment and the one about loving our neighbor as ourselves is about love, about God's love, a love that makes us one.
• Use the poem by Mother Teresa in the last bullet point of Theological Insights. It's not easy to live the life Jesus prescribes for us. Even if we come close to loving God with all we have and love our neighbors as much as we love ourselves, something ornery in other people (and in ourselves) will get in the way. Teresa says it does not matter. It does not matter because ultimately this is all about our relation to God, not between us and others.
• Use the last comment in the last bullet point of Theological Insights regarding our being pencils for God's love letter to the world.
7. Wrap-Up
The commandment in our Gospel Lesson really is great, because it is all about God. It reminds us that all God wants from us is about our relation with Him, and about that and every other matter He is taking care of business for us!
It's what God does, not what we do, that counts!
Collect of the Day
Addressing God the holy lawgiver and the salvation of His people, petitions are raised by the faithful to be renewed in His covenant of love and trained to care tenderly for all neighbors. Justification and Sanctification are emphasized.
Psalm of the Day
Psalm 90:1-6, 13-17
• A prayer for deliverance from national adversity, in the genre of a group lament.
• A hymn-like introduction declaring God's eternity and the transience of human life (vv. 1-6). In God's time a thousand years is like an evening.
• The actual prayer for deliverance follows, asking that God would make the people glad as many days as He afflicted them, prospering the work of their hands (vv. 13-17).
or Psalm 1
• A psalm on the contrasting fate of the righteous and the wicked. This is a Wisdom Psalm.
• Those who avoid sin are happy, delighting in the Law of Yahweh and meditating on it (vv. 1-2). They are like trees planted in water, which yield fruit. They prosper in all they do (v. 3).
• The wicked are like chaff that the wind drives away. They will not stand in the judgment (vv. 4-5).
• Yahweh watches over the way of the righteous, but the wicked will perish (v. 6).
Sermon Text and Title
"Moses the Law-Giver Must Pass Away"
Deuteronomy 34:1-12
1. Theological Aim of the Sermon and Strategy
To proclaim the proper role and status of God's commandments (the law) in the life of a Christian. This is a sermon about Justification by Grace and Sanctification (Good Works as Spontaneous).
2. Exegesis (see Introduction to Selected Books of the Bible)
• The death of Moses. This account seems to resume the story from the end of Numbers 36.
• Leaving the plains of Moab (east of the Salt Sea) north to Mount Nebo (located in the Transjordan region, east of Jericho) to the top of Pisgah (a peak in that mountain range), Yahweh shows Moses the whole land -- Gilead, Naphtali, Ephriam, Manasseh, Judah, the Negeb, and the Jericho valley (vv. 1-3). All these regions, Yahweh claims, were promised to the patriarchs (v. 4a).
• Moses was only permitted to see the land and not cross into it (v. 4b).
• Moses the servant of the Lord then died, at Yahweh's command (v. 5). He was buried in a valley in Moab, but no one knows his burial place (v. 6). He was 120 when he died and still vigorous (v. 7).
• The Israelites mourned in the plains of Moab for thirty days (v. 8).
• Joshua the son of Nun was full of the Spirit of Wisdom, because Moses had laid hands on him, and the Israelites obeyed him as the Lord had commanded Moses (v. 9).
• Never since has a prophet arisen like Moses, whom Yahweh knew face-to-face (v. 10). He was unequaled for all the signs and wonders that the Lord sent him to perform (vv. 11-12).
3. Theological Insights (see Charts of the Major Theological Options)
• The text affords insights on the role of the law (Justification by Grace and Sanctification [Good Works as Spontaneous]).
• With regard to Moses' death John Wesley writes:
Neither his [Moses'] piety nor his usefulness would exempt him from death. God's servants must die, that they must rest from their labors, receive the recompense, and make room for others.
(Commentary on the Bible, p. 150)
• Commenting on this text Martin Luther notes:
The endurance of sight and strength in Moses signifies, according to the allegorical meaning, that the power of the law does not grow less through length of days or magnitude of deeds; but it always oppresses and rouses guilty consciences until it dies, that is, until it is done away with through Christ and the new ministry of grace is established.
(Luther's Works, Vol. 9, p. 310)
Finally, Moses is signified for his greatness... It also signifies that nothing greater can be taught and transmitted, so far as laws are concerned, than the Law of Moses.
(Ibid., pp. 310-311)
• About Moses, Luther adds:
By the law Moses is able to do no more than indicate what men are to do and not to do; but the power and ability to do and not to do it he does not give, and so he lets us stick in sin.
(What Luther Says, p. 977)
• Regarding the proper role for the commandments of Moses (the law) Martin Luther notes:
The gospel of Christ is the sun, the law is the moon. The moon is alike a bronze kettle when the sun is not shining. If you do not have the gospel, the law inspires fear and terror. But when the sin's light is reflected by the moon it, too, is a brilliant and shining light... so long as the two lights are shining, you can distinguish between day and night, between light and darkness; but when these two lights disappear, you have total night, complete darkness, absolute blackout.
(Complete Sermons, Vol. 7, pp. 68-69)
• In order to endure the chaos and apparent meaninglessness of life, we need to deny our feelings and let the word of God have the final say. Martin Luther well expressed these sentiments:
13. To this I reply: I have often said that feeling and faith are two different things. It is the nature of faith not to feel, to lay aside reason and close the eyes, to submit absolutely to the word, and follow it in life and death. Feeling however does not extend beyond that which may be apprehended by reason and the senses, which may be heard, seen, felt, and known by the outward senses. For this cause feeling is opposed to faith and faith is opposed to feeling.
(Complete Sermons, Vol. 1/2, p. 244)
4. Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights
• For data on the legalistic propensities of Americans, see the next-to-last bullet point of this section for the Second Lesson, Advent 2.
5. Gimmick
The story of the death of Moses. The great man of God, the giver of the Law of God, never got to the Promised Land. Use the last two bullet points of Exegesis.
6. Possible Sermon Moves and/or Stories/Examples
• Ask what this story has to do with us. Suggest that it has everything to do with the church this Sunday, with the 397th anniversary of the reformation this week. This is also a relevant story in view of American legalistic understandings of Christian faith. Follow the leads in Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights.
• Point out how this way of thinking (that works save) was precisely what Martin Luther was rejecting in the reformation (Luther's Works, Vol. 31, p. 39). Besides, the popular view in America on the need for keeping the commandments in order to be saved makes life a heavy burden, a guilt-trip.
• Moses, the great man of God, the man who embodies God's revelation of the Ten Commandments, passed away. What he embodies (a life lived according to the commandments of God) must die too.
• Use the second quotation by Martin Luther in the third bullet point of Theological Insights. The Law of Moses, the Ten Commandments, best embody how we are to live and what God demands.
• Great as Moses was he still was not exempt from passing away. Use the quotation by John Wesley in the second bullet point in Theological Insights to make this point.
• Just like Moses, like all of us, the commandments of God, the law, will and does pass away. Use Luther's comments in the fourth bullet point of Theological Insights. The commandments of God only indicate what we should do. They do not give us the power to do these things. So about all the commandments of God is to show us how sinful we are! (Consider leads in Theological Insights for the First Lesson, Lent 1.)
• Moses must die. The commandments of God must pass away, or we would be forever in this misery -- knowing what we should do, but not doing it. Use Martin Luther's statement in the first quotation of the third bullet point of Theological Insights. Only God's forgiving grace and love can put to death the commandments of Moses. And until that happens we will be oppressed, filled with doubt and guilt, always feeling we could and should do better and always feeling we have fallen short.
• Tell stories of Myrtle and Jim in the congregation, two people who represent congregational demographics. They want to do the right thing. They try hard and work hard. But they are falling short of their goals and don't always do the right thing -- lie sometimes to get ahead, back-stab, and never seem to have enough in these hard economic times. They know they are not doing all God expects of them, and it's a guilt-trip.
• Guilt is a life of misery. It is like the ancient Roman playwright Plautus once said: "Nothing is more wretched than the mind of a man conscious of guilt."
• Use the quote by Martin Luther in the next-to-last bullet point of Theological Insights. We need to shine the light of God's word of forgiving love (the gospel) on Moses' (on God's) Law. The gospel, its wonderful word of love and comfort, outshines the commandments and overcomes our guilt! It assures us Jims and Myrtles that everything will be all right, we are forgiven and can begin again.
7. Wrap-Up
Continue to elaborate on the quotation noted in the last bullet point. Note how we really need both the gospel and the commandments. Together they make life bright and give us guidance. Like the sun illumines the moon, the gospel helps us love Moses' vision and helps us love the commandments of God. That's why even though Moses is dead, we remember him and his legacy. The gospel makes us love him and it, gives us hope and forgiveness to plunge into life again (in the words of the Collect, caring tenderly for our neighbors). When we do this we not only live as God intends. We also celebrate the heritage of the reformation.
First Lesson Complementary Version
Leviticus 19:1-2, 15-18 (see First Lesson, Epiphany 7)
• Part of a discourse on the life of holiness. Reference is made to loving one's neighbor as oneself.
• The reference to loving the neighbor links with the Gospel Lesson (Matthew 22:39). Thus it makes sense to draw on insights from that Gospel Lesson, to show that the law's purpose is to condemn our sin. Insights from any of the assigned lessons for the day can be useful for that purpose.
Sermon Text and Title
"A Little Chiding Along With the Gentleness of that Gentle God of Ours"
1 Thessalonians 2:1-8
1. Theological Aim of the Sermon and Strategy
To proclaim our sin (that we need to be chided with God's Law in order to see it) and especially the comforting good news of God's gentle love for us (Justification by Grace) and its implications for Sanctification.
2. Exegesis (see Introduction to Selected Books of the Bible)
• Part of Paul's description of his life and work at Thessalonica.
• Paul notes that the Thessalonians know that his coming to them was not in vain (v. 1). Though suffering at Philippi, he had the courage in God to declare the gospel to them in spite of opposition (v. 2).
• He insists that his appeal does not spring from impure motives but has been entrusted by God to speak not to please mortals, but to please God who tests the hearts (vv. 3-4).
• God is Paul's witness that he never came with flattery or with a pretext for greed, nor did he seek praise (vv. 5-6).
• He does concede that he might have made demands as an apostle of Christ but always in a gentle way like a nurse cares for children (v. 7).
• Paul notes how he deeply cares for the Thessalonians and is determined to share the gospel and himself with them, for they are very dear to him (v. 8).
3. Theological Insights (see Charts of the Major Theological Options)
• A reflection on ministry (how to do it), with special attention in the sermon to the need to condemn sin in order for us to hear and receive the joyful word of God's loving gentleness and forgiveness.
• Offering a comment most relevant to this text, Saint Patrick once wrote:
Now, I call God as witness upon my soul that I am not lying, and that I have not written to you as an opportunity for flattery or greed, and that... He who promised is faithful; He never tells lies.
(Life and Writings, p. 120)
• Reflecting on Paul's observation in the text, John Calvin writes:
Let us know, therefore, that true ministries of the gospel ought to make it their aim to devote to God their endeavours, and to do it from the heart, not from any outward regard to the world, but because conscience tells them it is right and proper.
(Calvin's Commentaries, Vol. XXI/2, p. 250)
For where avarice and ambition reign, innumerable corruptions follow, and the whole man passes away into vanity, for these are the two sources from which the corruption of the whole ministry takes its rise.
(Ibid., p. 251)
• Famed nineteenth-century Danish theologian N.F.S. Grundtvig comments on why it is necessary to proclaim the Law of God (make demands) for the good news of the gospel to be heard:
It is irrevocably true that whoever is not convinced by what his own conscience tells him about his natural sinfulness, his inability to accomplish that which is good by his own strength, and his lack of any sincere desire for eternal life and happiness -- such a person -- will really never, in spirit and truth, become a Christian, for he is simply not conscious of any personal need of the forgiveness of sin.
(What Constitutes Authentic Christianity, p. 97)
But through the proclamation of the teachings of Christianity they were made very conscious of that deep void within themselves which Christianity promises to fill.
(Ibid., p. 99)
4. Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights
• Americans do not want to hear about their sin. They think they are basically good. See the last bullet point of this section for the Gospel, Good Friday. The results of a 2012 Roper Public Opinion poll undergird this as 63% of Americans seem to believe that most people who want to can work to get ahead.
• As recently as in a 2005 poll by the Associated Press it was found that 69% of the American public believe that Americans are more rude than twenty or thirty years ago.
• The good-feeling monoamine (brain chemical that reinforces new neural connections and behavior) oxytocin is relevant to this text (esp. to v. 7). It produces calming effects and also has a positive impact on health. This monoamine is especially secreted in parental nurturing of children, an image on which Paul relies to refer to his care (and so God's care) of the Thessalonians. See Kersin Uvnas-Moberg, The Oxytocin Factor: Tapping the Hormone of Calm, Love, and Feeling. Also see the last bullet point of this section for the Gospel, Epiphany 6.
5. Gimmick
Cite the data in the second bullet point of Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights.
6. Possible Sermon Moves and/or Stories/Examples
• Elaborate on how little we seem to care in America, noting our rudeness to each other, bad manners, lack of customer service, the sense of many that we are on our own, and it is up to each of us individually to take care of ourselves. That is why so many of us want "small government."
• In our lesson, Paul makes clear that such brusqueness and rudeness is not his way and not God's way. He commends gentleness, which is the way of God (vv. 7-8).
• Consider the quotation by Saint Patrick in the second bullet point of Theological Insights to elaborate on Paul's intentions, that ministry and Christian life is not all about fake flattery and niceness, it is about being gentle, but also being faithful and not telling lies.
• Review Paul's point in verse 7 again. Gentle as he tried to be, nurturing as God is, still it is necessary to make some demands of faithful folks like us, of Americans. Consider the second quotation by John Calvin in the third bullet point of Theological Insights.
• We do not want to hear such demands, especially because they make us feel guilty; they condemn us. They reveal our sin. Use the quote by Martin Luther in the fourth bullet point of Theological Insights for the First Lesson, and the quotation by famed father of existentialism Søren Kierkegaard in the last bullet point of that section for the Second Lesson, Reformation.
• Americans do not believe or want to hear this word of condemnation. Use data noted in the first bullet point of Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights. A little chiding, done gently, sets the stage for the good news that we have a gentle God who forgives.
• Note that sometimes in our desire to be gentle we fail to condemn sin and that leads to a kind of permissiveness in society, a feeling among Christians that God is getting a good deal loving us (not much to forgive). That mindset opens the door to secularism, a life without God. Ask the congregation if this might account for the increasing growth of secularism in America. Note the data in the last bullet point of Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights for the First Lesson, Advent 3, and for the first bullet point of that section for the Gospel, Christmas. A 2010 Pew Forum poll indicated that the Millennial Generation is the fastest growing segment of the population with no religious affiliation.
• It is clear that we need this word of condemning our sin to get us away from the secularist mindset that we are good enough to get along quite well without God. Use the quotation by famed nineteenth-century Danish theologian and hymn writer Nikolai Grundtvig in the last bullet point of Theological Insights.
• God's gentleness and forgiveness (what Paul refers to in v. 7) fills our emptiness, because of our inadequacies and sense of being adrift in life. The tender gentleness of God keeps us going and gives us strength. It is as Chinese author Elizabeth Comber wrote (under her pen name Han Suyin): "There is nothing stronger in the world than gentleness." Such sentiments were expressed early in the seventeenth century by the French Catholic saint Francis de Sales: "Nothing is so strong as gentleness, nothing so gentle as real strength."
• As Paul nurtured the faithful like a nurse or mother cares for a child (v. 7), this is God's style for us. Repeat the terms "nursing" and "nurturing." Note the data about such interactions of gentleness and care that our brains are saturated with the calming brain chemical oxytocin. See the last bullet point of Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights. Paul's way of condemning our sin and caring for us with love, our way of doing it to ourselves and others, is God's way of chiding us along with a lot of gentleness. This way leads to happiness and is good for our health.
7. Wrap-Up
Reiterate the last two sentences in the previous bullet point. How wonderful, gentle, and caring that God of ours is to us. This is what the reformation (commemorated this week) is all about.
Sermon Text and Title
"The Great Commandment: It's All About God and What He Does"
Matthew 22:34-46
1. Theological Aim of the Sermon and Strategy
To proclaim our inability to fulfill the law and the great commandment on our own (Sin), but that the Holy Spirit and lover of God forgive us and inspire us to do spontaneously what God demands (Justification by Grace and Sanctification [construed in terms of the Spontaneity of Good Works]).
2. Exegesis (see Introduction to Selected Books of the Bible)
• Dialogue with the Pharisees about the great commandment and David's son.
• When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees [regarding the resurrection] (vv. 23-33), they gathered together and a lawyer among them raises a question to test Jesus regarding what the greatest commandment is (vv. 34-36).
• He cites Deuteronomy 6:5 that we are to love the Lord God with all our heart, soul, and mind (vv. 37-38). But adds that a second like it is to love thy neighbor as oneself (Leviticus 19:18) (v. 39).
• On these commandments, Jesus adds, hang all the law and the prophets (v. 40).
• While the Pharisees were gathered, Jesus asks them a question of what they think of the Messiah, whose son He is (vv. 41-42a). The Pharisees say that the Messiah is Son of David (v. 42b).
• Then Jesus asks how it is that David by the Spirit calls the Son Lord, citing Psalm 110:1 (vv. 43-44). For how could David call the Lord his son? The Pharisees fail to respond and from then on dare not ask further questions (vv. 45-46).
3. Theological Insights (see Charts of the Major Theological Options)
• The text proclaims God's Law (which condemns sin), but then the sermon proceeds to assure us of our forgiveness (Justification by Grace) and how the Spirit inspires us to love God and our neighbor (Sanctification as the Spontaneity of Good Works).
• Preaching on this text Martin Luther notes:
Therefore consider it an established fact that reason can never understand and fulfill the law, even though it knows the meaning of the law.
(Complete Sermons, Vol. 3/1, p. 177)
You may indeed do works outwardly, but God is not thus satisfied, when they are not done from the heart, out of love; and this is never done except man is born anew through the Holy Spirit.
(Complete Sermons, Vol. 3/1, p. 180)
But besides the Holy Spirit is given us, who kindles a new flame of fire in us, namely, love and desire to do God's commandments.
(Complete Sermons, Vol. 3/1, p. 188)
• In other sermons he writes:
Accordingly, we need to understand these two points well and make this distinction: Moses and the law belong to this life; but for the life to come we must have the Lord, who is called Christ... through the law and through works we cannot achieve the life to come. (Complete Sermons, Vol. 7, p. 57)
• Pope Benedict XVI reminds us that the love commanded in the text is really God's love:
No longer is it a question, then, of a "commandment" imposed from without and calling for the impossible, but rather of a freely bestowed experience of love from within, a love which by its very nature must then be shared with others. Love grows through love. Love is "divine" because it comes from God and unites us to God; through this unifying process it makes us a "we" which transcends our divisions and makes us one, until in the end God is "all in all."
(God Is Love, pp. 46-47)
• Mother Teresa offers interesting insights relevant to this text:
People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered;
Forgive them anyway...
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you've got anyway.
You see, in the final analysis, it is all between you and God;
It was never between you and them anyway.
In another context Teresa claimed: "I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world."
4. Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights
• For data on the legalistic propensities of Americans, see the next-to-last bullet point of this section for the Second Lesson, Advent 2.
5. Gimmick
Dramatically tell the story of the encounter between Jesus and the Pharisees, using the second, third, and fourth bullet points of Exegesis.
6. Possible Sermon Moves and/or Stories/Examples
• Say: "the great commandment." Repeat it and the second, of loving the neighbor. Note how this is music to most Americans' ears, because they think this is what Christianity is all about. Cite the data referred to in Socio-Economic, Political, Psychological, and Scientific Insights.
• Too much attention to the great commandment seems to authorize this false belief of most Americans that they can be saved by the lives they live. But in fact it is just the opposite.
• Use the first two quotations by Martin Luther in the second bullet point of Theological Insights.
• Also consider the leads in Theological Insights for the First Lesson, Lent 1, to make clear how thoroughly mired in sin we are.
• We are so messed up in sin that when we hear the commands to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind and to love our neighbors as ourselves, we actually think we can or are doing it.
• Use Luther's comments in the last quote of the second bullet point of Theological Insights and in the third bullet point of that section. We need God to make these commandments happen. His Holy Spirit is what it takes for us even to come close to keeping them! God and the Spirit get us on fire to love the law and to yearn to want to keep these commandments. In that sense the great commandment and the one about loving our neighbor are not so much about what we do as about what God does!
• Use the quotation by Pope Benedict XVI in the next-to-last bullet point of Theological Insights. The great commandment and the one about loving our neighbor as ourselves is about love, about God's love, a love that makes us one.
• Use the poem by Mother Teresa in the last bullet point of Theological Insights. It's not easy to live the life Jesus prescribes for us. Even if we come close to loving God with all we have and love our neighbors as much as we love ourselves, something ornery in other people (and in ourselves) will get in the way. Teresa says it does not matter. It does not matter because ultimately this is all about our relation to God, not between us and others.
• Use the last comment in the last bullet point of Theological Insights regarding our being pencils for God's love letter to the world.
7. Wrap-Up
The commandment in our Gospel Lesson really is great, because it is all about God. It reminds us that all God wants from us is about our relation with Him, and about that and every other matter He is taking care of business for us!
