Psalm 28; Exodus 20:1-17; Romans 6:1-11
St.
Matthew 5:17-26
In the name of the Father, and of the T Son,
and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
At the time of our Lord’s Incarnation, the Pharisees
believed the Law of God required outward obedience. They had begun to teach
Israel how to outwardly obey the Law so that they might become holy. The
Pharisees recognized that sin infects the whole person, that the inward
motivations of the heart cannot perfectly obey the Law of God. But in their
view, the Law did not require this. The Law only required outward obedience.
This they believed was achievable. Through such outward obedience, they would
be made holy, and this holiness would make them acceptable to God.
The primary error in this teaching of the Pharisees is their
view of the Law. God’s Law demands perfect obedience – outward obedience,
inward obedience, conscious, unconscious – perfect obedience. “Whoever shall
keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.”[1] The Law of God is perfect and holy,
therefore it requires perfect and holy obedience.
No man is capable of such obedience. We may be able to
keep portions of the Law in an outward manner, we may even be able to keep the
whole Law in an outward manner, but so long as we dwell on this side of heaven,
Original Sin guarantees we will transgress the Law inwardly. We will also certainly
sin outwardly.
Our
Lord is teaching this precise lesson in today’s portion of the Sermon on the
Mount. “I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness
of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.”[2] The Pharisees were outwardly
righteous. They outwardly kept the Law better than anyone else. Yet entrance
into heaven requires more righteousness than this. The Law of God requires
perfect righteousness. Keeping the Law in every jot and tittle.
You have heard what God said in the Ten Commandments,
“You shall not murder.” The Pharisees have taught you that to keep this
commandment means do not kill people. But Jesus says that whoever is angry is
in danger of judgment. Jesus says whoever calls his brother empty-headed[3] is in danger of the council. Jesus
says that anyone who calls his brother a moron[4] is in danger of hell fire.
These words of Jesus should not be easily dismissed. At the heart of murder is anger. Cain was first angry with God and Abel. This anger consumed him and led to his murderous act. Should Cain have called Abel a moron, Jesus says the result would’ve been the same. Cain would be in danger of hell fire. ‘The tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. It defiles the whole body and sets on fire the course of nature. No man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.’[5] Sticks and stones may break our bones, but words hurt forever. The consequences of our words hurt forever.
If we cannot keep the Law as God has commanded, how can
we call the Law Good, Wise, and Holy? St. Paul says the Law “imprisons all
under sin, that the promise of grace might be given.”[6] If a man has cancer, but does not feel
the effects, he will not seek treatment. However, when set against the good and
set standards used in testing, his cancer is revealed, and he knows where to
seek treatment. The Law functions the same way for man. The Law reveals your
sin and calls your attention to it. You realize that you are imprisoned under
the Law. Like the all-too-often death sentence of cancer, the Law reveals not
only the cause (being sin) but the result (death).
Christ our Lord is calling our attention to our sin. He
is pointing out the sin residing in our hearts that we might identify it,
repent of it, then flee from it. The instruction to be reconciled to your
brother and your adversary are examples of the fruit of repentance. The one whose
righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees seeks reconciliation.
Where do we turn for help? We cannot keep the Law for we
sin daily and we sin much. We turn to Christ. The Son of God has come to
fulfill the Law, not to destroy it. It would be impossible for Christ to
destroy the Law. First because the Law is the Will of God. It is Christ’s own
Will. He cannot destroy his own Will. Second, the Law is eternal. It is
essential to God. Third, if Christ were to destroy the Law, how would man
realize his sin? How could anyone be saved if his need for a Savior remained
hidden? Sin has so corrupted mankind that without the Will of God we would be
content to live in our sins. We would know nothing better until the day we die and
see Abraham from afar in our eternal torments.
Christ used the Law of God to show Cain his sin before he ever killed Abel. When Cain was angry, Christ said to him, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.”[7] This was God calling Cain to repentance of the sin in his heart and warning him of the consequences for allowing that sin to fester. God desired reconciliation between Cain and Abel. Cain refused this Word of God, allowed the sin of his heart “to give birth to sin, and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.”[8]
What then does it mean that Jesus came to fulfill the
Law? That not one jot or tittle will pass away until all is fulfilled? In the
first place, it means that Jesus was born under the Law that he might keep it
perfectly. God himself took on our flesh in order to submit to the Law of God.
Jesus actively kept the Law in every way. Never once did he break the Law in
thought, word, or deed. He kept it perfectly. This active obedience of Jesus
fulfilled the Ten Commandments. His active obedience fulfilled all the
commandments God has given to man. But the active obedience of Christ was not
enough to redeem you. It was not enough to save your soul from deserving hell.
Jesus also submitted himself to God’s justice. The Law of
God requires not only obedience, but it requires justice for transgression. It
requires payment be made for the debt of sin. The wages of sin is death.
Therefore, God’s justice requires the death of the sinner. Jesus, though he
knew no sin, took the place of sinners. He died the death that we’ve earned.
Death had no claim on him because he did not sin. They still beat him, stripped
him, and crucified him. Jesus really died. He died because he bore your sins.
But death could not hold him. It would be unjust for
death to hold Jesus because he was without sin himself. His holiness exceeds
the sin of the world. Therefore, when he rose from the grave, it was in victory
over death. It was in victory over sin. This fulfilled the Law of God. Jesus
fulfilled the commandments of the Law through his active obedience, his perfect
keeping of the Law. Jesus also fulfilled the justice of the Law through his
passive obedience, submitting to death on the cross on your behalf.
It is this death into which you are baptized. You are
baptized into death with Christ, so that you would also rise with him.[9] In Holy Baptism, you died. One who has
died has also been freed from sin.[10] You have been freed from the sting of
death which is sin, and the strength of sin is the Law.[11]
“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?”[12] The Law is fulfilled, not destroyed. God’s Holy Law is Eternal and Good. Those who have died to sin now look to the Law to see “those good works which God has prepared that we should walk in them.”[13] We look to the Law to see what it is to live like our Heavenly Father, to live according to His Word in love and service to our neighbor.
This is also the teaching of Christ in the Sermon on the
Mount. How does one become more righteous than the Pharisees? Through the Blood
of Jesus that has fulfilled the Law. What does that look like? It looks like
seeking reconciliation. Notice that whoever is angry, or says “Raca” or “moron”
is in danger of judgment, the council, and hell fire. These things are
bad for you because by doing them, you are allowing sin to rule you. You are
returning to the sin of Cain.
Instead, be reconciled to your brother. Repent and beg
forgiveness. Then walk in love. In doing these things, in seeking to keep the
Law of God, you are not making yourself more righteous than the Pharisees. Rather,
you are showing that the righteousness of Christ already belongs to you.
In
T Jesus’ name. Amen.
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