Third Sunday after Pentecost - Video of Divine Service with text of Sermon
Video of Divine Service at St. Luke, Rensselaer
Third Sunday after Pentecost
Romans 5:6-15
Matthew 9:35-10:8
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Cor 1:2) Amen.
The Apostle Paul uses three words to describe our natural state before God: weak, sinners, enemies. The word weak can refer to any number of things, but in this context it certainly does not mean lack of physical strength or lack of mental acuity. A man that is strong as an ox can be weak. A person with a high IQ and is recognized as brilliant can be weak.
Weak refers to poor choices. Why can the strong man not resist the lure of drinking alcohol to excess? Shouldn’t a lesson be learned after the first hang-over? Why can’t the one with the high IQ resist the urge to return to the casino and once again lose all the family’s money? Shouldn’t he be intelligent enough to learn after the first fiasco that he cannot outsmart chance? Yes, lessons should be learned, but weakness implies an inability to learn, resist the attraction, change direction, and make sounder choices.
God did not intend for us to be weak, sinful, or enemies of God. The Hymn of the Day says it well. “O God, O Lord, of heaven and earth, Thy living finger never wrote that life should be an aimless mote, a deathward drift from futile birth.” At our core is rebellion against God. Our collective weakness and rebellion prevent us from reconciling with God by our own volition and power.
While we own our own choices, the Apostle Paul lays the ultimate blame of our sinful, corrupt, human nature at the feet of Adam’s choices in the Garden of Eden. His posterity is forever affected by his disobedience in the Garden. He rebelled against God by wanting to be like God. He forgot that he was the creature, not the creator. The created creature can never ascend to the position of the creator. Pride and subsequent arrogance led him to let the tempter keep on talking and be persuaded to partake of what is forbidden. We are all affected by that series of decisions. The Bible and human history record the worst of what that series of decisions leads to. Jealousy, greed, hunger, abuse, violence, murder, war, and the list goes on. Additional results of Adam’s decision are that death becomes a part of human existence. As does sickness, both mental and physical. Before God and without God’s intervention, our corruption leads to decay, self-destruction, death. We follow the desires of our flesh. We are lost without God’s saving help.
As the Apostle Paul systematically lays out the awful truth of our human nature, he also tells us of the depths of God’s mercy and kindness to us. Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, becomes incarnate for our sakes. As the Hymn of the Day poetically says it, “Thou came to our hall of death, O Christ, to breath our poisoned air, to drink for us the dark despair that strangled our reluctant breath.” Breathe and live he did. He spoke. He instructed. He healed. He created the church to be the visible presence of Christ in our communities. The Church continues to speak the truth of human nature and that Christ Jesus is the only true source of healing for our corrupt nature. Christ heals us by His death on the cross. The incarnate God-Man Jesus reconciles us to God. Jesus, the sinless one, dies so that all people receive forgiveness. Jesus atones for our sins. The cross of Christ Jesus bridges the gap between us and God. Through faith in Christ, we receive the grace of His reconciling forgiveness.
The Gospel reading says Jesus first sent out his apostles into Israel to continue his ministry of healing. At the end of the Gospel of Matthew, the Apostles are sent out into the wider world to teach and baptize in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Ever since then, the ongoing work of the church has been to explain to those who do not believe that they are lost before God. The world can grow so used to living with the corruption of our human nature that they do not know that there is a different way to be. The world simply takes for granted and appropriates greed, jealousy, addictions, violence, war, ruptured families and so on for its own purposes. The state of things is simply the way things are. Christ mandates the church to explain to the world and to its wayward constituents, that the way things are, is not the way things are supposed to be. God does not want us to indulge in or flounder in our weaknesses. God desires creativity. God does not desire harmful rebellion. God does not want the pinnacle of His creation to be an enemy of God. He does not want us to be consumed by sin. He does not want us to continue to miss the mark of His intent for us. God desires better for us. Jesus makes it better for us by dying for us. Even while were weak, sinners, and enemies of God, Jesus died on the cross for us. He atones for our sins so that we can dwell in His forgiveness. From the love and forgiveness of God, we have a foundation on which to build.
The Church bears witness that there is a better way to live. The weakness, sin, and enmity of people do not have to be how it always is. On this side of the grave, positive, life-affirming, people-building, community flourishing ways of living can be developed and achieved with God’s help. The way forward begins with the recognition that we are incomplete without God. Without Christ Jesus saving us, we are weak. We are sinners destined to always fall short of each other’s and God’s expectations. Without Christ we are enemies of each other and of God.
The Good News is that God decided to help us. Help comes in Jesus. He is born for us. He dies for us. He rises from the dead for us. He is the hope for our humanity. He is the hope for our future. The church bear witness to God’s power to give us a better life. Through the Holy Spirit we trust in His Word.
The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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