Rev. Charles Lehmann + Matthew 9:9-13 + Pentecost 3
In the Name of + Jesus. Amen.
People haven't really changed much in two thousand years. When the
Pharisees looked at Matthew, they saw a tax collector. When they looked at his
friends, they saw the friends of a tax collector. To them it was pretty
simple. Tax collectors were evil people and anyone who would have had a tax
collector for a friend must've been just as evil as the tax collector. They
must have been sinners.
They were right, of course. Matthew's friends were sinners. Where the
Pharisees went wrong was in thinking that they weren't sinners. The Pharisees
thought too much of themselves. They wouldn't allow the Law to cut them. They
replaced God's law with hundreds of rules that they'd made up. Instead of
letting the law convict them of their sin, the Pharisees made the law into
something that they could do. This made things a lot easier. It let the
Pharisees think they were pleasing God. They said all the right prayers. They
offered all the right sacrifices. They read and listened to the Scriptures.
As far as they were concerned, they were doing an outstanding job of keeping
the Law and earning their salvation. They weren't like those tax collectors
and sinners. They were righteous in their own eyes. They were doing all the
right things, and to them that was true religious piety.
Of course, we're no better. We like to beat up on the Pharisees and
pretend that we're different, but really we're not. We all pay attention to
who is active in church activities and who isn't. Sometimes, at least in the
back of our minds, pride creeps in. We let ourselves think that it's what
we're doing that makes us Christians. There's a little Pharisee in each of us.
We want to be doing things. It is often by what we do that we assess our
own worth as people. The worst days are sometimes the ones when we work all
day but don't think we accomplished anything. Sometimes we even set up things
to do when we're on vacation. On this day we're going to visit this park, go
on this hike, and drive to this town. And if something takes longer than we
expect, and we don't get everything done, then a sense of failure can gnaw at
us. The Law places demands on us that we can't ever meet. There is no escape
from the Law's bite. We can't fulfill the Law, and we can't drive it away. We
are powerless. Left to our own devices the demands of God's Law will kill us
eternally. If we are to find release, it must be because the Lord gives it.
He must rescue us from the Law and its demands.
And so Jesus comes to us from the midst of tax collectors and sinners and
says, “Go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.'” Since
it is always a good idea to do what the Lord bids us to do, let's listen to His
words and at His bidding learn what they mean.
Jesus gave the words “I desire mercy, not sacrifice” first to the prophet
Hosea. “Come, let us return to the Lord. He has torn us to pieces but he will
heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds. After two days he
will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his
presence. What can I do with you, Ephraim? What can I do with you, Judah?
Your love is like the morning mist, like the early dew that disappears.
Therefore I cut you in pieces with my prophets. I killed you with the words of
my mouth. For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather
than burnt offerings.”
The Lord's words ring true, of course. They are true for the Pharisees,
and they are true for us. The Pharisees looked upon Matthew and His friends
with contempt. Their love was like morning mist, and it disappeared with the
early dew. And we are the same. No one ever measures up to the standards we
set for them. There's always a bit more they could have done, and they
probably could have done it a bit better. But the measuring stick is often a
bit different for ourselves. We know our struggles. We know the strains of
our daily lives, and so we cut ourselves some slack. And so we sometimes end
up loving ourselves and judging our neighbor.
And so we must do what we want to do least. We must listen to the Lord's
law. We must let it judge us. We must let it drive us into the pit. We must
let it do its work so that we might say, “Come, let us return to the Lord. He
has torn us into pieces, but he will heal us; he has injured us, but he will
bind up our wounds.”
When we focus on what we're doing, we can forget what the Lord's doing for
us. That, dear Christians, was the problem with the Pharisees. They desired
sacrifice, and not mercy. They knew all the rules about offering sacrifices on
the temple mount, but they had forgotten who was doing the work and why.
In Leviticus 17, the Lord had said, “For the life of the flesh is in the
blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your
souls.” It's an amazing fact that the Pharisees had forgotten. Even when the
priest's hands are slaughtering the animal and placing it on the altar, it's
God that's doing it. God gives the sacrifice on the altar. The priests don't
offer it. God does. Though the Lord uses the priest's hands, it is God, not
man, that offers the sacrifice. The Lord gives the blood and accepts the
blood. The Lord alone saves His people. He doesn't need our help.
Jesus says to the Pharisees, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” He desires
to give mercy. Though the people deserve wrath, wrath is not what the Lord
delights in. His joy, his delight, his source of purest pleasure is in
forgiving your sin. He wants to cleanse you from all your iniquity, and He
wants to receive you with a Father's arms as His very own child.
And so, in the fullness of time, the Father sent His Son, born of a virgin.
He offered His very own child as the sacrifice that paid for all sin for all
time in every place. He received Jesus' own blood to make atonement for your
souls. All of the wrath that you deserve has been borne by Jesus. On the
cross Jesus suffered an eternity in hell for each of you, and because He has
suffered the full wrath of God, no wrath is left for you. Jesus holds back the
wrath and gives you mercy and forgiveness in its place. Jesus, not you, has
done the work that saves you. Not only has God offered the sacrifice to
forgive your sins, but He has become the very sacrifice that has won your
forgiveness. He desires to give mercy.
The Lord does not desire sacrifice if we think that by it we earn the favor
that He has already freely showered upon us. The sacrifice that God requires,
God offers to Himself. And even as Jesus is now risen from the dead and has
been received by His Father, so shall God the Father also receive you.
He has claimed you by the waters of Holy Baptism. He has washed you and
made you clean and holy before Him. He did not need your help to save you. He
has done it all, and because of that you can be certain. Nothing that the Lord
does is unsure. Because your salvation is completely His work, you are free.
You are free to live in the certain hope that God has handled your salvation.
You are free to offer your service to the one who really needs it, your
neighbor. You are free to let the love that God has freely shown you move on
to all who are around you.
You do not love your neighbor because you earn anything by it. You do it
because the Lord has delighted in showing mercy to you. You do it because
that's who you are now. You are a baptized child of God who delights in
loving, just as God loves.
“Come, let us return to the Lord. He has torn us to pieces but he will
heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds.” The Lord Jesus has
come into your human flesh. He has suffered all for you. And though the Law
does pierce our heart and reveal our sin, Jesus has healed us. He has bound up
our wounds.
And so He comes to you now and says, “I love you. You do not need to prove
yourself to me. You do not need to make yourself worthy of me. I come to you
as you are, a sinner. I take your sins into myself, because I do not want you
to suffer under them. You are mine, and you will live in joy with me forever.
I am your Savior. I have redeemed you.”
And so, people loved by God, you now may live in peace. You need to earn
the favor of the one who loved you from before the foundation of the world.
You do not need to impress the one who didn't even hold back his only Son. He
loved you before you were even conceived.
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Rev. Charles R. Lehmann
Pastor-Elect, Saint John's Lutheran Church, Accident, MD
http://chaz-lehmann.livejournal.com
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