Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God the Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen!
Fa la la la la, la la, la la! It’s only the first of September! It’s way too early for Christmas carols! But it’s never too early for la - that is law - as in God’s law. When we hear this term what do we instantly think of? Commandments. Rules. Regulations. Do this. Don’t do that. We don’t really even give it a second thought. All of our society is based on laws that everyone needs to operate inside of. What happens when people don’t obey the traffic laws? If people arbitrarily decide that “I’m not going to stop at red lights today.” It might be ok, if nobody else is around. But chances are there’s going to be an accident. Or up on my street on South Hill, where there’s been a traffic detour for months on end and people think they don’t need to slow down and yield at uncontrolled intersections. There was a car flipped on its side in the middle of the intersection! Or what about football? The coach or the quarterback pick a play, what happens if the players don’t do what they are supposed do and go where they are supposed to go? You end up with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, right?! You get the drift.
The law is where we are at today. Moses. The Israelites. Way back in the day. “And now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the rules that I am teaching you, and do them, that you may live, and go in and take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you. 2 You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you” (Deut. 4:1-2). Normally we think of the 10 Commandments when it comes to the law. Luther included them as one section of the Small Catechism as the backbone of Christian ethics and morality. But Israel received more than only the 10 Commandments. They had laws about religion and ceremonies, they had civil laws for every day life in addition to the laws about morality.
When we tend to think about the Commandments or laws in general, we generally will concede that they are there for the mutual benefit of everyone, of society. That life will go well if people follow the rules. Or, conversely, we fear the wrath and consequences if we don’t. If you break these laws you get a fine or you can even wind up in the slammer! But notice what Moses tells Israel about God’s laws: “Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people’” (Deut.4:6). A wise and understanding people! The people who live the way God wants them to live are full of wisdom and understanding. They are set apart, they are different, from all the other peoples of the world who stumble around in the darkness of their pagan ways, doing whatever they felt like as long as it benefited them.
But what is always the problem when it comes to rules and regulations? They are made to be … broken, right? Or, they are made to be rigorously kept to the absolute letter! We talked about all this not too long ago when we talked about the ‘lawless and the legalists’, the ‘anti-nomians’ and the ‘goody two-shoes,’ do you remember that?! It was a few weeks back now already. But today, Moses warns the people not to add to them or subtract from them. What God gave them is all they needed, stick with that. And there is an extra purpose with the law too. Moses writes “For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is to us, whenever we call upon Him?” (Deut. 4:7) This is actually the greater vision of the law, the ‘bird’s eye view’ so to speak. That the nations and peoples that surrounded Israel would be able to see the One True God through the lives of His people as His people lived their lives in accordance with His word. They would be overflowing with wisdom and understanding as His word changed the hearts of the people to be filled with mercy and compassion, caring and gracious, loving their neighbours as themselves. And, that the people of Israel themselves would remember that the Lord was with them as they called upon Him in prayer, praise and thanksgiving.
This is what should have happened. People should have had hearts overflowing with obedience because of God’s grace and kindness that He showed them.
Instead, Israel and the Pharisees during our Lord’s ministry fell into the legalism trap. We heard about this in our Romans reading. They didn’t succeed in reaching the law “Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, 33 as it is written,”Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame”“ (9:32-33). The legalists failed because they approached the Law as if by it they could gain favour with God, as if it could be legalistically earned. They didn’t serve God with humble faith in His forgiveness and love, but instead strove to fulfill the Law self-righteously through works. They served God in their pride, thinking that by following the Law to the very letter, God would be obligated to bless them.
This was why the Pharisees always had such a rough time with Jesus. And also why Jesus gave them such a rough time. More than any other group of people, the Lord smacked them around relentlessly. They rejected Him for this too and they “stumbled over the stone of stumbling!” Because they were filled with the pride of their legalism, they tripped and fell into judgment. Jesus came to trip the proud who trust in their own works, hoping that the fall and the sudden stop on the ground might snap some sense into them! Repent of the legalism. Instead, embrace humble faith that does not put us to shame. This is who the true people of God are, Jew or Gentile, those who have faith in the Messiah. Those who repent of their sin of legalism and or lawlessness.
The crux of this issue of the law is always one of the heart. The Pharisees, the scribes and teachers of the law, these were the ones who should have known better. They honored God with their lips, but their hearts were far, far away (MK 7:6). Listen to them in the Gospel reading. What are they hung up on? What is their big hill to die on? Washing dishes. “the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches” (MK 7:4). Are you kidding me?! They are flipping out about hand sanitizer! “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” Oh the horror! They have missed the boat completely. Here is the washing they should have been concentrated on: “25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules” (Ezekiel 36:25-27). St. Paul also drives this point home in his letter to Titus: “4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life” (3:4-7).
We understand this as Holy Baptism, that washing away of our sins in faith and repentance in order to have a heart that is filled with the Holy Spirit. This is what washes away the legalism. This is what cleanses the lawlessness. It fills us with the bigger picture - following God’s commandments and keeping them from the heart so that others will see Jesus and His cross and resurrection, through all that we say and do. This is the purpose of the law. That our hearts may ever be close to our God who has washed us with life and salvation in Christ. To Him be the glory now and forever more. Amen!
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