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The Eighteenth Sunday
after Trinity.
The Collect.
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ORD, we beseech
thee, grant thy people grace to withstand the temptations of the world, the
flesh, and the devil; and with pure hearts and minds to follow thee, the only
God; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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hen the Pharisees had heard that Jesus had put the
Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question,
tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God
with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the
first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love
thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the
prophets. While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them,
saying, What think ye of Christ? whose son is he?
They say unto him, The son of David. He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying, The LORD
said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy
footstool? If David then call him Lord, how is he his son? And no man
was able to answer him a word, neither durst any man from that day forth ask
him any more questions. (Matt 22:34-46)
The Pharisees
did not argue the merits of Christ’s victory in the exchange with the Sadducees
for they cared not for the righteousness of His cause, only they sought a means
by which they might destroy Him. Though they may have neglected assembling for
the purpose of worship, they certainly gathered themselves together for the
sake of conspiracy against the God whom they presumed to serve. They, and their
representatives, asked what they hoped would be a hard question for Christ, but
when He answered with Scriptural Truth, Jesus asked them a question which baffled
them and they were vanquished from the field of debate by One they loathed and
considered a mere carpenter. Their view was the greatest miscalculation of
their lives.
But
when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they
were gathered together.
They gathered, not as eagles which never congregate in groups but soar
individually, but as buzzards which instinctively gather where they believe
death will provide a meal.
Then
one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying. The lawyer is not so in the sense of one
who litigates civil or criminal suits, but a teacher of the Law of Moses. This
lawyer is even more malicious than those who chase ambulances on our modern
scene. He proposes a question which is not out of curiosity to know the truth
but out of malicious intent to tempt and entangle Christ in His words. Master,
which is the great commandment in the law? The answer to
this inquiry is not a single, canned answer. The Law of Moses is based upon
obedience and constraint, but the Commandments – all of them – of God are
rooted in love. Even those indiscretions which violate the law may be covered
by a sufficiency of love in the heart. ……love covereth all sins. (Pro 10:12b) Men love laws and rules, but God loves the
things of the heart.
Jesus
said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God
with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy
neighbour as thyself.
There are those of the heretical antinomian party who advance these two
commandments as proof that the Ten Commandments of God are ancillary to
obedience to God in this first great Commandment, but they are not. The Ten
Commandments facilitate obedience to these two great Commandments repeated by
Christ. Christ does not institute a new Commandment here, but re-emphasizes
those already given: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine
heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. (Deut 6:5) The
second part of the great Commandment is also recorded in Old Testament law: Thou
shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but
thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD. (Lev 19:18) Here we
have the purpose and intent of the Law – love! The Law was written on tables of
stone at Sinai, but in the fullness of time, God has written them in the hearts
of His people. But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the
house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their
inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they
shall be my people. (Jer 31:33) The Law was never intended as a burden, but
as a blessing to us. We have made the constraints of the Law of God a burden.
We have made perfect obedience a precondition to salvation itself, and we have
erred gravely thereby. There is no sin that is beyond the reach of God to
forgive. It is by grace whereby we are saved, and never by the works of the
Law! For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves:
it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are
his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before
ordained that we should walk in them. (Eph
2:8-10) It was through
the reading of this passage, and many others that opened the eyes of the great
Reformer, Martin Luther, to the blessed truths of the Gospel and to the errors
of Rome.
In the Gospel
of Saint Luke, we learn more about this exchange: And the scribe said
unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and
there is none other but he: And to love him with all the heart, and with
all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to
love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and
sacrifices. And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto
him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God.
(Mark 12:32-34)
While the Pharisees were gathered together,
Jesus asked them.
Christ employs an excellent military rule here: while the targets are in one
field, and in close formation, economy of fire will save much time and expense.
While He has these culprits together in one space, He will return the favor of
their question. What think ye of Christ? whose son is he? The whole effort of the Pharisees has been
to expose Christ in the eyes of the people as someone less than whom He claims
to be. So He will return the fire and see if they can stand the heat. This
question is one which they did not expect, and one which they would prefer not
to answer. In attempting to cause Christ to answer wrongly, and having been
disappointed in the effort, they now face an embarrassment which will reveal
their own dishonest and treacherous hearts before the people. They wanted to
pick the field of battle, but Christ has outmaneuvered them and now brings the
battle to their own front door! They
say unto him, The Son of David. Always preferring law over grace
and mercy, these scoundrels are consistent in answering, even rightly,
according to the law, for Christ is truly considered under the law of
generations to have been the Son of David. No Jew today can trace his
genealogical record back more than three or four generations, but at Christ’s
coming, God used even the secular power to reveal the generations of Christ
through the line of David on both the royal and the priestly side. This is the
‘legal’ record of Christ’s descent, but the descent of Christ is through no
earthly father, but of God the Father.
He saith unto them, How
then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying, The LORD
said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy
footstool? If David then call him Lord,
how is he his son? The
LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies
thy footstool. (Psalm 110:1) This prophetic utterance of David was issued
through the inspiration of God. It cannot be understood by a heart that is darkened
by hate and devoid of inspiration. These Pharisees, therefore, could not
discern either a spiritual, or a politically acceptable, answer to this
question.
And no man was able to answer him a word,
neither durst any man from that day forth ask him any more questions. So Christ,
with the simple weapon of Truth, has vanquished His four different sets of
enemies in one sitting whose weapons are intrigue, deceit, and treachery – the
Pharisees, the Herodians, the Sadducees, and the Scribes. The world hates
innocence and truth because it is a conflict and a challenge to all that the
world adores. But truth ALWAYS wins out in the long run. No one remembers the
Roman pontiff who disputed with Luther, but all remember Luther. No one
remembers the Archbishop who sent Cranmer and others to the stake, but all
remember Cranmer, Latimer, and Ridley. We may not recall the names of the men
who sat on the Sanhedrin in condemnation of Christ, but we remember Christ and
His Apostles. True silver is silver all the way through. If silver-plated, the
spoon will wear through in time to expose the cheaper metal beneath, but a
sterling spoon will always prove to be silver. Are you a sterling Christian, or
do you wear the plating and covering of a Christian and are an imposter underneath?
