Christ Lutheran Church
Cleveland, Ohio
February 12, 2023
by: Rev. Dean Kavouras

Epiphany 6
A Real Savior For Real Sinners

You have heard that it was said to our ancestors, "You shall not murder;" and whoever commits murder will be adjudged guilty. But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will also be found guilty. Whoever dismisses his brother as a fool will be indicted before the council. Whoever calls him a fool will be sentenced to Gehenna. So then if you are offering your gift upon the altar and there remember that your Brother has a complaint against you leave your gift there before the altar and go! First be reconciled to your Brother, then go and offer your gift.

Come to terms quickly with your adversary, indeed while you are on your way to court lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the bailiff and you be thrown into prison. Truly I say to you will never be released until you have paid the last penny.

You have heard it said, "You shall not commit adultery." But I say to you anyone who looks upon a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. So if your right eye leads you into sin tear it out and throw it away! For it is better to lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into Gehenna. And if your right hand causes you to sin cut it off and throw it away! For it is better for you to lose one of your members, than that your whole body should be thrown into fiery Gehenna.

It was also said that whoever divorces his wife must serve her with a certificate of divorce. But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife except for the case of sexual immorality makes her an adulteress, and whoever marries the divorced woman is an adulterer.

Again you have heard it said to our ancestors, "You shall not swear falsely, but you shall carry out the oath you have sworn to the Lord. But I say to you do not take an oath at all: either by heaven for it is the throne of God, or by the earth for it is his footstool whereupon he rests his feet; nor by Jerusalem for it is the city of the Great King. And do not take an oath by your own head because you cannot even make a single hair white or black. But let your word be simply "Yes," or "No" for anything more than this is from the Evil One. (Mt. 5:21-37 – DKV)

--
Like everyone else pastors look out for their own hides.

They take the words of Jesus very seriously, “Whoever relaxes the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven.” (Mt. 5:19)

Having heeded that grave warning, we proceed with caution.

For the record: as long as pastors keep their nose in the book there is little room for error. But the most perilous duty of any minister is this one: preaching. There is no room for error here – but the Office is bigger than the man – and so pastors, too, need “the forgiveness of sins,” if they are to attain to “the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting.”

And so with that caveat let us try to learn what today’s gospel reading has to say to Christians.

Our first temptation is to say that the Lord is speaking here in hyperbole. That he is overstating a case for the sake of emphasis such as when we say: “the whole world is watching,” or “everybody and his brother was there.”

Is that what Jesus is doing? Overstating the case for the sake of emphasis? It is tempting to take that approach because the demands here given are beyond human capability. If we take them literally we are all guilty of sin.

But that is not bad. Not bad because Jesus did not come to save the Righteous, but sinners. After all who among us has not been angry with his Brother? Who has not dismissed his Brother as a fool? Who has not said as much aloud with contumelious lip?. St. James says that, “If a man does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man also able to reign in his whole body.” (James 3:2)

But that is not us, is it?

The Lord’s second volley is harsher. If you are going to Holy Communion and there remember that your brother has something against you.

Notice!

Not that you have something against him; but that he has a case against you! And you have not taken the initiative to make peace. How many people have we wronged in our lives? How many this past week alone?

But be careful before you stay away from the altar! Seek pastoral counsel because we are not very good at diagnosing ourselves. But the caveat is this: that if we are coming to the altar to obtain the remission of all of our sins by the Living Flesh of Christ entering our dead flesh; then we too have an obligation – one upon which our own forgiveness rests (“forgive us our debts as …”); we have a sacred duty to extend forgiveness to others. And if you cannot do that: Remember the “Unforgiving Servant!”

And who has not sinned in their mind when it comes to the 6th Commandment? “You shall not commit adultery.”

What woman has not looked upon a man with lustful intent, or man upon a woman? And who has not put a spouse away simply because the one got tired of the other’s weaknesses and faults, never considering his own?

And who has not sinned with the eye, or with the hand, and did NOT cut if off because she would rather go to Gehenna in one piece, than to heaven missing parts?

And how often have we cried out to God in trouble, and made oaths in exchange for deliverance, but when the trouble passes forget that we made them.

And who among us is plain-talking enough to say either “yes” or “no” without caviling?

Now gambling with his own salvation the preacher says this:

If we cannot take these commands literally, let us at least take them seriously. Let us pray that we might outgrow our fleshly ways of living as St. Paul says in today’s epistle, and learn to become Spirit-minded. Let us live life according to the finest standards for human conduct ever given. Let us choose life and blessing over death and cursing. (Deut. 30:19)

The theory of moral relativity is wrong, dead wrong! It starts small then ends where we find ourselves today no longer able to discern the difference between a man and a woman. Bullied even into denying that 2+2=4 lest one be found guilty of racism.

What!

And so if you want to know why a 6 year old student shot his teacher, do not blame the innocent gun, but the guilty culture for its perfect rejection of right and wrong. For putting God’s formula for Life out to pasture.

When will this stop? Is it too late to hope for another “Great Awakening.” Probably. Instead the world must suffer what Israel suffered after centuries of refusing to hear Moses or the Prophets. It will take another Flood. Another levelling of the Tower of Technology, a “flattening of the curve” of the religion of more, more, more by which we foolishly believe we will attain Nirvana on earth.

Again at the risk of gambling his salvation the preacher says today: Do not cut off your right hand. Do not pluck out your right eye even though they have caused you to sin, and will probably continue to do so, even if you join a monastery and pray day and night.

Moreover do not despair if you have transgressed all of Jesus’ teachings many times be it by divorce, lust, anger, and so on. But rather “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.” (Acts 16:31)

Because, (1 John 1:8-9) “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Today forgiveness for all the sins “with which I have ever offended you,” was granted in absolution; and will be ratified in the Bride’s Holy Communion with her Holy Groom. And so: “Lift up your hearts!” “Lift them up unto the Lord!” Take eat! Take drink! Amen.