When You Love Somebody, You Don't Keep Them a Secret
Notes
Transcript
Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations 4954 Chaplain Gave Him World
A chaplain in San Quentin Prison wrote a book. In this work, the chaplain tells of visiting a man who had been confined to Death Row for nearly 11 months. This man—a neurotic and alcoholic—had strangled two women during a drunken orgy.
The chaplain talked with the condemned prisoner for at least 40 minutes. The two conversed about education, about art, about sports. But the prisoner went to his death with no invitation to God. Nonetheless, the chaplain found himself praying that God would receive the condemned man, found himself wondering if he had witnessed not only a case of retribution, but also a crucifixion.
One disturbing sentence in the chaplain’s account gleams with neon sharpness: “I haven’t mentioned religion.” Then he adds: “Perhaps it is not necessary to speak God’s words in order to serve His purpose. Just being there with Richard Cooper in his last moments may be enough to show him that no man is ever completely cast out, or completely alone.”
Almighty God, You have called Your Church to witness that in Christ You have reconciled us to Yourself. Grant that by Your Holy Spirit we may proclaim the Good News of Your salvation so that all who hear it may receive the gift of salvation, through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever, Amen.
But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.” He said to them, “How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying, “ ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet” ’? If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?” And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.
This is the second time during this period that the Pharisees have questioned Jesus. Last week we looked at Jesus’ interaction with some disciples of the Pharisees, and now, after apparently stumping the Sadducees regarding their question about Levirate marriage and the Resurrection, the Pharisees bring their A-team into the fray. It is interesting that this time, even though I’m sure that Jesus knew the lawyer’s motivation just as surely as He knew what was behind the earlier question about paying taxes to Rome, Jesus didn’t call him out like He did the earlier group.
The question itself was not difficult to answer. Another lawyer asked Jesus how to inherit eternal life, and when Jesus asked him what the Law said about this, he responded with the same statement in Luke 10:25–28 “And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”” In that instance, the lawyer presses the inquiry by asking Jesus to define the term “neighbor,” out of which we get Jesus teaching entitled, “the Good Samaritan.”
In this case, Jesus follows up the question by asking something that seems to be unrelated: Whose son is the Messiah. Once again, the Pharisees’ answer is good, as far as it goes. Once again, Jesus has met them and bested them on their home turf, so to speak. But in each case regarding this question, Jesus seems to meet them in such a way that, if they were willing, they could have found their way to Him. They could have been saved. I’m reminded of what Jesus would say later that week, as He went to His crucifixion:
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!
Another thing about Jesus’ answer, is in how it applies to His Church: Paul and James are two writers in the NT that scholars have placed at opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to Law and Gospel, yet they both agree about this Great Command:
For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
James, on his part says:
If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.
Paul goes even farther in his epistle to teh Romans:
For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Finally, while the Small Catechism is only colloquially referred to as a sort of “lay people’s bible,” still, when talking about how we should love God, do not soften the weight of the of the command even a little:
Luther’s Small Catechism with Explanation, 2017 Edition The First Commandment
The First Commandment
You shall have no other gods.
What does this mean? We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.
Regarding the importance of teaching God’s Law, Jesus said
Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
What are we to do with this?
The Messiah is the Lord of David, as he confessed, and as Jesus pointed out, saying, “The Lord said to my Lord...” That same David wrote about the Law of the Lord:
Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.
In the psalm, meditating on God’s Law is contrasted with those who “walk in the counsel of the wicked,” “stand in the way of sinners”, or “sits in the seat of scoffers.” In a world that routinely mocks because they don’t understand those who seek to obey all that Christ has commanded, it is easy to follow the second option. It’s the way of the world, the path of least resistance. It is a broad way, many follow it and wind up heading for destruction.
“But God knows my heart” some say, and I agree - He does! That’s why God sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins; He sent Him to die for us and then gave us, through the Holy Spirit, the power to live for Him. Through the preaching of the pure Gospel, Jesus calls those of us who are weary and heavy-laden with the struggle to live godly in this age to “come to me and rest.” It isn’t the rest of the lazy man who won’t even bother to feed himself, but the rest of those who fight the good fight of faith, who seek, not the bliss of self-satisfaction, but the joy of serving his or her neighbor, for in so doing, we are blessed and refreshed. In fact, Jesus said that we serve Christ Himself. God’s Word tells us:
And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.
and
Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
Paul wrote to the Church of the Thessalonians of his joy in his prayers for them:
We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Their work of faith and labor of love sprang from the deep and fervent love they held for the one who loved them and died for them and rose again from the dead. When John wrote, in John 3:16, ““For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” He wasn’t talking about the “wonderful kind, gentle and obedient” κόσμος - no, he was writing, with God-breathed words about the κόσμος that he would later write in 1 John 2:15–16, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.”
God loved the world that did not love Him, and without that love, Jesus would not have come into the world to save it from itself. If not for that love, He would not have poured out the gift of the Holy Spirit so that the World could experience the power of God unto salvation for all who believe. As Peter said on the Day of Pentecost, “We are witnesses of these things.” We are witnesses of the love of God shining in our hearts as we have been born from above, born anew through the Gospel, enabling us to love one another, forgive one another, encourage one another, and, as Paul wrote in Galatians 6:2, “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” The mystery of godliness is not a way of living, a system of behavior modification, it is a person, Jesus Christ the Son of God:
Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.
So in response to His great love for us, we “Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim, till all the world adore His sacred Name” (George W. Kitchin).
And the peace of God, that passes understanding, guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.