How Shall We Live?

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Again, the Pharisees come to Jesus in an attempt to trick Him with some cleverly devised question. Again, He refuses to play into their hands. This time, however, rather than simply remaining irritatingly out of their grasp, Jesus pokes back at the so-called religious experts. They ask a question, and He answers. He asks a question, and they fail to answer it.

With His question, “Whose son is the Christ?”, Jesus expounds upon His answer to the Pharisees' question, “What is the greatest commandment?” As Luther sees it, this text poses, and answers the same question within two different spheres. How shall we live, both “here in time, and there in eternity”?

The Pharisees seek to know the heart of the Law, and so they ask what the greatest commandment is. One could speculate at length about their motives, but it is probably not far off that they hoped for some answer with which they could quibble over some point of technicality or jurisprudence or rabbinical interpretation. They wanted to be affirmed in their rigid legalism by being told by Jesus that they were doing the right thing. After all, they were the law-keepers, not only symbolically for the people, but literally in their own hearts.

But Jesus will not indulge them in their self-congratulations and ego-stroking. Without hesitation, He repeats the command He had given to their fathers in Deuteronomy: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” Period. That is the first, greatest, and last commandment.

With this statement, the Pharisees' manipulation of the Law blows up in their faces. For they know that they have not loved the Lord with their whole being. Neither have you. There is no arguing about the spirit versus the letter of the Law. No wiggle room or negotiation. The Law demands that you must love the Lord your God with every fiber of your being. Which you have not done. The Pharisees spent their lives calculating ways to make this doable, coming up with libraries of traditions and volumes of statutes. They had rules for the rules, in search of a method to, in the end, avoid the fact that they were not loving God.

Perhaps you simply would prefer to avoid the matter altogether. The popular message of this day and age is more akin to the old slogan “I'm ok, you're ok, we're all ok.” If I am nice to you, and you are nice to me, and we all just get along, we will all come out alright in the end. Eventually, the mess will come out in the wash.

Or perhaps you think, after a fashion, that you are actually keeping the Law. You can repeat these words over and over until they are like water running down a stream. You tell yourself that you know all about what it means to love God. You hate the things of this world and the corruption of today's society. You boycott bad things and give money to good causes. You show up to church and throw a few bucks in the plate. You are not outwardly vile and despicable, and you try to be a good person, so you give God a nod every so often and call it good.

But then comes the second half of the Law: “And the second is like it: you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” And here you are stuck, just as the Pharisees. For whatever pretenses you may possess about your relationship to God, you cannot fake your relationship to your neighbor, either before God or before the neighbor you are supposed to be loving. On this hangs the Law and the Prophets. This is the answer as to how to live here in time, in this world.

In order to live in this world, you must love your neighbor as yourself. This is a command, but is as much simply a statement of fact. To live in society, you must love your neighbor as much as yourself. You must be willing to sacrifice some of your self-interests and your rights so that your neighbor may enjoy equal rights and privileges. You must be willing to help the poor, so that when you become poor and needy, someone will help you. You must care for the widows and orphans, for you once were orphaned, and you shall be someday widowed and alone. Live peaceably with all, that they may live peaceably with you.

Do you want to live in this world? Then love the Lord your God, and love your neighbor. For in loving your neighbor, you serve God. God does not need your service. The creator of the universe seeks nothing that you could give Him. However, your fellow man does need you. The poor need to be fed and clothed and sheltered. The defenseless need protection and support. The lonely need a visit. The sick need healing. The dirty and undesirable need to be washed and welcomed and loved. For in this wise some have entertained angels unawares, as the apostle says.

Jesus is a master of the argument from the lesser to the greater. Just as we saw this last week with regards to Caesar, so He illustrates it again with regard to the neighbor. Faith does not consist in good works. Your love for the neighbor will not save you. However, if you are faithful in a little, you may be shown faithful in a lot. Good works are the proof that faith is living and active. Loving the Lord your God with your whole self will necessarily lead you to love and serve your neighbor as yourself. Do this, and you shall live.

However, this may answer how to live among men here in time, there is still the matter of how to live before God in heaven for eternity. The Law will not get you there. No amount of good works, however well-done or well-intentioned, will get you to heaven.

In order to get live before the throne of God, you must answer Jesus' question correctly: “Whose son is the Christ?” He is the Son of David. So then, how can David call Him Lord? David's son is David's Lord. The Son of David is the Son of God, begotten of His Father before all worlds, and Son of Man, born of the Virgin Mary. This is really the key to keeping the greatest commandment. To love the Lord, you must know who your Lord is. To know the Lord is to know His Son, Jesus Christ. To live eternally, you must know this Lord, and none other.

But you, dead in your sins and trespasses, cannot possibly even know your neighbor aright, much less your Lord. This is why Jesus came. For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Cor. 4:6) While you were dead in your sins, Christ broke into your poor, miserable world and died for you. He shed His blood that you might have life, and have it abundantly. He broke through the clouds of sin and darkness and shined the light of His grace into your heart, obliterating the darkness and death that formerly held you captive.

This is the Lord whom you are to love and serve with your whole being. The Lord you serve is not some unknown god, contemplated in the mind and patterned after your own choosing, but He has a face and a body and blood, and He has shown these to you and gives them to you. The Lord whom you love has first loved you, and He has given His only-begotten Son, that you may live in righteousness, innocence, and blessedness. No more “Do this, and you shall live.” This is done, so that you will live.

This is indeed amazing tidings. However, you are not speechless, nor do you go away empty or dismayed. You join your voice with St. James and all the apostles and patriarchs, with the angels and archangels, and with all the saints who have gone before us to give thanks and sing praise to the Lamb of God, the Son of David.

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.