The Rev. Richard Marsden
When I was a kid, my grandpa Conlon was a big fan of TV wrestling—or “wrastling” as he called it. I can remember crawling up on my grandpa’s lap, with the smoke of his cigar wafting around us and watching, on the black and white TV, the likes of Bruno Sammartino body-slamming Gorilla Monsoon into the mat, or Haystacks Calhoon throwing Killer Kowalski’s head into the corner post. And nobody ever seemed to get really hurt.
I used to ask my grandpa, gramps is that real? Sure it’s real, he would respond. But I was never so sure because when we played wrestling in the yard, it didn’t matter who you were impersonating, when you jumped off the picnic table to body slam your opponent to the grass you both got hurt.
In this portion of his Gospel account, St. Matthew has been reporting a wrestling match between the Pharisees and Sadducees on one side, and Jesus on the other.
And make no mistake about it, this match is real. Played out in the arena of the Jewish faith in Jerusalem, the whole world is a spectator, as to who will remain standing in the end, who will be the victor.
Matthew introduces us today to the third round of what he sees as a four round bout. Previously, Jesus won the first round when they tried to trap him on the validity of paying the Roman taxes—to whom do we owe ultimate loyalty? We heard this last week in the lectionary reading. Jesus pinned them with the words: Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, render unto God the things that are God’s.
In round two they tried to trap him in an argument about resurrection: life after death. This reading in not in our lectionary but is part of the encounters. Jesus again wins the round, pinning them with the truth that life after death in the very presence of God is a very real thing, utterly different from this mortal life.
Now round three. Can’t you almost picture it? Matthew moves to center ring, the mic descends to him: Ladies and gentlemen, the third round is about to begin. In this corner representing the Pharisees, inheritors of the promises of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob; defenders of the law, guardians of Jewish orthodoxy: The lawyer of the Pharisees. The crowds cheer lustily.
And in this corner, worker of amazing miracles, healer of sick, blind and lame; feeder of thousands; teacher of great truths; suspected by some to possibly be the Messiah, self-proclaimed son of man: Jesus of Nazareth.
A couple hundred cheer, the rest are silent but watching intently.
When the bell rings the grappling begins. The lawyer asks: teacher which is the greatest commandment in the law? In addressing Jesus as “teacher”, this expert is recognizing Jesus’ authority as one who is advancing the claim of God to mankind; the goal of which is the education and reformation of man completely into conformance with God’s will.
The scribes declared that there were 248 affirmative precepts, as many as the members of the human body; and 365 negative precepts, as many as the days in the year; the total being 613, the number of letters in the Decalogue.
Of these they called some light and some heavy. Some thought that the law about the fringes on the garments was the greatest; some that the omission of washings was as bad as homicide. So Jesus’ answer could mark him either as a faithful Jew, or a heretic.
Jesus responds from the law citing two laws –one addresses a vertical relationship, and one a horizontal relationship.
The vertical–“you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.”
From Deuteronomy chapter 6 this is part of the daily prayer of the devout Jew known as the Shema, and one of the most significant verses to the Jew because it defines their faith.
And the horizontal relationship: Love your neighbor as yourself which comes directly out of Leviticus 19:18.
These are not new laws Jesus quotes but laws that are part of God’s call to his people; it is part of their very identity in terms of who they were to be.
They reflect the law given to Moses on the stone tablets, one tablet directing one’s attention to their relationship with God, the other tablet directing their relationship to one another; they are the mark of those in relationship with God—they define those whom God called his own.
To love God with all your heart soul and mind is a complete giving over of oneself to God, a complete surrendering of our own desires and will to him. It is to exist for God, to live for him, to base one’s whole being on him alone.
To Jesus, the whole religion of Scripture is reducible to these two precepts.
The round ends quietly. No one can counter this response. Jesus again pins his opponents to the mat with truth.
The fourth round begins differently. Jesus moves first. He takes the offense, asking the Pharisees a simple question: whose son is the Messiah? As experts in the Old Testament, they know the answer: he is the son of David. So Jesus probes further.
Jesus cites Psalm 110, a psalm understood to refer to the Messiah. There David clearly calls the person who God exalts as the Messiah: Lord. Jesus asks how then can David call the Messiah his Lord?
This can only be true if the Messiah is both man and God: If he possesses both the direct connection to David’s line as a man, yet also has the divine nature to perform the supernatural acts that the Messiah would be expected to do! Just like Jesus had been doing if they had taken the time to notice….
…..and teaching divine truths with new clarity as the Messiah would do! Just like Jesus had been doing had they been paying attention. If that type person existed, then this passage would be true. Do you catch the irony of this round?
Jesus is the answer to the question he himself posed, and his opponents can’t or won’t see it. That is what makes this concluding round so poignant. Jesus has won every encounter—he is the champ—the text even says they quit trying to argue with him. They know that he is the champ, but they will not recognize that fact. They can’t or won’t recognize that Jesus is the Messiah, the son of David. They will not concede his victory in this match and thus the struggle continues—to a cross and an empty grave—and there he still wins.
How is it that even when one is confronted with the truth—looks eye to eye into it, one not only does not recognize it, but tries to wrestle it down and submit it to one’s own desires. That is the power of sin.
That is the danger of wrestling with the Lord, and with his truth. That is what the Pharisees and Sadducees have been doing. Trying to entangle him and thus get off the hook about having to recognize Jesus as Messiah and Lord and thus be obedient to him.
And don’t we sometimes find ourselves doing that? Arguing with him about what we are to do, how we are to act, how we are to live. To justify our own desires we dismiss his teaching because it is just not modern—not in sync with our culture today. We can nit pick
the intricacies of the meaning of those “thou shalt nots” or the “thou shalts”. Well he can’t mean all the time? Surely there are exceptions… especially in my unique case.
I catch myself doing that more than I would like to admit. I would invite you to talk to my wife, or the guys I group with, but I wouldn’t want to destroy your image of me as a pristine holy man. The reality could be painful. It is to me at times.
And when we wrestle with him it is usually about the same kind of things the Pharisees and Sadducees touched on.
To whom do I owe my fealty—in what or who am I ultimately invested? Render to God the things that are God’s. Well it’s all his, isn’t it?
How important are things in this world, the things I care about? How much do they shape us? Jesus said “you are wrong, because you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God. God is the God of the living”. Death is not the end, ultimate reality is eternal and in the presence of God. Do we live life this world in light that we have an eternal destiny? Or do we live like this is all there is?
How can I be a good person; at the end of my life how can I be assured I have lived a good life? How do I have a meaningful, purposeful and fulfilling life? Jesus said love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. Love your neighbor as yourself.
And finally; it’s not about us. It’s about Jesus. He has the answers, he is the victor, he is the champ. He gives us the truth to live by, and the strength to live it out. So if we don’t acknowledge that everything starts and ends with him we will never know the answers to the most significant questions of life, and at the end of our round, we lose.
Let us concede victory to him, give up our wrestling with him in all areas of life. He is the champ—the Messiah. Allow Jesus to fulfill in us that which we are unable to do ourselves. When we concede the match is his it’s then he makes us winners, too.
Sermon preached by the Rev. Richard C. Marsden
The Church of the Redeemer
Sarasota Florida
20th Sunday after Pentecost
26 October 2014