Last week, Cornerstone of Lutheran faith: Justification by Grace through Faith
This week, Ground floor—A Lutheran reading of the Bible: Law and Gospel
Imagine there is a box here. Some are in and some are out. How shall we determine who is in?
• how much they give every week?
• how nicely they dress on Sunday?
We know better than that. Those are clearly corrupt ways of determining a person’s worth. So how about
• the language they use?
• the way they treat others?
Those are better, but words are just words and even the worst potty mouth doesn’t blacken a heart. So here is some really solid ground:
• whether or not they’ve been baptized.
• whether or not they confess before God.
Our Acts reading shows us that this is not a new problem! It gives us a look at the Early Christian church, a church which uses Law like an invisible border:
• circumcised/uncircumcised, clean/unclean, believers/unbelievers, Jews/Gentiles, chosen/forsaken (in and out language!).
Every distinction they make is another line drawn, another invisible boundary marked out between “us” and “them.”
Peter, the apostles, and many members of this growing church use the rules as a kind of carnival measuring stick. “You must be circumcised to enter the church!” Who is in the box, and who is outside?
In this climate of division, Peter makes a new claim; actually, Peter makes an old claim, gets back to the claim Jesus set about to make in the first place! Peter has a vision. The Lord tells him to fraternize with an outsider and eat unclean food—in short, to live and do ministry on the other side of the imaginary line.
The story told in Acts takes place after the story told in our Gospel lesson from John this morning. In John, Jesus talks about one command, one law, one way to identify a member of this group called Christianity—if we love as Jesus loved.
So we can see that the Law is being used differently by Jesus in John. Instead of judging others based on their past, it calls us to love, serve, and forgive them in the present.
One thing to notice about Acts—it’s the followers who have to do the work, not Jesus. It’s the followers who have to go to those who are “outside” these invisible Christian borders; the followers who have to kneel in prayer with those who are hurting; the followers who have to hand out bread to those who are hungry.
Acts is a book about Christians being put into leadership, into priesthood after Jesus leaves.
(Side note: We are living in an Acts time for this congregation. The one central leader is gone; we are all thrust into service, into priesthood.) So, as newly minted priests there’s a tool that we all need to put in our belts—Law and Gospel.
The Gospel of John, and our experience in this world all have something to tell us about Law and Gospel.
Our experience in this world tells us that everyone feels like they are on the Outside when it comes to Faith. Everyone wonders if they’re good enough, if they belong. One of the pastors here in Anchorage told a story about a woman he met when he first arrived here. He asked about her history with the church; she said “Oh I’m pretty new here—kind of an outsider; I’ve only been here 12 years.”
People who are afraid that they are “Out” have Law-sensitive ears. There is nothing you can say to them that won’t sound like Law.
Have you noticed how strangers react these days when you talk to them about Jesus? Probably not, because we’ve learned not to talk to people about Jesus! It doesn’t work. It has become a “hands-off” topic! Why? Because people get angry; people feel uncomfortable; people feel judged. People, even “Insiders,” feel like “Outsiders” when someone talks to (or at) them about Jesus.
And how about our reading from the Gospel of John this morning? Is it Law or Gospel? Well, a Lutheran reading of Scripture doesn’t work exactly like that. We can’t comb through all the verses and say Here’s a Gospel Verse, and Here’s Some Law. Through the activity of the Holy Spirit in our lives (and especially in our ears), the same reading from Scripture might work on some as Law and some as Gospel. It might hit you as Law one moment and Gospel the next. Law and Gospel—not something in the words; it’s something in the relationship between the Words, you, and Christ.
So, today Jesus says, ”They will know you are my disciples if you love one another.” To someone who thinks God’s love depends on how well they observe every one of the 500+ laws from the Jewish scriptures, this sounds like a promise, a lovely bit of Gospel. To someone who isn’t about the business of serving God’s people, who cares more about their own skin, this call to Love sounds like a pretty heavy stone, a big dose of Law.
I suppose this sermon could raise more questions than it answers. Ask them!
And as for you, and your ears, and the Holy Spirit working in our midst right now, the Gospel of John tells us that Jesus is going on to the Kingdom. He prepares a room for you! Even in His absence, He remains close to you in the Word, the Holy Communion, and the Spirit He sends to guard you. Hear this promise, this Gospel: We are all squarely outside the boundaries set down by the law, and Christ is squarely in our midst. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Intern Mark Dixon