Acts
17:22-31
22 Then Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and
said, "Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way. 23
For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your
worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, "To an unknown
god.' What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. 24 The God
who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth,
does not live in shrines made by human hands, 25 nor is he served by human
hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life
and breath and all things. 26 From one ancestor he made all nations to inhabit
the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the
boundaries of the places where they would live, 27 so that they would search
for God and perhaps grope for him and find him—though indeed he is not far from
each one of us. 28 For "In him we live and move and have our being'; as
even some of your own poets have said, "For we too are his offspring.' 29
Since we are God's offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like
gold, or silver, or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of
mortals. 30 While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands
all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has fixed a day on which he will
have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of
this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead."
1
Peter 3:13-22
13 Now who will harm you if you are eager to do
what is good? 14 But even if you do suffer for doing what is right, you are
blessed. Do not fear what they fear, and do not be intimidated, 15 but in your
hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be ready to make your defense to anyone
who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you; 16 yet do it
with gentleness and reverence. Keep your conscience clear, so that, when you
are maligned, those who abuse you for your good conduct in Christ may be put to
shame. 17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if suffering should be
God's will, than to suffer for doing evil. 18 For Christ also suffered for sins
once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God.
He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, 19 in which
also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, 20 who in former
times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the
building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through
water. 21 And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you—not as a removal of
dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the
resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right
hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him.
John 14:15-21
[Jesus said to his disciples] “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And
I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with
you forever. 17 This is the Spirit of truth, whom
the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know
him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.
18 “I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. 19 In
a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I
live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will
know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21 They
who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who
love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to
them.”
If you love me, you will keep my
commandments.
·
When I was in the
seminary, I asked one of my professors, a man of great spiritual wisdom and someone
I trusted, how I could know I loved God. He responded with this text from John’s
Gospel. If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
·
Does this seem simple? I
should hope so! Keeping the Commandments could be a snap! Don’t kill; don’t
steal; don’t lie; honour your parents; you know the list as well as I do. There
can be a twist however. The commandment says don’t kill. (In Hebrew, it says
“Do not murder”, but we’ll leave that alone for now.) Still to be angry enough
to want to kill goes against what Jesus taught. In addition, revenge and
vendetta and grudges are all on very
shaky ground.
·
Then there’s that
“coveting” thing. If we like our neighbors’ rose bushes, stealing them during
the night would certainly be wrong… and how about getting a bigger, better rose
bush at the nursery, just to show them up?
·
Of course, we have no
other gods before the Lord God, do we? Where does the majority of our attention
go? I’ll translate that: What do we worship? There are lots of 21st
Century gods – Status, Money, Success, Career Advancement. I’m sure you could
hear the capital letters there.
·
So how do we love God,
today, here and now? By keeping the commandments. And Jesus says “my
commandments.” Are they different from what God set down for Moses? Jesus would
not wipe out what his Father laid out to the Hebrews in the desert, John also
put these words down about Jesus’ commandments: “I give you a new commandment,
that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one
another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have
love for one another.” (John
13: 34-35)
·
Matthew’s Gospel records
Jesus responding to the question about the “greatest commandment” with these
words: “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with
all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first
commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as
yourself.’ ” (Matthew 22: 36-39) What is said here pretty much
covers the Ten Commandments and what they require. In fact they go somewhat
further.
·
If you love your
neighbor as you love yourself, you won’t kill them, rob them, steal from them,
lie to them, or even be jealous of their spouse or belongings. Luther’s Small
Catechism follows this line of thinking and has this explanation of the fifth
commandment: You shall not murder.
What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that
we do not hurt or harm our neighbor in his body, but help and support him in
every physical need.
·
Is this harder than
following the commandments to the letter? More than likely because when is
enough enough? To do that perfect following could place any of us among the most
self-righteous of the Pharisees. It is God’s grace that continues to make the
difference. To follow the spirit of the commandments requires the aide and
grace of God as well as the forgiveness of God for our failures. In this as in
everything, we rely on the grace and mercy of God.
·
The first letter of
Peter says: For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for
the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the
flesh, but made alive in the spirit… It is not our own
righteousness that does this, but the grace and spirit of God. As Pentecost
approaches, we’ll hear more of the Holy Spirit, for it is In him we live and move and
have our being… as Paul reminded the Greeks. It is there our hope
always resides and God’s promises are fulfilled.
Bishop Susan’s prayer
from May 14. 2020
God, you come to us in many ways unknown, unseen
and unheard. Open our hearts, our eyes, and our ears to find you in silence,
and in the sound of the seas, and wind that stirs the tops of the trees. Help
us to know and feel your presence with us at all times and in all places so
that we may believe, obey, and adore you. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
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