Claimed, gathered and sent

This is the sermon I preached at St. Timothy Lutheran Church last Sunday, 2/12/23. The gospel text was Matthew 5:21-37 .  The Ten Commandments tell us what kind of lives God wants us to live. But that’s not enough. In fact, it sounds like Jesus expects even more!  Murder is the first issue Jesus addresses. That doesn’t seem to be much of an issue for us here in this congregation, does it? Phew, we’re safe here. But then, Jesus drills deeper into the real issue—what causes someone to commit murder. “…anyone who is…angry with a brother or sister is guilty of murder” (v. 22). Jesus certainly doesn’t let us off the hook here! Sometimes we are angry with those we love the most—spouses, children and other relatives, friends.  Jesus continues, “If you enter your place of worship and, about to make an offering, you suddenly remember a grudge a friend has against you, abandon your offering, leave immediately, go to this friend and make things right… only then, come back and work ...

This is the sermon I preached last Sunday, 2/16 at St. Timothy Lutheran Church . The gospel text was Matthew 5:21-37. The Ten Commandments don’t sound that hard, do they? Is Jesus doing away with the law? After all, that’s the Old Testament. It doesn’t really apply to us today…or does it? Jesus’ interpretation makes it sound like he’s making it a lot harder. Jesus doesn’t let any of us off the hook but levels the playing field. We all fall short and we’re all guilty. Jesus is not giving us a new, harder list of rules. Rather, he is talking about the intention of the commandments. Jesus is saying, “Yes, I am challenging interpretations of the law that are not consistent with its heart: whole-hearted love of God and neighbor." In today’s gospel, Jesus uses various examples to demonstrate that simply committing the act is not the root of the problem. The root is the intention behind the action. Another way to put this is that it’s not the letter of the law, but the spirit o...