18th Sunday after Trinity (2025)

Matt 22:34-46

My Brothers and Sisters in Christ, we have in our Gospel Lesson Jesus being challenged by the Pharisees and then Jesus challenging the Pharisees. For they had come to put the Lord their God to the test and thought that they might be able to stump or vex him. Indeed which commandment is the greatest? A clever question that could bring about endless dispute. You really think this one is better than the others, but Jesus is God in the flesh and knows the Word fairly well. So if he can hold his own in the desert against Satan that wily foe, what chance does a Pharisee have? Well maybe they can one up their rivals the Sadducees.

Testing God

We wonder why try this?

This has ever been the question when mankind puts God to the test, why are we so bold, or so foolish to think that we can overthrow, correct, or overcome our Creator. This just goes to show that what Christ said about the Pharisees was true, that they are of their father the devil. So if Satan had tried overthrowing God in heaven above and taking his throne is it any surprise that his followers here on earth do the same? They want to take Jesus down because

Jesus threatens their beliefs.

The Pharisees have been extremely legalistic and zealous in their keeping of God’s law and even felt that God’s Laws weren’t enough and so they added additional laws on top to show who the true Jews were. But now this man who has been performing miracles associating with sinners, and vexing the pharisees in a number of ways is now in Jerusalem. If they can take him down, they never have to consider,

What if they are wrong?

What if everything they believed about their goodness, about their understanding of the Law, that it mandated a strict observance and that they could earn the favor of God by their works, what if everything they had been teaching was a lie. So they test him to show they are greater, and they use a question they could twist.

His Law is Love

This question is clever because if a person answers a particular commandment they can get caught in an endless cycle of arguments, but Christ being God in the flesh knows the sum of the commandments, and the Law is all about Love.

Love that is pointed outward.

It isn’t pointed towards your heart, to satisfy your desires, or your wants, it puts God first and foremost above everything and every one, and the second points you out to your neighbor to love them as if you were your neighbor. This is what sin destroyed, yous ee

Sin warps love.

And it twists it so instead of going out to God and your neighbor Love curves back and inward and focuses upon your self. Instead of you seeking the advantage or good of your neighbor, you seek your own advantage and learn to ignore or use your neighbor.

The commandments point us to others.

This is where the pharisees failed. They had no love, no mercy, no compassion for their fellow man. They were so busy with their own righteousness of promoting their own goodness that neglected to care for their fellow man. It was all about their own goodness, their own righteousness, but they were lacking in love, which meant they weren’t keeping the Law that claimed to love, which is why Christ said they are of their father, the devil. Knowing these things,

Why Do We Test God?

We would think that after knowing and learning all of these things about God, we would realize its no good to put him to the test. He’s going to win, but

We want to keep our sins.

We want to hold on to them and not have to give them up. This goes for each of us, we have learned and studied God’s 10 Commandments, we know how the Law has 3 functions as a curb, mirror, and guide. Yet what do we do? We try to declare our preferred sins good in God’s sight so that we don’t have to change our position, but

Who are we arguing against?

Who here is equal to the task of taking up the debate against our creator? Are we so foolish that after Christ has set us free, Christ who is the Wisdom of God, Christ who defeated not just these Pharisees, but stood toe to toe against the devil, an adversary that you and I have lost to many a time, that we are now going to defeat and overcome Jesus? Let us not be fools, but rather confess our sins, repent and rely on God’s holy word. For by holding on to our sins,

We’re only hoping to be selfish.

To seek our good, our benefit, our desires. Oh sure we can claim well I only cheated this person out of these goods and it was for the sake of my family, but then what you say that your love of family requires that you engage in evil? Is that what Christ did when you He called you brother, or sister, and wanted you adopted, did he then commit evil that good may come about? No!

Christ Fulfilled The Law

It means Jesus loves God perfectly.

The Law that the Pharisees couldn’t keep, the law you and I couldn’t keep. He kept perfectly and love God with all His heart, soul, and mind even to the point of death on a Cross. He did not seek his own advantage, but followed through even though it meant a most painful and tortorous death, and why? Because not only did Jesus love God, He loved His neighbor as Himself. for

By His Incarnation, you are his neighbor.

The incarnation is a wondrous mystery and brings many blessings, and hopes, but it was also that Christ might fulfill the Law for us that He became flesh and dwelt among us, and that He might show Love to us as our Neighbor, not as a distant and far removed God that only cared about his creation at a distance, or set things up and walked away like the watchmaker god people talk about. No, Christ came down to earth and showed us genuine love. For

In love, Jesus laid down his life.

He didn’t have to He is the 2nd person of the trinity the Son of God through whom all things were made the one whom heaven and earth adore and all creation gives glory, and honor, even if they try to deny him. But He became flesh and took up our human life so that He might shed His blood for you and have his body laid in the tomb for you, that you might live.

Do We Need the Law?

Yes, the Law is good.

Make no mistake the Law just because it reveals our sin, does not suddenly become purposeless because Christ has fulfilled it. It still remains good, right, and true and we ought to treasure it.

It has 3 purposes.

The Curb as I mentioned threatens us if we try to get our own way and focus on what we desire. The mirror shows us that its not the world that has failed, we are responsible for our own actions, our feelings, our thoughts, and our words. You can try to blame your neighbor, but see how that went in the garden of eden. The guide helps us to understand what love actually looks like for

We are called to love.

We are God’s creation created to do Good works that God prepared beforehand for us. That means we are to be loving our neighbor and helping them. Well what does that mean? First look at the commandments, and if you need help, check out the table of duties in the small catechism which gives more focused examples. We have to be careful that we don’t let the world define love. For love

It doesn’t rejoice at wrongdoing.

When the world hears Love it assumes that it is a permissive anything goes and you have no care at all about those who are around you. No love rejoices in the truth, it points to what is good. Imagine for a moment with me, if you were doing something that would result in your harm, in your death, or in a tragic loss, would you want your friends to remain silent? No. For what friend or family member can sit idly by while someone you love is engaging in their own destruction.

The world thinks of correction only in anger, hostility, and rejecting who you are, for anyone who tells you you’re wrong must be upset with you, and must not like you, or think of you as being an idiot, or stupid, or just unworthy. There certainly are folks out there like that, but if family, or a friend corrects you because they see you are doing something bad or harmful, they don’t want ya to suffer. If they don’t join with you in celebrating something that’s wrong, why should they rejoice when you are chasing your own destruction?

So my brothers and sisters in Christ, let us not put the Lord to the test, and should we find ourselves doing so, thinking that we can take on the God of all creation, may we repent of our foolish pride and sinful behavior and instead rely on God’s good and gracious word. For God loves you, the Father who sent the Son for you, the Son who died for you, and the Spirit who poured the Love of God into your heart and brought you from death to life. That you might have a place in God’s kingdom. Let this love continue to grow in your heart and overflow to bless your neighbor. In Jesus name. Amen.