Third Sunday in Lent

“This is my commandment,” God says to us. This is how you are to live, to act, to believe, to be. “Be perfect,” God says to us. And to that end He gives us His commandments as we just heard read in the Exodus passage.

In our Gospel lesson today we see Jesus putting together a whip – similar to the one I have made here (though I think His was a lot more “effective”) Jesus came into the Temple and drove out the people selling animals for the sacrifice and turned over the moneychanger’s tables. He used the whip to correct the people’s thinking. How dare they turn the Temple, a place of worship, into a market?! How dare they take advantage of those who came from afar to worship?! How dare they not see that the Lord’s house is to be a house of prayer?!

Jesus demands the people to conform, to shape up and to fly straight. He throws the Law of God in their face and basically says, “Measure up!” Like the whip Jesus used, the Law comes to us as a way of beating us up. We don’t measure up to God’s commands. We can’t be perfect like He demands. The Law, as we teach in catechism classes, is a mirror – it shows us our faults and failings. The Law is harsh and we need to realize it. When confronted with God’s holy and perfect will we fall short and often feel like we have been whipped. The Law condemns.

And that is what Jesus was doing in the Temple in our text. He was showing the full extent of the Law – it condemns. He “whips” the people as they had forgotten what worship was all about – not trade but adoration and praise. Not self-centered or man-centered but focused on God.

The 10 Commandments in our Exodus passage lay out God’s law in a simple, yet demanding way. We are to keep God first in everything in our life and we are not to mistreat our neighbor in anyway. A lot of “do not” statements to keep us on the straight and narrow. But again, we feel the whip come down as we realize that we don’t live up to God’s commands. And even if we think we have followed the commands of God His word comes and shows us that we haven’t even come close (Jesus said to the people that even if you haven’t murdered, if you hate your neighbor you have broken that command).

What are we to do? Just lie down and take our whipping? The Law breaks us down but God doesn’t leave us there (Thanks be to God!). You see the Law does whip us but there is one who was literally whipped for us. As we grow closer to Good Friday we will see again Jesus as one who was despised, beaten (which included a severe whipping), and eventually would be crucified for us. God has given us a way out of the weight of the Law. The Law shows us our sin but the Gospel – Jesus – shows us our salvation. There is a way out. We don’t have to face the eternal beating of the Law. Jesus has faced it for us. The one who made a whip to drive out the traders in the Temple is the one who is whipped by Romans soldiers in Jerusalem. He took on the penalty of our sin. He was whipped for us. He died so that we could have life! That is the Gospel message – a message we long to hear when the Law has beaten us down and shows us our sin, our brokenness, our rebellion. The sweet message of the Gospel – how great it is that we will celebrate Easter again this year!

And so we come back to the Law of God again. Do we disregard it now that the Gospel has come? Is the Law no longer important because of the Gospel? No. The Law is also a guide to those who have received the Gospel of God and live in Jesus. “This is my commandment…” is only part of the title of a song. The rest of the title and refrain says, “that you love one another.” The Law, through the power of the Gospel, is a guide to how we love God and one another.

Jesus, when asked about what was the greatest commandment (the Pharisee was looking for an easy way out of fulfilling the Law), said, “Love the Lord your God with all you heart, soul, and strength. And Love your neighbor as yourself.” This was a summary of the Commandments. The Law of God, because if the Gospel, is much more than a list of “do’s” and “don’t.” It is a guide to how we can live in right relationship with God and each other.

The first set of commandments deals with our relationship with God. How do we love and honor God? By putting him first, but not misusing His name but using it for praise, and by honoring the Sabbath day as a time to worship Him! Luther in his explanation to the commandments begins with the don’ts but always ends with what we should do, the positives of the commands.

How do we love our neighbor? By respecting them as individuals needing love and protection and care. Each of the commands deals with how we can lead loving lives with our neighbor by respecting their physical body, their marriage relationships, their property, and their reputation. We are to obey God’s commands by loving others and loving God. By the power of the Gospel the Law becomes a guide for our daily lives.

This is my commandment, that you love one another and God! The Law whips us as we see that we are sinners in need of rescue. The Gospel of Jesus comes to our rescue and saves us, forgives us and restores us. The Law, through the power of the Gospel now becomes a guide for our lives. This is my commandment that you love one another!

Amen