Matthew 5,33-37. 23rd Sunday after Trinity

✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠

Matthew 5,33-37 5313

23. Sonntag nach Trinitatis  068   

Pirmin, Apostle of Westrich † 754    

3. November 2013

1. O God, our refuge and strength, who art the author of all godliness: Be ready, we beseech Thee, to hear the devout prayers of Thy Church; and grant that those things which we ask faithfully we may obtain effectually.  Amen (The Book of Common Prayer, 23. Sunday after Trinity). 

2. Jesus taught the crowds, saying: „Again you have heard that it was said to the ancients: »You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform to Yahweh what you have sworn.« [Leviticus 19,12; Deuteronomy 23,21] But I say to you: Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is His footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king. And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from the evil one.“ 

3. During the Reformation, one of the Medieval Catholic abuses the Lutherans remedied involved vows and oaths. It was taught that such vows and oaths justify, that they constitute Christian perfection, that they keep the counsels and commandments, that they have works of supererogation (the performance of a work beyond what is required or expected) (AC 27 §61). The Reformers confessed all these things credited to vows and oaths to be false and empty, and therefore such vows and oaths are null and void (AC 27 §61). They are null and void because they are contrary to the gospel (AC 15 §4). They are contrary to the gospel, because vows and oaths are of the law. This is not to say that they are wicked, for they exist to maintain order, veracity and fulfillment of duties. Thus Lutheran pastors and churches take a vow to remain faithful to the Holy Scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions; in court we take an oath to tell the truth. 

4. Vows and oaths exist because we live in a fallen, sinful world. People lie. People are deceitful. People slander their neighbor. We are liars, deceivers and slanderers; God’s law exposes us as such when it commands: »You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.« Luther explains what this means: We should fear and love God so that we may not deceitfully belie, betray, slander, or defame our neighbor, but defend him, [think and] speak well of him, and put the best construction on everything (Small Catechism). Vows and oaths exist to help us obey this 8. Commandment. 

5. Such vows and oaths, however, are not perfect guarantees in our fallen, sinful world. Pastors ignore their ordination vows when they preach and teach false doctrine. Congregations belittle their synodical oaths when they ignore parts of the Lutheran Confessions. Countless people perjure themselves in court. Businesses break their contracts with consumers, and consumers try to cheat the businesses they frequent. Politicians lie to the voters and fail to uphold the U.S. Constitution against all enemies both foreign and domestic. We are vow-annulers and oath-breakers. Such is life in this corrupted world. 

6. Two days ago was All Saints’ Day when the Church commemorates and remembers all the Christians who have died and gone on to Paradise with the Lord Jesus Christ. How does one become a saint? It certainly is not a title bestowed upon people who have kept the law, their vows and their oaths, for no one legally measures up to sainthood. And yet, all Christians are holy in the sight of the Triune God. So are we a sinner or a saint? Luther tells us that we are both in his famous formula: simul iustus et peccator : we are both justified and a sinner at the same time (AE 26,232). 

7. We are justified freely by Christ’s merit and on account of His righteousness. Christ, and Christ alone, makes us justified and righteous. Our sin is forgiven. Our account is credited with no debit. We are holy ones and saints by the shed blood of Christ that washes us whiter than snow. Justified people have no need of vows or oaths. Just as Christ’s word is truth (Psalm 119,160), so our Christian word is truthful and honest. Our word is our bond because we are Christian people redeemed by Christ Jesus. We have no need to swear or take an oath because our yes or no is sufficient as good Christian people. 

8. We are filthy, rotten sinners on account of the original sin that is still part and parcel of our fallen human nature. We cannot scrub away our sinfulness, and it follows us around like a musky smell. We are sinners who sin, and we enjoy sinning. Sinners must take vows and swear oaths so that they are honest with their neighbors. This protects us and them. Vows and oaths hold us accountable when we are tempted to hurt or harm our neighbor. Our sworn word becomes our bond because we are deceitful and dishonest; our sworn word might weigh us down like a millstone, and weigh us down it must to coerce us to honor our agreements. As sinners a simple yes or no will simply not do because we will find ways to weasel out of our promises. 

9. We remain simul iustus et peccator until we depart from this earth, and until then our redeemed flesh will struggle with our corrupted flesh. It is a wrestling match of mind, body and soul, but God’s gives us a comforting promise; He has taken a vow and spoken an oath to save His fallen creation, and He fulfilled this vow and oath in His Son, Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul proclaims: »For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, was not Yes and No, but in Him it is always Yes, for all the promises of God find their Yes in Christ« (2. Corinthians 1,19-20). 

10. Yes, we are now justified and a sinner. Yes, we live in a corrupt world. Yes, the curse upon sin and death still afflict us. Christ, however, is our Yes. Yes, Christ will remove our sinful nature so that we are only justified. Yes, Christ will recreate the heaven and earth in pristine purity. Yes, Christ has over come the curse and death; He will remove the punishment of the curse and overcome our death when He raises us up on the last day. Until the fulfillment of those vows, we live with the grace of God’s Word and Sacraments that give us the forgiveness He has purchased. When our time arrives and we join all the saints in the bliss of Paradise, then we will be in the presence of Christ awaiting the resurrection of our body. Each day until then, Christ Jesus is our Yes and our assurance that we are justified, we are redeemed and we are saved. The conclusion is eternal life in the Divine Presence, and Christ will fulfill His vow to bring us into His heavenly realm.  Amen. 

11. Let us pray. O Yahweh, You are blessed by all your Christian people, those here upon earth and those before You in Paradise. Pour Your Spirit upon us so that we rejoice in being heirs of Your reign and recipients of Your merciful power.  Amen. 

To God alone be the Glory 

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All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4. Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27. Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart. 

Book of Common Prayer, The. Copyright © 1990 Oxford University Press.

ELKB. Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. www.bayern-evangelisch.de/www/index.php. Copyright © 2013 Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche in Bayern. 

Luther, Martin. Luther’s Works, Vol. 26. Jaroslav Jan Pelikan, Ed. Copyright © 1962 Concordia Publishing House. 

VELKD. Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands. www.velkd.de. Copyright © 2013 Vereinigte Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirche Deutschlands.