19th Sunday after Pentecost
(Year A) – Sunday, October 23rd, 2011
Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church,
Lancaster, PA
Texts: Leviticus 19:1-2,15-18, Matthew
22:34-46
Leviticus
doesn't get heard in our worship very often. It's a book of the
Bible that mostly consists of extremely specific regulations for
animal sacrifices and ritual purity. Not usually a page turner.
Even the name can sound sinister....Leviticus. But Leviticus is all
about holiness. The word “holy” appears in Leviticus more than
in any other book of the Bible. We use that word “holy” a lot,
and not only to describe Swiss cheese or our socks. So, it's
probably worth giving this book a chance and hearing what it has to
say.
We
heard this morning, “you shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am
holy.” If I asked you to tell me what a holy person looks like,
what would you say? I imagine some monks chanting a psalm. Maybe
you picture someone kneeling to pray, or someone who goes to church
every day, or gives a lot of money. Someone who never curses or
drinks or smokes, and follows all of God's laws all the time.
But if
we're honest with ourselves, none of us live up to that standard.
And, if we're even more honest, do we really want to hang out with
people like that? They're probably not very much fun. We might even
complain about that kind of “holier-than-thou” living under our
breath. Those holy rollers often seem way out there on their own
islands, out of touch and hypocritical.
We can
think of people who say they're the only ones who are holy. They
usually also say that certain other people are definitely not holy,
and therefore are not loved by God. Have you ever found yourself
excluded by those who call themselves holier-than-you? It hurts.
It's heart breaking. I know a man who in his former years as an
addict made his way into churches from time to time with no problems.
It was only after he got clean and stayed clean, and struggled
re-learning how to live without drugs, sometimes letting out some of
the hard language that is just the way people talk on the streets,
that he got kicked out of churches. Not holy, he was called. There are four young
men who were in my wedding this summer, who I love as brothers, who
would not be welcome in many churches in this country, and none of
them feel like the church is the place for them. Not holy, is the
message they've received. Have you heard this message, not usually
in so many words?
The
truth is, “holiness” has all too often been used as a weapon in
the church. It's been used by children of God to single out other
children of God, all of whom struggle equally under the same power of
sin that exists in this world. But, usually in order to convince
ourselves that we are somehow not struggling with sin and brokenness,
we heap all our own guilt and blame and sin onto the most vulnerable,
isolated and weak ones in our midst. Instead of owning up to the
fact that we are all helplessly captive to sin together, we deceive
ourselves by making scapegoats out of those most in need of God's
grace and love. If you've experienced this yourself, you especially
know how much this needs to stop. But we can't do that on our own.
More on that in a bit.
If you
want to look at the word itself, “holy” doesn't mean good or bad,
nor even obedient or faithful. The most basic meaning of something
that is holy is something separate or set apart. In the book of
Leviticus, Israel is taught how to keep themselves holy, that is,
separate, from the nations around them. They were God's chosen
people, and their job was to reveal God and God's hopes for humanity
to all other nations.
As
such, they were to live differently from the people from whom God had
delivered them. In the verses we heard today, this God calls for
impartial judgment, careful speech, and respect for the dignity of
life. In the verses surrounding these, to be holy means to take only
enough food for today, to set aside provisions for the poor, to do
business fairly, and to treat immigrants as well as citizens. We'd
all be a lot better off if we lived this way! And we can see how
even here in Leviticus, all these can be summed up in the command to
love your neighbor as yourself. This was different than the law of
the kings and other gods around. A few verses before today's lesson,
Leviticus reads, “you shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt,
where you lived, and you shall not do as they do in the land of
Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not follow their
statutes (18:3).” A little later it goes on to say, “you shall
be holy to me; for I the LORD am holy, and I have separated you from
the other peoples to be mine (20:26).”
The
important thing to know is that, for Israel, being separate from
everyone else was part of their job description. They had to be
separate because that was their purpose – to reveal God as the
different One, the unique One, the Holy One of Israel who was
restoring humanity and all creation to his original plan.
By the
time of Jesus, though, God had changed his strategy for salvation.
God was no longer only working through the chosen people Israel. In
Jesus, the Word became flesh so that all people could know God
intimately, and be connected to God personally. So Jesus began
breaking all the rules of holiness. That is, Jesus broke the rules
which were intended to keep the Israelites separate from other
peoples. He touched and healed lepers, he ate with tax collectors
and sinners. He spoke with prostitutes and foreign women in broad
daylight. In doing these things, Jesus adapted what it means to be
holy. For Jesus, to be holy is not to be separate from other people,
but to be separate from the ways of life that draw us away from God.
To be holy is to be close to God by being close to other people and
LOVING them. For Jesus, to be holy is to love others and thereby
love God.
In the
light of the unconditional grace we receive in Jesus Christ, I invite
you to consider again the words “you shall be holy, for I the LORD
your God am holy.” Throughout scripture, God makes many promises
to us which are fulfilled in Christ. Hear these words, “you shall
be holy,” as one of these promises. You SHALL be holy, not because
you make yourself holy, but because in Christ, God has made you holy.
God has given you access to God's own holiness. God has washed you
clean of all sin and made you perfect in his sight. God has made us
all holy together, replacing our fear and divisions with love for one
another. Luther said that every day the Holy Spirit makes us holy,
not by removing the human weaknesses we all have, but by enabling us
to live as God desires and to do the work of loving other people.
Notice I'm saying that love is work. When the Bible speaks of love,
it almost never means only an emotional love, but a love of taking
action for the benefit of someone else. It's a love that gets us
moving and working.
Jesus
Christ has made us to be his holy people. We get to go out to do
God's work of love with our hands. Here at Christ Lutheran, the holy
people of God have been doing God's work for 144 years. But God
isn't finished with us yet. We are still called to be God's holy
people, God's people set apart for the work of love, here in
Lancaster. But in order for us to go forward together with God, we
need to understand ourselves and our calling more fully. We need to
listen to God and to each other's stories and perspectives. We need
to get to know our neighbors and understand who they are and how God
is working in their lives. We need to figure out the specific ways
God is calling us to do ministry here for the next 144 years. And so
in a few weeks we will begin by gathering together around a meal to
talk to each other in small groups. We need each of you to be a part
of this process. We need to hear your voice. The church is not a
building, it's all of you. You are God's holy people in this place,
called to the work of love. Let's get talking about it.
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