The text this morning is from Paul’s Letter to the Galatians, the 2nd and 3rd chapters:
We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.
For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.” But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.” Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.Thus far the text.
My dear friends in Christ,
It’s been in the news this week: a young college man committed a horrible crime on a college woman. This happens a lot, sadly, regrettably, but it’s made the news because the man received such a light sentence compared to the crime. If he had shoplifted a loaf of bread, we would expect him to get six months in prison. In Connecticut, kidnapping gets a year minimum. A year. What should it cost a man if he takes away a woman’s chastity, her feeling of being safe, her trust in men, her belief that this would never happen to her?
Justice for this woman would be a short sentence for the man who committed such an atrocious act upon her. It’s not justice, and it seems that there is a moral outrage among most people. Most people seem to be saying that this is not right, that the judge should be removed from the bar, that the man should have gotten more time, that the woman deserves some kind of restitution.
We expect restitution in these kinds of crime. Really, for any crime, we expect that there be some sort of punishment, and we expect that the punishment would fit the crime. For those people of Jewish descent to which Paul was writing, there was a specific understanding that they had a leg up. It wasn’t for them that they thought they could keep the Law perfectly, although there were certainly some Jewish sects that did, or at least tried, but that the Law had been revealed to them and they knew what God expected.
It’s often said that ignorance of the Law is not innocence. Think of the person who has been driving down the street. Say they’ve just gotten off the highway and they’re driving down a four-lane road and they’re going 50 miles an hour. All of the sudden, they see the red and blue lights behind them. When the office approaches the door, they try to argue that they didn’t see the posted sign that said 25 miles per hour, they were just going a speed they felt was safe. Does the fact that they didn’t see the sign excuse them from the penalty they’re about to receive? Of course not.
So, for these Jews, they knew that, even though the Gentiles may not know what God says in His holy Law, God would still hold them to account. This is true. And they were expecting then, that since they knew what it meant to be righteous, that they could start shooting for that righteousness. If God saw them get a couple rungs up the ladder of righteousness, then God would surely bless them, right?
But that’s not what God does. God is a God of justice and righteousness. How would going 45 in a 25 mile per hour zone be less breaking the law than going 60 in a 25? How would it be obedience, when your parents ask you to clean the dishes you only clean the cups and leave the plates on the counter? How is it right if your boss asks you to make sure the report is on her desk by 4 and you get it there tomorrow? You see, it’s not. And just because we sorta try to obey certain laws or even try to obey the Law, which we, of course, without argument, should, doesn’t negate the fact that breaking one Law, we break them all.
Just because you never physically kill a man doesn’t mean you’re better than a person who did. Just because you don’t commit adultery doesn’t mean you’re better than the liar. And the Jews who thought they could get a leg up into obedience to the Law would be sorely mistaken.
God is just and righteous. And it doesn’t work for God to save a person who only did 50 percent of the work, 60 percent of holiness, 70 percent of obedience, 99 percent of being awesome. God, in all of His justice, cannot save a person by the works that they do because they will have done so much more evil, and even in the good works that are done, they still aren’t done perfectly. How can a just God, who commands perfect obedience, just say that trying is good enough?
He can’t. That’s not how God works. God holds all people accountable for their holiness, their righteousness. Specifically, according to His holy Law, God expects it us all to be righteous, and sees and knows that we have all fallen short of the glory of God, fallen away from that which we need to be. God knows how evil I am, how sinful I am. But maybe I can get off lightly with Him, make a plea down to a lesser charge. But, if I can bargain with God, if I can make a deal with Him, well, that’s not really a holy God either, is it?
A God I can bargain with is a God who plays favorites. A God I can bargain with is a God who is on the same level of the playing field as I am. A God I can bargain with is a God who doesn’t care what He’s said, can go back on His promises, can contradict Himself. A God I can bargain with isn’t a God I am interested in worshipping. He has no justice, but He has no love either. Because a God I can bargain with isn’t interested in me, who I am, who He has made me to be. He doesn’t love me, He just loves what He can get out of me.
That’s not God. God is love. He loves you, not for the sinful things you have done, but He loves you because His Son, Jesus Christ, came and died for you. For you, the Son of God from all eternity took on Himself human flesh, obeyed God, was fully just, fully holy, fully righteous, went to the cross to die a sinner’s death, gave to you all that He had earned, and was raised from the dead so that He might promise you eternal life.
God loves you because, as a just God who demands perfection, He accepted His Son’s perfect life and obedience on your account, and counts you righteous, and just, and holy. God puts His Son’s righteousness on your account because He is just, He is righteous, He is holy, and His Son was the true and only fulfillment of all that God had ever said or promised through His Word.
If you can bargain with Jesus, if you try to get a better sentence than what you deserve, that’s not really love on His part, and what if you fall through on your promise? Is He going to just take away the material blessings we all know and love, or is He going to take away your eternal life? You see, you’ll never know.
Faith, however, faith, the gift from God which trusts in the promises of Jesus Christ, receives grace from God that we might be counted righteous, holy, and just, and that we, we sinners, might be saved and live forever in Jesus. Jesus became the curse, He became our disobedience to the Law of God, so that we would not be cursed. He was cursed that we would be blessed. He was tortured that we might be welcomed. He was crucified that we might be made whole.
And we, in faith, know that we have no leg up on the rungs of the ladder to holiness. Instead, we see that holiness has been brought down to us. We see that heaven is in our midst. We see the Kingdom of God living with us in the person and work of Jesus Christ. We see that we are made holy because the One who is holy is among us. Through His Word, through His Baptism, through His Supper, our Jesus dwells in and among us so that we made indeed be counted holy for God’s sake.
And we are free to then live according to the Law, not that we are perfect, nor that we would be saved through a collective bargaining agreement with God, but that we are free from fear of being cursed under the Law. We live lives of love, which we have been given in the Son of God who loved us, for we live by faith, that gift through which all good things come, and they come by the way Jesus promises: through Word and Sacrament. Through them, you continue to receive the forgiveness of God in Christ Jesus, and through them we are free to love our neighbors without fear, for God continues to say and show that He is still with us.
While we have committed crimes against God, treason even, God expects no restitution from you. In Christ, your ignorance of the Law, even your disobedience to the Law, is paid in full. He bore the punishment that brought us peace. He took the full sentence of death. And even better, Jesus doesn’t demand you make it all up to Him. He was punished so that you might live. He gives you life freely. He gives it freely to all people. He offers it without strings. God’s demands have been met and, through Christ, we are justified through Him who is the fulfillment of the Law. In Christ, God is just and the justifier. And He has justified you in Christ forever. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord! Amen.
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