"Wh0 Says?"

Pick up your room. It’s so messy I can’t see the floor.

Don’t talk with your mouth full.

You should send a thank-you note for that birthday present.

Keep your elbows off the table.

Turn off the TV, and don’t turn it on until your homework is done.

You live here, you can do some of the vacuuming.

Bus your dishes after you eat.

Parents give out orders. Instructions. Expectations.

They set rules and limits. Kids may chafe at them, but they understand that the rules are for their own good.
They may be slower to understand the burden their parents feel.

Blessed are those who do their own laundry, for their mothers shall weep with joy.

That’s the laundry beatitude.

In today’s gospel passage Jesus is telling his followers they must DO something. This passage is part of the
great Sermon on the Mount and if you read it in one sitting you see it is filled with commands. Almost all
the language is imperative.

Examples: If your right eye causes you to sin tear it out and throw it away. Love your enemies, pray for
those who persecute you. Whenever you pray go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father
who is in secret. Forgive. Do not store up treasure on earth. Do not worry. Do not judge. All these
commands and many more are in the Sermon on the Mount.

It might give you that feeling that a parent is bugging you with rules and chores. But And what’s even
worse is this: "Not everyone who says to me ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only those
who do the will of my Father in heaven."

That sets off the Lutheran alarms. Sounds like works righteousness.

And it’s one thing if the Bible seems to disagree with Martin Luther, it’s quite another when the Bible
seems to disagree with itself.

In our second Lesson from Romans the Apostle Paul makes no bones. "A person is justified by faith apart
from works of the law."

What are we to make of this? How do we proceed? One says only the doers get to heaven and the other
says no amount of good deeds will help.

Before I continue I want to make something clear. The purpose of any decent sermon is not to set up some
kind of intellectual puzzle and then impress the hearers by solving it.

What is at stake is more than solving these texts the way a TV program ties everything up before the last set
of commercials.

How do we live in this world? What must we do to inherit eternal life? How do I find reassurance when I
DO call on God and then find out not everyone who does is bound for glory? How do I find conviction
when I live like none of this really matters?

Jesus says it matters how you live. It matters even in eternity. It seems to me we need to be saved from
both the fear that we are not caring enough, and the damnation of not caring at all.

This is a serious question. When we hear of earthquakes and cyclones, tornadoes in our own back yard and
both disasters and wars tearing the lives of people far away, we need to know what to do. IS sending money
enough? Does it matter that we pray? Should we pack our bags for Burma? Should we die of shame if we
don’t?

Let’s pause now for a commercial break.

On Friday and Saturday I attended our Synod Assembly. Mary Mergenthal and Jason Langworthy also
attended. For those who don’t know, first, a Synod for us, is a geographical area, and all of the sister
congregations in that area. Lutheran congregations in St. Paul cooperate in mission projects, education
resources, local ministries and companion relationships with churches in Africa and Guatemala. We are in
the St. Paul area Synod of the ELCA.

The assembly is the annual meeting. All those congregations are represented. There is worship, business
meetings, debate on issues, a budget is proposed and passed, there are Bible studies and inspirational
speakers.

This year’s Keynote Speaker was Tony Campolo, A Christyian author, a Baptist lay preacher- a college
professor, a well-known voice across Christian denominations. He is an amazing speaker.

He reminded us that the Bible has two thousand verses about how God’s people should respond to the poor
of the earth. It was a deeply convicting message about making sure a church does not exist for its own sake,
but to care for the poor and proclaim good news. We are not gathered just to enjoy one another’s company.

It was a good assembly. Better than most- focused on mission and service in the world. We learned about
people who ARE serving the neighbor in far corners of the world, and in our own city.

OK. end of commercial. Back to where we left ourselves, dealing with commands to action, and the
thought that no amount of action will save us.

The text from Matthew tells us the crowds listened to Jesus because he spoke with authority. He spoke like
someone who has the right to expect something. He spoke like someone who isn’t repeating a well-worn
teaching. He spoke as someone who KNOWS what to say.

This is a key to our understanding and to our serving.

When a parent makes demands of a child there is a context for those words. The child knows the parent,
sees their love, understands that a good parent can be trusted completely. A devoted parent would give
anything to ensure the health and safety of that child. The responsible parent has taken on endless tasks to
make a life for the child.

That’s who is speaking when the voice says, pick up your dirty socks, sit up straight, don’t forget to brush
your teeth.

That’s how we are meant to hear the commands of God. God is faithful and trustworthy and wills the good
of you and all your neighbors. There is a mercy even in God’s commands, because there is a context of
relationship.

The challenges God places on us do not arrive in an envelope sent from heaven. They are spoken by Jesus
who came in person and who lived the life of a poor peasant and who gave his life, even dying on a cross-
all for you, for me, for the sake of a broken world.

So he speaks for our good when he commands. When we hear Jesus saying love your enemy, we hear it
from someone who was willing to live it. When he says feed the hungry we hear it as a commission to carry
out the mercy that he himself began.

We ARE called to deeds of love and mercy, called and commanded. But this was never about making it to
heaven, it is about being in God’s embrace. We love because he first loved us.

Tony Campolo shared that he thought the way to get started is in prayer. To know God in the quiet of that
secret room where you go, where you step away from distractions- this is where it begins. When we pray,
the Holy Spirit prays with us, and we begin to breathe in the breath of God.

What we do with that power is not a work of the law, but an act of love.

Paradise WILL be populated by those who did good deeds. This is because God steps into the world to
make sure there are people who will do them.

This Word is your call to be one of those people, and to know that this is not a test, but a commission.
Jesus is speaking to you. This is instruction from a loving parent.

And the child who obeys is not earning a place in the house. IF you have ears to hear you have a place in
that house. The child who obeys is showing loyalty, respect, and trust in someone who would give
everything for their well-being.

God is planning to redeem the world. God will get it right even when we get it wrong. So we live in hope,
not fear, in loyalty, not bargaining. That is solid as a rock - and that makes it a safe place to live.