Love Undergirds God’s Law

16 February 2020 –– Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany

Sermon on the Mount, by Jorge Cocco

This Sunday marks the end of the Time after the Epiphany during which the church has paid attention to the meaning of Jesus revealed as God’s Son. Next Sunday being this focus to culmination in the Transfiguration of Jesus on the mountain, flanked by the great prophets Moses and Elijah.

Today the scripture readings hone in on the love that undergirds the way of life that leads to reconciliation. The Torah/ God’s law reveals God’s will and presupposes God’s love. –– Melinda Quivik

Matthew 5:21-37

Jesus complicates the law in order to release us from taking obedience too simplistically. Not only must we not murder, we must not insult. Not only must we respect the relationships of others, we must not even desire to intrude on relationships that deserve our honor. Not only are we to keep our promises to God, but we must not make other allegiances.

Because heaven and earth belong to the Lord, God desires that we be reconciled in all ways. To choose life means to have love, obey, and hold fast to our God. –– Melinda Quivik

Deuteronomy 30:15-20

We have heard the phrase “I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life…” so often that it has come to be cliched and therefore too pat, undefined, and even negative. We emphasize the word “choose” rather than the giving that is from God. In fact, this is God’s word reminding us of options –– that we have been given the ability to make choices. We are not stuck in one or another plane, but have been given room to courageously set out in a direction whose ending we cannot see.

Rather than focusing on the hardship of making choices and the fear of making the wrong choice, we might pay attention to the promise that loving God and holding to the commandments “means life… and length of days…”

The commandments, if we ponder them with care, contain assurance of God’s steadfast love (I am the Lord your God), rest on the Sabbath (which means God does not desire us to toil endlessly but to take time to notice what is in and around us), and relationships that allow for respect and dignity (no stealing, even from my; no coveting; no objectifying). These commandments are themselves gifts that honor each one of us. They constitute not strait-jacketed life but freedom. –– Melinda Quivik

1 Corinthians 3:1-9

Paul reminds us that we are “God’s field, God’s building.” This metaphor is about being constructed. A field is for planting and growing, for nourishing others. A building is made for the safety, security, and stability needed by its occupants to contain celebrations and to come together over sorrows. “God gives the growth” for both field and building.

Yet we are unable to give to God our thanks by working together because we are divided by jealousy and quarrelling. This is a mark of our sin: inward-fixated, self-concerned, protective of our walls.

Paul admonishes the church to recognize the pitfalls of our fleshiness and turn to our common calling. –– Melinda Quivik

Melinda A. Quivik, an ELCA pastor and former professor of liturgy and homiletics, is the Editor-in-Chief of Liturgy and a past president of the North American Academy of Liturgy. Her most recent book is Remembering God’s Promises: A Funeral Planning Handbook (Augsburg Fortress, 2018).