Whose way is blameless?
Image: A stone depiction of Moses holding the tablets of the 10 Commandments.
Sermon for the Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany, Year A (February 12, 2023).
View the scripture readings and the Collect of the Day: Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany
Preached at St. James’ Episcopal Church in Hyde Park, NY. A video of our whole 10 am service for the Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany (February 12th) is available here.
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Happy are they whose way is blameless, *
who walk in the law of the Lord!
Happy are they who observe God’s decrees *
and seek God with all their hearts!
Who never do any wrong, *
but always walk in God’s ways. (Psalm 119:1-3)
Edited Transcript
May only truth be spoken here and only truth be heard. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Please be seated.
This is one of those Gospel passages that you just love to start your day with!
I follow a bishop of the Episcopal Church on Facebook who leads a live prayer service and lectionary study every Tuesday morning for the upcoming Sunday's Gospel. She starts at 7:30 a.m. This week, she read this Gospel passage and then she said, "You know what? I'm going to go get another cup of coffee."
It's important this morning to acknowledge the heaviness of this reading and that each of us as we hear this reading might feel convicted by Jesus' words in one way or another. And I want to say up front, that in this church, when we understand and interpret the scriptures, we start from remembering that God is a God who has covenanted to love us: from the beginning of creation to the end. So that's the lens we're gonna use today. When we come to this difficult passage (or any difficult passage in scripture), we start with God's love for us.
Now, you might remember, if you were here last week, that Jesus called us to be the light of the world, the salt of the earth. Then he goes on to say, "You might think now that I've come to abolish the law. But I've come not to abolish, but to fulfill it." Those words of Jesus last week lead into what he's saying to us today. He also said last week that "unless your righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees, you won't get into the kingdom of heaven." Which nobody heard as Good News, either here or back then. The Pharisees, of course, were the folks who were trying really hard to fulfill the law and to do what was commanded. They were the righteous paragons. And Jesus is basically saying, well, you gotta do better than that!
And here today, we have Jesus recalling for the people, and for us, what the laws are. Thou shall not murder, thou shall not violate marriage. Thou shall not break your oath. He recalls these for us. And then he says, bad news for y'all: it's not just about what you do! It's about the things that start inside of you, that nobody else sees, that can ultimately lead to those actions. Actions like violation or murder. These actions always start within us, with a thought or an idea that kind of grows and that we might meditate on, right?
In another Gospel, the Gospel of Mark, when Jesus has similar teachings, he tells us: If you get divorced? No good! And then he goes on to tell a rich man, it's easier for a rich man to get to go through the eye of a needle than to get into the kingdom of heaven. So he tells the disciples and those around him similar things. And at the end of that, in the Gospel of Mark, the disciples say, "Well, not good! If this is true? For mortals, this is impossible. What you're basically telling us, Jesus, is that nobody is getting into the kingdom of heaven."
And it's in the Gospel of Mark that Jesus responds to that justifiable complaint with the words: "For mortals, it is impossible, but for God, all things are possible."
Now want you to take a look at the psalm [Psalm 119] again. And remember that the psalmist will pray very honestly to God. So as you look at this psalm, I want you to kind of look at this with a little bit of an ironic eye. Okay?
Happy are they whose way is blameless,
who walk in your law, O God.
Happy are they who observe your decrees...
Who never do any wrong,
but always walk in your ways.
And so again, that refrain of the disciples: "Well then, nobody's happy! Nobody's getting into heaven! Nobody's going to experience the kingdom of God!" And yet, somehow, the kingdom of God is coming near to you.
For mortals, this is not possible. None of these things that Jesus is talking about are possible for us to do. Not one of us can keep ourselves from feeling anger, and in fact, sometimes anger is a signal that something is wrong that needs to be addressed, right? Not one of us can help where our eye falls. Not one of us can help when our relationships ultimately become broken beyond what we had desired when they began. "Happy are they who never do any wrong." So too bad for the rest of you!
So I want to remind you that when we set out to fulfill the law, not only with our actions, but with our minds and our spirits: I want to remind you that we do it in partnership with God.
I want to remind you that when you took vows at your baptism, that in the covenant you said, "I will seek the dignity of every human being." "I will seek and serve Christ in all persons (even the annoying ones)." "I will continue in the apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and in the prayers."
I will, I will, I will. Do you remember? "I will with God's help." The vow is, "I will, with God's help."
Because for mortals it is impossible, but for God, all things are possible.
And that doesn't mean that any one of us is going to become that person named by the psalmist who says, "happy are they whose way is blameless and who never do any wrong." It just means that God is alongside us the whole time.
God is there to help. Inevitably, as we walk the good road, we're gonna kinda get sidetracked, we're going to veer off course. But as soon as we get that nudge from the Holy Spirit to turn back to the right road, God's already there. And God's the one who nudged us in the first place.
Everything we do to stay on the good road and to follow that blameless way... and our striving, which is our practice that we follow our whole lives, it's done with God's help. And with God's unending love. Because there is nothing that you can do that will separate you from the love of God. Nothing.
God loves you no matter what, and God is always ready to follow and be with you, and to be followed on that good road. Amen.