Freedom of a Christian
Sunday Readings: Philippians 4:1-9 & Matthew 22:1-14
Grace and peace to you from God our father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Earlier this week, Pastor Brian and I spent a few days with other Lutheran pastors from around the New England Synod at the annual Bishop’s Convocation in Sturbridge, MA. We gathered for fellowship and to hear from Bishop Imad Haddad, the newly installed Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land.
At the end of our few days together, Bishop Pipho, our Bishop here in the New England Synod, preached on the same Gospel text we just heard. And according to Bishop Pipho, Martin Luther - the founder of what we now call the Lutheran tradition - thought this Gospel passage was terrible to preach! I must agree. Tying up a wedding guest and throwing him out where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth because of what he’s wearing is a bit of a hard topic in which to find good news.
So, Bishop Pipho asked instead – what of this passage from Matthew is centered on the Law? What if it’s a passage that is intentionally telling us something hard that we don’t really want to hear?
Now, in our Lutheran tradition, we base our hope on the experience of God’s Grace. That is the center of Luther’s message – “Sola Gratia” “Sola Fide” - grace alone by faith alone. And so, we Lutherans often eschew the Law as archaic, dead, or non-operable within this abundant theology of Grace. But… here it is, the Law on full display, so perhaps Bishop Pipho is onto something.
So, let’s acknowledge the Law today.
Theologically speaking, Law does three things which are often called the Three Uses of the Law. First, the Law sets an order for society – it sets up the boundaries that we agree to follow. It’s like the curb on the side of the road delineating just where cars are to drive. Second, when we overstep the boundaries, when we drive over the curb, the Law reflects how we broke the Law like a mirror. We can see exactly where, when and how we overstepped the boundaries through the clarity of the curbs.
A very clear example of these first two uses of the Law is found in the 10 Commandments. Don’t worship other gods, don’t use the lord’s name in vain, don’t skip the sabbath day, don’t dishonor your parents, don’t murder, don’t commit adultery, don’t steal, don’t bear false witness, don’t covet things and don’t covet your neighbor’s people or family.
Those are some clear boundaries. It’s very clear what the wrong thing is, and we know when we do the wrong thing. It’s like my message to the children this morning. Growing up, I had a rule from my mom to only draw on paper, and yet I broke the rule by drawing on the shirt.
Many scholars have suggested that this kind of interpretation is good for our passage from Matthew today. “Many are called, but few are chosen.” Many are told what the law is, but only a few can follow it.
But, with that interpretation, I wonder who’s who?
I know I’ve taken the lord’s name in vain at times; I’ve skipped honoring the sabbath day; I’ve gossiped and so born false witness; I’m complicit in the wider sins of environmental harm and national war; and to be honest, I’m pretty sure I’ll covet the last cookie from the tray at coffee hour in the hands of one of the kids after church today!
So, as a sinner. As one who has transgressed the boundaries of several of the 10 Commandments - am I the one who’s bound and thrown out into the place of weeping and gnashing?
The interpretation of this passage as pure Law makes me spiral to a terrible place. I wonder if you might be reacting similarly? It’s a place Martin Luther himself knew – a place where he drove himself to depression and desperation working to think of and confess every way he broke the Law. It’ll do the same to me; it will do the same to all of us.
So, I’m not so sure if this is an appropriate way to interpret this gospel passage without looking at the Law through the Grace of Jesus Christ. Ensuring that we combine our understanding of the Law with our foundational understanding that God’s grace flows to us through Christ. “Grace alone by faith.”
Remember, in my children’s message, it didn’t end with the garment remaining stained with ink after I broke the rules. It was washed clean in the waters of baptism.
For that is the grace which God promises to us through Jesus Christ. To wash us of our sins. To wipe our sins away. To stick us back between the curbs of the Law. To clothe us in our spotless wedding garment which we wear to the great wedding feast that is the Kingdom of Heaven.
And so, this leads me to the third and final use of the Law. Remember, the first use of the Law is to set up guardrails; the second use is the Law reflects when we break the Law. And now the third use comes to us in the Grace of God, which sets us freed from the structures of the Law in Jesus Christ.
Because through Christ, we are freed from the anxious spiral. The Law is no longer a tool for our eternal condemnation nor is the Law a way for us to earn salvation by working to follow it perfectly. We are freed by Christ from the Law, forgiven of all the ways we mess up the Law. That freedom doesn’t mean we can just keep on sinning. In our freedom from the Law in Christ, we are freed from the anxiety in order to focus more on how the Law is a helpful guide to serving our neighbors. The Law becomes a guide for being in relationship with each other and with God, rather than as our pathway to earn eternal salvation. Notice, in this freedom we still acknowledge the importance of having the Law, but its central purpose is no longer to condemn, but to bring us together.
Martin Luther’s explanations to the 10 Commandments exemplify how the Law becomes our guide to service to the neighbor. For example, in his explanation of the fifth commandment “you shall not murder.” He says, “we are neither to endanger or harm the lives of our neighbors (that’s the Law), but instead [we are] to help and support them in all of life’s needs.” (that’s what we’re freed to do). In his explanation to of the 7th Commandment, “You shall not steal.” He says, “We are not to take our neighbor’s property, but instead, help them to improve and protect their property.”
In being washed of our sins God has freed us from the shackles of the law as a burden to follow to perfection and to see the Law as a guide for service to the neighbor,
This Gospel passage puts the Law on full display. It’s scary to hear about the condemnation of evil being thrown into the dark where there is weeping and gnashing. But it’s also wonderful that God has given us the Law to reflect to us what is evil in the world; to show us that God cares about the evil in the world and sees the evil and condemns it; washing us of it, freeing us from it in order to focus on how it guides us into love and service for God’s world.
We are God’s children, clothed in our baptism with forgiveness and mercy and set free to serve.
Thanks be to God for this Freedom of a Christian.
Amen.
Rev. Ryan | October 11, 2026 | 20th Sunday after Pentecost
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