March 20, 2025
In our Scripture Lesson today, Paul begins with a lengthy, and rather tedious, discussion about righteousness and the law (for our purposes we can think of the law as both the Old Testament and how Jesus taught his followers to live, what Jesus would do.) His points are threefold. First, the law is good and should be followed. Knowing what Jesus would do, and doing it, is a good thing. Second, those who know the law and follow it, those who know what Jesus would do and do it, are righteous. Third, those who don’t know the law but follow it anyway, those who do what Jesus would do without ever having heard of Jesus, are also righteous.
But Paul’s main thrust, and the object of his ire, are those who know the law but don’t follow it. They know what Jesus would do, but don’t follow in Jesus’ footsteps. It’s because of people like this, Paul says, that God is ignored or, even worse, not believed in.
To my mind, Paul’s examples are rather ham-fisted. Theft, adultery and robbing temples seem to be a bit over the top. But his point is sound. If we are going to talk the talk, we must also walk the walk. Those of us who say we love all people as our sisters and brothers in Christ cannot then tell racist, sexist, or anti-immigrant jokes. Those of us who disparage thieves cannot casually relate how well we made out when the store accidentally charged us too little for some expensive items. Those of us who share stories of our church and how much worship means to us cannot then skip a service because of the big game. These kinds of behaviors can lead non-believers to dismiss our witness altogether.
Paul can be a little difficult to follow, but it’s always worth the effort. His points are important: the law is good, knowing what Jesus would do matters. But what matters more is following the law, doing what Jesus would do. Righteousness is what we do, not what we know.
Imagine that a non-believer, someone you know well, tragically dies. They come to the Pearly Gates and St. Peter asks them, “Why did you never trust in Jesus as your Lord and Savior? You certainly heard about him enough.” Perplexed, the person answers, ‘Because (insert your name here) said they loved Jesus but never seemed to actually do what Jesus would have done. Why would I worship the God of a hypocrite?’
How very horrible. How very sad.
God’s peace to us all,
Pastor Ken.