In the name of God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Amen.
In
Ephesians, Paul writes “by grace you have been saved.” The Epistle of James
states that “So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.” And therein you
can see the foundation being laid for the debate over what faith is all about.
Are we saved by Christ’s faithfulness, regardless of our own thoughts and
practices? Are we saved by thinking the right things? Are we saved by doing the
right things and not doing the wrong things? It’s the classic case of grace and
works.
To
put this question into more tangible terms, can salvation come to someone who
has never heard of God or has rejected God, but has lived a moral, generous,
and compassionate life? Can someone who has been Baptized and is regular in
church attendance get away with lying, stealing, and violence? Put another way,
is faith something that we think, or something that we do? Yes, it is. It’s a
false dichotomy. God’s grace is not in competition with our actions. Faith and
works are not in opposition to each other. Faith is about all of our lives –
our words and deeds. We can’t be saved through our deeds, nor will our faith
ever be real if it remains but the figment of our imagination.
Faith
is always incarnate, as it is the intersection of our intellect and our action.
True faith changes us, and so there will always be things that we do and say because
of our faith. And if we don’t do those things, it probably is right to question
whether or not faith is at work. Instead of thinking in terms of “are you
saved,” I’d much prefer us to think in terms of “How are you being transformed
in Christ?” Faith is an going process. Faith is about God’s grace towards us, while
at the same time faith is also about the way in which this grace transforms us
and becomes manifest in our thoughts, words, and actions.
Rather
than a dichotomy of grace and works which sets up an artificial contest between
the two, it’s more helpful to think of a duality of grace and works, realizing
that both are a part of the equation, and the equation will be unbalanced if
either is missing. When our reading from Matthew and Micah are put in dialogue
with each other, we see how both God’s grace, which is unearned, is central to
our faith, as well as the transformation of our lives.
Our
reading from Matthew this morning is one of the better known passages from any
of the gospels. We call these verses the “Beatitudes” because in Latin,
“blessed” is beatitudo. These sayings
of Jesus commence his first public teaching, in a larger speech called “The
Sermon on the Mount.” It’s not accidental that Jesus’ first public teaching
isn’t about rallying the troops, giving an overview of the plan, or telling
King Herod that he’s coming for him. Rather, Jesus begins with a rebuke to
those who think that following him will be easy or pleasant.
The
Beatitudes are not instructions about how to live or requirements for following
Jesus. That’s not how Jesus meant those words, and it has not been the
tradition of the Church to interpret the words that way. Rather, the Beatitudes
are a statement of God’s solidarity with us. They tell us that God is with us. They
remind us that God blesses us at the outset, there is nothing to earn. And if
we don’t have to earn God’s love or favor, then it also means that we can never
lose those things.
Generally, when you are
poor in spirit, in mourning, are meek, or are persecuted, you might be
described as weak or as being a loser. Even today, we tend to think of
blessings as signs of divine favor and approval. So those in poverty are seen
as morally suspect and those with gainful employment are seen as “having done
something right.” But Jesus’ first words make it clear that this isn’t how God
operates, and that’s not what his ministry is based on. Success isn’t going to
be measured by wealth, by power, or by winning. The very first word that Jesus
speaks in his initial teaching is “blessed.” It is a reminder that you are
already sufficient. You don’t have to earn God’s favor or love.
The Beatitudes tell us
and remind us that God blesses, not on the basis of our actions or merits, but
on the basis of God’s unconditional love and solidarity with us. That is the
first part of the duality of our faith – that our faith is built upon God’s
action toward us, and there is nothing that we need to do in order to receive
it, deserve it, or keep it. There are no conditions put on God’s ability to
bless, redeem, or save. That being said, when God’s grace becomes rooted in our
lives, it necessarily changes us. It’s not that knowledge about God changes us,
it’s not that thinking certain things or holding particular opinions transforms
us, it’s not that pouring water on someone makes God decide to love and accept
them. But it is when God’s grace is firmly planted within us that
transformation happens. But just like a seed, faith must be nurtured.
This is why coming to
church regularly is so important, why reading Scripture is crucial, why prayer
is vital, why doing justice is central, why having a community of faith is
indispensable – these things all nurture the seeds of God’s grace which are
planted in us all. In Baptism, God’s transforming grace is put in us. Baptism
unites us to Christ’s Death and Resurrection. The goal though isn’t to have just
a seed of faith, but to be as fruitful as possible. When God’s grace is planted
within us, a valid question is “How has God’s grace transformed your life?” In
this season of Epiphany, it’s a question of how the love, mercy, and grace of
God is manifest in your life. Just as we turned to Matthew to consider how it
is that God is the initiator of grace, we turn to Micah to consider how it is
that our transformation is the response to this grace.
The Prophet Micah says
“What does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.”
It’s a very famous Biblical passage, and the context really is fascinating. As
it was read this morning, I hope that you had the “Law and Order” theme in your
head, because this passage is a courtroom drama. The Lord says “rise and plead your case.” We’ve been indicted of
crime against God. God instructs the mountains to be the jury, as the Lord has a suit to bring against us.
In the opening argument,
God says “O my people, what have I done to you? In what have I wearied you?
Answer me!” Though, before we’re given a chance to answer, God, rather
sarcastically, responds by listing the so-called “offences” that God has done
to us – saving us from Egypt, giving us Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, and saving us
from other nations. By now, we realize that we have no rebuttal. We become
aware of God’s grace – how God has created us, redeemed us, and sustains us. We
are guilty as charged – God has blessed us and graced us, and yet that grace is
not evident in our lives.
Micah posits our reply:
“With what shall I come before the Lord?”
In other words, how do we make amends for this? Oh, I know. How about the
perfect offering, a year old calf. No, no, even better, how about a thousand
rams, that’s my entire farm. Ooh, even better, how about ten thousand rivers of
oil, what else could show my remorse and the transformation of my soul. Oh, I
don’t like it, but I’ll even sacrifice my firstborn child, O Lord, won’t that show my commitment to
you?
It’s worth pointing out
that some of the kings of Israel had been doing just that. Child sacrifice was something
that they tried in order to make amends for their sins. God never asked for
that, but the people thought that it might work, so they tried it.
Micah doesn’t tell us who
speaks next, but we assume it is the mountains, who are serving as the jury for
this case. They say to us “He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what
does the Lord require of you but
to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” In
other words, God isn’t asking for a child sacrifice, God has no need for rivers
of oil, the transformation that God seeks for us isn’t a heap of sacrificed
goats. No, rather the fruit of God’s grace in us is justice, mercy, and
devotion. That last phrase “walk humbly with God” really is an uncertain
translation. That word isn’t used anywhere else in the Bible, so it’s hard to
know exactly what Micah meant. But scholars tell us that based on other
languages that are related to Hebrew, that it means something like
“intentionally” or “deliberately.” The sense is that our actions are to be
consistent with the one with whom we walk, God.
The result of this divine
courtroom drama is clear – God expects that there will be a response of
transformation to God’s grace and favor towards us. The Beatitudes in Matthew
show us God’s saving grace towards us and Micah conveys the intended
manifestation of that grace in our lives. There is grace and then there is
transformation. That might be a working definition for what a Sacrament is. Our
Book of Common Prayer defines a
Sacrament as an “outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace.”
This is what Baptism is
all about – both a reminder of God’s grace that is always with us and a
catalyst for transformation and growth in Christ. As we prepare the water for
Baptism, we will hear of the ways in which God has saved and sustained us through
the generations. We did nothing to earn our creation or salvation, rather it
was given to us as grace. And yet this grace summons a response from us. In the
Baptismal Covenant, we are called upon to live transformed lives by stating our
intention to resist evil, be faithful in worship, seek and serve Christ in all
people, and strive the justice and dignity of all people. Just as there is a “both-and”
included in faith being about both faith and action, so too is there a duality
in Baptism. Baptism both bestows both a blessing and also expects a response.
Our Episcopal tradition
and heritage is well suited to approach to faith. Our theology is comfortable
with an array of meanings around Sacraments and faith. Anglican theology is
incarnational, meaning it is about lived experience. And so, it is quite
possible, and plausible, that faith is first and foremost about what God has
done for us. We call this grace. And at the same time, faith is also about our
response to and growth in that faith. We call this discipleship or
transformation. Grace and works don’t need to be in competition with each
other, rather they can both be allowed to be a part of God’s blessing upon us.
For those of us who have been Baptized, may we continue to know of God’s
constant love for us and continue our work of growing into the full stature of
Christ. For those who will be Baptized in just a few moments, may God’s grace
be poured about abundantly on them today, that they continue forever in God’s
grace. Amen.
