“HE LOVES YOU MORE”
Saint Matthew 6. 24-34
The Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity: 16 September Anno Domini 2007
Fr Watson
Jesus does not lie. He does not equivocate, exaggerate, �split the difference� or �hedge His bets.� His so called �hard� sayings are hard because sinners have even harder hearts. The law is meant to break apart concrete �old natures.� �No one can serve two masters�you cannot serve God and mammon.� These words spoken from the lips of Truth Incarnate were not philosophical abstractions. Jesus said it because you daily divide your loyalties between Him and mammon. Mammon is anything other than that which is God pleasing. Mammon is anything that is not loving God perfectly and loving your neighbor perfectly.
That which you look to, trust in, rely upon, and cling to, in times of trouble and need is your �god.� Your sinful self will affix itself like leaches and barnacles to the world�s answers and not to the �Light of Life;� to the prince of lies and not to the Prince of Peace; and to your own resources and not to the Righteous One.
Whether one is poor or rich by the world�s standards, without the true treasure of Christ, one will never be free from worry or fear. The poor pagan will always live in anxiety about where the next meal is coming from and whether there will be clothes to wear and place to sleep. But likewise, no matter how much wealth the hedonistic heathen hoards, he too will also worry about whether he has enough. Sin makes �Scrooges� out of all men.
You sin against your Lord when you treat Him as a liar. You sin when you whine about your situation in life or when you worry about whether God will ultimately take care of you. He will.
God is great, yes sure; so what? Great only means big, powerful, awesome, world changing and history making. Alexander, Julius Caesar, Genghis Khan, Napoleon and the great Dictators of the twentieth century were �great.� So what; this is no help to the worried soul who is naked, hungry and orphaned. God is great but what matters to you, is that God is good; pure good; only good. And as the �Reformer� so aptly put it, even if God was good, �that� itself means nothing unless He is good to you; good �for you.� Jesus could have died a thousand deaths on the cross and it wouldn�t be worth a warm bucket of spit if it wasn�t �for you.� Believe what He desires you to believe! Cling to Christ, to His Body and Blood! Here and trust what He speaks through my mouth when you are at the rail: �The Body of Christ�FOR YOU! The Blood of Christ...FOR YOU!�
With this Holy Ghost inspired faith in you, you wrap your arms around Jesus in a spiritual bear-hug even as He has always embraced you close to His pierced heart (a heart stabbed: FOR YOU). With this Spirit call of trust and confidence in the Savior�s life and atoning sacrifice FOR YOU, you as a new man and new woman, brother and sister of Savior Messiah worry not and fret not.
The Gospel frees you and feeds you and clothes you and gives you a home filled with loved ones loving you. Here the Lord again as He showers you with good news from His lips: �Don�t worry about your life. I Am your new eternal life. I died so that you might never die the second death of damnation. Don�t worry about food and drink. I will give you your daily bread. I will give you My Body and My Blood, the �food of heaven;� the King of heaven. Don�t worry about clothes. You were born naked but now you are dressed. You came to the font filthy and smelling of sin, but now you wear My own royal robes, now you have been incensed with the beautiful fragrance of resurrection lilies.�
The Son of God did not become incarnate as a bird. He is not some �new-age� pantheistic force of nature inhabiting flowers in the field. Messiah is flesh and blood of the Virgin, and God of God of the Father and Spirit. Jesus did not keep the Commandments for the Angels, or for the forest creatures, birds, bees and lilies. Jesus obeyed for you. Jesus died not to forgive sins to animals that are also fallen, but to remit your trespasses�the original cause of a broken creation.
The God King, Who Himself is ALL Righteousness earned you celestial clothing; He will give you clothes to wear during the week. He Who died on the tree is the true fruit of the restored Garden of Grace. You who will shortly feast on His Victorious Body and Blood will also be provided with sustenance to keep you going in this world. And even if from time to time your faith is �little.� This One �little word� Jesus, Savior, means that you are saved. He loves the birds. He loves the lilies. He loves you infinitely more. He loves you.
In the Name of The Father and of + The Son and of The Holy Ghost