Excerpts from a Sermon by the late Archbishop John T. Cahoon, Jr., Metropolitan of the Anglican Catholic Church, Bishop of the Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic States, & Rector of St. Andrew & St. Margaret of Scotland
Trinity VI
This morning's gospel is taken from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. He delivers the sermon in his home territory of Galilee, north of Jerusalem, and not far from Nazareth where he grew up. His audience is a collection of ordinary local Jews.
Jesus begins by making an astounding statement. It is, "Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter the kingdom of heaven." In other words, you are not going to get into heaven unless you are more righteous than the scribes and the Pharisees are."
What made his statement astounding was that most of the people in the crowd would have been sure that the scribes and the Pharisees were the most righteous people around. They were the teachers of the Law and the transcribers of the Law. They knew the Law backwards and forwards, and they were the most learned interpreters of the law. It was their business to be righteous. If the only way I can get into heaven is to be more righteous than they are, then I had better resign myself to spending eternity in hell.
Jesus goes on to explain why the scribes and the Pharisees are really not righteous, even though they claim to be extremely righteous. Their fundamental problem is that they believe God's commandments have to do only with literal actions. They fail to take into account that in God's eyes thinking about breaking a commandment or talking about breaking a commandment is the same as acting to break it. . .
Jesus says, "I am telling you that if you are angry with somebody for no reason, you are in danger of judgment, and if you call somebody a nasty name, you will be in danger of going to hell."
His point is that name-calling and unrighteous anger are types of killing. If you call someone a name in anger you are cutting yourself off from him as surely as you would if you actually killed him. Obviously the consequences for the other person are greater if you kill him than if you are just angry at him or call him a name, but the danger for you is identical. You are cutting off the other person, You are saying that a creature of God does not matter. You are breaking the sixth commandment.
If we apply the same logic to all of the commandments, we find out that we cannot claim to have kept any of them perfectly. Yes, I have never burned incense to a golden calf, but I have made decisions on the basis of what I want rather than what I think God wants, so I am, in fact, an idolater. I may never have actually taken anything that doesn't belong to me, but I have thought about how nice it would be to have something someone else has, so I am, in fact, a coveter and a thief.
Jesus wants us to see that we have no claim to righteousness on our own at all. If we recognize that the commandments have to do with thoughts and words as well as with deeds, we shall see that when it comes to keeping them, we are in a pretty sorry mess.
Our righteousness can exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees when we realize that we are not righteous. The only righteousness we have is the righteousness God gives us in Jesus.
God does not take us to heaven because we are good and righteous. God will take us to heaven because he loves us, and because he sent Jesus to die to forgive our sins. That is the issue St. Paul addresses in today's epistle.
St. Paul says that when we are baptized we die the death we deserve to die because of our sin. We share in Jesus' own death. After baptism we live by the power of God—we live the new life of Jesus' resurrection—we have eternal life from that point onward. As St. Paul puts it, "If we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection."
Baptism frees us from sin not because it makes us perfectly moral. Baptism guarantees that God will always forgive us no matter what we do. That frees us to try to obey his commandments--not because we are afraid of what will happen to us if we don't obey them, but because we are grateful to God for saving us.
Our righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees when we acknowledge we are sinners and we rely on what Jesus did for us on the cross. So "Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord."
All things come of thee, O Lord, and of thine own have we given thee
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UPDATED: MaRIH Center (crisis pregnancy center) Needs Our Help
MaRIH Center with its all volunteer staff provides help to mothers-to-be and mothers in need. Please provide some of the items that are needed.. (You can leave the donations where the food for the food bank is collected on the pew in the undercorft.)
Especially Needed
In Bold are a critical need.
Diapers (sizes newborn, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, & 6)
Lovies
Baby wipes
Diaper rash ointment
Baby shampoo
Baby blankets
Bibs
Formula: Simulac Advance Formula
Formula: other but not recalled
Wash clothes
Hooded towels
Grocery gift cards
Food Donations: Help Feed the Hungry
Please help this month with a food donation if you are able. Christ House is very thankful for the food we provide to them each month. Please also buy low sugar cereals (and not the kid's types that have lots of sugar). Current needs include the following:
• canned meats (chicken, corned beef, spam)
• peanut butter
• jelly
• tuna
• canned vegetables (corn, green beans - (regular and low sodium)
• individual fruit cups (low sugar)
• canned fruit (low sugar)
• boxed cereal (low sugar) and instant or old fashioned oatmeal (18 oz or 42 oz)
• pasta (regular and gluten-free)
• instant potatoes
• Macaroni & cheese kits
Soups: Chunky or Progresso; Chicken broth
• Coffee, cooking oil, flour, sugar
SERVICES & EVENTS
Sunday Services, 7:45 AM, 9:00 AM, & 11:15 AM (for online participation for the services go to: https://www.facebook.com/saintsofscotland)
Nursery in undercroft for 9:00 AM & 11:15 AM services
Sunday School in recess until September
Wednesday, 12 noon, Holy Communion and anointing for healing, (for online participation for the service go to: https://www.facebook.com/saintsofscotland)
Next Vestry Meeting, September 23, 7:30 PM
SAVE THE DATE: Sunday Oct. 13, Parish Picnic at Fort Hunt Park following combined 10 AM Service, more details to follow
Trinity VII: The Collect, The Epistle, & The Gospel
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