『The Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity | St. Matthew 22:34-46 | The Law also Teaches You How to Live』のカバーアート

The Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity | St. Matthew 22:34-46 | The Law also Teaches You How to Live

The Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity | St. Matthew 22:34-46 | The Law also Teaches You How to Live

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The Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity October 4, 2026 St. Matthew 22:34-46 Before this morning’s Gospel reading, the Sadducees debated with Jesus about the resurrection. However, Jesus silenced their inquiry, and now the Pharisees have arrived to ask Jesus a question: “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” The text says these scholars ask this question to test Jesus, but it’s more than that; they desire to entrap Him. They want to take Jesus down. They want to silence Him. So these legal minds ask Jesus a question on the only topic they “think” they know: the Law of God, the commandments. But for a moment, let’s take a step back and ask: what is a commandment? In the most simplistic manner, a commandment is a word from God or God’s word. And what is the purpose of these words? These words, these commandments, reveal God’s will for man. What man is to do. They provide order for the Christian life. However, we are all like children, turning to one another and saying, “You can’t tell me what to do.” We’ve all said this at some point in our lives. Sometimes we say this not with our words, but with our silence, with a deaf ear, and with the actions we continue to do even after being told they are against God’s will and His commandments. For instance, you encourage a child to come to the Divine Service, to hear God’s Word, receive His forgiveness, and be made ready for eternal life, but they just turn over in bed, pull the blanket over their heads, sleep in, and wait for you to return home in the early afternoon. It’s a silent act by a child raised in the Christian faith who fails to keep the Third Commandment. Or there’s the child of an aging parent who knows they need to call their mother or father, visit them, take them to a doctor’s appointment, spend time with them, love them, and cherish them, but instead they silence their parent’s call when it comes in and avoid their mother and father. It’s a silent action of avoidance that fails to keep the Fourth Commandment. There’s the couple who lives together without being married. Maybe a pastor told them to get hitched; maybe they haven’t, but they grew up in the church. They know God’s plan for marriage; they know that the union and fellowship of a man and a woman in one home is a foundational gift from God, not only for the family but also for society, and that it must not be abused or neglected. However, their failure to marry and their continued cohabitation brush aside the joys of marriage. It’s a silent action by a man and a woman that fails to keep the Sixth Commandment. But where does a person learn to break God’s Law in these ways? At home, silent actions and examples are often shown to one another. The child learns most from what is done, not from what is said. So ask yourself this question. What do the day-to-day actions in your home teach others about the faith that is within you? In other words, what silent aspects of life are confessing your faith, or lack thereof… For instance, when someone comes to your home, do you invite them in? Do you expect them to remove their shoes, or do they keep them on? Do husband and wife serve one another, or is one expected to serve the other? Are the toys scattered throughout the home, or do the parents get down on the ground to help teach the child how to put their toys away? When the family sits down for a meal, do they quiet their voices, fold their hands, bow their heads, and pray, or do the conversations continue as if God hadn’t provided the food before them? As the day comes to its close, does a parent or grandparent tuck in their little ones, sing a hymn, teach them to pray, and entrust their lives to God’s care? Or is the child simply sent off to bed and reminded to turn off the lights? Within all of these situations I just brought up, we see unspoken commandments of a home, a way order is being instilled into the hearts and minds of those dwelling together, especially children. And reflect on this. If the removal of shoes or the picking up of toys is as important in your home as it is in many, how much more important is the keeping of God’s Word, His Commandments, the way He orders your life, the way He wants you to walk throughout this life, so that you might inherit eternal life? Just reflect on the words of the Old Testament reading from Deuteronomy, And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD, which I am commanding you today for your good? (Deuteronomy 10:12-13) In order to walk in the ways of the Lord, Moses says that one must have a godly fear, that is, a sense of amazement and respect for God and His Word. This happens only when you know God...
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