The Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee



The Seventh Sunday after the Epiphany, Year A, February 20, 2011, The Church of Our Saviour Gallatin

“Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them: You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy” (Lev. 19:2).

God speaks to Moses today in our first reading, and he has a word for the People of Israel. He’s speaking to them from the Tent of Meeting, sometimes called the Tabernacle, the place on Mount Sinai where God revealed himself to Moses, and he’s giving them the Law. This reading from Leviticus, one of the first five books of the Old Testament, is a reminder that the book itself is largely given over to laws and rules that are to govern the People of God. Many folks who set out to read the Bible from cover to cover find their plan coming apart when they get to Leviticus. It’s tough going, not for everybody; a bit like setting out to read the tax code from cover to cover! Now some people might find that fascinating, but the average person won’t. Still, we don’t want to miss what God has to say, because there will be a word for us here that will be significant.

Today that word for us is that God calls to himself a People, a community that is called to reflect the life of God. It’s easy to miss what is most obvious here. God calls a People, a “congregation” that by definition is gathered. He is not shaping and forming an aggregate of individuals, but he is calling into being a People. We can think here of the wandering folk of Israel, Abraham’s kinfolk, typically scattered over the countryside as shepherds and herders of necessity are but now gathered into one at Mount Sinai so that they may hear God’s word and may be his People.

This People God calls are going to have a representative quality; in some sense at least they are going to be God’s ambassadors and stand for him in the world. They will need to be holy because God is holy. We see this in our reading where God tells the People they must not swear falsely, not because it’s a bad thing (which it certainly is) but because it will compromise God, “profaning his name.” God is the ultimate truth-teller, so those who represent him must also tell the truth. God establishes reality, so those who are his People must not manipulate it with lies.

Jesus’ death and resurrection has initiated a new People into God’s service. This is the Church, the community sent by Jesus into the world to carry out his mission. This is why Jesus called twelve apostles: not because twelve was a convenient number but because these twelve were meant to recall and reform the twelve tribes of Israel. These twelve were sent out in mission (apostle means “sent”) to be God’s People in the world. And the Church’s primary mission is to gather all peoples into one People, a “congregation” gathered to serve God. That’s your job at the Church of Our Saviour; that’s my job as bishop and the job of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church as a whole.

Now we come to the main point of our reading today, and also add Gospel to Law. If we in the church are a community, sent to gather folk in service to God, then we will need to work on our common life together. Remember, we are called to be holy because God himself is holy. Our reading today suggests that the main thing is love. “You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev.19:18). Episcopalians tend to think that Jesus was the first one to say this, but he wasn’t; rules make modern people nervous and so we skip over Leviticus and look what we miss! “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” A community called to reflect the life of God is going to have to burrow deep into the business of loving the neighbor, because God is a gracious and generous lover of souls. And just so you won’t think that Jesus never said anything original, our Gospel gives us this: “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven” (Matt. 5:44-45). Jesus is giving a new Law here, burrowing deep into the business of loving, drilling deep and getting to the very heart of the matter. We’re not supposed to hate our enemies but we’re supposed to love them, because God loves them and we are his People.

Those being confirmed today are being called into a serious community of faith, where the life of God is meant to be reflected. This sermon represents full disclosure of the high call of God. In this community we are going to have to strive for love, not just of our neighbor but of our enemy. Our relationships both within and without the Church are meant to be marked by love, not by anger or enmity. This is Law and Gospel for us. God has called us to be his People, and called us to share the risen life of Christ our Savior. Today God is speaking to us.

- The Rt. Rev’d John Bauerschmidt, Bishop of Tennessee

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