Trinity 6

Text: Matthew: 5:17-26

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus,

I recently read an article on the CiRCE Institute website by Joshua Gibbs regarding the children’s book series, “Frog and Toad.” My family has particularly enjoyed reading these books, and they’ve been required reading for our school’s younger children.

Suppose you are not familiar with the book series from the 1970s. In that case, the anthropomorphic Frog and Toad are two characters who have adventures but also wrestle and teach children of a young age about real-life situations like temptation, sloth, or worry.

For instance, the story of “The Lost Button” highlights anger, which is appropriate with today’s Gospel.

You see, Frog and Toad were out on a walk across a meadow, in the woods, and along a river. Once they had returned home, Toad realized he lost a button from his jacket. So, being his good friend, Frog says, “Don’t worry, we will go back to all the places where we walked, and we’ll find your button.”

Animals of all sorts bring Toad buttons, large and small, thick and thin, but none were the correct button. The process of losing and searching for the button increases Toad's anger. Eventually, he is shouting, stomping, and just not happy at all.

After this, Toad decided to go home and slammed the door shut behind him in a fit.

But low and behold, the button that had fallen off his coat was right there under his nose on the floor of his own home.

In the end, Toad “decoratively sews all the wrong buttons [he collected from his wilderness friends] on a jacket for Frog as a way of making up for his anger and small-mindedness.”

What a friend.

Joshua Gibbs makes the point in saying he believes “children’s books have become increasingly squeamish [today] when it comes to addressing genuine human problems.”

I’d have to agree with him, but I’d add the Church has also not only become squeamish when it comes to handling genuine problems of man’s heart, such as anger, but has forgotten where true peace is located for them today and through the days of this life – in your Savior, Jesus Christ.

C.F.W. Walther wrote, “This Gospel [today] is not like the gentle dew which trickles softly upon languishing hearts. It is glorious like a torrential rain, which comes amid the flashing of lightning and the roll of thunder.” (Walther’s Works, Volume 2, Page 54)

The Gospel today speaks hard words into your ears; it convicts and leaves you little room to run because as you, too, journey through the wilderness of life, you have all given way to anger, hatred, and the murdering of your friends and neighbors.

What propels this is that you do not grasp the severity of God’s Law as you ought. Instead, you poo-poo the law when it applies to you; you minimize its importance, or as some translations of today’s Gospel say, "Whoever therefore [loosens] one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great In the kingdom of heaven."

Now, the idea of using the word "loosens" also implies a person is not concerned with abolishing God's law but rather with downplaying the law's importance.

We do this all the time, loosen our understandings of laws, rules, and instructions throughout our daily life, and do so for self-preservation and self-justification. 

Instead of taking responsibility for our feelings, words, and actions, we often justify our words and actions while accusing our neighbors of betrayal, lacking charity in their words, or even offering the gift of forgiveness.  

In other words, we act like a Toad who has lost his button; we get mad – jump up and down, stomp, and pout like a child.

Will this make you feel better? Maybe, but will you have your button? Will you receive peace or gain a friend?

No, not at all.

And this is because you are looking to self-justify yourself and search for peace as the world searches rather than looking to the One who came and fulfilled every iota of the law for you.

You see, our lives are nothing but losing our way, staggering across meadows, through the thick brush of the woods, and along long shores of rivers only to be disappointed in not finding what we’re looking for – peace among the troubles of this life, peace among and with the friends of this life.

Yet, the answer to all of this animosity, exasperation, or resentment within your heart is not lost (it's you who has been lost). Instead, the answer is found right before you – where it has always been. In your Savior, Jesus Christ.

I mean, how often do we forget we’ve received the same gift as Ruth this morning? How often do we forget Jesus has placed His name upon us in the waters of Holy Baptism, and we are now His brothers and sisters?

The epistle today speaks clearly to us sinners,
How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father; even so, we also should walk in the newness of life.

Just like Ruth, you are not to live in the sin of anger any more than the sin of lust, anxiousness, or greed. Your baptism took you into Christ's grave so that you may arise with Him to new life – thus, you are called to walk in the newness of life, the fulfillment of Christ's work upon the cross for your salvation.

For this reason, your prayer should then be that of our collect today, that God would graft into your hearts the love of His Son and the desire to be Christ-like - to be “slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.” (Psalm 103:8b)

So, with this frame of mind, what should happen to you when you become angry? First, you should feel compelled by the Word of God to run to your baptism, to rejoice again in how you have been forgiven, and how your neighbor requires this same reconciliation and new life in Christ Jesus.

Now, many of you have undoubtedly prayed these words of Psalm 4, “Be angry, and do not sin; ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent.” (v. 4). These are not words condoning the anger of our hearts, but as the Church Fathers often read them, words that lead and encourage us to do as our Gospel says today,
Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar and there, remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First, be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.

In other words, when you experience anger throughout life, run through meadow or highwater to reconcile with your neighbor so that there may be peace among the relationships of your horizontal life so that your vertical relationship with your heavenly Father is not altered. 

In the end, there’s no denying how the murder that follows the anger of your heart lurks in your life and affects your relationships. There's no denying God knows your sins. But isn’t this the hard part for us, taking ownership and speaking aloud the words, “I am sorry, I have sinned.”

You are called to confess your trespasses audibly upon your lips because they lead you out of the wilderness and to those sweet words from one another and anchored in the cross of Jesus, “I forgive you.”

This is where the writings of the Law and the Prophets were leading and pointing throughout all of Scripture – to Jesus, “The Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”

Your sin and mine.

When you take a step back in life, it's really something, isn't it? How something as simple as a missing button can turn hearts in on themselves and upon one another.

But don’t forget the answer to your anger, and all that ails you is always right before you; look to your Savior, Jesus Christ, as He continues to look upon you.

What better gift can there be for two people at odds than this? The gift of being baptized into Christ's death and raised again to walk in the newness of life. That's the kind of friend I want; that's the brother and sister in Christ I yearn for…

So, be friends with one another and journey to the cross of Christ Jesus together because the forgiveness of sin makes you more than a friend; it makes you brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus. +INJ+

The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keeps your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Rev. Noah J. Rogness
Associate Pastor, Immanuel Evangelical-Lutheran Church
Alexandria, VA