The Rev. Dan Rondeau
St. Margaret's Episcopal Church & School
Deuteronomy 11:18-21, 26-28 | Psalm 31:1-5, 19-24 | Romans 3:21-25a, 28 | Matthew 7:21-27
This weekend we remember those who have died in battle; today I wish to speak about grace using the inspired words of the Apostle Paul. As you listen, know that we have all experienced grace in the sacrifices made by the men and women we honor on Memorial Day.
When I first read the scriptures appointed for today I thought I would rather have preached on Trinity Sunday. Blessings and curses and the rejection of Jesus were the kind of readings favored by the teachers of my youth, the priests and nuns of my childhood.
The teachers of my youth easily convinced me that I must try to do my best, that I should frequently and fervently confess how often I failed, and that I should hope to have the ministry of a priest and the sacrament of Extreme Unction before I died for surely I would not die in a state of grace without such ministry. Certainly I should not dare to hope for Heaven; Purgatory was a long shot at best. That's a lot of weight to put on the shoulders of a 7 year old.
It is difficult to not hear the words of Deuteronomy and the words of Jesus through the durable filters of childhood.
The words of Deuteronomy are hard to hear. "See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I am commanding you today; and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God…."
The words of Jesus are harder still "Not everyone who says to me, `Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. On that day many will say to me, `Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?' Then I will declare to them, `I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers.'"
Fortunately, the Apostle Paul got it; fortunately Paul was able to hear everything just fine and most fortunately Paul was able to tell others (like the believers in Rome) and me: do your best and leave the rest to Jesus.
Mark Twain summarized the Apostle's understanding of faith and grace in his usual colorful and succinct manner: "Heaven goes by favor. If it went by merit, you would stay out, and your dog would go in."1
My teachers were right on, following the Apostle's teaching: even at 7 I was simply a miserable sinner or as Paul stated it, "… all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…." But where my teachers failed me, or perhaps where I failed my teachers was in speaking with clarity and hearing with conviction the next part of Paul's teaching: "…[all] are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus…."
Paul understood the words of God through Moses and the words of Jesus perfectly: strive with all your might, achieve great things with sheer will power and dedicated service, even use the name of Jesus to accomplish great things and know this—you will fall short, you will not measure up, you cannot achieve heaven by merit. Knocked down on the road to Damascus, blinded to the world he knew so well and the path he knew so well, Saul was raised to a new understanding of God's graciousness and was given the sight of a new life of grace in Christ Jesus. And he applied his energy to convince others, to convince you and me to accept the gift of God's grace.
Here is the good news of this morning's scriptures: against the starkness of blessing and curse and choosing, cautioned that if we believe ourselves capable of earning heaven we deceive only ourselves, God, through his messenger Paul, has shown us a great gift in Christ Jesus, and his messenger, his apostle, urges us to recognize and accept this gift, and give thanks.
To bring this message into the 21st Century, to help us remember Paul's words and teaching let us explore the familiar. We have all been students at some point in our lives. We know about studying and exams and being graded. And from this knowledge perhaps we can understand Paul in his letter to the Romans.
Denise, aspiring to be a Youth Minister, tells her story:
In the spring of 2002, I left work early so I could have some uninterrupted study time before my final exam in the Youth Ministry class at Hannibal-LaGrange College in Missouri. When I got to class, everybody was doing their last-minute studying. The teacher came in and said he would review with us before the test. Most of his review came right from the study guide, but there were some things he was reviewing that I had never heard. When questioned about it, he said they were in the book and we were responsible for everything in the book. We couldn't argue with that.
Finally it was time to take the test. "Leave them face down on the desk until everyone has one, and I'll tell you to start," our professor, Dr. Tom Hufty, instructed.
[I turned my test over], to my astonishment every answer on the test was filled in. My name was even written on the exam in red ink. The bottom of the last page said: "This is the end of the exam. All the answers on your test are correct. You will receive an A on the final exam. The reason you passed the test is because the creator of the test took it for you. All the work you did in preparation for this test did not help you get the A. You have just experienced…grace."
Dr. Hufty then went around the room and asked each student individually, "What is your grade? Do you deserve the grade you are receiving? How much did all your studying for this exam help you achieve your final grade?"
Then he said, "Some things you learn from lectures, some things you learn from research, but some things you can only learn from experience. You've just experienced grace." 2
We are here this morning because in a much larger context we have experienced grace.
Justified by grace as a gift, that is what Paul said. That is what I believe.
What do we pray just before we experience grace within our communion on Sunday? "We do not presume to come to this thy Table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in thy manifold and great mercies. We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy Table. But thou art the same Lord whose property is always to have mercy." 3
Full of grace, let us give thanks—today, tomorrow, and everyday of our lives—for such a wonderful gift. Amen.
1 Mark Twain, Leadership, Vol. 17, no. 2. Retrieved 28 May 2005 from www.preachingtoday.com
2 Denise Banderman, Hannibal, Missouri. Retrieved 28 May 2005 from www.preachingtoday.com
3 The Book of Common Prayer, page 337