A Sermon for the Eighth Sunday after Trinity
A Sermon for the Eighth Sunday after Trinity
Matthew 7:15-21
by William Klock
In 597 b.c. the Babylonians conquered Judah. The Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar, ordered the deportation of the ruling elite of Jerusalem. That meant King Jehoiachin, most of the royal family, and thousands of others including many of the priests. That included Ezekiel. He had been born into one of the important priestly families. He was twenty-five years old. Had everything gone as expected, had everything gone to plan, he would have been ordained a priest at the age of thirty and gone on to serve before the presence of the Lord in the temple. Instead, with the rest of those Jewish exiles, he sat down by the rivers of Babylon and wept as he remembered Zion—as one of the psalmists put it. And he wondered how he and his people could ever sing the Lord’s song in a strange land.
And then, on Ezekiel’s thirtieth birthday, he had a vision. He saw the Lord enthroned in glory and the Lord commissioned him. Instead of being a priest, the Lord ordained Ezekiel a prophet—a prophet to the exiles and to the people of Judah. Ezekiel was to announce to his people why they had been defeated and carried off into exile. He was to accuse his people of their idolatry and of their unfaithfulness to the Lord’s covenant. And he was also to announce that the Lord’s judgement on Judah had only just begun. And so Ezekiel’s ministry began with a series of acted out prophecies. He acted out the coming destruction of Jerusalem with miniatures. He lay on his side for a year, acting the part of the scapegoat, while eating food cooked over human waste. He cut off his hair with a sword. Again, to announce the coming judgement on Jerusalem. And all for nought. The Lord told him that no one would listen and they didn’t—because Israel’s heart was hardened against the Lord.
But just because the people wouldn’t listen didn’t mean Ezekiel’s job as a prophet was done. The Lord gave him another vision, this time of the temple in Jerusalem. He saw his people worshipping idols in the temple court and then he saw the Lord’s glory—the cloud that rested on the ark of the covenant in the holy of holies—he saw that cloud of glory depart from the temple. And the Lord announced to him that the temple would be destroyed. Again, because of Israel’s idolatry and lack of covenant faithfulness. Ezekiel accused his people of being like a rebellious wife and like a rampaging lion. He described Israel and Judah as two shameless and reprobate prostitute sisters. And he dragged his people into the divine courtroom and put them on trial before the Lord. They could beg for mercy all they wanted, but the time for mercy had passed. God’s goodness and faithfulness demanded that he judge his people. For centuries he had shown them his patient mercy, but now is was time for justice. And that’s when word reached Ezekiel that Jerusalem had fallen, the temple had been destroyed, and that the Lord’s judgement had come on Judah.
But that wasn’t the end of Ezekiel’s ministry. The Lord would not leave his people in judgement forever. If being faithful to his word meant judgement on their unfaithfulness, it also meant restoring them and making them faithful. And so Ezekiel’s prophetic messaged shifted from judgement to hope. Through him the Lord promised the restoration of his people under a new king, under a David-like messiah. And the Lord promised to breathe his Spirit into his people to take away their heart of stone and to give them a heart of flesh. He gave Ezekiel a vision of a valley of dry bones and commanded the prophet to speak his word over those bones. And the word of the Lord brought them back to life. It was a promise of new creation. But the wicked pagan nations still stood in the way of that new creation. And so the Lord also gave Ezekiel a series of visions in which he defeated the nations. And then, finally, Ezekiel had a vision of creation set to rights. That vision begins with a temple. Not the old temple, but a new one. A new one infinitely grander and more beautiful than even Solomon’s temple. And after being given a tour of this temple, Ezekiel has a vision of the Lord’s glory descending to fill it. It’s the Lord’s way of saying that he will not abandon his people forever. He will be with them again. And out of this temple’s gate flows a stream and as it flows down the mountain from the temple the stream turns into a great river. Wherever it flows trees and lush vegetation spring up. And eventually the river flow down into the desert and there it causes a lush garden to grow—Eden restored—a garden named “the Lord is there”.
Now, everyone likes that last part. Everyone wants to hear and to claim for themselves the messages of hope. No one wants to hear the call to repentance and the warning of coming judgement. No one would listen to Ezekiel’s warnings. It’s not that they didn’t hear them—or see them. It was hard to miss the weird guy playing with action figures or hacking his hair off with a sword or laying on his side and cooking food over poop. They saw it all. But they refused to take it to heart. They were convinced their exile to Babylon was an accident of history, not the Lord’s judgement on their idolatry. But once Ezekiel’s prophecies of doom came true, I expect the people were hanging on his every last word of hope. That’s the test of a prophet, after all: does his word come to pass. Ezekiel’s did.
And for that reason the people were still hanging onto his words when Jesus came, still looking for and longing for those divine promises to finally be fulfilled. Because judgement had happened as the prophet foretold, that restoration of the people, that new creation, that new life with God would happen just as surely too. It was just a matter of time. So it shouldn’t be a surprise that as Jesus preached he drew on the words of the old prophets like Ezekiel. But it was the same old thing all over again. The people gathered to hear Jesus preach good news. They flocked to him for healing and deliverance and miracles that showed the kingdom of God was breaking in. But they didn’t want to hear the warnings. They gasped when he told them that to see that coming kingdom, to know that garden called “the Lord is there”, they needed righteousness, they needed covenant faithfulness far beyond that of the scribes and Pharisees. Judgement was coming on Judah again and Jesus was there to create a new people, a new community that would have that righteousness, that would be salt and light, that would be a city on a hill, that would come out the other side of God’s judgement to see his kingdom. The people in Ezekiel’s day didn’t want to hear that part of the message and neither did the people in Jesus’ day. Ed Stetzer likes to say, “If you want everyone to like you don’t be a pastor, go sell ice cream.” I think Ezekiel (and Jesus) would say the same thing about being a prophet.
Our Gospel today is taken from the closing words of Jesus’ sermon on the mount. Jesus has spoken hard words—just as Ezekiel had. But there was reason to hope. In him the Lord was finally doing that new thing everyone had been waiting for since the prophets, but Jesus was also condemning their covenant faithlessness and announcing coming judgement. And so he warns the people—this is Matthew 7:13—“Go in by the narrow gate. The gate that leads to destruction, you see, is nice and wide and the road going there has plenty of room. Lots of people go that way. But the gate leading to life is narrow, and the road going there is a tight squeeze. Not many people find their way through.”
In other words, “Yes, I know what I’ve been saying is hard. Yes, I know it means repentance and turning away from sin and pursuing covenant faithfulness with everything you’ve got and even then you’re going to need God’s help, but that’s the way to life. Listen to me, because judgement is coming again and it’s coming soon. (He later told the disciples: before this generation passes away!) And if you refuse to listen and if you keep going down the wide and easy path you’re on, you’re as sure to meet that judgement as the people of Ezekiel’s day did.
“Watch out for false prophets!” Jesus says. There are people invested in the ways and the ideas and the systems of the present evil age. They don’t want to see you repent and turn back to the Lord. They know everyone loves ice cream and they’re going to show up with a cart full of it and everyone’s going to listen to them—because ice cream is a lot more fun than calls to repentance. “They will come to you dressed like sheep, but inside they are hungry wolves.” Jesus draws on Ezekiel’s condemnation of the leaders of Israel and Judah. They were like wolves in the midst of the flock, tearing apart the sheep, shedding blood, all for their own gain. It’s always the way of false prophets. They proclaim what people want to hear. When the Lord desires repentance, the false prophets proclaim the status quo. When the Lord desires sacrifice, the false prophets proclaim health and wealth. When the Lord warns of judgement, the prophets proclaim “Peace! Peace!” And so Jesus warns in verse 16, “You’ll be able to tell them by the fruit they bear: you don’t find grapes growing on thorn-bushes, do you, or figs on thistles? Well, in the same way, good trees produce good fruit and bad trees produce bad fruit. Actually, good trees can’t produce bad fruit, nor can bad ones produce good fruit. Every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit is cut down and thrown on the fire. So you must recognise them by their fruits.”
There’s never been any shortage of false prophets in the world. In the Old Testament the test of a prophet was whether or not what he said came to pass. The punishment for false prophecy was death. Brothers and Sisters, claiming to speak the very word of the Lord is serious business. His words are life. When people claim to speak for the Lord, but speak falsely, it gives people reason to doubt his actual word. But people took it lightly in Ezekiel’s day, people took it lightly in Jesus’ day, and far too many people take it lightly today. The Old Testament test of a prophet still stands: Do his words come to pass? But when Jesus warned the people, there wasn’t time for that. Judgement was coming soon. So Jesus gives another way: look at the fruit. It was a good test then and it’s a good test now. When someone says, “Thus says the Lord,” look at that person’s life. Does their life show the fruit of the Spirit? Do you see things like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and self-control? Or are they just selling ice cream and getting rich? It’s always amazing to me how many people flock to men and women who claim to work miracles and who claim to speak for God, but the miracles are false, the words are heresy, and the things they say never come to pass. But it is a testimony to just how much we like ice cream, how much we’d rather hear “Peace, peace!” than a message about repentance. Look at the fruit. If the fruit is bad, the tree is bad and there’s only one destination for bad trees: the fire—judgement. Don’t end up in the same place.
Look for the fruit. I know the language of the fruit and the gifts of the Spirit is something that developed later with Paul, but I think it’s worth noting that Jesus talks here about fruit. Too many people look for signs—what Paul would call “gifts” of the Spirit. But even Paul warns these things can be faked. Signs and wonders aren’t necessarily evidence of a true prophet. Fruit is the evidence.
And Jesus goes on, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven; only people who do the will of my Father in heaven. On that day lots of people will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, we prophesied in your name, didn’t we? We cast out demons in your name. We performed lots of powerful deeds in your name.’ Then I will have to say to them, ‘I never knew you. You’re a bunch of evildoers. Go away from me.’”
“On that day.” That’s language right out of the Old Testament prophets about the coming day of the Lord, about the day of judgement when the Lord will punish evil and vindicate the righteous. A lot of people thought that just being an Israelite and having the Lord as their God gave them a place in the coming kingdom, but Jesus says that, no, that’s not enough. In fact, he narrows it down even further: a lot of people will think that because they’ve thought of Jesus as their Lord and done amazing things in his name, that they’ll have a place in the kingdom—and not even that will cut it.
It’s important, I think, to remember here that Jesus isn’t talking directly to us. He was talking to First Century Jews and the judgement he was warning about was the judgement that would come forty years later when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the temple. Those who would survive, those who would see the birth of the kingdom, would be those who truly identified themselves with Jesus in faith. The people who followed him in the new exodus through baptism and into whom God would pour his Spirit. They’re the ones—not the ones who merely had an appreciation for what Jesus was teaching or thought of him as a great prophet—but the ones who truly recognised the God of Israel at work in Jesus the Messiah and who became part of his family, this new Israel redeemed by his death and given a new heart of flesh by the Holy Spirit. They would be the dry bones that lived again. They would be the ones whom God would deliver from the coming judgement. They’re the ones who would live to testify to the nations of the glory of the God of Israel revealed in the cross. They’re the ones who would live to proclaim the good news to the nations.
And so Jesus concludes his sermon with a final allusion to Ezekiel. In verse 24 he says, “So, then, everyone who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. Heavy rain fell; floods rose up; the winds blew and beat on that house. It didn’t fall, because it was founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and doesn’t do them—they will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. Heavy rain fell; floods rose up; the winds blew and battered the house—and down it fell. It fell with a great crash.”
Ezekiel warned the false prophets about the wall they’d built. It’s a pretty clear reference to the temple just as Jesus’ “house” here is, too. The false prophets had built a wall and they’d whitewashed it and it looked great. It looked like a wall for the ages. But when the Lord’s judgement came, when he sent the rains and the floods and the winds, that wall came crashing down and exposed its builders as the unfaithful and idolatrous false prophets they really were. The same thing would happen again. The people of Jerusalem and Judea looked up to the temple as their hope, but Jesus condemns them. Not this time as whitewashed walls, but as whitewashed tombs. They went through the motions of faithfulness, they maintained their ritual purity, they proclaimed their love for and their loyalty to God, but their hearts were far from him. Because God’s heart was in Jesus.
Jesus had to come to fulfil the prophecies of hope and life. He’d come to build God’s new temple. Not one whitewashed with false piety, but one washed with his own blood. Listen to Peter’s call in his first epistle: “Come to him, to that living stone. Men rejected him, but God chose him and values him very highly! Like living stones yourselves, you are being built up into a spiritual house—a new temple!—to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices that will be pleasing to God through Jesus the Messiah. That’s why it stands in scripture: ‘Look! I am setting up in Zion a chosen, precious cornerstone. Believe in him! You will not be ashamed.’”
The false prophets, the wolves in sheep’s clothing, the grifters selling spiritual ice cream, they whitewash false piety, they whitewash selfishness, they whitewash heresies—they whitewash the ugly things of the world. They proclaim “Peace, peace” in the face of coming judgement. Brothers and Sisters, don’t be duped. Listen to Jesus. Stay focused on Jesus. Think of Peter’s confession later in Matthew’s Gospel: “You are the Messiah, the son of the living God!” This is the rock on which Jesus has built his church—his people, his new temple—and not even the gates of hell will overpower it. Never forget that this is the temple in which his Spirit dwells. Never forget that this the temple from which God’s new life flows to the world. Never forget that this temple is the source of God’s new creation. And it’s built on the rock and nothing but the rock that is Jesus.
Come to the Lord’s Table this morning and be reminded that in Jesus, God has given his own life for you—for us. Come to the Lord’s Table and be reminded that in Jesus, God has breathed his life into our dry bones and made us live again. Come to the Lord’s Table and be reminded that he’s made us the precious stones of his temple. Then be that Spirit-filled and life-giving water that Ezekiel saw flowing out from the temple into the world carrying God’s life, carrying his new creation.
Let’s pray: Gracious Father, in Jesus you have washed us clean from sin and by your Spirit you have renewed our hearts and made the priests of your new temple. Guard our hearts from the temptations of false prophets and false gods that our desires might always be for you and your kingdom, through Jesus our Lord. Amen.