Oh goody! Another showdown. Jesus and the Pharisees are matching up. I have a feeling Jesus felt like Jesse James. Everyone wanted to prove himself against him, challenging Jesus to a shootout.

Are you getting tired of hearing about the Pharisees? I get tired of preaching about them; and I would imagine that Jesus got tired of confronting them. There seem to be Pharisees in just about every account. It gets to the point that we wonder if there was anyone else. Ho hum, the Pharisees again.

Actually, our text starts off talking about the Sadducees. That's a different group. They were a lot smaller and a lot more liberal. They are like the mainline religions today. They didn't believe in angels or the resurrection. They downplayed anything supernatural, preferring to explain things in more natural terms.

We don't get too much of them in our reading today, because our text picks up right after Jesus shuts them down. In fact, that is what drew the Pharisees' attention. They saw Jesus shoot them down. With their holsters unsnapped, and their guns ready to be drawn, they swagger in. "Now, we've got a question for ya."

Oh yes, the Pharisees. We get tired of hearing about them. They are in the picture so much. There were other groups, the Sadducees, the tax collectors, the sinners, the beggars, but the Holy Spirit is most concerned that we see the Pharisees. These are the people religious people of our day or people who think Christianity expects them to be religious need to see. We need to see them because when we do we see ourselves.

They were sincere in their religion. Give that to them. They really thought they were doing what they should. But they weren't. Instead, it was the worst form of religiosity. The Old Adam was not only allowed to run rampant, it was actually fed by their teaching.

Let me explain. You know what it looks like when the Old Adam is allowed to run wild. It looks like Spring Break in Daytona or New Orleans during Mardi Gras. Drugs and alcohol, sex and perversions, gluttony, violence, thievery, you name it. Whatever a person wants, without limits.

But if you want to know what it looks like when the Old Adam is allowed to go wild in a religious setting, then look at the Pharisees. Their religion gave it everything it wanted. First, understand this. The Old Adam is not interested in getting everything it can. Daytona and Mardi Gras can only last so long. Wild living, life in the fast lane, can't go on forever. It burns out those who try. Our Old Adam, our sinful nature, pretty much knows that. You can't do drugs without destroying your body and mind. Sexuality outside of the bounds of the marital commitment, causes unneeded heartache, and destroyed lives. Crime eventually does pay. It pays with punishment. The Old Adam knows all this. What it is most interested in is preserving its freedom from God who would take it away. It's also about keeping God on a leash. Now, religion might seem like it would bring the Old Adam into line. "Thou shalt not do this." "Thou shalt not do that." These are God's rules. It looks like it's working. Who's on the leash now? With rules like these the Old Adam seems to be brought into check. No sex outside of marriage. No drunkenness, no recreational drug use. No crimes.

Now, add some "Thou shalts," Thou shalt go to church. Thou shalt pray. Thou shalt tell others about Jesus. Everything is looking good. We have people toeing the line. Religion is good at getting people to conform to the image of what people think is Christianity. But it doesn't create Christians. It simply dresses up the Old Adam with religious clothes and acts like it had been domesticated. Under those clothes the Old Adam is thriving, still calling the shots.

Think of the Old Adam like a snake. Close off one place, and it will find another. Close off that and it will still find another. The only way to stop it is to chop off its head.

The Old Adam is defiant of God and will continue its defiance until it is killed. "I will do what I want." "I will be my own god," just like the original Adam had done. "If I want to act like I'm in Daytona on Spring Break my whole life, I will."

Eventually most people wise up and realize they can't live life like that. So they start living with limits, setting rules in place. Still, we haven't taken care of the Old Adam's defiance. Instead it becomes defiant as it follows the rules. In fact, those rules become the very means by which it comes to demand God's acceptance. "God, you made these rules. I will keep them and force you to accept me. I will follow the rules so you can't ignore me. I will follow the "Thou shalt nots," and the "Thou shalts."

Perhaps we may discover this deception in ourselves, but we still haven't gotten rid of the snake. It finds another hole. We start talking about all God is doing in our life, as though we can see God's invisible hand, but shy away from talking about rescue from sin. Or another hole: We become proud of our knowledge about God and look down on others for their lack. Or another hole: we try to do what we can to make God like us more.

It must be killed. Yet, even if we do kill the Old Adam by confessing it is there, and how conniving it can be, it doesn't mean it won't still pop up somewhere else. Even if we kill it regularly, sometimes it springs to life just simply from the pride we feel that we are killing it. As you can see, the Old Adam is death to the life of faith.

But the Pharisees ignored it and allowed the Old Adam to thrive in a religious setting, and spoke constantly about the Laws it must follow so it could remain healthy and strong, and defiantly demand God's favor. They loved talking about God's Laws, because it made it feel like they were doing something to improve their standing with God.

They had even developed a complicated system of laws, and were so sure they were on the right track that they asked Jesus which one of their laws was the most important. Silly Rabbis. They should have read the Bible again and stopped talking about so and so said this and so and so said this about what so and so said about it.

Jesus shocks them with His answer. "Love the Lord your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind. The second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

They were confident it would have to be something they do for God. It had to be about worship, or church. Offer sacrifice to the Lord in the temple, or give money for it. Observe the Sabbath Day even when it is inconvenient. This is what is going to make points with God.

What Jesus said was boring. Love God and neighbor? Who would ever know? There's nothing public about either one. No show, no glory.

What would people say today? If we were to ask them what is the most important thing a person could do, I would bet it would still have something to do with church. Pray, read our Bibles, tell others about Jesus, do works of service, give offerings. Here are the biggies. And don't forget: Accept Jesus as your Savior and make Him your Lord.

When we do these things, our Old Adam tells us God has to be pleased. You are doing all the right things. What does Jesus say? Love God by loving your neighbor. Serve your neighbor, not in major works of accomplishment. Think of other people as more important than yourself. Think about what other people need and give it to them. Deny your own wants and give to them. This starts at home and never really gets beyond the mundane.

The Old Adam says, "Say what? What is to be gained by that? Nobody is going to praise me for my faithfulness if I simply raise my children and love my wife. Nobody is going to think I'm a great Christian if I work hard at my job and don't cut corners. Nobody is going to say to me, "I can see your faith is so strong because you listen in class and learn all you can." But this is what Jesus says. Here, in this simple statement, is the guide for living while here on earth.

But all we have discussed to this point is all the Pharisees felt there was to discuss. Maybe they wouldn't agree with Jesus but saw little else worth discussing. What else was there? Jesus takes them there. Their focus was for just life on earth. Jesus' question takes them into eternal issues. He takes them to the Gospel, not godly living, but to the living God.

They never seem to get there. They loved-of all books-Leviticus. There were so many laws to talk about in there, so many rules they could follow which would make them think they were successfully earning God's favor. But they miss the forest for the trees. They miss the whole point of Leviticus and the whole Bible.

Jesus told them what it was. I wrote it in the front of the 3rd graders Bibles. Here's pretty much what I had written: "Jesus was talking to some religious leaders who didn't understand what the Bible was about. That's the Pharisees. Jesus said, 'These are they which testify about me.' This means the whole Bible, even the O.T. is talking about Jesus."

3rd graders will get it, but the religious leaders and the Pharisees continued to miss it. The Old Testament practices, just like the New Testament practices gave the people forgiveness. God treated His people before Jesus as though He had already died. The fruits of His death were being given out before Jesus had even been born. Leviticus talked about the practices that bring them, but they missed it.

The Old Adam doesn't want to receive forgiveness. It doesn't want to bow down and admit it can't earn it. But Jesus is not about us earning forgiveness, grace and mercy. He doesn't simply show us how we ought to live so we earn eternal life or make ourselves worthy to be forgiven. He earns it for us. And then He gives it to us.

If the entire Scriptures is about Jesus, then it should be no surprise that Jesus takes the Pharisees to the point where they can start talking about Him. The Messiah is a son of David, but David calls Him Lord. How can this be? The Messiah didn't seem to be of too much interest to them. It didn't give them anything they could do. But the question is important. What does it mean that the ancestor calls his descendant "Lord?" Who does it say the Messiah is?

The Pharisees didn't like where this was going, but you should. It tells you who Jesus is. Jesus is the Son of David. It meant that He has human origins. But if David calls Him Lord, then it also says He is divine. I believe that Jesus Christ, true God begotten of the Father from eternity and true man, born of the Virgin Mary is my Lord. He has redeemed me a lost and condemned person, purchased and won me from all sins, from death and from the power of the devil. Not with gold or silver, but with his holy precious blood and innocent suffering and death." Jesus can die because He is man, and His death can be sufficient for us because He is God.

Why does He die? That I may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence and blessedness.

The mystery of Jesus divinity and humanity is something we will celebrate soon. No ordinary human could do what Jesus will do for us in His supper. Yet, if He were just God, He wouldn't have any flesh or blood to give us. Therefore, in the Lord's Supper, we celebrate this mystery as He gives to us life and salvation that prepare us for eternity.

Perhaps you recognized the explanation to the second article when I was describing who Jesus is and what He has done. Another part of the small catechism speaks of God giving His Holy Spirit so that by His grace we may lead godly lives here in time and there in eternity. The Law gives us a simple guide for how we ought to live, here in time; but the Gospel gives us the power to live that way and sets us up for eternity.

AMEN