Sermon for the Eighth Sunday after Trinity
“Ye shall know them by their fruits”
Actions, it seems, speak louder than words; at times, actions even seem to invalidate our thoughts and words. Such is hypocrisy – the gap between our expressed intentions and our actions, our saying one thing and doing another. This morning’s Gospel seems to affirm the priority of action. Not only shall we be known by our fruits but it might even seem that our words are empty and meaningless. “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.”
But that would be an incomplete view of what is set before us in these readings. The Gospel is really calling us to act according to who we are in Christ. Who we are in Christ is signaled profoundly in the Epistle reading from St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans. “You have received a spirit of sonship … we are the children of God,” he claims, “and if children, then heirs; heirs of God and fellow-heirs with Christ: if so be that we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified with him.” This is powerful. Our actions should reveal our identity in Christ. We should be known by our fruits, our actions in accord with our vocation and identity as Christians.
This is the constant theme of the Trinity season illustrated constantly in the relationship between the Collects, Epistles and Gospels. It is all about acting upon what we have been given to see about our humanity as redeemed in Christ. It is all about actions in accord with words and not the divisions between them. For if we are simply what we do – if who we are resides simply in our actions – then we are doomed to despair.
Actions have consequences. This is a truism. Of course, actions have consequences and, of course, actions can be seen to reveal intentions and thoughts. But think about it for a moment. If you are defined simply by your actions then who are you? Shall we tally up the score? How many good things versus how many not so good things? Meanness versus kindness? Harm versus helpfulness? “The good that I would do, I do not do,” Paul famously reminds us, “the evil that I would not do is what I do.” On this score, our actions condemn us. They are not always in accord with what we know and want to do that is right and good and true. Such are “the devices and the desires of our own hearts”.
