On the difference between spouses and oysters

Sermon for the twelfth Sunday after Trinity

Someone approaches you

and says to you,

"Why can't I commit adultery?

It says in the Bible that 

you mustn't eat shellfish,

yet I've seen you eat those oysters.

If you, as a Christian,

can eat oysters

then I, as a Christian,

can commit adultery."

How do you answer?

[PAUSE]

Our relationship with God

has always been expressed

through covenants.

God has made lots of covenants

with Man.

There was the covenant with Noah.

There was the covenant with Abraham.

And there was the great Covenant,

The Covenant with Israel through Moses,

set in stone.

It is in this Covenant that we find 

the 613 commandments

given to the people of Israel.

This includes the prohibition

against eating shellfish

and the prohibition

of committing adultery.

That's the covenant God makes 

with His Chosen people Israel.

It is not a covenant 

that God makes

with all people.

It's just with the Israelites.

So what about us?

What about us Gentiles?

Where's our covenant?

[PAUSE]

Well, you know the answer to that.

The blood of the New Covenant

is the Blood of Christ itself,

the same Blood which we drink

at our Mass

and take into ourselves

to live and grow with in us.

This is a covenant that is not 

written on stone

but within our life,

because the life of the Christian

is the Life of Christ

and the Life of Christ 

is the Life of Love -

Love of God

Love of neighbour.

So now look again at the question.

If you can eat shellfish, 

can you really commit adultery?

The two laws are so different.

How can the prohibition

against eating shellfish

be similar to the prohibition

against committing adultery?

One is a ritual law.

One is a moral law.

The ritual law is an expression

of what it is to be an Israelite.

God may have given this law

for many particular reasons,

but overall,

the ritual law is to show the world

that God has separated 

His chosen people, Israel,

from the nations around.

The Old Testament ritual law is an expression

of the freedom of Israel

from the captivity of the Egyptians.

But it doesn't bind us.

We don't need circumcision,

we need Baptism.

We don't need the Passover,

we need the Mass.

Our Christian ritual law

is bound up with the Sacraments.

If we play our part in the sacraments

God gives us His Grace

- Grace which we need

to live the life of Christ.

This is why we have rules about how 

how sacraments are conducted

because a sacrament is an expression

of the Christian Covenant with God

through Our Lord Jesus Christ.

But our morals are based in Love.

[PAUSE]

To reject God,

to blaspheme,

to worship other gods,

to spurn His Church

all show hatred of God.

To dishonour our parents,

to murder,

to commit adultery,

to steal,

to bear false witness,

to cover another's possessions

all show hatred of our neighbour.

Love is the fulfilment of the Law.

[PAUSE]

The Old Covenant

shows the nation of Israel

what is righteous

but it cannot save them.

Israel falls from the covenant 

time and again.

But here is the true wonder.

The New Covenant can save them,

it does save them.

We know that Christ bursts

the gates of the dead

to rescue those who have died

before Christ is even born,

because the New Covenant

is Love

and Love is eternal.

This is the glory of the New Covenant:

it is eternal and it applies

to all who receive it.

[PAUSE]

"If ye love me, keep my commandments,"

says the Lord.

This is how we can tell the difference

between an oyster

and another person's spouse.