Proper 18 Year A 9/6/2026
Exodus 12:1-14; Psalm 149; Romans 13:8-14; Matthew 18:15-20
Rev. Mark A. Lafler
When I was in middle school and high school I went to a private school in Sarasota, Florida…
It had its strengths and weaknesses…
But for me, as a teenager, one of the things I truly disliked about the school was wearing a uniform.
A polo shirt in blue or white…
Khaki pants or navy pants…
Those were the choices.
Like it or not.
The girls had their own uniform code.
But I wanted to be break free…
Wear my own styles,
show my own personality with what I was wearing…
I wanted my classmates to know who I was as I expressed myself with what I wore.
It was important for me to shape my identity…
To “market” who I was…
What I identified with.
The interesting thing is…
as I reflect back on this time…
Is that as the years went on…
God called me to a vocation as a priest.
And once more as I get up on most mornings…
My options are black or khaki pants with a black shirt and a white collar.
My biggest decision is short sleeves or long sleeves.
In fact, if you have ever wondered why priests wear certain things…
Why black shirts?
Because in the Middle Ages black was an inexpensive dye so it was affordable and it became the standard wear of priests.
And black represents being dead to one’s self.
Why a white collar?
The color represents purity and holiness…
But the collar around a priest’s neck is to symbolize the calling and dedication to God…
Such as a servant…
A bond servant with a shackle around their neck.
A reminder of who you serve.
Nevertheless, one of the things I have grown to like about this is the fact that in the morning I don’t have to spend time deliberating on what I am going to wear.
It is a morning step that I skip so that I can get a good start to the day…
I can get up and move on throughout the day.
In our Romans reading that we just heard…
there is a bit of this idea here too.
St. Paul talks about time and about waking up from sleep.
He writes:
Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep.
And then twice, he uses a word that is commonly used for getting dressed… or putting on a shirt.
The Greek word is ἐνδύω (enduo) and it means to “put on” or “to clothe” … it often refers to a garment.
The word is used to describe John the Baptist who was “clothed” in Camel’s hair… (Mark 1.6)
Or that Herod Agrippa “put on” his royal robes… (Acts 12.21)
Or when the Roman soldiers “put a purple robe on” Jesus to mock him before our Lord’s crucifixion… (Matthew 27.31)
But here Paul uses the word in the imperative…
A command to “put on” two things…
First, he says:
Let us then lay aside the works of darkness
and put on the armor of light…
Here it is in contrast with darkness, referring to evil acts…
Things contrary to God’s will and purpose…
We are to put on armor…
Armor of light.
The second thing that Paul says to put on is this… he says:
…put on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.
We are to “put on” as if Jesus was a garment…
A shirt that we are getting into.
And what this “shirt” does is that it helps to make no room for our flesh…
That is our desires that are contrary to God’s will and purpose.
And some of these fleshly desires are listed for us:
Reveling & drunkenness,
debauchery & licentiousness (both have to do with excessive sensuality)
quarreling & jealousy
And just above this verse…
St. Paul quotes some of the Ten Commandments:
“You shall not commit adultery;
You shall not murder;
You shall not steal;
You shall not covet”
It is interesting to note that there is no indication that there is a hierarchy of sin here.
There is not a separation that these three are really bad…
But these four are not too bad…
but perhaps should be avoided.
We tend to…
us Christians and our society,
tend to delineate which sins are worse…
Anglican Bishop N. T. Wright notes in his commentary:
For the Christian, anger and bitterness are just as much forbidden as drunkenness and off-limits sexual activity,
And then he points out:
though you wouldn’t think so from many churches. [1]
I think he makes a fair point…
Sometimes in the church at large, we really make a stink or emphasis on certain sins… and yet ignore others…
or at the very least we brush them aside.
Sometimes the church can make a fuss about sexual sins…
And ignore quarreling, greed, and abuse.
Sometimes certain churches make a fuss about other sins like racism and neglecting the poor…
But then ignore other sins because the culture trumps what the Scriptures say.
In all of this though, it is less about picking and choosing what sins are greater and which ones are lesser…
The point is… as our scripture reading says:
…make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.
And the text also says:
“Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor…
And the way we go about doing this…
is by putting on the Lord Jesus Christ.
If this is the charge for Christians, what does it mean?
In a practical way it may mean for many of us to spend private time in prayer and slowly reading through the Holy Scriptures…
Praying that the character of Jesus would surround us…
Protect us…
And be the “clothing” that people see…
For others it may be remembering their baptism…
The water being a sign that we a unified with Christ in his death…
And yet also unified with Christ Jesus in his resurrection…
Meaning that we are no longer living for ourselves…
But living for the kingdom of God.
That we are washed clean by the mercy and grace of Jesus.
I like the way scholar James R. Edwards puts it in his commentary…
He writes:
The concrete imagery (getting up in the morning and getting dressed) is an unusually common metaphor for such a profound spiritual reality, and it reminds believers that the life of faith is not an esoteric or mystical experience,
but a life of discipleship, intentionally following Jesus in the most common and practical matters.
Discipleship is following Jesus step by step in the direction he leads, as opposed to any other….
He goes on to say:
The idea that “the clothes make the person” is a theological truism in this instance, for in “putting on Christ” believers discover that Christ’s character and behavior become their own.
This far exceeds mere morality, important as that is.
It means claiming Christ’s identity as our identity,
his way in the world as our way,
and his promise of the future as our path in the present. [2]
You see there are two ways to follow Jesus.
One is in our own power…
trying to be like him…
Attempting to do what he would do…
Reading the Old Testament Laws…
Reflecting on the moral of the New Testament…
And trying to do likewise.
The other way…
Is humbling ourselves…
Admitting that we cannot follow Jesus without Jesus power within us.
Confessing that Jesus is our Lord and that He is our Savior…
Believing that our sins are forgiven by his sacrifice on the cross.
And that in his resurrection we too live a resurrected life now and in the life to come.
And through the Holy Spirit, we can live for him…
As our identity is shaped by Jesus’ identity…
That the clothes we put on…
Are not of this world…
But of the life to come…
We “put on” the Lord Jesus Christ.
The command we have today is that we no longer live according to the world and our flesh and desires…
The promise we have today is that we do not go about this alone.
We put on the Lord Jesus Christ…
And we represent Jesus wherever we go…
With whatever we say…
With whatever we do.
Because in Jesus we find the empowerment…
The grace…
To live out Jesus in this world.
Today, and in the days to come…
Let us put on the Lord Jesus Christ…
And live for him.
Amen.
[1] N. T. Wright, Paul For Everyone, Romans, Part 2 (Louisville: WJK, 2004), 90.
[2] James R. Edwards, Romans, NIBC (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1992), 316.
