Author: Chip Salzgeber

Matthew 22:1-14

There is no more hopeful event on earth than a wedding.

• Jesus loved weddings.
• His first miracle was at a wedding.
• On one occasion he referred to himself as a bridegroom.
• So…it is not surprising that at least one of his parables should feature a wedding.

 

This sounds very much like the Goepel parable we read last week about a landowner who rented a vineyard to some rebellious tenants.

• But this story takes a strange twist.
• The wedding did go on with those who chose to come.
• However…When the king came in to see the guests…he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes.
• He asked…Friend…how did you get in here without wedding clothes?
• The man was speechless.
• He was not wearing the right clothes.

 

Everyone else wore tuxes and evening gowns and he was in jeans.

• Does wearing the right clothes matter?

 

In his book…David Brinkley: A Memoir…David Brinkley tells about coming to work for NBC in the 1940s.

• At that time…NBC considered itself the elegant network.
• The rule was that after 6:00 pm radio newscasters were required to read the news wearing tuxedos.
• Can you imagine that?
• Their radio audience could not see the newscasters…
• But NBC management believed their attitude and presentation skills improved dramatically when they were properly attired.

 

Gilda Radner once said:

• I base most of my fashion taste on what doesn’t itch.
• Well…times are a changing…
• Especially when it comes to apparel.
• We have moved to casual Friday all week long.

A friend of mine is employed by the human‑development department of a corporation in the Midwest.

• Her job is to train employees in proper dress codes and etiquette.
• One day as she was stepping onto the elevator…
• A man dressed in jeans and a golf shirt got on the elevator with her.
• Thinking of her responsibilities…she said.
• Dressed a little casually today…aren’t we?
• The man replied: That’s one benefit of owning the company.
• The Lord be with you…

 

Anyway…Jesus tells a parable about a wedding guest who was not appropriately attired.

• Showing that he has misinterpreted the king’s generosity.
• Jesus’ audience would have understood that a proper wedding garment was simply one that was clean.
• It did not need to be new or fancy.
• This guest was not a poor man who did not own decent clothes…
• He was someone who was acting in a manner that was deliberately disrespectful.
• This man represents a person who walks through a flower garden with boots on…stepping all over the flowers.
• Who wipes his mouth on a clean tablecloth.
• Who crashes a wedding reception to get free drinks.
• The one who attends the wedding party without going to the church to witness the sacred vows spoken by the bride and groom.
• There was no excuse for this guest to be dressed inappropriately except for either ignorance or stubbornness.
• The attitude of the king indicates that it was the latter.

 

This man is like some of those

individuals that Paul labored with so desperately in the early church…

• Who could not understand why they should give up drunkenness and gluttony…
• Since God had already forgiven them their sins and opened the kingdom to them.

 

And so…the man knew better than to be dressed as he was…but he clearly did not care.

• The king did not cut him any slack.
• He said to his attendants:
• Tie him hand and foot and throw him outside…into the darkness…where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
• For many are invited…but few are chosen.

 

We want to hear a nice story about God’s throwing a party open to everyone.

• We do not want to hear about judgment on the wicked…
• Or about demanding standards of holiness…
• Or about weeping and gnashing of teeth.
• Jesus’ love reached those who were invited to the feast where they were.
• But his love refused to let them stay as they were.
• Love desired the best for those who were invited.

 

God loves ruthless felons.

• God loves criminal and arrogant businessmen…
• God loves manipulative mothers that damage their children’s emotions for life.
• But the point of God’s love is that he wants them to change.
• He distains what they are doing and the effects it has on everyone else…including themselves.
• If God is a good God…he cannot allow that sort of behavior to remain at the party he’s throwing for his son!

 

God’s kingdom is a kingdom in which love…justice…truth…mercy and holiness reign unhindered.

• They are the clothes we need to wear for the wedding.
• And if we refuse to put them on…we are saying we do not want to stay at the party.
• God loves us as we are…but God expects us to clothe ourselves in the robe of Christ.

 

CS Lewis put it this way:

• We think God is going to come into our house…look around…and see that we just need a new floor or better furniture and that everything needs just a little cleaning…
• Then you look out the window one day and see that there’s a wrecking ball outside.
• It turns out that God thinks our whole foundation is shot and we are going to have to start from scratch.

Jesus was not saying that sinners are barred from the kingdom.

• Sinners…in fact…are all that are welcome in the kingdom.
• And we are all invited.
• But this guest does not see himself as a sinner.
• And that’s how he comes to stand out so severely at the feast.

 

Paul puts it best in Colossians:

• Cloth yourselves with compassion…
• Kindness…
• Humility…
• Meekness…

Matthew 21:33-46

He was…by all accounts…a successful man.

• This builder of fine homes in an upscale area was known to all as a creative craftsman…
• He was an astute businessman…a fair-minded employer…and a generous benefactor.
• But he was aging now…and before he set out for Florida for the winter…he approached his top superintendent and told him that he was retiring.
• I want you to build me a home…the finest home this company has ever built. Spare no expense…use the finest materials…employ the most gifted tradesmen…and build me a masterpiece before I come home next spring.

The next day…the superintendent set out to build that home…but not exactly.

• If his boss was retiring…that meant he would be losing his job…so he needed to pad his own savings account…lest he be destitute.
• He ordered inferior concrete blocks for the foundation…but charged the builder for premium blocks…and he pocketed the difference.
• He hired inexperienced carpenters…plumbers…electricians…masons…roofers and landscapers…
• But he charged his boss wages that would be paid to master craftsmen…and put the difference in his own bank account.
• He installed cheap appliances and lighting…insufficient insulation…inferior carpet…and drafty windows…and he skimmed a tidy sum off the top for himself.
• In the spring…when the home was finished…it looked spectacular.
• It was the signature home in the neighborhood…and the only thing that made the superintendent happier than how the project looked was the bottom line in his personal bank account…
• Which had grown by hundreds of thousands of dollars that winter.

When the elderly business owner arrived home from Florida that spring…he toured this home fit for a king…and he was ecstatic.

• The superintendent handed him the keys and thanked his boss for the privilege of working for him all these years.
• And then the owner did an unthinkable thing…
• He said to the superintendent: You have been a trusted friend and a loyal partner in my business for all these years…you deserve a home like this.
• And he handed him the keys.
• The Lord be with you…

 

When you were growing up…did your parents ever have to take anything away from you because you didn’t look after it?

• If so…you can understand what Jesus is talking about in the parable of the wicked tenants.
• It is a parable of God’s kingdom on earth.
• In the story…God is the landowner…the Jewish leaders and people who reject Jesus or do not care about him are the tenants…the Old Testament prophets are the slaves sent by the landowner…and Jesus is the landowner’s son.
• God gave the kingdom to Israel to tend and do his work…
• But they rejected their duties and turned away from God.
• In return…he sent the Old Testament prophets to warn them…but the Israelites rejected the prophets…even to the point of hurting or killing them.
• Finally…God sent his son Jesus…but he was also rejected and killed.

The parable of the wicked tenants represents our broken relationship with God…

• His attempts to repair it…and humankind’s rejection of his attempts.
• And despite our continual rejection of him…God never gives up on us.
• His love for us never diminishes.

Greed is what the parable of the wicked tenants is all about…and greed is everywhere.

• That’s why the parable is so timely and relevant today…
• As that wise homebuilder knew the heart of his superintendent…so Jesus knows the selfish condition of our hearts.
• This parable speaks of anger and hatred against God…and those who oppose him.

God had done everything possible to give Israel every advantage.

• He established an everlasting covenant with them.
• He led them through good times and bad.
• He gave them the Promised Land as their inheritance.
• He gave them the law and prophets to guide them.
• But the prophets and the common devout people were rejected by the Scribes and the Temple Leadership.
• It is ironic that the rejection of Jesus…the Christ of God……a Jew…became someone who changed history.

Nelson Mandela…for decades…was a prisoner in a South African jail…

• But he emerged to become the first president of the new South Africa.
• He was so influential…while he was in prison…that the Apartheid regime held secret meetings with him…while he was still in prison.
• Rebels…young and old…were held with him on Robben Island…
• And it became a training ground for political leaders.
• Slowly and painfully South Africa was reformed.
• A nonracial parliament was elected and chose Nelson Mandela as president.
• During his inauguration speech on May 10^th 1994…he vowed that never…never…and never again…shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another.
• The former prisoner was now president.
• Once rejected…he was now the cornerstone.

The attitude of the tenants is represented by the Pharisees.

• They were so concerned about obeying the Law that they came up with many rules and regulations governing what the people could and could not do.
• In time…the Pharisees developed an attitude of being entitled to God’s kingdom…
• Even though they disregarded the spirit of God’s law…and emphasized the letter of God’s law.
• They considered themselves to be the only people who were good enough for God’s kingdom.
• They rejected God…the landowner…even though they thought they were accepting him.

We have a similar attitude today.

• God’s commandments are a reminder that he has expectations for his people…
• People who have been reborn (baptized) not for privilege but for service and witness.
• Our sin is arrogance…it speaks of privilege…and misuse of freedom.
• We fall into the trap of thinking we have an automatic right to the blessings and resources…
• That are the wonderfully and beautifully given and gifted to us in creation…
• Just like the Scribes…the Pharisees and the Temple Leadership thought they had an exclusive right to the blessings God gave them.

So…our response to God’s gracious unconditional love and grace…then…is living the Marks of Discipleship…

• Put God first…Seek and do God’s will…worship regularly…Pray daily…Study and know God’s Word…Love and serve others…Give thankfully…Share the Gospel…Participate in the life of your congregation…confess sins and receive forgiveness regularly.

We are called to be stewards of our lives.

• Wherever we spend vast amounts of our time and energy working at a vocation…caring for our family…helping those in need…
• Making sure that the less fortunate get a fair deal…
• These are places for us to be conscious of the fact that we are doing work in God’s vineyard.

The task is not ours alone to complete.

• God has invested care and concern for the work we do in his vineyard.
• God’s ways are what we are trying to accomplish.
• We are only tenants…and the full responsibility for the success of our work is not ours alone.

We give thanks to God for all he has given us…including the opportunity to bear good fruit.

• We are to be thankful for the portion of worldly things that God has given us…
• Be content with what we have…and trust God to provide for the future…
• Our parable is a statement of God’s concern for his people…
• And a declaration that our Lord’s plan cannot be defeated by the powers and principalities of insidious evil.

Philippians 2:1-13

Once upon a time…in the Midlands of England…there was a certain village…

• A picturesque community of thatched-roof houses along the banks of a river.
• In the village dwelt three brothers.
• The oldest was the ferryman.
• The middle one…the miller.
• And the youngest the forester…who looked after the game preserve belonging to their lord.
• The Lord be with you…

These brothers had done well for themselves.

• They had much to be proud of.
• But they were far from happy.
• None of them had ever found anyone to share his life with.
• They lived solitary lives.
• Once a week they would gather at the village tavern for some venison stew and a flagon of ale…but they spoke but a few words.
• Each brother seemed lost in his dark thoughts.

That is…until the day a terrible storm rose up.

• For many hours before it struck…the air had grown heavy and humid.
• Strange white seabirds were sighted…soaring over inland meadows.
• Charcoal-gray storm clouds gathered overhead…the songbirds fell silent.

The three brothers hastened to their respective houses.

• The storm began at dusk…with howling winds…torrential rain and the creaking of trees bent over at acute angles.
• The darkness was complete…the sort of darkness that fills a person with dread.

The forester…snug in his stone cottage…was well aware of what the storm could do.

• Walking back to his house…he had noticed a large…dead beech tree a short distance from his front door.
• Surely it would fall…he could only hope and pray it would miss his house.
• A chill wind was moaning through his chimney.
• Then he heard the noise he had dreaded…splintering wood.
• With a mighty thump…the trunk of the great tree crashed to the ground.

It barely missed his house.

• But then…in the stillness after its falling…he heard another sound…
• A sound he had never heard before.
• It was the sound of a little child…crying.

This could not be…it had to be an illusion…a trick of the mind.

• But then the forester heard it again…the cry of a child…just outside his heavy…oak door.
• Should he risk unbarring it?
• Only a crazy man would go out on a night like this.
• But the child’s cries beckoned him.

Out towards the fallen tree he went.

• He could not see the child…but he could hear him.
• Looking into the tangled branches…he saw a small…wet face.
• Touching the little child’s chest…he felt his racing heartbeat.
• He eased the little boy free from the tangled branches…
• Clutching him to his chest he fought the howling wind back to the house.

Who was this mysterious little child?

• He wrapped the boy in warm blankets and hugged him to himself…
• Until he felt the little one’s breathing slow.
• The two of them fell into a peaceful sleep.

He awoke to a blaze of sunlight and the singing of birds.

• The door of his cottage was unbarred and wide open.
• There was no sign of the little child he had rescued.
• Little one…where are you? he cried.
• Only the songbirds answered.
• Then he noticed the devastation of his beloved forest.
• He thought of his brothers and the other villagers and ran off to help them.

Breathless…he arrived at the house of his brother…the miller.

• Pounding on the door…he called out.
• When his brother answered…the forester poured out the story of the strange child he had found cradled in the branches of a fallen tree…
• And how he had vanished the next morning.

Will wonders never cease? his brother exclaimed.

• I…too…was behind closed doors in my cottage…burrowed deep into the blankets on my bed…when I heard a child crying. I threw on my cloak and went down the path as fast as I could. Right by the edge of the millpond…I found him…so very close to the water. I scooped him up…brought him home and fed him hot broth from the pot on the stove. But this morning…he was gone!

The two of them rushed out…then…to the home of their brother…the ferryman.

• They discovered he…too…had a similar experience.
• He had heard cries coming from the opposite side of the river…
• Poled his boat across and rescued the little boy.
• But this morning…he was gone.

The three brothers looked at each other in stunned silence.

• Then they took in the storm’s devastation all around.
• But their hearts were unaccountably light.
• They noticed the bright sunshine…it was a day of rare beauty.
• It was the same with each of us…the forester said to his two brothers.
• We reached out to the little child…and now the world is newly made.

No one worked harder than they to help their neighbors rebuild.

• Everywhere one of the brothers showed up…sorrow was eased…hope grew afresh and an unaccountable warmth tiptoed into every heart.

From that day forward…the three brothers were different men.

• Where their lives had once been sadness and gloom…now they revealed contagious joy.
• The miller smiled and laughed as he mixed his water…yeast and flour.
• The forester moved through the woods singing.
• The ferryman danced to the music as his boat crossed the river.

The joy of the three brothers spread to everyone around them.

• Travelers marveled at the wonderful atmosphere.
• No one went hungry or cold.
• No one suffered loneliness or fear.
• A new kind of joy had been set loose.
• It was during the great storm that everything changed…the villagers said.
• Surprisingly…joy came to us…and the world was newly made.

Make my joy complete…writes Paul to the Christians of Philippi.

• Be of the same mind…having the same love…being in full accord and of one mind.
• This is an extraordinary statement.
• Having a common mind is one thing…a rare gift.
• But having the same love?
• What on earth does Paul mean by that?

Most often we tend to read this passage as though it were a letter written to individuals…but it was not.

• Our English language uses the same…second-person pronoun…you…for both the singular and the plural.
• So…it is hard to distinguish between one individual or a collective group.
• Not so of New Testament Greek…as Paul clearly addresses the entire community.
• Our closest English equivalent may be the word y’all.
• Imagine Paul saying to the Philippians…Y’all have the same love now…ya hear?
• That is how the Philippians understood it.

It is a rare enough thing for two people to share the same love…but an entire community?

• For this to happen…such love must have some independent existence…outside ourselves.
• We are so used to thinking of love as something we create for ourselves…
• A treasure to be jealously guarded and protected lest we lose it.
• It boggles the mind to think of love as freely…lavishly and endlessly distributed throughout an entire community.
• But that is exactly what Paul believes is possible.
• Such love is not so much an individual possession…yours and mine…as it is yours…mine and ours.

The love of Christ is bigger than any one of us…even any two of us.

• It’s more like a great sea in which we all swim.
• And so…we can be confident it will never run out.

Such is the discovery many survivors of hurricanes…floods…earthquakes and tornadoes have made.

• A storm has a way of bringing love out in a community.
• Suddenly…neighbors who barely know each other…
• Who would barely nod to one another in passing…
• Find they have something in common.
• They have been fighting the storm together.
• The storm has stripped away not only the leaves from the trees.
• It has stripped away their separateness.

Never fear that love will run out…for…in Christ…God has arranged for us a limitless supply.

• Individual relationships may sometimes disappoint…
• But the love that flows forth from the almighty through Christ into our hearts knows no limit.
• May we never hesitate to share Christ’s love with others…
• For truly it is without measure and without price!

Matthew 20:1-16

The Kirby Hall of Civil Rights is an academic building on the campus of Lafayette College in Easton…Pennsylvania.

• It’s an ornate stone structure that resembles a Greek temple.
• Kirby Hall is named for the man who gave the money to build it…back in the 1920s: Fred Morgan Kirby.

Mr. Kirby had done rather well financially.

• So…he committed his life savings to purchase a variety store in the northeastern Pennsylvania town of Wilkes-Barre.
• He had a partner in the venture…a man named Charles Sumner Woolworth.
• And together…they opened the first Woolworth’s five-and-ten…
• The cornerstone of what would become a retail empire.

But Mr. Kirby’s interest went further than architecture.

• He also specified exactly what sort of teaching would go on within its walls.
• There’s a dedicatory plaque…declaring that Kirby Hall is for instruction in the Anglo-Saxon ideals of the true principles of constitutional freedom…including the right of man to own property and do with it as he will…the right to life…liberty and the pursuit of happiness…and the right to sell his labor as he chooses…

Mr. Kirby…then…had a verse from the Bible carved into that stone plaque.

• That verse…Matthew 20:15…is part of today’s Gospel lesson.
• It reads: Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own?
• The Lord be with you.

It is not likely anyone ever explained to Mr. Kirby…that the person who speaks that line…in Jesus’ parable of the laborers…in the vineyard…is the landowner.

• He is anything but a dyed-in-the-wool…gilded age…captain of industry…like Fred Morgan Kirby.
• What the landowner does…in the parable…sounds like something a progressive would do.
• (I mean…how do we run a free enterprise system like that?).
• This is the boss…who…at the end of the day…
• Pays all his farm hands the same amount of money…regardless of how many hours they have worked!
• Christians have been trying to wrap their minds around this parable ever since.
• It’s a baffling tale…with a provocative surprise ending.

Let’s recap the story.

• It is harvest time…and the vineyard-owner is desperate to get his grapes picked before they rot on the vine.
• So…he does what farmers have always done when they have a ripe crop in the field.
• He goes out and hires himself some day laborers.

The boss meets the laborers at the muster zone at the crack of dawn.

• What’s the wage? the workers ask.
• Standard rate…he replies. One denarius.
• The denarius was a small silver coin.
• Off they go to the vineyard.
• The laborers notice other pickers coming in throughout the day.
• The last group of workers starts picking grapes at 5 p.m.

No doubt each of these later hires…had likewise…asked the landowner how much they would be paid.

• I’ll pay you whatever is right…he replied.
• The Greek word for right in this verse…is the same word translated elsewhere as
• He promises them a righteous

At the end of the day…all the workers line up to receive their pay.

• Each receives exactly the same: one denarius…no matter how many hours they had worked!
• The crack-of-dawn crew get mighty furious at this.
• You can understand why.
• Now…wait…just one minute…they say to the farmer.
• This isn’t fair. You paid everybody the same!”
• Did I break my contract with you?…asks the landowner…I did not.
• We agreed on one denarius…and that’s exactly what you’re holding in your hand.
• But what about the others? Their hourly rate is much higher!

Now here’s where Mr. Kirby’s Bible verse comes in:

• Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me?
• The boss continues: Or are you envious because I am generous? So… the last shall be first and the first shall be last.

So…what does this parable mean?

• Bible scholars have struggled to come up with an explanation.
• One of the most popular interpretations is that Jesus is addressing the problem of Jew vs. Gentile.
• The sunrise crew represents the Jewish Christians.
• They’ve been following God’s law for generations.
• But then all these Greeks and Romans waltz into the church…converts from paganism…
• And lo and behold…they get welcomed right in…without so much as a bar mitzvah.

But this interpretation does not make sense in this parable Jesus tells.

• Because Jesus is not telling the story to any Greek converts.
• His audience is all Jewish.
• There is no resurrection yet…no Christian church yet.
• Not until the miracle of Pentecost will it begin to dawn on them that their little community is morphing into something different.

So…if Jesus’ parable is not about the tensions within a multi-cultural church…then what is he talking about?

• Is Jesus fulfilling Mr. Kirby’s worst nightmare?
• Is Jesus turning out to be…God forbid…a progressive?
• Is the landowner’s righteous wage a matter of paying workers according to what they need to live…rather than what the market will bear?
• (And again…I mean…how do we run a free enterprise system like that?).

Well…there is a clue to the meaning of this parable in the very last line.

• Jesus concludes his parable with this saying:
• So…the last will be first and the first will be last.

So…let’s back up a bit (to Matthew 19) and see what leads Jesus to share that proverb the first time.

• He just laid on his disciples a very challenging teaching…
• It’s the famous saying: I tell you…it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.
• Well…Peter and the others hear this…and they are astounded and ask…Who then can be saved?
• What about people like us? We’re not rich. We’ve left everything to follow you. What are we going to get out of this?

Jesus’ answer may remind us of a parent…assuring a small child that Santa’s going to leave a truckload of goodies under the Christmas tree.

• Don’t worry about that…Peter… he says.
• You guys are going to sit on twelve thrones…judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Not only that…I’ll throw in a bonus: eternal life!
• It is then that Jesus lays that proverb on them for the first time:
• But many who are first will be last…and the last will be first.

Now…it becomes clear who the parable of the laborers in the vineyard is directed at.

• It is directed at Jesus’ disciples.
• His disciples are the first who will end up last.
• Those disciples were so delighted to hear about the twelve thrones with their names on them…
• That Jesus felt the need to take them down a peg.
• His disciples are the first crew of pickers in the parable.
• They will get what’s coming to them…but so will a whole lot of others.

So…Jesus makes a great point…here…about spiritual bookkeeping.

• Jesus warns us that bookkeeping is the only punishable offense in the kingdom of heaven.
• For in that happy state…the books are ignored forever…and there is only the Book of life.
• And in that book…nothing stands against us.
• There are no debit entries that can keep us out of the clutches of the love that will not let us go.
• There is no minimum balance below which the grace that finagles all accounts will cancel our credit.
• And there is no need for us to show large amounts of black ink…
• Because the only Auditor before whom we must finally stand is the Lamb…
• And he has gone deaf…dumb and blind on the cross.

So…what appears at first…in this parable…to be bad news for the crack-of-dawn crew…is actually very good news.

• It would not have mattered if the vineyard owner had given those early birds ten denarii apiece…or even a hundred…
• Because citizenship in the kingdom of heaven is not paid for with silver.
• It’s paid for with blood…the blood of Jesus.
• And that’s something none of us could ever earn.

Are you envious because I am generous?…asks the Lord.

• No…not envious. But
• Grateful that he welcomes us despite all our imperfections!

Matthew 18:21-35

The business services company Experian last year reported that the average American debt for individuals had reached $104,755.

• And here’s how the company said Americans’ average debt breaks out by generation:

• Generation Z: $34,328
• Millennials: $132,280
• Generation X: $158,105
• Baby boomers: $92,619
• Silent Generation: $38,460

At the same time…a foundation that keeps track of U.S. national debt reported that as of the end of 2025…

• The federal government was more than $38 trillion (with a t) in debt.
• One million seconds = 11 days.
• One billion seconds = 31 years.
• One trillion seconds = 31 thousand years.
• My…OWE…my.
• The Lord be with you.

If we read today’s Gospel of Matthew story in a literal way…should all this personal and national debt be forgiven?

• To answer that…let’s think about what is really going on here in this teaching of Jesus…as Matthew records it.
• And it helps to remember the Jewish context in which Jesus lived…that he lived under Roman rule.

That is…the story from Matthew we read today is found only in Matthew…

• And that the debt in question probably has nothing to do with material wealth.
• Rather…the talents refer to spiritual goods rather than physical ones.
• So…Matthew is linking debt to sin.
• And in doing so…Jewish scholars point out…the translators are simply recognizing that the Aramaic word hob can mean both debt and sin.

So…let us not get…buried in the weeds…by the idea that the king…in the story…

• Was being generous to forgive a huge financial debt someone owed him.
• Rather…let’s think of how he had been somehow wronged by his slave…
• But was willing to forgive him for that.
• When that slave…then…failed to forgive wrongs done to him by another slave…
• The king learned about it… and…handed him over to be tortured until he would pay his entire debt.

Jesus then adds that God will treat us that way if we do not forgive others…

• Not seven times…as Peter first suggests…but 77 times…
• Meaning…an infinite number.

You know…though? The idea of forgiveness is complex.

• Forgiveness can be risky…it can be painful…it can be…and often is…necessary…
• But if we think it’s always an easy matter…we are mistaken.
• And I think…this is why…in Matthew’s passage…Jesus might sound a bit like an angry parent…
• Who threatens dire consequences if a child will not forgive.

Forgiveness is not easy and it is complicated.

• Though…Jesus is right to tell us that forgiveness and reconciliation is desirable…and should be our goal.
• But if we do not appreciate the complexities of forgiveness…we can injure an already injured person even more.

For instance…no one but the victim has a right to offer forgiveness to the person who injured that victim.

• You cannot be the one to offer forgiveness to the thief who broke into your neighbor’s house.
• And forgiveness cannot be received effectively if the perpetrator has not done the required prior work…
• Including acknowledging that what he or she did was wrong and why.
• And often it takes a great amount of work on the part of the victim…
• To be able to get to a point at which offering forgiveness is even possible.

You may remember the almost-instant forgiveness that the Amish community offered to the man who murdered five Amish girls at a school in Nickel Mines…Pennsylvania…in 2006.

• Well…once people understood a foundational motive for that immediate forgiveness…
• The act became even more problematic…
• Because…the Amish believed that if they did not forgive…
• They themselves would not be forgiven by God…
• And that would jeopardize their chances for an eternal relationship with God.
• A harsh way of putting it…is that they did not forgive as an act of charity…
• But as an act of self-interest.
• They forgave so as not to risk a chance of going to heaven.

Concerning the long-running priest abuse scandal in the Catholic Church…something even more complicated is at work.

• For not only must forgiveness be a transaction between the victim and perpetrator…
• But it also needs…somehow…to involve the whole church.
• It was church leadership negligence…after all…that created the circumstances under which continued abuse was possible…
• Moving the offending priests to new assignments within the church.
• So…the leaders of the church…must become part of the forgiveness process.
• And…we have seen…some…efforts by church leaders…to take on the responsibility…to express regret and seek forgiveness.
• Forgiveness can and should be liberating…
• But not if we do it on the cheap.
• Finally…there is no iPhone app for it.

Consider…the 3,000 families who lost someone in the 2001 9/11 terrorist attacks.

• Were they supposed to forgive the dead terrorists?
• How were they supposed to accomplish that?
• Were they to offer forgiveness to the people who orchestrated the attacks…
• And who…later…wound up incarcerated…for years…in the prison on Guantanamo Bay?
• And how could they offer forgiveness…when there was no formal and final judgment…of who was guilty of what? (Oh…Our good friends in Saudi Arabia).

All of that said…Jesus asks us to forgive others…even as he modeled doing that from the cross…by asking God to forgive the people crucifying him…

• Because…as the Gospel of Luke quotes Jesus…they do not know what they are doing.
• Jesus also knew that true forgiveness is a generative…healing act…
• Both for the one being forgiven…and for the one doing the forgiving.
• Carrying grudges around can be a heavy burden for all of us…
• And if we can find a way to set that load down…we will be healthier and stronger.
• One way to give ourselves permission to offer forgiveness is to think about the people who hurt us…the way God thinks about them.

So…is the God of love looking down on a sinful world in need of salvation?

• Or does our God see a broken world in pain and in need of healing?
• We know that a bad diagnosis cannot ever lead us to a good treatment plan.

So…we are urged to focus not so much on what is sinful in people…

• But…rather…on what is broken…and needs to be treated…to restore the person to health and wholeness.
• So…then…forgiveness can help victims see that nobody who is whole and happy and well…
• Would have done what he or she did.
• And it can move perpetrators to seek…the very forgiveness they need…
• To become the people God created them to be…
• Loving…forgiving…generous…

happy and wholesome.

Even if the passage we read from Matthew today about forgiveness sounds harsh and hard…

• Maybe that is Jesus trying to get us to pay attention…
• So…that we can both give and receive the enormous gift of forgiveness in a way that is truly healing.
• We do not give forgiveness as an act of cheap grace.
• No…that does no one much good.
• Rather…we are moved to offer forgiveness because we ourselves are forgiven people…
• Who want to share…with others…that remarkable state of being whole and well and healed.
• Will forgiveness be easy?
• Almost never.
• But can it be healing?
• Yes…that is its true gift.

Matthew 18:15-20

In Chapter 18 of Matthew’s Gospel…Jesus gives the disciples some practices that are essential for sustaining

healthy Christian communities.

• Many of these practices have to do with honoring the little ones among us…
• Those who have the least power within a community…
• Therefore…Jesus reminds the disciples to act with great care and humility in dealing with the least powerful among them.
• It is no accident that right before today’s story…the parable of the lost sheep occurs.
• This parable is about a shepherd who leaves 99 sheep to go and search for one little sheep who has gone astray.
• If the shepherd finds the lost sheep…we are told…there will be much rejoicing over it…
• More rejoicing than the 99 sheep who never went astray…
• Because it is not God’s will that one of these little ones be lost.

In today’s scripture…Jesus offers some advice on confronting (encountering) another who sins against you.

• This idea of confronting was based on interpretations in Leviticus (19:17-18) that said:
• One should not allow anger to simmer inside…but confront one’s brother…friend or neighbor.
• The Lord be with you.

Conflict…Confrontation…Many of us do everything in our power to avoid

these things such as…

• Trying to shove it under the rug or gossiping about it or playing passive-aggressive games or taking sides…
• Or using our silence to intimidate or using the pulpit to shame people or abandoning our community of faith altogether.
• I was taught that if I did not have anything nice to say…not to say anything at all.

It is human nature to avoid conflict and confrontation.

• The phrase…we need to talk…makes our stomach do flips…
• Because we know it means that something is broken between us…and we need to sort it out.

Social media has become one of the primary ways some handle conflict…and it is rarely…if ever…a healthy model.

• People talk more about one another than they talk with one another.
• Just as writing someone a letter feels

like a dying art…

So does having difficult face-to-face conversations feel close to extinction.

• Meanwhile conflicts continue to brew and fester and to further complicate matters…
• We are living in a time of major polarization…hostility and conflict.

 

The church does not like conflict either…because the church is made up of

people.

• Conflict was present in the early church…just as it is today.
• It is still much easier to shun people than it is to listen and confront.
• What is interesting is how much energy and work we put into avoiding confrontation…
• Yet Jesus seems to expect and welcome it.
• The question is not whether we will wound each other with our words and actions…but how we should proceed when we do.
• In our gospel text this morning Jesus offers us a radically different path in dealing with conflict…
• A path that encourages the church to have honest face-to-face dialogue and not to keep silent with behavior that harms others.
• A path where confrontation is a necessary companion on the road to reconciliation.
• Jesus tells us plainly that the way we conduct relationships here and now has direct consequences for God’s coming kingdom:
• Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven…and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

Though this text is concerned with church discipline in a time of conflict…the end goal is not punishment or blame.

• The end goal is reconciliation…a family reunion…not retribution.
• Reconciliation involves relationships being restored…by both parties…
• Both of whom stand condemned and forgiven at the cross and are willing to work together in the restoration.

There are two curious things about Jesus’ advice here:

• One…he puts the burden of confronting on the one who has been sinned against…
• And two…he does not seem as interested in who is right and wrong as he is in getting the family back together again.
• Jesus wants us to try and regain a brother or a sister in Christ.

As Christians…we are not in the business of calling people out and further exiling them…

• But rather calling them in and inviting them to reconcile.
• Some have misinterpreted the verse about when all else has failed in confronting a person…treat them like a Gentile or a tax collector.
• Some have misinterpreted this to mean excommunication…exile or otherwise shunning the individual.
• Yes…Gentiles and tax collectors were seen as outsiders.
• Yet…in Matthew’s Gospel…we are shown over and over again how Jesus treated Gentiles and tax collectors…of which Matthew was one…with love and forgiveness.
• Instead of an exclusive love…which declares…You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy…
• Jesus commands an inclusive love…which declares…Love your enemies.
• As followers of Christ…we are asked to practice reconciliation rather than estrangement…love rather than hatred…forgiveness rather than prejudice…inclusivity rather than exclusivity.

I have been at this ministry thing for many years now…

• And over those years I have had things said to me that hurt me…
• And…I have said things to others in the congregations I have served where I have hurt or offended others.
• And on those occasions…I have needed to go to that hurt person or persons and apologize and ask for their forgiveness.

Though we don’t control another person’s behavior nor the outcome…as Christ’s disciples…we are responsible for how we treat one another.

• In a lot of ways…it is a real nuisance to belong to a family.
• Listening is hard…and this work of confronting and reconciling undergirded in love is challenging.
• Jesus is not talking about some kumbaya…let’s just sit around…sing songs…and hold hands.
• Yet…our being together is the chief means God has chosen for being with us.
• Our life together in a community of faith is the place where we are comforted…confronted…tested…and redeemed by God through one another.

Jesus knows that the disciples need each other.

• They need each other because two heads are better than one…
• They need each other because they can accomplish more together than they can apart…
• They need each other like brothers and sisters need each other…
• To remind themselves that they belong to one family.

In times of crisis the wise build bridges…while the foolish build barriers.

• As the body of Christ…we are one single family and Christ calls us to build bridges way more than barriers.
• In baptism…we are adopted into a new family and into a new way of existing in the world.
• If we are going to live in relationship with the One to whom we have been reconciled to God…
• It demands that we be a reconciling community.
• Christ’s promise to us…especially in our times of conflict and confrontation…is that he is with us.

There is a promise that God desires to be reconciled to us and we to each other…

• And that when we seek reconciliation…Christ is present.

The gospel invites us to forsake the ways of playing the world’s games…

• And to follow the good way of Christ.
• For God’s ability to get things right is always more powerful than our ability to get things wrong.
• So…let us do this hard work and live our lives worthy of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Matthew 16:21-28

Have you ever had a setback…a defeat…or just messed up?

• Have you ever had to turn lemons into lemonade?
• Playwright Oscar Wilde once commented after a disastrous opening night that his play was a great success…
• But the audience was a failure.

Winston Churchill had that same ability to turn a setback into something good.

• He was once asked:
• What most prepared you to lead England through World War II?
• His reply?
• It was the time I repeated a class in grade school.
• His questioner then asked:
• You mean you flunked a grade?
• Winston Churchill straightened himself up to his full height and replied:
• I never flunked in my life.
• I was given a second opportunity to get it right!
• The Lord be with you…

Simon Peter knew about second chances.

• You will remember from last week that Jesus and his disciples were in the region of Caesarea Philippi…when Jesus asked them:
• Who do people say the Son of Man is?
• Simon Peter answered:
• You are the Messiah…the Son of the living God.

 

And Jesus praised him for his answer:

• Blessed are you…Simon son of Jonah…for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood…but by my Father in heaven.
• And I tell you that you are Peter…and on this rock I will build my church…

 

Today’s lesson follows that scene.

• Matthew tells us that from that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders…
• The chief priests and the teachers of the law…and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

 

At this Simon Peter took Christ aside and began to rebuke him.

• Never…Lord! This shall never happen to you! You know what happens next.
• Jesus turns and says to Peter:
• Get behind me…Satan!
• You are a stumbling block to me…
• You do not have in mind the concerns of God…but merely human concerns.

What a reversal!

• One moment Peter proclaims Christ as the Messiah…
• And the next moment he is telling Christ how to go about his work.

 

One moment he is in the garden defending Christ with a sword against a Roman legion…

• And the next he is standing outside the palace where Jesus is being tried and denies with an oath that he ever knew Jesus.

 

One moment he is in hiding as his Master is being crucified…

• And the next he is proudly proclaiming Christ’s message to thousands of listeners on the Day of Pentecost.
• This is Simon Peter.

 

Even more important…

• We are Simon Peter.
• Defending and denying…
• That’s us.
• We identify with Peter.
• We all say dumb things.
• We all have wooden feet.

It is like our tour group of college students in Italy.

• We were standing just inside St. Peter’s Basilica…
• The second largest church in the world.
• The tour guide explained:
• This church is so large that no one on earth could hit a baseball from one end to the other…
• Not Lou Gehrig…not Babe Ruth…
• The group stared in silence at the beautiful marble sculptures…intricate paintings…and glorious mosaics all around the enormous building.
• Then someone interrupted the silence with a question:
• You mean…they actually let them hit baseballs in here?
• We might think this person is a few fries short of a Happy Meal…
• But all of us have blurted out remarks just as clueless.

Simon Peter rebuked Jesus.

• The truth is that Peter cared about his Master.
• He did not want him to suffer and die.
• How could the Messiah be put to death?
• That did not make sense.
• Peter was being quite honest.
• Never Lord! he said.
• This shall never happen to you!
• Peter was saying what the other disciples were thinking.

 

Jesus then spells out what is facing those who would give their lives to him.

• Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.
• For whoever wants to save their life will lose it…
• But whoever loses their life for me will find it…

In August of 2003…the Church of the Holy Cross in New York City was broken into.

• The thieves unbolted a 4-foot long…
• 200-pound plaster Jesus from a huge crucifix…
• And left behind the wooden cross to which it was attached.

The church caretaker confessed his puzzlement at this:

• They just decided…we’re going to leave the cross and take Jesus…
• We don’t know why they took just him.
• We figure if you want the crucifix…you take the whole crucifix.

 

We know why…don’t we?

• Many people would like to have Jesus and leave his cross behind.
• Jesus represents forgiveness and grace.
• Jesus is a divine friend who accepts us as we are…
• Hears our prayers and helps us in times of need.
• Who would not want Jesus?
• But his cross?
• It represents discipline and self-denial.
• The cross represents service and sacrifice.
• The cross represents taking our eyes off ourselves…
• And putting them on those for whom Christ died.
• For God so loved the world!
• We want Jesus…
• But taking up his cross?
• Those thieves are not the only ones who want to take Jesus…
• But not his cross.
• That is our sin as well.

 

Peter slipped when he was first confronted with the message of the cross.

• So do we…
• Slipping and sliding…
• That’s us.

 

But that’s not the end of the story.

• Peter met the risen Jesus face to face…
• And he who had been a bending reed became a solid rock of faith and service.
• And that happens to us too.
• As Christ raises us from the dead moment to moment!

Matthew 16:13-20

Several years ago…the governor of Alaska was visiting in a nursing home in
Juneau.

• In the lobby he began to strike up a conversation with a delightful
• After some time had passed in their conversation…the governor was
  a little surprised that he was not being recognized by this woman.
• Ma’am…do you know who I am? he asked.
• The woman looked at him and with a
  big smile on her face…she pointed to the receptionist…at the front desk and
  said:
• No…but if you ask politely…that nice lady will give you your name
  AND your room number.

 

Sometimes questions have a way of marking important moments and events…as well as teaching us some humility.

• Some questions can be answered
  easily while others take longer to answer fully.
• I find this true in our faith journeys.
• And today’s story in Matthew’s Gospel offers questions that reflect a decisive turning point between Jesus and his disciples.
• The Lord be with you.

 

They are in Caesarea Philippi…a city dedicated to Caesar…filled with shrines to pagan gods…and overshadowed by the great rock face of Mount Hermon.

• It was a place where kings were honored…idols were worshiped and political power was displayed.
• Jesus brings his disciples here…not to escape the noise of the world…but to confront it.
• Standing in a world full of competing identities…rival loyalties and counterfeit gods…he asks:
• Who do people say that the Son of Man is?

The disciples easily and willingly answer Jesus’ question.

• They offer a list: John the Baptist…Elijah…Jeremiah…
• Good answers…but Jesus digs deeper…asking a second question.
• And what about you? Who do you say that I am?

It is not enough to answer Jesus’ question with what other people think or to
repeat what others say.

• Jesus wants to know what his disciples think…what they believe.
• This question is personal and harder to answer.
• And I imagine there may have been some awkward silence on their walk that day…
• Avoiding of eye contact…looking down at feet…and kicking the dirt.
• The disciples were frantically thinking to themselves…Please…someone else answer!
• And then Peter blurts out…You are the Messiah…the Son of the living God.
• Peter answers correctly…and Jesus blesses him…
• And explains that Peter can only make this confession of faith because God has revealed it to him.

But this isn’t the end of the story for Peter and the disciples.

• Even with Peter’s correct proclamation of who Jesus is…
• He and the other disciples still do not know fully who he is.
• At this point the disciples do not know yet of Jesus’ death to come on the cross…nor of his resurrection.
• Peter does not know that he will become a stumbling block for Jesus in the verses that follow today’s story…
• Or that he will deny Jesus three times on the eve of Jesus’ crucifixion.

After Peter blurts out his breathtaking confession…Jesus has a few fitting words as to who Peter is:

• You are Peter…and upon this rock I will build my church.
• Until this moment…Simon had been Simon.
• Now he is Peter…the Rock.
• In the Bible…a change of name often signals a change of calling.
• Abram becomes Abraham…Sarai becomes Sarah…Jacob becomes Israel.
• Names reveal not only identity but vocation.
• Calling Peter a rock in Caesarea Philippi was bold.
• Behind them stands a giant rock cliff associated with pagan worship and imperial propaganda.
• Yet Jesus says in effect: Not on this wall of stone…not on earthly power.
• Not on the shrines of false gods.
• Not on Caesars or empires.
• But on you…on your faith…on your confession.
• On this rock foundation of revealed truth…I will build my church.

This verse is historically one of the Bible’s most contested verses due to how it has been interpreted and debated by Catholic and Protestant Christians over the centuries.

• Catholics have long argued that this statement makes Peter the first Pope in a long line of popes.
• Protestants have argued that this statement is less about Peter and more about Peter’s faith…his testimony…in Jesus Christ that…is the foundation of the church.
• As far as we know…Peter is the first human to make the full confession that Jesus is the Christ.
• The thing to remember…here…is that it is not that Jesus had the guy it took to lead the church…
• It is that Peter had the God it took to lead the church.

In college…I wrestled with my faith and what it was that I believed.

• Not what my parents believed and had raised me to believe.
• I was baptized and confirmed in the Lutheran church…
• But my childhood image of Jesus no longer made a great deal of sense…
• And one needs to build their faith…not on hearsay…but on Jesus words spoken in our text:
• And what about you? Who do you say that I am?

And so…I began to take theology classes in college.

• And so…I began reading and studying the Bible and praying through this process.
• I began to experience a rekindling of my faith and my relationship with Jesus.
• From those classes and seminar discussions with my classmates…
• My faith and relationship with Christ grew…
• But…of course…I still did not have all the answers.
• The Christian journey is a life-long walk with the Christ of God.
• We are not meant to solve God once and for all.
• We are always learning who Jesus is…and who we are.
• Martin Luther said: We are always on the road.
• What about you? Who do YOU say Jesus is?
• Don’t answer the question
  quickly…take your time.
• Take this question with you and reflect on who you say Jesus is.

Jesus then mentions giving the keys of the kingdom of heaven to Peter.

• Jesus did not choose Peter because he understood everything or had the best prayer life or was the most loyal disciple.
• Jesus chose Peter exactly because Peter was going to be rebuked by Jesus…and would deny him three times?
• Jesus knew that only a forgiven
  sinner could really preach the Gospel.
• And sinless perfect piety is not real.
• Jesus knew that only forgiven sinners can really be trusted with the keys of the kingdom?

Finally…Jesus sternly tells the
disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

• We do not know exactly why.
• Perhaps we must live into the fullness of what professing Jesus as
  the Christ really means for us…
• Before we compel others to incorporate it.
• Perhaps Jesus does not want them to tell because the time had not yet come
• for him to die?

What we do know is that on the other side of today’s story…

• On this side of the cross and empty tomb…some 2,000 plus years later…
• We…as Jesus’ disciples…are still examining Jesus’ question for ourselves.
• So…as we attempt to continue to follow Jesus…always learning who he is…
• We pray that when Jesus asks us…Who do you say that I am?
• God will reveal to us the answer with our words and our lives.
• Thanks be to God.

Matthew 15:21-28

Somewhere on the borders of Galilee and the Gentile cities of Tyre and Sidon…Jesus meets the unnamed woman…a Canaanite.

• This is not the only time we find Jesus operating on the border…
• Literal borders…between nations and cultures…
• Or metaphorical borders of risk and challenge…on the boundary…at the edge.
• In Luke 17 we find Jesus traversing the borderland between Israel and Samaria…where he cures ten men of a skin disease…
• And only one…a Gentile…a foreigner…an outsider…returns to say thank you.

And so…we find him today…traveling by choice…in the district of Tyre and Sidon…

• Along the border between Jewish and Gentile territories…
• And this border is…a sometimes hostile one.
• He is confronted there…by someone from the wrong side of that border…
• A Gentile woman…a Canaanite.
• Canaanites were not only foreigners and outsiders…but Israel’s traditional enemies…
• The native inhabitants of the land displaced by Israel’s occupation centuries earlier.

Jesus is confronted by a Canaanite woman…who is shouting at him.

• She does not take him to the side and quietly beg his pardon or try to persuade him.
• She is shouting…demanding healing for her daughter…who is possessed by a demon.
• Jesus surely cannot ignore her.
• She is shouting…but he does not…at first…say a word to her.

Well…Jesus disciples urge him to send her away.

• What is it…exactly…that they want to see him do?
• Do they expect him to run her off…and let her and her daughter suffer?
• Maybe they want him to give her what she wants…
• Not out of any compassion for her suffering…but as a passive-aggressive way of getting rid of her.
• Otherwise…Jesus would not have answered them the way he does…
• When he says: I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel…
• He is talking to the disciples…explaining to them exactly why he does not just heal the woman’s daughter.
• His mission…at this point…anyway…is to Israel…and not to foreigners…Gentiles…outsiders.

But…bless her heart…she will not go away.

• She comes up close and kneels before him…calling him Lord…
• And openly…asking for help.
• Jesus gives her…one-on-one…the rationale he gave to his disciples…
• Only more forcefully…concluding it with an insult:
• It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs. Ouch!
• That word!
• Literally small dogs…like puppies or house dogs…
• But still an unflattering term often used for gentiles or enemies.

The woman…fearless…comes back with a yes-but.

• Yes…but…Lord … even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.
• And Jesus changes his mind.

What leads him to change his mind?

• It is the woman’s great faith that leads Jesus to change his mind…
• Where…he is in the borderlands…the human-made dividing lines between Gentile and Jew…
• Samaritan and Jew…outsider and insider…foreigner and native…Us and
• What we see here…before us…in Jesus…whom we call Lord…is a reversal brought about by the woman’s resolute faith.

The Gospels demonstrate that…for Jesus…faith is everything.

• The hemorrhaging woman…in Matthew 9 is told…your faith has made you well.
• The centurion in Matthew 8 whose servant is mortally ill…is told…let it be done to you according to your faith.
• A paralytic in Matthew 9 on a stretcher is healed when Jesus sees the faith of the friends…
• Who knocked a hole in the roof and lowered his stretcher down on ropes…
• Because the crowd was too thick for them to get him in the door.
• Two blind men…also in Matthew 9…are told…According to your faith…let it be done to you.
• In John 4…a man who believed the word that Jesus spoke to him…
• Headed home to find his little boy…who was sick to the point of death…healed when he arrived home.
• It is faith which draws a positive response from Jesus.
• It is almost as if Jesus cannot help but respond affirmatively…when he is approached…in faith…by anybody.

In the situation before us today…the Canaanite woman’s faith leads Jesus to rethink and redefine his mission on the spot.

• Some might think he is only making an exception here…in the face of her shouting…and her refusal to go away.
• But the many other instances of healing…shows this to be the rule…not the exception.
• Do we want healing from Jesus?
• Come to him…in faith…call him…in faith…shout at him…in faith!
• He cannot help but respond!

What becomes of this woman?

• We know that her daughter was healed from that moment.
• Beyond that…we know nothing.
• She disappears from history.

Peter…however…does not…disappear.

• He keeps showing up…from the Gospels’ beginnings until now.
• We have twin models of faith…here:
• Peter…he of little faith…the sinking Peter…during the walking on water scene…why did you doubt?
• And this shouting Canaanite woman: she of great faith.

The point here is that faith gets Jesus’ attention…

• Faith that draws forth his healing power…
• Be it the little faith of Peter…or the great faith of this unknown…unnamed Canaanite woman.

And what about us?

• Do we find ourselves on some kind of border between doubt and faith?
• Are we confronted by an ailment we cannot seem to shake?
• It is faith that will give us release…
• Be it the little faith of Peter or the great faith of the Canaanite woman.

One does not have to be a bold and persistent shouter.

• There can be a persistence…whether we are shouting as we go…or plodding along…just because it is what we do.
• Buried in all that brings us here…week after week…
• Where is the faith that saves…the faith that heals?
• What pushes us to seek Jesus…be we shouting or timid?
• Our hope and prayer is that we are not afraid of our own needs.

With this Canaanite woman…this foreigner…this outsider as our guide…

• Let us not be put off by the outsiders…the poor…the immigrants…
• Who come through our doors uninvited…shouting their need.
• What would we have Jesus do?
• What might we do?
• Run them off?
• Or offer to them…despite being aware of our own borders…
• The healing that they need.

Matthew 14:22-33

Matthew’s gospel text…today…is preceded by last week’s reading of the feeding of the five thousand.

• Jesus had just heard about John the Baptist’s horrific death.
• John’s disciples took his body and buried him and then told Jesus.
• Jesus withdrew from there by boat to be by himself.
• But when word got out that Jesus was nearby…people from the towns followed him on foot.

When Jesus went ashore…he saw the great crowd.

• Having compassion for them he cured the sick among them.
• He kept at it till late in the day.
• At that point…his disciples suggested he send the crowd away to return to their villages to buy food.
• Instead…Jesus told the disciples to feed them…
• And the result was the miraculous feeding of 5,000 men…women and children.

Then Jesus instructed his disciples to leave by boat to cross the lake while he dismissed the crowd.

• After the crowd left…Jesus went up the mountain by himself to pray…
• Which he had been waiting for all day to do.
• As Jesus prayed and communed with God…the disciples made their way across the lake.
• And this sets the scene for the events which happened next.
• The Lord be with you…

And so…here we are…gathered around this story of Jesus…who walks on water.

• Some are new to the story of Christ…and for some it formed who we are from the cradle.
• I could be wrong…but I think we are not all here because we have been urged to have more faith.
• I think we are here because at some point we heard the Goepel Story and the story claimed us.
• At some point…someone told us the story about this God who created the universe…
• Who spoke through prophets…who came to us in Jesus…who ate with sinners…
• And who suffered and died and rose again and calls us out of our own graves to new life.

I guess this story of Jesus walking on water can be reduced to a moral about having more faith.

• But…like so much of the Bible…it can also be a way to see who we are and see who God is…for us.
• Anyway…see if you recognize yourself in this story.
• Because some of us are like the ones in the boat who are afraid.
• Maybe we are so caught up in fear of making the wrong decision that we cannot make any decision at all.
• Or maybe we are like the one experiencing the thrill of stepping into the unknown…
• A new relationship or a new job or we have just moved leaving behind the familiar…
• And the first few steps are OK but then it gets scary.
• Or maybe we are sinking in debt or depression…
• Or we feel we are sinking because what we could handle last month we cannot handle now.

Or maybe we are the one who knows that all our own efforts have failed…

• And we are crying out to God to save us…
• And we are the ones who Jesus has reached down to catch…
• And we are clinging on to the sweet hand of Jesus with all we have got.
• Or we are the one in the boat looking in wonder at all we have just seen…
• We are the one who bears witness to the miracle of it all…
• And how the hand of God reaches down and pulls us up and we see it and cannot help but say:
• Truly this is God.
• At some point or other I know I have been all the above.

The glamorous part of this story is that Peter walked on water…which is awesome.

• And maybe he had enough faith to make his way to Jesus.
• But what happens on either side of his brief water walk?
• Well…Jesus comes toward him.
• In the storm Jesus is walking toward the boat…
• And when Peter sinks…Jesus is reaching toward Peter…
• Then…Jesus comes toward them all and gets in the boat.
• That is as with them as he can be.
• Yet…we always focus on Peter walking toward Jesus…
• When the whole story is about how much Jesus walks toward them…
• Reaches toward them…and then…even gets in the boat with them.

We might see the moral of the story as… we should have so much faith that you can walk on water toward Jesus…

• But the truth of this story is that Jesus walks toward us.
• The truth of the story is that my abundance of faith or lack of faith does not deter God from drawing close.
• That even if we are scared to death…we can say: Lord Save Me…
• And the hand of God will find us in even the darkest waters.
• Because this is a story not of morals but of movement.
• Not of heroes of the faith making their way to Christ…
• But of Christ drawing near to us amid fear.

Our reading from Romans says: the Word of God is near to you…on your hearts and in your lips.

• He is written on our hearts and is proclaimed from our lips.
• He walks toward us saying: It is I…do not be afraid…
• God reaches down when we call his name…
• And as Paul wrote to the Romans:
• Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

So…I invite you during communion to dip your hand in the baptismal font as a blessing.

• Feel the calm water and know that yours are the beautiful hands and feet…of they who have been sent to tell the story of who we are and who God is…
• Tell the story of God so that we might call out…Lord save us…
• As we continually die and rise in the waters of our baptism.
• Do not be afraid…for that is our beautiful story.