Category: Homilies

Mark 1:1-8

So…in the spirit of full disclosure I feel you should know that I am not now…

• Nor have I ever been…a crazy street corner preacher who waves his Bible wildly while shouting red faced at passers-by.
• But I am not ruling it out as a possible career move in the future.
• But…for now… I must say…I feel for those guys.
• Because what could their success rate possibly be?
• I mean…does shouting repent! at people actually work?
• Just speaking for myself…never once has my life changed because a crazy guy with a sign yelled at me from a street corner.

 

I mention this because it feels like maybe John the Baptist was the first and last successful crazy street corner preacher.

• And given the success he had…you know…with all of Judea and Jerusalem coming to partake in his baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
• I wonder what the guy said exactly.
• Why did so many people come to him for his baptism?
• Because bless their hearts…our modern street corner preachers who hold signs that say “repent” don’t have near the same results.

You see…when I hear a preacher shouting “repent” what I really hear is:

• Stop being bad.  Start being good or else God’s gonna be really mad at you.
• Which feels more like a threat than anything else.
• That just never works for me.
• Who wants their spiritual arm twisted until they cry “Uncle” …. it’s like… religious bullying.

 

And I just cannot imagine that it was religious bullying that brought all of Judea and Jerusalem to be baptized by John.

• I mean…fear and threat can create change in behavior.
• But it does not change your thinking.

 

For that kind of change…change in thinking and change of heart it takes truth and promise.

• Namely truth and promise that is external to us…
• And comes only from God reaching into the graves we dig ourselves into…
• And then bringing out new life.
• Because if repentance comes from something other than an external word of truth…
• About who we are and who God is…
• It’s not repentance…it’s self-improvement.
• And what happened that day by the banks of the Jordon was way more than just a massive wave of self-improvement.

 

OK then…John’s preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins was not so that sinners would confess and stop being bad.

• Instead…it was so that all would hear the truth about this God who comes near to us in the person of Jesus Christ.
• Not so that we might be good…but that we might be new.
• John says to them: “Prepare the way of the Lord.
• Get ready for something new…there is one who is coming who will change everything.”

 

So…John prepares the people to receive the Gospel by making room for it.

• How? By washing away their old ideas and expectations.
• The untruth and sin and shame and all competing identities float away in the Jordon…
• Because the real thing was finally here.
• Because in Jesus…God is doing a new thing…
• Not to make us good but to make us new.
• And that is how Mark begins his gospel:
• “The beginning of the good newsof Jesus Christ.”
• Good news…because any truth that I generate from within me simply does not have the power to save me.

 

Well…we all have had conversations with family members or friends who are non-religious.

• They say: “I just don’t really need anything outside of myself to give me meaning or comfort.” REALLY.”
• We all answer something like this:
• “I desperately need something outside of myself because if this is all there is…well…I cannot think of anything more depressing.
• I need an external interruption.
• And I need it a heck of a lot more than I need self-improvement.
• Because I can change my behavior on my own.
• It is my thinking and my heart that only God can redeem.

 

So…true repentance involves surrender more than it involves self-improvement.

• The practice of kneeling in church has military origins.
• It was a posture of surrender…as in…you cannot fight if you are kneeling.
• And so…this kind of surrender…the kind we see in forgiven sinners in the waters of the Jordon…
• Only comes from hearing the truth of who we are and the truth of who God is.

 

Repentance…in Greek…means something close to: “thinking differently afterwards.”

• More than it means changing your cheating ways.
• Repentance is a con artist being a real person for the first time ever without knowing who that person is anymore…
• But knowing he sees it in the eyes of those serving him communion naming him a Child of God.
• Repentance is realizing there is more life to be had in being proved wrong than in continuing to think you are right.

 

Repentance is the adult child saying:

• “I give up on waiting for my mom to love me for who I am…
• So…I’m gonna rely on God to help me love her for who she is…
• Because I know she’s not going to be around forever.”
• Repentance is unexpected beauty after a failed suicide attempt.
• Repentance is what happened to a friend when at the age of 28 his first community college teacher told him he was smart.
• And despite all his past experience of himself he believed her.

 

See…repentance is what happens to us when the Good News…the truth of who we are and who God is…

• Enters our lives and scatters the darkness of competing ideas.
• For it is the external truth of God that liberates us from the bondage of self.
• This is what the daily return to baptism looks like.

It is like the arm of God reaches in to rip out our own heart and replace it with God’s own heart.

• The Gospel is our own emancipation proclamation.
• Every time we hear the absolution…that we are forgiven.
• Every time we hear that we are a child of God.
• And that this is God’s very own body broken and poured out for us.
• Every time these external words of Good News enter our ears…they scatter the darkness of competing claims.
• And to be sure…all of it is the Beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ Son of God.

Mark 13:24-37

When I was young…sometimes…my mother would buy me a box of Cracker Jacks at the grocery store.

• Remember the surprise you would get when you opened the box?
• It was usually right on top.
• A small toy.
• And I was delighted.
• Well…one time I got a little red top.
• And I would spin the top and it would go round and round…fast.
• But it would always slow down and begin to wobble and finally stop…and fall.
• Later…I learned that the winding down of my little top was called entropy.
• That is…the running down of a system.

 

You know…our earth is running down too…running out of get-up-and-go.

• Just like my little top.
• Just like I am running down too.
• Running out of get-up-and-go.

 

Well…you know the earth is actually wobbling…it’s called axial precession.

• It says in the Book of Genesis that God made creation…the world out of nothing.
• And Genesis also says that God created order out of chaos.
• That there was an explosive burst of energy.
• And God breathed life into the cosmos.
• And God flung the stars and planets and the solar systems out into the universe.
• And ever since the earth has been winding down.
• You know…in a state of entropy.

 

So…the earth is slowly moving away from the sun.

• Falling out of orbit.
• The Sun is cooling down.
• And there is a decreasing gravitational pull.
• Creating less atmosphere.
• Causing more sun to get through to the earth.

 

The arctic ice caps are melting.

• I have been to Alaska three times and have seen it.
• You know…the melting glaciers.
• Causing oceans to rise.
• New Orleans is losing its delta.
• Rain forests are disappearing.
• Deserts are growing in width and breath.
• There is an increase in carbon dioxide.
• Causing average temperatures to rise.
• All of this causing animals to lose their habitat.

 

Of course…we cannot measure all this stuff that is happening with a twelve-inch ruler.

• Because it’s happening exceedingly slowly.
• But learned women and men can measure this stuff with their fancy scientific instruments.
• But still…much of it…we can taste and see and smell and touch and hear with our five senses.

 

In the same way the Old Testament Hebrews believed there was a kind of spiritual entropy.

• A spiritual winding down of God’s relationship with humankind.
• That God had only so much Love.
• That God had only so much grace.
• That God had only so much forgiveness.
• That God had only so much tolerance.
• That God had only so much restraint.
• That God had only so much time.
• That God had only so much patience.
• That God had only so much hope.
• That God had only so much cope.

 

But Jesus declaims to the people:

• “But in those days…after that suffering…the sun will be darkened…and the moon will not give its light…and the stars will be falling from heaven…and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.
• There will be signs in the sun…the moon…and the stars…and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves.
• People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world…for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
• Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
• Now when these things begin to take place…stand up and raise your heads…because your redemption is drawing near.”

 

Hopelessness:

• Cosmic entropy.
• The universe careening out of control.
• Being flung chaotically into outer space.
• Human trafficking.

 

But Jesus says:

• “Heaven and earth will pass away…but my words will never pass away.”

 

So…natural law does not have the final say…the final word.

• Christ reverses this winding down:
• By his vicarious intervention in the universe.
• By his personal and benign and friendly identification with the earth.
• By his glorious incarnation.

 

In Christ…God will never run out of Love.

• In Christ…God will never run out of forgiveness.
• In Christ…God will never run out of tolerance.
• In Christ…God will never run out of restraint.
• In Christ…God will never run out of forbearance.
• In Christ…God will never run out of time.
• In Christ…God will never run out of patience.
• In Christ God will never run out of hope.
• In Christ…God will never run out of grace.

 

Jesus asks us to “be on watch and pray always…

• That you will have the strength to go safely through all those things that will happen and to stand before the Son of Man.”
• Jesus says: “Heaven and earth will pass away…but my words will never pass away.”

Matthew 25: 31-46

There is a whole world of Christians out there who take Matthew 25 seriously.

• Who believe that when we feed the hungry…cloth the naked…and care for the sick we do so to Jesus’ own self.
• We even have this great slogan:
• God’s work…our hands.
• No question.
• The work many of us do serving the poor is informed by our Christian faith as well it should be.
• We are the only feet and hands that Christ has so we are to be little Christs out in the world.

So…I could preach a homily about how actually caring about the poor is part of following Jesus.

• But most of us already are on board with that.
• And when we read this Matthew 25 text we are inclined to think:
• Look! Even Jesus agrees with us!
• We are probably missing something.

 

OK then…we are tempted and prone to move forward with a social justice kind of…” here’s what Christianity REALLY means checklist.

• And we end up not really needing Jesus so much as needing to make sure we successfully complete the right list of tasks.
• Because in the end we leave Jesus idling in his van on the corner while we say:
• “Thanks Jesus…but we can take it from here.”

 

So…while we as people of God are certainly called to feed the hungry and cloth the naked.

• That whole Christian “We are blessed to be a blessing” thing can be dangerous.
• Dangerous when we think we are placing ourselves above the world.
• Waiting to descend on those below so we can be the “blessing” they have been waiting for like it or not.
• It can easily become a well-meaning but insidious blend of benevolence and paternalism.
• It can easily become hustling the poor so that we can feel like we are being good little Christs for them.

 

Jesus says: I was hungry…and you gave me food…I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink…I was a stranger and you welcomed me.

• Which means…Christ comes not in the form of those who feed the hungry but in the hungry being fed.
• Christ comes not in the form of those who visit the imprisoned but in the imprisoned being cared for.
• And to be clear…Christ does not come to us AS the poor and hungry.

 

The poor and hungry and imprisoned are not a romantic special class of Christ like people.

• And those who meet their needs are not a romantic special class of Christ like people.
• We all are equally as Sinful and Saintly as the other.
• No…No…No…Christ comes to us IN the needs of the poor and hungry.
• Needs that are met by another so that the shining redemption of God might be known.
• And we are all the broken and the needy and the ones who meet needs.

 

Years ago…I met James Crumley…at the time the current church-wide bishop…at a synod retreat I was hosting when involved in Outdoor Ministry.

• We sat together at the closing worship celebration.
• That weekend I discovered that his wife had recently been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer.
• During a particularly un-sing-able hymn that I totally disliked…
• I realized he was crying.
• So…throwing my snotty opinions about church music aside…
• I just had to sing that terrible hymn twice as loud because my grieving brother in Christ could not sing.

When the liturgy ended…even though I was a very young pastor he had just met…and he was a bishop…

• I asked him if he would like me to pray for him and anoint him with oil.
• And his eyes teared up and he said thank you…yes.

 

Well…I committed to pray for him every day and checked in occasionally by phone (no text and email then).

• After we prayed…I asked him:
• “Who pastors Bishops?”
• He whispered: “no one.”

 

So…here’s the thing.

• I don’t really think I was the one who allowed Christ to be revealed in this encounter.
• It was Bishop James Crumley.
• Because James Crumley allowed himself to bear a need that someone else could…however imperfectly meet.
• And when the grief of our brother was cared about Jesus was cared about.

 

I am not a good example of this.

• I do not like asking for help.
• And I don’t mean setting up chairs and tables.
• I mean…if I am hurting or in pain it’s like torture to admit it and even worse to humble myself to ask for help.
• It’s as though I think that I am not deserving of the care I give others…which…of course…is totally arrogant.

 

So…I wonder…in this Christ the King text…about how we withhold Christ from each other when we pretend…we have no need.

• When we are only the ones being the blessing to others…
• We keep Christ from being revealed in our own needs that could be met by another.

 

I just do not think the giving of grace includes two separate classes of people:

• The ones who hunger.
• And the ones who offer food.
• The fact is…we are both bearers of the Gospel and receivers of the gospel.
• We meet the needs of others.
• And we have our needs met.
• Remember that those who sat before the throne and said:
• Huh? When did we ever feed you Lord?

 

We never know when Jesus will come and touch us in all of this.

• All that we have is a promise.
• A promise that our needs are holy to God.
• A Promise that Jesus is present in the meeting of needs.
• And that he is a different kind of king.
• A king who rules over a different kind of kingdom.

 

Because it looks more like being thirsty and having someone…we do not even know…or not even like…give us water…

• More than it looks like polishing a crown.
• That is the surprising scandal of the Gospel.
• Jesus bumps us out of our unconscious addiction to being good.
• So that we can look at Jesus as he approaches us on the street and says:
• “O brother…O sister…you look broken…you look like you could use a cup of cold water and a good meal.”

Matthew 25:14-30

Today’s parable commends a watchfulness like last week’s parable of the ten bridesmaids.

• In the parable of the talents…
• The slave who is given one talent is incredibly careful and watchful with it.
• A talent is a lot of money.
• It would take a laborer some 15 years to earn a talent.
• And this man is given one.

 

Imagine that Elon Musk stops by your office with a briefcase full of money.

• He says:
• ” There is five million dollars here.
• Would you look after it until I can pick it up in a few months?”
• Now what?
• Five million dollars!

 

You are the sort of person who does not normally withdraw more than $100 from an ATM at any given time.

• Mostly because you do not want to be mugged for more than you can afford to lose.
• And so…you agree to watch the money.

 

When you are alone in your office again you practice walking.

• Carrying the briefcase.
• You are nonchalant.
• You look natural.
• And you decide you can make it to your car just fine.

 

Eventually…you get all that money home…

• The people you have dinner with know that you are distracted.
• But it’s not unusual for you because you are a careful…watchful person.
• So…it raises no questions.

 

Long after everyone else is asleep you are staring at the ceiling.

• Considering your options.
• Running scenarios.
• Did you lock the front door?

 

So…you tiptoe downstairs.

• Yes…it’s locked.
• You go back upstairs.
• You lie down again…your mind running non-stop.
• When you were checking the lock on the front door did you accidentally unlock it?

 

Sometime in the middle of the night it is clear that you cannot go on like this.

• You know that no investment is entirely secure.

 

If you hand the money over to somebody.

• A bank?
• Anything could happen!
• You think of the Silicon Valley Bank collapse a few months ago.

 

And if you lost that money?

• You could never…for the whole rest of your life…earn enough to get it back?
• What were you thinking when you said you would do this?
• And shortly before sunup…
• You are in the backyard with a flashlight…
• And a shovel…
• And lots of huge zip lock bags full of money.

 

At what point…exactly…did carefulness and watchfulness turn into cowardice?

• When does carefulness and watchfulness come to inspire the scolding?
• ” You wicked and lazy slave!”

 

How is it that even our virtues turn on us?

• And our good intentions land us in outer darkness?

 

The servant explains his actions by saying:

• “I was afraid…
• I was afraid and I went and hid your talent in the ground.”

 

Well…fear is not always a bad thing.

• When Jesus is preparing the disciples for their mission…
• He dismisses one kind of fear…
• And commends another to them:
• “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul…
• Rather be afraid of God who can destroy both body and soul in hell.”

 

It is right for the servant to be afraid of one who has the power to say:

• “As for this worthless slave…throw him into the outer darkness…
• Where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth…”

 

It is right to be afraid of such a one…

• All the way up until that one stands before you…
• In the person of His Son…Jesus…
• Risen from the dead…and says:
• ” Do not be afraid…
• Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee…
• There they will see me…”

 

Those brothers…would be the ever so careful and watchful.

• And cowardly disciples.
• After all…they all ran and hid when Jesus’ was arrested.

In the end…things are different than stories of the end might have led us to expect.

• The grace of reversals.
• The cowardly disciples move from brokenness to wholeness.

 

Jesus said: “Not a single stone here will be left in its place…every one of them will be thrown down.”

• But these stones are not the final stones.
• The final stone to be thrown down is the one that stands at the entrance of what has become an empty tomb.

 

And instead of being cast into outer darkness…

• The ones who were afraid and hid…
• Are cast out into all nations…
• To make disciples.

 

They are called and sent…and accompanied by the Holy Spirit.

• “Low…I am with you always” …Jesus says…
• ” To the close of the age.”

 

It’s a miracle really.

• The God who raised Jesus from the dead…will raise us up with him.
• Not even our fear and cowardice can foil the mission of the one who is God with us.
• “Do not be afraid…
• He is going on ahead of you…
• To Galilee…
• There you will see him.”

Matthew 25: 1-13

The word “preparedness” usually does not cause smiles.

• It is commonly understood to mean “being ready for the worst”.
• And is often coupled with the word “disaster” …as in “disaster preparedness.”

 

If you Google “preparedness” the first things that come up are places that sell assorted emergency kits:

• The FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) website and blogs about how to stockpile supplies to survive a disaster.

 

But preparedness can also refer to being ready for something good to happen.

• Like if you are out of work and you learn that a certain company will be hiring in a couple of weeks.
• And buffing up your resume.
• Learning more about the company so you can explain to the interviewer how your skills can be an asset.
• And…of course…taking down unflattering pictures of yourself on Facebook.

 

The parable in our reading today is about preparedness.

• It concerns a wedding…but its point is obscured for we moderns because it refers to marriage practices different from our own.

 

The Jewish marriage of the first century was a two-step affair.

• The first was a marriage contract… called a betrothal.
• Arranged by the parents of the bride and groom.
• Once that contract was settled…the couple was legally married.
• They did not live together yet…but the contract could only be ended by a divorce.
• This step often lasted as long as a year.
• Mary and Joseph were in this stage when the angel announced to Mary that she was to have a child.
• That is why Joseph considered a divorce when he learned Mary was pregnant.

 

The second step was the celebration of the marriage itself.

• The marriage feast could last several days.
• And that’s why Jesus had to turn 150 gallons of water into wine.
• That is…to keep the party going.

 

The wedding ceremony involved separate processions by both the bride and the groom.

• Heading to the groom’s parents’ house for the wedding and celebration.
• And on the way they would stop at friends and family’s homes to toast…with wine…the bride and groom’s wedding.

 

In the parable…ten bridesmaids are waiting to meet the groom’s procession.

• Escort him to his parents’ house.
• And go with him to the feast.
• The bridesmaids…expecting the procession to take place after dark… have brought lamps with them.
• But the groom’s procession does not arrive until midnight.
• Because of so many stops and toasts along the way.
• OK…a bachelor party!!

 

When they hear the procession is near…

• Five bridesmaids realize they do not have enough oil for their lamps.
• The others have brought extra flasks of oil.
• But when the first five ask for some of it…
• The second five tell them…no…fearing that they would run out before the procession was over.
• So…the first five must run to oil dealers to purchase oil.

 

Now…the problem is…while they are out buying oil…the groom’s procession arrives.

• The bridesmaids who have brought extra oil meet the procession and escort it into the place of the banquet.
• The other five show up too late.
• And when they arrive at the banquet…the gatekeeper will not let them in.
• Because they were not part of the procession.
• As far as the groom knows…they are party crashers.
• He says: “I do not know you” and turns them away.

 

Well…we now know what happened to the other five bridesmaids in the parable.

• They ran out of oil.
• But…what happens to us when we run out of oil.
• What fills us up spiritually when we run dry? We all run out of oil.
• And when we do run dry…we cannot be a light to anybody.
• We all know the airplane safety speech.
• Put your oxygen mask on first.
• We must refill our own lamps if we want to have light for anyone else.

 

I am a husband and a father and a grandfather and a pastor and I know what it is to run out of oil.

• And so do you.

 

Your spouse or child walks into the kitchen at 6 pm and says:

• “What’s for dinner?”
• And you say “meatloaf.”
• And your spouse or child says: “What…that again?”
• And you morph into the Tasmanian devil…right there…in the kitchen.
• And when you have finished ranting…those near you say:
• “What…are you out of oil?”

 

When the arrow on the gas tank points to empty…we are going to have to stop the car.

• If a two-year-old doesn’t get a nap she is going to crash.
• If we have not had a conversation with our significant other in our life for three or four weeks our relationship is running dry.

 

There are some kinds of oil that we just cannot borrow from anyone else.

• We can borrow someone else’s homework.
• But we cannot borrow the hours that the other student put in preparation for the test or for the writing of the paper.
• We cannot borrow someone else’s peace of mind.
• Or their passion for God.
• Or someone else’s good marriage.
• Or someone else’s friendship.
• It doesn’t work.
• We must find it for ourselves.

 

We have to figure out what fills us up spiritually.

• And then make sure we have some to carry with us every single minute of the day.
• Because here’s the thing.
• We do run out.

 

The hour gets late…and one gets sleepy.

• And we doze and put it off and say:
• “One of these days I am going to quit working so hard…
• And I will begin to live with healthier boundaries.”

 

One of these days I am going to start painting again like I did in high school…I always loved it.

• And then the shout comes:
• “He’s coming…it’s time!”
• And one of these days is over.

 

That’s the hardest thing about this parable…

• The time will come…
• When we must draw upon the oil we have right there in our flask.

 

And it is not going to come from our pension or savings or 401K.

• It is not going to come from our good intensions.
• It is not going to come from our long-range plans.
• It is going to come from what fuels us spiritually right now.
• It is going to come from our relationship with Jesus.

 

That is where we get filled up.

• Nurturing our relationship with Jesus’ spiritual fruits.
• Love…joy…peace…patients…

kindness…generosity…faithfulness…gentleness…self-control.

• All those things we cannot check out of the library.
• And you cannot go to the person next door and borrow it like a cup of sugar.
• It is just there for us…to gather…anytime we want.

 

We don’t fill up our lamp because we are afraid we will get locked out of the kingdom.

• We fill our flask out of joy.
• We fill it so that we are ready to meet Jesus.
• In our spouse…in our children…in our grandchildren.
• In the hungry…in the thirsty…in the stranger…in the sick…in the imprisoned…
• Just the desire to meet him…when he comes…Oh…the joy!
• And he is coming…soon.

Matthew 5:1-12

A favorite passage of mine in the New Testament is the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew’s Gospel.

• A number of years ago when in Israel…
• I remember fondly sitting on the Mount of Beatitudes on the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee.

 

I was thinking that day about how it can be easy to view the beatitudes…

• The “blessed ares” we just heard…
• As Jesus’ command for us to try really hard to be meeker…to be poorer and to be more mournful.
• In order that we might be blessed in the eyes of God.
• The Beatitudes are always the Gospel reading on All Saints Sunday.
• And each year we set aside this day to honor and remember the saints.

 

Well…it can be easy to look at a saint like Mother Teresa and think:

• She is a saint because she was meek.
• And so…if I too want to be blessed…I should try and be meek like her.
• Don’t get me wrong…we could use a few more people trying to be like Mother Teresa.
• I just do not think that Jesus blessed her because she was meek.

 

OK then…the beatitudes are not about a list of conditions we should try and meet to be blessed.

• They are not really virtues we should aspire to.
• But instead…the pronouncement of blessing that grants the blessing itself.
• That is…Jesus…in the preaching of these beatitudes…is lavishing blessings on the world around him.
• Especially those whom society does not seem to have much time for.
• Especially the people who never seem to receive blessings otherwise.
• I mean…does not that just sound like something Jesus would do?
• Profligately…extravagantly throwing around blessings as though they grew on trees?

 

So…for this All-Saints Sunday…

• A time when we remember and celebrate the lives of those who have gone before us…
• Those who Jesus would bless.
• I like to imagine Jesus standing among us saying:

 

Blessed are the poor in spirit…for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

• Blessed are they who doubt.
• Blessed are those who are not sure.
• Blessed are they who are spiritually impoverished…
• And not very certain about anything.
• Blessed are those who feel they have nothing to offer.
• Blessed are they for whom nothing seems to be working.

 

Blessed are those who mourn…for they will be comforted.

• Blessed are they for whom death is not just an idea.
• Blessed are they who have buried their loved ones…for whom tears are as real as an ocean.
• Blessed are they who have loved enough to know what loss feels like.

 

Blessed are the mothers of the miscarried.

• Blessed are they who do not have the luxury of taking things for granted any more.
• Blessed are they who cannot fall apart because they must keep it together for everyone else.
• Blessed are the motherless…the alone…the ones from whom so much has been taken.
• Blessed are those who still are not over it yet.
• Blessed are they who laugh again when for so long they thought they never would.

 

Blessed are the meek…for they will inherit the earth.

• Blessed are those who no one else notices.
• The kids who sit alone at middle-school lunch tables.
• The laundry guys at the hospital.
• The gig workers and those who pick up our garbage.
• Blessed are the losers and those who are made fun of.
• Blessed are those who do not want to make eye contact with a world that only loves a winner.
• Blessed are the forgotten.
• Blessed are the unemployed…the unimpressive…the under-represented.
• Blessed are the teens who must figure out ways to hide the cuts on their arms.

 

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness…for they will be filled.

• Blessed are the wrongly accused.
• The ones who never catch a break.
• The ones for whom life is hard.
• For they are those with whom Jesus chose to surround himself.
• Blessed are those without documentation.
• Blessed are the ones without lobbyists.
• Blessed are foster kids and trophy kids and special ed kids.
• And every other kid who just wants to feel safe and loved and never does.

 

“Blessed are the merciful…for they will receive mercy.

• Blessed are those who make terrible business decisions for the sake of others.
• Blessed are the burnt-out social workers.
• And the overworked teachers and the pro-bono case workers.
• Blessed are the kids who step between the bullies and the weak.
• Blessed are they who delete hateful…homophobic comments off their friend’s Facebook page.
• Blessed are the ones who have received such real grace that they intuitively know who the deserving poor are.
• Blessed is everyone who has ever forgiven me when I did not deserve it.

 

Jesus says…you may admire strength and might…but I am blessing all human weakness.

• You may seek power…but I am blessing all human vulnerability.

 

This Jesus whom we follow cried at the tomb of his friend.

• And turned the other cheek and forgave those who hung him on a cross.
• Jesus was God’s Beatitude.
• God’s blessing to the weak in a world that only admires the strong.
• It is not your strength and virtue that qualify you to be called a saint.
• But your need for a God who makes beautiful things out of dust and ashes.

 

And as we ponder the blessings Jesus pronounced on the mount so long ago…

• Know that it is here that we become what we receive.
• Those who are loved.
• Those who are forgiven.

Matthew 22:34-46

Today I would like to talk a little about the Bible. Why?

• Because this is Reformation Sunday and it was Martin Luther who made it possible for the average person to read scripture in its everyday language.
• And the Church of Luther’s day did not like it one bit.

 

OK then…the Bible is a whole library in one volume.

• Large portions of the Bible are stories…many of which relate to God’s ongoing covenant relationship with the people of faith…which forms us as a people of God.
• The Bible is also a history book…as in Joshua and Acts.
• A hymnbook…as in Psalms.
• It is a practical manual for living…especially in books like Proverbs and James.
• It is a guide for living a godly life…as Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount and Paul’s letters emphasize.

 

The Bible is also a lawbook.

• There are hundreds of laws in the Bible…from the Ten Commandments to the holiness code of Leviticus.
• To rules covering ceremonial behavior and daily conduct in a semi-nomadic society with no central government.
• Some laws…like the Ten Commandments are still revered today.
• Others…not so much.

 

For example…think about this law:

• If a man should suddenly die…leaving his wife childless…it is the duty of the man’s brother to marry his former sister-in-law.
• Deuteronomy…chapter 25…commands him to do this even if he has a wife already.
• Then…if a son is born from that union…the child is considered the heir of the deceased brother.
• There you go…now you can see why the pre-reformation church did not want folks reading the Bible.
• I Wonder if they banned the Bible from their libraries.

 

OK then…so what if the surviving brother does not want to take on a second wife? (smart guy).

• Well then…the widow has the right to go to the elders of the village and demand that they pressure him into doing it.
• If the stubborn man still does not yield to that moral persuasion…
• The widow has the right to go up to him…pull one of his sandals off his feet…
• Spit in his face and declare: “This is what is done to the man who does not build up his brother’s house!”
• Well…the book of Deuteronomy concludes: “Throughout Israel his family shall be known as ‘the house of him whose sandal was pulled off.”’
• Well…should our state legislature adopt this forthwith?

 

Thankfully…when it comes to the Old Testament…there is some guidance from thinkers in the past who influenced the growing church.

• Thomas Aquinas (13^th century) explained that there are three types of biblical laws:
• Moral…ceremonial and judicial…and that of the three…only the moral laws…including the Ten Commandments…are permanent.
• Aquinas held that the precepts of moral law were part of the law of nature.

 

The ceremonial laws were those dealing with forms of worshiping God and with ritual cleanliness.

• Aquinas said they were ordained to the divine worship for that time and to foreshadow the coming of Christ.
• So that when Christ arrived…those laws ceased to bind.

 

Judicial precepts…such as rules for how long a Hebrew slave can be kept…

• How cases of accidental manslaughter should be handled.
• And rules about who’s responsible if an ox kills someone…
• Came into existence only with the Law of Moses and were only intended to be temporary…Aquinas said.
• Most Christian denominations today draw similar conclusions.

 

Well…what about the New Testament?

• There is a place in First Corinthians when Paul says women ought to cover their heads in church.
• Not exactly a law…but it was a rule that Paul wanted to impose on the church.
• And for many centuries it was expected that women would cover their heads.
• That is still the case within a few Christian groups…but no longer required in most denominations.
• Biblical scholars have helped us understand how the rule was part of the cultural understanding of Paul’s time.
• Bible scholar William Barclay begins his commentary on this passage by saying:
• “This is one of those passages which have a purely local and temporary significance.”

 

Go figure…this can seem like the beginning of a slippery slope.

• You can see the sort of dilemma we are in.
• How’s an ordinary Christian to decide what the Bible is really saying about one ethical issue or another?
• There is an ancient rule that goes back to St. Augustine (4^th century) and other leaders of the early church.
• That principle is: “Let scripture interpret scripture.”

 

It was this let-scripture-interpret-scripture principle that ultimately led to the tremendous change in Christian ethics in the 19^th century…resulting in the abolition of slavery.

• For centuries…people in favor of slavery had pointed to the existence of that “peculiar institution” in biblical times.
• The more Christians became familiar with the overall message of the Bible.
• The great number of passages about loving and caring for one another.
• The fact that we are all created in God’s image and God’s fundamental justice…
• The more they came to conclude that the biblical evidence was much stronger against slavery than for it.

 

Another principle is one we see Jesus himself using…in our Gospel for today.

• A Pharisee asks him which is the greatest commandment.
• Jesus gives the textbook answer…reciting the Old Testament declaration known as the Shema:
• “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart…and with all your soul…and with all your mind.”
• That would have been enough to get an “A” but Jesus goes on.
• There is a second great commandment…he says:
• “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

 

Love and obey God: the hallmark of classical Judaism.

• Yet…in elevating love of neighbor to an equally high level…Jesus is breaking new ground.
• Jesus made it so much a part of everything he said and did that his followers came to be noted for it.
• The church father Tertullian remarked on how many pagans in the Roman empire marveled at the Christians they met…saying:
• “See, how they love one another!”

 

This hallmark of the faith has been adapted into a principle of biblical interpretation known as “the rule of love.”

• We may ask the question then:
• “Is this interpretation consistent with love of God and love of neighbor?”
• If we truly reflect on the meaning of this greatest commandment of Jesus…
• And hold it up as a yardstick…
• It is remarkable how well it cuts through the confusion and helps us decide what the Spirit is truly saying to us.

 

Martin Luther said:

• We need to hear the Gospel every day…because we forget it every day.
• The whole being of any Christian is faith and love. Faith brings the person to God…love brings the person to people.

Matthew 22:1-14

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.
• 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.

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.”

 

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

• His behavior is deliberately disrespectful.
• Showing that he has misinterpreted the king’s gracious generosity.

 

Now…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.

 

OK then…this man represents a person who walks through a flower garden with work boots on…stepping all over the flowers.

• Who wipes his mouth on a clean tablecloth.
• Who crashes a wedding reception to get free drinks.

 

So…He’s 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 hypocrisy and stubbornness.

 

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 evidently 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.
• (So Jesus bursts out with Semitic hyperbole or exaggeration).

 

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 hypocrisy and stubbornness.
• 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 and businessswomen.
• God loves manipulative fathers and mothers that damage their children’s emotions for life.
• But the point of God’s love is that he wants them to change.
• He hates 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.
• Where Jesus love and goodwill are the rule instead of the exception.
• In Jesus…forgiveness and understanding are the order of the day.

 

I’m paraphrasing CS Lewis here…but he pretty much 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.
• And patience.

Matthew 22:15-22

Does anyone flip a coin anymore?

• Let’s flip for it.
• The problem is we don’t carry change and a lot of stores don’t want to deal with it.
• Storekeepers leave out a cup filled with pennies…so things come out even.
• “See a penny…pick it up…and all day you’ll have good luck” don’t make much sense anymore because you can’t buy anything for a penny.
• But there was a time…when coins were made of precious metals.
• And scammers would shave slivers off the metal and then spend the underweight coins as if they were worth full value.
• Or they would cut out a circle of metal in the middle…and replace it with a plug of metal of lesser value.
• “Not worth a plugged nickel” comes from that practice.

 

Just about the only time a coin is flipped nowadays for something of real value is at a football game.

• The question of who gets the ball first in overtime at the Super Bowl could change the outcome and even lives.
• But one coin that has changed more lives than any football game is featured in today’s Gospel.
• It was held not by Jesus…but by someone who came to test him.

 

Coins played an interesting role during the ministry of Jesus.

• He told a parable about a woman who lost a coin…and when…after turning her house upside down she found it…she invited all her friends over to celebrate with her.
• Another time Jesus saw some who threw large coins into the offering trumpet at the temple so that others would be impressed by the thunderous noise it made.
• And then Jesus pointed to a woman whose two lepton…the lightest of coins imaginable…barely whispered when they were thrown in…and said her coins were worth far more
• Today’s scripture passage involves a coin…but it is not the loss or the weight of the coin…but the face and inscription on the coin that matters.

 

Though the passage is not about a coin flip…the religious authorities who come to trap Jesus intend to do so with a classic “Heads I win…tails you lose” kind of bet.

• And Jesus flipped the situation as easily as we could flip a coin.
• By answering a question with a question.
• It is not that Jesus did not have an answer.
• It is that he did not want his options to be limited to two bad choices.

 

Matthew tells us that “… the Pharisees went and plotted to entrap him in what he said.”

• Most Pharisees probably didn’t feel threatened by Jesus.
• But this group in Jerusalem allied themselves with a group called the Herodians.
• These were the people who sought to preserve the political power of the descendants of Herod the Great.
• Pharisees and Herodians made odd bedfellows.
• But both felt threatened by the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem.
• Because of the praise accorded to him by the people and the attention he drew in Jerusalem at the start of the week before Passover.
• A time when the population of Jerusalem quadrupled with all the pilgrims who came for the event.

 

They began with flattery putting Jesus on his guard.

• He was not fooled by their words when they said to him:
• “You teach the way of God in accordance with truth…”
• Before springing their trap: “Tell us…then…what you think.
• Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor…or not?”

 

A dangerous question. The poll tax was unpopular because it was used to pay for the occupation of the oppressive Roman legionnaires.

• Their presence was a constant reminder that God’s promise of a descendant of King David on the throne would remain unfulfilled.
• In Jesus’ day…there was no Jewish throne and no Davidic descendant to sit on it.

But there were those who had hopeful ideas about an Anointed One…a Messiah…

• Who would somehow drive the Roman government into the sea and institute a kingdom fulfilling God’s promise and the nation’s glorious destiny.
• Which is why the question asked after the bit of flattery was brilliant.
• Because either answer would discredit Jesus.
• If he advocated paying the tax the people might turn on him for good.
• And if he spoke out against the tax…he could end up dead.
• So…Jesus says: “You got a coin on you?

 

Of course…they do.

• Money is power and these are powerful people.
• Their coins featured the face of the emperor.
• Well…Jesus says: Then give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s…and to God the things that are God’s.”

 

What do we learn from this?

• That we do not need to let the world…or the Bible trolls…control the conversation.
• Jesus is changing the world through the Sermon on the Mount.
• His parables and the victory from the cross to the empty tomb.
• And we are asked to be a part of it.
• It is not a “Heads I win…tails you lose” deal.
• It is not an either-or-world.
• We live in a both-and-world.
• We are both saints and sinners.

 

We are not being asked here to simply give the emperor what belongs to the emperor.

• We are being asked…as well…to give to:
• Family…friends…strangers…co-workers…employees…and all who make a claim on our love and generosity.
• We are charged here with the creative and challenging task of transforming our diverse and divided loyalties…
• Into a unified life governed and directed by God alone.

 

And so…when we give ourselves wholly to God…

• Then amazingly…we are free to give to others in ways that are gracious and life-giving.
• Rather than distorted and destructive.
• No longer are our loyalties divided.
• Instead…we recognize how…deep down…they are in harmony.
• For each is an invitation from God.

Matthew 21:33-46

Once there was a man who owned a piece of property.

• He felt it would make a fine grape vineyard.
• He planted a vineyard on the property and enclosed it with a wall.
• Within the wall he dug a winepress.
• A vat where the grapes could be pressed and the juice extracted.
• He built a watchtower to protect his vineyard because you never knew what vandals might do.
• Then…he rented it to some tenants and moved to another part of the country…
• Feeling good about his investment.

 

 

When the harvest time approached…this man sent some of his associates to the vineyard to collect his produce.

• Now it’s always difficult to be an absentee landlord.
• Because…when the man’s associates came to collect the produce due him…
• The tenants seized them…beat them… stoned them…and even killed one of them.
• At this point…you would think it would be time to call in the sheriff.

 

Instead…the vineyard owner sent a second group of associates…a larger group this time.

• But again…they treated these new associates the same way.
• Robbing…beating…even killing some of them.

 

Now…I would be ready to cut my losses.

• But not this vineyard owner.
• You see…the vineyard meant a great deal to him.
• So…he turned to desperate measures.

 

He sent his son to carry out the mission.

• “They will respect my son” he thought.
• But the tenants saw the son and they robbed and killed him.
• A horrific act of defiance.
• And now the owner of the vineyard would surely crush them.
• Sending his minions to destroy them.

 

But this is not how the story ends.

• It’s the way it should have turned out.
• The vineyard owner should have sent an army and thoroughly destroyed these criminals.
• But this is a parable of Jesus.
• After telling it…he turns to his listeners and asks a simple question:
• “Therefore…when the owner of the vineyard comes…what will he do to those tenants?”

 

 

His listeners are ready to take up arms.

• “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end” they reply.
• “And he will rent the vineyard to other tenants…who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”

 

 

Then Jesus drops the bomb:

• “Have you never read in the Scriptures:
• ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone…
• The Lord has done this…and it is marvelous in our eyes?’”

 

 

Robinson Crusoe salvaged some things off his wrecked ship:

• Clothing
• Weapons
• Tools
• Three chests of food
• Razors
• Two cats
• A dog
• Scissors

 

Crusoe did not start out his life on that island empty-handed.

• In Deuteronomy Moses reminds the people that they did not start out life in their new land empty handed either:
• “The Lord your God has brought you into the land that he swore to your ancestors.
• A land with fine…large cities that you did not build.
• Houses filled with all sorts of goods that you did not fill.
• Hewn cisterns that you did not hew.
• Vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant.”
• Neither do we begin life empty handed.
• We are gifted with this marvelous cornerstone.
• We are given life…family…progeny…breath…

brain…heart.

• Without these gifts we have no life.
• Then Jesus said: “Have you never read in the Scriptures:
• ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone…
• The Lord has done this…and it is marvelous in our eyes?’”

 

Imagine that just before a soul begins his or her earthly journey…

• God takes the soul by the hand and points out a certain place on earth.
• God then explains to the about-to-be-conceived:

 

“This is going to be your piece of the vineyard.

• It will be yours to make of it whatever you are able.
• All I ask is that you work it as best you can and get the most out of the soil and the shoots I give you.
• If you produce grapes that become the choice wine of reconciliation and justice…great.
• If you only have enough water and nutrients to produce a few grapes that make a small amount of the wine of humility and kindness…good.
• If you only have enough time to plant a few seeds or start a few vines that others can bring to a full harvest…you will have done well.”

 

But God cautions:

• “Just don’t make the mistake that too many of my tenants make.
• They get too caught up in the number of grapes that they can coax from the vines.
• My vineyard is about harvesting good grapes…not amassing profits.

 

“Remember…too…that you are responsible for the part of the vineyard I give you.

• Do not exhaust the grapes you harvest for yourself alone and then leave nothing behind but a dried…hollow tangle of dead vines for the next grower.
• I will demand a price for what you produce…and what you squander.

 

“Keep in mind” …God the vineyard owner continues… “that everyone has his or her own piece of the vineyard.

• But there are no dividing lines.
• No fences…no property markers.
• Your part of the vineyard is joined to your neighbor’s.
• So…you can do neither good nor evil in your vineyard without affecting the folks next to you and the vines around you.”

 

Finally…God says:

• “One more thing. And I don’t mean to harp on this…but it is my vineyard. Not yours.
• I am giving you a piece of it because that is what being God is all about.
• An occasional thank you would be nice.
• But the moment you think this vineyard is yours or that you deserve more and better…
• Your vineyard will become a very unhappy and unproductive place.
• So…go to it.”
• And then God breathes that soul into a human embryo…and another adventure begins.