Matthew 3:1-12

Imagine this: An envelope arrives in your mailbox.

• It appears like any other holiday card.
• It is a plain white envelope…not green or red.
• When opened…the card does not portray the holy family…a starlit night or shepherds or wisemen.
• Instead…there is a burly figure with a grim look on his face.
• And the inside of the card reads:
• Happy Advent…You Brood of Vipers! signed…John the Baptist.

John arrives every year on schedule…doesn’t he?

• On the second Sunday of Advent…this strange figure steps right out of the desert and right into to our festive preparations.
• John dresses like an ancient prophet in camel’s hair.
• He works in the wilderness…not in a civilized city.
• He preaches with sternness…
• And he calls everyone who can hear him to repent.
• The Lord be with you.

Repent is a verb that makes us uncomfortable.

• And that is because we conclude that Christian faith is primarily about behavior…
• Defined by what we should or should not do.
• As the old adage puts it: Don’t drink…dance or chew…or date the girls that do.
• So…preaching becomes a harangue against bad behavior…however described or imagined.

In times of moral confusion…some have found it helpful to make a list of do’s and don’ts.

• Wrongdoings go in the don’t
• Right-doings go in the do
• The instruction is clear: move from the bad column to the good column.
• Straighten up and fly right…change your ways.
• Behave better than before.
• In that kind of religious system…we really do not need a living God…we just need a list.

A funny thing happens when we live only by a list of behaviors.

• We start grading the items on our list.
• Some sins are perceived as worse than others.
• For some reason…smugness and self-righteousness never make the list.
• Neither do greed or abuse of power.
• So…there is no real possibility of repentance…and so…we just return to the list.

John the Baptist did not maintain a list of sins.

• Instead…he invited people into the presence of God.
• John never barked at people to change.
• Instead…he announced God was knocking at the door.
• The kingdom of heaven has come near…he said.
• And this is the proper context for forgiveness.
• John the Baptist does not wag his finger at bad behavior…
• Instead…he points to God!

His singular sermon is that God is coming toward us.

• And his message brings everybody to the desert.
• His invitation is to have all sins and mistakes washed away.
• God is closing in on us.
• And perceiving it…we will clear the air…straighten our paths and get in closer fellowship.

I knew a Lutheran minister who spent every Friday night in a dingy bar.

• He did not go there to drink…but to spend time with people.
• It was unnerving…especially for those who had been his confirmation students.
• They had gone out for a night on the town.
• And when the pastor walked in…the patrons always grew quiet.
• A few slipped out.
• Others laughed and turned away.
• But many found him easy to talk with.

He told me: I discovered that if I go to them…they admit on Friday night what they would never confess on Sunday morning.

• If they trust me…if they sense that I come in the name of a God who accepts them as they are…
• Some of them take amazing steps in response to God’s love.
• Now…this is the very definition of repentance.

But what about that brood of vipers?

• This is John the Baptist’s critique of the religious leaders who joined the crowds for his baptism.
• These were the Pharisees and Sadducees…easily identified by their elaborate clothing.
• Curious…isn’t it…that they were attracted to John’s message?
• Was it the spectacle?
• Did they come out of curiosity?
• Were they hungry for an encounter with the Holy?
• We really don’t know.

What we do know is that John did not grant them special privileges.

• The Pharisees were the Bible Keepers…guardians of morality… purists in every regard.
• And they came to hear the preacher who dined on locusts.
• The Sadducees were the high brows…the liturgical elite…the religious nobility…
• And the families from which all the high priests were named.
• Well…John would not give them an inch of preference.
• He accused them of seeking baptism to slither out of hell.
• Their privilege and celebrity were not enough to put them on the right side of God.
• To paraphrase John: It does not matter who your ancestors were…you are all a brood of vipers.
• His verbal ax struck at the root of their presumption.

So…here’s the thing: John was saying that nobody can fake the spiritual life.

• Either we are living it…or we are not.
• Either we are responding to God’s approach through a generous and holy life…or we are not.
• Are we showing up only for the benefit of an appearance?
• Or are we preparing a way for the Lord to reach our hearts…our souls…our minds…our strength?

Advent announces that God is drawing near.

• Tugging at us to make a way for God to come closer…
• Removing the roadblocks…straightening the highway…lifting the valleys and leveling the mountains.
• No more faking it or putting on appearances…just being real.
• This is our spiritual work for the season.
• Replacing the artificial with the truth.

Advent invites us to surrender to God…which is always a surrender to grace.

• We do not let down our guard because we fear that God will hurt us.
• We let it down because God is moving toward us…
• And God can heal us.
• And God can make us new.

Matthew 24:36-44

Today we enter again into this four-week season of Advent.

• The church year begins with Advent as a time to return to waiting.
• A time to prepare.
• A time to get back in touch with our ancestors in the faith…
• Who watched and hoped and anticipated with great joy the day when God would bring peace on all the earth!
• When at last…the prophesy of old would be fulfilled.
• For a child would be born!
• A new kind of king who would reign over all…establishing peace through justice.
• Ushering in a new day…resting on the Anointed One…
• So that no more would oppressive empires rule over the people.
• No more would distress cover the land.
• No more would despair break backs.
• But the dawn of the Light would rise for love…joy…peace and hope to rule in every heart!
• Advent is the season that returns us to God’s promise as we await ancient echoes to come…
• Come Lord Jesus! Dwell among us…be for us the Way!

Today is the first Sunday of Advent.

• And the gospel of Matthew turns us almost to the end of the story.
• To a day…shortly before the crucifixion…when Jesus sat among his disciples in the Temple.
• Teaching them to guard themselves.
• No matter what happened…Jesus did not want his followers to be led astray.
• For the path of the Anointed was not streets paved in gold.
• But the way of the cross.
• A giving of Life for True Life to flourish.
• Jesus might as well have recited the words of the Psalmist:
• Put not your trust in princes…in mortals…in whom there is no help. For when their breath departs…they return to the earth…on that very day their plans perish (Psalm 146:3-4).

We cannot help but notice in the 24^th chapter of Matthew’s gospel the use of catastrophic images…

• As disciples of the Way sought to read the times.
• The verses of this part of the gospel are how we get ideas of an eventual
• When some…the faithful…will be taken.
• And others will be left behind.
• (This is really an image of how nations conquered other nations…the conquering nation would take the best and the brightest…and leave the old and sick and less able behind).
• Texts like Matthew 24 are one way we have gotten elaborate notions of what is called
• Millennialism is a religious belief…that is dependent upon an understanding of a Second Coming of Jesus that includes a final tribulation…
• Judgement…with a golden age before or after…
• Depending on which religious flavor you like…
• That will lead to a world yet to come.
• This is how we get the idea of being left behind…
• Torment for some…release for a handful…
• The kind of Christianity that turns a lot of people away…
• Because it is based on biblical ideas that fail to read the gospels in their total breadth and scope.

So…forget for now about the end of time.

• What we have here in Matthew 24 is a picture of the world as it is…all too familiar to us.
• A world of things we know and a world of things we do not know…
• Which Jesus wants to make sure his followers understand.

There are things in the world…Jesus says…that are known and that can be anticipated.

• Look at the fig tree…which Jesus points out to his followers in another portion of this lengthy lesson that Jesus was giving…
• When his disciples were terrified and wanted to hold some certainty that would allow them to be prepared.
• Fig trees remind us that winter gives way to spring.
• Summer sunshine ripens the fruit on the branch which brings about the harvest of autumn….
• The earth’s bountiful yield.
• All of nature reminds us that there is a pattern and order and regularity in the world…
• The very basis of science and technology…and it means that we have a measure of control…
• Without which life would not be feasible.
• The very world around us teaches that there are some things upon which we typically can rely.

At the same time…the words of Jesus also offer the other half of that lesson.

• Concerning the things that are unknown.
• Something the wise never take for granted.
• Not so we live with a sense of dread about the other shoe always about to drop.
• But so…we do not find ourselves feeling robbed by life…
• Or worse yet…blaming such troubles on ourselves or God or others…
• When…in fact…difficulties are a part of life.
• Because life is both ordered and reliable AND it is hazardous and unpredictable.
• However much we may feel in control…we always are vulnerable.
• We know that we always are susceptible to the unexpected and the unplanned…
• That suddenly throws our routine lives into turmoil and confusion.

Does all of this seem like good news?

• Maybe not…if we are riding on top of a beautiful wave…
• Feeling all-powerful and totally in charge.

But remember the setting of this gospel.

• Written shortly after the Temple in Jerusalem had been destroyed forever…
• Except for that still-standing Western Wall.
• It is good news to hear from the Anointed…the One crucified…yet resurrected.
• It is good news to hear that sometimes life will feel like the thief in the night…
• The mysterious disappearance while harvesting the fields.
• The random occurrence of one being struck by lightning while the next is left totally fine.
• The truth is: life is both known and unknown.
• The activity in our lives that we can control.
• And the unexplainable action of other forces upon us.

So…in the season of Advent…our surest comfort is to remember the story of the God who lives among us.

• Born a vulnerable baby.
• So fixed on loving us that our own flesh and blood would become the instruments through which God chooses to work.
• In all of life’s knowns…in all of life’s unknowns…let us trust fully in that!

Luke 21:5-19

Well before the hurricane season begin… (on June 1^st) …we read and hear news reports with information that announces:

• How to stay safe when a named storm or hurricane is on its way.
• We are reminded of making two big mistakes:
• Panic…which can cause us to do the wrong things.
• And fatalism: which leads us to do nothing at all.

 

We are encouraged to make sure our houses are bolted or strapped to their foundations…

• We should make sure we have several weeks’ worth of supplies like water…food…batteries.
• And we need to have an evacuation plan.
• It is also important to get to know our neighbors better.
• In short…the urgency to always be ready.
• The Lord be with you.

 

In today’s gospel reading…Jesus is teaching in the temple and tells the people to watch out and not be deceived.

• While people marveled at the temple’s grand scale…
• Its construction…its massive columns and its decorations…
• Truly one of the wonders of the ancient world…
• Jesus said: The days will come when not one stone will be left upon another…all will be thrown down.

 

Jesus describes the terrible end that the great temple of Jerusalem will come to.

• But even as he begins to describe the end of all things…
• The terrible Day of the Lord…
• He makes it clear that we cannot use earth-shaking events as a reliable guide that the end is finally at hand.

 

Solomon’s temple…the first temple…had been destroyed by the Babylonians…

• After which the Judean leadership had been led into exile.
• After Babylon’s fall and upon the return of the exiles…
• The people envisioned rebuilding their lost temple.

 

But the effort was neglected because of political opposition…

• And exhaustion and the problems of day-to-day living.
• Prophets like Haggai and Zechariah called the people back to the great task…
• But it took decades for the temple to be rebuilt to the point where it could be used…
• And centuries until…under the leadership of the evil and much hated Herod the Great…
• It was brought to a state of magnificence.

 

God’s people must have felt that everything else could be destroyed when the great Day of the Lord came…

• But God’s temple would surely be left standing.
• So…many would have viewed Jesus’ prediction about the temple’s destruction as scandalous…
• And even treasonous.

 

It would be as if a well-known American claimed that our national landmarks in Washington DC would face destruction.

• In fact…Homeland Security would investigate us if we were to make such claims.
• The words of Jesus were no less startling…
• Clearly because he was talking about the Day of the Lord.

 

Amos made it clear that the Day of the Lord would be no refuge for God’s people.

• Alas for you who desire the day of the Lord!
• Why do you want the day of the Lord?
• It is darkness…not light.

 

So…in our passage…Jesus points to signs and wonders…

• Natural disasters…wars and civil unrest…as normal events in the movement of history.
• These were not to be interpreted as signs that the end was at hand.

 

Not even the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple…

• A political event that was still a few decades in the future when Jesus spoke these words… (70 AD).
• Meant that the world would end.

 

Just as we here in Florida take seriously the predictions of major hurricanes and are to be prepared…

• So too…should we…take seriously the words of Jesus not only about the end…
• But about the dangers of the world before the end.

 

Governments and nations may fall…

• The earth may shake…and tsunamis may lay waste to coastlines.
• And for this reason…we honor Jesus by imitating him in service to the poor…the neglected and the oppressed.
• In this way we demonstrate that Jesus reigns now…in our hearts…
• And will reign upon the earth eternally.

 

At the start of this millennium there was a great deal of fear-mongering about Y2K…

• A computer glitch that was supposedly going to lead to the total breakdown of society and mass chaos.
• Many people stored supplies such as generators and extra food and water… against that event.

 

January 1, 2000, came and went and many people in Elkhart County, Indiana sold their generators and used up their supplies.

• Thirteen months later…a massive ice storm hit that led to loss of power in some places for many days and weeks…
• During the coldest part of winter.
• Some individuals who had prepared for an apocalyptic Y2K meltdown were totally unprepared for an ordinary natural disaster.

 

In his essay…The World’s Last Night C.S. Lewis said:

• The best way to prepare for the end of the world is to be found at our post…
• Working for Jesus…and through Jesus…
• To serve those who are suffering in the world.

 

It is OK to look to the sky at the great astronomical wonders and study the political news that Jesus warns us about…but more importantly…

• We are to serve the widow…
• Wash the feet of the disciples…
• And offer a cup of cold water in his name.

 

And whether we are alive on the great day of his return…

• Let us store up our own survival supplies:
• The Word of God.
• The body of Christ…
• Found right here in our church family.
• And the strength we find in each other to do God’s work and be God’s hands and feet…
• In ministry and in mission.

Luke 20:27-38

A question is posed to Jesus…in our reading for today…by a religious sect called the Sadducees.

• The Sadducees were the religious conservatives of Jesus’ time.
• They accepted only what was written in the Torah…
• The books of Moses…
• Also known as the Pentateuch…
• The first five books of the Bible.
• And so…for the Sadducees…if it was not in the first five books of the Bible…
• It was not crucial to the faith.
• The Lord be with you…

 

The first five books of the Bible say nothing about eternal life or resurrection.

• Therefore…such things should not be taught as part of the faith…according to the Sadducees.
• Accordingly…they did not believe in Heaven or an afterlife.

 

Because their faith was restricted to the first five books of the Bible…

• They did not have the benefit of such writings as the book of Job…
• Which contains this witness:
• Oh… that my words were recorded…that they were written on a scroll…that they were inscribed with an iron tool on lead…or engraved in rock forever! I know that my redeemer lives…and in my flesh I will see God…I myself will see him.
• According to the Sadducees…there was no such thing as life beyond the grave.
• So…the question they posed to Jesus is quite surprising.

 

In that culture…women were no better than property to be passed along to keep the family estate intact.

• Think about it.
• When a man dies…if he did not leave a male heir…
• His eldest brother was to marry his widow. (Levirate marriage).
• This would continue the man’s name and keep his property in the family.
• In our reading …the woman was passed among seven brothers.
• She outlives them all…but then she dies.
• Whose bride will she be at the resurrection? asked these Sadducees.

 

It was…of course…a trick question.

• These Sadducees had no interest in the intricacies of life after death.
• They did not even believe in such a thing.
• They simply wanted to get Jesus in trouble with the people.
• But Jesus was accustomed to scholars attempting to trip him up.
• And so…Jesus does three things:

 

First of all…the Sadducees were people of the Torah.

• If something was not in the Torah…it could not be part of their faith.
• So…Jesus answered them from the Torah.

 

He turns to the third chapter of Exodus… the story of Moses and the burning bush.

• Moses was tending the flock of Jethro…his father-in-law…the priest of Midian.
• Moses led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb…the mountain of God.
• There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush.
• Moses saw that…though the bush was on fire…it did not burn up.
• So…Moses thought:
• I will go over and see this strange sight…why the bush does not burn up.
• When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look…God called to him from within the bush:
• Moses! Moses!
• And Moses said: Here I am.
• Do not come any closer…God said.
• Take off your sandals…for the place where you are standing is holy ground.
• Then he said: I am the God of your father…the God of Abraham…the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.

 

God does not say: I was the God of Abraham…Isaac and Jacob.

• When Moses wrote these words the three patriarchs had been dead for centuries…
• Yet God refers to them in the present tense.
• God is not the God of the dead…Jesus insists…but of the living.

 

Secondly…Jesus answered an uncertainty that many good people have about marriage.

• This poor woman outlived seven husbands.
• Now…we might be wondering what kind of secret poison she employed to get rid of each one of them.
• Maybe she was the quintessential Black Widow.
• Anyway: Whose wife would she be in the afterlife? Asked the Sadducees.
• Now…most of us do not lie awake at night wondering about whether we will still be married in heaven.
• We understand that marriage in this world and in this life is a physical and emotional relationship.

 

Heaven is not a physical place…but a spiritual place.

• And we do not know what our spiritual bodies will be like…
• But they will not require us to live as husbands and wives.
• We even say in our vows: Till death do us part.
• Now…that might be a relief to some folks.

 

There are many good people who outlive their spouses.

• In fact…if we are married…half of us will outlive our spouses.
• Death is a part of life.
• And half of spouses will one day be left behind.
• For most…it will be a day of deep grief.

 

Eventually…however…the question may arise Should I take a new partner?

• Would that be a betrayal of the great love my spouse and I shared?
• It is a heart-felt question.
• In my ministry…at times…I have discovered it more emotional for other family members than for the widow or widower.
• Sometimes children can make their parents feel very guilty for all the wrong reasons.

 

The biblical answer to this question would be…

• By all means re-marry…if that is where our heart leads us.
• Marriage is for this world.
• Our beloved former spouse who is now with God lives in a different kind of world that knows no marriage…
• Only pure and unrestricted love.
• We need feel no guilt…no sense of betrayal if someone else fills the loneliness we now find in our heart.

 

Thirdly…Jesus answered here a most important question in life…

• Is there life beyond death?
• And the answer he gave is:
• Yes…there definitely is life after death.
• He not only gave us that answer with his lips…
• He also gave it with his own life.
• He is alive! reported the women on their return from the empty tomb.

 

I attended the memorial service of a close Christian friend a while back.

• The service itself was wonderful in every way…
• Filled with biblical imagery and great hymns.
• And just as the benediction was pronounced…
• An unseen bugler hidden on one side of the sanctuary began to play Taps…
• The traditional musical piece signaling the end of the day or the death of a soldier.

 

And as the mournful notes faded away…

• Another bugler on the other side of the sanctuary began to play Reveille…
• The traditional musical piece signaling the coming of a new day.
• It’s time to get up…it’s time to get up…it’s time to get up in the morning.

 

It was my friend’s way of saying that he expected to get up on the other side of death.

• We have that expectation too.
• It is Jesus’ own teaching.
• A teaching he conveyed with his lips and his life.
• Because he lives…we too…shall live.
• God is not the God of the dead…
• But of the living!

Luke 19:1-10

Ah…Zacchaeus…the wee little man!

• He is one of our favorite New Testament characters.
• The children like him because he is small.
• Many of them know the Bible school song that features his story.
• Zacchaeus was a wee little man,
  And a wee little man was he.
  He climbed up in a sycamore tree
  For the Lord he wanted to see.
• There is something enchanting about a tax collector who climbs a sycamore tree.
• Walking along a road in Jericho…Jesus sees him…calls him to come down…
• And then he invites himself to the unusually small tax collector’s home.
• The Lord be with you.

But let’s not forget who Zacchaeus really was.

• Luke calls him a chief tax collector.
• That means the Roman empire had given him the franchise in the oasis city of Jericho.
• That was a big deal for such a short little guy.
• As a first-century tax man…Zacchaeus fronted the money to pay off Rome.
• Then he employed a number of neighborhood tax collectors to collect what he needed…and to charge whatever more they could get.
• He was the Big Cheese in a first century pyramid scheme.
• Zaccheaus took his cut first and made a lot of money.
• It was a murky business…prone to corruption.
• It is no surprise that tax guys were quickly regarded by their neighbors as thieves and sinners.

Luke says Zacchaeus climbed the tree so he could see Jesus over the crowd…

• But it may be that he also used the tree’s foliage for cover.
• He wanted to see Jesus but did not want anybody to see him.
• If spotted…the crowd…full of his neighbors…would have him right where they wanted him.
• He was vulnerable.
• Most likely…Zacchaeus did not plan to come down from his perch until Jesus and the crowd moved on.

When Jesus reached the spot…he looked up and said to him: Zacchaeus…come down immediately…I must stay at your house today.

• And now the entire story turns.
• The chief tax collector climbed down to greet the man he wanted to see.
• He welcomed Jesus and said:
• Yes…you must come to my home.
• The crowd that hated Zacchaeus now spewed their venom.
• The Bible verse says: they began to grumble…but snarled is more like it.

Do we see what Jesus had just done?

• At risk to his own life and reputation…Jesus rescued a tax collector.
• He shielded this thief from a crowd that despised him.
• The Lord did not merely impose on the rich man’s hospitality.
• He saved his life.
• It was a rescue story.
• Luke says Zacchaeus welcomed the Lord joyfully.

And then the chief tax collector for the city of Jericho…a wealthy man…

• Declared he would give half of his riches to the poor.
• And if he had ever cheated anyone…he would quadruple the amount and pay it to the victims.
• A rescue story became a generosity story.
• Jesus saved a short man from an angry crowd…
• And the short man used his money for financial justice.
• This was stunning.

Over the years…Bible readers have wondered about this turn of events.

• Some think there was a table conversation in Zacchaeus’ house that transformed him.
• But the story reveals no mention of table or conversation.
• Everybody was still standing in the middle of the street…surrounding Jesus and Zacchaeus.

Others have thought that Jesus looked into the tax collector’s eyes and let him know he was loved.

• And suddenly…miraculously…the cold heart of Zacchaeus melted…and he changed his ways.
• That’s a pleasant thought…kind of an Ebenezer Scrooge story.
• But the text does not say anything about the defrosting of the tax collector’s soul.

The best hint comes from Joachim Jeremias…the New Testament scholar from the past century.

• In his research about the despised trades in first-century Palestine…
• He tells us that any alms given by tax collectors would have been rejected.
• Why? Because the money was regarded as tainted.
• The ill-gotten gains were considered poisonous.
• The only way a chief tax collector could give money to the poor was if he gave up his occupation.

With this…the pronouncement of Jesus takes on greater meaning.

• Zacchaeus is a son of Abraham.
• He…like his fellow Jews…is a true-blue child of God’s covenant.
• Now he signaled he was a different man…that he was giving up his job.
• No longer excluded because of his scornful occupation.
• No longer an outcast due to the economic plundering of his neighbors.
• No longer to be hated or despised.
• He was literally saved through the graciousness of Jesus.
• His money had isolated him from his community…but now…no longer.

We have no idea how Zacchaeus proceeded at the end of our story.

• Yet he pledged to do what he said.
• Something punctured the protective bubble around his assets.
• He felt empowered to relinquish his grip.
• In the presence of Jesus…he affirmed he was on a journey to generosity…
• A journey that the people of Jericho would never have imagined.
• We can assume he had to work through the complications of unloading half of his wealth.

We can affirm he was profoundly generous…and we know why…

• Jesus saved his life.
• Jesus risked his own life to save the life of Zacchaeus.
• That profound act of unexpected grace created more grace.
• This is how generosity works.
• When we start giving…more giving is created.
• When we commit to sharing…our hearts are enlarged.
• Generosity is an ever-deepening invitation to participate in the needs of the world…to the glory of God.

This is the invitation that our church makes to us.

• We are invited to support the work of God.
• Because God in Christ has found us…
• We in turn find a way to share it.
• Because the Risen Christ has invited himself into our lives…
• We pass it along to others.
• Because we have discovered ourselves rescued and redeemed…
• We make the same happen for others.
• Generosity is an essential discipline as we follow Jesus.
• And it is good for the soul.
• The more we give…the more joy we create for others.

For through our generosity…the Spirit of God is working in the world.

• So then…we become the children of Abraham for our time and place.

Luke 18:9-14

Has anyone ever said you look like someone else…or that someone else looks like you?

• How does this make you feel?
• Be thankful you are not Kayla Nicole…
• A media personality and the ex-girlfriend of NFL star Travis Kelce.
• How would you like to be compared to Taylor Swift?
• Probably not so much…and Nicole doesn’t either.
• In an interview this past winter…she said that the constant media comparisons have been exhausting…
• And have led her to question her self-worth.

Comparisons can be complex…dangerous and ultimately destructive.

• Smart people like Teddy Roosevelt…the 26th president of the United States…
• And Mark Twain…who was not the president of anything…
• At least not anything reputable…said…respectively:
• That comparison is the thief of joy and that comparison is the death of joy.

Examples abound in fact and fiction:

• Think of Mozart and Antonio Salieri.
• Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy.
• The comparison complex is also found in the Bible.
• Witness Cain and Abel…the former foolishly comparing his offering of the fruit of the ground to the latter’s firstlings of his flock.
• Or Moses and his brother Aaron…they both compared themselves unfavorably with the other.
• And remember Jacob and Esau…
• And the younger and elder brothers in Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son.
• Even the disciples of Jesus himself fell to playing the comparison game…
• Bickering about seating arrangements in the future kingdom of God.
• The Lord be with you.

So…playing the comparison game is usually not a good thing.

• It is the mother of pride…envy and jealousy…
• Which in turn bears the grandchildren of visible…tangible sins such as Cain’s fratricide…
• And other transgressions about which we read in the early chapters of the Bible.
• Comparison is a very dangerous drug that can ultimately harm relationships and personal growth.

All of which brings us to the two characters in our text:

• A Pharisee and a tax collector.
• In this story told by Jesus…we find the black-robed religious cleric…
• Comparing himself favorably with the widely despised creep and functionary of the imperial and occupying Roman government…a tax man.

The worshiping cleric was in the temple praying…

• He is a relentless temple-goer who feels that there are two kinds of people in the world:
• Good people like himself…and bad people like that tax guy over there.
• He knows that God cannot possibly have any argument with him.
• In fact…he is the poster priest for pious religiousness.
• He is a man who thinks that he is riding a gravy train with biscuit wheels.
• And he is not wrong.
• He is not a thief…he is not a rascal…he is not an adulterer.
• And he is not a tax collector…a criticized servant of the foreign occupying forces.
• He is telling the truth when he claims to fast twice weekly and tithe religiously.

So…what is his sin?

• Why does Jesus take such a dim view of a good man…
• Who any reasonable person would say was a model of virtue?
• Here’s the thing…if you wanted a world in which there were either more men like him…
• Or more tax collectors…what would be your vote?
• I thought so.

But…what if the question is rephrased.

• Of these two men…which is the more appealing and attractive one?
• Your response now is probably different.
• We like the underdog…not the perpetual favorite.
• We prefer to hang out with people who are modest…unassuming…real…and genuine…
• Rather than with the arrogant…yammering aristocrat of the world who can only talk about themselves…even if what they say is true.
• What the Pharisee says in the temple is nothing but the truth…so help him God.
• And Jesus found it disgusting.

But here is the problem…

• We…the good people that we are…
• Move in the direction of aligning ourselves with the very person we have criticized.
• Without thinking…we pray:
• “Oh my God! I am so glad I am not like the mother who neglects her children and dares to give me parenting tips!
• Or…that I am not one of those homeless people living in encampments on our city streets!
• I am so thankful that I had the good sense to make good choices…
• Land a great job and that I worked my way through school…
• So that my family does not need to live on the public dole…which my taxes are funding!
• Then we bow…cross ourselves…and leave the church without realizing that the Pharisee is us!

Comparing ourselves to others…who in our opinion…must be ranked beneath us…is our secret sin.

• No one is likely to mistake us as a humble sinner in need of the mercy and grace of God.

And then we realize that this religious fellow congratulating himself in the temple square has an eye problem.

• A point-of-view problem.
• He is not seeing right.
• He expresses his thanks to God…to be sure.
• But it is the thanks of someone who truly believes that he has done all the heavy lifting…
• That his success is all his own doing.

Jesus makes it clear…that the issue here is not that everything he says is a lie…it is not.

• The problem is his view that he alone is responsible for the good things in his life!
• That is…although this man dressed in religious robes is a good guy…
• And he gives thanks to God…
• He is so into himself…that he is one of those guys who can strut sitting down.

The difference between him and the other guy…of whom we are glad there are not too many…let’s be honest…

• Is that this thieving…lowdown tax man knows who he is…
• He knows he is a sinner and he knows that he needs the mercy and grace of God.
• And it is this self-awareness that makes him the true saint of this story.

So…for us…it is good to get…sooner than later…to the tax collector’s desperation.

• He was at the end of his rope.
• He had nowhere to turn.
• He saw no way out except to turn to the grace and mercy of God.

The outcomes we hope for are best achieved…not when we compare how we are doing as opposed to the other guy…

• But as we keep our eyes focused on the One who alone is the hope of our salvation.

As we live in godly humility and desperation…we will discover…

• Over time…that we will become humbly compassionate…
• That we will advocate for the little guy…
• That we will think about others more than ourselves…
• That we will seem to have a lot of patience…gentleness and kindness.
• A consensus that…in fact…we will seem to be a lot like Jesus himself.
• To be like Jesus.
• This is the only comparison worth making.

Luke 18:1-8

I don’t have a prayer! There’s no way I’m ever going to…

• Get a date with her/him.
• Get on the varsity team.
• Get a loan for that house…or get a loan to start my small business.
• Get into the college I prefer.
• Win this lawsuit.
• Avoid this penalty.
• Get justice.

We get the picture here…because we have all been in a similar spot at one time or another.

• One of the implications in all these situations may be:
• I don’t have a prayer…so why pray?

But…another side of this is to say:

• I’m going to try everything I can to fix this issue…solve this problem…work this out…
• Then…if it still is not resolved or fixed or worked out…I will try praying. It can’t hurt…right?

For many…prayer is the measure of last resort…

• Often uttered in frustration because we have tried everything else.
• I guess I should pray … although I really don’t think I have a prayer.
• I wonder if Jesus ever heard people say:
• I don’t have a prayer.
• We don’t have a record of that…
• But we do have today’s text in Luke 18 which says something along those lines.
• The Lord be with you.

Jesus told a parable about the need to pray always and not to lose heart.

• Clearly…Jesus had heard the words…
• Or at least the sentiment expressed in expressions like: I don’t have a prayer.
• So…he told this story.
• The judge is described first.
• He neither feared God nor had respect for people.

Coming to him was a widow with very few resources.

• Her one hope was that the judge would rule in her favor.
• Grant me justice against my accuser.
• One scenario is that this lady…recently widowed…had lost her inheritance to one of her children…
• Probably the oldest son…who claimed it for himself.
• Cruel…but this often happened.
• Or…she lost it to an unscrupulous businessman.
• We don’t know the details…but in Jesus’ story it could have happened like this.
• It is also easy to assume she had no other choice in how to fight this…except to go before this judge.

So…she really had two adversaries.

• The person who wronged her and the judge who refused to listen to her.
• He had no regard for God and certainly no regard for this poor widow.
• It looked like she didn’t have a prayer.

Except for her audacity…with nothing to lose…she kept coming back.

• At first the judge ignored her…then was annoyed by her…then was really annoyed by her…
• Then lost sleep because of her…then began to worry what his peers might say.
• So…for his own benefit…he finally decided to rule in her favor.
• He took no pleasure in doing so…but at least she was off his back.
• So…in the end…the poor widow found justice from a corrupt and cruel judge.

Then Jesus said: Listen to what the unjust judge says.

• Jesus continued by contrasting the unjust judge with God.
• And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night?
• Will he delay long in helping them?
• I tell you…he will quickly grant justice to them.
• That sounds encouraging and helpful…except Jesus closed this section with a rhetorical question:
• And yet…when the Son of Man comes…will he find faith on earth?
• Said another way…Jesus meant:
• But when I come back…I’m not so sure you will even have faith in me?

This points to the real lessons in this parable.

• Jesus said the parable was about their need to pray and not to lose heart.
• Jesus wanted to make sure they understood what losing heart might look like.
• Will he find faith on earth? Will Jesus find faith in us?

Here’s the thing: God is not represented by the unjust judge.

• Quite the opposite.
• God does not grant us justice to stop us from pestering him.
• God gives to his children his love and mercy and grace.
• God is never reluctant to hear from us.
• He loves us abundantly and wants us to love him in return.
• God wants us to remain faithful…and he wants to find faith on earth in us and through all who love him.

I believe the question about finding faith on earth stems from the reality that God’s timing…

• And God’s actions do not coincide with our wants and needs.
• When life is going well and the future looks bright…faith is easy and natural.
• We think and believe…I love God and want to live for God…and I have complete faith in God.
• But…as we well know…life gets in the way.
• Sometimes things fall apart…sometimes the roof caves in…sometimes the lights go out…
• Sometimes we find ourselves trapped in the darkness of our souls…
• With no sign of hope…with no glimmer of grace…with not even a whisper of love.
• And we think of so many devastated a year ago by hurricanes Helene and Milton.

We say there is no hope and we do not have a prayer.

• How do we go on praying and having faith when things go from bad to worse?
• How do we find the will to get up each day when we have no hope?
• How can we keep the faith?

The widow in Jesus’ parable knew this feeling well.

• She could have given up and lived her life in misery.
• No one would have been surprised.
• But she kept up her push for justice.
• And in the end…to everyone’s surprise…
• This wicked judge gave her what she wanted and the justice she deserved.

Will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them.

• Jesus includes this promise at the end of the parable.
• This is Jesus giving a long view of a life of faith in God.
• The promise does not include time frames.
• God’s quickly may not be the same as ours.
• What God does promise is that our cries offered to God are always heard…
• And that he will not delay long in giving help.

The important part for us is to pray and not lose heart.

• We did not realize it earlier…
• The hurricanes hit us…
• We had repairs to our building that needed to be done…
• The cost seemed insurmountable…
• But thanks to our commitment and prayers and God’s love…
• We always had a prayer.
• Thanks be to God.
• May Christ be with you.

Luke 17:11-19

Like every other kid who received a 10-dollar bill or a shirt for their birthday…

• I was expected to send a thank you note to Grandma.
• But it never felt like a natural outpouring of my gratitude.
• It felt like an obligation…an obligation I would gladly give $10 to get out of.
• So yes…there have been times in my life I have not been so grateful…
• That gratitude naturally flowed into a thank-you note to someone.

But our text for today tells of a leper who Jesus healed returning to praise God and give thanks to Jesus.

• And this week as I thought about the grateful Leper…
• I began to realize that I do not praise God as I should.
• I realized how much easier it was for me to talk last week about lamenting and complaining to God…
• And how much trickier it feels to cut loose and praise God.

It is so much easier for me to long for what I want…

• To resent what I have lost…to resent others for what they have…
• Then it is for me to be thankful for what I have.
• I am not alone here though.
• I mean…when is the last time we heard a newscaster say:
• Not a single school shooting in America this week. Praise God.
• Or…the Nation is grateful this week for all the successful cancer treatments that have left thousands of people with a clean bill of health.
• We generally do not find a lack of trauma to be worthy of comment…
• Much less to be worthy of gratitude.

This week I thought about what praise is and what it is not.

• How praising God is not just stroking God’s ego…sycophantically telling God how awesome he is…
• As though God has low self-esteem and created us for just this purpose.
• How thankfulness is not an obligation like the thank-you note to Grandma was…
• But…is an act of freedom that doubles the joy of what was received.

So…rather than talk about praise…I thought that what I really needed this week…on a spiritual level…was to praise God.

• So…I invite you to listen in.
• The Lord be with you.

¹¹On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee.

• That you O God…are one who comes to us in the regions between.
• The boundary spaces that we often fail to notice or we fear altogether.
• I thank you…thank you for those who bring water in the desert danger of liminal border-crossings.
• Thank you for the space between my wakefulness and sleep.
• Thank you for being in the regions between…that we try to pretend are not there…
• Demilitarized zones and back-alley ways and underneath bridges.

¹²As he entered a village…ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance… ¹³they called out…saying, “Jesus…Master…have mercy on us!”

• For your approachability in Jesus…O God…I give you thanks.
• Thank you for coming to us in the most vulnerable way possible…contained in human skin.
• Thank you for revealing your glory in the person of Jesus Christ whom lepers approach.

 ¹⁴When he saw them…he said to them… “Go and show yourselves to the priests.”

• That you see me O God…I give you thanks.
• Thank you for seeing that which I try to hide.
• Thank you for seeing my hurt and my fear.
• Thank you for seeing my heart and my humor.
• Thank you for seeing that I am stronger than I think…
• And that I am also not nearly as strong as I think.
• Thank you for seeing this broken world in all its beauty…
• And…especially thank you for seeing all these things and then responding in nothing but complete love.

Thank you for (over many years of ministry) how you have sent these your people to show themselves to me…

• In sending babies and retired folks and suburban moms and corporate guys and social workers and students…
• That you for having shown yourself to me.
• Knowing…as you do…that without the stories…gifts and scars of each of these people…I would never see enough of you.

And as they went…they were made clean.

• That healing happens in community O God…I praise you.
• Thank you for the way in which you bring your people together to be healed.
• For the ways in which we harm each other instead…forgive us.

 ¹⁵Then one of them…when he saw that he was healed…turned back…praising God with a loud voice.

• Praise to you God for the ones who turn back.
• Thank you for all the people in my life who speak your name…
• Who bravely point to you as the source and ground of all goodness…
• Who dare to recognize you as God and who remind me that you are real…
• And you are actively redeeming me and them and all of creation.

¹⁶He prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. ¹⁷Then Jesus asked… “Were not ten made clean? But the other nine… where are they? ¹⁸Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?”

• Blessed be God the Word who came to his own and his own received him not…
• For in this way…God glorifies the stranger.
• Thank you for revealing yourself in the foreigner…I think.
• I mean…it is one of the less comfortable aspects of following you…Jesus.
• But thank you for loving me too much to allow me to stay comfortable for too long.
• Thank you for interrupting my pride and for refusing to leave me as is.
• It is uncomfortable but…in your faithfulness…
• You always lead me through death to more abundant life.

¹⁹Then he said to him… “Get up and go on your way…your faith has made you well.”

For all the things that in going on my way I have failed to even notice I give you thanks today.

• Thank you for this community.
• Thank you for the chaos of children.
• Thank you for the two Christmas palm trees in my yard.
• Thank you for friends who text me back.
• Thank you for coffee.
• Thank you for the person in my 12-step meeting who reminded me that when in doubt…
• Just say…Thy Will be Done…because I totally had forgotten about that part.
• Thank you for clean water and safe roads and electricity and garbage pick-up.
• Thank you for 55 years of marriage to my college sweetheart.
• Thank you for babies.
• Thank you for never leaving me.
• Thank you for the supper I got to share with my daughter and family this week.
• Thank you for all the people who make me laugh.
• Thank you for creating us to sing.
• Thank you for cats and dogs.
• Thank you for the way in which I am fed at your table of grace…
• And for allowing me to speak there and tell the story of the night you were betrayed.
• Thank you for the bread and wine which we are about to receive.
• Thank you for giving me one more day to sing your praise.
• And for every other gift I am too blind to see…that comes from you.

It is all a gift!

• Every day…we stand in the shade of trees we did not plant…
• We live in houses we did not build…
• We eat food we did not produce…
• We ponder ideas that are not original to us…
• We sing songs and tell jokes that we did not compose…
• We live in physical bodies with minds and spirits that we did not create…
• It is all a gift…every flower that we smell…
• Every drop of water that we drink…
• Each and every minute of our lives is a completely unmerited…undeserved gift from God.
• Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Luke 17:5-10

When I was a little boy…I was given a small necklace…in Sunday school.

• It was a Christian necklace…but it held…not a little gold cross or a silver Jesus fish Ichthus symbol…No.
• Hanging from this gold chain was a small…clear…plastic orb…
• That contained within it a tiny round seed.
• OK…You see where this is going.
• Yup…it was a mustard seed.
• If you have faith the size of this tiny mustard seed…Jesus said…you could uproot a huge tree and throw it in the sea.
• The Lord be with you.

Well…I don’t know…but I need some help here.

• I have never understood why…if given such vast power over physical objects…
• One would…out of all the options available…choose to uproot trees and throw them into the sea.
• I have no idea what good that does.

And regardless of the relative merits of mulberry bush uprooting…

• This text has often made my faith feel inadequate…
• Because I have always heard it as this syllogism:
• With only a teensy-weensy amount of faith…Pastor Chip…could perform miracles.
• Pastor Chip does not perform miracles…
• Therefore…Pastor Chip has so little faith…it’s not even as big as that mustard seed around his neck.
• And well…for the record…that necklace was super cheap and turned my neck green…so…I didn’t wear it much.

 

Many years ago…I had an interesting experience around how some people struggle with what they think it means to have faith.

• It was a four-week community faith event in which I was the speaker.
• I was asked to give four talks on four different aspects of faith.
• And what I really love about these kinds of events is doing the Q and A.

And hearing these questions…I realized the sheer number of questions that were so similar.

• Things like…is it ok to feel distant from your faith when you are going through a really hard time in life?
• And… What does it even mean to have faith?
• And…What if I am not sure what I believe?
• And…Is doubt…ok?
• And one was really a statement and not at all a question…someone said:
• Sometimes I wonder if there really is a God because of all the hurt and suffering in life.

And so…with these questions and the texts for today rattling around in my brain…

• I started to think about how often we assume that having faith means not doubting.
• We assume that having faith means not struggling with faith…
• That having faith means being totally trusting and peaceful…
• And serene when tough stuff is happening to us or around us.

But here’s the thing: When the hard stuff in life happens…

• Not only do we feel bad…
• But then we add to it the feeling of total inadequacy about our faith…
• Which just makes it all worse.

We think having faith is like being the little engine who could:

• I think I can I think I can…and if we just muster up enough…
• A tiny mustard size amount of faith we can do anything…
• We can trust God when things are bad and never struggle or doubt…
• And we can even uproot bushes into a watery grave if for some reason we think that’s what is called for.

This Gospel feels like Jesus is scolding us for not having even the tiniest amount of faith.

• Which can easily lead us think that if we have the right amount of faith…
• Then the hard things in life will not be hard and we will never doubt.

OK then…here’s the thing: In Greek there is a future conditional clause:

• That is…If you were to have the faith of a mustard seed…implying that you do not have that faith now.
• But there is also an…according to present reality conditional clause…meaning…If you have the faith of a mustard seed…and you do.
• So…Jesus is not scolding them for not having even the tiniest amount of faith.
• Instead…when they ask him to increase their faith…
• He is affirming that the disciples already have the faith to do what is expected of them.

So…the disciples do not need more faith.

• The disciples need to realize that they already have faith…
• And even if it’s a small amount…that is enough.

[Jesus is asking me how much faith do you have?

• And I say…I don’t know Jesus…it’s not very much…it’s tiny…
• And Jesus says…good enough for me!]

And this brings me back to the questions I got during the four-week community faith event.

• People there said that they were struggling with the fact that hard things in life are hard.
• That somehow since they doubt God amid their own suffering…
• That this somehow means they lack faith and this worries them.
• We tend to think that having faith means unwavering belief…and never doubting…
• And always no matter how awful things get…
• Never ever having negative feelings about God.

It’s like we have forgotten the strong…and awesome tradition in the Hebrew Bible of complaining to God.

• It is called lamenting…and we should reclaim this part of our tradition.

I have a friend who says if you are going to have a praise band in your church…

• That’s fine…but only if you also have a lament band too…
• Because being the people of God has always meant a whole lot of both praise and lament.
• And yet we think that being in a place of praise is having faith…
• And being in a place of lament is lacking faith…but that is simply not true.

I love the way some the characters in the Old Testament really have it out with God.

• How they confront the Almighty…it’s wrangling at its best.
• Often…when we are angry with God…we just give him the silent treatment.
• But not so with our ancestors in the faith.
• If they felt there was some serious neglectful or abusive or absentee parenting from God…they complained.
• And their complaints were not a sign of faithlessness.
• Quite the opposite…
• Their complaints…and their questions about God…were a sign that they were in relationship with God.

The central theme of Habakkuk…the text we heard as our first reading is…unlike the proud…the righteous live by their faith.

• It is easy to think that the righteous means the same thing as the religious…the pius…the priggish.
• But righteous in these texts is not primarily a moral category…
• It’s a relational category.

The faith of the Righteous then…is not as much about never doubting…

• As it is about having a heart which longs for that which it cannot create for itself.
• To be righteous is to be a person…to be a people…
• Who take the promises of God seriously enough to be unafraid of lament.
• Who know that doubt is as much about being in relationship with God as faith is.

Jesus was right…

• Even if our faith is a tiny mustard seed amount…it is enough.