Sermon for Sunday, 01 October 2017
Text: Matthew 21: 23-32)
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The Holy Gospel according to Matthew (21:23-32)
When Jesus entered the
temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people
came to him as he was teaching, and said,
“By what authority are you doing these
things,
and who gave you this authority?”
Jesus said to them, “I will also ask you one question; if you
tell me the answer,
then I will also tell you by what authority
I do these things.
Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?”
And they argued with
one another,
“If we say, ‘From
heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why
then did you not believe him?’
But if we say, ‘Of
human origin,’ we are afraid of the crowd; for all regard John as a
prophet.”
So they answered
Jesus, “We do not know.”
And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I
am doing these things.
“What do you think? A man had two sons; he went to the first and
said,
‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’
He answered, ‘I
will not’; but later he changed
his mind and went.
The father went to the
second and said the same;
and he answered, ‘I go, sir’; but he did not go.
Which of the two did
the will of his father?” They said, “The first.”
Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes
are going into the
kingdom of God ahead of you.
For John came to you in the way of
righteousness and you did not believe him,
but
the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him;
and
even after you saw it, you did not
change your minds and believe him.”
__________________________
We need to do a quick
reality check: WHERE is Jesus at this
point?
We
find Jesus inside JERUSALEM.
Now, I realize it’s
like the 85th Sunday after Pentecost,
and
we haven’t reached Advent where we WELCOME the Savior,
and
here we are in Matthew, already marching him to his death.
Because, in a mere 6
chapters,
our
Savior is no longer walking on the earth, he is hanging on a cross.
This part of Matthew covers
the conflicts and eventual death of Jesus,
so
this shifts our understanding of Jesus’s location.
The stage is set with
a more forboding and ominous tone.
We’ve done a MAJOR
fast-forward in our Christ-story,
skipping
right over the foretelling of the Resurrection,
zooming
past Jesus’s riding of a donkey in Jerusalem,
and
flying past the cleansing of the Temple.
We’ve gone smack from
the Vineyard to Visibility,
and
Jesus has waltzed right into the heart of it all: the
Temple grounds.
He’s not gathering
fisherfolk around the shores of Galilee anymore.
He’s IN the city he’s
been trying to avoid, as he knows what is to come.
JESUS is the one out
of place.
So, it’s not too
surprising to see why his credentials were challenged.
Why
his authority was questioned.
“What
right do you have? And who gave you this
right?
We have to give these
leaders SOME credit:
Jesus
was on THEIR turf, and the leaders were looking for answers.
Can you just imagine
how they felt? I’ve been a teacher.
When
someone walks into YOUR classroom, one you’ve slaved over to create,
with
plans you’ve sweated over to prepare – and starts asking ----
“why’d you put that
on the wall? What are the kids going to
do over here?
Who said you could
teach THAT song to the kids?”
It sets your teeth on
edge – much like those TEETH
being
set on-edge back in the Ezekiel Reading.
You’ve
heard me talk about asking the WRONG question.
Well, this would be
asking the FAKE question.
Their
beef wasn’t about who issued Jesus a permit to preach in the Temple. THAT was NOT the REAL question they wanted to
ask.
They REALLY wanted to find out if THIS guy, this Jesus man, who’s been
preaching
and
teaching in THEIR temple.....was really
the MESSIAH.
WE might launch into
some defensive comeback had we been questioned like that.
And
yet, what does Jesus do with those questions?
He doubles down: almost daring them to answer the question of
JOHN’s authority.
JESUS points to JOHN....a man who always pointed JESUS!
Remember when John was
all busy proclaiming in the wilderness back in Matthew 3
“Pre---e---e----e—pare ye, the way of
the Lord. I baptize with water, yet He who
comes after me will baptize with the
Holy Spirit!”
And then JOHN goes on
to Baptize JESUS, who was anointed by the Holy Spirit.
If we’re doing some Scriptural Math, here: Jesus + Holy Spirit = Messiah.
Which means, according
to Jesus, our Temple leaders were asking a question
that
had ALREADY been answered. Who’s authority? God’s authority.
Had
they been listening to JOHN, they’d have aced that question.
Because questioning JOHN
was questioning JESUS!
The elders didn’t want
to recognize EITHER of these men
as
being called and sent by GOD.
Now, as a beginning
Pastor, I take the words of my mentors to heart:
DON’T
preach about politics
DON’T
preach about government
DON’T
preach about religion
PREACH
the Gospel.
And
we ALWAYS turn to Christ.
Well, TURNING seems to be a key move in ALL
of today’s lessons
Ezekiel, this prophet from
the 6th century, mentions TURNING:
He reminds folks the
old
“blame EVERYTHING
on our parents
and the
3rd and 4th generations from
which we came from”
yeah....that excuse is
no longer valid.
People THEMSELVES held
the responsibility for turning AWAY
from that which was wrong. It was ON THEM!
He calls their sins
what they are – he doesn’t deny that his listeners were sinners.
He just reminds them
you might have sinned in the past
AND
you still get to turn away.
“Me-ta-noi-a” the
Greek word turns on itself!
REPENTING
and TURNING from our old and sinful ways.
It
night not be LENT, but we can ALWAYS REPENT!
This is the ONLY, TRUE
way by which we can seek out
and
experience that incredible new heart and new spirit we’re told to go find!
By CHANGING our
trajectory.
By TURNING our BACK on
the sins of old.
By turning TOWARD the
God who delights in watching us LIVE!
Not
die! We repent so that we LIVE!
We continue our turning
in Psalm 25, where we PLEAD to God,
both
for God to turn toward us in compassion,
and
for US to turn to GOD in love, in trust.
Now, I have to a wee
bit of a Pastoral Disclaimer before I proceed:
ALL
of our readings today are part of what’s known as the Lectionary
–
a
cycle of Biblical texts assigned to a particular week.
It’s a series of
readings for each day of the week, and especially for Sundays.
It lets us get through
key readings and lessons of the Gospels
(Mathew,
Mark, and Luke) with John sprinkled in each year.
It keeps congregations
moving through the stories...and makes sure that the pastors
and
preachers don’t get stuck on their very favorite Bible story week after week!
WHY is she telling us all of this, you might be wondering?
Well, I highlight all
of this, because I need you to hear
that
our readings were selected long ago,
Meaning,
when we hear a phrase like, say, “Every knee should bend”
- that line in our
Second Reading from Paul’s Letter to the Philippians
-
on
a week like we’ve had....
Well, I just need you
to know THAT’S. NOT. ME. choosing the
text.
That’s
NOT Pastor Bill, NOR the Church Council selecting the text.
That’s.......the Holy
Spirit.
I
know...DON’T preach about politics OR government OR religion.
JUST
preach about the Gospel. ALWAYS turn to Christ.
So...we turn to Christ.
When we hear from the
Apostle Paul declare that
“...that
at the name of Jesus,
and
every knee should bend
and
every tongue confess
that
JESUS CHRIST is LORD.
At the NAME. OF.
JESUS.
A
bent knee is a gesture of humility.
An
indication of self-surrender before a reality greater than ourselves.
So, when an act of
protest over police brutality and racial discrimination
turns
into a national battle over someone’s physical position during a song,
and
we are warring amongst ourselves about HOW
and
to WHOM we pledge our loyalty,
we have to ask
ourselves – to whom do we ultimately bend?
To whom do our tongues confess?
We TURN We BEND. WE
CONFESS.
To
a Christ who took himself OUT of his perfectly Divine place
to
became perfectly OBEDIENT to God
SO humbled that His
obedience cost HIM his life, and GAVE. US.
OURS.
This particular
section of Paul’s very thankful letter
to the citizens of Philippi actually captures
an early HYMN.
Tucked into the 2nd
chapter of Philippians we find a hymn dedicated to CHRIST!
(You
can always tell if the text is indented in the Bible
that it’s either quoting a prophet or an
ancient song.)
This Jesus, this
teacher of teachers, leads by the ULTIMATE example
when
hanging and dying upon that cross,
which
is coming right around the corner.
Because he’s not
making many friends when he stands in a Jerusalem Temple,
declaring
such things.
So to what does JESUS turn?
HE
turns to the old “A man had two sons...” tradition,
the
origins of which find themselves in stories of Cain+Abel,
Jacob+Esau,
Aaron+Moses.
A tradition steeped in
the questioning of authority and the story of sin and forgiveness.
There WERE
two sons, with two VERY opposing responses.
Our FIRST Son initially responds with a
loud NO!
He’s
not shy about his laziness,
telling
his Dad he just doesn’t feel like working in the fields today...
Thankfully, he thinks
better of his choice, changes his mind,
and
eventually follows through.
Sort of like the
people who initially had heard JOHN:
Their
DAILY life seems to be telling us NO.
Shouting NO to God...
NO!
This isn’t true...
and yet...they DID change their minds, turning to faith and
belief.
Son #2, on the other hand responds with a hearty YES!
“You
got, it Dad! I’m on it!” (and..... he doesn’t follow through)
He
might have been the more POLITE child “I go, Sir”,
agreeing to go work.....but doesn’t.
Sort of like the leaders of the Temple,
putting
on a FANTASTIC show of worshiping and reading...
but not really believing in the covenantal message of
John.
They weren’t focused
on REPENTING.
And
they certainly didn’t believe that Jesus was the Messiah.
Now, before we go all
Monday-morning quarterback on the Temple Leaders,
(and hey....still no politics)
I do think we need to
remember our amazing advantage:
WE live in a
POST-Resurrection world.
One where we KNOW who
Jesus was and who Jesus continues to be.
Back in Palestine,
Jesus was still FACING death – a death to come.
Jesus had found DISobedience
in those who - by profession - were
servants of God
And
yet He found OBEDIENCE from those whose way of life was ungodly.
In the end, NEITHER
son was true to his WORD,
but
only ONE was true to his HEART.
This parable could EASILY
have been begun:
A
man had two daughters... Or a man has
two children....
Because in the end, WE
get to be one of those sons.
We
get to be one of those children.
How WE respond to
Jesus TODAY
is just as important as how the sons responded in this
story of Jesus.
We have to be aware of
those times when WE’ve said a hearty YES! to God
....and then wandered off in a completely different,
and non-Christ-centered direction.
We get to ask
ourselves how do WE challenge the
powers of THIS world?
How do WE humble
ourselves as Christ humbled HIMself?
For the question isn’t
by WHAT
authority are we doing these things?
But rather, by WHOse authority we do these
things.
And
with hearts turned toward God,
Knees
bent in front of the Christ,
And
tongues confessing His name,
WE. ACT. on the authority
of
an almighty and powerful + Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer. +
AMEN
________________________
Sermon for Sunday, 17 September 2017
Text: Matthew 18: 21-35)
21 Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” 22 Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.
23 “For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. 24 When he began the reckoning, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him; 25 and, as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, and payment to be made. 26 So the slave fell on his knees before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ 27 And out of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt. 28 But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and seizing him by the throat, he said, ‘Pay what you owe.’ 29 Then his fellow slave fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ 30 But he refused; then he went and threw him into prison until he would pay the debt. 31 When his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place. 32 Then his lord summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. 33 Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?’ 34 And in anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he would pay his entire debt. 35 So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
----------------------------------------
We used to have a joke in one of my old Bible studies:
Anytime one of us would focus on
some unknown or un-important detail,
and completely miss the bigger more
important point,
we’d teasingly reply: “You’re asking the wrong question!”
Well, welcome to an entire Gospel lesson today about asking
the wrong questions.
“WRONG QUESTION #1 comes to us from a guy named Peter from
Bethsaida”
Peter
asks: “Lord, how many times shall I
forgive my brother or sister?
I’m
thinking seven times. Seven good?
“Why Peter.... “You’re asking the wrong question!”
Pete’s got a point – he’s been listening to Jesus talk about
community for a while now.
As I told the kids in Chapel this
week, Jesus has been coaching his Disciples.
Giving his team the GAMEPLAN of how to live in community
with one another.
Peter’s just asking Jesus to help him set some boundaries in
regards
to just HOW MANY TIMES he is
required to forgive those who sin against him.
Peter’s a process guy.
Logical mind.
Thinks he has nailed down an already, ridiculous number of
SEVEN.
Aw, Peter, that’s
cute.
22 Jesus
answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.
“SORRY, Pete! The Savior’s gotcha there!”
Seventy seven times?! Now, THAT is a ridiculous amount.
I learned this week that Jesus isn’t pulling some random
number out of his head
or putting together as many sevens
as he can to form a number.
Turns out, this seventy seven times thing is an actual
quotation from Genesis 4.
Lamech,
a descendant of Cain, is boasting about how much vengeance
HE
will show upon an enemy.
Revenge and retaliation rule the day,
and Lamech is happy to fit into this
cycle of retribution.
Meanwhile, back in Galilee...
Jesus, on the other hand, is asking for His disciples not to
MATCH the vengeance, but instead REVERSE the cycle of violence.
§
This reference dating back to the time of
original sin is a perfect example of how NOT to live in a Christ-centered
community.
§
How the Adam and Eve of OLD so quickly want to
enter our lives...and yet Jesus is calling us to exchange evil for love, swap
out revenge for forgiveness.
And even with this ridiculous reference of 70 x 7,
Jesus is NOT giving a quantifiable amount.
Sorry, Peter, it’s never that easy when it comes to living
the Gospel.
Instead, the Son of Man is proposing an equally as
preposterous number,
He might have well have said
infinity plus one!
There is NO NUMBER high enough
to satisfy the amount – the lengths – the
DEPTHS
to which we must go to forgive one
another.
I can imagine you might be thinking about a person you’ve had
trouble forgiving –
someone with whom you’ve tried to
make amends
someone who just rubs you the wrong
way.
I’m betting we might feel as frustrated as Peter might have
felt that day when hearing Jesus basically say THERE IS NO NUMBER you will EVER
reach that let’s you off the hook. Forgiveness
has never been a counting game.
To further illustrate His point, Jesus launches into a
parable:
“Once upon a time, there was a king...”
Now, be CAUTIOUS, however, to automatically assume that the
king refers to God
or that the servant represents some
group of people we’d love to hate.
Again, it’s never that easy when it comes to stories from
Jesus.
Why the king wanted to suddenly settle his debts,
or why the man owed him so much are
mysteries not to be answered in this text.
Because, what’s the phrase?
“You’re asking the wrong question.”
‘Be patient with me,’ the servant begged, ‘and I will pay back
everything.’
The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him
go.
THE END
WELL, not quite...
Took pity? Canceled
the debt? Let him go?! If
only the Government was as forgiving when it came to my student loan
debts! MAYBE? No?!
Canceled the debt? Let
him (and his wife and his children and all that he owned) go?
Sounds completely undeserved!
Sounds completely unearned!
Sounds...like...grace.
The first servant was forgiven through CHARITY and LOVE ...
and so it was expected that he would
show the same favor to HIS servant!
Rich or poor – they were to be treated with charity and
love. With mercy and grace.
But what happens next?
Servant 1 finds lesser Servant 2 and demands that HE be paid back in
full. He’s been forgiven, what, 5 SECONDS
before, and we’re already back to the natural greed of human nature.
This could have been SUCH a nice story to share. One of those pay-it-forward tales, where one
who has been blessed shares those blessings with the next person they
encounter.
Nope. Not in Matthew
18.
A much smaller amount is demanded of a much less privileged
person, and for what?
So that the servant could have power
over his fellow workers?
Why would he do that?!
ARGH. I know, I
know...”I’m asking the wrong question.”
His demands aren’t met, so he throws the other guy in
jail.
What I find fascinating is that the other servants ratted out
their comrade.
In an entire discourse about how to live in community, even
the servants
knew this was the wrong move for the forgiven
servant to make.
Withholding mercy?
After having received such a gift?
How quickly one falls back into sin...
32 “Then
the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled
all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33 Shouldn’t
you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ 34 In
anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should
pay back all he owed.
Ouch. So much for
grace THIS time.
We’re yanked right back into a legalistic system where
punishments are handed out
and mercy is thrown by the
wayside.
Jesus concludes: 35 “This
is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you
unless
you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
Our story is wrapped up with a rather serious reminder
about OUR ability to forgive
others.
“To
forgive or not to forgive really, REALLY ISN’T the question.
For it IS nobler in the mind to
lessen the suffering of others,
To weather together the slings and
arrows of outrageous misfortune,
To forgive, per chance to be
merciful, aye, THERE’S the love of God.”
God’s forgiveness has no limits, and (as hard as it might be
to imagine),
neither should our forgiveness of others.
Now, in NO WAY does this mean unleashing those who might
injure or harm others,
nor does it encourage a lack of
protest against wrongs.
Forgiving someone COMPLETELY...IS... well, impossible, if we
go at it ALONE...
because the ONLY one who can
actually forgive
100% completely and totally is
GOD.
We can’t do that on our own.
But God can.
The words of Matthew 18 talk to us about relationships within
community,
and Jesus brought us this story to DEMONSTRATE
that forgiveness is a gift of grace,
a gift of love, a gift from God.
I read this week that forgiveness is like the air in your lungs.
There’s ONLY room for you to inhale
the NEXT lungful
Once you’ve BREATHED OUT the PREVIOUS one.
The children in the Infant
Room here at First have taught me that!
You know, that moment when they are in the middle of inhaling
for what will be another Tarzan-like scream,
IN..... IN..... IN..... and of course – we all wait, waiting for that
big wail...
If they hold it in, by golly, they’d pass right out.
Goodness, if they hang on to their breath much longer,
WE’RE going to be the ones passing
out in fear FOR them!
But they don’t. They
breathe it out. They let it GO from
their body.
ONLY once they have collapsed from
EXhaling
can they continue on with their
little lives.
So it is with forgiveness!
When we INSIST upon holding inhaling that anger.
Breathing in that disgust.
And then holding on to that
self-righteousness....
WE are going to be
the ones to pass out.
We STOP our hearts
from working.
Think about that. We
literally STOP our hearts from
working.
You know the lungs and hearts have to work in tandem.
I mean this literally AND
figuratively.
Without exhaling the pain of our HURTS........our HEARTS cannot respond.
The lungs need to work in order for our heart to beat.
Our hearts need the necessary air of
life - of grace – of forgiveness
in order to beat the beat of mercy to those around us.
If we foolishly insist on WITHHOLDING forgiveness,
refusing to give someone else the
life they may desperately need,
we won’t be able to take any more in
ourselves.
WE will be the
ones starving for air.
As it is with our heart: if it’s open, able and willing to forgive
others,
it will also be open to receive
God’s love and forgiveness.
Jesus is establishing God’s covenant with the world.
LIFE comes through forgiveness
Jesus taught us how to pray for it “Forgive US our trespasses..”
And he taught that if you WANT it,
you’ve got to be prepared to GIVE it
“.....As we forgive those who trespass
against us.”
If you’re counting how many times you’ve forgiven someone,
you’re NOT REALLY forgiving them at
all, but simply postponing revenge.
We are children of a forgiving God who places no conditions,
whose mercy is great, and whose love
is without number,
NO
QUESTION about it.
+ In the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
AMEN. +
_________________________________________________________
Sermon for Sunday, 27 August 2017
Text: Romans 12: 1-8 (The Message translation)
1-2 So here’s what I want you to do, God helping
you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work,
and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what
God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so
well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking.
Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out.
Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the
culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God
brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
3 I’m
speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and
especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every
one of you does, in pure grace, it’s important that you not misinterpret
yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it
all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and
by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.
4-6 In
this way we are like the various parts of a human body. Each part gets its
meaning from the body as a whole, not the other way around. The body we’re
talking about is Christ’s body of chosen people. Each of us finds our meaning
and function as a part of his body. But as a chopped-off finger or cut-off toe
we wouldn’t amount to much, would we? So since we find ourselves fashioned into
all these excellently formed and marvelously functioning parts in Christ’s
body, let’s just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or
pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we
aren’t.
6-8 If
you preach, just preach God’s Message, nothing else; if you help, just help,
don’t take over; if you teach, stick to your teaching; if you give encouraging
guidance, be careful that you don’t get bossy; if you’re put in charge, don’t
manipulate; if you’re called to give aid to people in distress, keep your eyes
open and be quick to respond; if you work with the disadvantaged, don’t let
yourself get irritated with them or depressed by them. Keep a smile on your
face.
The
thing I love about The Message is that it is SO Lutheran:
it calls a thing what it is!
As
Lutherans, we believe in being Theologians of the CROSS.
Meaning: we turn to the cross
to
tell us about WHO God is and HOW God saves.
The CROSS is our source of
knowledge concerning these matters.
Now, a Theologian of GLORY
calls evil good and good evil.
They have it backwards in
order to suit themselves.
But a
Theologian of the CROSS calls a things what it is, good or evil.
We name it. Evil is evil, good is good. No kidding ourselves.
This
particular translation of our Romans text NAMES it.
1.
Names what we are
to DO with our life.
2.
Names what God
does for US.
3.
Names WHO we are
supposed to be.
(#1) Let’s dig into those:
First, God tells us what we are to DO with our life.
Take a
moment to think through your mornings.
Your routines. The things you find yourself doing
everyday.
Where
can God be found in these moments?
· Do we recognize God in our ability to turn on the
faucet
and instantly receive temperature-controlled water?
· Do we find blessings from God as we stretch our body
from a good night’s rest?
· Do we perhaps recognize the Almighty in the sounds
coming from the animals or children of our
home?
THESE
are the moments where God is revealed.
Where
God is present. Where God is REAL.
God
isn’t looking for some recognition through some GRAND ceremony or religious
rite. The Bible makes it very clear that
burnt offerings and sacrifices are NOT what pleases God.
Rather, God tells us that we
are to offer OURSELVES:
every, single part of our
ordinary life,
and place it before God as an offering.
Now, I
don’t mean that when you’re squeezing out the toothpaste tomorrow morning, that
you are thanking God for fluoride-rich, peppermint flavored paste that shines
your teeth.
Rather,
God is reminding us that even the simplest
of tasks
in our simplest
of lives
can be placed
before God as an offering.
It
reminds us NOT to become complacent
with
the humdrum rhythm of our lives.
It
reminds us that as CHRISTIANS – as
people of a LIVED faith
we
need to RESIST that urge to become
just like the other
to
blend in with the world – to become part of the world.
We are
NOT part of the world, folks...we are literally part of another.
A world that welcomes ALL for
who they are,
NOT for who we want them to
be.
It
reminds us that in order for us to find deep and mature spiritual faith,
we need to find ourselves
seeking a God
that is literally IN EVERYTHING.
(#2) Names what God does for US.
Next,
let’s remember, it’s ALWAYS in this order:
what GOD does for US.
NOT the
other way around.
How
often do we think
“Well, I’ll just help God out by telling God my needs...”
“I’m sure God would agree with the way I want to do things.”
Not
quite, folks. We are children of GRACE.
Unexpected. Mysterious.
Undeserved.
We
can’t PLAN on grace. We can’t EXPLAIN grace. We can’t EARN grace.
When
God reminds us NOT to be of THIS
world,
God
reminds us to be of GOD’s world:
the world where we can
RESPOND to grace.
the world where we can
be THANKFUL for grace
the world where we can
SHARE grace.
GOD
bestows grace upon US....NOT the other way around.
As
Theologians of the cross, we continually recognize the power and awe
that came with the self-sacrificing act of Jesus
being crucified for ALL.
All sins, all doubts, all
people.
And
with this recognition, comes a responsibility
to remember our rightful place:
as humble recipients of ALL of God’s
goodness
and ALL of God’s grace.
(#3) Names
WHO we are supposed to be.
Finally,
let’s talk a bit about WHO we are
supposed to be.
This
is where The Message translation really brings it home.
We’re
all parts of the body. THE body. The BIG, Christ-centered Body.
We have meanings and functions
of our OWN,
And we have meanings and
functions as we interact with one another.
Paul’s
letter to the Roman community reminds us
that
we are to be WHO WE ARE.
Not to be the co-worker we
THINK we want to be.
Not to be the friend we always
try to emulate.
Not even to be the one person
we hold dear and admire.
We are
to be WHO WE ARE. Who WE were created to
be.
Who
God INTENDED us to be.
Not lusting after another
personality,
not envying what we do not
have, or any of the OTHER Deadly Sins.
Rather,
Brad is Brad. Julie is Julie.
Brenda
is Brenda....
......because
heaven help us if there were more BRENDAs!
J
We are
unique, yet INTER-dependent.
INTER-dependent – not IN-DEPENDENT.
For,
we do NOT stand alone in this world.
We live our uniqueness WITHIN
the realm of the other.
We are interconnected,
intertwined,
Inter-dependent
on the OTHERS of God’s creation.
“If you preach,
just preach God’s message, nothing else.
“If you help,
just help, don’t take over...”
“If you’re put
in charge, don’t manipulate...”
This
reads like the perfect introduction manual
for any church committee or PTA meeting or
board meeting.
It’s a
list of simple instructions that reminds us
to DO what we’re called to DO.
To BE who we’re called to BE.
That the focus is on the
OTHER, not OURSELVES.
And that the GLORY belongs to
GOD.
In the name
of the + Father and of the + Son and of the + Holy Spirit.
Amen
_________________________________________________________
Sermon for Sunday, 20 August 2017
Text: Matthew 15: 10-28 (NRSV)
10 Then he called the crowd to him and said to them, “Listen and understand: 11 it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.” 12 Then the disciples approached and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?” 13 He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. 14 Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit.” 15 But Peter said to him, “Explain this parable to us.” 16 Then he said, “Are you also still without understanding? 17 Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach, and goes out into the sewer? 18 But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. 19 For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. 20 These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile.”
21 Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. 22 Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.” 23 But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, “Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.” 24 He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” 25 But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” 26 He answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” 27 She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” 28 Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed instantly.
--- -- --- -- --- -- --- -- --- -- --- -- --- -- --- -- --- --
Today, we will begin at the end
of our text from Matthew: we will begin
with the story we just heard of a woman...a MOTHER...who pleads on behalf of her ill child for healing.
Nameless in the Gospel, this
Mother cries out to a wandering Jewish man named Jesus to heal her
demon-possessed daughter.
At first glance, we might choose to read her insistence as RUDE or STUBBORN.
She
might be perceived as FORCING
herself into today’s story. She is a Canaanite woman, as the text
says. In fact the author of Matthew
wants to make sure we don’t overlook that factoid:
We have
to remember that the Canaanites were Israel’s oldest enemies, dating back some 800
years before. This woman is completely outside of the accepted, social realm. She’s not just ANY old gentile—she belongs to the
most worthless, most hated group of all.
She pleads...and what was Jesus’s response!? At
first...NOTHING.
“ But he did not answer her at all.”
What’s going on
here?
Was Jesus ignoring someone right in front of Him?
Does this mean Jesus ignores us...too?
Heavens, no. We are never ignored, never abandoned.
Think
about the times when we plead with God for an answer.
Lord, help now! Lord,
fix this predicament.
Lord, which way am I supposed to turn!?
Do
WE
get an immediate answer? . . . . . . . .
Not always.
We certainly live in a culture that demands immediacy. I read just yesterday that a Dad has built an
app – a program for his son’s
phone - that disables the phone until
the child responds, requiring him to respond IMMEDIATELY.
Well,
we’ll leave the “IMMEDIATELY” language
to the Gospel of Mark, and remember that THAT was NOT the world –
the kingdom – Jesus
was sent to share. The answer might be “Not
yet... Keep praying.... Possibly yes....”
Might
our Savior be questioning...
“What’s
really going on here? What’s
at the heart of this matter?
Maybe
the silence was Jesus making sure she REALLY understands why He’s here, and
not just some wandering magician who
heals and deals around the Galilean countryside.
But
our Canaanite Mother believes no such thing – listen to her words of her plea: “Have mercy on me,
Lord, Son of David”.
- Not only does she hail Jesus as the kingly Son of David,
- she refers to Jesus as Lord, Kyrie, not once but THREE times in the text.
- She KNEW
- She knew faster than anyone Jesus was heading off to teach
- She knew sooner than even half of Jesus’s own disciples
- She knew that she was speaking to THE Savior.
Of
course, the Disciples were of very little help, back to their familiar refrain
“Send her away! She keeps bothering us.”
(They had a small point – they MUST have been wondering why
Jesus had lead them into a land they’d
rather have not visited filled with people they’d
rather have ignored.)
“Send her away! She keeps bothering us.” Sound familiar?
Imagine if Jesus had listened to the Disciples the first
time
and dismissed the crowds before His
miracle of feeding the thousands!?
Yet, Jesus did not send her away. Our Savior, trying to clarify His mission,
responds with “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the
house of Israel.”
-->
Well, NOW we’re
getting somewhere – at least Jesus isn’t
silent anymore.
Jesus was quite literally walking his talk – taking his lessons
on the road Intentionally traveling
into lands that were usually dismissed. Where people who were usually ignored
“I was sent only to the
lost sheep of the house of Israel.” The LOST.
· Jesus
was fulfilling
his mission to let the people of Israel know that their God was fulfilling God’s promises right
NOW. The kingdom was HERE, and that
Jesus was THE Savior they had been waiting for.
· Jesus was the fulfillment of the law...not the abolishment of
it.
The people of Israel would still be
God’s special and chosen
people,
telling of the wonders of
God . . . AND . . . God’s new life in the
world was to come
through them...and through HIM.
·
For that’s what a Shepherd
does: a shepherd makes sure there are
NO, LOST SHEEP. And when one wanders or
strays, the Good Shepherd is there to find them, and gather them near.
This Missional Messiah reveals so much to us
by taking his merry band of men into enemy territory, onto foreign soil: He is LIVING OUT what it means to usher in
the Gospel in a land of Law.
This
Rabbi of Rabbi’s is taking the ultimate field trip when it comes to a object-lesson
for his Disciples, demonstrating just how far he would go to LIVE the Gospel message of love and
acceptance. ALL the way up the Mediterranean
Coast to Tyre and Sidon.
NEVERTHELESS, SHE PERSISTED –a motto - even today - for women who are ready to break down
barriers.......And this Mama was
ready to believe.
- Ready to believe in a Savior that can heal her daughter.
- Ready to believe that the man who fed thousands could feed her daughter health.
Once
again, our Mother pleads, this time on her knees... Lord, help me.
(So much like the cry from a drowning
Peter last week.)
Jesus answered,
“It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.”
Oh...Ouch. I have to say, all the commentaries on this
text said it was one of the most troubling stories in all the Gospels! (Thanks for that, Pastor)
“It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.”
Taken at face value?
Yeah, we might take issue with that.
·
Because, I’m
betting most of us might prefer a squeaky clean Jesus.
·
We want a Jesus UNblemished by His
humanity.
·
We like our Jesus nicer, and quite
frankly, compassionate!
·
We want a Savior that did NOT just
compare a human mother to hungry house-pets.
But
that’s only if we stay at the surface, and
if we hear this story with 21st century ears. Because when we dig into Jesus’s
words, and more importantly HER reaction, there’s
actually more to discover.
He’s
NOT calling this Mother a dog. A SHEEP maybe, but NOT a dog.
If
you have children AND pets in your home, you’re
going to feed the children first. That’s
not an insult – that’s
practical. It’s
realistic.
They
are the hungry ones. You feed the humans, then you feed the animals. Doesn’t
mean we ignore the dogs – but we feed the
hungry children first.
We
had to wonder this week – What if
Jesus was using or quoting a proverb or some old saying about the practicality
of feeding? (Spiritually, feeding)
Jesus
CAME to feed the hungry.
Jesus
came to LOVE the hungry.
Jesus
DIED to save the hungry.
Could
this pleading mother, then, be LESS
of an annoyance
and MORE of a student?
What
if we were think of Jesus as a Rabbi, as the teacher he is,
Then.....might he be treating this Mother as a student?
As a learner? As someone
with which to engage in dialogue!?
Yes, this Mother is feisty – she’s courageous.
And she has every right to be: the life of her daughter is literally at
stake.
Not only does she not give up, but
after Jesus comments to her,
she takes HIS
words and throws them right back at Him:
“Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the
crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”
She didn’t even flinch at the dog
comment – which might be a lesson to US.
She focuses on the CRUMBS. She’s
ready to be content with the CRUMBS of healing because she KNOWS those crumbs
of God can provide. ANY scrap of
healing, ANY shred of hope, ANY chance that her daughter might be free of those
demons.
THAT is what makes the final part of this story so incredibly
amazing:
Just
when we might think that Jesus is going to give her one more retort and move on
with his mission... He agrees. He praises.
He heals!
“Woman, great is your
faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.”
And her daughter was
healed instantly.
Jesus the Rabbi recognized
IN. THIS. WOMAN.
the very kingdom He
was sent to earth to declare.
·
Her comment wasn’t
some smart remark or clever quip from an offended woman. Rather, her words are a response worthy of
the most studious pupil. One in which
Jesus saw worthy of conversation and engagement.
·
Rank of personhood meant NOTHING to
Jesus. ALL people have worth. Jesus
grants this Canaanite woman what we simply don’t
expect and what could easily have been forever lost: her PERSONHOOD.
This
Mother, much like our friend Martin Luther, insists that we proclaim
WHERE. WE. STAND.
·
We could stand alongside the cautious
disciples ... O R ...
·
We could stand together with a God who
asks us to imagine a kingdom where there is no Israelite or Canaanite,
no US or THEM, but ALL.
·
We stand with a God who watches over
ALL of God’s beloved children, Canaanite and all, and
loves to watch us ALL live into our deep and abiding faith.
At
the end of the day, Jesus looked upon this Mother with compassion.
Her faith poured out of her heart,
and Jesus’s healing poured into her daughter.
Her
faith – her BELIEF – is what Jesus responded to,
which asks the question of us: what do WE believe?
· Do
we believe it’s time to step across racial lines and declare that
ALL sheep are worthy of being loved by God?
· Do
we believe we need to admit that ALL people are to be given dignity?
· Do
we believe we are called to follow in Jesus’s
example, breaking down all barriers of inequality, and bring ALL people up to
our eyes, so that we may look into their hearts with the love of God?
As
children of God, we are called to do just that –
to wash away the
filth of prejudice and dirt of damaging preconceptions,
and see ourselves
and others as those lost sheep
Jesus was sent to protect.
In
the very beginning of our Gospel text today, we heard Jesus speaking to a crowd
about what is CLEAN and what is NOT clean.
what is ROOTED and what
must be UNrooted.
Jesus
doesn’t even pause to minister the religious
leaders. Rather, he instructs the
disciples “let them alone. They’re the blind leading the blind.”
Jesus,
who was clearly a closet horticulturist, with all of his references to seeds
and plants) came to sow seeds of the KINGDOM.
- · Seeds of GOD’s kingdom
- · seeds that would grow and flourish proclaim God’s love + God’s grace.
- · Seeds such as us, seated here today.
Of
course, then there’s Peter, ya gotta love Peter, says to Jesus,
“Explain this parable to us....Explain
the riddle, Jesus.”
To
which Jesus calmly replied, “ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?”
I mean....“Are you also still without understanding?
Can you just imagine
Jesus?! “Gentlemen,
REALLY!??!”
Jesus
is like “FINE. How about a Biology lesson?!
Maybe that will help clear things up.”
Whatever goes INTO
the mouth enters the stomach,
and goes out into the sewer.
But what comes OUT
of the mouth proceeds from the heart,
and THIS can be what defiles.
Jesus
is trying to make the point that not even EXCREMENT
in the sewer
is as disgusting or
as desecrating or as defiling
as what comes from
one’s heart.
We’re
NOT talking unclean things in
regards to the purity system of old.
We’re
talking about the things that are MORALLY
impure.
·
Impure things that disrupt the way our society functions
·
Impure things that cause us to fight and feud with one another.
·
Impure things that have us seeking revenge instead of love.
We
have been witness to excrement-worthy behavior in our country over the last few
weeks, defiling the very social fabric of our nation.
Fighting,
Feuding, Disruption, Revenge.
There
is not a Purell bottle big enough
to sanitize some of the behavior
we’ve witnessed.
What
truly needs sanitizing – what TRULY needs
cleaning,
goes
deep to the LITERAL
heart of the matter:
what comes from within
us.
Jesus
is TRYING to make the point that
it’s
NOT about the LETTER of the LAW, but rather the SPIRIT of the Laws.
·
Even Jesus sets aside certain
regulations and rules, and claims that those
who insist on their validity are
actually condemning the guilt-less.
·
Rabbis would BIND the law firmly when they wanted to enforce a particular
commandment, but would also LOOSE a
law when and if they found a circumstance in which it would no longer apply.
Jesus,
a Rabbi himself, is demonstrating this very practice by reminding folks the
true GOSPEL message of his words:
While the LAW requires clean
hands, the GOSPEL requires clean hearts.
When a LAW keeps folks from
doing GOOD, it is no longer a good law.
· (Brenda: Singing)
For “What does the Lord require of
you?
· Obviously,
LAWS: “Justice. Kindness. Walk humbly
with our God.”
· Not
washing your HANDS....but washing your hearts!
We might think there’s no way WE
would be capable of the laundry list of evils mentioned in verse 19 (evil intentions, murder,
adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander)
We might think to
ourselves:
“Those
are the really BAD sins. I’ve never had a
truly evil intention.”
REALLY? Clearly, you’ve never driven
around in a mall parking lot
on Black Friday.
“Oh,
the lies I tell are so small, I’m sure no one else notices.”
REALLY? You mean those
false words that discredited
someone’s true character?
“Well,
I mean, I CERTAINLY have never committed murder...”
REALLY? You don’t think we’ve slayed the hearts
of those we love when we inadvertently ignore them or utter a careless word?
If the thought enters our
hearts, it already counts as impure.
GOD, through Jesus,
has given us a DEEP and THOROUGH
cleaning of our hearts and minds.
· Not talking about carpet cleaning here!
· We’re not talking about the Stanley Steeeeemer type of
cleaning: when we allow our hearts and our minds, and yes, our mouths, to be filled with the Spirit of a
benevolent and loving God, we find
ourselves being cleansed from the inside out.
· We find ourselves speaking a word of kindness instead of snark.
· We find ourselves holding
our tongue instead of sharing that gossip.
· And we even find ourselves with a measure of patience in the mall parking lot!
It’s a pureness and a
holiness beyond ANYTHING we’d find walking this earth.
And yet...He DID walk this earth....
He came to THIS earth
Walked THIS earth
and died on THIS earth to do just that:
to clean our sins away,
to purify our hearts from within,
and to claim each one of us, as beloved
children of God.
We’re Easter people,
folks – we
live INTO that Resurrection
truth.
We live into the gift of a
Savior who makes us clean, inside and
out.
The man who hung on that dirty and wood-splintered cross was GOD.
GOD. IN. THE. FLESH.
And that’s really all the Biology we need to know!
In the name of the
+ Father, and
of the
+ Son, and of
the
+ Holy
Spirit....AMEN.
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