Blind to Need

September 25, 2016        Pentecost 19                                      Luke 16:19-31

The parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus is a powerful parable with a lot of deep imagery, and I want to explore it as our sermon today.  But to set it up let’s start with our first reading from the prophet Amos.  There Amos is speaking against the rich and powerful in his nation.  Their luxurious lifestyles are coming at the expense of the poor around them and Amos wants them to know that God is not pleased.  However wealth has a way of blinding people to what they are doing.  The passage from Amos makes me think of a passage from Barbara Kingsolver’s book The Poisonwood Bible and I’ve included that quote in the back of your worship bulletin.  She shares the thoughts of missionary wife Orleanna Price:

 “It wasn’t just me; there were crimes strewn six ways to Sunday, and I had my own mouths to feed.  I didn’t know.  I had no life of my own.

“And you’ll say I did.  You’ll say I walked across Africa with my wrists unshackled, and now I am one more soul walking free in a white skin, wearing some thread of stolen goods: cotton or diamonds, freedom at the very least, prosperity.  Some of us know how we came by our fortune, and some of us don’t, but we wear it all the same.  There’s only one question worth asking now:  How do we aim to live with it?

“…  I know people.  Most have no earthly notion of the price of a snow-white conscience.”

(Pg. 9)

Indeed wealth can cause incredible blindness, as we’ll see in Jesus’ parable.

                Jesus says there was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen.  In those days having fine white linen was a sign of wealth.  I won’t get into the bleaching process they used.  Let’s just say it took a lot of effort.

But getting white cloth was nothing to having purple cloth.  Purple embellishments were one thing, purple clothes were an extreme.  Yet this rich man appears to have worn white as an undergarment and purple over top.  Commentator Joel Green notes that dressing like this was a sign of the highest opulence.

I’m reminded of when I had a co-op job in college.  My work required me to make frequent trips into the Pennsylvania State Capitol building in Harrisburg.  One of the times I went there was a Rolls Royce stretch limo parked right out front in the no parking zone at the bottom of the grand granite staircase.  It’s the only Rolls Royce stretch limousine I’ve ever seen.  A uniformed chauffeur stood by the car.  The license plate was a vanity plate with a name I recognized – the richest real estate developer in the region.

Now of course there was absolutely no need for him to have a Rolls Royce stretch limousine with his name on the license plate, but he could do it; and he wanted everyone to know it was him.  That is the level of wealth of the rich man in the parable.

By contrast we have Lazarus.  An interesting bit of trivia, Lazarus is the only character Jesus gives a name to in all of his parables.  What is Lazarus dressed in?  Jesus doesn’t give a description, but he is effectively ‘dressed’ in sores.

Dogs surround Lazarus.  In most of the artwork I see about this scene the dogs look like loveable puppies who are having pity on this poor wretch of a man.  But that’s not what Jesus intended.  These dogs are mongrels who only hang around because they are starving and when Lazarus dies they can eat him.

What’s next but Lazarus does die.  The rich man dies too, and he is buried.  No mention is made of Lazarus’ burial so we can assume the mongrels got their meal.  Not only is Jesus calling to mind something disgusting to his hearers they also know that for a Jewish person to not be buried is proof of being cursed by God.  So Lazarus would be seen as being divinely cursed and rejected.

The rich man goes to Hades.  Presumably Lazarus does too, but he is comfortably with Abraham.  The rich man is being tormented.  We need to remind ourselves of some terms and places here.  The word “hades” shows up twice in Luke’s gospel and it is used 10 times in the New Testament.  In early Christian thought hades was a shadowy place of waiting for souls after they die; the equivalent of Sheol in the Old Testament.  By contrast “Gehenna,” usually translated “hell” is used once in Luke and 13 times in the New Testament.  The image of Gehenna was rooted in the Hinnom Valley to the south of Jerusalem, a place of garbage and with a reputation for pagan human sacrifices.  In the New Testament Gehenna was the pre-existent and eternal fiery abyss of destruction.

So Lazarus and the rich man are in Hades but the rich man is getting a foretaste of hell.  Has this changed his attitude?  Not one bit!  Has he been humbled?  No.  He calls out to Abraham and asks Abraham to send Lazarus to his living family members with a warning.

Notice how deep this rich man arrogance goes.  We discover that he not only recognizes Lazarus, but that he’s known his name all along.  And even in death he still things Lazarus is a lesser to him; someone who can be ordered about.

Not only can Lazarus be ordered about, but the rich man assumes he can make commands to his ancestor Abraham and Abraham should do his bidding too!  Even in torment this rich man still acts like he is in charge, perhaps even of God.

To show just how blind wealth makes people Abraham replies, “If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone rises from the dead.”  Of course no spoiler alert is needed here – we know the end of the story.  Someone will rise from the dead.  Will the wealthy listen?  No.

Wealth can render people completely and totally blind.  The real problem is, we can hardly escape being anywhere but among the rich. 

Our culture has wrapped itself in protection to keep people from seeing the real impacts of their wealth.  Have you ever been in any of the factories that make the clothing you are wearing right now?  Did you ever tour the fields or groves that produce the food that is in your cupboard and refrigerator?  Have you ever toured a landfill, or an abandoned mine, or a wastewater treatment plant?  Perhaps yes, but you get the point.  We create layers of protection around ourselves so that we do not have to experience the raw work of what it takes to create our lifestyles; nor do we have to experience the impact of our waste.  For most people problems like this are theoretical and distant, not real.

I’ve said before that when I walk through Eastview Mall I can’t help but feel like a citizen of the capital in the Hunger Games books, and the mall is filled with the work of the districts all gathered together for my convenience. 

I think we should take advice from our second reading and listen well to it, because it fits us.  The verses are 1 Timothy 6:17-19.  (You'll have to look it up in your own Bible because printing them here would be a copyright violation.)

Clever and Creative Faith

September 18, 2016    Pentecost 18                            Luke 16:1-13

I think we’ve all read the Bible and come across portions we don’t understand.  Then, if we’re smart, we turn to a biblical commentary and we can read what biblical experts say about a passage.  But there are a number of passages like our gospel reading for today.  Turn to a commentary hoping for an explanation and you’ll probably be more confused than when you started!  It is as if the experts are struggling too.  Indeed many biblical experts confess this passage has them stumped, and so they can’t help you.

I do believe Joel Green’s thoughts in the Ninct commentary series do actually get to the heart of the matter.  If you want to read about it in detail you can borrow the book.

As always, we have to keep Jesus’ teaching in context.  We’re continuing on from last week where Jesus is giving parables about lost things.  If you were here you may remember we talked about one in a hundred sheep lost, and one in ten coins lost, and one of two sons lost.  In the end each was found and there was rejoicing.

Whenever you lose something important you are anxious until you find it again.  The more important it is the more anxious you are.  Nobody gets too fussed about losing a cheap pen.  But lose your driver’s license or a credit card and you may go into a panic.  When you find it there is great relief.

We want to keep all of that in the back of our minds as we listen to this next parable, the parable of the Dishonest Manager.  If Jesus were walking around New York State today he may have had the dishonest manager be a politician in Albany.  The politician is corrupt – no surprise there.  He makes lots of back room deals and trades inside information.  Give money to his campaign and you can be sure to win a fat contract for your company when he’s elected.

But then he finds out he’s being investigated.  He knows he’s guilty.  He’s going to lose his office for sure, maybe even go to jail.  He does not see himself making a living in a job that requires him to say, “Would you like fries with that?”  So while there is still time, before the investigation really begins and his assets are frozen he takes action.

Except instead of deciding to go straight he becomes even more corrupt.  He’s going to make all sorts of deals, do all sorts of favors and share all sorts of information so that when he does go down, lots of people owe him favors.  And he’s going to cash in on them then.  And worst case scenario, he goes to jail, then he’ll be infamous enough that when he writes his book it’ll be sure to sell well.

We hate this guy.  He disgusts us.  Though we all know that politics is dirty business and there’s a lot of deal making that goes on and a lot of times when politicians have to choose the least-worst option, this guy is just outright corrupt and sleazy; and he relishes in it.

We’d expect Jesus to say this guy is the worst of the worst.  We expect Jesus to tell his followers never to become like this.  This is what happens when morals and ethics and boundaries just erode away completely.

And then Jesus commends the guy.

Jesus calls on his followers to emulate this guy.

We go looking in our Bibles for the pages that are missing.  Surely something’s gotten lost.  We must have started one story and then accidentally concluded another.

But no.  This is the parable; concluding with, “And I tell you; make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone they may welcome you into the eternal homes.”

Keep in mind the context of Jesus words.  We’re following three parables about lost things that are recovered.  You search diligently for something that is lost.  You can’t rest until you’ve found it.  Is your discipleship the same way?

I’ve heard a contrast made between theologian Reinhold Neibuhr and Martin Luther King Junior.  Neibuhr was an American theologian, ethicist, and commentator on American politics.  He often said critical things but he had this belief that humanity was too corrupt to ever really change or improve.  He believed that that work was ultimately God’s and that we could do nothing.  So ultimately Neibuhr was content to sit in his office of Union Theological Seminary in New York City and write his critiques of America.

How many of you have ever heard of Reinhold Neibuhr?

Martin Luther King Junior knew the same things, but he wasn’t content to sit in an office and offer critiques.  Like him or not, agree with him or not, he acted.  He acted against all odds.  He acted tirelessly until he was murdered.  Which intelligent, capable man actually made a difference?  I know you’ve all heard of Martin Luther King.  Like his even more famous namesake on the global scale, Dr. Martin Luther the 16^th century church reformer, he wouldn’t ever rest as long as God’s world was broken.  While Martin Luther died of natural causes he escaped execution numerous times.

Jesus’ followers can quickly become lazy.  They can say that only God can fix problems, so why should we really try.  The dishonest manager in the parable was going to use every bit of shrewdness and cunning and power he had to get things done – crooked or not.  It is that attitude Jesus wants all of us to have in faith.

For centuries American Christians have considered the church to be a holy and righteous place.  Christians were to do things that were prim and proper, things that were socially superior to the common rabble.  A book of etiquette was considered as much a teacher of godliness as the Bible.  Coming to worship was a time to put on your best clothes and be on your absolute best behavior.

Now, does the Bible actually teach any of that?  Nope.  But for centuries the church was filled exactly with the Pharisees and Sadducees that conflicted with Jesus so often.  Today many people’s first thought when it comes to church is perfect families sitting in rows of hard benches listening attentively to a sermon about good morals.  And it turns them off.

I’m always amused to watch people walk by our booth when we’re at Hang Around Victor Day.  People will walk down the sidewalk but then as soon as they see a church booth they step to the far side of the sidewalk to get as far away from us as possible.  It is as if the church is a contagious disease.  Actually, they’ve had too many bad experiences with Jesus talk.  They don’t want to be pulled into an awkward conversation about Jesus and faith and salvation.

I was at a back to school party recently.  The school kids were playing in the yard and the adults were gathered on the deck.  I overheard one of the adults mention something about their growth in faith and their church priorities and I immediately noticed people stepping away from him.  They dropped their eyes.  They started looking away.  They wanted to talk to someone else – anything but this Christian faith talk.

Such is the case for spreading the love of God which gives strength, meaning and purpose.

You know what usually draws people to our Hang Around Victor Day booth?  Something that offends my mother to no end;  the beer brewing group.  It happened this year also.  We were setting up and people were keeping their distance.  One simple mention of getting the St. John’s Brewers display set up and everyone was drawn to us like we were magnetic.  Instead of turning away awkwardly they initiated conversations with us.

I’ve always had mixed feelings about our brewing group.  Alcohol gets lots of people in trouble.  Addictions are serious and I always want this to be a safe place for everyone.  And yet in our culture home brewing is a novelty.  It is a novelty that can open doors to faith.  It is a novelty that breaks down stereotypes of churches filled with righteous people who only talk about Jesus.  In other words, it is clever.  It is creative.  It is the type of thinking Jesus is commending in his parable.

I do not think true faith is about moral or righteous living.  I think true faith is knowing God’s world is broken.  People aren’t connected and God’s family is incomplete.  It is not resting until it is fixed, even though you know it is impossible.  It is about seeking and struggling and trying because you just can’t sit back and let the brokenness be.

We say, “God’s Work Our Hands” at the end of every service.  We know our hands are not capable of fixing the world.  What can we really do?  And yet we the work anyway.  Because, by God, through us, God’s work is done.  God’s world is being restored.  God’s family is growing and becoming complete.  Whether we see it or not, we do not rest until God’s work is done.

Found

September 11, 2016   Pentecost 17                           Luke 15:1-10

This week’s gospel reading picks up almost immediately after last week’s leaves off.  If you were here last week and you remember it you’ll realize there is a jarring contrast.  Last week Jesus said to: hate father, mother, sibling, spouse and children, and yourself.  Bear a cross.  Get rid of all your possessions.  If that’s all we had of Jesus’ teachings from the first century we’d think he was a tyrant who was impossible to please.

Then this week we have two parables about lost things.  The contrast couldn’t be more different.  Here we have a shepherd going out to find a lost sheep.  He finds it.  He puts it on his shoulders.  He carries it back and then has a big celebration.  We also have a woman who has lost one of ten drachmas.  A drachma was a small silver Greek coin worth about a day’s wages.  It was similar in value to a denarius, which was a Roman silver coin worth about a day’s wage.  So to lose a day’s wages was a significant loss, especially if her live savings was ten days wages, but it is still not a huge sum of money.

If our gospel reading continued we’d realize that these two parables are actually two of a set of three parables about lost things that are recovered.  You’ll remember that the third parable is that of the Prodigal Son.  There we see the progression fully unfolding: 1 of 100 sheep, 1 of 10 coins, 1 of 2 sons.

In every case the lost thing did not seek to be found or restored.  The shepherd or the woman or the father seeks that which is lost.  These are stories about great rejoicing over lost things found.  They are not stories about repentance.

So how do we understand this joy compared to last week’s harsh commands?

I think we start by remembering Jesus’ context and audience.  I feel like a broken record when I say it because I’ve said it so many times, but we are still journeying with Jesus to Jerusalem.  All these teachings are things said on the road or on the journey.  The 12 disciples, some close women followers and a crowd are traveling along.  This collection of people includes tax collectors, people labeled as “sinners” and probably a whole bunch of people you wouldn’t want your teenage child dating.

Good, clean, wholesome, upright people – like Pharisees and scribes – aren’t too happy about the warm welcome the sinners receive from Jesus.  Pharisees are willing to be forgiving.  They can be accepting of differences, but they aren’t too keen on accepting socially questionable people just as they are.  They expect a sinner to see the error of his or her ways, repent and come around to righteousness.  Then the Pharisees will be accepting.

So Jesus tells these parables.  While they are a jarring contrast to what Jesus just said before, when we see it all through the lens of God’s grace we understand they are actually different expressions of the same thing.

Last week we saw that all sorts of things that we think are of absolute importance – money, possessions, family relationship, social networks – are all secondary to a relationship with God.  Yet they so easily contradict what God is calling us to do.  They limit us and hold us back.  Though earthly things – especially family relationships – can be very important to us, they must still be secondary.

Perhaps an easy example of this is the adult child whose parent or parents are still ruling their lives.  The parents judge everything their adult child does.  Education, spouse, career, children, etc.  They may run them ragged doing supposedly essential tasks.  I can hear a mother saying, “Do you remember how many hours I spent in labor for you?  You owe me your life!”  Of course this is an exaggeration, but you get the point.  Discipleship to God comes first.  God’s call is more important than all others.  If God is calling you to do something, but you think you can’t because you’re essential somewhere else, then that “somewhere else” either isn’t essential, or if it is, God will have someone else do it.

With priorities built around God and an understanding of God’s grace constantly flowing toward us we are ready to see like God.  And we are ready to rejoice when tax collectors and sinners and social losers are embraced by God.  That is what Jesus’ parables are about.

I’m sure you’ve lost something somewhere along the line in your life.  If it was small and unimportant it was no big deal.  But how do you feel if you’ve lost your credit cards or your wallet?  How do you feel if you’ve misplaced your car keys?  Now you worry.  What will happen?  You know it isn’t the end of the world if the lost object isn’t found, but life will be a whole lot simpler if you could just find it!

One evening last week I realized I had misplaced my cell phone.  It wasn’t in my pocket or on the shelf in the house where I usually put it.  Was it in the car?  No.  I thought back over the day.  Where all had I been?  I had been a lot of places and it could have been any of them!  Maybe I had left it in the office here.  In that case I’d have to wait until the next day  because it seemed foolish to make a special trip just to look for it.  Though it is replaceable I wanted to find it. 

Of course cell phones can be easy to find if you’ve left the ringer on.  So I did a smart thing.  I called myself.  Indeed my phone rang somewhere in the kitchen – it turned out to be beside a pile of clean dishes waiting to be put away.  And though minor, it was a relief to have it back.

What is the anxiety that families of coal miners feel when there is an explosion or cave-in?  They wait with fear and anxiety outside the mine shaft waiting as the elevator brings miners to the surface.  Is their loved one in this car load?  No.  Maybe the next, or the next.  There is relief and joy when they see their loved one emerge.  What do they feel when their loved one hasn’t emerged and the elevator is no longer bringing people to the surface.

If you’ve ever waited outside a mine, or lost a child, or any similar experience I think you have a sense of God’s feelings when his children are lost and away from him.  You are obsessed and overcome with worry.  The relief at reunification is tremendous.  Nothing can dampen that joy!

This is what Jesus was trying to get across to the Pharisees and their scribes when they criticized those around Jesus.  Lost children were being restored.  It was time to celebrate.

Whenever you see someone who repulses you or offends you try to see that person as a child of God needing to be restored.  You don’t have to like that person.  And you don’t have to approve of what they do.  But you do need to seek to restore them, and rejoice when they are.

Indeed all of this can be unfair.  If you consider yourself to be one of the 99 sheep who stayed, or one of the nine coins that were never lost, or the faithful son, you may be jealous; not liking God’s grace and forgiveness and reconciliation and celebration going out to those who don’t deserve it.  Yet this is the old way of thinking still capturing us.  When that happens we forget that we too are sinners in need of God’s grace.

Let me conclude with an old Jewish story I think I’ve shared before.  The Lord appears to this hard working farmer and grants him three wishes.  There is only one condition.  Whatever he wishes for his neighbor gets double.  The farmer can scarcely believe this good fortune.  He immediately wishes for 100 cattle.  Immediately he received 100 cattle.  He was overjoyed and the prosperity this would bring him.  That is until he noticed that his neighbor had received 200 cattle.  So he wished for 100 acres of land.  Immediately he received it and rejoiced…  until he saw that his neighbor had received 200 acres of land.  The neighbor hadn’t earned it.  He wasn’t the hard working righteous farmer that the Lord granted a special favor to.  This wasn’t fair!  The neighbor wasn’t even asking for these blessings yet he was receiving this great abundance.

Rather than celebrating his good fortune and his neighbors good fortune too, the farmer couldn’t help feeling slighted because no matter what his neighbor would receive more than he.  Finally he stated his third wish: that God would strike him blind in one eye.  And God wept.

Are you a Pharisee jealous of other’s good fortune?  Are you jealous that you have to work hard to deserve everything you have meanwhile others coast through life with no apparent hardships?  Are you upset that God’s grace isn’t fair?  These are all very human feelings, all of them like the Pharisees.

Or are you a sinner in need of God’s grace?  Do you see that you too do not deserve God’s goodness?  Do you see that it is not your role to judge fairness.  It is your role to rejoice with God and celebrate.  For if you are wrapped up in jealousy you will not be able to celebrate and find true joy.

Necessary but Impossible Demands

September 4, 2016     Pentecost 16                           Luke 14:25-33

I’m sure you’ve come across advertisements in magazines or newspapers that are trying to sell an amazing product at an amazing price.  But you’ve learned to look at the fine print on the bottom of the page.  Often the deal isn’t all that great, or there are so many exceptions almost no one qualifies.  The same thing happens with radio and TV ads.  The commercial goes on and on about how great something is, but then before it’s over there’s some voice which can talk incredibly fast that lists all the potential dangers and side effects of a product.  And we also realize this product isn’t so great.

Perhaps our gospel reading is the fine print of following Jesus.  It all sounds so great.  Jesus heals people.  He likes to go to celebrations and banquets.  He seems to be a friend to anyone.  There are the great healing miracles and amazing sermons.  He teaches that his yoke is easy and his burden is light.  Following Jesus seems like an amazing deal; all benefits and no downside.  But then it’s time for the fine print, although Jesus didn’t hide this stuff at the bottom of the page.  He says it clearly and openly for all to hear and know.  True discipleship costs, and it can cost a lot. 

These are probably the most troubling of Jesus’ teachings that we have:  Hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even your own life.  Bear a cross.  Sell all your possessions or you cannot be my disciples.  They are so out of sync with everything we live that most people simply ignore them.  People have struggled with these words for centuries, coming to multiple conclusions about how to act on them.

Indeed Jesus often used exaggerated speech to make his point.  He certainly does not say to love people in one place and then in another teach that you should hate your family and friends.  But what does this all mean?

In regards to selling your possessions, when I was growing up I was taught that Jesus didn’t mean that literally for everybody.  What he really meant is that we should be willing to sell our possessions if he asks us to.  And I always thought, exactly how clear would Jesus have to speak before you obeyed that command.  If the clouds in the sky suddenly spelled out, “Jonathan Deibler, sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor.  If you don’t you’ll burn in hell.  This is God speaking.  Do it now.” I doubt that people would even respond then.  (Well, maybe if it was my name in the clouds you have no trouble pushing me to do it, but what if it was your name?)

Hate family and friends, give up your possessions; these simply are too counter to everything we live that we simply won’t do them.  We look to our relationships with other people to affirm us and give us a sense of place; even a sense of home.  And even though many a person who’s house has burned down says, “It’s all just stuff.  At least everyone got out safely,” they really aren’t prepared to go through the rest of life with nothing.  Insurances cover losses.  Houses are rebuilt.  New possessions are acquired.  Our possessions define us.  They give us a social rank.  They speak of our success, or lack thereof.  What you drive says a lot about you.  There’s: the worn out old sedan driven by a family just starting out, the minivan driven by the responsible parent, the convertible driven by the guy in a mid-life crises with his hair implants and leather jacket, there’s the dark and murky driver of a Harley Davidson, and the obnoxious jerk driving an SUV that’ll probably never leave a paved highway.

Money is a source of safety and power.  Whenever I travel a long distance I like to have enough cash in my wallet to buy a tank of gas, a decent meal and a night’s lodging.  Even though I’ve never had to depend upon it, I figure if power or computer systems crash I won’t be anything more than mildly inconvenienced.  In whatever form it takes: cash, credit, debit, money is power.  It is safety.  No matter how generous and selfless we are, we are terrified to lose that security.

It is a real leap of faith to give up the safety and security of money and relationships and really put the demands of discipleship first.

Over the centuries many people have done just that.  The book of Acts records the early Christians selling their possessions and living in community, holding everything in common.  I don’t like to use the word communist, because of what it has come to mean, but in many places the earliest churches were really communal.  Monasteries and convents continue the pattern where people forsake family and friends, money and possessions, and live a life that is clearly devoted to discipleship.

Should we all do that?  Is that what Jesus really wants from us?  If I say “yes” you’ll all tune me out and start daydreaming about something more pleasant.  If I say “no” then you’ll breathe a sigh of relief; and then still daydream about something else!

One thing we definitely do want to do is to acknowledge to ourselves, and to God, that we are fearful and uncomfortable with it all.  We don’t want to do it, and if pressed we’d most likely fail.  It is important for our lives of faith to realize just how deeply we are connected to our stuff and our relationships.  We can and should have the feeling that our priorities are messed up.  Why are our possessions so important to us?  Why do we put so much faith in something that is transient?  We can and should pray that God give us appropriate priorities.

Fortunately for us God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.  That does not mean that we get off free, but it does mean we have hope.  And I believe that if you constantly come to God with your sins and failings and really and truly acknowledge how deeply you are trapped in them, then you are opening the door for God to work.  You may be surprised.  In time you may look back and realize that by God many possessions and relationships have lost importance and have been replaced with a deeper love and trust in God.

When Jesus spoke these words he was on his final journey to Jerusalem.  If you wanted to follow Jesus you had to drop what you were doing and follow him.  Tomorrow would be too late.  The disciples had indeed left family and possessions behind to take this journey with him.

And though we are shocked when Jesus makes the demands we hear in our gospel reading let’s also remember what Jesus does himself.  He has given up father and mother plus sisters and brothers.  He has no home and no real possessions.  While the disciples are with him when he makes his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, they are gone on Thursday.  No earthly relationships or resources were available to Jesus in the crucifixion.  He had given up everything in devotion to God’s purposes.  From the perspective of our faith we realize that Jesus is not asking us to do anything that he hasn’t already done himself.  I’m much more willing to follow someone’s command when they’ve already done the same themselves.

Harsh as Jesus’ teachings are they contain blessings too, as they always do.  Freed from worrying about protecting our earthly relationships and possessions we can delight in God’s certain promises for the future.  In next week’s gospel reading we’re going to discover a very strange teaching about money and possessions.  It’s a head scratcher to be sure, but it teaches us something great about things, and it is sure to bring a smile to our faces when we realize what God has done.

May you take our Lord’s words seriously.  And may you also delight in the goodness God gives to those who dare to take him seriously, for God wants us to be joyful indeed and will always give us what will bring that joy into our lives truly and fully.

Having God's Outlook

August 28, 2016          Pentecost 15                           Luke 14:1, 7-14

I could create a sermon from our gospel reading that take Jesus words as simply good social wisdom – don’t put yourself too high lest you be embarrassed by someone putting you lower. 

I could go a bit deeper and create a sermon about selflessness.  Then I’d pick up on Jesus teaching the Pharisee to not invite his friends, or those who could repay the favor, to a dinner he throws.  Instead he should invite those who can’t repay.  That would be a fair interpretation of Jesus’ words.  But we are clever people.  We’d quickly find the loophole that we’ll just strategize selflessness now so that we’ll be repaid in the resurrection.  Indeed many people have taken that approach to Jesus’ teachings.

But I think we are wisest to go even deeper, because I think Jesus is getting at something deep in the heart of all people.  This is a part of us that we may not want to admit exists, but it is very real.  To get at it let me read an excerpt from To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee.  I suspect many of you were forced to read this book when you were in school.  You may have liked it, or maybe not.  This is from the closing argument Atticus gives to the jury in the trial:

“Thomas Jefferson once said that all men are created equal… There is a tendency in this year of grace, 1935, for certain people to use this phrase out of context, to satisfy all conditions.  The most ridiculous example I can think of is that the people who run public education promote the stupid and idle along with the industrious – because all men are created equal, educators will gravely tell you, the children left behind will suffer terrible feelings of inferiority.  We know all men are not created equal in the sense some people would have us believe – some people are smarter than others, some people have more opportunity because they’re born with it, some men make more money than others, some ladies bake better cakes than others – some people are born gifted beyond the normal scope of most men.

“But there is one way in this country in which all men are created equal – there is one human institution that makes a pauper the equal of a Rockefeller, the stupid man the equal of Einstein, and the ignorant man the equal of any college president.  That institution, gentlemen, is a court.  It can be the Supreme Court of the United States or the humblest J.P. court in the land, or this honorable court which you serve.  Our courts have their faults, as does any human institution, but in this country our courts are the great levelers, and in our courts all men are created equal.”

I think Harper Lee is absolute write to create these words for her character Atticus.  It is as if we live this great dualism.  On one hand, all are created equal.  We expect that in our courts and justice systems.  And yet, there is the reality that all are not created equal.  Some people simply seem superior to others.  If you want something done you have to go to the people who have the skills to do it.  If I want to build a deck on the back of my house am I going to go to the Ontario County Nursing Home and employ the residents?  Certainly not; it just won’t happen.  If I have a great business idea and need financial backers to get it off the ground am I going to ask the people of Hunts Trailer Park or am I going to go to the bank?

Every day we live the reality that not all are equal.  If you want real things to happen in the real world then you have to get the right people with the right skills.  People with skills are more valuable than those who aren’t.  Like the Pharisee in the gospel reading, we seek out and surround ourselves with the people who can do things for us.  Those who can’t we send away, or at best we tolerate them.

God does not measure or grade people the way we do.  Before God’s eyes we are created equal; just the way we strive our justice system to operate.  I don’t think our gospel reading is about selflessness.  It is about seeing as God sees.  The poor, the blind, the lame – in other words, the worthless – do not in any way shape or form lack value.

So what do we do?  First, on this side of the resurrection we have to admit that we’ll never fully escape this dualism.  We will always have a tendency to gradate people and choose some over others.  That’s wrong, but it is part of our sinful nature.  We should recognize that we are indeed broken and in need of God’s grace. 

Perhaps that is also the key to moving beyond it.  While we grade people as more or less worthwhile, we are all equal in our need for grace.  And in that we can rejoice.  God is gracious and merciful, inviting us when we feel strong and capable and worthwhile, and also inviting us when we feel depressed weak and worthless.

At God’s banquet table, Holy Communion, you are always welcome, as is everyone else.  And that leads us to be able to rejoice.

Think about it.  Did Jesus spend his time strategizing about who to eat a meal with?  Did he create an itinerary based on owing someone political favors or making the right connections?  Did he put up with obnoxious and annoying people because he knew he needed their backing?  Of course not!  All of this stuff is so important in our world, but it is all nonsense. 

For Jesus the key thing was to celebrate and celebrate people.  It’s not a matter of selflessness or sacrifice.  It is about having a whole different outlook on life and on people.  When you have that outlook you are freed from so much.

Do you remember when duct tape came in only one color?  It was silver/gray.  When I worked as an intern in the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation there was another guy near my cubicle who was simply one of the happiest and carefree people I’ve ever met.  His car was this gigantic old beast of a machine that seemed to go on forever.  The suspension was completely shot and it swayed like a ship on the high seas.  The outside of the car was the same silver/gray as duct tape.  So the fact that numerous rusted out spots and areas were covered in duct tape wasn’t immediately obvious.  However, the inside of the car was bright red.  Red upholstery, red dash board, read ceiling, read door panels.  And where it was worn through – you guessed it, duct tape! 

He didn’t care.  When he’d go on a date he picked her up in that car without a care in the world of what she thought of it.  It got from point A to point B safely and dependably, and that’s all that mattered to him.  He did his work well and on time always.  He was friendly with everyone and fun to be around.  Other older employees said he’d never have an ulcer because he simply didn’t worry about anything.

Perhaps he was a man of great faith.  Perhaps he was not.  I don’t know.  But his attitude was commendable.  He’d gladly have a meal with anyone and simply delight in them. 

When Jesus says he is bringing in his kingdom and inviting us and all others to be a part of it he is inviting us to have this different outlook.  See all in need of God’s grace, yourself included, and then go from there rejoicing because everything important and necessary has already been done for you.