Why the Good Is Sometimes Rejected

January 29, 2017         4^th Sunday after Epiphany                   Matthew 11-12

            I like to call Chapter 11 of Matthew, “Who is John the Baptist, and Who is Jesus?”  When you answer who John the Baptist is you also learn a lot about who Jesus is.  We know well that John the Baptist is the one who points to Jesus.  People came to John and he prophesied about the coming of the Messiah.  You’ll remember that John said things like, “I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals.  He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.  His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”  (Matthew 3:11-12)

John expected Jesus to be a firebrand who would whip up a following and take on the Romans in battle.  Jesus shows up and is baptized by John, but then what does Jesus do?  John ends up in prison.  He’s probably not happy about that, but he might be feeling a sense of righteous anger.  He’s in jail for speaking the truth and for standing up for the Messiah. 

But Jesus is falling short for John.  Where is this apocalyptic winnowing fork?  Where is the fire and Holy Spirit?  Where is the violent judgment.  All the miracles are nice and all, but Jesus is not living up to the person John thought he was pointing to.  Was Jesus really the Messiah?  Was Jesus really God’s chosen one to usher in the kingdom of God?

Jesus replies to these questions, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers and cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.”  (11:4-5)  It appears as if the kingdom of God is not coming as John thought.

The kingdom of God as Jesus brings it into being is about health and wholeness and restoration.  It is about good things.  So why then are the religious leaders so upset when we get into Chapter 12?  Why be so upset about a traveling do-gooder?  Because doing good isn’t always all that great a thing.

Let’s get at it this way.  Let’s say that Jesus comes to this day and age into the Rochester area.  He can heal everyone with just a touch.  It’ll take him about one day to put Strong Hospital completely out of business.  Strong Hospital is the biggest employer in the county.  All the doctors, nurses, support staff all the way to the janitors are suddenly out of jobs.  (Linda Thompson and Suzie Maynard are now unemployed.)  But of course it doesn’t stop with Strong.  Rochester General goes too.  (Beth Schroeder’s now out of a job too.)  Unity Hospital closes.  (There goes Lynne Minkel’s job.)  Highland Hospital, Thompson Hospital, Clifton Springs, they all are out of business.

Pharmaceutical companies are now pointless.  (There goes the School of Pharmacy at St. John’s Fisher, the school Scott Swigart started.  Aaron Swigart just got his white coat.  He’s now completely unemployable with the education he just worked years to receive.)  With all the hospitals closing goes all the construction work that is always going on in hospitals.  (Jeff Hall is now out of a job too.)  Of course there’s no need for nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and all sorts of senior housing.  So much of new construction around here is for senior housing.  The local construction market would collapse.  (There goes Mike Ross’s job and Jeremy Brown’s.)  The medical imaging work that companies like Kodak and Xerox do is now pointless.

Do you really want Jesus around healing everybody?  Sometimes when I’m in a hospital room and people are asking me to pray for a miraculous healing I wonder if they really know what they’re asking!

Let’s return to 1^st Century Judea.  Jesus forgives the sins of people.  That seems innocent to us, but it was a massive threat.  If Jesus could forgive sins then the temple no longer has a role to play.  There go the jobs of probably hundreds of priests.  About a quarter of the real estate in Jerusalem is for the temple.  That’s now pointless.  Merchants, money changers and all sorts of support staff suddenly have no place.

Shut down the temple and you shut down the tourist and pilgrim industry.  That ripples across the whole economy. 

Plus with Jesus offering forgiveness the whole religious authority system is decentralized.  Who’s to tell what is right and what it wrong?  Where’s judicial authority?  What about police, armies and protection?

We Americans make a mistake when we say separation of church and state.  We think that religion and government and business and arts are all separate, but they are not.  They are all interconnected.  Where one goes so goes all the others.

From our perspective Jesus was doing great things.  From the powers that be in Jesus’ day, he was a serious threat that had to be dealt with.  They were afraid of him.  Their whole lives were built around things he challenged.  When someone does something that threatens the value of your house or your retirement account or your standard of living you’ll react against it pretty quickly.

The message of Matthew’s gospel was radical then, and it is radical today.  Jesus preached many times that the kingdom of heaven had come near.  When we live that out life looks very different.

So what do we do with Chapters 11 and 12?  While we don’t have Jesus’ miraculous healing powers we do have power and strength to do good.  Jesus said, “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.  The good person brings good things out of a good treasure, and the evil person brings evil things out of an evil treasure.”

When we see good things at work let us not be like the religious leaders of Jesus’ day and oppose them.  Instead we will support them.  And when we see evil things we will oppose them.  Though we cannot perfectly bring God’s kingdom to life here on earth we always work for the good, whatever the cost.

Missionary Advice

January 22, 2017               3^rd Sunday after Epiphany                            Matthew 10

                A soldier in a particularly good mood walked into the barracks and said, “I have a $20 bill for the laziest man in this barracks.  Everyone scrambled to their feet and rushed forward to tell how lazy he was.  Everyone except on tall southerner who stayed laying in his bunk and drawled, “Somebody come and roll me over and slip that money in my pocket for me.”

                I thought that silly quip would be a good contrast to what Jesus is calling the disciples to do in our gospel reading.  Before we can understand Matthew 10, the "Missionary Discourse,” we have to remember what was going on at the time Matthew’s gospel is written.

                No one knows for sure when the gospel was created but most theories put it at late in the first century.  Matthew’s gospel is written to people who were Jewish but converted to Christianity.  It is a particularly tough time for them.  In the year 70 the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the Jewish temple.  It was the biggest crisis in Judaism since the Babylonians did the same thing 600 years before.  Without a temple there was no center to the Jewish faith.  Also, the Romans began actively persecuting Jews.  Jewish leaders were trying to scrape together whatever remnants of their religion that remained.  Unfortunately for them there was also a threat from within their religion – Christians.  It appears as if an ultimatum was made to the Jews who believed in Christ – either drop their beliefs in Jesus and remain truly Jewish or get out of the synagogue.  This ultimatum tore families apart – children against children, parents against children, spouses against each other.  If you found your family’s Thanksgiving table divided between Trump supporters and Clinton supporters know that it was nothing to the division between Jews who rejected Jesus and those who accepted him.  Families were delivering each other over to punishment.  There were spies and double-crossers. 

                If you’re a Christian life is pretty tough.  You can’t express your faith publically and your family may have rejected you privately.  In the gospel Jesus said, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.  For I have come to set a man against his father and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household.”

                He goes on, “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me.”

                You’ll remember from two weeks ago that the Sermon on the Mount had many harsh teachings.  Last week with the miracles Jesus said to a man who wanted to bury his father before following Jesus, “Let the dead bury their own dead.”  It seems like Jesus makes nothing but harsh and cruel demands of his disciples.  Is this the price of eternal life?  Is the bar really so high?  Who wants this anyway?  If this is what it takes to get into heaven who wants to be in heaven with such a harsh God?

                Let’s back up a bit.  According to what we’ve learned so far in Matthew’s gospel how do you become a disciple of Jesus?  Do you hear one of his charismatic sermons and decide you want to follow him?  Last week we read about a scribe, a Jewish religious expert, who did just that.  What did Jesus say to him? “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”

                You don’t apply to Jesus to be a disciple.  The impetus is not yours.  It is the other way around.  Jesus chooses you.  In Chapter 4 we read about how you become a disciple.  Jesus went to Andrew and Peter and James and John and said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.”

                Even today, you do not choose God.  God chooses you.  In our passage from 1 Corinthians we read, “Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.  But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God.  He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus.”

If you think you choose God then Matthew’s entire gospel is going to read like a book of harshness and misery.  But if you realize God chooses you then Matthew’s gospel is strength and encouragement.  It tells you that just because you’re chosen by God it does not mean you’re going to have a sweet and happy life.  It does not mean that everyone at your Thanksgiving table is going to happily get along forever and ever.

                The original readers of Matthew were hurting and scared.  They were questioning their faith and they were questioning what God was calling them to do.  Matthew tells them that persecutions and family problems do not mean that they are not called or that God is not working.  No, they should take confidence in being called.

                Does being called mean that you sit back and are lazy like the soldier in our opening example?  No.  It means that you are driven to work for God’s kingdom.  Why does Jesus send his disciples out on the missionary journey that we read about?  The answer is 9:36, “When he was the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”

                You have been chosen by God to be his missionaries in the world.  That does not mean that you become like the Trozzos in Malaysia.  That means work right here.  Look at the community around us.  It is a community that is harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

                “No,” you reply.  “This is not a community that is harassed and helpless.  Sure, it’s not perfect, but in general people around here are stable and happy.  They are educated.  They have jobs.  They have opportunities.” 

I would say otherwise.  I see people scrambling and crying for some of the most basic needs of humans.  Isn’t it interesting how crazy many families’ schedules are because of children’s activities?  I see a lot of bumper stickers that say things like “Swim Taxi.”  Children complain about being too busy.  Parents feel overstretched by their kids involvement in drama and sports and scouting and any number of things.  Travel sports are perhaps the most fascinating because the time and travel demands are so great yet the schedules are so unpredictable.  Often players don’t know the schedule from one week to the next…  Yet they do it.  They’ll rearrange their family’s whole social (and sometimes work) schedule over and over again to make it happen.

Why?  Do parents think their children will be good enough to get a college scholarship?  Nope.  Do parents think that travel sports build their child’s character and sense of teamwork and their physical fitness?  Some parents may indeed say that, but that’s not the reason.

Here’s the reason, though I think it resides at a sub-conscious level.  Kids want to be on the team because it makes them feel worthwhile.  Though parents grumble, they involve their kids because there is community with the other parents.  They may all sit in the bleachers and grumble about the demands of the team but they feel a sense of belonging that they aren’t getting elsewhere. 

I don’t like to put my family on the spot, but my daughter Emma has advanced well in music.  There is somewhat of a community of parents among the top musicians in Canandaigua.  All of our kids have made it into the exclusive groups and performance.  We all have kids with crazy school schedules because of music.  And we’ve all dumped small fortunes into professional level instruments or private lessons.  Every time there’s a performance we see each other.  It feels good to be in that crowd, and it feels lonely if you are excluded.

If a person’s core sense of belonging and community is based on personal achievement or career accomplishments or their children’s activities or anything similar, that person has built their life on shaky ground.  Jesus says it is like building a house upon the sand.  The community all around us is harassed and helpless; lives built upon sand.  What happens if they lose the job?  What happens if their child doesn’t make the travel team, or when they graduate?  What then?

The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few.  You, just like the twelve disciples, have been chosen and called by Jesus to go out into the harvest.  You have been charged with the wondrous task of inviting people into true community, lasting community.  You are to invite people into a place where they can find belonging; belonging this day and every day.  You get to invite people into a reality of security and rest.  You get to witness to something substantive and real.

Is it going to be easy?  Are people really interested in receiving what is good for them?  Human nature being what it is, no.  But you are called anyway, and that is a two part call.  One part is to go out and do it.  The other part is to look inward and make sure we actually do have a community that is accepting and makes people feel like they belong.  Or said in a more fancy way, a community that brings the kingdom of God to life here on earth.

Have confidence in being chosen and called by God, and be bold in living out that calling.

New Year New Faith New Life

January 1, 2017           New Year’s Day                                   Matthew 3:1-4:17                     

            It’s New Year’s Day and the whole year lays before us fresh and new.  We’re only 11 hours into this year, so if you’re the sort who makes New Year’s resolutions you probably haven’t even had the chance to break them yet.  As for me, I quit making New Year’s resolutions.  If I never make a resolution to improve I never feel guilty about failing!

            In our reading from Matthew we meet two people who talk about changing your life.  Both John the Baptist and Jesus use the exact same words, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”  What does this mean, and why?

            Repentance here does mean to stop doing bad things, but it also has a deeper dimension, especially in light of the kingdom of heaven coming near.

            (Power point slides) Here’s how I think most people see their lives.  This circle is a person and he or she is made up of many parts:  Faith is one part, an important and significant part.  And through the church their faith connects to other people’s faith.  There are other parts as well.  Many people have a job and a connecting workplace.  Or if you are a student you have classes and attend a school.  There is a spouse or significant other.  That’s a major part of life and a commitment.  Parents have children.  They require time, attention and money.  I’d swear you go from spending time changing diapers to spending times on the sidelines of a ballfield or at a concert.

            What we have also has a big impact on us.  A house, cars, maybe a boat or snowmobile or four-wheeler or something else.  These are all big and expensive things.

            Of course there are also other relationships: friends, neighbors, other family members.  And there’s a whole lot more.  What makes you – you – and what defines your life is a complex mix of a lot of things.

            Sometimes people feel exhausted by keeping it all together.  Sometimes demands from one area crowd out others.  Family may suffer because of work.  Children reduce the amount of time parents have for each other.  Expenses and bills may cause you to cut back what you can do other places.  Church participation falters when other demands become too great.  People try to balance it all, but keeping the balance becomes exhausting.  Ultimately they fail; feeling burnt-out and guilty.

            Sometimes when it all falls apart people turn to their faith for help.  They ask God for strength and guidance.  This is good thing, at least they are turning the right way.  However, it is probably too little too late.  True repentance is needed.  This is not the type of repentance where you stop doing naughty things.  This is much deeper.  It is the repentance John the Baptist and Jesus called for.  It is a whole-life reorientation.

            Let’s change our self-understanding to this way:  First and foremost you are a child of God, made in the image of God, whole, complete and good.  You live every day keeping eternity in mind.  You make every decision knowing everything life is only temporary.  Everything: your house, your relationships, your job, your possessions, your traditions; everything.  Your ultimate and eternal reality awaits.  And in light of that everything today is pale and relatively unimportant.

            Now, with that as a lens you view everything else – your job, your house and possessions, your spouse, your kids.  Now things are not tugging against each other.  They are all held in the perspective of faith.  With that lens you then make all your life decisions, big and small.

            This all sounds easy and great; but it’s not.  It’s incredibly hard.

            Try and keep this way of being in mind and then consider the stereotypical college guy on a Friday night.  He goes out to a bar with some friends.  He does what stereotypical college guys do, he checks out all the women in the bar.  What’s going through his mind?  I can tell you what is not going through his mind!  He is not looking the women and judging them by asking himself, “Which of these women can help me be the most effective disciple of Jesus?”

            Let’s go further, and make us all feel guilty.  Did you pick the house you live in by considering how it will help you bring about God’s kingdom?  Did you ever go into a car dealership and say to the salesperson, “I need the best vehicle that will equip me to serve Jesus.”  Did you ever go to your boss and say, “I need a raise so I can give more to charities.”

            Let’s look at the testing of Jesus by the devil in the wilderness.  There are three tests:

Jesus, you’re hungry.  You have the power to get food, so get some for yourself.

Jesus, you have faith.  You’re in good with God.  Make use of it for yourself.

Jesus, you’ve got power.  You can have the biggest house, the prettiest wife, the fattest paycheck and the nicest, smartest, most athletic and best behaved kids in the neighborhood.  All you have to do is use your power like everyone else would.

            These tests, these temptations are not obviously evil.  In fact, they all appear to be for the good.  It’s basically saying: Jesus, structure you’re life according to the model of the world.  Be the stereotypical college guy.  Come on, this is the way good upstanding people live.  This is the way it’s supposed to be.

            Jesus lives for the kingdom of God and he orients himself toward that.  His life was built around the second model of being a person.

            Why do you have to repent in order to have the kingdom of God?  It’s the only way for this second model to work.

            None of us are perfect at this, and don’t think I’m claiming to be better than anyone else with this next thought.  Sometimes people come to me with their life in tatters.  They’re trying the balancing act and it just isn’t working.  They want me to pray that God give them strength and endurance.  I want to say that it’s not that simple.  You’ve made every major life decision apart from God – apart from who God made you to be.  It’s all fallen apart and now you’re asking God to give you strength so you can keep it all together? 

            That’s not how God works.  God is not going to give you the strength to keep going under burdens you’ve wrongfully made for yourself.  That’s like trying to fix a deep chest wound with a Band-Aid.  You need major surgery! 

God always helps.  But God is not going to help you to your own destruction.  God is going to help you to wholeness.

People who are recovering from an addiction know that there is more to recovery than just giving up a substance.  Often their whole lives have been built around the addiction.  If they want to be healthy they may have to give up friends, family ties and a whole way of life.  Otherwise they are fighting a losing battle.

It is easy to become addicted to the ways of the world.

But don’t beat yourself up too much.  I think churches bear a lot of the blame.  My critique of my own ministry, this congregation and many congregations I work with is all the same.  We buy into the idea of faith being part of a well-balanced life.  We buy the idea that life is about getting through with faith as a part of it.  We then make people feel guilty when other things crowd it out.  But I don’t think that is bringing about the kingdom of God.

What did Jesus and John the Baptist mean when they said, “The kingdom of God has come near”?  Many people imagine eternal life, but that is not what they meant.  The kingdom of God is when people live according to the reality of God’s eternal promises.  The kingdom of God is intended for this lifetime here and now.  We do not struggle through life with faith as a crutch.  Through faith we are to embrace life and shape all its possibilities.

It is a new year with new possibilities.  We’re going to make mistakes.  That I know.  And I hope we have some successes.  May we have the insight and the strength to truly repent and instead bring about the kingdom of God, so that God’s good will is done among us here and now.