“Grace and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ!
“I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, thankful for your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.”
These are the words St. Paul uses in the opening of his letter to the Philippians. Today when I am not with you I am writing in the style of one of Paul’s letters.
It is impossible to know for sure, but it is likely that Paul’s letters were read to his congregations much like we would have a sermon in worship today. Writings of those days had no punctuation, no paragraphs, no lower-case letters, and no spaces between words. Imagine reading something that was margin to margin solid capital letters. It is hard to read!
It appears as if Paul would write a letter; then give it to someone to carry to the church to which it was addressed. While traveling that person would read the letter over and over again, effectively memorizing it. That way when they arrived they could read it fluently. Such is the case with Paul’s letter to the Romans. Paul dictated it. A guy named Tertius wrote it down. Then it appears that a woman named Phoebe carried it from wherever Paul wrote it, and then read it to the church in Rome. Communication was certainly more involved than sending someone a text today!
Some things, however, never change. In our gospel reading we encounter Jesus as he continues his journey to Jerusalem. He has been invited to a meal at the house of a Pharisee. Some lawyers are present too. It seems that lawyers in Jesus’ day weren’t any better than lawyers today!
It is tempting to imagine these lawyers being like the personal injury lawyers we have today who advertise with all their catchy ads and jingles. It’s then easy to point a finger at them all.
But I remember being taught not to point; especially because if you point one finger forward there are three pointing back at me!
Unfortunately, we cannot mock the Pharisee and lawyers who were eating with Jesus that day. We cannot call them villains and corrupt. I suspect the dynamics of our lives and their lives overlap.
Jesus tells both the Pharisees and the lawyers that they are being deceptive – appearing good and clean and upright on the surface, but hiding ugliness inside. I think we can all understand that intelligent well-educated people can often find ways that appear moral, and are technically legal, that benefit themselves; but at the expense of others.
I think all of us want to think of ourselves as good people who make good, moral, honorable choices. That’s good! But like the Pharisees and lawyers, we live in systems that allow us to think we are good and moral and honorable, when in reality a lot of the consequences of our actions are unseen by us.
As many of you know, I enjoy riding bicycle. I start most mornings in the summer by riding about 16 miles on the Ontario Pathways Trail. Travel by bike or on foot is very different than by car, or even by horse. A few summers ago my son Ben and I worked on his cycling merit badge for Boy Scouts. It required at least 150 miles of biking. It was a good reminder of a number of things a car driver takes for granted. When driving in car I think nothing of coming up on a hill. I just push the accelerator down more, or the cruise control does it for me. That same hill takes on a very different perspective when it’s my own body’s energy that has to get me to the top!
How much of our transportation do we really achieve by our body’s own physical strength? Do we have any idea whatsoever of how much energy our lives actually consume?
One of our bike rides was from Canandaigua to Geneva on Routes 5 & 20. Riding bike past the county landfill reminds you of another reality we often forget - the incredible cubic yardage of waste we generate.
What is my life pattern? I go to a store. I buy something. I use it. And when I’m done with it I put it in a garbage can. Every Wednesday night I put the garbage can by the curb outside my house. And every Thursday after work I come home and find the garbage can empty – it’s almost miraculous! I’m totally insulated from the before and after effects of my consumption.
And of course riding by the county landfill from Canandaigua towards Geneva on a bike brings another issue. It’s uphill! Being in the open means you smell the landfill for a lot longer that when you whisk by it in a car. But it’s more than just an unpleasant smell. Since you’re propelling your bike on a long uphill section you’re breathing heavily. You need to fill your lungs full repeatedly, except the air stinks! Minute after minute, full lungful after full lungful, you fill your body with foul-smelling air. You feel filthy inside and out! The real impact of the waste that we generate really hits you!
Few people think about what it takes to get things to us and from us.
Hot and cold water just appear from a tap.
Waste water disappears down the drain. Only when you have plumbing problems do you think about where it comes from and where it goes. And only those with wells and septic systems ever think about the water treatment facility that prepped the water in the first place and sewage treatment plant at the end of the drain.
I suppose electricity is equally magical. It just comes from the outlets in our buildings and is controlled by switches in the walls.
My point in all of this is that we have every bit as much opportunity to think we are good people – when we really aren’t – as the Pharisees and lawyers around the table with Jesus that day.
What should we do? Escape from the world and live in an off-the-grid self-supporting commune?
Hardly! It wouldn’t work, and running away from the world’s problems doesn’t actually solve anything.
I think we do well to actually pay attention to things. Think about where the water comes from and where it goes. Realize that products in stores have a past and a future. Realize that someone somewhere that you’ll probably never meet made the clothes you are wearing right now. At the risk of being too vivid, someone made the underwear that is touching you intimately yet you have no idea who it is!
Being aware of this stuff I think is an important first step. Our culture does an excellent job of keeping us blind about things that could make us feel bad. That awareness alone will keep our habits more in line with what God wants from us.
Riding bike along roads can be dangerous. It also takes a certain level of physical fitness. It’s certainly not for everyone. But I encourage everyone to make it a point to regularly travel from place to place using your body’s own energy. Feel the energy of your body being expelled to move it from place to place. It is a connection to reality that is lost when you are insulated in your travel by car.
Also, before you buy something pray about it. Before you throw something away, pray about it. Thank God every time you turn on the faucet and every time you flip a light switch. Realize how much of a bigger pattern your decisions are. You will then be living in more complete enlightenment.
Jesus said, “Therefore consider whether the light in you is not darkness. If then your whole body is full of light, with no part of it in darkness, it will be as full of light as when a lamp gives you light with its rays.” We are to be the light of the world!
May our God strengthen and encourage you each and every day. May God give you boldness and confidence. May God also give you kindness and empathy. And may God bring us all into his heavenly kingdom!
Tuesday, June 28, 2022
Tuesday, June 21, 2022
June 19, 2022 Luke 11:14-36
In the New Interpreter’s Bible commentator R. Alan Culpeper calls our gospel reading a kaleidoscope of images. It seems like a haphazard collection of teachings that tumble around together. And yet, this is not a haphazard collection of images. It is a profound expression of God’s grace, and more specifically, zeros in on the very specific effect it has on a person’s life. We’re going to end with that with a quote from Victor Hugo’s book, Les Misérables. But I want to start with literal kaleidoscopes.
(pass out kaleidoscopes to the congregation)
I’m sure you’ve played with these things before. Light shining through some tumbling translucent shapes, and then bounced around by mirrors creates never ending patterns of color. They are beautiful and fun. And that is the approach I hope you can take as you listen to our gospel reading. You’re welcome to look through your kaleidoscope as you listen to these words from scripture.
(reading of Luke 11:14-36)
Let’s look at the pieces tumbling around. First up is Jesus healing a man who couldn’t speak. Like all medical conditions, this was attributed to demon possession. Many in the crowd were amazed. Remember that we are on Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem. The crowds will keep growing larger the further on we read. So the crowd is amazed for the most part. But some say, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of demons.” Beelzebul means “Baal, the Prince.” It is an old reference to a Philistine god. In the first century it was used synonymously with Satan.
Others in the crowd, despite just seeing Jesus perform a miracle, keep demanding a sign from heaven from him. Apparently that would prove whose side he is working on.
Jesus replies, “If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand?” If Jesus were Satan’s ally then the exorcisms would be a mutiny. Neither kingdom nor house can withstand such internal conflict.
So, if Jesus’ work really is by the power of God, then he is signaling that the kingdom of God is indeed among them. When Jesus says, “But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out the demons,” he is drawing on Exodus 8:19. There the Egyptian magicians are explaining the power of Moses to bring about the many plagues. Jesus’ point is that if his opponents understood even as much as the Egyptian magicians they would see that the kingdom had come.
Next we move on to the image of the strong man. You cannot defeat a strong man unless you are even stronger. Thus, strong as Satan may be, God is stronger. God will break down the fortress of evil.
In rapid fire succession comes the image of the return of the unclean spirit. Jesus says that when an unclean spirit has gone out of a person it wanders through waterless regions looking for a resting place, but not finding any it returns to the person from which it came. And seeing it available it moves in; along with more!
That image may escape us. But let’s consider it from the point of view of alcoholism. An alcoholic is often far more than someone who drinks too much. Often, but not always, the alcohol addiction is a symptom of something else. Perhaps an alcoholic stops drinking, but the underlying issue is still there. You probably know that there is AA, which can help alcoholics deal with their addiction. There is also Al Alon, which can help the family members of an alcoholic deal with the over-arching issues. Perhaps they are actually part of the problem. Or perhaps they are unable to help without more knowledge. Perhaps they are unknowingly being enablers.
The point is, quite often if you take away the alcohol – the demon – then you may not have accomplished anything. If a person gives up all their bad and destructive habits, but doesn’t fill themselves with something constructive, then something else will just come into play.
Or, maybe think of it this way. If you want to lose weight go ahead and eat less. And you’ll probably sit around all day starving and give in to every temptation. But add exercise and constructive work to do and you may actually lose some weight.
Following Jesus is not just emptying yourself of everything sinful and bad. It is also embracing the new truth that Jesus provides. That takes us to the next short piece.
A woman in the crowd says, “Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that nursed you!” Ah, these words are music to any mother’s ears. Their child doesn’t get the credit for their accomplishments. They do. But Jesus counters with the constructive filling that his followers who are on a path to faith embrace. “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it!”
It's such a simple statement. We want Jesus to elaborate more. How do we do this? What does it look like? What is this word we are to obey? Are we not already trying to be good people? These are all good questions. But they will not be answered here. We continue in the jumble of images from the kaleidoscope.
The crowds keep increasing. Jesus says, “This generation is an evil generation; it asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” What does that mean? All by itself it could mean any number of things. But Jesus immediately gives it an interpretive direction. He cites the Queen of the South’s visit to Solomon. According to 1 Kings 10 the Queen of Sheba, journeyed from her kingdom in southwest Arabia to test reports that she had heard about Solomon’s wisdom. After meeting him she was convinced that only God could have given Solomon such wisdom.
Now we can see where Jesus is heading with this one. The foreign queen could recognize the work of God in Solomon. The people to whom Jonah preached, the foreign people of Nineveh, repented and changed their ways at the words of Jonah. Yet this present generation was experiencing Jesus, someone far more powerful than Solomon or Jonah, and yet they are not repenting. They are staying stuck in their evil.
What is this evil? Just like what is the word of God and those who do it, we are not given an answer. At least we aren’t given an answer here. We’ll start to get answers in chapter 12. But until then the focus is on their stubbornness to accept the inbreaking kingdom of God.
The final kaleidoscope piece is the eye being the lamp of the body. This makes absolutely no sense to us. We know that the eye does not create light. It takes in light from its surroundings and turns it into sight. But in those days that’s not how the eye was understood to work. Indeed yes, the world did provide light, but they also believed that the eye emitted light and that sight was possible when light from within met with light from without. Perhaps that seems like pre-scientific foolishness to us, but yet I’m sure you’ve met people whose eyes twinkle with energy and delight. Other people’s eyes seem dull. In a spiritual sense, if the eye is clear, pure, and healthy, then it gives sight. It suggests purity and spiritual health. When the eye is clear and one can see it is as if the whole body is filled with light. Jesus says, “If then your whole body is full of light, with no part of it in darkness, it will be as full of light as when a lamp gives you light with its rays.” (Vs. 36)
Let’s go back to a part I skipped. This is a kaleidoscope after all! This is a good place to pull it all together. Jesus said, “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” (Vs. 23) That is a contrast to 9:50 which we read a few weeks ago. There Jesus said, “Whoever is not against you is for you.” There he is talking about welcoming the support of anyone who would join in. Now, however, as he is on this journey to Jerusalem, is no time for indecision. It is a time of crisis.
That take us to where this whole kaleidoscope of teachings is taking us. Here is where we will end with the words of Victor Hugo in his book Les Miserables. Earlier in the book Jean Valjean, the ex-convict, steals the bishop’s silver. When the police catch him and take him back the bishop verifies Valjean’s story that the silver was a gift to him and adds that he meant to send the silver candlesticks as well. Most criminal minds would consider this to be absurd. They would take the extra silver, live carelessly until the money is gone, and then return to crime. But, in this case the sheer grace of the bishop’s act sets off a furious struggle within him. Here’s the struggle in the author’s own words:
“Faced with all these things, he reeled like a drunk… Did a voice whisper in his ear that he had just passed through the decisive hour of his destiny, that there was no longer a middle course for him, that if, thereafter, he were not the best of men, he would be the worst, that he must now, so to speak, climb higher than the bishop or fall lower than the convict; that, if he wanted to become good, he must become an angel; that, if he wanted to remain evil, he must become a monster?... One thing was certain, though he did not suspect it, that he was no longer the same man, that all was changed in him, that it was no longer in his power to prevent the bishop from having talked to him and having touched him.”
That is driving out a demon and filling the void with love. Though no one is perfect, all sin, that is the power and intention of God’s grace. That is what Jesus was calling for in those who were encountering him.
Maybe it comes in a traumatic event. Maybe it comes slowly and gradually. But God’s grace does come. And may we be driven by that grace to amazing life with God.
Tuesday, June 14, 2022
June 12, 2022 The Holy Trinity Luke 11:1-13
Today we celebrate the rite of confirmation. There are a few directions I could take a sermon that would be misguided.
I could consider the sermon to be like a commencement address at a graduation. I could congratulate them on meeting this milestone, and for completing all the requirements and hard work of the confirmation program. I could try to be inspiring and tell them that they are now equipped to move on into the world and do better and greater things. But this would be a mistake. For confirmation is not graduation. One never completes the task of learning and growing in faith until one dies. Instead of saying people have a funeral when they die, perhaps we should say they’ve graduated when they die. That would be a more appropriate understanding of life.
I could take a sermon in the direction of reminding our confirmands that today they become adults in the eyes of the church. From here on out they have full voting privileges. They can serve in any office of the congregation except treasurer, and that is a matter of having a legal minor in charge of finances. Confirmation is, after all, publicly accepting the promises their parents made on their behalf at baptism. Neither of these boys could talk when they were baptized. They had no say in the matter. Their parents and godparents did the speaking. God did the promising. And so today they take self-ownership of those promises.
Along those lines I could remind them not to follow the path that many confirmands do – that is to stop participating in the life of the congregation. Indeed it had been the norm that churches have Sunday school programs with little children in them. Parents make good on the promises they made at their child’s baptism and do bring them up in the way of faith. Then at confirmation the parents’ obligations are met and their child takes ownership of their own faith; and then they stop attending.
Technically accurate as this may be, it would still be a mistaken path for a sermon at confirmation.
I could draw on our gospel reading from Luke 11. There the disciples asked to teach them how to pray. He responds with what you recognized as the root of the Lord’s Prayer. Jesus then goes on to teach about being persistent in prayer. I’ve always loved the idea of bugging God about something. The idea is that if you are like a persistent and annoying teenager you’ll be able to wear your parents down and they’ll give in. That’s not the image Jesus uses. He talks about asking a friend for bread in the middle of the night, but I think it fits.
Of course there is a problem with that teaching. It makes it sound like all you have to do is hound God long enough and God will give you whatever you ask for. The problem is that you don’t always get your prayers answered. Oh sure, we can easily say that if you persistently pray to God to give you a Ferrari or a yacht or a mansion, those are all pretty selfish things. Similarly if you bug God through prayer asking for injury or death to happen to someone who is your enemy, that is hardly an appropriate prayer too. We could say that God will only answer prayers made in love.
But then what happens when we pray for a loved one who is struggling with cancer or dementia or who is severely injured in an accident? Are those not loving prayers made with purity of heart? What about all those people who have lost family members and friends because of war or gun violence or accidents?
Ah, but we could be clever. We could give God an out for not answering these prayers. We could say that what Jesus meant by being persistent in prayer is not that God will actually give you what you want. That would, after all, compromise free will. No, what you are really doing with your persistence is considering the situation in prayer with God over and over again and allowing faith to be a part of the struggle. Yes, that is a very appealing approach. It lets God off the hook and still makes us feel like we have some control.
Indeed I say we could take any of these directions for a sermon on a Sunday when we have confirmation. I say that because I have in fact taken each and every one of those routes. But while each has its merits, each also is misguided and has its flaws. I hope I have not done too much damage with those paths in the past.
We are taking a different approach. At the Rite of Confirmation our two confirmands will be examined by me. A couple generations ago some churches would allow the pastor or even congregational members to ask the confirmands questions in public during the worship service. The confirmands were expected to be able to answer. I’m sure it was terrifying. I certainly would be. How would they respond if I asked them about why St. Augustine’s understanding of Original Sin is fundamentally flawed? They did actually cover that in class although I’d be shocked if they remembered!
No, they will have an examination. And they will have the answers right in front of them. They will be examined by being asked three very strange questions:
Do you renounce the devil and all the forces that defy God?
Do you renounces the powers of this world that rebel against God?
Do you renounce the ways of sin that draw you from God?
And they will respond, “I renounce them.”
Now there’s a phrase I doubt you’ve ever heard a teenager say! Parents how many times have you heard a child say, “I renounce them!” You ask, “Were you out with that group of kids that damaged the playground last week?” And they say, “I renounce them!”
Or your child has her science homework done very early in the evening and you ask, “Are you sure you didn’t get the answers from one of your friends?” “I renounce doing that!”
No, we don’t renounce things. In fact we don’t even really know what renounce means. My trusty old Webster’s Dictionary defines renounce as, “to give up or put aside voluntarily” (my emphasis added)
It is a choice. It is a decision. It is not forced or coerced.
Now exactly how voluntary their renunciation will be is questionable. They are, after all, following the script given to them. I don’t know exactly our confirmands perfectly, but I’d be shocked if they, all on their own, would come up with the word “renounce”! But still, it is quite a public statement about how they intend to direct their lives.
“Do you renounce the devil and all the forces that defy God?”
“Do you renounce the powers of this world that rebel against God?”
“Do you renounce the ways of sin that draw you from God?”
While things like: the devil, the powers of this world that rebel against God, and the ways of sin that draw you from God, may all seem like old fashioned concepts from the superstitious past, I would argue that they are not.
There is something in this world that drives most people to have a mindset of fear, scarcity, and shame. God provides goodness. God provides enough for all. God provides wholeness. But all too often fear and scarcity drive people to greed. From the greed comes scarcity, division, and competition.
I am not so foolish as to think that as our confirmands make their renunciations that they will substantively change their lives. And yet, with what they have learned in confirmation class, and in Sunday school, and from their parents, siblings, teachers, and fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, they know God’s wisdom is behind the renunciations they make. And they know that just as God chose them in baptism, God will be with them today. And God will be with them tomorrow.
Jesus talked about the need to be persistent in prayer. Yes indeed. But God is also persistent, relentless in fact, in pursuing us too. Our confirmands are loved by God and God simply will not let go of them. Whether they live by - or totally fail to - renounce the things they renounce, God is with them.
I started the sermon by saying what I should not preach. I will end with what I should preach. God doesn’t ever let go. God never fails to see - and want to build upon - the goodness and beauty that God created a person to have. God simply likes us.
To renounce the things is not hard. It is simply to say you’re not going to get in the way of letting God do what God loves to do. That is to journey with us through life: equipping us, rejoicing in us, crying with us, maturing us, and ultimately bringing us to fullness of life.
Blessings to our confirmands. May they always feel God at work in them. May they always feel like the miracles that they are!
I could consider the sermon to be like a commencement address at a graduation. I could congratulate them on meeting this milestone, and for completing all the requirements and hard work of the confirmation program. I could try to be inspiring and tell them that they are now equipped to move on into the world and do better and greater things. But this would be a mistake. For confirmation is not graduation. One never completes the task of learning and growing in faith until one dies. Instead of saying people have a funeral when they die, perhaps we should say they’ve graduated when they die. That would be a more appropriate understanding of life.
I could take a sermon in the direction of reminding our confirmands that today they become adults in the eyes of the church. From here on out they have full voting privileges. They can serve in any office of the congregation except treasurer, and that is a matter of having a legal minor in charge of finances. Confirmation is, after all, publicly accepting the promises their parents made on their behalf at baptism. Neither of these boys could talk when they were baptized. They had no say in the matter. Their parents and godparents did the speaking. God did the promising. And so today they take self-ownership of those promises.
Along those lines I could remind them not to follow the path that many confirmands do – that is to stop participating in the life of the congregation. Indeed it had been the norm that churches have Sunday school programs with little children in them. Parents make good on the promises they made at their child’s baptism and do bring them up in the way of faith. Then at confirmation the parents’ obligations are met and their child takes ownership of their own faith; and then they stop attending.
Technically accurate as this may be, it would still be a mistaken path for a sermon at confirmation.
I could draw on our gospel reading from Luke 11. There the disciples asked to teach them how to pray. He responds with what you recognized as the root of the Lord’s Prayer. Jesus then goes on to teach about being persistent in prayer. I’ve always loved the idea of bugging God about something. The idea is that if you are like a persistent and annoying teenager you’ll be able to wear your parents down and they’ll give in. That’s not the image Jesus uses. He talks about asking a friend for bread in the middle of the night, but I think it fits.
Of course there is a problem with that teaching. It makes it sound like all you have to do is hound God long enough and God will give you whatever you ask for. The problem is that you don’t always get your prayers answered. Oh sure, we can easily say that if you persistently pray to God to give you a Ferrari or a yacht or a mansion, those are all pretty selfish things. Similarly if you bug God through prayer asking for injury or death to happen to someone who is your enemy, that is hardly an appropriate prayer too. We could say that God will only answer prayers made in love.
But then what happens when we pray for a loved one who is struggling with cancer or dementia or who is severely injured in an accident? Are those not loving prayers made with purity of heart? What about all those people who have lost family members and friends because of war or gun violence or accidents?
Ah, but we could be clever. We could give God an out for not answering these prayers. We could say that what Jesus meant by being persistent in prayer is not that God will actually give you what you want. That would, after all, compromise free will. No, what you are really doing with your persistence is considering the situation in prayer with God over and over again and allowing faith to be a part of the struggle. Yes, that is a very appealing approach. It lets God off the hook and still makes us feel like we have some control.
Indeed I say we could take any of these directions for a sermon on a Sunday when we have confirmation. I say that because I have in fact taken each and every one of those routes. But while each has its merits, each also is misguided and has its flaws. I hope I have not done too much damage with those paths in the past.
We are taking a different approach. At the Rite of Confirmation our two confirmands will be examined by me. A couple generations ago some churches would allow the pastor or even congregational members to ask the confirmands questions in public during the worship service. The confirmands were expected to be able to answer. I’m sure it was terrifying. I certainly would be. How would they respond if I asked them about why St. Augustine’s understanding of Original Sin is fundamentally flawed? They did actually cover that in class although I’d be shocked if they remembered!
No, they will have an examination. And they will have the answers right in front of them. They will be examined by being asked three very strange questions:
Do you renounce the devil and all the forces that defy God?
Do you renounces the powers of this world that rebel against God?
Do you renounce the ways of sin that draw you from God?
And they will respond, “I renounce them.”
Now there’s a phrase I doubt you’ve ever heard a teenager say! Parents how many times have you heard a child say, “I renounce them!” You ask, “Were you out with that group of kids that damaged the playground last week?” And they say, “I renounce them!”
Or your child has her science homework done very early in the evening and you ask, “Are you sure you didn’t get the answers from one of your friends?” “I renounce doing that!”
No, we don’t renounce things. In fact we don’t even really know what renounce means. My trusty old Webster’s Dictionary defines renounce as, “to give up or put aside voluntarily” (my emphasis added)
It is a choice. It is a decision. It is not forced or coerced.
Now exactly how voluntary their renunciation will be is questionable. They are, after all, following the script given to them. I don’t know exactly our confirmands perfectly, but I’d be shocked if they, all on their own, would come up with the word “renounce”! But still, it is quite a public statement about how they intend to direct their lives.
“Do you renounce the devil and all the forces that defy God?”
“Do you renounce the powers of this world that rebel against God?”
“Do you renounce the ways of sin that draw you from God?”
While things like: the devil, the powers of this world that rebel against God, and the ways of sin that draw you from God, may all seem like old fashioned concepts from the superstitious past, I would argue that they are not.
There is something in this world that drives most people to have a mindset of fear, scarcity, and shame. God provides goodness. God provides enough for all. God provides wholeness. But all too often fear and scarcity drive people to greed. From the greed comes scarcity, division, and competition.
I am not so foolish as to think that as our confirmands make their renunciations that they will substantively change their lives. And yet, with what they have learned in confirmation class, and in Sunday school, and from their parents, siblings, teachers, and fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, they know God’s wisdom is behind the renunciations they make. And they know that just as God chose them in baptism, God will be with them today. And God will be with them tomorrow.
Jesus talked about the need to be persistent in prayer. Yes indeed. But God is also persistent, relentless in fact, in pursuing us too. Our confirmands are loved by God and God simply will not let go of them. Whether they live by - or totally fail to - renounce the things they renounce, God is with them.
I started the sermon by saying what I should not preach. I will end with what I should preach. God doesn’t ever let go. God never fails to see - and want to build upon - the goodness and beauty that God created a person to have. God simply likes us.
To renounce the things is not hard. It is simply to say you’re not going to get in the way of letting God do what God loves to do. That is to journey with us through life: equipping us, rejoicing in us, crying with us, maturing us, and ultimately bringing us to fullness of life.
Blessings to our confirmands. May they always feel God at work in them. May they always feel like the miracles that they are!
Monday, June 6, 2022
June 5, 2022 Pentecost Luke 10:25-42
At first glance the parable of the Good Samaritan and the story of Martha and Mary appear to have nothing at all in common. But then when you start to dwell in the two accounts you realize they are two sides of the same coin. This is one of those times when two stories are intended to interpret each other.
We start where Luke starts us. Luke presents us with an unnamed lawyer who wants to test Jesus. Luke gives us mixed feelings about this guy. As commentator Joel Green points out, he stands before Jesus; a sign of esteem, and addresses Jesus respectfully as “teacher”. On the other hand, he is a lawyer. Luke doesn’t generally portray them well. And his question is a test of Jesus’ orthodoxy, not necessarily a genuine question of discipleship. He also uses legal terms focused on himself. “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” He appears to be trying to earn God’s favor with his behavior. “Inherit” is a legal term. He appears to want to do the right thing for God and have God reward him in turn for doing the right thing.
So overall this guy is a mixed bag. In many ways he’s just like Jesus’ twelve disciples!
As Luke introduces this guy, and then Jesus tells a parable, Luke creates a parallel between the parable and the guy’s request. We’re not going to get into it but I want us to recognize the level of literary craftmanship Luke is using.
The Parable of the Good Samaritan is one of Jesus’ most famous and it is also ludicrous. The road from Jerusalem to Jericho is a 2300’ descent. Travel in those days was dangerous and this road was particularly known to be. Imagine walking down Joseph Ave. in Rochester all by yourself in the middle of the night. …not your safest decision in life!
The traveler is left completely anonymous. We don’t know his background, his faith, or his ethnicity. He’s just a man – any man. He is attacked, stripped, robbed, and left for dead. A priest walks by. Later a Levite. These are two people of high holy status in the Jewish faith by their birthright. Jesus says they are going down the road. Down means away from Jerusalem. Thus, these two did not ignore the man because they were on their way to perform temple service and didn’t want to defile themselves. No, as Joel Green points out, “Within their world their association with the temple commends them as persons of exemplary piety whose actions would be regarded as self-evidently righteous. They are accustomed to being evaluated on the basis of their ancestry, not on the basis of their performance. Accordingly, their failure to assist the anonymous man would have been laudable in the eyes of many.” (New International Commentary on the New Testament, Luke, Pg. 431)
Though it may seem ridiculous to us, the core question was what created righteousness before God? Actions or ancestry?
Next we meet a person of the wrong ancestry – a Samaritan. Who knows why Jews and Samaritans disliked (or even hated) each other as much as they did? Some of it was ancestry and religion, much of it is forever unknown. What we do know is that a Samaritan was someone Jews liked to despise. And so when Jesus makes the Samaritan the model of righteousness he is making his hearers’ skin crawl.
But Jesus doesn’t just have the Samaritan offer help when the Jewish characters did not. The Samaritan goes to the extreme. He stops on this dangerous road – putting himself in danger as well. He tends to the man’s wounds. Then the takes the injured man to an inn where he continues to take care of him.
If you know the book or the musical Les Misérables, you have a good sense of what innkeepers were like in those days. Remember the innkeepers song in the musical? The song is not appropriate for a “family” sermon, but here’s an excerpt:
Food beyond compare. Food beyond belief
Mix it in a mincer and pretend it's beef
Kidney of a horse, liver of a cat
Filling up the sausages with this and that
Residents are more than welcome
Bridal suite is occupied
Reasonable charges
Plus some little extras on the side!
Charge 'em for the lice, extra for the mice
Two percent for looking in the mirror twice
Here a little slice, there a little cut
Three percent for sleeping with the window shut
When it comes to fixing prices
There are a lot of tricks I know
How it all increases, all them bits and pieces
Jesus! It's amazing how it grows!
Yes, that seems to sum up an innkeeper of Jesus’ day. Jesus is certainly playing on that when the Samaritan says to the innkeeper, “Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.” There’s no doubting that’ll be a high bill!
And so Jesus wraps up the parable with the question to the lawyer, “Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of he robbers?” Notice the lawyer’s response. He does not say, “The Samaritan,” with embarrassment. No, he can’t even get those words out. He ducks around the issue with, “The one who showed him mercy.”
So does that mean we need to be extreme in our acts of service? Do we have to empty our agendas and our savings accounts helping anonymous people who are unfairly treated? Enter the Mary and Martha story.
Martha is certainly busy. Mary appears lazy sitting passively and listening to Jesus. But this passage is also shocking. Who does Mary think she is to have the nerve to ignore the expectations of hospitality to an honored guest and place herself among the male disciples of a rabbi? Women had their place. Men had their place. Mary should know her place, the role of her gender, and the service expectations that go with it.
At play here is more than just Martha having a good work ethic and Mary being lazy. At the center here is where does a woman of that day find her value, her self-worth? Society would say that a woman’s value comes pretty much entirely by serving men and by bearing children. We know nothing about this Mary’s motherhood status, but she is clearly not serving.
Before we condemn Martha too quickly, let’s understand that Jesus’ reply shakes her world to its core. She knows who she is. She knows where her value comes. She knows right from wrong, just like the lawyer we met earlier. She is going to do her role to completion.
So what then happens to her source of self-worth, when her value, does not revolve around fulfilling the societal expectations of womanhood? These are frightening prospects for her.
Perhaps Mary was lazy. We don’t know. But she is certainly bold here. She is not only breaking all gender expectations, she is putting her self-worth in being a disciple of Jesus. From many perspectives that is risky business! Remember a couple weeks ago when Jesus said, “The Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head,” and, “Let the dead bury their own dead,” and, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God”?
None of these things are things that are within a person’s control.
I think there is a lot of Martha and the lawyer in all of us. We want to have a great deal of say over that which makes us feel worthwhile. We want to know what we know; and to succeed by knowing it. We want our center of ourselves to be within our own grasp.
That is where we find security. That is where we feel safe. That is where we feel like we have belonging.
So, what do you expect of us Jesus? Give us one good reason to follow. Give us reasons to break social and racial and gender norms. Where is the ‘good news’ in all of this?
Look at what the disciples did. When they saw where truly following Jesus was really taking them – to a pain-filled shameful death – they did what any smart person would do. They fled!!!
Fortunately for us, God knows our deepest fears and failings. The good news is that God loves us despite our failings.
Following Jesus will not give us all the answers. It will not make everything in life work out well. It will not be a rock solid and secure source of value for every day of our lives. There will always be tension and uncertainty.
And yet we know the truth, and the freedom. Look at what happened on that Pentecost day. Look at what happened to the disciples who had been fearful before. God’s Spirit, breaking all conventions and expectations and limits and boundaries came to them.
We are more than what our role in society tells us. And we are not bound by conventions and norms. We are fully who God made us to be. Nothing and no one should define us otherwise. Many in society do not like that. They do not like – or they are threatened by – the true freedom God give us. And so they will push back. They will make life hard. But God is stronger. God is with us. And God will inspire our courage as it needs to happen. That is true discipleship!
We start where Luke starts us. Luke presents us with an unnamed lawyer who wants to test Jesus. Luke gives us mixed feelings about this guy. As commentator Joel Green points out, he stands before Jesus; a sign of esteem, and addresses Jesus respectfully as “teacher”. On the other hand, he is a lawyer. Luke doesn’t generally portray them well. And his question is a test of Jesus’ orthodoxy, not necessarily a genuine question of discipleship. He also uses legal terms focused on himself. “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” He appears to be trying to earn God’s favor with his behavior. “Inherit” is a legal term. He appears to want to do the right thing for God and have God reward him in turn for doing the right thing.
So overall this guy is a mixed bag. In many ways he’s just like Jesus’ twelve disciples!
As Luke introduces this guy, and then Jesus tells a parable, Luke creates a parallel between the parable and the guy’s request. We’re not going to get into it but I want us to recognize the level of literary craftmanship Luke is using.
The Parable of the Good Samaritan is one of Jesus’ most famous and it is also ludicrous. The road from Jerusalem to Jericho is a 2300’ descent. Travel in those days was dangerous and this road was particularly known to be. Imagine walking down Joseph Ave. in Rochester all by yourself in the middle of the night. …not your safest decision in life!
The traveler is left completely anonymous. We don’t know his background, his faith, or his ethnicity. He’s just a man – any man. He is attacked, stripped, robbed, and left for dead. A priest walks by. Later a Levite. These are two people of high holy status in the Jewish faith by their birthright. Jesus says they are going down the road. Down means away from Jerusalem. Thus, these two did not ignore the man because they were on their way to perform temple service and didn’t want to defile themselves. No, as Joel Green points out, “Within their world their association with the temple commends them as persons of exemplary piety whose actions would be regarded as self-evidently righteous. They are accustomed to being evaluated on the basis of their ancestry, not on the basis of their performance. Accordingly, their failure to assist the anonymous man would have been laudable in the eyes of many.” (New International Commentary on the New Testament, Luke, Pg. 431)
Though it may seem ridiculous to us, the core question was what created righteousness before God? Actions or ancestry?
Next we meet a person of the wrong ancestry – a Samaritan. Who knows why Jews and Samaritans disliked (or even hated) each other as much as they did? Some of it was ancestry and religion, much of it is forever unknown. What we do know is that a Samaritan was someone Jews liked to despise. And so when Jesus makes the Samaritan the model of righteousness he is making his hearers’ skin crawl.
But Jesus doesn’t just have the Samaritan offer help when the Jewish characters did not. The Samaritan goes to the extreme. He stops on this dangerous road – putting himself in danger as well. He tends to the man’s wounds. Then the takes the injured man to an inn where he continues to take care of him.
If you know the book or the musical Les Misérables, you have a good sense of what innkeepers were like in those days. Remember the innkeepers song in the musical? The song is not appropriate for a “family” sermon, but here’s an excerpt:
Food beyond compare. Food beyond belief
Mix it in a mincer and pretend it's beef
Kidney of a horse, liver of a cat
Filling up the sausages with this and that
Residents are more than welcome
Bridal suite is occupied
Reasonable charges
Plus some little extras on the side!
Charge 'em for the lice, extra for the mice
Two percent for looking in the mirror twice
Here a little slice, there a little cut
Three percent for sleeping with the window shut
When it comes to fixing prices
There are a lot of tricks I know
How it all increases, all them bits and pieces
Jesus! It's amazing how it grows!
Yes, that seems to sum up an innkeeper of Jesus’ day. Jesus is certainly playing on that when the Samaritan says to the innkeeper, “Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.” There’s no doubting that’ll be a high bill!
And so Jesus wraps up the parable with the question to the lawyer, “Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of he robbers?” Notice the lawyer’s response. He does not say, “The Samaritan,” with embarrassment. No, he can’t even get those words out. He ducks around the issue with, “The one who showed him mercy.”
So does that mean we need to be extreme in our acts of service? Do we have to empty our agendas and our savings accounts helping anonymous people who are unfairly treated? Enter the Mary and Martha story.
Martha is certainly busy. Mary appears lazy sitting passively and listening to Jesus. But this passage is also shocking. Who does Mary think she is to have the nerve to ignore the expectations of hospitality to an honored guest and place herself among the male disciples of a rabbi? Women had their place. Men had their place. Mary should know her place, the role of her gender, and the service expectations that go with it.
At play here is more than just Martha having a good work ethic and Mary being lazy. At the center here is where does a woman of that day find her value, her self-worth? Society would say that a woman’s value comes pretty much entirely by serving men and by bearing children. We know nothing about this Mary’s motherhood status, but she is clearly not serving.
Before we condemn Martha too quickly, let’s understand that Jesus’ reply shakes her world to its core. She knows who she is. She knows where her value comes. She knows right from wrong, just like the lawyer we met earlier. She is going to do her role to completion.
So what then happens to her source of self-worth, when her value, does not revolve around fulfilling the societal expectations of womanhood? These are frightening prospects for her.
Perhaps Mary was lazy. We don’t know. But she is certainly bold here. She is not only breaking all gender expectations, she is putting her self-worth in being a disciple of Jesus. From many perspectives that is risky business! Remember a couple weeks ago when Jesus said, “The Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head,” and, “Let the dead bury their own dead,” and, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God”?
None of these things are things that are within a person’s control.
I think there is a lot of Martha and the lawyer in all of us. We want to have a great deal of say over that which makes us feel worthwhile. We want to know what we know; and to succeed by knowing it. We want our center of ourselves to be within our own grasp.
That is where we find security. That is where we feel safe. That is where we feel like we have belonging.
So, what do you expect of us Jesus? Give us one good reason to follow. Give us reasons to break social and racial and gender norms. Where is the ‘good news’ in all of this?
Look at what the disciples did. When they saw where truly following Jesus was really taking them – to a pain-filled shameful death – they did what any smart person would do. They fled!!!
Fortunately for us, God knows our deepest fears and failings. The good news is that God loves us despite our failings.
Following Jesus will not give us all the answers. It will not make everything in life work out well. It will not be a rock solid and secure source of value for every day of our lives. There will always be tension and uncertainty.
And yet we know the truth, and the freedom. Look at what happened on that Pentecost day. Look at what happened to the disciples who had been fearful before. God’s Spirit, breaking all conventions and expectations and limits and boundaries came to them.
We are more than what our role in society tells us. And we are not bound by conventions and norms. We are fully who God made us to be. Nothing and no one should define us otherwise. Many in society do not like that. They do not like – or they are threatened by – the true freedom God give us. And so they will push back. They will make life hard. But God is stronger. God is with us. And God will inspire our courage as it needs to happen. That is true discipleship!
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