September 25, 2022 Parable of the Greedy King Luke 19:11-27

             If you’re like me in this, and I’m pretty sure it’s safe to assume that you are, you love junk foods.  Junk foods can almost be addictive once you get to eating them.  There is a very good reason why.  They’re especially engineered to make you want to eat them, and then overeat them, and then still crave more of them. 

            Food companies spend millions developing their products with teams of food scientists for the purpose of creating a bliss point for you.  That bliss point is the exact balance of sugars, salt, fat, and flavors that isn’t too much, but isn’t too little, and it makes your brain crave more.

            While candy bars definitely fall into the category of junk food, they are distinctly different than, say, potato chips.  I think Snickers candy bars live up to their advertising claim that, “Snickers really satisfies.”  I love them.  And when I eat a full size one I am indeed satisfied.  I don’t really want to eat a second one, at least not for a while.

            But a bag of potato chips, that’s a different story entirely.  What evil genius came up with the idea of a “serving size” for potato chips?  There’s no such thing.  For me, eating a serving size is only going to make me mad.

            When we decided to resume coffee hour as the pandemic went on we decided to go with only prepackaged foods.  And thus we started getting those serving size bags of different flavored chips.  But one of those bags is hardly enough.  If I eat one bag I really want to eat seven more!

            If you’re sitting here in the sanctuary you probably have visions of your favorite junk food floating in your mind’s eye right now.  And if you’re watching online I’m guessing there’s a good chance you’re contemplating going to the pantry to get something, if you haven’t already!

            I’m not going to go so far as to call junk foods diabolical, but they definitely get into the realm of insatiable greed.

            I use them as an introduction to the parable we read from Luke’s gospel today.  It’s known variously as the Parable of the Pounds, or the Parable of the Minas, or as I prefer to see it called, the Parable of the Greedy and Vengeful King.

            This parable probably trips us up.  There’s a similar parable in Matthew’s gospel – the Parable of the Talents.  There we have a wealthy man going on a journey.  He summons some of his slaves and gives them talents of money to manage while he is away.  A talent is a huge sum of money – something like 15 to 20 years wages for the average worker.  In that parable when the man returns he asks for a reckoning from his slaves.  Two have invested their talents and doubled their money.  A third has hidden the money and done nothing with it.  The man praises the work of those who earned great returns.  He has the third slave thrown into outer darkness and destroyed.

            It is a somewhat frightening parable, but we get the point that we are the slaves and that we are to use the things God has given us for the increase of his kingdom.

            It is very difficult to read this parable from Luke and not think we are supposed to give it the same interpretation.  However, I believe that would be a mistake, a BIG mistake.  In Luke’s version I believe the parable is teaching the exact opposite lesson.

             Let’s put this parable in its context within Luke.  All summer we’ve been following Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem.  This journey makes up the central third of Luke’s gospel.  This parable is the very end of that journey.  If we read just one verse further we’re in the story of Palm Sunday.  There is our clue for how to interpret it.

            In those days the economy was basically stagnant.  Unlike today where we believe there is no limit to economic growth, then they saw all resources as being limited.  There was only so much land.  There was only so much money.  No more.  No less.  In order for me to get more it meant that someone else had to have less.  You clung dearly to what you had, and you worked hard not to lose it.

            As it is in Luke, the dynamics of this parable would have been familiar to its hearers.  A look at the history of that time shows several leaders who did just what the king does.  By some shrewdness or leveraging they had come to have control of additional land, and they left to inspect it and impose their rule.  As was typical of kings of the time, those who accepted his rule would be rewarded.  Those who sought to undermine the king would be punished or executed.

            When the king in the parable goes away he entrusts some of his riches to his slaves with the instructions to do business with them until he gets back.  Specifically it is ten slaves and each is given a pound, also called a mina.  A mina was about three months wages for a laborer.  So, it’s a great deal less than the talents in Matthew’s parable, but it is still a great deal of money for a laborer.

            When the king returns he asks for a reckoning from his slaves.  Now keep in mind, the economy is stagnant.  In order for someone to have more someone else has to have less.  So, we should be appalled that the first slave called reports that he has achieved a tenfold increase in his master’s wealth.  There’s no way such growth could have happened honestly.  This slave has to have leveraged, exploited, manipulated and trampled upon who knows how many people to get such a return.  The greedy king is delighted.  As a reward for such shrewdness and dirty dealings this slave is put in charge of ten cities.  We start to see the qualities this king wants from his staff.

            The second slave comes and has a five-fold increase in the money.  The king is not quite as pleased by this.  He offers the slave no praise, but it is still the cunning attitude he is looking for.  He puts this slave in charge of five cities.

            We then hear about a third slave.  This one has hidden the money and is not returning it.  Unlike Matthew’s version, where we join in criticizing this slave for being worthless and lazy, here we should be in solidarity with him.  This slave was not about to manipulate and exploit others on behalf of the overly greedy king.  This king is like a junk food mogul.  He wants more and more and more.  He can never have enough.  But this slave will put a stop to it in whatever way he can.  In this parable it is this slave who shows honesty and integrity.

            The king is enraged.  He takes the pound from the slave and adds it to the pile already in front of his top achiever.  Then the king says, “I tell you, to all those who have, more will be given; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.”

            I know this will give us intellectual whiplash, for those are almost the same exact words used in Matthew’s version of the parable, and there they are words of praise for faithful disciples, but here those exact same words carry the opposite message.

            Think about what I said earlier.  If we read one verse farther we are into the Palm Sunday text.  Jesus has completed his journey to Jerusalem for the Passover holiday.  Sunday he will enter the city.  Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday he will publicly teach in the temple complex, Thursday he will have the last supper with his disciples.  By nighttime he will be arrested.  Friday he will be tried, sentenced, and executed.

            “For those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.”  Is that not our Lord’s path in the days ahead?  Indeed it is.

            I know it is hard to wrap our heads around opposite meanings from similar parables in two gospels, but I think that is indeed what we are to do.

            Commentator R. Alan Culpepper says this, “The parable underscores not the similarity between the king’s servants and the followers of Jesus but the contrast between such a king and the kingdom of God.  The king condemns the third servant as wicked, but Luke introduced the Gospel with a reference to “King Herod of Judea” and alluded to the wicked things Herod had done.  The reversal is subtle but unmistakable.  When the wicked king rewards servants for their acquisition of property and condemns the third servant as wicked, the reader knows that the servant and the bystanders who protest his punishment are not wicked but righteous.

            On the other hand, Jesus too has been on a journey, and he is on his way to Jerusalem where he will be hailed as a king.  He will confront the authorities in the Temple and condemn the scribes who “devour widows houses”.  He will praise the widow who gives two copper coins and announce the immanent destruction of the city.

            The parable, therefore, invites reflection on what it means to claim Jesus as “the king who comes in the name of the Lord”.  The norm of royal retribution applies:  Every king rewards those who serve him well and punishes his enemies.  But in Jesus’ kingdom the standards for reward and punishment are reversed.”

(New Interpreter’s Bible, Volume 9, Pgs. 363-4)

            In our world of more, more, more.  And products designed for us to want more, more, more.  God’s will is a contrast.  More, more, more of junk food will make you overweight, give you blood sugar problems, and give you cholesterol problems.  Then the manufacturers of junk foods can sell you their diet foods.  And indeed some companies have divisions for both junk food and diet food production.  They get you coming and going.

            God’s reign will perhaps not “get you coming and going,” but it will keep you always, from baptism to death.  God’s will can keep us out of the self-destructive cycle of greed and give us deep and lasting satisfaction.  And I can promise you, that while it’s no sin to eat a potato chip, and they can certainly be enjoyed, God’s way will keep us healthy in body, mind, and spirit.  That is to be truly alive!

September 18, 2022 Zacchaeus Luke 18:35-19:10

             You’ve surely come across the phrase, “Past performance is not a guarantee of future results.”  You see that on information from financial investment firms.  And you see it on the advertisements of personal injury lawyers.  They want to make it clear that they are not to be held responsible if the future doesn’t turn out well.

The thing is, in reality past performance is probably the best indicator of future results.  If you are a manager in a company there are probably people who are working for you that if you give them a project, even if it is difficult, or maybe even impossible, they will figure out some way of getting the job done, doing it well, and doing it on time.  And there are other people that you cringe to give a project to.  Somehow, someway everything they touch ends up being behind schedule and over budget.  They can be given an established project that is going well and they will run it into the ground.  They just don’t know how to manage.  No matter how much training they receive, and no matter how many chances you give them, they just underperform; if not outright fail.

            People rarely change, at least not significantly.

            So we are startled to read the story of Zacchaeus in today’s gospel reading.  If you grew up going to Sunday school you may remember the cute little song about Zacchaeus being a wee little man, a wee little man was he.  I’d sing it, but you don’t want me to.  It is easy to imagine Zacchaeus as cute.  It is easy to see him as a tragic little man who, for some reasons beyond his control, he was driven to become a tax collector, which was not a reputable occupation.  But let’s look more carefully.  Zacchaeus is described as a chief tax collector.  Or more literally a ruling tax collector.  That word “ruling” tips us off to a ruler we read about just before.

            If you were here last week you’ll remember we had the story of the rich ruler who asked Jesus what he had to do to inherit eternal life.  I said that scene was part 1 of a two-part episode.  Zacchaeus is part 2.  The stories are told as parallels.  Both are rich.  Both are rulers.  But one accepts God’s grace and changes dramatically.  And the other proves the point that a camel can’t go through the eye of a needle.

            It is easy to imagine Zacchaeus as a cute harmless little man, and the rich ruler as a tall, stern, judgmental fellow.  But I think that’s a mistake.

            The Bible doesn’t give us much in the way of details about these two men, but I think the rich ruler would be the kind of person we would like to invite over to dinner.  He was smart, educated, disciplined, well-mannered, good, and maybe even kind.  He’s the sort of person you’d want you kids to grow up to be like.

            Then there’s Zacchaeus.  Now remember, he is not just a tax collector.  He’s a ruling tax collector.  That’s all the proof we need to know he’s a truly bad guy.  He’s worked his way up the ranks of tax collectors.  He’s made a living by selling out his own people to the enemy.  He may have been a spy.  He may have given breaks to those who scratch his back, and turned the screws to those he didn’t like.  If you’re a man he may have reduced or dropped your taxes in exchange for certain, shall we say, “favors” from your wife or daughter.  I suspect he was squirrely and untrustworthy.  I doubt the Romans liked him any more than the Jews.  You would not invite Zacchaeus to your house for dinner.  You would not use him as a model for your children.  Do not underestimate how appalled the crowds were that Jesus singled Zacchaeus out and invited himself to dinner.

            As the stories go we do have a huge contrast between the rich ruler and Zacchaeus.  The rich ruler approached Jesus.   He called him “Good teacher.”  He asked him a righteous question. 

Zacchaeus didn’t dare approach Jesus.  He may have been ridiculed or injured by the crowd.  Instead he runs ahead and climbs a tree.  Neither running nor climbing a tree are dignified activities for a grown man of importance.  I imagine the crowd giggling with glee at his silly behavior.  And the crowd also feeling a bit of smug satisfaction that he is being pushed out.

Have you ever felt that way?  Sometimes when you enter a construction zone on a highway the lanes reduce from two to one.  Most people will dutifully merge well before they have to.  But often there’s some jerk who drives ahead and tries to horn in.  The selfishness is infuriating.  And there’s nothing more gleeful than seeing people not let the jerk jip ahead, but instead have to wait; perhaps even being forced to wait longer as punishment for their selfishness.  I have no idea, but it is entirely possible that that is what the crowd felt as they saw little Zacchaeus being excluded from getting up close and personal with Jesus.

Who knows what was going on in Zacchaeus’ heart.  The text just tells us that he wanted to “see who Jesus was” (19:3).  Maybe he was curious.  Maybe he was desperate.  Maybe he wanted to see if he could shake Jesus down for some unpaid taxes!  Or indeed, maybe his heart was desperately yearning for hope, love, and a good future.  Who knows.  Whatever the case, Jesus notices him.

Notice Jesus does not ask Zacchaeus to come down.  And Jesus does not ask Zacchaeus if he can come over for dinner.  He commands Zacchaeus to hurry down from the tree.  Why?  Because, and notice the language here, “must stay at your house today.”   There’s no doubt.  There’s no question.  There’s no option.  Jesus has invited himself to dinner at the house of a scoundrel.

Our minds might be spinning and the way God’s grace works.  Indeed God’s grace does not follow rules.  God’s grace does not follow logic.  All we know for certain is that we don’t deserve it, but God guarantees it to us anyway.

And so Zacchaeus complies.

The crowds grumble, “He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.”  Notice this is not the religious leaders grumbling.  This is not the Pharisees grumbling.  This is the everyday run of the mill person in the crowd grumbling.  Jesus is not making himself popular by his choice of dinner host.

And notice this carefully too.  The scene doesn’t change.  Jesus does not come to Zacchaeus’ house, and after dinner and deep heart-to-heart talk with Jesus does Zacchaeus announce a change in his heart.  No.  Right there.  Right on the road in front of the crowds Zacchaeus is still standing, now down from the tree, and says to them all, “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.”

Yay to Zacchaeus!  What a change of heart!  What a realization of his unworthiness and a commitment to live as God would have him live.

It is an amazing and inspiring message of how God’s grace works.  It is a contrast to what we read last week.  There we had a rich ruler who by his own righteous living felt he deserved good things from God.  Here we have a man aware of his sinfulness.  He knows he is needy.  He knows he does not deserve from God.  And thus he is open to God’s grace. 

It is important for all of us, no matter how righteously we are able to live or not, that we all need God’s grace.  Often those who are self-sufficient think they earn it, like they have earned everything else.  And those who are deeply broken think they cannot receive it because they are so fundamentally flawed.  Yet God’s unmerited favor comes to one and all, and is needed by one and all.

            It’s all good news!  At least theoretically.

            Let’s go back to where we began.  Past results do usually indicate future performance.  Did Zacchaeus really suddenly change to be a better person.  The Bible doesn’t say.  Zacchaeus disappears from the story.  Perhaps he did change suddenly and dramatically.  But as best I can guess, I doubt he did.

            Oh, I’m not saying that Zacchaeus didn’t change.  Indeed he did.  But I think the change was a long road.  Like a person trying to claw their way out of an addiction, he had good days and bad days.  He had set backs. 

            I doubt people suddenly started liking Zacchaeus.  Would you really be ready to suddenly embrace someone who had taken your land, or ruined your family, or cheated you out of opportunities?  It would be tough to say the least.

            That is where the grace of this story really speaks to us.  People seldom change dramatically for the better.  But they are still people.  Maybe we are the one struggling to change.  Maybe we are the one who is struggling because someone close to us is struggling to change.  It is easy to become judgmental, or to feel judged.  But while there always needs to be accountability, when we can fully live knowing we are in need of God’s grace we can be forgiving of ourselves and of others.

            That is life in God’s kingdom here on earth.  It is not that suddenly everything becomes good and everyone becomes constructive and nice.  But it is that everyone shares the common need for grace.  It is the common struggle lived together.  Let me conclude with these words from my colleague Johanna Rehbaum:

            “Divine grace is a strange, startling, and even frustrating thing sometimes.  It doesn’t behave the way we think it should.  It is offered to the desperate, the confused, and the liars and cheaters.  It is offered to the unrighteous, the righteous, the honest and dishonest, the saints and the sinners, even to me, and even to you.  Thanks be to God for such undiscerning grace!”

September 11, 2022 The Lie of Wealth Luke 18:15-34

        Today’s gospel reading probably strikes more fear in the hearts of us more than any other.  While Jesus often spoke about the allure of wealth, the false feeling of safety and power it creates, and the way people get hurt in its abuse, nowhere else does he so blatantly say, “Sell all that you own and distribute the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”  (Luke 18:22)

            To say that we don’t like hearing that is putting it mildly.  We immediately start to analyze the text looking for escapes and loopholes.  Jesus really can’t mean that we have to sell everything, give to the poor, and then follow him?  Can he?

            I’ve heard it said that Jesus didn’t really mean that literally.  He meant it figuratively.  He meant that we have to be willing to sell everything, but not actually do it… unless specifically asked to do it.  Just like this rich ruler.

            I wonder what kind of word we’d have to hear from God before we’d actually obey.  It would have to be something stronger than the feeling a guilt and fear that this text stirs in our bellies.  I suspect even if we were to step outside and the clouds would spell out, beginning with our name… “sell all that you have and give the money to the poor.”  I suspect we’d ignore it.  Or perhaps we’d fund an atmospheric study on climate change to figure out what was going on for such a weather phenomenon to occur.

            Well, I have bad news for you.  I’m NOT going to soften the blow of this text. 

I’m not going to say you don’t have to, but be willing to. 

I’m not going to say that we really don’t qualify as being wealthy enough to heed this command – this is meant for people wealthier and more prominent than ourselves.

No, I’m going to let this text stand as it is.

            So, what do we do with it?

            Let’s note that there are a number of stark contrasts going on here.  People are also talking past each other.  Perhaps the most important one of those is the way “Kingdom of God” and “eternal life” are mixed together.

            It is always important to remember that when Jesus is talking about the Kingdom of God, or the Kingdom of Heaven, he is not talking about eternal life.  Kingdom of God refers to here and now.  This time.  This place.  He means the dynamics of God’s will alive and real for people to see and live in right now.

            Eternal life is something that is actually talked about rarely in the Bible.  In this text though, we find them mixed.

            The rich ruler asks, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”  Obviously this is about eternal life.

            Jesus’ answer is, “How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” This is about the present age.

            The response of those who heard it is, “Then who can be saved?”  So the crowd is thinking eternal life. 

            After a couple sentences Jesus says, “Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not get back very much more in this age…”
            You see clearly there the way Jesus connects kingdom of God with life here and now.

            But then Jesus concludes, “…and in the age to come eternal life.”

            So, these two things are indeed separate.  And yet here they are linked.  Keep that thought in mind because we’ll come back to that.  But there’s another dynamic we have to bring in by going back to the beginning. 

The ruler asks Jesus, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”  That sentence is fraught with problems and dripping with subtle arrogance.  At first it seems deeply respectful.  He calls Jesus “Good” and “Teacher.”  And Jesus’ reply seems nonsensical, “Why do you call me good?  No one is good but God alone.”

            Come on Jesus, if you don’t qualify as good, who does?!?
            Yet he’s calling the guy out on his very flawed world view.  This guy addresses Jesus as good and teacher because that is the game of status, privilege, and trading favors.  He’s honoring Jesus because he expects Jesus to honor him as an equal in return.

            Jesus’ response is not a knock on Jesus’ own goodness.  It is a refusal to play the world’s game of status and honor.  Remember back to the testing of Jesus at the beginning of the gospel?  The devil says to Jesus after showing him the glory of the world, “If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.”  (Luke 4:7)  In other words, “Jesus, you’ve got what it takes to be top dog in this world.  Play the game of life like everyone else and you’ll come out the clear winner.”  Jesus refused then.  And he refuses this ruler’s world view.

            We see more of it as his sentence continues, “…what must I do…”  Notice he does not say, “What is the path to eternal life.”  He does not say, “Jesus can you help me attain eternal life.”  No, he says, “What must I do…”  The focus is on himself.  It’s about his own abilities and wealth and talents.  If you were here last week you may remember the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector.  The Pharisee prayed, “God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.”  There we also saw someone focused upon himself and his own abilities.

            And then to put a cherry on the top of the arrogance sundae from this rich ruler, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

            Inheritance is legal language.  He sees life and salvation as if it were a business transaction with God.

            Jesus’ response at first makes it sound like that’s how it is.  He says, “You know the commandments: ‘You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; Honor your father and mother.’”

            And, with a sense of business negotiation the ruler replies, “I have kept all these since my youth.”

            But Jesus’ answer pulls the rug out from under his feet.

            Jesus asks this guy to give up far more than his possessions.  That’s actually the easier task.  Jesus is asking this guy to give up his self-focus; his ability to depend upon himself.  He’s asking him to become dependent upon God.  And if he is to enter the kingdom of God (again, this means God’s reign here on earth) then he’s going to have to become interdependent with other people.  He’s got to give up his self-reliance.

            Let’s bring back in the kingdom of God/eternal life distinction we had earlier.

Why do our possessions here and now mean so much to us?  Why do passages like this bother us so much?  Because we use our possessions to give us an identity.  Our homes, our clothes, our cars all say something about us: wealthy, poor; successful, failure; important, ignorable; worthwhile, worthless. 

Our possessions also give us a sense of security.  If you have money you have choices.  And you have power.  If you don’t have money you are at the mercy of whatever comes your way.  We perceive money to be security.

This text challenges us to see possessions differently.  Instead of money being identity and security, are we able to take the daring step of seeing money as opportunity?  Can we see our resources not for ourselves but as power to bring about God’s kingdom on earth?  Can we genuinely and generously use our resources to build up the value of other people?  Can we use our resources to create community for all?

Notice I did not say to become an enabler.  Notice I did not say put yourself in the poorhouse.  But I did say see money and possessions as resources to build community.

God invites us -and wants us- to build his kingdom here and now on this earth.  It would be a community where all have value.  Where all contribute meaningfully, and all have what they need.  That would be a wonderful world!  That is a world where we contribute to God’s kingdom now, and puts it on a path towards eternal life.  Remember we talked about the merger of those ideas at the beginning.

            Now our gospel reading for today should have ended with the words, “…to be continued.”  For indeed we only saw the first half of a two-part episode.  Next week we will meet another rich ruler.  I’m not going to give his name this week.  I’ll save it for next week and I’m almost certain you’ll recognize him.  There we will see what happens when someone does take to heart the grace of God.  There we will see when a rich person does enter the kingdom of God – here on this earth.  And how it places him in God’s salvation.

            For now though, we need to live in the dis-ease of our lives and of our possessions.  Relying on them will take us nowhere.  But seeing them as a gift and an opportunity will empower us to create God’s kingdom.  That is a kingdom that begins now and extends to eternal life.

September 4, 2022 Luke 18:1-14

 

Albert Schweitzer, Born January 14, 1875. Died September 4, 1965
Theologian, biblical scholar, Lutheran pastor, medical doctor, African missionary, concert organist, musicologist, author, humanitarian, philosopher.
Winner of the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize for his philosophy of “Reverence for Life”

September 4th is the church holiday to commemorate Albert Schweitzer. If you’re my age or younger it’s quite likely you don’t know what he’s famous for. If you’re older you are more likely to recognize him. The question is for what? He is perhaps most famous for winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1952 for his philosophy of “Reverence for Life”.

As the name suggests, it reveres life in all forms: other humans, animals, insects, even plants. That does not mean that you refrain from swatting a mosquito. But it does mean that you honor the mosquito’s life, its place in creation, and its desire to be alive. Schweitzer argued that we are brothers and sisters to all living things, and owe to all of them the same care and respect that we wish for ourselves.

But it’s also quite likely you’d recognize his name because he was also a medical doctor who in 1913 founded a hospital in Lamberene, Gabon. Schweitzer is significantly responsible for bringing basic healthcare and vaccinations to Africa. Though it is a fictitious story, in the book The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver, she notes that Schweitzer’s healthcare and vaccination efforts so dropped infant and youth mortality rates in nations across Africa that the countries began suffering from overpopulation, which was, inadvertently, causing wars! From time to time Schweitzer is referenced by the doctors in the TV sitcom MASH.

Or, if you are a musician, you may have heard of Albert Schweitzer because he was a world-famous concert organist. In order to support his missionary and medical work in Africa Schweitzer did not travel through Europe begging for money. Instead he traveled through Europe giving organ recitals. He raised money for his mission work through ticket sales.

Or, if you are a pastor or theologian you may recognize Schweitzer because he was an influential biblical scholar and Lutheran pastor. He was controversial. His published books questioned many beliefs about Jesus that are conveniently held by Christians. He didn’t agree with the typical tidy depiction of Jesus many Christians love to accept. He wrote,

"Jesus comes to us as One unknown, without a name, as of old, by the lake-side, He came to those men who knew him not. He speaks to us the same word: 'Follow thou me' and sets us to the task which He has to fulfill for our time. He commands. And to those who obey Him, whether they be wise or simple, He will reveal Himself in the toils, the conflicts, the sufferings which they shall pass through in His fellowship, and as an ineffable mystery, they shall learn in their own experience Who He is." (The Quest for the Historical Jesus, MacMillan, Pg. 403)



Schweitzer studied many of the world’s religions. His Reverence for Life philosophy, while certainly in line with Christian understandings, draws significantly on Hinduism.

There is a great deal more to Schweitzer, but our sermon today is not about him. These are just some highlights to give you a flavor of who he was. I want us to have a sense of him because I think he makes a great foil for two of the characters Jesus creates in the parables we read today.

First, we have the unjust judge in the Parable of the Unjust Judge and Widow. Jesus creates the character of this judge who has no regard for God or for humans. As we read in our first reading, judges were to hear the small and the great alike. They are not to be partial. And they should ultimately know that the judgment is God’s. So, this judge is missing all the key qualities necessary for his role!

While Jesus uses this character to illustrate that even a corrupt judge will give in to the persistence of the powerless widow - and thus we are to be persistent in prayer – Jesus is also using the theme of power and corruption, which he so often uses in his teachings. People who have power and a position tend to use them for their own ends.

From what I’ve told you about Schweitzer, I think you’d agree that he was an enormously talented person. He had international prominence. But he did not use his talents or position for his own personal gain. He was the opposite of this unjust judge. Schweitzer used his talents for the betterment of all. He not only worked in his African hospital, he also worked to help European nations end colonial rule in a way that gave the people the best chance for healthy and stable independence.

There is a story about Schweitzer that I picked up from a book by King Duncan. I don’t know if it’s true or not, but supposedly he was visiting a certain city, and dignitaries were awaiting him at the train station. Schweitzer was 6’ 4” so he was hard to miss. But he was not to be found among the first-class passengers. So they waited while the second-class passengers disembarked. Still no Schweitzer. Finally, they saw him coming out of the third-class area, carrying his own suitcase. “Why on earth do you travel third class?” they asked him. “Because there is no fourth-class!” he replied.

What is more widely attested is that when he was on the lecture tour in 1953 after winning the Nobel Peace Prize he arrived by train in Chicago. Reporters and officials gathered on the platform to greet him as he got off the train. Cameras flashed. City officials approached him with hands outstretched. Various people began telling him how honored they were to meet him.

Schweitzer politely thanked them and then, looking over their heads, asked if he could be excused for a moment. He quickly walked through the crowd until he reached the side of an elderly black woman who was struggling with two large suitcases. He picked up the bags and escorted the woman to a bus. After helping her aboard, he wished her a safe journey. As he returned to the greeting party he apologized, “Sorry to have kept you waiting.”

If there is truth to that story I’m sure Schweitzer’s humility was part of his strategy for the reverence of life. But still, he did not seek to be anything other than common.

In any event, let’s use that as a segue to the second parable – the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. Consider the Pharisee’s prayer. How much more arrogance can a person have than to pray: “God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even this tax collector. I fast twice a week I give a tenth of all my income”?

His prayer is all about him. At best we could say he’s thanking God for making him superior to others! But ultimately he considers himself to be substantially superior. He has contempt for the tax collector. Albert Schweitzer was one of the most widely talented human beings to ever live. But would he pray such a prayer? Would he even think, “God, thank you for making me so talented that I can help these poor ignorant Africans”? No, of course not! A person is a person. Period. Life is life. You see someone who needs a suitcase carried, and you can do it, so you do it. And that’s not patting yourself on the back for doing a good deed of humility. It is simply seeing the value of the other.

The Pharisee had enough religion to be virtuous but not enough to be humble. His religion drove him away from people, rather than towards them. The Pharisee distances himself from the tax collector and in so doing he distances himself from God.

The tax collector, probably considering himself weak in faith, ironically does have enough religion to be humble. He seeks love, grace, and acceptance; knowing deep inside himself there’s nothing in him that is superior to others.

Like every era, our society celebrates those who have extraordinary talent – movie stars, musicians, athletes, savvy business leaders, and politicians. I guess its unavoidable. This is Labor Day weekend – a time to raise up those who often get overlooked. For indeed, it is the laborer who makes things happen. It is the laborer whose work makes society what it is. Laborers are often those who get C’s and D’s in school. They’re the ones who didn’t get the trophies or the scholarships or the awards. They don’t get recognition dinners or public accolades. Yet they are the people everyone counts on. God sees and knows this value and the essential role they play.

Have a bit of Albert Schweitzer’s attitude with you as you celebrate Labor Day tomorrow. If you have or had a job in the labor force I say thank you. And if you did not, then take time to appreciate what countless unnamed laborers do for you. For me, it’s being aware of highway workers. I remember paving Route 15 near Duncannon, Pennsylvania. The concrete paving crew comprised over twenty individuals. They were a rough bunch. Almost all of them had felony records. But they all worked and worked hard. They took pride in their work. I haven’t driven on the section I was a part of paving for several years, but even when the pavement was nearly 20 years old, it was still smooth as glass. Every day thousands of people benefit from the enduring value of their labor. It is good that their work be recognized. It is the laborer who makes life possible for all those who consider themselves to be superior.

Jesus valued all people, whether the world called them talented or not.

Schweitzer’s Reverence for Life was something that seemed to flow from deep within him. He truly valued all living things. He saw himself as part of God’s great work and rejoiced in it. And he wanted all others to be able to do the same. Though none of us will probably ever accomplish anything along the lines of him, we are no less before God. And that is how Jesus would want us to see ourselves.