Necessary but Impossible Demands

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Having God's Outlook

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rich Fool

July 31, 2016   Pentecost 11                           Luke 12:13-21

I must confess that I did not watch much of either party’s political convention.  The older I get the less and less I can stand political speech.  Perhaps I’m wrong, since I didn’t watch any, but I assume both parties have dished out plenty of political dirt, impossible promises, and half-truths.  It all sounds good, but it never becomes reality.  Sometimes what I wouldn’t give for the straight truth – tough as it may be.

Our gospel reading from Luke gives us some straight truth about business and safety and money and power.  And when you look at this straight truth you easily see why people prefer the lies of our politicians.  If Jesus were to speak at one of our political conventions I can almost guarantee you he would be booed beyond anything we’ve seen recently.  And he’d probably be chucked out midway through his speech.

Jesus is still journeying to Jerusalem with his disciples.  This particular moment there happens to be a crowd around.  A man in the crowd says to Jesus, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”  This may seem to be a bold request, but a rabbi (or teacher) could be expected to give a ruling on the inheritance laws in Numbers and Deuteronomy.  Since this man is asking for help it is safe to assume that he is not the oldest son.  The oldest son would have automatically gotten just about everything.  But apparently he does expect to receive something significant.  His brother isn’t cooperating and this younger son wants Jesus’ support.

In our world an inheritance can be a big deal.  We create wills to determine how our assets are to be distributed and there is a whole legal system to make sure it happens and happens properly.  So, with something so important what is Jesus going to say?  The straight truth from Jesus is that isn’t not important at all.  If I extrapolate Jesus’ teachings from what Luke’s gospel says I think Jesus would teach that our entire civil justice system is unimportant at best and a bastion of evil at worst.  Jesus would say it is people conflicting over resources like money and property; both of which are irrelevant to eternal life and God’s kingdom.

But Jesus’ harsh straight talk is only getting started.  Right after he says, “Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you,” he tells the parable of the rich fool, and this one hurts even more.

By all wise business practices this rich landowner should be commended.  By some means he has come to own a successful farming operation.  Through his management his land has produced a bumper crop – a crop so big he cannot store it all.  He has a number of choices before him.  He could sell the excess, but that wouldn’t be very wise.  I know from my own experience in farming that selling a bumper crop at harvest time is a sure way to get a low price.  Everyone has had a good year and the market is flooded.  If possible, you hold onto the grain and wait for prices to rise.  You may end up holding onto the grain for months, or even until almost the next harvest to get a good price.

Commentator Joel Green notes that this landowner also has the choice of creating temporary storage for his grain.  He could build something just to hold this year’s abundance, then remove it in the future.  But he doesn’t choose this path.  Instead he chooses to tear down his existing bins and build bigger ones.  Apparently he thinks future years’ crops will also be good.

            All of this makes good business sense.  This is a wise businessman who has a successful business and is planning for future growth.  But is he the hero of his story?  No.  Apparently Jesus not only has little use for civil law he also has little use for good business!

            Keep in mind this is a parable, not a true story.  And to make it all a bit perplexing, on September 18 we’re going to read the Parable of the Dishonest Manager.  In that parable Jesus praises a corrupt and shrewd businessman for his shady dealings.

            Ultimately something deeper than good or bad business practice is going on here.  This is not a course about business ethics.  In the parable of the rich fool Jesus is bringing out a few very difficult truths.  One of them you know well.  Money can’t buy happiness.  Those whose lives are centered around getting more and more and more are caught in a downward spiral.  They’ll never be happy.

            Another truth you probably also know.  Money and possessions can easily give us a false sense of security.  The rich fool thought he could sit back for ages to come and live the good life.  He had land.  He had crops.  He had money.  In other words he had security; or so he thought.  Look at his words.  He doesn’t acknowledge God at all.   He says, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years: relax, eat, drink, be merry.”

            God is going to get the final word though.  “You fool!  This very night your life is being demanded of you.  And this things you have, whose will they be?”

            Our politicians promise that a robust economy and a strong military and a solid justice system will provide safety and prosperity for the nation.  Not so.  God is not, never has been, and never will be, bound in even the slightest way but nations or governments or politics.  God is God; end of story.  Perhaps the only really true thing that comes from our government is the ironic statement we put on our money, “In God we trust.”

            The final and ultimate reality underlying what is wrong with this rich man is also a trap we easily slip into.  We think the things we have are ours.  They’re not.  We think that titles and deeds and receipts give us ownership of property and cars and stuff.  But they don’t.  The earth and everything in it belongs to the Lord.  We are wise to remember that.

            What Jesus does teach about possessions and status and power is advice we are very wise to take.  We are stewards of them during our lifetime, and nothing more.  They are God’s property.  They are tools we can use in service to others and thus in service to God’s kingdom.

            Let me end with a little parable of my own.  An elderly woman just entered a nursing home.  She kept to her room.  Every minute she sat in her chair holding back tears and torn apart by shame.  Why did she feel this way?  Because her mind was swimming with images of her friends looks when the found out she was out of money and her house had to be sold to cover expenses.  She felt the rejection of her children and grandchildren.  They’re lives were too busy to visit.  But other residents had family whose priorities were different and visited regularly.  Apparently she failed as a mother too.  She looked at her arms and hands and legs and feet.  She looked at her sagging belly.  She remembered all that they used to be able to do, but not anymore.  She couldn’t even go to the bathroom by herself anymore.  How embarrassing!  TV was full of happy, wealthy good looking people who were getting life right.  They were vital and capable.  She was a failure with no purpose, no value.  All she had left was to wait around to die; and that couldn’t come soon enough.

            But God said to her, “Why do you cry?  I made you.  I claimed you as my daughter.  You are my own and I am always with you.  These things are truly yours.  They always have been and they always will be.  There is no shame in one made in my image.  Live, embrace, and share the good news of what I can do.”  The woman’s challenge was to embrace that, her true reality, and not the loss she felt over things that never really were her own.

            May you find true value in God and God alone.  And may you always find joy and contentment in what God is doing through you.

Jesus on Prayer

All this summer our gospel readings from Luke are following  Jesus as he travels from Galilee to Jerusalem.  No one knows how long the trip actually took; it’s under 100 miles, but he doesn’t seem to be in a rush.  He’s heading to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover.  It is Jesus on the road.  We meet a lot people, hear some parables and find a lot of teachings. 

Today when Jesus is praying one of the disciples asks, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.”  Jesus’ response is the root of what we call the Lord’s Prayer.  As is often the case there’s not a word to spare, but this is not a formula for how to pray so that you get what you want.  It’s more a prayer that sets up the right attitude for a relationship with God.

Right off the bat Jesus says call God, “Father.”  He could have said we should call God, “The Supreme Creator, King, Master and Judge before whom all should tremble.”  But he does not.  No, we are encouraged to address God as Father – or perhaps Dad.  And if God is our Father then we are his children.

This is a deep and rich image – a family relationship with God.  I would be negligent if I didn’t acknowledge that calling God ‘Father’ doesn’t work for everyone.  In an ideal world all dads would be strong and wise and loving and merciful.  But no one lives up to that ideal.  And all too many fall too far from it; so that for some people calling God ‘Father’ makes them cringe.  For some that image is an abusive and exploitative image.  Or for some people they feel like they can never measure up to their dad’s expectations and thus never gain acceptance.

No image is perfect.  If this one makes you cringe then try to imagine the perfect dad, although God as the perfect dad may not fit either.  There’s the parable of the Prodigal Son where the dad is anything but upright and proper.  And let that parable reinforce our notion of God’s nature.  God is indeed strong and wise and loving and merciful.  And God is also playful, silly and a bit crazy.

We are to address God as Dad.  We are to honor God as such and we are to see ourselves as children.  Healthy families are strong and robust.  Even unhealthy families can be strong.  God’s family is infinitely strong and your place in it is absolutely secure.  No good father is ever content if even one of his children is missing or lost.  We saw that in parables too.

Notice something else significant.  When Jesus talks about praying is he talking about just God and you or is he talking about God and us?  It’s God and us.  I cringe when people say Jesus is their personal Lord and Savior.  I know what they mean, but you are not an only child where God is concerned.  We’re all in this family together; like it or not.  Your prayer life is not an individual conversation between just you and God.  It is part of a broader conversation with your whole faith family.  I suppose our prayer chain illustrates that, when many are praying the same things.

You know the Lord’s Prayer well.  Though it has the form of a series of requests it’s more of a pledge to a way of life.  When you pray, “Your kingdom come,” you are orienting your life to the hopes and the direction of God’s kingdom.  And this is not just for the future of eternal life.  You are asking for God’s kingdom here on earth, where you will be an agent to bring it about.

“Give us each day our daily bread,” shows where you will get nourishment.  Did you pray for popularity?  Did you pray for success?  Did you pray for a big retirement account so you could live in safety and comfort?  No.  You pray to God for providing you with your basic needs.  This does not mean the pantry will always be miraculously full.  No, you still have to go shopping or else grow your own food.  But your orientation for your needs will be turned towards God and not the world.

“Forgive us our sins, for we forgive everyone indebted to us.”  Let’s not get into a debate about whether the words should be “sins” or “debts” or “trespasses”.  Again, the point is attitude.  Your life is not going to be about getting revenge, or keeping a mental record of who you owe and who owes you.  Nor is this an legal exchange where only if you forgive others will God forgive you.  This is saying that your way of life will mirror God’s own love and mercy.

“Do not bring us to the time of trial.”  This is a kind and generous thing for Jesus to include in the prayer.  Some would ask God for challenges and adversities to overcome so that they could be faith heroes.  Jesus, however, recommends not seeking to be a hero.  Instead, ask to be excused from faith trials and tests.  Only the egotistical want to proudly display what they’ve been through.

Jesus then goes on to give a parable about prayer.  He invites us to imagine going to your friends in the middle of the night asking for bread.  Like many parables, this one plays on the absurd.  No one would go knocking on doors in the neighborhood asking for bread at midnight!

Don’t come away from this parable with the wrong idea.  It is easy to conclude that it is a teaching about persistence in prayer.  The phrase, “If at first you don’t succeed try try again,” does not apply here.  Praying endlessly for something, even praying hard, does not guarantee you’ll get what you want.  Remember, Jesus whole teaching about prayer is not about a formula for how to pray it is about an attitude and understanding of prayer.

Let’s look at Jesus’ next words to help with an answer, “So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.  For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.”

In “The New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary” R. Alan Culpepper gives a succinct interpretation of these verses that gets at the heart of what Jesus is teaching, “Asking in the hope that something will be given to you puts the hearer in the posture of a beggar.  Seeking and finding is language common to the quest for wisdom, but it could also have wider applications – perhaps even seeking lodging or shelter.  Similarly, knocking in the hope of being received somewhere again puts the hearer in the posture of the destitute and the homeless.”  (Volume 9, Pg, 237)

I think Culpepper rightly points out what Jesus is teaching here.  Jesus is not teaching us how to get stuff from God – even good and righteous things like asking for someone’s safety or healing.  Jesus is teaching a proper relationship with God.

Right after Martin Luther died they found a scrap of paper in his clothes.  On it were his last written words, “We are beggars.  It is true.”  To his dying moment Luther knew how absolutely and completely dependent he was on God for absolutely everything – for life, for breath, for food, water, safety, clothing, family, friends, you name it.  And he also knew how completely worthless he was to God; were it not for God’s grace.  Yes, Martin Luther goes down as one of the most influential people in history, but he knew that God could do anything.  Luther knew that he needed God.  And he knew that God did not need Luther.  Therefore Luther knew he could only beg.  That is the overarching teaching of Jesus’ about prayer.

Jesus does not want to humiliate us or make us feel worthless, but look at his words: ask, seek, knock… forgive, give.  These are not the words of business deals.  These are not the words of formulas for getting what you want out of God.  These are the words of an attitude that recognizes need.

With that need fully recognized then we can turn to the final piece of what Jesus teaches.  “Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish?  Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion?”  Will God give us garbage or violence for our needs?  Of course not!  Like any loving father, our Father will give us good gifts – especially the Holy Spirit.

May you pray as Jesus taught – with persistence and with boldness – knowing both your need for God and God’s desire to give you good things; perhaps not what you ask for, but for what you need to be whole and capable always.  

Listen up!

July 17, 2016   Pentecost 9                           Luke 10:38-42

It feels like lots of things are unsettled these days.  Perhaps most obvious are the violence and shootings: mass shootings, police shooting, police being shot.  There are terrorist acts throughout the world.  We don’t hear about most of these because the violence closer to home consumes all of the news.  Then there’s the elections coming up.  I’ve never heard so much anger, fear, discontent and disappointment in an election season.  No one seems to really like any of the presidential candidates, and we’ll have to see how the races for the House and Senate shape up as time goes by.

I spent last week with colleagues at confirmation camp, all of us mulling over what to do about all of this.  How do you respond?  You can’t ignore it, but what’s the point of bringing it up –especially in worship- if all you’re going to do is talk about it?  I think we’ve all been part of discussions where we grumble and complain about things.  We “solve the world’s problems” but don’t ever do anything about it.

Perhaps we could ignore it all, bury our heads in the sand and hope it goes away.  After all, that normally works.  As Americans living in the suburbs of western New York when was the last time something really earth shattering happened to us?  It’s been a long time.  We’re known for having major snow falls in the winter, but we have an infrastructure that clears the snow away within hours of a big storm.  Life is back to normal fast.

We are privileged.  Maybe we feel guilty about that.  Maybe we should sell all that we have and give the money to the poor.  Maybe we should move to some third world place and devote ourselves to helping out first hand.

I see our gospel reading with Martha and Mary giving us some useful advice.  You probably know the story well.  On his journey toward Jerusalem Jesus is invited into the home of Martha and Mary.  Martha is busy being a good hostess.  She’s making sure the place is clean and tidy.  She’s making sure the party snacks are out, and that they don’t run out.  She’s cooking an elaborate dinner to honor Jesus as a great guest.  There’s a million and one things that could go wrong.  She’s anxious.  It’s all coming together okay but it’s only because she’s able to stay one step ahead.

Meanwhile her sister Mary is sitting at Jesus feet listening.  Apparently she could care less about hospitality.  She could care less about creating the right appearances for their honored guests.  She doesn’t care what impression Jesus takes away with him from their house. 

I shouldn’t judge us, but I suspect that if most of us were forced to choose who we connect with most, Martha or Mary, we’d choose Martha.  We know the value of hard work and discipline.  We know how to make good decisions.  We are responsible.  We are dependable.  And we reap the rewards of our hard work.  We do live in safe communities.  We enjoy stability.  We earn wages for our hard work and from our disciplined investments.

Isn’t this the Protestant work ethic?  Get a good well rounded education, work hard, contribute to society to make the world a better place.  Then you earn a decent living and you try to set an example for others, for this is how God wants us to live.  Right?

So why doesn’t Jesus praise Martha and tell Mary to get her lazy bones to work and be constructive?  Should we quit all our responsible productive things and just lay about doing nothing?  After all, of what value is Mary when she’s sitting at Jesus’ feet listening?  It has all the value of the world.

Martha is bound by social expectations and righteous appearances.  Mary is embracing a once in a lifetime opportunity – to sit at the feet of Jesus – God incarnate – and be taught first hand like a beloved disciple.  Mary’s action of sitting at the feet of Jesus is the act of a disciple listening to his or her master.

There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all answer.  Sometimes the right answer today is the wrong answer tomorrow.  While one plus one always equals two, most things in the world aren’t so simple.  Timing plays a big part.  Indeed there is plenty of time for hard work and discipline.  But there is also a time for listening.  Mary was listening.  The time for hard work would come later.  Martha wasn’t listening.  She was working hard.  And when the time for hard work came later, would she know how to work?  No.  She wouldn’t.  Because she hadn’t listened she would keep doing the same hard work over and over again, whether it was relevant or not.

When I apply Martha and Mary to our lives and our society’s situation today I think we really do need to take the role of Mary.  That does not mean we become lazy and do nothing.  But it does mean that we need to prioritize our lives so that we give ourselves time to listen; really listen, not just a quick surface listening.

I think many people pray to God about things.  Then they wait a few seconds or a few minutes, or maybe a few days for a reply; but they hear nothing.  Then they give up.  They either pray about something else, or something else becomes more important.  Prayer can become one fruitless frustration after another.  Sometimes I think the lives of “successful” Americans are just like Martha’s – so busy about the seemingly important tasks of life that they don’t really take time to listen.  They don’t really realize that yesterday’s answers don’t fit today’s problems.  And because they don’t listen they keep trying to fix today’s problems with yesterday’s solutions.  When it doesn’t work they try harder, and harder, and harder.  Eventually they burn out.

I believe everyone is capable of working hard – even to great exhausting – without burning out, as long as there is the satisfaction of having a significant impact for their work.  But if there is no significant impact burn out comes quickly.  Martha was heading for burnout if she was going to be a disciple of Jesus.  In Christ something new was happening.  It was time to listen and listen well because old assumptions were about to become irrelevant.

Yes, it is a time for listening, for God is active and God is also doing something new.  But unlike a prayer that expects a quick answer and then gets frustrated when it isn’t there, this listening can take a long time – or perhaps it has to become a way of life.

It is a time to listen to create new models for being in the world and for being the church.  I can’t speak with authority on how our society should make shifts.  I’ll leave that to the social scientists and local politicians.  I can speak with some substance on shifts the church should make.

Like Martha our understandings of things like worship, Sunday school, Bible studies, committee structures and the whole deal are based on models handed to us from generations past; just like Martha’s understanding of how to be a good hostess to an honored religious guest.  It is tempting and very easy to keep doing those things harder and harder because they were the answers yesterday.  But what if God is doing a new thing?

Ultimately the future is secure.  The future is God’s and we are being unavoidably dragged towards it.  There is nothing to fear in it, because it is sure to be good.  Yet we do fear what might come.  We have to listen.  Like Mary we need to set aside what we think we know and always listen and be open to what we hear.

We need to be honest with ourselves.  Current ways of doing worship are not widely effective or appealing.  That’s not just us that’s virtually all churches.  I’m not talking about changes to things like music style or the order of the liturgy.  Those are surface tweaks.  I mean deeper things.

Similarly I’ve watched our Sunday school program flourish with new ideas and fresh energy.  But I’ve also watched teachers struggle.  Attendance drops.  People burn out.  We need to listen to what the Spirit is calling us to.  Personally I think the whole way many people understand their faith and the way they express it in church is based on the past.  That is not necessarily bad, but ultimately we need to be at the feet of our Lord and listen, rather than being in the kitchen without our Lord and working ever harder on old ways.  Ultimately someone does have to cook.  Ultimately someone does have to clean.  Someone needs to see to the tasks of hospitality and welcoming.  But those tasks must be done with listening.  That is the only way they will ever stay effective.

Let us listen every day to our Lord.  For ages we could rely on the past to keep us effective in the future.  But as Jesus said, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of heaven,” so it is with the work of the kingdom today.  We look forward to God’s future.  Let that guide us.  Listen for it all the time, and then respond to it as God inspires us.  Ultimately God’s will is going to be accomplished.  Let us be able to rejoice in participating in it, rather than missing it because we could not, or would not, hear.

Who is your neighbor?

July 10, 2016   Pentecost 9                             Luke 10:25-37

I’m sure that almost all but the youngest of us remember the TV show Mister Roger’s Neighborhood.  It was a sweet place where adults gave undivided attention to children, they kindly and patiently explained things, and of course there was the Neighborhood of Make Believe that somehow the little red trolley connected between Mister Roger’s House and a world of puppets imagination.  Mister Roger’s Neighborhood took plenty of jabs and jibes for being too nice but I know many early childhood development experts who considered it to be the all-time best children’s program ever.  Count my attitude among theirs.

Of course as you age you discover that the world does not work at all the way Mister Roger’s Neighborhood worked.  Not everyone is kind and considerate.  There’s violence and destruction.  And perhaps most challenging of all, the world is complicated.  There’s serious competition for our time and our efforts.  We simply can’t be everything to everybody.

The parable of the Good Samaritan that we had in our gospel reading dives into this not-so-nice world of neighbors.  Remember the context of this parable.  Jesus is on his journey from the Gailean countryside to the city of Jerusalem.  This lawyer who stands up to test Jesus probably never met him before, although he probably heard of him.  As a legal expert he is going to put Jesus through his paces to see if holds muster. 

This whole scene is very compact and there’s not a word to waste.  The lawyer says, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”  Notice the lawyer is using legal language – inherit.  While you don’t actually earn an inheritance from someone, if you’re in someone’s will you have a legal claim to some of the estate’s property.  This is the lawyers attitude towards eternal life.

Jesus’ responds to the lawyer’s question with a question of his own: “What is written in the law?  What do you read there?”  Now remember this is an illiterate society.  Only a few could read.  So Jesus’ question is directed to the lawyer’s status among the elite.  The lawyer cites verses from Leviticus and Deuteronomy, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.”

So far this has been straightforward, but now the lawyer makes it sticky.  “And who is my neighbor?”  Those same passages from Leviticus and Deuteronomy make it clear that everyone is your neighbor, including foreigners living among you.  But a lot had happened in the thousand years since they were written.  The Roman Empire was a vast melting pot.  Plus various conquests and invasions had blurred the lines of who was who.  So Jesus tells a parable.

The 17 mile road from Jerusalem to Jericho was notoriously dangerous.  It was rocky, narrow and descended 3200’ from Jerusalem’s elevation of about 2500’ above sea level to Jericho’s 800 feet below sea level.

Jesus says an unnamed man is making the journey.  Jesus gives this man no name and no nationality.  He’s just a man.  He is caught by robbers and is beaten, stripped and left half dead.  A priest goes by and passes by on the other side.  Likewise also a Levite.  Jesus is creating concentric circles going ever outward.  A priest was a Jewish official charged with helping to operate the temple in Jerusalem.  He was at the center of the religion, but he ignores the man.

A Levite was one circle outward.  All priests had to be from the tribe of Levi, but not all Levites were priests.  Just like all beagles are dogs but not all dogs are beagles.  One circle out and there is still no response to this hurt man.

Some have suggested that the priest and the Levite ignored the man out of religious obligation.  To touch a corpse or an unclean person would be to defile themselves or make themselves ritually unclean.  Some pastors like to preach this way because they can then set up Judaism as a religion of rigid rules and Christianity is not.  However this is not the case.  The Jewish rules were not so rigid and there were exceptions where if a person was in need anyone was expected to help, even a priest.

Jesus’ audience probably expected the next circle out to be an Israelite.  Then the common Israelite would indeed help the man.  Thus Jesus would have gone from priest to Levite to Israelite.  Since he’s talking to a lawyer the interpretation would be one against the religious elite.  But this is not the way Jesus goes.

Jesus says that a Samaritan travels by.  Jews hated Samaritans and Samaritans hated Jews.  Of all people this guy would ignore an injured Jew.  But he does not.  He cares for the man’s injuries.  He loads him on his animal and brings him to an inn.  There he spends the rest of the day and the night caring for the injured man.

Inns in those days were not nice places.  Don’t imagine something like the Holiday Inn Express.  Imagine something more along the lines of the innkeeper in Les Miserable.  He’s a scoundrel and a crook.  He is not to be trusted.  The next day the Samaritan pays this likely crook of an innkeeper two days wages and offers to pay even more when he returns.  The hated Samaritan has taken time, effort and money to help the original traveler.  And unlike Mister Roger’s Neighborhood where the streets are clean and people are trustworthy, how could this Samaritan know the whole situation was safe in the first place. What if the man was just a ploy to get kind hearted people to stop so the robbers could attack them too?  The Samaritan has also taken great risks to help.  Like many parables, the Good Samaritan plays on extremes.

Jesus then asks the lawyer, “Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?”  I imagine the lawyer stumbling over his words….  The S….  The Sam…  The Samar…  And he just can’t bring himself to say it.  So he says, “The one who showed him mercy.”  And by not naming the Samaritan the lawyer makes the meaning of the parable all the more broad.  Everyone is a neighbor.  There are no distinctions.

If Jesus were to tell the parable to Americans today I don’t know what nationality he’d put in the role of the Samaritan.  Perhaps we would call it the parable of the Good Nazi, or the Good Communist, or the Good Islamic Extremist.  Whatever person or group offends and upsets you most gets the role of the Samaritan.

Perhaps you could walk away from this parable thinking that in order to inherit eternal life you have to live like the world is Mister Roger’s Neighborhood, and you are to be kind and compassionate to everyone.

I suppose that would be a way to interpret it, but that would be missing the point.  No matter how hard we try there is always some group or nationality or ideology that we find abhorrent.  We’re kidding ourselves if we think we’re above that sort of thing.  We’re not.  We’re humans and no matter how hard we pummel our thoughts into thinking we’re all accepting and all-inclusive, we aren’t.  Thinking that you’re all accepting and all-inclusive is a delusion of the elite whose lives are insulated from the real struggles of the world.  Those who think they are all inclusive have deluded themselves into thinking they live in Mister Roger’s Neighborhood.

No, this parable hits at a deeper truth.  The lawyer knew he had been bested.  He could not live up to the parable’s demands.  And it bests us too.  We cannot live up to its demands.  We are convicted by it.

This parable hits at the deeper truth by making us realize that we are all sinners in need of God’s grace.  True neighborliness does not come from trying to be all-inclusive and being all-tolerant.  True neighborliness comes when you, and the people you love, and the people you feel apathetic about, and the people you abhor are all sinners in need of God’s grace.

We humans will never be united if we think we can get along by our own willpower.  We humans are united in our common brokenness, our inability to fix it, and therefore we are united in our need for God’s grace.  Only that way can there be community.  Only that way can there be true neighborliness.  Only by grace can any have eternal life. 

Not Nice

You may recall that I don’t like the word “nice.”  I don’t use it often but I do sometimes.  I’ve said that it is a four letter word and its use belongs among them.  My copy of Webster’s Dictionary tells me that its roots in Middle English and Latin meant ignorant, foolish and stupid.  No, “nice” is not a very nice word.

As Christians we often feel compelled to be nice.  We are taught that we are supposed to be kind and compassionate and forgiving.  Indeed we are, however we turn Christianity into a nice religion.  Ultimately we put it on a shelf with other nice things in our lives.

The Revised Common Lectionary that we follow for our Bible readings likes to make the Bible passages that we read on Sundays very nice.  There can be some good reasons for it, but if all you ever hear from the Bible is what is read to you on Sunday mornings then you come away with constant inaccurate reinforcement of Christianity being nice.

The Revised Common Lectionary cuts out several verses of what we read for our gospel reading for today.  I decided to leave them in; the nice ones as well as the not so nice ones.  So what is left out is Jesus’ pronouncement of woe to Chorazin, Bethsaida and even the town that has been his home for the last couple years, Capernaum.  He says that foreign cities like Tyre and Sidon were more receptive to him than the native Jewish towns he spent most of his time in.

We don’t know specifically why Jesus delivers this judgement to these towns.  It seems a pretty good deduction, however, that their fault is that they didn’t genuinely respond to Jesus’ message of salvation.  Despite hearing his preaching and seeing his miracles they responded to him with apathy at worst, and ambivalence at best.  It is as if they said, “Good job Jesus.  You do your thing and help us out and we’ll keep doing our thing, but don’t really call on us to change anything in our lives.”  In other words, make faith nice for us.

A nice faith is a very appealing thing.  In the Daily Messenger last week there was an article about youth sports and church attendance.  The whole thing came about because St. Patrick’s Catholic Church has raised the issue.  With 1700 families whenever St. Patrick’s acts people listen.  The article quoted coaches giving very logical reasons why there are so many sports demands on Sunday mornings.  It concluded with St Patrick’s call to write out a community-wide commitment to not have sports on Sundays so that people don’t feel pulled between it and church.

I don’t know what went on behind the scenes and I had no part in any of the conversations.  I couldn’t make the initial community meeting St. Patrick’s organized.  However I do think the article completely missed the point, and I know that the initiative will go nowhere.  At the end of the day too many people in our community and in our society at large see faith as a nice thing you do when it is convenient, but faith (and God) have no real teeth.  If people felt there would be serious consequences for putting something ahead of faith and worship in their lives they wouldn’t do it.

But God is nice, and faith is quaint – at least that’s the way we want it.  But God isn’t nice, and faith isn’t quaint and there are serious consequences.

We have only a limited time for this vast subject so I want to get at just one corner of it to illustrate the point.  When God is nice and faith is quaint then you run into serious problems sooner or later.  The world is full of pain, suffering and injustice.  A God who is nothing but nice has no ability to effectively address any of that.  Do you know the musical West Side Story?  What if the police were there at the fight between the Sharks and the Jets and they stood at the side and said, “Now boys you should be nice to each other.”  A fat lot of good that would do! 

Do you really think God is so ineffective at dealing with pain and wrongdoing?  The only way for God to be effective in addressing the real pains and problems of this world is if God isn’t ignorant, foolish and stupid; or nice.  The only way God can be effective with us is if we acknowledge that God has real power and God will use it.  There is divine justice and accountability; and if you don’t see it in this world it is in the next.  Jesus says so repeatedly.

If we dare to be honest with ourselves I think there is a part in all of us that wants God to be nice and faith to be quaint.  We want God to be our divine little helpmate who keeps us from scraping our knees too often.  There is a part of all of us that is just like the people of Chorazin and Bethsaida and Capernaum.

What do we do about it?

I think we are wise to take some lesson from our faith ancestors, the Jews.  The Old Testament gives us numerous stories about people’s faith lives: Noah, Abraham, Moses, Elijah, Jeremiah and the list can go on and on.  None of them had what could be called “nice” relationships with God.  All of them had stumbles and weaknesses.  All of them called upon God and made demands – sometimes justifiable and sometimes like a two-year-old throwing a temper tantrum.  Good or bad, right or wrong, they weren’t afraid to confront God with what was happening to them.  We should do the same.

All too often it is difficult to feel God’s presence in our lives.  We wonder if our beliefs are true.  We sometimes wonder if God even exists, and if so does God care?  Take those feelings to God.  Tell God you don’t like it.  Tell God you want more proof and stronger faith.

God seldom replies with a voice and when he does the recipient is usually scared out of his or her wits.  Don’t expect a voice, but do expect thoughts to run through your brains.  Perhaps you’ll realize that God does give you proofs.  Perhaps you’ll remember that compared to most people in the world you have far more safety and comforts and luxuries.  It’s Independence Day Weekend.  America is a deeply blessed nation, but we often forget our many blessings and take them as if they are due to us.  That’s a sure way to not feel grateful. 

If you don’t feel blessed then take that feeling to God too.  Ask for a deeper appreciation of what you already do have.  God could very easily respond, “I’ve already blessed you with freedoms and safety and comforts beyond every other nation in the world, and now you demand even more!?!”  And in good Jewish fashion you reply, “Yes God, I need even more.  Not more stuff, but more awareness.”

Faith like this is not being overly demanding of God.  It is reinforcing connections.  Do you see what is happening in it?  It is a constant turning back to God.  With every challenge, with every problem, with every blessing and with every triumph you take it to God over and over again.

Nice and quaint faith looks to God when there are problems, and maybe gives a brief thank you when prayers are answered, but otherwise is oriented towards other things, usually worldly things.  In the passage from Galatians today we read, “Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for you reap whatever you sow.  If you sow to your own flesh, you will reap corruption from the flesh; but if you sow to the Spirit, you will reap eternal life from the Spirit.  So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if you do not give up.  So then, whenever we have opportunity, let us work for the good of all…”

Jesus’ woes spoken to the towns of his day were condemning.  They were a statement of justice that would come to those whose faith was only quaint and did not want to be bothered when it called for a real change.  Jesus was not being mean.  He was being truthful.

We all have those same tendencies, but God’s power is stronger.  Turn repeatedly to God and God will change you.  It is not the strength of your determination or the power of your intellect.  It is God’s work working in you that which is well pleasing.  You probably won’t even recognize the change.  God works so subtly.  But in so doing God reaps great good for his creation and a wonderful blessing for you.  Amen