Advent 1B - Sermon based upon Psalm 42 & Matthew 1:18-2:12
Good morning and welcome to Advent. This is a season of expectancy and preparation. A season of joy, hope, and promise. And given the themes of our advent devotional and sermon series, it is also a season of faith, peace, new life, and love.
You’re going to notice a pattern in the coming weeks that lead us all the way through Christmas. Each week’s theme that goes with the devotional is going to be lifted up in worship in multiple ways. The devotional theme is The True Gifts of Christmas: The Journey to Bethlehem. The music, prayers, liturgy, and even scriptures will go along with the weekly theme. Each week we'll have a Psalm that captures the emotional experience of the theme and a Gospel passage that tells the story.
But for now, we’re here on the first week of Advent. We enter with the theme of faith and the story told in Matthew about Jesus's conception and birth. If ever there was a story of faith in God, this is it.
Here we have a young unmarried woman who finds out she's going to have a very special baby. The scripture tells us that her fience doesn't want to disgrace her but he's still going to “quietly dismiss her.” After transformative encounters, they both believe in God’s will for this child move forward to have the baby.
From the Luke story of Jesus’ birth we also know that they had to make a journey to Bethlehem for census and taxation. That must have been horrible. Can you imagine setting out on a donkey, a man and a 9 month pregnant woman, in a time when life was so much more treacherous than it is now?
And even after Jesus is born, King Herod sends spies so that he can plot against the young Messiah, Emmanuel, God with us. But they too had a transformative experience rooted in joy and did the right thing to protect this child.
And our Psalm this morning is also a true story of faith. It is about the fear and anxiety we experience when we can’t quite feel God’s closeness to us. We want to lash out as the Psalmist does with “Why have you forgotten me? Why must I walk about mournfully because the enemy oppresses me?” But just as with Mary and Joseph, the Psalmist remembers “hope in God.”
These are some pretty powerful scriptures if we pause to let them capture our feelings and imagination. So, what do they have to tell us on this first Sunday of Advent?
Well, I think one of the messages is that just because we’re journeying faithfully doesn’t mean that it’s smooth sailing. It’s often an anxiety and fear filled path. Even Joseph was going to leave Mary because he couldn’t understand how God’s plan for Mary included him and I imagine he felt a lot of social pressure as well.
How often are our lives like that? Maybe it’s that we know what the right thing is to do but we feel the pressure and embarrassment of what others are saying around us. Or sometimes it’s that we are not sure how we fit into God’s plan. Or sometimes it’s more a feeling like the Psalmist had of wondering where God is in all this and how to remain faithful while it feels so dark. When faced with loss, uncertainty, and other things that raise our fear level, our lives, just like Mary and Joseph’s are filled with moments that make our faithful walk forward feel more like a burdensome trudge.
Whether it’s the journey of the PNC in search of a pastor or the daily work it takes to make relationships last, we are ALL journeying… and sometimes it’s a tough one. But here’s where the story turns.
God reassures Joseph of his part in all this. Then God protects Jesus from Herod. God even touches the wise men and they go on a different path. Hope and joy healed them from their worries, doubt, and uncertainty. In the case of the wise men, quite literally, the story tells us that they were overwhelmed by joy.
I think this is the real heart of our scripture lesson for today. We worry and struggle in uncertainty quite often. And it becomes a cycle that just gets worse if left to our own devices. The more we worry, the more we drag ourselves down. The more we drag ourselves down, the more we fret about digging back out of the hole of fear, grief, and depression. The more we fret about those things, the more ashamed we feel. And the more ashamed we feel… well, that’s just a terrible spiral downward.
But God’s support and love for us is never wrapped up in fear or shame or overly burdensome toil. God reaches out to us with hope and joy offering us help to put one foot in front of the other and continue our faithful journey. That support comes in all kinds of forms. In the case of Joseph, it came in the form of messenger from God and I imagine it also came in the form of support from people around him and most especially from Mary. For the wise men, they found support from God to do the right thing through an intense sense of joy at the witness of a phenomenon in nature right before meeting Jesus. And while most of us don’t have an experience of meeting and angel, I know that all of us have met messengers from God or had experiences that coincided with special event that invigorated our faith.
See, this is what faith is about, whether it’s during the season of Advent or any other time. We are on a journey and each and every day is another opportunity to keep moving forward toward the hope and promise of God while being open to the nurturing support God gives us.
Now, I’m not trying to make this sound easy. I’ll give you a deeply personal example. All my life, even as a little child, I’ve struggled with depression. It seems to be genetic because most of my family struggles with it. Depression has gripped me in ways that I’ve often felt forgotten by God. The way depression chokes off the light is painful. And after feeling the emptiness and darkness months on end, I’ve even thought that it wasn’t that God had forgotten me. I’ve felt that God must be punishing or cursing me. Now logically, I know that isn’t the case. But depression is an illness that tells us lies about ourselves, others, and God.
Having struggled with this illness for most of my 37 years, I can tell you quite a few things about finding God in the darkness and what faith looks like when you barely have the energy to get out of bed. But I can also tell you that faith cannot be stifled or destroyed by darkness, fear, worry, doubt, and uncertainty.
Just like Mary and Joseph, I have found God’s support every step of the way. Just when I thought I couldn’t bear the isolation any longer, God has sent messengers that reminded me who and who’s I am. God has placed people in my life to help me when I couldn’t help myself. When I needed a jolt to point me in the right direction, God has shown me great joy through phenomenon in nature. God has called me forward in love all along the way.
God’s nurturing love and my faith in that love have helped me journey forward every step of the way. In fact, you’ve even been part of God’s work in my life. As you know, I’m a chaplain and I work night shift at Children’s Memorial Hospital. Working night shift is more than a choice. It’s a metaphor for my experience with God. Because I’ve had to work so hard to find God in the long nights of depression, I want to be part of God’s light to others in the night. I never thought I’d work in a church because I thought my place was in the darkness.
But being here with you has shown me that God calls me into the light as well. The way you’ve encouraged me and the relationships I’ve built here have shown me new paths in my own faith journey. My faithful journey is not only that of holding people in the night but also that of proclaiming God’s radiance in the light and you’ve been the ones who’ve helped cultivate that in me and show me God’s way for which I’ll always be grateful.
Now I didn’t tell you all that to spew out my own story. I told you about my journey because I believe it speaks to the struggles we’ve all had. Advent, holidays, faith, journeys, family, church… all of these things are precious but they also stir in us anxiety and fear about the unknown. But God is with us, each and every one of us. God is speaking and leading and calling us every step of the way.
Sisters and brothers, as we move forward in Advent, may we have faith that God is alive and well in all areas of our lives. Even when it feels scary or burdensome, God is with us, offering us support wrapped in love rather than fear. Our job is to keep putting one foot in front of the other on this journey taking the next step in faith and being open to all the ways God is supporting us. Emmanuel, God with us… We welcome you! Amen
Showing posts with label reconciliation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label reconciliation. Show all posts
Monday, November 28, 2011
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Building The Kingdom
Ordinary 27A – Sermon
based upon Psalm 19 and Matthew 21:33-46
Good
morning. It’s good to be with you on
this World Communion Sunday. It’s a
special day when we pause to recognize in gratitude all the different peoples
and cultures in which Christianity and the fellowship of the table thrive. So you might be wondering what today’s
scripture message does to uphold that notion because on the surface, it just
doesn’t seem to fit.
I
mean here we have this story of gang like violence where the workers of a
vineyard scheme against the owner, selfishly claim their own superiority, and
even brutally kill the owner’s servants and son. So what is up with this passage that it shows
up in the lectionary on World Communion Sunday?
This
passage is one of those parables that stands out from Jesus’ usual teaching
parables. This parable does not use
story telling to reveal something of the nature of God, as do so many others
parables. One of the reasons is that rather than being aimed at the every day folks
of faith, this one is aimed at the religious leaders. So this parable that seems to have been
misnamed “the parable of the wicked tenants" really should be something
else. The tenants, of course, play a major role, because Jesus is pointing to
the way the Pharisees have mistaken their leadership over Israel for outright
ownership of Israel. But the real focus
of the parable is to clarify who Jesus is.
Now
when I started writing this sermon, I thought I’d spend a lot of time talking
about the history of what all the symbols mean and what it’s getting at but I’m
going to do something else instead. So,
I’m going to give as quick an overview of the historical and symbolic
significance and meaning as I can. And
then I’m going to move forward to something more practical. But if you feel like you missed out on some
of the nitty gritty of deciphering this passage, just ask me later and we can
discuss it for hours.
So
we have this cast of characters. The
tenants represent the religious leaders who are more concerned with their own
wealth and status. They want to
“inherit” is rightfully Jesus’. They are
responsible for pointing Israel to God, yet they have instead pointed her to
themselves. The indictment, then, is not against the people Israel per se, or
even against the temple "institution," but rather against God's
appointed leaders. The slaves symbolize
prophets sent by God to call the leaders back to God’s purposes. The son represents Jesus, the son of
God. And the owner represents God.
Well,
the tenants kill the slaves and the son in an attempt to claim the inheritance
from the owner. But then the owner comes
and restores the son that was previously cast off… killed. And all of this points to how amazing the
works of God are.
Who
is Jesus according to this parable? He is the Son who has come to reclaim what
rightfully belongs to his Father. He is the Son whose mission is violently
rejected by the Father's own tenants. He is the Son whose rejection is
vindicated by the Father. And he is the Son whose vindication prompts the final
judgment of the unfaithful tenants.
In
coming to reclaim what rightly belongs to his Father, the Son sets out to
restore the world to its divinely created order. One need only look at Jesus'
ministry to see what this looks like: the sick are made well, sinners are
restored, and God is praised. In short,
Jesus brings wholeness to a broken world, providing glimpses into what he
elsewhere calls "the kingdom of heaven."
So
that is the somewhat quick overview of this passage. But there’s a part I want to zero in on. Verse 40 reads, “Now when the owner of the
vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?"
That’s
really the million-dollar question, isn’t it? What will he do to them? What
will the one in charge do to those who have blatantly, flagrantly disobeyed and
violated their roles? They’ve even
committed murder.
Well,
listeners said the owner should kill them all and start fresh. But let’s go back to what all this
symbolizes. Is that what God did to the
Jewish leaders? Is that what God does to
religious leaders today that go awry? Is
that how God deals with any of us in our failings?
No
it is not. Jesus may have been pointing
to himself as the savior but he was also pointing to a God that never gives up on
God’s people. This parable tells us that
the son who has been killed… you know, Jesus will be restored and become the
cornerstone, holding all of this together.
God’s
work is not that of smiting and smacking us down when we fail. God’s work is that of restoring and
reconciling us. God raised up his son
and restored him for the goodness and healing of creation.
This
stands in stark contrast to persons of faith in that time and still today who
act with self serving intentions. They
call for judgment of those around them.
They use the failings of others to feel superior while ignoring the log
in their own eye. They see control and conquest rather than reconciliation and
healing.
But
before we get too carried away with all these “they” do this and “they” do
that’s, we need to be humble enough to see that sometimes we all fall into that
kind of judgmental thinking. We get
focused on our particular ways of doing things and turn those into our
standards instead of using God’s measuring stick of love and mercy.
And
I think that is the real point of this parable today. Jesus was talking to the Pharisees but if
Jesus told us this parable today, and we replied with “kill the tenants,” I
hope we would be able to see that the message of Jesus being a conduit for
restoring the kingdom through peaceful means instead of vengeful ones would
sink into our hearts and minds. I hope
we could see God’s interest in making creation whole rather than clear cutting
the land. And I hope we can receive the
healing of that part in us that calls for retaliation so that we can be
co-creators with God in building the Kingdom.
So
here we are. It’s World Communion Sunday
where we celebrate the way God has reached out with wide arms to the world. We collect the Peacemaking offering that goes
to programs both near and far that work to be beacons of God’s peace, love, and
mercy. And even if those things weren’t
going on, we ourselves need a good bit of God’s love and mercy rather than the
judgment and shame we so often heap upon ourselves and one another.
Sisters
and brothers, we’ve gone all the way from a bizarre parable of gang like
violence to God’s message that healing comes through the peaceful and loving
reconciliation through Christ. That’s
one wild journey. But I think it mirrors
our own experience. We have no trouble
imaging the violence but we have trouble making the leap to peaceful
healing. But that is the point. We don’t
have to make the jump. Christ made the
leap for us. And thanks be to God for
that.
Our charge is to be humble and open to God’s work of healing and
reconciliation. May we be every willing to be part of the Kingdom God is
building with us. Amen.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Serving Together
Serving Together (off lectionary sermon series on the body of Christ based upon Matthew 28:16-20, Galatians 5:16-6:2, & G-2.0101)
Good morning. If you were here last week, you know that this is week 2 of a 3 week sermon series on being the church alive in the world. But as I said last week, don’t worry if you’re not here for all of them. They stand alone nicely so even if you missed it, you won’t be lost today. But just to recap, we looked at scripture and at a passage from the book of order and talked about how Christ is the only true authority in the church. Our job is to faithfully live out Christ’s calling. So we do not stand over or under one another in our workings and callings. No one calling is more special than another. Whether it’s my calling to be a pastor or someone else’s calling to put out donuts, we are faithful together… side by side.
So this week, we are taking the next step trying to unearth what those callings might be for each of us and as a church and our scripture for the day gives us a great place to start. But much like last week, I want to weave in another nugget of wisdom from the Book of Order that we might use as an outline for our thinking today. It comes from G-2.0101 and is entitled "Christ’s Ministry." It reads:
The Church’s ministry is a gift from Jesus Christ to the whole Church. Christ alone rules, calls, teaches, and uses the Church as he wills, exercising his authority by the ministry of women and men for the establishment and extension of God’s new creation. Christ’s ministry is the foundation and standard for all ministry, the pattern of the one who came "not to be served but to serve" (Matt. 20:28). The basic form of ministry is the ministry of the whole people of God, from whose midst some are called to ordered ministries, to fulfill particular functions. Members and those in ordered ministries serve together under the mandate of Christ.
Well, given what I just read, you might be thinking "isn’t that the recap of last week’s sermon?" Well, sort of. But we are going to go deeper in to 2 of these ideas and think about "Christ’s ministry is the foundation and standard for all ministry" and "The basic form of ministry is the ministry of the whole people of God." And I think today’s scripture lessons have some guidance for our thinking.
Our scripture passages are The Great Commissioning found in Matthew where Jesus calls on his followers to go out into the world and baptize, teach, and fellowship with others while all along knowing that Christ is always with us. The second passage is about the fruits of the spirit and reminds us what living by the spirit looks like. It also calls on us to be healers of one another as we struggle to claim who and whose we are.
So we have these very big ideas and as a big picture kind of person, these are the things that ignite in me curiosity and wonder about how it will all unfold. But I realize that for more detail oriented people, these open ended visions are somewhat anxiety producing. So, we’re going deeper today to look for the practical ways of ministry and our callings within it. We are doing so because some of us are curious. Some of us find comfort in details. Others of us need reassurance.
I raise this issue of what we are each getting by our study together because it has bearing on what we will uncover. See, if it is that "Christ’s ministry is the foundation and standard for all ministry" then a great thing to recognize about the life and teachings of Jesus is that he lived and taught in ways that spoke to people the way they each needed to experience it.
We are all very different from one another. Different gifts, different personalities, different interests, different struggles, different experiences… all of which come together to make us unique and yet somehow only made whole in the body of Christ. So to reach out to such diverse groupings, Jesus used stories so that people would zero in on the parts they each needed to hear. He also shared a lot of meals and living room time where people have their guards down and true relationships are built. He used symbols and metaphors so that people would have to think and stretch themselves to understand. And no matter where he was or what was going on, his starting place was that of love for God’s special creation… people.
Over and over again, he astounded people by loving them instead of judging them because he knew that judgment is God’s and the path to true healing is that of love. He didn’t walk up to the woman at the well and call her wretched names or think judgmental thoughts about her. His starting place was that of love for who she was: a child of God with gifts and struggles that was living a life of suffering. Harsh words would have just alienated her more but love heals and transforms.
And while we’re looking at Jesus as the foundation and standard for all ministry, let’s not forget his humility. He is the one who came "not to be served but to serve." Ministry that models Christ is that of service rather than status. Born in a barn, murdered for his faith… those are extraordinary bookends to a life. But in some ways, even more extraordinary are the pages between the bookends that tell of a life of reaching out in search of God as a young child and extending the love of God as an adult. What would our lives look like if we each had such love?
And that’s the question of the day. Christ modeled what ministry looks like and we are called to minister to the "whole people of God." So what would our lives look like if we each had such love? What does ministering to the "whole people of God" look like?
Last week we read scripture that talks about the body of Christ and the different callings. This week we see in Galatians different gifts that we are given by the Spirit. And all along we have Christ telling us to go out and do something with these callings and gifts.
So what does it look like? Well, it starts by taking the time to find out who God made us to be. Jesus invited us to look into ourselves to know and honor this special creation of God. Searching ourselves is critical to knowing how we can serve. God asked Moses to live beyond his skills and God still asks the same of us today but we can’t go farther if we don’t know where to start.
So we each need to consider what our personality is, what our interests are, and what we have to offer as we look to see how we each may minister in the body of Christ. For example, you wouldn’t want me to sing in the choir but thanks be for those that can and we welcome them back this year. And I would be pretty bad at serving on the budget committee because I get overwhelmed with all the numbers. But you know what? I love the bible and I love people so one thing I can do is weave those two together into sermons and worship leadership.
See, it’s pretty much as simple as that. We start with who we are and what God has given us and ask "where can God use me?" Lend a Hand Day, teaching Sunday School, greeting, serving on committees, and all those other forms of stewardship are servant ministry. And even talking and sharing with one another is servant ministry because we are building up the body of Christ as we extend ourselves to one another in fellowship.
But ministry is about far more than what happens inside these walls. The real work of Christ is out there in the world. So again, let’s ask the question, what would our lives look like if we each had such love as Christ? What is our ministry in the world? When we look at our gifts and skills, how do we serve in the body of Christ beyond these walls?
The answer to those questions are as varied as can be. But I think our scripture can guide us. Galatians 6:1 reads, "My friends, if anyone is detected in a transgression, you who have received the Spirit should restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness." What does that have to do with our servant ministry? Well, most of our work both inside these walls and beyond is about healing. Almost everything we experience boils down to the brokenness we encounter within ourselves and around us. So much of our ministry and ministering is about being conduits of peace, healing, and reconciliation through the love of Christ.
Our charge is to heal with a spirit of gentleness. When we see wrong doings, we’re not called to judge, we’re called to restore. Sisters and brothers, each and every one of us struggle. When we think about the things we do wrong, we see a chain of events where we didn’t set out to hurt anyone but it all made sense at the time. As Paul said, "why is it I do what I don’t what to do?" As parents, as teachers, as ministers, as friends, as business people… we all struggle because we all have broken places in us and all need the grace of God and the love of Christ. The surest path to healing is not by wagging a finger at ourselves or others. Changing our behavior out of guilt isn’t really living in the Spirit. Healing comes by modeling Christ and loving the wounds away.
So if our lives are at the intersection of brokenness and love, who are we each called to be in the world? For the person who’s a little shy but always watching, maybe part of their calling is to be the one who always extends a kind smile. For the one gifted with leadership skills, maybe servant ministry looks like being a business person of respect who looks out for how employees are treated. For the ones with a mind for numbers, maybe it’s being a beacon of integrity so that wealth is not used to corrupt or squash others. For those who cook well, maybe it’s offering a meal to someone struggling or bringing the cookies to a meeting that reminds us of what’s important. Perhaps for those of us with old wounds that have been healed, it’s about sharing our path with those in need. If one of our blessings is extra time, maybe servant ministry is about volunteering.
And when the big stuff like 9/11 happens we still see the same things. Firefighters being firefighters and caring about people, even at the risk of losing their lives. Everyday folks dropping everything to clear debris because it serves and restores hope. People far away donating money, blood, and other resources because they love enough to want to be a part of the healing.
See, we get caught up in thinking of our daily lives as work, chores, and strife but if we look deeper we’ll see the way we are functioning as the body of Christ and honor that. And when we look deeper, we might even see new and different ways of sharing our gifts and callings. And that’s what we’ll talk about next week.
But for now, Christ invites us to see who God made us to be and offer that back to creation. As we go from here this week, may we look more deeply at who we are and what we can be in the body of Christ. And most importantly, may we live that calling each and every day. Amen.
Good morning. If you were here last week, you know that this is week 2 of a 3 week sermon series on being the church alive in the world. But as I said last week, don’t worry if you’re not here for all of them. They stand alone nicely so even if you missed it, you won’t be lost today. But just to recap, we looked at scripture and at a passage from the book of order and talked about how Christ is the only true authority in the church. Our job is to faithfully live out Christ’s calling. So we do not stand over or under one another in our workings and callings. No one calling is more special than another. Whether it’s my calling to be a pastor or someone else’s calling to put out donuts, we are faithful together… side by side.
So this week, we are taking the next step trying to unearth what those callings might be for each of us and as a church and our scripture for the day gives us a great place to start. But much like last week, I want to weave in another nugget of wisdom from the Book of Order that we might use as an outline for our thinking today. It comes from G-2.0101 and is entitled "Christ’s Ministry." It reads:
The Church’s ministry is a gift from Jesus Christ to the whole Church. Christ alone rules, calls, teaches, and uses the Church as he wills, exercising his authority by the ministry of women and men for the establishment and extension of God’s new creation. Christ’s ministry is the foundation and standard for all ministry, the pattern of the one who came "not to be served but to serve" (Matt. 20:28). The basic form of ministry is the ministry of the whole people of God, from whose midst some are called to ordered ministries, to fulfill particular functions. Members and those in ordered ministries serve together under the mandate of Christ.
Well, given what I just read, you might be thinking "isn’t that the recap of last week’s sermon?" Well, sort of. But we are going to go deeper in to 2 of these ideas and think about "Christ’s ministry is the foundation and standard for all ministry" and "The basic form of ministry is the ministry of the whole people of God." And I think today’s scripture lessons have some guidance for our thinking.
Our scripture passages are The Great Commissioning found in Matthew where Jesus calls on his followers to go out into the world and baptize, teach, and fellowship with others while all along knowing that Christ is always with us. The second passage is about the fruits of the spirit and reminds us what living by the spirit looks like. It also calls on us to be healers of one another as we struggle to claim who and whose we are.
So we have these very big ideas and as a big picture kind of person, these are the things that ignite in me curiosity and wonder about how it will all unfold. But I realize that for more detail oriented people, these open ended visions are somewhat anxiety producing. So, we’re going deeper today to look for the practical ways of ministry and our callings within it. We are doing so because some of us are curious. Some of us find comfort in details. Others of us need reassurance.
I raise this issue of what we are each getting by our study together because it has bearing on what we will uncover. See, if it is that "Christ’s ministry is the foundation and standard for all ministry" then a great thing to recognize about the life and teachings of Jesus is that he lived and taught in ways that spoke to people the way they each needed to experience it.
We are all very different from one another. Different gifts, different personalities, different interests, different struggles, different experiences… all of which come together to make us unique and yet somehow only made whole in the body of Christ. So to reach out to such diverse groupings, Jesus used stories so that people would zero in on the parts they each needed to hear. He also shared a lot of meals and living room time where people have their guards down and true relationships are built. He used symbols and metaphors so that people would have to think and stretch themselves to understand. And no matter where he was or what was going on, his starting place was that of love for God’s special creation… people.
Over and over again, he astounded people by loving them instead of judging them because he knew that judgment is God’s and the path to true healing is that of love. He didn’t walk up to the woman at the well and call her wretched names or think judgmental thoughts about her. His starting place was that of love for who she was: a child of God with gifts and struggles that was living a life of suffering. Harsh words would have just alienated her more but love heals and transforms.
And while we’re looking at Jesus as the foundation and standard for all ministry, let’s not forget his humility. He is the one who came "not to be served but to serve." Ministry that models Christ is that of service rather than status. Born in a barn, murdered for his faith… those are extraordinary bookends to a life. But in some ways, even more extraordinary are the pages between the bookends that tell of a life of reaching out in search of God as a young child and extending the love of God as an adult. What would our lives look like if we each had such love?
And that’s the question of the day. Christ modeled what ministry looks like and we are called to minister to the "whole people of God." So what would our lives look like if we each had such love? What does ministering to the "whole people of God" look like?
Last week we read scripture that talks about the body of Christ and the different callings. This week we see in Galatians different gifts that we are given by the Spirit. And all along we have Christ telling us to go out and do something with these callings and gifts.
So what does it look like? Well, it starts by taking the time to find out who God made us to be. Jesus invited us to look into ourselves to know and honor this special creation of God. Searching ourselves is critical to knowing how we can serve. God asked Moses to live beyond his skills and God still asks the same of us today but we can’t go farther if we don’t know where to start.
So we each need to consider what our personality is, what our interests are, and what we have to offer as we look to see how we each may minister in the body of Christ. For example, you wouldn’t want me to sing in the choir but thanks be for those that can and we welcome them back this year. And I would be pretty bad at serving on the budget committee because I get overwhelmed with all the numbers. But you know what? I love the bible and I love people so one thing I can do is weave those two together into sermons and worship leadership.
See, it’s pretty much as simple as that. We start with who we are and what God has given us and ask "where can God use me?" Lend a Hand Day, teaching Sunday School, greeting, serving on committees, and all those other forms of stewardship are servant ministry. And even talking and sharing with one another is servant ministry because we are building up the body of Christ as we extend ourselves to one another in fellowship.
But ministry is about far more than what happens inside these walls. The real work of Christ is out there in the world. So again, let’s ask the question, what would our lives look like if we each had such love as Christ? What is our ministry in the world? When we look at our gifts and skills, how do we serve in the body of Christ beyond these walls?
The answer to those questions are as varied as can be. But I think our scripture can guide us. Galatians 6:1 reads, "My friends, if anyone is detected in a transgression, you who have received the Spirit should restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness." What does that have to do with our servant ministry? Well, most of our work both inside these walls and beyond is about healing. Almost everything we experience boils down to the brokenness we encounter within ourselves and around us. So much of our ministry and ministering is about being conduits of peace, healing, and reconciliation through the love of Christ.
Our charge is to heal with a spirit of gentleness. When we see wrong doings, we’re not called to judge, we’re called to restore. Sisters and brothers, each and every one of us struggle. When we think about the things we do wrong, we see a chain of events where we didn’t set out to hurt anyone but it all made sense at the time. As Paul said, "why is it I do what I don’t what to do?" As parents, as teachers, as ministers, as friends, as business people… we all struggle because we all have broken places in us and all need the grace of God and the love of Christ. The surest path to healing is not by wagging a finger at ourselves or others. Changing our behavior out of guilt isn’t really living in the Spirit. Healing comes by modeling Christ and loving the wounds away.
So if our lives are at the intersection of brokenness and love, who are we each called to be in the world? For the person who’s a little shy but always watching, maybe part of their calling is to be the one who always extends a kind smile. For the one gifted with leadership skills, maybe servant ministry looks like being a business person of respect who looks out for how employees are treated. For the ones with a mind for numbers, maybe it’s being a beacon of integrity so that wealth is not used to corrupt or squash others. For those who cook well, maybe it’s offering a meal to someone struggling or bringing the cookies to a meeting that reminds us of what’s important. Perhaps for those of us with old wounds that have been healed, it’s about sharing our path with those in need. If one of our blessings is extra time, maybe servant ministry is about volunteering.
And when the big stuff like 9/11 happens we still see the same things. Firefighters being firefighters and caring about people, even at the risk of losing their lives. Everyday folks dropping everything to clear debris because it serves and restores hope. People far away donating money, blood, and other resources because they love enough to want to be a part of the healing.
See, we get caught up in thinking of our daily lives as work, chores, and strife but if we look deeper we’ll see the way we are functioning as the body of Christ and honor that. And when we look deeper, we might even see new and different ways of sharing our gifts and callings. And that’s what we’ll talk about next week.
But for now, Christ invites us to see who God made us to be and offer that back to creation. As we go from here this week, may we look more deeply at who we are and what we can be in the body of Christ. And most importantly, may we live that calling each and every day. Amen.
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Peace for What?
Peace for What? <–- audio file of sermon. A sermon based upon John 20:19-31
Good morning. First off, let me go ahead and acknowledge that you might have noticed something different about me today. Is it new glasses? No. Perhaps a new outfit? No. The answer is I shaved my head 2 days ago at a charity event raising money for and awareness of childhood cancers. Some of you know that I do this every year and it’s always a wonderful event. Actually, the child we honored at the event was in the hospital and unable to attend. But like I said, it was still a wonderful occasion and such a great cause.
And just so you know, it is okay to ask me questions about it. It is okay to stare. And if you ask, I’ll even let you rub my head. But when you look at my head, please remember all those who struggle with cancer and need our support and then say a prayer for them.
Okay, now back to the task at hand. What do we make of these disciples and of good ole doubting Thomas? This is a story that a week and a half ago, I was going to preach pretty much the same thing we usually do. I thought we were going to look at the struggle between intuition and fact and of the different ways of knowing. I thought we might focus on how Christ comes to us no matter what our needs are so we need not vilify Thomas for being slow to believe.
But then Sunday night our televisions, radios, Facebook pages, and text messages starting buzzing with news that the President would speak. Soon the word came out that Osama Bin Laden was dead. And from that point forward broke a frenzy of praise, sorrow, questions, debate, and doubt. And somewhere in all this, a few people paused to ask, “what should the Christian response be?”
What should the Christian response be to the death of a man who apparently has masterminded the deaths of thousands of innocent lives? What should the Christian response be to the death of a man who struck fear in the hearts of so many? What should the Christian response be to the death of a man who was also a husband, father, grandfather, brother, and someone’s child? What should the Christian response be to the death of a man who had become so consumed by hate and fear that he could not see the humanity in others?
Sisters and brothers, I’m not going down a road toward telling you what you should believe politically or think about Osama Bin Laden. But I am going down a road that points to what happens when we live behind locked doors.
Let’s take another look at this passage. The passage begins, “When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’”
See, when we think about this passage in time, Jesus had just been crucified and died. That very morning Mary and Mary had discovered the empty tomb. Jesus had appeared to some of them on the road and they were sharing the news. But the general feeling amongst all of them was fear. They were afraid for their lives and afraid for their futures. They closed themselves off and locked the door. But Christ comes through the barriers and says, “Peace be with you.”
Later in the passage, we have the same disciples only this time Thomas is also there and he has not believed that Jesus was truly resurrected. The passage reads, “A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”
Here again we have the closed doors that are presumably locked. Even a week later, the disciples are hiding out rather than being out and about. And Jesus comes through the barriers to once again pronounce, “Peace be with you.”
So, what do we make of this? It would be easy to speed on past these verses and get to the story of Thomas’ disbelief. But I don’t think these verses are here by accident and I don’t think John went to the trouble of noting the closed doors if it weren’t an issue for us to learn from.
First of all I think we need to have grace and compassion in our hearts just as Christ did when we look at this story otherwise we get caught up in judgment. These people were scared. Jesus had been their companion and champion. They believed he was going to restore justice in the land. They hadn’t yet realized his justice would be of a more far reaching kind. So in their fear, they retreated to a home and hid out.
But Jesus came in and didn’t speak harsh words or judgment. He wanted them to be at ease and to release their fear. He greeted them with a wish and hope for peace in their lives. Christ wants them to not fear or to feel worse for their struggle. He wanted them to heal. His words were about understanding their experience and knowing that more than anything, they needed to let go of the fear and receive peace and the hope that springs from it.
This is truly an amazing model for our lives. It is an orientation toward people that begins with saying, “I want to know and understand you and your needs.” To have a starting place of grace and compassion in our hearts is a starting point of love rather than assessing, judging, categorizing, or any of the other countless ways we sum people up without first seeking to understand them and their experience.
When we are scared and either literally or metaphorically close ourselves off, what would it be like if someone who loves us came on in and spoke love and peace into our hearts, minds, and spirits? How would we react if that person looked at us with eyes of compassion that told us that our experiences and feelings are safe with them?
And looking outside of ourselves, what if we were the person who could be that voice of peace, love, and healing for the one who has walled themselves off? When we’re dealing with the person who lashes out at us, what if our starting place was that of looking into how someone got so overrun by fear rather than lashing back at them? What if our priority was to truly know and understand people and their experiences instead of quickly assessing what category they fit into?
Now coming back to where I started with the death of Bin Laden, I’m not saying that there isn’t a time to make people stand accountable for their crimes or that understanding why someone is fearful is an excuse for the way they may have hurt others. There is a time for that accountable justice. There is even a time and a place for those categories like liar, cheater, greedy, selfish, terrorist, and murderer. Those classifications can help us as a society understand who has been hurt and how to exact justice. But those categories should never be a substitute for seeking to know and understand one another. That’s just not what the Christian life is about.
The Christian life is found in our second point today. Christ’s peace and calling are to fling open the doors and live out in the world as agents of love and healing. Jesus said, “Peace be with you” not only as a way to still their anxious spirits but to clear the path to move beyond the fear and anxiety. Next, he breathed the Holy Spirit upon them and told them to go out and spread the Good News and extend the gift of the forgiveness of sins to all. Their job, their calling was to be out in the world. They had received the Spirit and the Spirit should not and cannot be contained behind closed doors.
So what does this mean to us? Well, more often than not, our fears come out in more subtle ways that are not directly damaging to others but cause harm we will never see. We wall ourselves off from certain “kinds” of people or places thereby cutting of relationship after relationship after relationship. We convince ourselves that our fears are actually wise judgments or well thought out beliefs so we don’t need to bother with this person or that group. We tell ourselves that “they” are sinners or liars or too uneducated to understand or too far beyond help. We convince ourselves that we need not worry about them because they don’t want our help anyway. We use words terms like “crazy liberal” and “snooty” to feel better about not looking at them as a whole person.
But maybe that’s just the problem. The message of Christ doesn’t start with figuring out what category someone fits in to or how to fix them. It starts with understanding. Instead of seeing “they” and “them” we need to see a person struggling or striving or searching and look more deeply into how that journey has shaped their life. When our starting point is that of trying to understand someone, the issue of helping will then naturally into place. And you know what else? We often find that we were helped in some way too.
Now, I’m not saying living the Christian life means to blindly walk up to a person who’s fear may have built to the point of violence. But I am saying that it means unlocking the doors of fear we’ve constructed for ourselves. It means gently challenging the fears of others by seeking to understand them and being open so that they can understand us. It means challenging our own fears by trusting in the peace of Christ to overcome all.
Does all this sound too big? Well, it starts here. The church is the proving grounds for how we’ll live in the world. We start with the people around us and let go of seeing the labels and the judgments and the walls that keep us from seeing the whole person.
With Christ’s peace, we can let go of seeing the person who snubbed us when we needed a friend or the person who complains instead of helping or the person who boasts instead of listening. And when we let go of the categories of judgment we might understand that we weren’t actually snubbed because the other person was deeply depressed at the time. And those complaints are just a mask for loneliness. And the boasting was just a mask for fear. If we can let the walls we have between us down long enough to understand one another, we’ll cultivate such a deep community we’ll have the strength to go out into the world and do this with others.
And we already do. Look at the Kairos ministry. That’s an amazing example of understanding that leads to healing. And I could stand here and name ministries and individual actions in this congrigation that over and over reflect the triumph of Christ’s peace and the healing of understanding. But today’s passage reminds us that there’s always more to be done.
The Christian response to Bid Laden’s death is not as simple as cheering or grieving. We must seek to be thoughtful and compassionate, appreciating justice yet seeking greater reconciliation. Christ’s call in the world always begins with peace that breaks down fear. That peace leads to understanding. And understanding leads to healing.
Sisters and brothers, whatever fears we are hiding behind or keep locked away, Christ breaks in past them and says, “Peace be with you.” As we leave here today, let us be bold to hear and receive that peace. Let us be brave to understand and be understood. Let us be trusting in Christ’s calling and be agents of healing and reconciliation in the world. Amen.
Good morning. First off, let me go ahead and acknowledge that you might have noticed something different about me today. Is it new glasses? No. Perhaps a new outfit? No. The answer is I shaved my head 2 days ago at a charity event raising money for and awareness of childhood cancers. Some of you know that I do this every year and it’s always a wonderful event. Actually, the child we honored at the event was in the hospital and unable to attend. But like I said, it was still a wonderful occasion and such a great cause.
And just so you know, it is okay to ask me questions about it. It is okay to stare. And if you ask, I’ll even let you rub my head. But when you look at my head, please remember all those who struggle with cancer and need our support and then say a prayer for them.
Okay, now back to the task at hand. What do we make of these disciples and of good ole doubting Thomas? This is a story that a week and a half ago, I was going to preach pretty much the same thing we usually do. I thought we were going to look at the struggle between intuition and fact and of the different ways of knowing. I thought we might focus on how Christ comes to us no matter what our needs are so we need not vilify Thomas for being slow to believe.
But then Sunday night our televisions, radios, Facebook pages, and text messages starting buzzing with news that the President would speak. Soon the word came out that Osama Bin Laden was dead. And from that point forward broke a frenzy of praise, sorrow, questions, debate, and doubt. And somewhere in all this, a few people paused to ask, “what should the Christian response be?”
What should the Christian response be to the death of a man who apparently has masterminded the deaths of thousands of innocent lives? What should the Christian response be to the death of a man who struck fear in the hearts of so many? What should the Christian response be to the death of a man who was also a husband, father, grandfather, brother, and someone’s child? What should the Christian response be to the death of a man who had become so consumed by hate and fear that he could not see the humanity in others?
Sisters and brothers, I’m not going down a road toward telling you what you should believe politically or think about Osama Bin Laden. But I am going down a road that points to what happens when we live behind locked doors.
Let’s take another look at this passage. The passage begins, “When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’”
See, when we think about this passage in time, Jesus had just been crucified and died. That very morning Mary and Mary had discovered the empty tomb. Jesus had appeared to some of them on the road and they were sharing the news. But the general feeling amongst all of them was fear. They were afraid for their lives and afraid for their futures. They closed themselves off and locked the door. But Christ comes through the barriers and says, “Peace be with you.”
Later in the passage, we have the same disciples only this time Thomas is also there and he has not believed that Jesus was truly resurrected. The passage reads, “A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”
Here again we have the closed doors that are presumably locked. Even a week later, the disciples are hiding out rather than being out and about. And Jesus comes through the barriers to once again pronounce, “Peace be with you.”
So, what do we make of this? It would be easy to speed on past these verses and get to the story of Thomas’ disbelief. But I don’t think these verses are here by accident and I don’t think John went to the trouble of noting the closed doors if it weren’t an issue for us to learn from.
First of all I think we need to have grace and compassion in our hearts just as Christ did when we look at this story otherwise we get caught up in judgment. These people were scared. Jesus had been their companion and champion. They believed he was going to restore justice in the land. They hadn’t yet realized his justice would be of a more far reaching kind. So in their fear, they retreated to a home and hid out.
But Jesus came in and didn’t speak harsh words or judgment. He wanted them to be at ease and to release their fear. He greeted them with a wish and hope for peace in their lives. Christ wants them to not fear or to feel worse for their struggle. He wanted them to heal. His words were about understanding their experience and knowing that more than anything, they needed to let go of the fear and receive peace and the hope that springs from it.
This is truly an amazing model for our lives. It is an orientation toward people that begins with saying, “I want to know and understand you and your needs.” To have a starting place of grace and compassion in our hearts is a starting point of love rather than assessing, judging, categorizing, or any of the other countless ways we sum people up without first seeking to understand them and their experience.
When we are scared and either literally or metaphorically close ourselves off, what would it be like if someone who loves us came on in and spoke love and peace into our hearts, minds, and spirits? How would we react if that person looked at us with eyes of compassion that told us that our experiences and feelings are safe with them?
And looking outside of ourselves, what if we were the person who could be that voice of peace, love, and healing for the one who has walled themselves off? When we’re dealing with the person who lashes out at us, what if our starting place was that of looking into how someone got so overrun by fear rather than lashing back at them? What if our priority was to truly know and understand people and their experiences instead of quickly assessing what category they fit into?
Now coming back to where I started with the death of Bin Laden, I’m not saying that there isn’t a time to make people stand accountable for their crimes or that understanding why someone is fearful is an excuse for the way they may have hurt others. There is a time for that accountable justice. There is even a time and a place for those categories like liar, cheater, greedy, selfish, terrorist, and murderer. Those classifications can help us as a society understand who has been hurt and how to exact justice. But those categories should never be a substitute for seeking to know and understand one another. That’s just not what the Christian life is about.
The Christian life is found in our second point today. Christ’s peace and calling are to fling open the doors and live out in the world as agents of love and healing. Jesus said, “Peace be with you” not only as a way to still their anxious spirits but to clear the path to move beyond the fear and anxiety. Next, he breathed the Holy Spirit upon them and told them to go out and spread the Good News and extend the gift of the forgiveness of sins to all. Their job, their calling was to be out in the world. They had received the Spirit and the Spirit should not and cannot be contained behind closed doors.
So what does this mean to us? Well, more often than not, our fears come out in more subtle ways that are not directly damaging to others but cause harm we will never see. We wall ourselves off from certain “kinds” of people or places thereby cutting of relationship after relationship after relationship. We convince ourselves that our fears are actually wise judgments or well thought out beliefs so we don’t need to bother with this person or that group. We tell ourselves that “they” are sinners or liars or too uneducated to understand or too far beyond help. We convince ourselves that we need not worry about them because they don’t want our help anyway. We use words terms like “crazy liberal” and “snooty” to feel better about not looking at them as a whole person.
But maybe that’s just the problem. The message of Christ doesn’t start with figuring out what category someone fits in to or how to fix them. It starts with understanding. Instead of seeing “they” and “them” we need to see a person struggling or striving or searching and look more deeply into how that journey has shaped their life. When our starting point is that of trying to understand someone, the issue of helping will then naturally into place. And you know what else? We often find that we were helped in some way too.
Now, I’m not saying living the Christian life means to blindly walk up to a person who’s fear may have built to the point of violence. But I am saying that it means unlocking the doors of fear we’ve constructed for ourselves. It means gently challenging the fears of others by seeking to understand them and being open so that they can understand us. It means challenging our own fears by trusting in the peace of Christ to overcome all.
Does all this sound too big? Well, it starts here. The church is the proving grounds for how we’ll live in the world. We start with the people around us and let go of seeing the labels and the judgments and the walls that keep us from seeing the whole person.
With Christ’s peace, we can let go of seeing the person who snubbed us when we needed a friend or the person who complains instead of helping or the person who boasts instead of listening. And when we let go of the categories of judgment we might understand that we weren’t actually snubbed because the other person was deeply depressed at the time. And those complaints are just a mask for loneliness. And the boasting was just a mask for fear. If we can let the walls we have between us down long enough to understand one another, we’ll cultivate such a deep community we’ll have the strength to go out into the world and do this with others.
And we already do. Look at the Kairos ministry. That’s an amazing example of understanding that leads to healing. And I could stand here and name ministries and individual actions in this congrigation that over and over reflect the triumph of Christ’s peace and the healing of understanding. But today’s passage reminds us that there’s always more to be done.
The Christian response to Bid Laden’s death is not as simple as cheering or grieving. We must seek to be thoughtful and compassionate, appreciating justice yet seeking greater reconciliation. Christ’s call in the world always begins with peace that breaks down fear. That peace leads to understanding. And understanding leads to healing.
Sisters and brothers, whatever fears we are hiding behind or keep locked away, Christ breaks in past them and says, “Peace be with you.” As we leave here today, let us be bold to hear and receive that peace. Let us be brave to understand and be understood. Let us be trusting in Christ’s calling and be agents of healing and reconciliation in the world. Amen.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
You Are What You Think
You Are What You Think: <-- Audio file to sermon based upon Matthew 5:21-37.
Good morning and welcome. As I began to prepare for this Sunday I did as I always do and started with prayer and scripture. When I read the lectionary, I was nearly overwhelmed by all the directions we could go. And when I settled on the Matthew text specifically, I was no closer to a focus.
You see, when I read such a power packed text I have to make choices about what to bring to you and I do so by trying to listen for God’s direction. You know… what does God want us to hear today? But as far as how I do that, there are many methods. I can cut pieces out and then focus in on a small but deep part. I could also look at it as vignettes to be shared in sections. Another way is to do what I’m going to try today which is hold out a big picture view and then look more closely at a few sections. So, I hope you’ve got your thinking caps on because this is going to be a lot to digest.
When we read this passage, we’re jumping into a broader section we call the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus shares what many consider to be his centerpiece teachings. The beatitudes come before this and many more teachings about the how to live an abundant and righteous life come after that. This is really the beginning section of a kind of guide on how to live. Jesus is signaling a change in how people might think about what is good and right. You see, Jesus is a Jewish man 2000 years ago and he would have been part of a family and community that took Jewish law and observances very seriously. They would have taken part in many faith practices and lived by a moral code of rules because it is what God had commanded of the Israelites from the earliest time.
So, let’s talk real quickly about Jewish law. You see, Jewish law rose out of a time when a group of slaves who had not managed their lives were set free from Egypt. The laws, including the 10 commandments were a way to teach them order and a way to build and be community together. They were also about honoring the giver of moral awareness, God. These laws covered all kinds of things. For example, laws about handing blood of animals were really about public health because they did have a sink to wash it all down the drain. They had to be careful about not spreading illness. But following these laws not only made them healthier, it also honored God by showing good handling and stewardship of their blessings. So, when you study Jewish law, it is easy to see that these rules are for people’s benefit on multiple levels.
However, Jesus is taking this to a deeper level. He is saying in these passages, it is not enough to conform our actions to the law; we must also have hearts and minds to match. He’s not saying there is anything bad about the law or that it is of no use. But he is concerned that there are people who spend their lives following the letter of the law but never reaping the benefit of the spirit of the law. Coming back to the example of handling animal’s blood, It would be like Jesus saying that handling blood correctly might make for a good cut of meat but you missed all the growth and wonder in being grateful and praising God who gave it to you.
Being connected to the spirit of the law, reveals that our insides matter too. When we follow God’s law, we are not being called to merely conform our actions. We are being called to grow and become more than we were before. So, let’s look into a few of these places where Jesus is calling us to be more than we are on the outside. Verses 21-24 read,
But beyond that, this section clearly calls us to see that our inner thinking, feelings, and beliefs are also to be scrutinized rather than just our actions. We need to deal with our resentments and grudges before our outward actions really mean anything at all. And when it says, “first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift,” I think we could extend that reconciliation to ourselves too. In a culture that teaches us to internalize our shame and guilt, we must recognize that holding onto those things keeps us from growing and becoming all that the spirit of the law wants for us.
In the next section, verses 27-32 read,
So Jesus is stepping into a sensitive area but just as in the previous passage, Jesus is concerned with what’s going on inside of us, not just on the outside. What’s becoming clear as we read on is that we are what we think. That eye that offends or hand that sins did so because of the inner motivations and intentions of the person, not because eye or hand is bad. So, why did Jesus say to rip it out when ultimately we know that Mahatma Gandhi was right when he said, “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind”?
Well, most importantly, I don’t think Jesus was being literal. He was being instructive. Jesus repeatedly shows that he has a real understanding for human nature and our struggle to do what we know to be right but can’t quite will ourselves to do. See, I think Jesus was talking about the need to constantly rebuild, reform, and transform ourselves. We must keep growing or we’ll only have eyes that see with lust and hands that act with offence. We must tear down old ways and habits if they did not help us change our insides too.
And this same notion carries into the next section as well as we read in verses 33-37,
For example, wedding vows are beautiful things. But they are full of all these clauses and what if’s. What truly makes a marriage work is not the oath but getting up every day and saying yes to love with that person. Or when we look at oaths of nationalism like the Pledge of Allegiance, what we see is something honorable in its hope. But what really makes civic pride work are the individual moments each and every day when we say yes to upholding people and love and no to injustice and hate.
Okay, let’s pull all of this together. The law helps us see how to keep ourselves going when we’re not able to act from a place of love. For example, when we’re grief stricken, we might make choices of retaliation or self-harm in the midst of our pain. So, when we are at our weakest, the law stands strong as a guide for not making things worse. But the hope of the law is that we come to know God, from whom all goodness flow. When we know God, our starting place is not just in conforming our actions. Our starting place is the love of God that is in us.
But the law serves another function. It proves just how broken and flawed we truly are and makes us even more keenly aware of our need for God’s amazing grace. No one will ever live fully into the law. Our very best intentions still leave us making mistakes and sometimes outright doing the wrong thing.
Ultimately, we need to know that this is the lesson from Christ. Over and over he shows us that we need grace, grace, grace. We offer our best and are most definitely called to grow and keep building and rebuilding. We are called to make the individual decisions, moment by moment to say yes to love and no to hate. But just as we try, God actually does. God’s work of grace brings true completion to all that we are unable to attain.
So when we’re struggling with making ourselves do the right thing; or when we are carrying resentments that burden and cut us off; or when focusing on making that next simple, humble decision becomes difficult, trust that God’s grace will pick up where our best efforts fall short. And thanks be to God for that.
Amen
Good morning and welcome. As I began to prepare for this Sunday I did as I always do and started with prayer and scripture. When I read the lectionary, I was nearly overwhelmed by all the directions we could go. And when I settled on the Matthew text specifically, I was no closer to a focus.
You see, when I read such a power packed text I have to make choices about what to bring to you and I do so by trying to listen for God’s direction. You know… what does God want us to hear today? But as far as how I do that, there are many methods. I can cut pieces out and then focus in on a small but deep part. I could also look at it as vignettes to be shared in sections. Another way is to do what I’m going to try today which is hold out a big picture view and then look more closely at a few sections. So, I hope you’ve got your thinking caps on because this is going to be a lot to digest.
When we read this passage, we’re jumping into a broader section we call the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus shares what many consider to be his centerpiece teachings. The beatitudes come before this and many more teachings about the how to live an abundant and righteous life come after that. This is really the beginning section of a kind of guide on how to live. Jesus is signaling a change in how people might think about what is good and right. You see, Jesus is a Jewish man 2000 years ago and he would have been part of a family and community that took Jewish law and observances very seriously. They would have taken part in many faith practices and lived by a moral code of rules because it is what God had commanded of the Israelites from the earliest time.
So, let’s talk real quickly about Jewish law. You see, Jewish law rose out of a time when a group of slaves who had not managed their lives were set free from Egypt. The laws, including the 10 commandments were a way to teach them order and a way to build and be community together. They were also about honoring the giver of moral awareness, God. These laws covered all kinds of things. For example, laws about handing blood of animals were really about public health because they did have a sink to wash it all down the drain. They had to be careful about not spreading illness. But following these laws not only made them healthier, it also honored God by showing good handling and stewardship of their blessings. So, when you study Jewish law, it is easy to see that these rules are for people’s benefit on multiple levels.
However, Jesus is taking this to a deeper level. He is saying in these passages, it is not enough to conform our actions to the law; we must also have hearts and minds to match. He’s not saying there is anything bad about the law or that it is of no use. But he is concerned that there are people who spend their lives following the letter of the law but never reaping the benefit of the spirit of the law. Coming back to the example of handling animal’s blood, It would be like Jesus saying that handling blood correctly might make for a good cut of meat but you missed all the growth and wonder in being grateful and praising God who gave it to you.
Being connected to the spirit of the law, reveals that our insides matter too. When we follow God’s law, we are not being called to merely conform our actions. We are being called to grow and become more than we were before. So, let’s look into a few of these places where Jesus is calling us to be more than we are on the outside. Verses 21-24 read,
“You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not murder’; and ‘whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, ‘You fool,’ you will be liable to the hell of fire. So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift.Let me first offer a word of caution. In the verse that reads, “But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment,” the word angry is a bit misleading. This is not talking about the feeling of anger. Feeling angry is a natural response to injustice, hurt, and many other things. This is talking about holding onto anger and letting it fester. A more appropriate translation might be the word resentment.
But beyond that, this section clearly calls us to see that our inner thinking, feelings, and beliefs are also to be scrutinized rather than just our actions. We need to deal with our resentments and grudges before our outward actions really mean anything at all. And when it says, “first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift,” I think we could extend that reconciliation to ourselves too. In a culture that teaches us to internalize our shame and guilt, we must recognize that holding onto those things keeps us from growing and becoming all that the spirit of the law wants for us.
In the next section, verses 27-32 read,
‘You have heard that it was said, “You shall not commit adultery.” But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to go into hell. ‘It was also said, “Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.” But I say to you that anyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of unchastity, causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.Here, we might be tempted get entangled in how harsh this language is. We’re going to get to how all this fits together in a few minutes. But for now, let’s think again about Jewish law, God’s law. I think God’s intention was that we would do the right thing because it’s the right thing. But the law helps us by guiding us even when we don’t feel so upright or moral. These rules were put in place to hold together communities and families. They kept women and children from being abused and helped communities keep their moral compass true.
So Jesus is stepping into a sensitive area but just as in the previous passage, Jesus is concerned with what’s going on inside of us, not just on the outside. What’s becoming clear as we read on is that we are what we think. That eye that offends or hand that sins did so because of the inner motivations and intentions of the person, not because eye or hand is bad. So, why did Jesus say to rip it out when ultimately we know that Mahatma Gandhi was right when he said, “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind”?
Well, most importantly, I don’t think Jesus was being literal. He was being instructive. Jesus repeatedly shows that he has a real understanding for human nature and our struggle to do what we know to be right but can’t quite will ourselves to do. See, I think Jesus was talking about the need to constantly rebuild, reform, and transform ourselves. We must keep growing or we’ll only have eyes that see with lust and hands that act with offence. We must tear down old ways and habits if they did not help us change our insides too.
And this same notion carries into the next section as well as we read in verses 33-37,
‘Again, you have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, “You shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you have made to the Lord.” But I say to you, Do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. Let your word be “Yes, Yes” or “No, No”; anything more than this comes from the evil one.Here we see Jesus being attune to human nature again. We want to be lofty and more than we are. That’s a good thing because it keeps us growing. But the surest path to true growth is through keeping it simple and staying humble. It’s also the surest path to transforming our inner thoughts and our outward actions.
For example, wedding vows are beautiful things. But they are full of all these clauses and what if’s. What truly makes a marriage work is not the oath but getting up every day and saying yes to love with that person. Or when we look at oaths of nationalism like the Pledge of Allegiance, what we see is something honorable in its hope. But what really makes civic pride work are the individual moments each and every day when we say yes to upholding people and love and no to injustice and hate.
Okay, let’s pull all of this together. The law helps us see how to keep ourselves going when we’re not able to act from a place of love. For example, when we’re grief stricken, we might make choices of retaliation or self-harm in the midst of our pain. So, when we are at our weakest, the law stands strong as a guide for not making things worse. But the hope of the law is that we come to know God, from whom all goodness flow. When we know God, our starting place is not just in conforming our actions. Our starting place is the love of God that is in us.
But the law serves another function. It proves just how broken and flawed we truly are and makes us even more keenly aware of our need for God’s amazing grace. No one will ever live fully into the law. Our very best intentions still leave us making mistakes and sometimes outright doing the wrong thing.
Ultimately, we need to know that this is the lesson from Christ. Over and over he shows us that we need grace, grace, grace. We offer our best and are most definitely called to grow and keep building and rebuilding. We are called to make the individual decisions, moment by moment to say yes to love and no to hate. But just as we try, God actually does. God’s work of grace brings true completion to all that we are unable to attain.
So when we’re struggling with making ourselves do the right thing; or when we are carrying resentments that burden and cut us off; or when focusing on making that next simple, humble decision becomes difficult, trust that God’s grace will pick up where our best efforts fall short. And thanks be to God for that.
Amen
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