Luke 16:19-31

29 September 2019

The Rev. Todd R. Goddard, Pastor

Rush United Methodist Church

 

Luke 16:19-31

 

“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores.

The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side.

He called out, “Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames.’

But Abraham said, “Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.’

He said, “Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father’s house— for I have five brothers—that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.’

Abraham replied, “They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.’

He said, “No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’

He said to him, “If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.'”

Prayer.

 

Jesus is a master storyteller.

Some of the parables Jesus tells

Just speak for themselves.

The message is obvious.

Little commentary is necessary.

Truth is revealed for all to see and experience.

 

I love these opportunities, such as today,

For it affords me greater latitude to

expand the story

and challenge us with questions we can apply to our lives and families.

 

This parable about a rich man and Lazarus,

Unique to Luke,

Plays itself out in three acts, and

Leads me to ask four questions.

 

 

First question: what separates us from each other?

 

I’m thinking about the gate;

The gate that came between the rich man and Lazarus.

I think about the chasm that is fixed

preventing passage between Hades and the

Elevated environs of angels and Father Abraham.

The gate and the chasm are obvious barriers.

 

Makes me think,

I erect gates and dig uncrossable chasms

Between others and myself all the time.

Instead of serving God,

I live enslaved by my schedule.

Instead of stopping to help someone in need,

I rush to make an appointment on time.

I justify passing by on the other side by telling myself that

My meeting was a church meeting.

 

I confess that I live according to Chronos time;

That counts the hours, minutes, and seconds of every day.

I confess that I fail to live according to God’s time,

That counts people, relationships, and service in the name of Jesus.

 

How about you?

 

What are the gates we erect and what are the chasms we dig

between ourselves and others

that are not so obvious?

 

 

The man living in the gated community is wealthy.

As I mentioned last Sunday,

Wealth is a sign of a failure to follow God’s laws:

Charging interest and not celebrating Jubilee.

 

According to the World Bank,

10.5% of the 7.7 billion people of the world

Live on less than $1.90 a day.

(https://www.worldvision.org/sponsorship-news-stories/global-poverty-facts)

 

(I can’t speak for you, but …)

I’m practically

Living in a vault,

Swimming in gold coins,

Spending my days printing money.

I confess that my wealth is a barrier between others and me.

 

Lazarus’ health care is delivered by dogs who lick his open sores.

(And you thought your health care was bad!)

At the same time,

I complain about health care to anyone who will listen:

The copays, seeing my doctor, scheduling an appointment, referrals to a specialist, juggling my FSA and my HSA.

 

Meanwhile, the Center for Disease Control reported last year

that 11.1% of Americans under the age of 65 don’t even have health insurance.

That’s 30.1 million people.

(https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/health-insurance.htm)

 

The World Health Organization reports that in 2019

Life expectancy in high income countries is 80.8 years,

While life expectancy in low income countries is 62.7 years;

A difference of difference of 18.1 years.

In low income countries, one in three deaths are children under the age of five.

(https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/311696/WHO-DAD-2019.1-eng.pdf)

 

I confess that access to healthcare

is an unjust and uncrossable chasm the world has created and

In which, I enjoy the advantage of an unlevel playing field.

 

The Gospel begs the question,

What gates and chasms are placed in your life

That benefit you at the expense of others?

 

If you built the barrier, you can remove it.

 

If the barriers that give you privilege have been put in place by others,

We are called to honor our baptismal vow to

Reject injustice and oppression

Where ever and when ever they are found.

Speak for those without voice.

Defend the defenseless.

Reject injustice and oppression and

do it in the name of the author of Justice and equality,

Jesus Christ, our Lord.

 

 

Second question: how do I treat others? as objects or as individuals?

 

Jesus uses this fictional parable of Lazarus and the rich man

to teach us many lessons.

Pay close attention to the details.

 

As is often the characteristic of the Gospel of Luke,

Jesus identifies Lazarus and Abraham by name.

The rich man is not identified.

Why?

 

Perhaps Jesus is doling out justice;

Revocation of membership in the VIP club and

Granting eternal anonymity as payment

For a privileged, promoted, pimped-up and pimped-out mortal life?

 

Welcome to coach … and being called last to board.

 

Notice; the rich man knows Lazarus by name.

He noticed him begging and suffering at his gate

Over a long of enough period of time that he learned Lazarus’ name.

And still, he did nothing to help.

 

 

Notice; the rich man,

In the agony of Hades flames,

Looks up and doesn’t speak to Lazarus;

He speaks to Abraham.

In death, as in life,

The rich man treats Lazarus with disdain,

as less than a slave,

as one who can be ordered around.

 

The rich man treats Lazarus as an object.

To the rich man, Lazarus is nothing more than a pawn to be moved,

A means to an ends,

A disposable detail to be blamed

For the delay and, ultimately, the denial of his eternal objective.

 

I confess, I easily fall to the temptation of treating others as objects.

I pass judgment about others by the way they look,

Their lifestyle, or their choices.

I treat others as objects when I think about them by labels or categories:

That welfare mother,

That lazy immigrant,

That ignorant member of the other political party,

That convicted prisoner,

That woman with Down Syndrome,

That pain in my butt,

That triple bypass,

That widow with dementia.

 

The Gospel is clear,

How we treat our neighbor matters.

Using broad brush strokes and generalities lumps everyone together and

Makes other groups the object of our rage.

 

 

Objectifying others becomes the catalyst for

Cold, insensitive words and escalating violence.

 

When it comes to being a disciple of Jesus

Words and behavior matter.

Jesus teaches us to treat our neighbors as human,

As equals,

As peers.

Learn their name and respectfully call them by name.

Jesus teaches us to speak and act with respect and compassion,

Treating every individual as a child of God of sacred worth,

As a near perfect image of our Creator.

 

The way we act and speak about others

Reveals

the honest way we think about God and

our true behavior in God’s Kingdom.

 

Third question: Is my heart at war or at peace?

 

Jesus does a masterful job of casting the roll of the rich man

As a character in this parable as a man whose heart is at war.

 

He fights for privilege

To receive good things.

He demands to be respected,

To be treated with the honor worthy of his purple, royal clothing.

He resorts to manipulation

To get his way.

(Notice how he addresses Abraham as ‘Father’? It’s a shameless appeal to recognize the fact that he is a child of Abraham, too.)

Equal justice is good for me when it gives me a leg up,

But it’s bad for me when it gives someone else the advantage.

 

A heart that fights is a heart at war.

A heart that demands special treatment is a heart at war.

A heart that is manipulative is a heart at war.

 

How’s your heart these days?

 

I confess that

I fight to increase my net wealth and improve my future pension.

I love being seated at the table of honor and getting called to go first to the buffet.

Sometimes I’m even known to try to manipulate my marriage, my children, my friends, and parish.

I confess that sometimes my heart cold as ice, made of stone, and at war with the world.

 

Obsession is often a sign and symptom of a heart at war.

 

Isn’t Jesus using this story of a rich man and Lazarus

To change our hearts?

To remold and remake our hearts into hearts of peace?

 

Which leads us to the fourth question,

Quietly lurking in the background of this Gospel lesson;

The unspoken truth that is obvious

But no one wants to talk about …

Repentance.

 

 

Fourth question: How will we respond to Jesus’ call to repentance?

 

No one wants to talk about repentance,

Let alone do it,

Because repentance is hard and painful.

 

Repentance is coming to terms with the truth about ourselves and our sins.

 

Repentance exposes the fact that we sometimes treat others as objects, less worthy, inferior, not as God’s children.

Repentance reveals the truth about our wealth and how we use it.

Repentance is a painful slap in the face, and

We know it’s going to cost us.

 

Repentance lifts the curtain,

Exposes our hearts when at war,

And lets all the world to see the hypocrisy,

Of stepping over the poor and the sick

dying at our front door or front gate.

 

Repentance is painful because it demands a change.

I can’t speak for you, but I know that I don’t like to make changes in my life.

Change costs me time and money.

Jesus’ story of a rich man and Lazarus

Is a call for you and me to make necessary changes in our lives

While we still have the time and the means to do so.

 

 

The clock is ticking.

 

Repentance requires me to fess up to my mistakes,

Tear down barriers I’ve built between others and myself, and

Get to work making it right.

 

Repentance is as painful as ribs getting spread for heart surgery;

It transforms the heart,

Giving us a heart of peace when we follow Jesus

In place of a heart at war

When we live in wealth and privilege at the expense of others.

 

 

Dearly beloved,

What separates us from each other and from our Lord, Jesus Christ?

Grant us, O Lord, the will to repent of our ways,

To tear down our barriers,

And to replace every gate and chasm in our life

With a door or a bridge.

 

How do we treat others? As individuals; each with a name, story, and of sacred worth?

Grant us, O Lord, the courage to repent of our ways,

To embrace every person, without exception,

as a person of worth, as your precious child.

 

Is your heart at war, at peace, or someplace in between?

Hear our cry of repentance, O Lord,

That we may turn away from war

And receive your perfect and eternal peace.

 

“Turn back, O man

Forswear thy foolish ways

Old now is earth

And none may count her days

Da da da da da

Yet thou, her child

Whose head is crowned with flames

Still will not hear

Thine inner God proclaims

 

Turn back, O man

Turn back, O man

Turn back, O man

Forswear thy foolish ways”

(Godspell, by John-Michael Tebelak, lyrics from “Turn Back, O Man”)

 

Amen.

Luke 16:1-13

22 September 2019

The Rev. Todd R. Goddard, Pastor

Rush United Methodist Church

 

Luke 16:1-13

 

Then Jesus said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was squandering his property. So he summoned him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Give me an accounting of your management, because you cannot be my manager any longer.’

Then the manager said to himself, ‘What will I do, now that my master is taking the position away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.’

So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ He answered, ‘A hundred jugs of olive oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.’ Then he asked another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He replied, ‘A hundred containers of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill and make it eighty.’

And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.

“Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own?

No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”

Prayer.

 

I don’t know about you,

But I like the older language

Found in the King James and Revised Standard versions that reads:

“Ye cannot serve God and Mammon.”

Mammon serves as a personification for the acquisition of wealth,

Or, as Martin Luther called it,

The “most common god on earth.”

 

Bob Dylan sings, everybody’s “gotta serve somebody.”

You cannot serve God and Mammon, Jesus concludes.

 

Our Gospel from Luke today is especially difficult to understand.

It is hard for us to know

HOW Jesus wants us

To judge any of the characters in his story.

It is almost as if understanding Jesus’ intent

Requires us to take a mini course in ancient Biblical economics.

 

(Much of today’s insight comes from the excellent work of Barbara Rossing, Professor of New Testament, Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, Chicago, Ill. As found at workingpreacher.org)

 

Most people will look at this unusual passage

Only found in the Gospel of Luke,

Reel in bewilderment,

And toss up their hands, saying,

“Why should I even bother

To try to make heads or tails of this complex mess?”

“It’s too complicated!”

(Remember: Church is a “No Complaint Zone”)

 

Believe me.

It’s worth the effort.

It’s worth the effort to dig deeply

To uncover Jesus’ intended message and essential truth.

 

In Biblical Judaism,

It is forbidden to charge interest on a loan.

These prohibitions are listed exhaustively in

Exodus 22, Leviticus 25, and Deuteronomy 15.

(This, of course, makes it impossible today

For Bankers, or any lender, mortgage or bond holders,

To believe in a

Literal, word-for-word translation of the Bible).

 

The Bible forbids interest because it exploits the vulnerable and poor.

In the time of Jesus,

This prohibition was being ignored.

Surprise! Surprise!

God’s people fail to heed God’s Word.

 

There is nothing new under the sun.

 

The vulnerable poor were being exploited.

They were being gouged.

How bad were the poor being exploited? You ask …

 

Scholars suggest the real interest rate would have been

25 percent per year for borrowing money, and

50 percent per year for borrowing goods.

The manager? You ask, “How does he make his money?

By charging his fee on top of everything else.

 

So, after twelve months, a $1,000 loan of grain

Will now cost the borrower $1,500 to pay back,

Plus an additional $150 fee for the debt collector.

The sum total for a thousand dollar loan would be $1,650.

You can see why the poor were being crushed by debt.

 

The poor were attracted to Jesus

Like new college graduates heavily encumbered with student debt

Are attracted to a politician promising the sun, the moon, and the stars.

 

The shrewd manager

Quickly writes down everyone’s debt

So they will treat him well after he is fired.

Let me be clear:

He is only writing off the debt that was unjust interest and, possibly, his fee.

He was only writing the debt off

Back to the original principle amount of the loan.

 

Borrowers had been pounded for years

Under the exploitative debt of both

The rich man and his manager.

Both the rich man and his manager were rascals of the worst kind.

They exploited the poor.

 

Now the manager

Who had been caught with his hand in the cookie jar

Was simply doing what was right,

What was according to Law,

What he should have been doing in the first place.

 

Throughout the Gospel of Luke,

Jesus calls for another Biblical directive: Jubilee.

 

What is Jubilee? You ask …

 

Leviticus 25:8-15 states

  “You shall count off seven weeks of years, seven times seven years, so that the period of seven weeks of years gives forty-nine years. Then you shall have the trumpet sounded loud; on the tenth day of the seventh month—on the day of atonement—you shall have the trumpet sounded throughout all your land. And you shall hallow the fiftieth year and you shall proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants.

  It shall be a jubilee for you: you shall return, every one of you, to your property and every one of you to your family. That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you: you shall not sow, or reap the aftergrowth, or harvest the unpruned vines. For it is a jubilee; it shall be holy to you: you shall eat only what the field itself produces. In this year of jubilee you shall return, every one of you, to your property.”

 

Every 49 years

Liberty is to be proclaimed throughout the land.

Slaves and prisoners would be freed.

Debts would be forgiven.

The mercies of God would be manifest.

(https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jubilee_(biblical))

 

You heard me right.

All debts shall be forgiven.

 

Jesus cracks the Jubilee whip throughout the Gospel of Luke.

In the Magnificat,

Luke reports (1:53) that God

“Has filled the hungry with good things,

And sent the rich away empty.”

When Jesus encounters Zacchaeus,

Zacchaeus restores to the borrowers

That which he had defrauded four-fold.

As a result

Jesus restores Zacchaeus to community and proclaims,

“Today salvation has come to this house.” (19:18).

 

Because of this generational reset

Of everyone’s accumulated assets to zero,

There would be no way to accumulate massive wealth,

Unless, of course,

You had the financial ability and the sinful disdain

To defy the law regarding lending and debt.

All massive wealth was the result of

Biblically prohibited financial exploitation.

 

Massive wealth was the result of

Biblically prohibited financial exploitation.

 

When Jesus begins his narrative about a rich man and a manager,

Everyone to whom he was speaking

… the disciples, sinners, and tax collectors – everyone…

Would have immediately known

That Jesus was

Speaking about not one, but two rascals

Who disobey the Bible and who exploit the poor.

 

Jesus is condemning both equally;

Both the rich man and his shrewd manager.

It is not okay to exploit the poor.

Financial exploitation of the poor

Is absolutely contrary to the Gospel

And contrary to the teaching of Jesus.

 

I find it refreshing to learn

That “the Lutheran World Federation

Calls oppressive debt terms

Imposed on Latin American countries

As “illegitimate debt”

And likens such debt itself to “violence,”

Because of its crushing effects on people’s future.”

Some even go so far to

Refer to the international debt system as “modern slavery.”

 

(Rev. Ángel Furlan, coordinator of the illegitimate debt program for LWF member churches in Latin America, referred to the debt system as “modern slavery.” See the 2013 report at https://www.lutheranworld.org/news/just-and-sustainable-future-without-illegitimate-foreign-debt)

 

By this Gospel story

Jesus is attempting to dismantle

Human systems of greed;

Greed that disobey God’s Word and God’s Law,

Greed that exploit the vulnerable poor,

And greed that perpetuates an endless cycle of poverty.

 

Jesus is reviving village life!

Jesus is reviving the call to Biblical behavior!

Jesus is reviving the call for all his followers

To be people in covenant with God and with our neighbors!

Jesus is reviving the call to forgive debts!

(“Forgive us this day our debts,

As we forgive our debtors” – Matthew 6:12)

 

Jesus is in the business of revival and resurrection baby,

Today he has hit pure gold!

 

In today’s world

Most people notice the widening gap between the rich and the poor.

The middle class is being squeezed

And most of the pulverized remains are flowing through the grinder

Forging people who are marginalized by

Poverty, unemployment, hunger, and homelessness.

 

Disciples of Christ

Are being asked to choose

In this important teaching lesson today:

Whom shall we serve?

God or mammon?

Disciples of Jesus are repeatedly warned

That we cannot be disciples while accumulating wealth

At the expense of the poor.

 

If we choose to serve mammon.

Go home.

Go ahead and turn your back on those in need.

Remain quiet when injustice is exposed.

Don’t lift a finger to prevent exploitation from taking place.

God bless you.

You’re going to need it.

 

But Jesus calls his followers to a higher standard.

Jesus calls us to become engaged in the world’s dysfunction.

God wants us to not only reach out to the poor,

But to also take control of the levers that create

An unfair playing field

That favor the rich

At the expense of the poor.

Take control and restore the system

That enslaves people in endless unemployment, homelessness, and hunger.

 

Jesus is calling us to join him in the business of restoration and resurrection,

Not only individually,

But across all systems, political ideologies, and economic realities.

 

Might I even go so far as to suggest

That impoverishing future generations

By our mammon imitating consumption

Might also have environmental implications?

Of course!

Let us not leave the world a toxic waste dump

For our children to inherit

To feed off the piles

Or drink from its runoff.

 

Lastly,

I’d suggest that when we choose God,

When we choose to intentionally follow Jesus,

We choose to submit ourselves to God’s will

And Biblical justice.

 

Being faithful to the Word

Is not opposed to working for justice.

The foundation for Divine justice is one of many common threads

That is woven throughout the Biblical text.

Anyone who suggests otherwise

Is presenting to the world a lie,

A false dichotomy.

 

If one is faithful to the Word,

One must live the Word

with Christ centered conviction and holiness.

 

Working for Biblical justice

Individually, and collectively as the Church,

Is what building the Kingdom of God is all about.

 

Signs of Kingdom progress

Come in the form of both

Building houses with Habitat for Humanity

Or in Nicaragua or Guatemala,

But also with legislation

That empowers and resources the poor

To build their own houses and homes.

 

Kingdom building is setting up and operating food cupboards,

As well as working with community leaders

To ensure free lunches for hungry children in school.

 

Kingdom building helps give a job

As well as working with the local employment office

To ensure everyone who needs a job can get a job.

 

The goal of the Kingdom of God

Is to bring healing to the broken,

Restoration to the poor,

And resurrection to the dead.

Nothing more,

Nothing less.

 

Today, we are given a choice:

Will we serve God

Or will we serve mammon?

Chose God.

Revive one life.

Resurrect the world.

Amen.

Luke 15:1-10

15 September 2019

The Rev. Todd R. Goddard, Pastor

Rush United Methodist Church 

 

Luke 15:1-10

 

Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

So he told them this parable: “Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. “

Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

Prayer.

 

Inclusive, tolerant, and non-judgmental are all qualities

We look for when we walk a candidate for ministry

From call, to ordination, and supervision down the road.

These are qualities I look for in the hearts of parishioners

For I am naturally drawn to such people

like moths drawn to a flame.

 

True confession, number one:

I am not as inclusive, tolerant, and non-judgmental

As I would like you to think that I am.

This Gospel narrative from Luke

Is forcing me to come clean,

To fess up.

 

The Gospel demands honesty and transparency.

 

I suspect the Gospel may call you too

To closer self-examination.

 

……….

 

Grumbling.

 

Fact is,

I don’t like hanging around people that grumble all the time.

People that grumble are more contagious than

A family of twelve with the measles

Making their way through a crowded water park.

 

Negative people attract negative people.

I don’t want to be a part of that scene.

 

My inclusive, non-judgmental tolerance ends at the front door of the church.

“Come on in! We welcome everyone!” I’m known to say,

All the while I’m quietly thinking to myself,

“… except for people that grumble, complain, criticize, and voice their unsolicited opinions about everyone and everything.

There’s a better church for you

down the road on the left.”

 

Church should be a grumble-free zone,

Don’t you think?

 

Jesus is holding down church;

Continuing the Gospel narrative from last Sunday.

As is often the case,

Tax collectors and sinners are attracted to him.

 

Finding the Way appeals to the Lost.

The One who forgives sins is appealing to the guilty.

The Savior of the world is appealing to those who wake up one day and recognize that they are hopelessly lost.

Not one of us can save ourselves,

Let alone anyone else.

 

Jesus naturally draws people in,

Especially the lost, sinners, and

Those considering their own mortality.

People like you and me.

 

Note the fact that

There isn’t any grumbling among sinners

Who come near to listen to Jesus.

The nice thing about confession and repentance:

It takes the grumbling and complaining right out of a person.

 

The grumbling comes from who?

The Pharisees and scribes!

They crash the party,

They disrupt the church of Jesus,

They criticize Jesus for welcoming and eating with sinners.

 

Jesus teaches with a true shepherd’s heart.

His parables reveal essential truths about God and God’s kingdom,

With a focus on love and grace.

He teaches the grumbling Pharisees and scribes three parables in a row:

The Parable of the Lost Sheep,

The Parable of the Lost Coin, and

The Parable of the Prodigal Son and His Brother.

 

Jesus weaves common threads among all three:

Someone or something is lost.

Someone or something is found.

Being found results in joy.

 

“There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents …” Jesus observes (15:7a)

“There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” (15:10b)

 

Repentance makes God happy!

Repentance brings God joy!

Repentance comes from the tax collectors and sinners,

Not from righteous, law abiding Pharisees and scribes left behind.

Their grumbling doesn’t bring the Lord joy;

Only repentance … being found

Brings joy to heaven.

 

Repent of your sins, beloved!

And bring the Lord some JOY this morning!

 

Jesus, our Shepherd,

Has a commitment to the lost.

Like it or not, we, like sheep navigate through life with blinders,

With a subjective world view.

As a sheep will graze themselves lost,

So, too, will you and I find ourselves being drawn into the darkness of temptation.

Sin lures us in, and

Like a frog in a gradually warming kettle,

We eventually find ourselves cooked.

 

It’s delusional to think that we are not sinful.

Sin is as original as is Adam and Eve;

It shows no favorite and it spares no victim.

There’s no shame in our common state,

But there is great satisfaction in confessing it so.

 

The Pharisees and scribes were unable to see

their grumbling was a sign and symptom of a darker, deeper sin.

Self-righteousness may be more egregious

than collecting taxes on behalf of an occupying, oppressive enemy.

 

Fact is, at one point or another in life,

Each of us will come face-to-face with the fact

That we’re no longer one of the 99.

We’re the one who has strayed.

We are the one who has become lost.

We can’t find our way home.

We need to be rescued.

We need saved.

 

Jesus throws us a line

Just as we’re ready to slip beneath the waves.

Grab hold of that line, beloved peeps.

Allow Jesus to pull you in and return you home.

 

Wow! The rescue makes God rejoice!

 

….

 

Resentful.

 

True confession, number two:

I am not as inclusive, tolerant, and non-judgmental

As I would like you to think that I am.

I don’t like hanging around people who are resentful.

 

When I’m around resentful people,

I start to become resentful, too.

 

Just as the Parable of the Lost Sheep reveals essential truth about God

If we associate ourselves with the one sheep who is lost,

It also works if we think of ourselves as one of the 99 left behind.

 

“The Good Shepherd wouldn’t have to leave us unprotected,”

we angrily think to ourselves,

“If that fool hadn’t strayed away and gotten themselves lost.”

 

Resentful people look at what others got and

Wish they had more.

Resentful people look at what others have and

Wish others had less.

 

Resentful people live a life of comparison

And desire to one-up the neighbor.

“Those refugee families get a job and nice apartment at a discount.

No one ever did that for me.

I picked myself up by my own bootstraps.”

 

“The neighbor got herself a ‘she shed.’

Now I want one, too.

Only bigger.”

 

“The dude plays the Lottery one time and

Strikes it rich.

Not fair! Grrrr!”

 

I just don’t like resentment.

Resentment is ugly in others.

I don’t like it when it wells up in me.

Like indigestion, resentment leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

 

Resentful people are also delusional,

Believing grace is a zero-sum game.

“Your benefit comes at my expense,” or

“My loss results in your win.”

 

This is what it sounds like:

“The rich get richer, and I just keep getting poorer and poorer.”

 

These Gospel parables teach us just the opposite.

God’s grace is so abundant,

So lavish,

So over the top,

there is enough to go around for everyone.

 

God is ready, willing, and able to put the kingdom on hold

While he goes to save the one.

That’s how much God loves each of us.

That’s how bountiful is God’s grace.

 

Amazing grace, how sweet

… is that sound?

 

When it comes to grace, everyone wins.

Drop the comparisons, the envy, the resentment.

Lay down that burden

At the foot of the cross of Jesus.

 

Recognition of God’s grace

Takes the hot air of self-righteousness

right out of even the biggest blow hard.

 

This is my witness:

Grace opens my eyes.

I didn’t pick myself up by my own bootstraps.

God gave me life, knew me before I was born.

God gave me health and breath;

God gave me skills, talents, and education;

God sent to me parents, mentors, friends, teachers, pastors, and counselors.

 

It wasn’t me.

It’s always been God.

 

The tidal wave of God’s grace opens my eyes:

I simply showed up,

Surrendered to God,

And the rest takes care of itself.

It’s never been about Todd,

It’s always been about God.

 

Hallelujah! Praise God!

 

This is my witness;

What is your witness?

Have you shared it with others?

Make it a point to share your story of God’s grace in your life this coming week.

Witness your gratitude.

 

Indeed, the antidote for being poisoned by resentment is gratitude;

Being grateful to God

… for what God has done,

… for what God is doing,

… for God’s abundant grace and abiding love,

… for where God is leading us,

… for what God is revealing.

 

…..

 

Beloved members, friends, guests, and visitors

Let us be convicted by the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Let us live as one who is lost, rescued by God,

Bringing God great joy!

Let us replace grumbling and resentment with gratitude,

Immersed completely in God’s grace and love.

 

To God be the glory!

Everything else is sheer joy!

Amen.

Luke 14:25-33

8 September 2019

The Rev. Todd R. Goddard, Pastor

Rush United Methodist Church

 

Luke 14:25-33

 

Now large crowds were traveling with him; and he turned and said to them, “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. 

For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’ 

Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? If he cannot, then, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. 

So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.

 

Prayer.

 

The table talk has ended. 

Farewells exchanged.

The host was glad to see him go. 

 

As we heard last Sunday, 

Jesus had schooled 

The leader of the Pharisees and his invited friends 

In a stinging lecture

Around his Sabbath day dinner table.

 

Their hubris had taken a hit. 

Their selfish lack of charity

Revealed for all the world to see

Which master they truly served:

It wasn’t the Lord. 

 

As Willie Nelson is known to sing,

Jesus was “On the Road Again.”

 

More than mere movement of geography,

Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem has symbolic meaning. 

God’s redemptive plan had been set in motion.

Every step Jesus took

Was God’s plan for humankind being revealed.

 

Jesus moved south: 

Teaching, preaching, preparing his disciples for his imminent absence.

Jesus moved south:

Healing, restoring, casting out demons, unbinding those bound by Satan. 

 

Every step brings Jesus nearer to the cross,

Nearer to his suffering,

Nearer to redemption and forgiveness of sins,

Nearer to God’s surprising gift that lay three days beyond the grave. 

 

Jesus moved south and the crowds grew larger:

Some curious to see the latest flavor of traveling evangelist,

Others hopeful their messianic expectations were being fulfilled with revolutionary uprising

and Rome would be kicked out by civil insurrection,

Still others gathering just to see what the fuss was all about.

 

Everyone loves a parade.

 

The intersection of the crowds expectation 

and Jesus’ divine fulfillment of God’s greater plan

Is coming to a violent collision.

The masses who hope for an easy pass to heaven

are about to get a bucket of ice water thrown in the face.

 

The word “Hate” usually isn’t considered 

one of the fruits of the Spirit. 

“Hate” isn’t a word we usually associate with Jesus,

Yet, here it is, in all it’s Lukan glory.

“Hate” is the ice water no one saw coming.

Hate, or Miseó (μισέω), from the Greek,

Is about to separate the crowd

Like grain separated from the chaff. 

 

“You want to follow me?” Jesus asks,

Transcending geography, culture, and time.

Wake up!

“You want to follow me?” Jesus asks us today,

Demanding our undivided attention. 

 

Hate father and mother;

Hate spouse and children;

Hate brothers and sisters; 

Hate your own life; and 

While he was at it, he could have added

Hate flag and country, too. 

 

The first of three conditions of discipleship is hate. 

 

Don’t know about you, 

But Jesus preaching hate

Doesn’t sit very well with me. 

We’re talking family here. 

We’re talking patriotism here. 

Jesus, the God who creates life, hating life itself? 

 

Take a deep breath.

There must be more to the story.

 

Miseó, as used here,

Is not the opposite of love. 

Language scholars tell us

The word Luke uses here 

Is a comparative,

Exposing contrasts to make a point, 

To renounce one choice in favor of another. 

(Strong’s Concordance, as found at: https://biblehub.com/greek/3404.htm)

 

Jesus is calling all would-be and experienced disciples

To make a moral choice,

Elevating commitment to him

Over and above commitment to everything which we hold dear;

Our families, 

Even our own life. 

 

Instead of country first,

Instead of family first, 

Jesus’ first condition of discipleship is:

Jesus first. 

 

Like the allies terms of surrender,

Jesus is uncompromising. 

 

Can Washington or Albany 

Forgive your sins or save your soul?

Family can and should be 

the most loving, caring, social support one can have.

But I have yet to meet a parent, spouse, sibling, or child

That redeems us from judgment 

or saves us into eternal life.

 

“Jesus First” is the Lord’s enlistment poster.

 

……..

 

So, Jesus just lost half the crowd. 

He’s about to lose half of what’s left

When his second condition for discipleship is deeply considered.

 

“Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me

cannot be my disciple.” (14:27)

Expecting death by crucifixion,

Jesus knew how the machinery of capital punishment

made mincemeat of all those sucked into its path. 

Luke, writing from an after-the-fact, historical point of view,

Intentionally keeps the burner on high,

For his reality, and that of the first century Church, 

Was martyrdom. 

 

Jesus’ condition for all disciples

Was, and remains to this day, 

Radical self-denial. 

 

Follow Jesus.

Be prepared to give up your life.

Live prepared to die.

 

Deny my self-interest

To advance the Lord’s interest.

Deny my self-preservation

To pick up my cross, and 

Be crucified right there

alongside with Jesus. 

 

Martyrdom is what love looks like

In a Jesus first economy. 

 

The Apostle Paul wrote 

to the fledgling, persecuted church in Rome,

“Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

(Romans 8:35-39)

 

The Lord of resurrection 

Does not allow death to win.

 

The temptation is to grow tired,

Lose faith, and 

set down the cross of Jesus.

 

The temptation is to walk away,

Fearful of death,

Uncertain of eternal life. 

“It’s just too hard,” 

“Jesus demands too much,”

we’ve heard many complain. 

“I’m not certain that even I have it in me,” I sometimes wonder

In a momentary crisis of faith. 

 

Consider the cost.

Am I ready to die for the one who died for me?

Only a fool would fail to consider the cost of discipleship.

 

Consider the cost.

Think of the risks, consequences, and benefits.

Family will laugh and friends will pretend like they never knew us. 

That’s okay by me;

I’d rather hang out with Jesus followers anyways. 

When I love God and love neighbors,

Neighbors become my extended family.

 

Consider the cost.

Reflect on the power of God’s love

That binds us to Christ,

That is just as uncompromising,

That never lets us go. 

 

Is it worth the risk? 

It is for me.

 

…………

 

One half of the remaining quarter 

Probably meant there weren’t many willing candidates for discipleship left in the crowd following Jesus.

Jesus is salting the crowd really good.

 

Oh, yeah. 

One last thing, Jesus tells us. 

It’s kind of like his third condition of discipleship is an afterthought.

He says:

“None of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.” 

(14:33)

 

Here we are headed into the season of 

stewardship, pledge cards, and fund drives.

“Isn’t that convenient, Pastor Todd?” you may sarcastically ask.

 

Jesus isn’t asking for ten percent;

Jesus wants it all. 

 

Yikes!

There goes the rest of the crowd,

Leaving the remaining few 

standing alone before our Lord,

Hat in hand, 

Weighing the cost of following Jesus.

 

This radical renunciation of money, possessions, and things

Caused the rich young ruler to walk away from Jesus. 

At the same time, 

Such a strict condition of discipleship isn’t made of Zacchaeus. 

Jesus didn’t demand he give everything away.

 

Zacchaeus, exposed of his sin,

Was convicted to volunteer to Jesus 

One half of his possessions to be given to the poor, and

To repay fourfold to anyone who he defrauded. (19:8)

 

Jesus wants it all,

But it isn’t all about money.

It’s about our heart;

Where our allegiance lies. 

 

Soon to come in a future Gospel passage,

(Quite possibly next week!) 

Jesus concludes his story about a dishonest manager by teaching,

“No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”

(16:13)

 

Is Jesus worth the cost?

He is for me.

 

…………

 

Beloved members, friends, guests and visitors of our Rush United Methodist family

Do not fear the conditions of discipleship. 

 

We can calculate the cost and make the sacrifice,

Not individually,

Because not one of us,

Myself included,

Has the sufficient strength of faith or purity of heart to be worthy of our King. 

 

We can pay the price,

Because we are in this journey of faith together. 

We are Christ’s Body;

The embodiment of God’s love.

We are strength and support for one another.

 

Have no fear.

Be confident! 

Together, God can get every last one of Christ’s disciples

Through the eye of any old needle. 

 

We can do this, 

Because redemption and salvation

Have already been won.

Victory and life have been won

By Jesus Christ, our Lord. 

 

……..

 

Count the cost.

Consider carefully. 

Jesus first. 

Jesus to die for. 

Jesus without any reservations. 

 

Is Jesus worth the cost?

He is for me. 

Join me, will you?

Let’s travel this journey together. 

Amen.