“If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one. But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.”
| Centering Prayer |
Since last Sunday,
Jesus and his disciples
Journeyed south,
First, to his transfiguration,
Then, with his face oriented to Jerusalem,
to Galilee, specifically, Capernaum,
Where Jesus tells his disciples a second time
That he will be betrayed, killed, and resurrected on the third day.
(16:21-23, 17:22-23)
It appears he is driving home a point;
Making a statement
That his followers should pay attention.
Indeed, the pinnacle event in the life of Christ
Was his denial, betrayal, passion, suffering, death, and resurrection.
Sorry to all the Christmas aficionados.
Annunciation, immaculate conception, and incarnation,
St. Nicholas, decorated Christmas trees, candles on the window sill, and lightly falling snow,
Great in their own right,
Serve only as elaborate stage scenery for
Christ’s penultimate act,
His passion, death, and resurrection.
Christ’s messianic fulfillment of the Father’s will
Demonstrated God’s great love for us;
An unbounded commitment to the redemption and salvation of humankind,
Fulfilled responsibility for the stewardship of creation,
And a pledge to, lo,
Remain with us always.
Jesus Christ, Son of God.
Commitment.
Responsibility.
Pledge.
Oh, boy. Three ideals and values
That make this son of a Pennsylvania Dutch family
Approach with apprehension.
Yet, commitment, responsibility, and pledge
Speak to our own baptismal vows,
To the vastness of God’s unlimited grace and love,
And to our place in God’s evolving, maturing kingdom.
Dare we speak openly about commitment?
My own, and the commitment of those around us?
Do we stand idle while some fall inactive
Or backslide themselves into the category of “nones”?
Oooo.
It is as if
commitment in this day and age is a dirty word.
Dare you and I speak about responsibility honestly and transparently?
It is my responsibility to teach every child and new disciple
All that has been taught me.
Am I living up to the task?
Is my commitment commensurate
With Christ’s commitment to redeem the sins of the world?
It is my responsibility to lead people to Jesus,
Introduce them to the Way,
And leave the rest up to God.
Am I?
It is my responsibility to love,
Love God,
Love neighbors,
Love enemies,
To show the world that, by our love, we are known as disciples of Jesus.
Have I?
Oooo.
It is, as if,
Responsibility in this day and age is a dirty word.
Dare I speak about my oath, my promise, my pledge?
I will be loyal to the United Methodist Church.
I will support the mission and ministries of the Rush United Methodist Church.
I pledge my support to Christ and his Church
with my time, talent, and treasures.
Do I accept the responsibility given to me to love and loyalty
That Christ bore upon himself with his suffering, passion, and death?
I pledge a tenth of my time, every day,
To acts of charity, outreach, and ministry.
I pledge a tenth of all I earn
To return to God
Who first gave it.
Oooo.
It is as if
Pledge is just another topic that,
If we don’t talk about it
Maybe it will just go away.
Besides, polite people don’t talk about commitment, responsibility, and pledge.
Or do they?
(I think I just did)
Jesus pledged to give his life, his all.
Can I?
…
In today’s Gospel passage
Jesus introduces his disciples to a fourth uncomfortable
Situation that needed addressed
If his Church had any hope of surviving
The growth and expansion primed to detonate
Following his ascension into heaven.
Oooo.
Confrontation. Conflict.
Dare we speak about it
Or do we do
what all polite Christians do
when confronted with conflict?
Avoid it!
And if it can’t be avoided,
Sweep it under a carpet,
Pretend it never happened,
And just move on?
All, too often, I’ve seen
By pastor and parish alike,
The “I’m out of here” trigger being prematurely pulled.
Sometimes, it is just easier to pull the ejection seat,
get out of there,
and deal with the regrets later.
Confrontation and conflict?
I’m no district attorney.
I’d rather stick my head in a hot oven
Or walk over broken glass.
Jesus shows us another way.
Today, Jesus helps us to reframe, refocus,
The way we address the inevitable conflict in our lives
And outlines a healthy means of intervention
That can lead to personal, spiritual growth and greater institutional strength.
Jesus tells us
To care enough to confront
Those who sin against us
With the goal of retaining the sinner.
Confront;
Not to estrange
But to retain.
…
Jesus paints the picture of what healthy intervention
And what a healthy congregation looks like.
Here are some pointers:
1. If you find yourself in conflict with someone else,
Address it directly and promptly.
Do not delay,
For delay only allows dysfunction to grow and resentments to fester.
2. Do not drag a third party into your conflict.
To do so invites the third party to pick a side
To promote an unhealthy “us verses them” partisan divide.
3. Do not gossip
For gossip only fuels pride and promotion.
I’d love the Finance team to put a twenty-five-cent contribution cup on my desk
For everyone who comes to me saying, “some people are saying…”
4. Do not by-pass the process Jesus outlines.
There is a reason Jesus prescribes a graduated approach to conflict resolution.
Don’t jump ahead.
Follow his linear, proportional design.
5. No one can control the response of another.
As I recently heard,
“It is none of my business what other people think of me.”
What others think of you is between them and God.
Others might dismiss you,
Become angry with you, or
Grow to resent you.
Then again
Your care may be the open door
Through which healing and restoration can take place.
…
In 1901 French archaeologist working in modern day Iran
Discovered 282 laws inscribed on an upright stone pillar.
These laws were inscribed between 1,792 and 1,750 BCE
By the King of Babylon, Hammurabi.
These legal codes were assembled
From around his growing, expanding kingdom,
Aggregated to provide one universal set of laws for a growing, diverse population.
In the prologue
Hammurabi states that he wants
“to make justice visible in the land,
to destroy the wicked person and the evil-doer,
that the strong might not injure the weak.”
“The laws themselves support this compassionate claim,
and protect widows, orphans and others
from being harmed or exploited.”
(as found at ushistory dot org)
‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth’
Is the cliff notes summation of a legal leap forward for humankind.
A response to injustice must adhere to an expectation of proportional response.
Murder, is responded in kind: capital punishment.
Robbery, is addressed with confinement and restitution.
Poke out my eye, and you, likewise, would have your eye poked out.
Proportionality is a good first step
And Jesus is quick to build on it.
1. If there is one who sins against you, something small,
go to that person individually first,
and try to settle it
… so that one is regained.
2. If that doesn’t work,
consult with one or two others and take them with you.
Try to settle it
… so that one is regained.
3. If that doesn’t work, tell it to the church,
and allow the church to attempt to work it out
… so that one is regained.
4. If that doesn’t work,
Jesus says “Let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.”
There is much debate about what he means here.
The common belief is that if a person rejects you, others, and the church,
then we must let them go,
yet, all the while,
watch, hope, and pray
(like a prodigal’s father)
for their eventual return.
…
At every step of the process
Jesus outlines, the goal is
“so that one is regained.”
Just as in minor offenses,
A proportional response also provides for justice in major crimes.
If the issue is large and serious,
the degree of response should be likewise.
Serious crimes or conflict that involve violence,
Jesus would agree,
require the guidance of community standards and laws,
a just legal system,
and the active response of the church.
Serious crimes cannot and should not
be just swept under the table, as if they didn’t exist.
At the same time,
even serious criminal offenses do not cut someone off
from the love of God or the grace of the church.
At all times law and grace must be balanced,
with the goal “that one is regained.”
“That one is regained”
Gives meaning to proportionality.
Like a the wizard pulling levers behind a curtain
Jesus is showing us behind the scene
What it means to preserve the health and welfare of human relationships
And the wellness of the Church.
Strong relationships are able to bear issues of sin and conflict.
It doesn’t mean we have to like conflict.
But, of the grace extended, we are given all we need, and more,
To bring healing and restoration to that which is broken.
Constructive confrontation
identifies the transgression that has occurred,
the barriers that have been crossed.
Hurt people hurt others.
Healing sometimes has to return to and fix the original sin.
Sometimes times people who hurt others may be unaware of their sin. Confrontation identifies the offense and names it for what it is.
Constructive confrontation communicates
the fact that you are committed to your relationship.
You’re not going to walk away mad.
You will not going to take your marbles and go home.
You are committed to working it out.
This is what friends do.
This is what disciples of Jesus do.
Deal with issues while they are small, and they rarely become large.
Proactive conflict resolution is vital to ensure the integrity, health, and wholeness of the Church.
Lastly, dealing with conflict and sin
makes a statement about the God we believe in.
Our God doesn’t guarantee us an easy life;
but God does guarantee us that we will have a divine companion with us every step of the way as we navigate through life.
…
Life is fraught with those who hurt you,
and, regrettably, the hurt we cause others.
We are a community of sinners,
Seeking redemption,
striving to become a community of saints- more like Jesus every day.
Today’s Gospel gives practical advice from our Lord himself, about how we are to live together as disciples of Jesus; how we should care enough to confront those who hurt us.
Confrontation can be the open door,
leading towards a process of repentance, restoration, and, finally, forgiveness.
Be not afraid.
Do not fear. Do not avoid.
Avoid the temptation to hide.
Do not run away.
You and I?
We can do this.
If only we surrender with a “yes.”
Jesus is with us.
Jesus gives us the strength.
Jesus shows us the way.
The Word of the Lord, as it has come to me. Thanks be to God. Amen.
From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”
Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life? “For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay everyone for what has been done. Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”
| Centering Prayer |
“Messiah, the Son of the living God,” Peter had correctly identified Jesus.
More than the son of Mary,
The boy from Nazareth,
The healer, miracle worker, and preacher
From up north
Who attracted great crowds of followers, imitators, and want-a-bees.
Flanked by idols to the Greek god Pan, and
The Philistine god, Baal, on his left,
With the ominous cave opening, on his right,
Believed by the population as being
the literal gate to hell,
Jesus advances to the next slide of his orientation curriculum
What it means to self-identify as messiah.
Messiah, classically defined,
the anointed leader, savior, deliverer of the Jewish nation
as prophesied in scripture.
Jewish descendant. Jesus checks that box.
Anointed with holy oil. Jesus checks that box in Matthew 26.
King of God’s Kingdom. Jesus, Son of the Father, next in line of succession. Check that box.
Ruler of God’s Kingdom during the messianic age,
An era of universal peace and brotherhood,
With an absence of evil.
Every one of his 12 disciples expected Jesus to check that box, too.
In the mind of Peter and fellow Jews
Danced the sugar-plum vision of Jesus ruling the messianic age;
Swords beaten into plowshares,
Wolf and lamb, natural predator and prey, living in peaceful harmony,
With the earth full of the knowledge of the Lord. (Isaiah 11:6-9)
Except, Jesus didn’t check that box.
Jesus had other plans.
What could be more important then
God solving their immediate problems?
Come on, God. Show your stuff.
Send your Son.
We will make him King.
Remove Rome.
And all will live happily ever after.
Lesson #1.
Avoid thinking small.
Yes. Your life,
Your social circle,
Your bubble,
The weather, your garden, the start of the new school year, the state of local politics,
Your reality, the good, bad, and ugly,
Are important to Jesus.
Yet, Jesus wants us to think bigger,
Bigger than human things.
Life, death, and eternity is greater than just you and me and that slow driver plugging up traffic by lingering in the left hand lane.
Christianity cannot be self-centered, Jesus is telling his disciples this morning.
Peter, you, and me fall down the bottomless hole of human things,
While, Jesus has his eye on divine things.
Personal salvation is wonderful
Until eyes are opened to the world burning.
Forgiveness of sins is great
Until pardon is withheld and amends fall on deaf ears.
Why fix and repair
When the same old wrong
Works so well to perpetuate and personify all that sucks in my life?
I can assign blame to everyone and everything bad in this world
Without ever lifting a finger of personal responsibility,
Because Jesus forgave my sins and I’m saved.
There are few greater criticisms of Christianity
That self-righteous, self-centered Christians.
With an eye on divine things,
Jesus is frying other fish.
Jesus wasn’t constrained by his small group,
Anchored to a temporal time and space,
Tethered to personal forgiveness and salvation.
Jesus was looking to the cross
While the world was looking for the crown.
Lesson #2.
Jesus was focused on divine things,
Facing the cross of crucifixion;
Soo, too, should we.
The cross of Jesus Christ
Transcends time and space,
Is God’s gift of grace to all people, nations, races, cultures,
Spanning all time; that which was, that which is, and that will be.
Fixing the stain of sin becomes the necessary prerequisite for the empty tomb and eternal life.
You can’t get there
Without first going through here.
Before you get to St. Peter
Make certain you are shaved, showered, and put on your Sunday best.
Temptation is to avoid Good Friday
And just show up for Easter sunrise,
Treating the passion of Christ
With antiseptic and a clean bandage.
Lesson #3.
Being a Jesus follower isn’t for sissies.
The very one to whom Jesus had just given the keys to the Church
Jesus calls out Peter for thinking “crown”
When he should have been thinking “cross.”
“Get behind me, Satan!
You are a stumbling block to me;
For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.” (16:23)
As if a punch in the face and a bloody nose isn’t enough,
Jesus shares his expectation
That everyone who follows him
Should be expected to take a knockout punch.
The great “if” clause of the
“if/then” function
Becomes Christ’s most important challenge.
To be
Followers of Jesus
Requires
Denial,
A readiness to die,
A willingness to follow.
Denial.
A complete surrender of self.
Letting go of all control, ego, and pride.
A recognition that control is a mere illusion,
That all power is the exclusive domain of God.
Self-denial
Is best illustrated in our lesson from Romans (12:9-21)
Love.
Hold fast.
Serve.
Rejoice.
Be patient.
Persevere.
Contribute.
Extend hospitality.
Bless.
Live in harmony.
Feed the hungry,
Give drink to the thirsty.
Overcome evil with good.
Every quality implies a denial of self and the promotion of others.
A readiness to die.
There is an empty cross with your name on it.
There is one for me, too.
When eternal life is on the table
Why would any of us engage in a struggle to save our own life?
Live everyday prepared to die,
Is the sage advice of the Apostle Paul.
“For to me,” he writes to the church in Philippi,
“to live is Christ and to die is gain.” (Philippians 1:21)
“Follow me,” Jesus extends the invitation. (16:24)
Only after submission and sacrifice is one ready to follow Jesus.
If you want to know where Jesus goes and what Jesus does,
The follower needs to know Jesus inside and out.
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
The Gospels
Report the Truth about Jesus Christ.
Learn from them.
Write them upon your heart.
What Jesus and his followers believed
Is found in Hebrew scriptures,
Which we call the Old Testament.
It establishes a foundation
Of God’s power and creation,
God’s love and covenant,
God’s desire and law.
To know Jesus means that one must know Adam, Moses, Abraham, the prophets, and the Psalmists.
What happened to the world
Because of God’s great loving gift of Jesus
Is recorded in the Acts of the Apostles through the book of Revelation.
We call it the New Testament.
The world was, and is, forever transformed,
Transfigured into a likeness of Christ,
The Body of Christ,
His Church
As it began to live out the call to discipleship.
To know Jesus
And to know of God’s great transformation
Is to be able to find ourselves in this transformation
And to make productive contributions
To its fulfillment.
Denial.
Willingness to die.
Follow. Faithfully following Jesus.
Yeah, discipleship isn’t easy;
But it is worth it.
…
Beloved,
Think big.
Think outside the box.
Forget the crown. Focus your eyes on crucifixion.
Seek and discover the divine things emerging around you.
Surrender, the Kinks sang.
Unlike their lyrics,
Jesus urges those who choose to follow
To give themselves away.
To be willing to even give away the precious gift of life.
For when God holds the gift of eternal life in hand,
What does it matter?
Surrender.
Take up your cross.
Know Jesus.
Follow his example.
Adhere to his lessons.
Some will find it easier than others.
Some will taste death before seeing Christ return.
Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.
| Centering Prayer |
Fresh out of seminary
I was too wet behind the ears
To be able to distinguish the difference between
Caesarea Philippi and Caesarea Martima.
Can you?
Using Tiberius on the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel as a navigational anchor,
Caesarea Martima is 51.4 miles southwest of Tiberius,
A coastal Roman capital on the Mediterranean.
Warm, sandy beaches with a protected port fed by a massive Roman aqueduct,
Caesarea Martima was a place of trade, commerce, military might, and Roman power.
Pontious Pilate called it home.
In contrast,
Caesarea Philippi is 46.7 miles due north of Tiberius.
It was a cool mountainous outpost at the base of Mt. Hermon,
Noted as the spring water source of the Jordan River.
Caesarea Philippi was deep in gentile country.
Caesarea Philippi was the nexus of Baal idol worship and allegiance to Greek gods and myth.
At this location the first king of Israel, Jeroboam,
Led the northern kingdom into idolatry.
Flanking the grottos where Jesus taught
Were rock carvings and statutes
Of Baal, Pan, and what was believed to be the pagan gate of Hades.
For the observant Jew
Caesarea Philippi was where the devil did his work.
The only thing in common was the name Caesarea;
An ominous homage to where true power lay;
Before the throne of Caesar,
Emperor of Rome.
…
Jesus brings his disciples on retreat.
Today’s gospel is a lesson in leadership development,
Taught from the heart of darkness.
Jesus had recruited his disciples,
Students who he demonstrated his divine powers of
Healing the sick, cleansing a person with leprosy, casting out demons, fixing a withered hand.
Jesus had taught his disciples in beatitude and parable,
What it meant to live a life of blessings,
To bring salt and light to a bland, dark world,
Filled with sorrow and sin.
Jesus taught
To temper anger and a prohibition on divorce,
To love enemies, to be charitable to the poor, and to pray without ceasing.
He taught them to sow seeds, harvest fruit, and to remove and burn weeds
As a sign and symbol for disciple making.
Jesus had demonstrated to his disciples
The awesome, unlimited power of God,
Stilling a raging storm, walking on water, and feeding four thousand with seven loaves and a few small fish. (15:14)
Jesus had also warned his new disciples,
“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth,”
Jesus warned with messianic overtones,
“I have not come to bring peace, but a sword!” (10:34)
Jesus turns and asks the group,
“Who do people say I am?”
…
The bland as milk toast
group of non-committal disciples
lowered their eyes,
kicked some dirt,
and responded with the safe answer.
“Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” (16:14)
John the Baptist: dead.
Elijah: dead.
Jeremiah: dead.
Jesus was no more the resurrection of a dead prophet
Then he is the resurrection of George Washington.
Which brings us to the first lesson for today.
1. When it comes to your relationship with Jesus, don’t play it safe.
Token, semi-annual appearances at worship
Is no substitute for a living, breathing, growing relationship with Jesus Christ.
Christmas Eve and Easter appearances may appease the family
But reflect a hope that is built on nothing less than sinking sand.
When it comes to Jesus, don’t play it safe.
The Church is not an organization to financially support,
a building to be repaired,
a politic to be mastered,
or a ladder for the ambitious to climb.
Work, without faith, is dead;
Just as dead as John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, and the other prophets.
…
Jesus narrows the search
From “who do people say the Son of Man is?”
To looking Peter in the eye, asking,
“who do you say that I am.”
Messiah! Peter, boldly proclaims,
Making reference to
Not bringing peace,
But the sword he had armed himself with
In anticipation of the messianic apocalyptical consummation of history and time.
You are the
Son of the living God!
Peter, correctly contrast
The living, breathing Jesus
Standing surrounded by all things idols and pagans
Beside the very entrance to what was believed to be the gates of hell.
2. Which brings us to the second point in today’s gospel:
When it comes to Jesus, go big or go home!
Bold is the faith of Christ’s true disciples;
Fearing none,
Every thread of embarrassment or self-doubt squared away.
Timid is the faith of chaff
That is gathered, cast out into the darkness, and burned in the fire.
Make bold your faith!
Say is loud.
Say it proud.
Shout it from a mountain top that all the world might know:
Jesus is Messiah,
Our Savior,
From sin to salvation,
From life to eternal life,
From the dust of mortality to immortality.
Messiah has come!
We need not wait for another.
Jesus breaks with the synagogue down the street.
Jesus become the one who will endure
“and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.” (16:18)
We have a winner!
Jesus is Son of the living God,
Alive, at work
In your life and mine.
Deny his presence and will
at your own risk.
Accept the reality of Christ for your benefit, and for mine.
It is as if Peter wells in song:
“Christ is alive, and goes before us
to show and share what love can do.
This is a day of new beginnings;
our God is making all things new.”
(Words by Brian Wren, “This Is a Day of New Beginnings”, UMH# 383, v.4)
….
“Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah!
For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you,
but my Father in heaven.” (16:17)
Simon Peter hadn’t heard it on the grapevine.
It wasn’t sent out in a Rush Tidings, printed in Our Faithful Followers, or printed in the bulletin.
He didn’t read it in the Democrat and Chronicle or the Hometown Sentinel.
Peter listened for,
Paid attention to,
The revelation of God.
3. Which brings us to the third lesson for today.
Be silent.
Watch.
Listen.
Discern
The words and will of God.
Be patient.
Wait for the Lord.
Scripture tells us no less than fifteen times to
Wait for the Lord.
Blessed is the one,
Earlier the subjects of the Beatitudes,
Here, Blessed is Simon Peter,
Who faithfully reported the Good News given to him
From Our Father, who art in heaven.
How often do I jump to conclusions?
Conclude without facts, and leap to judgment?
How often do I make assumptions?
Draw correlations without first listening for the voice of God?
How often do I ignore all warning signs from God, and
make decisions without first considering the unintended consequences of my actions?
Wait for the Lord.
Why?
Because the Lord is ready and willing to speak
To those who are willing to listen.
…
Ah, Simon Peter,
The follower,
Destined to deny,
Is transformed into rock,
A solid foundation upon which
Christ will build his church.
Which brings us to point number four.
4. If Jesus could use Peter to build the Church, imaging what Christ can do with you.
Peter: blue collar, common fisherman.
Peter: a bone-headed, open mouth, insert foot kind of guy.
Peter: Three times a liar – I don’t know him. I’ve never seen him. I’ve never followed him.
Peter: Three times the penitent groveller. Yes, Lord. You know I love you. Yes, Lord. I love you. Yes, Lord. I love you.
Peter: Barbequed and martyred by the hand of Nero, crucified upside down, set afire.
If there was room at the table for Peter,
There is room for you.
If there is room at the table for me, I assure you,
There is room for you.
Christ can take the most beaten down, beaten up, shot to … smithereens
Body, mind, or spirit,
And use you as a foundation for the building of his church.
This is why we have no throw-aways, cast-offs, or cast-aways in the church.
If Jesus can use Peter,
Jesus can use you.
…
To Simon Peter,
Jesus gives the keys of the kingdom of heaven.
Not everyone gets a set of keys;
Only Peter
The rock,
The foundation of the Church
Upon which Jesus builds,
And builds,
And builds.
To Peter
And to his anointed, ordained called to follow in his footsteps,
Is given the responsibility of stewardship of the Church,
To bind and to loose,
Decisions that transcend the boundaries of earth and heaven.
Which brings us to the fifth and final point in today’s gospel:
5. Respect and support the chosen.
The yoke born by bishops, presbyters, elders, and deacons is heavy and leads to the cross.
“Bind” and “loose” were common to Jewish legal phraseology
Meaning to declare something forbidden or to declare it allowed.
A key is used to lock or unlock a door.
The key given to me at my ordination is used to open the door to Christ’s forgiveness and redemption to people broken by sin and evil.
An open door shows the way to the cross of Jesus Christ.
That same key given to me
is used to open the door of salvation
To invite the world to enter.
Beloved, step from your grave
And into the light of eternal life.
That same key
Locks the door
Providing protection to the church
From wolves who seek to destroy everything which Christ has built.
Heavy is this responsibility.
Heavier still is this responsibility
As I discern and consider the call of the next generation of
Called and ordained clergy of tomorrow’s Church.
…
What does this interaction
Between Jesus and Peter mean to us today?
1. When it comes to your relationship with Jesus, don’t play it safe. Spice it up and be bold!
2. When it comes to witnessing for Jesus, go big or go home!
3. At the same time learn patience. Be silent. Be patient. Wait. Watch. Listen. See. Discern the words and will of God.
4. Imagine what Christ can do with you and through you.
5. Respect and support the chosen. Our job is to protect the Church;
to open the door to Jesus Christ;
and to invite you to accept his grace of forgiveness, redemption, and salvation.
Then he called the crowd to him and said to them, “Listen and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.”
Then the disciples approached and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?”
He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit.”
But Peter said to him, “Explain this parable to us.”
Then he said, “Are you also still without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach, and goes out into the sewer? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile.”
Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon.
Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.”
But he did not answer her at all.
And his disciples came and urged him, saying, “Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.”
He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.”
He answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.”
She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”
Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.”
And her daughter was healed instantly.
| Centering Prayer |
Our Gospel lesson for this morning is quite remarkable.
It flies in the face of over a thousand years of Church doctrine.
It is this very inconsistency,
between the Biblical Word and Church doctrine,
that makes us squirm uncomfortably in our seats
when we experience the fullness of this passage
spoken and left to hang in our midst.
The fourth verse of the hymn, “Jesus Is All the World to Me”
helps define the issue.
It goes,
“Jesus is all the world to me, I want no better friend; I trust him now, I’ll trust him when life’s fleeting days shall end …” (Will Thompson, 1904, The United Methodist Hymnal, No. 469).
Our trust in Jesus doesn’t waver,
and it shouldn’t.
Our trust in Jesus is predicated upon the assumption
that Jesus never changes.
Jesus is the constant
in our relationship with the Divine.
That unchanging nature of Jesus brings us comfort, at times.
Though life might toss you about
and lead you down numerous valleys of the shadow of death,
the one thing that remains constant is Christ.
If all else fails us in life,
at least the one thing we can count on
is that Jesus will remain the same.
He is the same today as He was yesterday,
as He will be tomorrow.
The Jesus we received as a child,
is the same Jesus
that I will leave with my children.
Of this we are assured!
This unchanging nature of Christ
sent me rummaging through my old textbooks from seminary.
I searched the tried and true systematic theology
titled “Principles of Christian Theology,”
by John Macquarrie.
In his section The Person of Jesus Christ,
I found what I was after.
He writes
“The core of traditional Christology is, of course, the two-nature doctrine of the Chalcedonian definition, which speaks of one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, Only-begotten, recognized in two natures, without confusion, without change, without division, without separation; the distinction of nature being in no way annulled by the union, but rather the characteristics of each nature being preserved and coming together to form one person and subsistence, not as parted or separated into two person, but one and the same Son and Only-begotten God the Word, Lord Jesus Christ.”
(Macquarrie, J., Principles of Christian Theology, Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1966. p. 273)
There you have it.
Since The Fourth Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon
held in 451 AD,
the new orthodox doctrine has been laid down.
We believe in the unchanging nature of Jesus,
and have been doing so for the past 1,500 years.
A thousand years after the Council of Chalcedon,
Martin Luther, the Protestant reformer
penned the descriptive hymn “Ein’ Feste Burg”
or “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.”
Listen to his second verse
“Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing, were not the right man on our side, the man of God’s own choosing. Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is he; Lord Sabaoth, his name, from age to age the same, and he must win the battle.” (United Methodist Hymnal, #110)
Apparently Luther intended to bring this doctrine
of the unchanging nature of Christ with him
to the newly reformed protestant church.
A hundred and fifty years later,
a contemporary of John Wesley, Isaac Watts,
certainly reflected on the psalmist
when he wrote the 4th verse of “O God, Our Help in Ages Past”
“A thousand ages in thy sight, are like an evening gone; short as the watch that ends the night, before the rising son.” (United Methodist Hymnal, #117)
The Psalmist wrote in the 90th Psalm,
“For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.” (Psalm 90:4 KJV).
It certainly doesn’t appear to be much change over time
in the nature of God.
Three hundred years after Luther
and a hundred-fifty after Isaac Watts,
a minister in the Free Church of Scotland,
Walter Chalmers Smith,
wrote in 1867 these well-known verses to our favorite hymn:
“Immortal, invisible, God only wise, in light inaccessible hid from our eyes, most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days, almighty, victorious, thy great name we praise.” (United Methodist Hymnal, #103)
This hymn is likely to be sung and affirmed
in any Christian church today.
Romans Catholics,
Eastern Orthodox,
and we Protestants alike –
all affirm
the unchanging, unmoving, immortal, invisible
nature of Jesus Christ.
As I look back at the history and development
of United Methodist doctrine,
I find in The Book of Discipline, Article II,
in the Doctrinal Standards of the Methodist Church to read:
“The Son, who is the word of the Father, the very and eternal God, of one substance with the Father, took man’s nature in the womb of the blessed Virgin; so that two whole and perfect natures, that is to say, the Godhead and Manhood, were joined together in one person, never to be divided; … “ (The Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church 2004, P.103, pg. 60)
With this preamble
about the unchanging nature of Jesus Christ,
we are confronted this morning with Jesus,
who, when confronted by a desperate mother –
pleading for his mercy on behalf of her demon possessed daughter,
tells her “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (Matthew 15:24).
Jesus! that is cold!
Jesus is the one who left Jewish territory,
Invading this woman’s world.
Furthermore, this Canaanite woman,
An unclean outsider,
Demonstrates she has a better grasp of Jesus’ identity
Then his hand-selected disciples.
(With thanks to Carla Works, Professor of New Testament, Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington DC, as found at Working Preacher dot org)
This woman is persistent.
Note to self: persistence pays off,
when it comes to faith.
Be persistent.
She bites and doesn’t let go.
She comes back a second time,
kneeling at the feet of Jesus, pleading
“‘Lord, help me.’
He answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” (Matthew 15:25-26).
I may have done a lot of foolish things in my life,
but I have never in public
compared a parishioner to a dog.
But, there you have it
– if you want it that way –
the unchanging,
stubborn,
Pennsylvania Dutch nature of Jesus Christ,
laid right out before us
for all the world to see.
It fits the doctrine perfectly.
Knowing what I know,
having my background, experience and theological education,
if the story ended here,
I would have to cash in my credentials
as a baptized disciple of Christ and leave the church.
If I had to fall in and adhere lock-step
to an incomplete doctrine like this,
I would have never been able to take
that one additional step and responsibility of faith
– I would have never gone to the extra effort to developing
a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
He would continue to be
a name in a book,
a principle in a text,
a bullet point in a lecture.
But Jesus is more.
I know Jesus Christ as a personal Lord and Savior,
just as much as I know him as the savior of the world.
Jesus, in my life, and in my experience,
is always changing.
He changes in response to the faith
I’m working, churning, growing.
The woman,
wells up in faith and confidence and says,
“Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”(Matthew 15:27).
And I say, “yea! You go girl!”
Jesus would either change and embrace faith as it is brought to him,
or he would walk away unmoved.
It was his call;
his choice to make.
Jesus answered her,
“Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.”
And her daughter was healed instantly. (Matthew 15:28)
I follow Jesus because
I know he moves and changes, develops, and grows.
If he were an unmoving, unchanging, uninvolved stone,
he could be replaced with
just about any other rock, idol, or fad that pass through life.
Jesus changes;
Meets me where I am,
Meets you where you are, too.
In fact, Jesus is so moved,
so involved in your life and mine,
that he responds to the human condition of sin.
He moves to bring forgiveness to repenting believers.
He allows himself to die upon a cross,
as a ransom payment,
for our trespasses.
And he makes one addition move,
in response to the mortal nature of humankind;
Jesus gives to us the gift of eternal life
by means of his resurrection from the grave.
Throughout Jesus’ life, he is moving.
He is responds to pleads of faith,
to a woman who falls at his feet begging for her demon possessed daughter,
to an unclean woman who reaches out to touch his garment,
to a woman drawing water from a well,
to a father whose child has died,
to two friends in mourning,
whose brother had died and laid three days cold in a tomb.
It is this nature of Jesus
– a God who responds with compassion and grace
to the desperate pleads of God’s people.
It is the grace of Jesus Christ that makes me his disciple.
It is the grace of Jesus Christ that makes him
a moving, changing, relational forgiver of sins, and savior of souls.
It is the grace of Jesus Christ
that comes to you today
in the form of an invitation,
to bring your life before him,
to kneel next to the mother in today’s Gospel, and plead,
“Accept me, Jesus. Accept even me.”
This amazing grace of Jesus Christ,
to forgive sins of sinners like us,
and to save wretched mortals like us,
is built on a solid foundation,
an absolute
which the doctrines of the Church
make every attempt to establish and reveal, and that is this:
The only thing unchanging about the nature of God
is God’s unchanging love for us.
The love of God for you,
His child is unending, unchanging, and without limits.
That’s what is unchanging about Jesus Christ.
The apostle Paul assures us
there is nothing that can separate anyone from the love of Christ.
Nothing; period.
In many ways,
I find I’m like that stubborn woman kneeling before Jesus,
refusing to take no for an answer.
That persistent faith is what opened the heart of Christ,
releasing the floodgates of grace.
Like that woman, join with me.
Lay your life before Jesus.
And don’t take no for an answer, either.
Dearly beloved, that persistent faith will save you, too.
Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them. And early in the morning he came walking toward them on the sea.
But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear.
But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”
Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”
He said, “Come.”
So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus. But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!”
Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”
When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
| Centering Prayer |
Did Jesus know where the stones were?
Did Peter get lucky?
Stepping on a few stones by chance,
But inevitably missing a step and start to sink?
Sounds like an old Rabbi, Priest, and Minister joke.
When I used to lead junior high fishing camp,
I would often be teased by campers
To get out of the boat, walk to shore, and return with something cold to drink.
Walking on water?
Sorry, folks. I missed that class in seminary.
Did Jesus know the weather forecast?
He sent the disciples out on a boat for a simple night crossing of the Galilee.
“Red sky in the morning, sailor’s warning;
Red sky at night, sailor’s delight,” my mother always used to say.
I’m thinking the disciples willingly got into the boat that evening
Because the lake was calm
And there was a glorious sunset.
It seams that while Jesus was great at weather control,
On this day, his weather forecasting was … below average.
As a pastor who always gets blamed for poor weather
And praised for good weather
“because I have a link to the man upstairs” wink, wink, nod, nod
I feel like I’ve been vindicated and somewhat relieved of my duty
To forecast the weather for your future special event.
Sorry folks, I missed that class in seminary, too.
While I may have missed those classes on walking on water and weather forecasting,
I have experienced numerous occasions
Where the presence and power of God has
Worked miracles in and through my obedient hands.
When I traveled to Galilee twelve years ago,
While on a boat floating in the middle of the Sea of Galilee
In a stiff wind, choppy surf, and overcast sky
I read the similar passage from Matthew 8
Where Jesus stills the storm.
I cried out “Be still!” exactly as I imagined
Jesus would have commanded.
God as my witness,
Together with about 40 pilgrims in my group,
The wind stopped, the lake smoothed, and sunshine peeked through the clouds.
Now that, my friends, is the power and presence of an omnipotent God.
Fundamentally, our Gospel for this morning
Is about how the presence and power of God is able to save
One person
And a whole community
From death
Into life … eternal.
…
Allow me, for a moment, to notice some of the gems in our scripture.
1. First, about the presence of God:
This is the first time the disciples are sent forth without Jesus.
Jesus is Emmanuel – “God with us”
Yet, at the same time,
Jesus made the disciples get into the boat
And go on ahead to the other side
While he dismissed the crowds and he retreats
Up the mountain to pray.
Nice vantage point, don’t you think?
Apparently, Jesus sends his disciples out
But watches them closely.
They are not allowed to get so far away
That he can’t immediately intervene, if necessary.
That is a nice metaphor for us today:
We never get too far away from Jesus
That he can’t immediately intervene in our lives, if necessary.
Our Gospel for this morning
Is about how the presence and power of God
Watches over us,
Cares for our wellbeing, and
Is able to save
One person
And a whole community
From death
Into life.
…
2. Secondly, it is hard to experience our Gospel for this morning
Without noticing all the intentional symbolism in the text.
Think of the mountain, where Jesus retreats to pray.
It should remind us today, just as it reminded early church fathers,
Of Mt. Sinai, Moses, and the Ten Commandments,
Mt. Tabor, teaching the crowds,
The mountain of Transfiguration, where Jesus is transformed and God speaks
The Mt. of Olives, where Jesus prays to and with the Father.
One communes with God on a mountain.
Think of the Boat;
It was an early church symbol for the church;
The gathering place and dwelling of the community of faith.
The Boat was necessary for survival,
The fragile difference between life and death
Keel, ribs, and hull separating one from the depths and all it’s unknown perils,
Is the communion we share with each other and with our God.
Think of the Sea, the chaos, created by God,
Yet, held in check by God.
Consider the Storm
As a symbol of the suffering the church faces:
Martyrdom, persecution, division, and tension.
These symbols serve as wonderful metaphors for us today:
Though the storms of life are raging all about
This is God’s plan,
These are God’s terms.
God is still in control.
The power of God is greater than the power of chaos and suffering.
Let there be no doubt,
No misunderstanding:
The power of God saves the church;
Every one of us gathered in the boat.
No one is lost.
No one is left behind.
Our Gospel for this morning
Is about how the presence and power of God is able
Watch and care for us
To see us through everything life has to throw at us
To save
One person
And a whole community
From death
Into life.
…
3. Thirdly, Peter, as always, is a gem in our Gospel this morning.
Peter makes three mistakes
We would be wise to learn from.
First mistake: Peter wants proof and temps Jesus to prove his identity.
Jesus assured him, “It is I; do not be afraid.”
But Peter answers, “Lord, IF it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”
What part of “Thou shall not tempt the Lord your God” did Peter not understand?
Note to self: don’t tempt God or place conditions upon God’s response.
Second mistake: Peter is in the boat.
Jesus is walking to the disciples and Peter in the boat on the stormy sea.
In spite of the fact
That Jesus is coming to the rescue,
Peter wants to step out of the boat,
To exert his will,
To prioritize his will over the will of Jesus.
Peter, what about thy will, not my will be done, don’t you understand?
There is a time,
This is the time,
For patience,
To sit on the hands,
Shut the mouth,
And wait for the will of God to reveal itself.
Third mistake: Peter becomes frightened and takes his eyes off Jesus.
He sees he is sinking
And he panics.
Landing an aircraft onboard a carrier
Naval aviators are taught to fly the ball,
That is to use visual perception to interpret glidepath information
To align perfectly with the boat.
The meatball indicates descent path.
Line-Up ensures landing on the centerline.
Angle of Attack indicates the correct attitude and airspeed.
Successful naval aviators never take their eye off the ball
When landing night or day.
Even a blink results in a wave off, at best,
A swim and the destruction of an aircraft, or
At worst, a certain fatal collision into the back of the boat.
Peter should have flown the ball.
As soon as Peter takes his eyes off of Jesus
He becomes a part of the chaos.
He loses faith and he doubts.
Note to self: keep your eyes upon Jesus.
As soon as we lose that personal, intimate, eye-contact with Jesus
We become the problem,
We become the chaos that is
Washington,
Ukraine and Russia,
Despair,
And death.
Our Gospel for this morning
Is about how the presence and power of God is able to save
One person
And a whole community
From death
Into life.
…
4. Finally, let us learn from how Jesus responds.
First, Jesus responds with these words of assurance:
“Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”
The I makes me think of the “I Am” on Sinai,
The self-identification of an omnipotent God.
Confidence comes from divine assurance.
God is with us.
God wins for us.
Secondly, Jesus responds by reaching out his hand:
“Jesus immediately reached out and caught him, saying to him, ‘You of little faith why did you doubt?’”
(Matthew 14:31)
Jesus catches us even when we doubt.
We are saved in spite of the fact that sometimes
Our doubt has grown to the size of a mountain and
Our faith has shrunk to the size of a mustard seed.
Jesus takes our hand
And saves us.
Period.
Finally, Jesus and Peter get into the boat, and the wind ceased.
Jesus finally commands the wind and it obeys.
At the end of the day,
God wins.
Yes, this should provide for us a sense that we will come into God’s kingdom;
Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick.
When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”
Jesus said to them, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.”
They replied, “We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.”
And he said, “Bring them here to me.”
Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
| Centering Prayer |
Congratulations, Benjamin Thomas Kingsley, on this,
Your day of Baptism;
And to your parents, Dan and Kathy,
And to your brother, William.
Well done, good and faithful servants.
Benjamin, you should know
That your baptism was not a fluke or by chance.
Your baptism is highly intentional and set to be a defining moment in your life.
You see, God spoke to your mom and dad.
The Holy Spirit came upon them …
… in a dream,
through reflections upon scripture,
maybe through a sermon,
Even, possibly,
By means of stern admonitions of parents or grandparents.
This is your day, Benjamin.
This sermon is my gift to you.
…
Life lesson number 1, Benjamin:
God has a habit of achieving God’s will by what ever means available.
Jesus was, is, and will remain forever, the Son of a Loving Heavenly Father.
Jesus was sent to forgive the sins of the world
And to offer salvation to all who accept this gift
For the simple cost of belief.
Your baptism today, Benjamin,
Forges you as a disciple of Jesus.
Vows to follow Jesus Christ
have been made in your name
by your parents
Until the day comes when you are able to confirm these vows for yourself.
I look forward to that day
When you will complete God’s baptismal will for your life,
And accept Jesus Christ for yourself,
As your Lord and Savior.
…
Life lesson number 2, Benjamin:
You are a disciple of Jesus.
It’s a done deal.
Nothing you can do to change it.
God owns you.
God’s plan is for you to live as a faithful disciple of his son.
Thank goodness, our God is a loving, benevolent God,
Who has given us his Son as a gift of love.
You’ve got the rest of your life to learn everything you can about Jesus,
To discern and follow his will and ways,
To invite others to meet and follow him,
To build God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven,
To be forgiven of every sin, and
To claim eternal life.
Spend your time well.
Don’t waste away time.
Once time is gone, it is gone for good.
…
Life lesson number 3, Benjamin:
God has given you the members of the Rush United Methodist Church
To support you and your family,
To teach you all that has been taught to the rest of us about Jesus,
And to love God and serve our neighbors in need.
Crowds that surrounded Jesus
Wouldn’t leave him alone.
Jesus had compassion on them and cured their sick,
Even though, at the time,
He was grieving for the murder of his friend and cousin, John.
A crowd gives cover for complaints.
Don’t be that guy, Benjamin.
Instead, think of it this way:
This is your tribe.
Learn the best from them,
But don’t be afraid to discard worldly traits
That don’t square with the Gospel.
…
Life lesson number 4.
Jesus was, and is, in the healing business, Benjamin.
So, too, should you.
Make it your business to bring God’s healing
To the sick of body,
The sick of mind,
The sick of spirit.
Heal with compassion, Benjamin,
Just like Jesus does.
Illness and disease are all around.
Hurt and brokenness divide families and alienate friends.
Be the healing hands of Jesus, Benjamin.
Lead with love.
Speak words of kindness.
Serve, instead of being served.
Give freely of your time, talent, and money to bring healing to those who are sick.
Where you see a need, meet it.
Lace up your sneakers and walk that 5k for breast cancer.
When you are older, volunteer and make contributions to organizations that facilitate healing.
When leadership openings arise,
Step up, man up, be that community servant leader and join the Board of Directors.
…
Life lesson number 5 Benjamin,
Is that, while people may fail you,
Jesus will never fail you.
He will abundantly provide.
No one in the crowd planned ahead by packing a lunch.
Short sighted disciples suggested
Jesus let them go to feed themselves.
Jesus has a different plan.
He wants his disciples to feed the crowds.
You can’t give what you don’t have,
So fill yourself up daily
With all the blessings a life of discipleship has to offer.
Study the Gospel.
Remain laser focused on Jesus.
Learn scripture inside and out.
Pray daily, and meditate on God’s word.
Watch and listen for God to act.
Discern God’s intent.
Act boldly.
Jesus will never fail to fill you up, Benjamin.
Just open yourself
To receive God’s abundant, amazing grace.
…
Life lesson number 6;
Jesus doesn’t take kindly to complaints.
Benjamin,
If Jesus tells you to do something,
Don’t complain that you lack the resources to get it done.
Complaints reflect poorly on God, you, and all other Jesus followers.
The only thing worse than whining
Are fingernails on a chalkboard.
Oops. You’ll probably never know what a chalkboard is.
Seriously,
When tempted to whine or complain
Step back.
Count to ten.
Pray. Listen. Think.
Consider alternatives to complaints.
Replace complaints with opportunities,
Even if solutions require personal sacrifice.
…
Jesus doesn’t suffer fools.
Life lesson number 7.
Don’t be a fool, Benjamin.
Weather it be work, school, church, or family,
Work hard.
Set goals.
Make progress.
Get it done.
Once you have faithfully fulfilled the will of God,
Move on to God’s next job.
Jesus tells us in Matthew 25
Fools fail to see the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick, or prisoners.
The wise not only see,
The wise meet and exceed the needs of others.
The wise feed, at the same time, they work to correct the root causes of hunger.
They quench the thirst of the thirsty, as well as help drill new water wells.
The wise welcomes strangers, as well as creates opportunities for a new life.
The wise clothe the naked, and support the Super Sale (unique to the Rush UMC),
The wise keeps in contact with the prisoner, and work tirelessly for justice.
The wise love God and
Love their neighbors.
…
Life lesson number 8, Benjamin.
Jesus has already given you everything necessary for the successful completion of God’s will and kingdom.
If you come up short,
It is because your stewardship hasn’t been up to snuff.
If you come up with an excess,
Say 12 baskets full,
You’re not giving enough away.
Expand your distribution plans.
God is not now, nor has ever been, a god of scarcity.
God is a god of abundance.
The problem, Benjamin,
Is when you or I become too greedy,
Too self-centered,
To see a neighbor in need
And to reach out with love.
Greed, ego, and pride suck the compassion right out of person.
Don’t be that guy, Benjamin.
…
Life lesson #9,
Make it a habit, Benjamin:
Before every meal, first pause and give thanks to God
For the gift of our daily bread.
Jesus did it,
So, too, should we.
Don’t shirk praying if you are out in public,
Say, in a restaurant.
Let others witness your example.
Let others learn by your humble act of
Recognizing God
And giving thanks for the food you are served.
….
Life lesson #10,
Take the time, Benjamin,
To occasionally retreat from life
Just to take time for yourself.
Jesus did it,
And so, too, should you.
Take care of yourself.
Grow and be healthy.
Find time to rest and reflect,
Time to restore and revitalize,
Time to listen and learn.
Always keep learning.
Practice a healthy lifestyle
And you will always be prepared
For the crowd or crisis that is coming tomorrow.
….
It appears to me that others have been listening in, Benjamin,
To these life lessons I have shared with you,
That come from today’s Gospel from Matthew 14.
That’s great; because someone might learn something.
Someone might be bold enough to apply it to their own life.
He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”
He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.”
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind; when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
“Have you understood all this?”
They answered, “Yes.”
And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.”
| Centering Prayer |
In our Gospel lesson for this morning,
Jesus continues to teach his disciples
about the Kingdom of Heaven.
He teaches in parables,
inviting those who hear him
to come to their own conclusions.
Parables are vague by nature, designed to avoid a front-end conflict with potential adversaries.
Jesus often taught in parables to avoid a direct confrontation with the religious authorities in Jerusalem
and the civil authorities from Rome;
less they react before Jesus was prepared,
and have him arrested and killed prematurely,
preempting God’s heavenly design.
The risk Jesus makes
by teaching with intentional vagueness is that of mis-interpretation.
Not everyone will draw the same conclusions
from the same parable.
Cultural backgrounds, values, and experience are different for everyone.
How, then, the cynic asks,
can any conclusions be drawn from
the implied variability of Jesus’ parables?
Where is truth to be found?
…
The complexity of Jesus’ parable talk is simplified greatly by a number of his intentional strategies.
1. First, Jesus sticks to only a small, limited number of subjects for his parables.
He may have lots and lots of parables about the same topic
– like our Kingdom parables for today –
but the number of topics is purposefully reserved
for his most important themes.
This way
the audience is encouraged to experience many parables about the same theme.
When given sufficient room,
Essential Truth can be discovered very effectively,
by relating like parables together.
I think of this as giving Essential Truths “color.”
2. Secondly, Jesus reserves parable talk only for his most vital, essential themes –
– for example forgiveness,
love and compassion for God and neighbor,
and the Kingdom of Heaven.
On minor issues
or in an environment of privacy,
Jesus speaks quite freely.
He doesn’t tell a parable to the woman at Jacob’s well.
Neither does he use a parable with the individuals he physically heals or for whom he casts out demons.
I think of this as giving Essential Truths “depth.”
3. Finally, we find new meaning and expression
from the parables of Jesus
if we have a profound sensitivity to his nature,
his character,
his atonement and salvation.
Jesus was one who challenged authority,
reached out to the poor, the lost, the unclean, and the dispossessed.
So do his parables.
He was gracious and accepting without condition,
lifting people from the circumstances they found themselves in –
– or placed themselves in.
So do his parables.
Jesus was the only Son of God,
both human and divine;
when he speaks,
his words are the words of the Divine,
straight from the mouth of God.
The divinity of Christ
makes his parables Essential Truths, gifts from God,
worthy of our complete, undivided attention.
4. Finally, Jesus brings the gift of life;
through sin,
to redemption,
by means of the cross
– just like his parables –
and from redemption to eternal life, by means of the empty tomb
– just like his parables;
just like today’s parables of the Kingdom.
I think of this as giving Essential Truths “character.”
So what color, how deep, and what character are today’s parables of the Kingdom?
What Essential Truths can be mined from their nuggets?
What conclusions can be drawn?
…
The wait has been long and frustrating.
Each generation believes in its exceptionalism.
Truly these are the end times!
Christ will return at any time!
God’s kingdom will come with apocalyptic divine judgment.
The Bible says so.
Two thousand years of waiting
have required Christian believers, writers, and thinkers
to re-evaluate a messianic expectation
for a final, second coming,
and to consider
the Kingdom of Heaven
not as a future possibility,
but rather as
a past,
present,
and future unfolding reality.
The Kingdom of Heaven has come,
is come,
and will come again.
We affirm this each time we unify our voices in the litany,
“Christ has died, Christ is risen, and Christ will come again.”
We acknowledge this essential truth
every time we recognize the fact
that
all there is –
– the entirety of the cosmos –
– matter, and all things in-between –
– is a creation of God.
Life is solely the gift of a loving God.
We are God’s children,
this is God’s world,
and God is, even yet,
coming to final victory and glory.
It is inevitable;
This is God’s unfolding reality.
So, instead of talking about some future event,
allow our talk about the Kingdom of Heaven
to include God’s Kingdom that is already here.
…
What about these specific parables of the Kingdom for today?
We are given 5 parables with 4 elements of Truth in today’s carefully selected Lectionary texts.
1. Let’s take a look at the first one
in Matthew 13, verses 31 and 32.
Jesus tells his disciples
“The Kingdom of Heaven is like ….” The small mustard seed is sown into a field where it grows into a tree (v.31-32).
The logical conclusion that can be drawn is that
the apparent size of the Kingdom of Heaven
right here,
right now,
does not correlate with the fullness of God’s future kingdom.
There are a lot of preachers, scholars, believers, and followers
Through the ages
who think they know
just about all there is to know
about God’s heavenly kingdom.
This grandiose thinking is not limited to Christianity.
Irrational thoughts range from:
The outrageous
– “just strap some plastic explosives around yourself, son, and go walk into a crowd of people; paradise awaits you”
To the arrogant
– “there’s only 144,000 getting in, and I’m one of them, and you are not”
To the self-serving
– “break off all ties with family, sign your bank accounts and house over to me, drink some Kool-Aid, and together we’ll be in paradise.”
Some are known to baptize the dead.
Others will grant deification to a select group of males.
Yet others will attempt to literally “scare the hell out of you”
or try to tell you how you can earn your way into heaven.
Don’t believe a word of it!
The truth of the matter is
that all anyone knows
is equivalent to
the smallest possible seed.
Jesus tells us about that mustard seed,
and how it becomes a great bush or tree.
In other words,
as the lyrics of a secular song goes
– we’ve ain’t seen nothing yet!
2. The second parable of the Kingdom is about yeast.
Jesus uses yeast as his metaphor. Yeast mixed in
with three measures of flower
leavens all of the dough.
“He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.”
(Matthew 13:33).
If thoroughly mixed,
yeast is evenly distributed throughout the batter.
Yeast yields Carbon-dioxide gas,
which is released as tiny bubbles.
Allowed to warm and rise, then baked in an oven,
Yeast leavened bread is light and uniform.
Parables of yeast informs me that
it is possible for
today’s Kingdom of Heaven
to be distributed everywhere,
leavening all people, cultures, and races.
A yeast-like Kingdom of Heaven is Not self-limited among us Christians.
Jesus stretches the Kingdom to include expressions of faith and revelation beyond our own experience.
To all the corners of creation,
to every part of the dough,
God has spread the yeast.
It may not be risen or baked just yet
– the Kingdom isn’t complete,
As far as I know –
but the Divine plan has been implemented,
and it will encompass all,
everyone and everywhere, throughout all creation.
3. The next two parables are linked together by a common theme; finding something valuable,
then risking everything to obtain it.
A treasure hidden in a field, when found, is worth selling everything to purchase that field,
and thus becoming the owner of the treasure.
And a pearl of great value, when found, is worth selling everything in order to buy it up
(v.44-45).
These two parables of the Kingdom
cause many of us some level of unease
because the treasure is obtained
by questionable means.
It feels like house rules,
Tilted in favor of the dealer.
It isn’t lying,
but it isn’t being forthcoming with information, either.
If the owner of the field
knew the property’s true value,
there wouldn’t be a sale.
When measured by
the criteria of similar parables,
the life and actions of Christ,
and by the consistence, Essential Truth of the Gospel,
I believe Jesus is pointing us in a new direction with urgency:
… the Kingdom of Heaven is worth
risking everything
to make certain
you are a part of it.
God Kingdom is more valuable than money,
more important than house, job, or family.
The Kingdom of Heaven is,
as the great 20th Century theologian Paul Tillich used to say,
of “Ultimate Concern”
to the disciple of Jesus.
There is no greater concern than living for the Kingdom.
4. Which leads us to the fourth and final theme for today from our parables of God’s Heavenly Kingdom.
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind; when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
(Matthew 13:47-50)
Jesus tells his disciples that
just like a net catches all fish,
so too does the Kingdom of Heaven, that all might be judged and separated.
Those deemed unacceptable will be destroyed.
Those that live in denial of the present Ultimate Concern,
who have no faith in the One who is both the Alpha and the Omega,
are those who be found unacceptable.
Cast out.
Tossed into the fire.
Annihilated,
and every memory erased.
Again, I know this illusion of ire, weeping, and gnashing of teeth is one that we would like to deny or ignore and hope that it goes away.
But the fact remains,
God is the final judge,
in a system that has
no higher appeal.
…
These parables should serve as a corrective warning;
a gentle, yet deliberate directive,
for everyone of us
who seek a relationship of faith and love
with our God,
and with Jesus the Son.
As evident last Sunday,
be assured,
all of us who live lives of faith,
that we have nothing to fear in God’s final judgment.
It is God’s good choice to save,
to protect,
to gather in all God’s children.
…
So, today,
God’s Kingdom has come
just a little closer,
has made a little more of an inroad into our lives,
has gathered a little more clarity.
By these gems
given to us by Jesus,
we know that the apparent size of the current Kingdom of Heaven
has nothing to do with the fullness that is bound to become in the future.
We know the Kingdom isn’t complete as of yet.
The Divine plan has been launched.
It will encompass all,
everyone and everywhere, throughout all creation.
We know the Kingdom of God is so important
that it is worth risking everything
to make sure we’re a part of it.
And we know,
that just like a net catches all,
so too does the Kingdom of Heaven, that all might be judged,
and those deemed unacceptable will be destroyed.
There is danger and opportunity in today’s parables of the Kingdom.
Be sure to steer clear of the danger. At the same time,
Make haste to seize every opportunity God provides.
He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field; but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?’ He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The slaves said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he replied, ‘No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’”
Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples approached him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen!
| Centering Prayer |
Wow.
We have today
Yet another interesting parable
– para bole’ – of Jesus.
This one is a bit more challenging.
My message for today will be
Two points, one short, one long, both of equal importance.
…
1. This is the second of three parables
That Jesus teaches to help describe the Kingdom of heaven.
Last week was about sowing,
Today, you could say the parable is about weeding.
The Gospel’s descriptive phrase,
Kingdom of heaven, as compared to Kingdom of God,
Is unique to the Gospel of Matthew.
What does this mean?
Matthew strings together multiple parables of Jesus
To describe to ever changing crowds and followers
What the Kingdom of heaven is like.
Consider the Kingdom of heaven being that
Which contrasts the differences between
The realm of God’s kingdom and
The kingdom of the Emperor.
The Emperor’s kingdom is time limited on earth,
While God reigns eternally, from above in heaven.
The act of Jesus being born …
… coming to earth …
Tears the fabric that separates the two kingdoms.
Jesus steps through the membrane
Representing the breakthrough of God’s kingdom on the earth.
This makes the Gospel political.
This makes Jesus political.
Through Jesus,
God opposes all politics and parties of this world
That do not square
With Christian living and values.
I’m registered independent.
I value honesty, integrity, humility, and service.
I believe,
When asked about my politics,
The best response is
“The Gospel is my politic.”
I’d encourage you to consider the same.
The risk, of course, is conviction by the same Gospel we so dearly love.
So here, a dichotomy is created,
A true dipolar with mutually exclusive contrasting choices.
Parables about the Kingdom of heaven
Force the audience pick a side,
To take a calculated risk:
Which kingdom will prevail?
The Kingdom of Heaven, or,
A kingdom of the world?
Whose empire do you chose?
Choose your allegiance,
And choose carefully.
To God
Or to the Emperor?
This is a potent, often times biting reality
For the modern-day Christian living in America.
Many feel the push-pull of competing voices
Between faith and country.
Yes, patriotism runs deep.
Yes, we love our history, traditions, and institutions.
Yes, we love our culture, country, constitution, and rule of law.
I love this country, this land, our people, our freedom and liberty
As much as any other law-abiding citizen.
At the same time,
I recognize
Love is not exclusive,
But allegiance is.
Neither politicians nor policies can save us.
Neither democracy nor dictators can save us.
Neither the state nor its military can save us.
Salvation comes exclusively at the hand of the Lord,
Through His Son, Jesus Christ.
“The kingdom of heaven is like …” Jesus begins.
Choose your allegiance,
And chose carefully.
…
2. Also unique to Matthew
Is the impossible-to-evade theme of judgment.
We’re talking here
End-time judgment,
Final harvest,
Four horsemen of the apocalypse kind of judgment.
Truth be told?
All cards on the table?
I’m not one of those pastors or preachers
That likes to focus on judgment,
Hell-fire and brimstone, a
Gozer and Ghostbusters final smackdown.
What makes me uncomfortable
Is the long history of the Church using
The threat of judgment
To abuse power,
To exercise power and authority.
Judgment is a better anvil than hammer;
A better backstop than a no-hitter;
A better perry than a thrust.
I don’t interpret the Bible to be lopsided
Or weighted in favor of law and punishment,
To the exclusion of, or
At the expense of,
The grace and redeeming love of a merciful God and heavenly Father.
God’s grace is balanced,
Tempered, and
True;
The finest characteristic of United Methodism.
At the end of the day,
Even the penalties of the highest court in the land
Are limited by the defendant’s mortal lifespan.
Brick and mortal cells,
Bars and locks of iron,
Have a limited time and season.
Rust. Erosion. Closure.
Death.
All limit the capacity and span of human judgment.
God’s judgment is eternal.
Therefore, it is wise to treat God’s judgment with the respect it deserves.
Matthew hits on judgment
time and again,
Sunday after Sunday
this Summer and Fall,
Making it necessary to address God’s judgment,
Without predigest or apology.
Come around the first of every month,
The rent must be paid.
Are you a law-and-order kind of person?
You want judgment?
Well, Matthew’s got judgment,
And this first Gospel serves it up in spades.
Like a compliant child or a dutiful tenant,
I’ll line up and take my Castor Oil.
I will pay the rent.
Boldly, I will address the issue of judgment
As uniquely discussed in Matthew.
It doesn’t mean I have to like it.
After a multiple preliminary reads of Matthew 13 this past week,
It didn’t take much time
To return to our opening Skit on a Stick,
Our Call to Worship,
Psalm 86,
To find shelter from the promised judgment.
For you, O Lord, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call on you. (86:5)
I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever. For great is your steadfast love toward me; you have delivered my soul (86:12-13)
The reality that judgment is coming
Is like being on the receiving end of an artillery barrage.
The crack of the gun
Is followed by the whoosh of Armageddon.
The faithful better be hugging the bottom of the foxhole,
And, I’d suggest,
clutching a copy of Psalm 86 in hand.
Take comfort.
The Psalmist reminds all of us who
Fear judgment and are filled with anxiety.
Take comfort the Psalmist sings,
“But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious,
Slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.”
– Psalm 86:15
When it comes to the Kingdom of heaven,
If judgment is involved,
I don’t know about you, but,
I’m looking forward to standing before
A merciful and gracious appellate judge;
One who is slow to anger,
Who is abiding in steadfast love,
And who is faithful to their promise.
Even yet, Jesus concludes this parable with
“I will tell the reapers,
Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned,
But gather the wheat into my barn.”
– Matthew 13:30b
As if this isn’t sufficient,
Early church editors emphasize Jesus’ interpretation:
“The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
– Matthew 13:41-42
Weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Good luck to any this morning who
Attempt to sugar-coat this Gospel passage.
What then are we to say?
What is to be learned about judgment,
And how can our insight be used to make
A thoughtful, faithful mid-course correction
On our journey of faith?
Unlike the previously mentioned issue of allegiance,
Which is an all-or-nothing proposition,
I’d suggest the faithful,
True blue disciples of Jesus,
Are a both/and concoction
Of both sinners and saints.
Our hypocrisy is hanging out there for everyone to see,
Both from within and from the outside:
“People that go to church,
Who call themselves Christians,
are some of the biggest sinners on the planet.
What a bunch of hypocrites.”
You’ve heard it.
I’ve heard it.
Guilty as charged.
I deserve nothing less than being first in line
To be thrown into the unquenchable fire,
To be consumed by
The gnashing of teeth
Of unmentionable beasts.
My guess is that I’ll be in good company.
If the point of judgment is punishment
Then every thoughtful disciple of Jesus Christ must ask,
“Then why has God given us Jesus?”
Christ died to take away our sin.
The fancy word for this is “redemption”.
We’ve been redeemed, forgiven, and cleansed by the crucifixion of Jesus.
Christ rose from the dead to save us into the eternal kingdom of God.
The eloquent term is “salvation”.
God sent Jesus to redeem and save the world,
To transform every sinner into a saint,
Using the lifespan to mold and shape each person
Exactly as God intends.
QED, people of faith who are disciples of Jesus.
Quod Erat Demonstrandum.
Thus, it is demonstrated:
We are sinners,
Imperfect, flawed, and fractured.
At the same time,
We are redeemed and saved …
Living saints,
Identified and called by God,
Making progress towards perfection,
Eternal life.
Christ has made it so.
When the time of judgment comes,
And, yes, every seed will see a time of harvest,
“The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
– Matthew 13:41-42
Angels, or agents of Jesus Christ,
Will harvest and collect out …
Pay attention to the wording here …
“all causes of sin and evildoers”.
What falls into that category of “all causes of sin”?
Every cause of sin
Can be traced back to the presence and behavior
Of the Devil in the creation story …
… the slithering, fast-talking snake.
Adam and Eve are tempted to take a stand as an equal with
God, their creator.
This, of course, is absurd, from our hindsight perspective,
The fact is: they took the bait.
They opened the door for every cause of sin
To enter into Paradise
To the smug satisfaction of the Devil himself.
Every cause of sin
will be collected out and thrown into the furnace of fire.
Every temptation,
Every desire to equal or best ourselves with our creator,
Every thought of another god or competing idol,
Including power, wealth, violence, domination …
All of it …
Will be collected out by the Son of Man and His angels, and
Will be burned with fire.
In the kingdom of heaven
There is no cause of sin.
The kingdom of heaven will be as pure as the driven snow.
What falls into the category of “evildoers”?
Who … are to be judged and punished?
Matthew and his editors report Jesus saying the following:
“the weeds are the children of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil.”
– Matthew 13:38b-39a
Children of the Devil are the evil subjects of this parable.
Be warned.
They live amongst us, though they avoid us.
They do their work in the dark,
practicing their behavior in secret.
In the kingdom of heaven
There are no evildoers,
Nor will there ever be.
As both sinner and saint,
I’d suggest that
When I take the bait of temptation
And engage in behavior I’d rather kept in secret,
Then I’m doing the work of the Devil.
Secrecy is a sign! A red flag warning!
Danger, Will Robinson!
Avoiding the work of the saints
Is the same as doing the work of the Devil.
Avoidance of what is good and right is a tell-tell sign!
Listen to the voice of experience:
Don’t submit to temptation and engage in the work of the Devil!
Run away!
Run from temptation!
I’ve touched the hot stove
And it grievously burns.
It burns badly.
If necessary, run away and get help.
Speak with the pastor, a counselor, a peer.
Support is found in the community of fellow disciples,
Those people, I’d suggest,
Are angels
Who God sends our way.
“The wages of sin is death,”
The Apostle Paul correctly proclaims in his letter to the church in Rome.
“But the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
– Romans 6:23
The judgment of sin is being thrown into the furnace of fire.
The free gift of God,
Which is the definition of “Grace”
Is eternal life in Christ,
Or, as Matthew concludes,
“Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.”
– Matthew 13:43
Those who the angels of the Son of Man separates out from the weeds,
Will shine like the sun,
Will be eternal stars,
In the Father’s kingdom.
…
Dearly beloved,
Jesus gives his disciples guidance
Through this, his parable of the weeds.
Are you interested in taking his advice?
If so,
Chose God, and God’s kingdom.
Make your allegiance with God,
not with the Emperors or kingdoms of this world.
Fear not impending judgment.
Our God’s purpose isn’t to punish.
God intends to cleanse the world of sin and to lead everyone,
That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach.
And he told them many things in parables, saying: “Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Let anyone with ears listen!”
Then the disciples came and asked him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?”
He answered, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For to those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.
The reason I speak to them in parables is that ‘seeing they do not perceive, and hearing they do not listen, nor do they understand.’ With them indeed is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah that says:
‘You will indeed listen, but never understand, and you will indeed look, but never perceive. For this people’s heart has grown dull, and their ears are hard of hearing, and they have shut their eyes; so that they might not look with their eyes, and listen with their ears, and understand with their heart and turn— and I would heal them.’
But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. Truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.
“Hear then the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”
| Centering Prayer |
In recent days
Jesus has been traveling around the countryside,
stopping at many different cities,
always being followed by his disciples and the crowds.
The Pharisees had started to plot against Jesus,
planning how to destroy him.
He healed a man’s withered hand
and allowed his disciples to pluck and eat grain,
both events took place on the Sabbath.
This apparent violation of the Law raised their ire.
This morning we find Jesus by the Sea of Galilee,
perhaps in Capernaum,
where he taught as a child in the synagogue
and healed Peter’s mother-in-law.
Because so many followers crowded around him,
he got into a boat and slipped just offshore,
creating for himself the perfect, natural amphitheater
– Jesus on center stage –
with his audience rising up on the nearby shore.
It was a natural built,
Minor league coliseum;
The perfect setting for the Master to
Take center stage
To teach thousands of followers.
Jesus took advantage of the setting
by teaching his followers and the crowd in parables
– short stories whose purpose
is to make a point by analogy, comparison, or illustration.
Many have speculated
why Jesus spoke and taught so frequently in parables.
Why would his message be transparent to some
But intentionally opaque to others?
It is important to remember
The dangerous environment in which Jesus was immersed.
When surrounded by threats,
it was safest to speak in generalities,
with vagueness,
less one be arrested, tortured, and killed.
The less specific, the better.
Yet, Jesus’s parables were specific enough
so that, while some were left wondering what he was talking about,
his followers knew exactly what he was saying.
This, of course, makes all of us nervous
when we don’t immediately grasp the meaning of a parable!
Have no fear.
While some may believe
that Jesus is teaching in some kind of secret, cryptic code,
it only makes sense that he was
just being wisely cautious.
So this morning,
place in your mind’s eye
the image of Jesus in a boat,
floating just offshore.
He could have been at Durand Eastman beach, Casowasco, or Chautauqua.
Around him would have been a crowd of hundreds
– perhaps thousands –
standing and sitting at the water’s edge,
straining to hear his every word.
I highly recommend the book “Simple Church”
by Thom S. Rainer and Eric Geiger.
In this short book the authors describe two kinds of churches;
A simple church and a complex church.
The complex church is
One that deploys a smorgasbord of programs, events, and opportunities.
Generally, the larger the church,
the more resources it has to offer to members and friends.
Many have come to associate
activity with vibrancy,
especially those in the hierarchy.
While this complexity of programs may have curb appeal,
Especially to the occasional church shopper,
The author’s research has shown that complex churches
Foster stagnation, status quo, even decline.
The alternative is the simple church;
One that intentionally nurtures movement through the spiritual journey,
starting with the new Christian,
engaging people with vibrant worship,
leading each to deepen their faith
while reaching out to neighbors.
Love God,
Grow deep,
Reach out
To put it simply.
This simplicity is patterned after the first century description of church
In the Acts of the Apostles.
Programs that don’t reach up,
Grow people deep,
Or reach out
Are slowly, but intentionally eliminated.
New seeds are sown
To bring laser focus on leading people,
Moving and growing with people
In faith development
That leads to outreach and missions.
Simple churches, the authors cite in their research
Are becoming examples of new life,
Fertile growth,
And vibrant communities of faith,
Just as they once did two thousand years ago.
The key to transformational change
Is keeping it simple,
Seeking fertile soil,
Faithfully sowing seeds,
Nurturing the growth that God is providing.
…
In today’s parable
Three quarters of the seeds sown are complete and abject failures.
Henry Ford once said,
“Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again,
This time more intelligently.”
Keep sowing seeds.
It is, indeed, exceptionally easy for us
to dwell upon all of our efforts which have failed
– those ideas which have fallen upon the path
while others have come along and snatched them away,
or plans which have fallen upon rocky ground
and have quickly grown up but have just as quickly died away,
or hopes and dreams which have fallen in the midst of thorns
and others have quickly choked them off
before they could even begin to grow.
Yet, Jesus promises us that
“other seeds
fell on good soil and brought forth grain,
some a hundredfold, some sixty and some thirty.”
At the time of Jesus,
the finest harvest might bring in tenfold
– or ten times the amount of grain planted.
Farmers in the crowd listening to Jesus would have had a good chuckle.
Even with modern technology,
a good crop might bring in forty-fold.
Jesus wasn’t naive.
He was making a statement:
some of our efforts will succeed beyond our wildest dreams.
Some of the efforts and energies that we put in working for the Lord,
will bloom and grow far beyond the sum of everything we put into it.
Those ministries which take off,
do so not because of what we do,
but because of what God does
in and through us.
It is God who provides for the fertile soil.
It is God who provides for the necessary rain and sunshine.
We are simply required to sow seeds
and to nurture that which grows.
Successful kingdom building,
doing the Lord’s work,
requires a partnership with God and ourselves.
…
A few observations.
1. First, a seed is a seed is a seed.
That is, every seed is the same as every other seed,
worthy of the same consideration by the sower.
The only difference in the final outcome
depends upon where it is sown.
Seeds,
our visions, ideas, and plans for ministry
Come to us from God
Our Divine Creator.
Every seed is created with the same potential;
worthy of our efforts to sow.
If Jesus is telling us that only one in four
Stand a chance of taking root and prospering
We can’t risk losing any seeds.
It is wonderful to dream.
The more dreaming the better.
That is why we must be bold in our approach to mission and ministry;
Sowing every seed God gives us.
The more seeds that are sown,
the more opportunity for some seeds to grow
and grow abundantly.
2. Secondly, wise sowers will seek out the best soil.
Soil isn’t going to change its nature for our sake.
This is what it means for us today:
Avoid mission creep.
Avoid efforts that steal away the focus.
As my mother would say,
“Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.”
Be smart in sowing.
Seek out fertile soil.
Search and find where the need is greatest;
Where the longing of the heart
and people’s deepest concerns can best be fed.
Jesus zeroed in on the deepest needs in his life and ministry.
He sowed seeds with the poor, the marginalized, with women, and children.
Jesus sowed seeds with those who were suffering illness, disease, and grief.
Jesus sowed seeds with a tax collector who was seeking a new heart
And with a paralyzed man lowered through a hole in the roof.
Let us boldly ask ourselves,
Where is the fertile soil today?
Where are we being led to sow God’s seeds?
3. Third,
from Jesus’s parable of the sower,
Jesus is preparing us to expect failure.
Despite our best efforts
Only twenty-five percent of the seeds fall upon fertile ground.
Keep sowing seeds!
I’ve learned with age and experience
That even failed efforts to grow God’s kingdom have merit.
Seeds that were sown twenty years ago,
Kindness that was extended,
Love that enabled you to go the second mile,
Grace that flowed through you and touched another,
May eventually take root.
Timing is everything.
Even worn paths
change and grow over with time.
Choking weeds eventually give way to trees and streams.
Rocky ground might slowly give way to rich topsoil.
Timing may be the key,
So, cultivate a culture of sowing.
Keep sowing,
Especially in the face of apparent failure,
If for no other reason
Then to maintain the discipline of sowing.
Jesus sowed throughout his ministry.
He only ended up with a handful of disciples in the end.
He had to repeat his message
of suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension
… multiple times …
Because those seeds didn’t take root
Until his disciples were changed by their experience and
They could find clarity with hindsight.
Yet, Jesus continued to sow
In his resurrection and
through his Holy Spirit.
Christ continues to sow seeds today
In and through our thoughts, words, and prayers.
His Spirit hasn’t stopped sowing
And neither should we.
Keep sowing.
4. Fourthly,
It is very clear that Jesus promises us that
even one small seed,
one idea,
one goal;
planted in fertile soil,
nurtured, cared for, and supported by God and the community,
can lead to a harvest abundant,
a harvest beyond our wildest dreams,
a vibrant ministry of our church of unmeasurable success.
One.
Seed.
Indeed, that one successful seed
Will more than make up for the other three that failed.
If one seed has the potential of a hundred-fold,
imagine what ten good seeds can do
– or a hundred!
Indeed, we are only limited by our ability to dream
and our capacity for faithfulness.
We are only limited by our ability to dream
and our capacity for faithfulness.
The goal of our Lord
for us, as individuals,
and for us, as His Church,
is the establishment
and fulfillment
of the kingdom of God,
bringing people to Jesus Christ,
nurturing each in our lifelong journey of faith.
God has called us to be faithful sowers,
people who are willing to work without ceasing,
committed to bringing about a successful harvest.
God supplies the seeds,
We simply sow as best we can.
God provides the soil, rain, and sunshine;
the growth and fulfillment of that kingdom.
Expect disappointments and failures.
Lots of them.
If you are not failing,
You’re not trying.
However, it is very clear that,
for those seeds landing upon fertile ground
which we tend, care, and nurture,
the harvest will be abundant beyond belief.
This foreknowledge easily makes up for lost seeds and efforts.
Breaking Yokes 