Weekly Lessons and Sermon
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be always
acceptable in your sight, oh Lord our strength and our redeemer. Amen.
acceptable in your sight, oh Lord our strength and our redeemer. Amen.
no video of sermon todayIn the Episcopal Church, and many other mainline denominations,
our Sunday readings come from a compilation called the Lectionary. The lectionary runs on a three year cycle: Which means that every three years, we hear the same stories, And TWELVE years ago, when we heard this parable of the laborers in the vineyard-- Was a day that I remember well. I was in seminary, And I was working at a small church in Connecticut—Emmanuel Episcopal Church-- It was also known as “The Little Church in the Wilderness” I was hired there to start a Sunday School program And I was the sole Sunday school teacher. In a one room school house style, children from age 3 to age 12 sat with me on Sunday morning to hear the Gospel stories. After I told the children the Gospel story we read today—I asked them to draw or write about the story-- This activity was something that we did every single week. On that day—the kids said to me, “We need a very big piece of paper.” When I asked why, they said, “We’re going to draw one big picture all together-- Because we’re a community.” They said it as if it were the most common thing in the world-- And looked at me as if I were a moron. I was stunned. And obviously couldn’t argue with that. They spent the rest of the time, Working together on a big picture of these laborers in the vineyard. At the very top, they wrote: “No Matter what, God loves everyone the same!” That was a very proud day for this Sunday School teacher. I couldn’t have put it better myself. And here I am, twelve years later: telling you about it in a sermon. Because it’s the DEEP TRUTH. We are indeed a community-- A community who needs to do things together-- who needs to support one another. This has been a consistent theme in the last few weeks. We heard about resolving conflicts in our communities, And we heard about the importance of forgiveness. And today we hear that we’re also a community of equality-- Where God loves each of us the same. And never abandons anyone-- Never gives up on anyone-- No matter what time they arrive-- No matter how long they’ve been working. Jesus’ story tells us about a landowner, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. At 9’oclock he went out and found some more laborers, He did the same at noon, 3’oclock, and 5’oclock. And all of those laborers, Get paid the same amount. Is it an Injustice? Or could it be justice? It strikes me that the kids at the little church in the wilderness had no problem with the seeming unfairness of this passage. It made perfect sense to them. But to our grown up modern ears-- This story seems unfair. The workers—who have been working ALL day-- Get paid the exact same amount as the workers who worked for only one hour. It seems unfair. It seems unjust. Especially because it’s about MONEY. But we must remember that this is a parable-- Which means its a story that Jesus tells to illustrate what the Kingdom of heaven is like. And in this story, God is like the landowner, And we are like the laborers. Jesus isn’t talking about our understandings of THIS WORLD-- Where we are rewarded or paid by the hour. Or where if you’re first in line, you are guaranteed the newest i-phone, or tickets to the polar express train. And if you’re too far back—you might not get one. Jesus is talking about the Kingdom of Heaven-- Where our understandings get turned upside down. Where there’s real equality. Real Justice. Real love, Where God promises to love every person No. Matter. What. Looking at it again, This passage should not strike us as unfair. After all: The laborers who worked all day AGREED to the wage ahead of time. And they were given the wage that they agreed to. The landowner did not trick them. The landowner did not take anything away from them. He just gave everyone else the same amount too. This passage should instead strike us as a relief. Not as unfairness: But as the most GENERIOUS FAIRNESS possible. It should give us great hope that God is a God of equality. A great and generous God. A God who never abandons. A God who forever loves everyone. But that’s also sometimes the hard part. (Are you on to me yet? That I’m almost always going to bring us to the hardest part?) It’s hard, Because if God is a God of equality-- A God of generosity-- Then although God loves you DEEPLY, VIGOUROSLY, COMPLETELY, No matter where you are in line, or when you showed up to work-- That also means that: God also loves EVERY ONE else that way too. Everyone else. EVERYONE else. That’s hard for us to grasp-- In a culture of winners and losers. A culture where people “get what they deserve.” A culture paranoid with being the best. Having the most. Climbing the ladder, Grasping for the top. It’s amazing to me that the children at the Church in the Wilderness deeply understood: That “God loves everyone the same.” And I didn’t tell them that when I read them this story. I literally just read them the story. They figured it out all by themselves. And they proceeded to live into it: To participate in a common project-- All together-- All the same-- There was no way they could evaluate who drew the best picture-- Or who wrote the smartest thing. Because they did it all together-- As a community-- Knowing that God loves them ALL the same. And generously gives to everyone ALL the same-- Regardless of what anyone deserves: God has set out to create a huge community of equality. A community of unimaginable “Fairness” But where Fairness becomes something quite different than our culture currently defines it. In God’s kingdom, Fairness and Justice is God loving all of us the same: And: Loving EVERYONE ELSE The same too. No matter how many people enter our doors, No matter how long we’ve been working, No matter how long we’ve been members of the church. No matter where we live, No matter where we are in line, No matter what. God loves all of us the same. Amen.
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As we make our way through Matthew’s Gospel,
Hearing snippets of the story every week, We hear some things that might make us uncomfortable. Last week, There was a story about dealing with conflict. This week, about forgiveness, And without spoiling it, I’ll say that next week is going to be about money. The parable that we hear from Jesus today is not a story of sweet comfort: It actually challenges us in a very tender way: Acknowledging the reality of the trouble we have with forgiveness. The story has two scenes: First, inside the throne room of a powerful king; Second, just outside in a palace corridor. But there’s not just two scenes. This story also tells of two worlds: The world as we know it, And the world as God WANTS it. The throne room changes in a moment. From the world as we know it, To the world as God wants it. But the palace corridor: The second scene: Starts out as the world as we know it, And fails to become the world as God wants it. The first scene, The throne room: The world as we know it, Shows us a boss. Who is reviewing accounts. And somebody: A slave: Owes him big time. REALLY big time. No way can this guy pay back what he owes. He’s in too deep. He owes too much. So the boss man orders him to be sold. Along with his wife, His children. And all of his possessions. And hearing his sentence, the slave drops to his knees. He weeps, and wails, crying out for mercy. He makes a promise he knows he can’t keep, begging his boss, “Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.” And as so often happens with a story that Jesus tells, Something unexpected happens. Out of nowhere, All of a sudden, The King released the slave, And forgave him the debt. The world as we know it-- Becomes the world as God wants it. Where debts are forgiven, And mercy is extended. And what happens next to this forgiven slave? When we enter scene two, In the palace corridor, It’s pretty clear that he’s missed to point. He can’t see the world as God wants it. He’s not even outside the BUILDING: He’s in the palace corridor, When he runs into somebody who owes him something. He grabs the guy by the collar, And tries to shake the money out of him. This second debtor does his own pleading for mercy. Using almost the same words, He makes a promise he knows he can’t keep, begging his fellow slave, “Have patience with me, and I will pay you.” You’d think it would be a no-brainer: For the forgiven debtor to remember that just a few MOMENTS ago: He was granted the same mercy and forgiveness. You’d think that mercy received would result in mercy given. But that doesn’t happen. The forgiven man refuses to show mercy. He refuses to forgive. He boots his fellow slave into the nearest prison. And the world remains the world as we know it, With no move toward the world as God wants it. It took the forgiven slave mere minutes, To forget the blessing, The possibility, The potential: Of the world as God wants it. And here we get to the crux of the matter. Here we get to the heart of why forgiveness is hard. Because we too forget. In a matter of mere minutes: That we are forgiven. We forget. That we are Sinners: who are forgiven. Debtors: Who are let off the hook. Slaves: Who are freed in mercy. And we have a choice. The choice to remain in the world as we know it: Or to strive for the world as God wants it. This choice is the most beautiful part. And it’s also the hardest part. We get to choose. We can be like the freed slave: taking our forgiveness and blessing: And then forget all about it. Or we can be like the boss-king: Taking our forgiveness and blessing: And using it to continue to forgive and bless. We get to choose. And no matter which one we choose: We’re STILL blessed and forgiven. Whichever way we go: Whether we are content in the world as we know it, Or we strive for the world as God wants it. God has already blessed and forgiven. What you do with it, Is up to you. It’s the beauty, But also the hard part of forgiveness. Forgiveness is not easy. It’s costly. It’s not sweet and sentimental. Forgiveness is hard work. And even though we have a choice, Jesus is pretty clear that if we’re going to follow him: We must forgive. Because if we’re going to follow Jesus, We should strive for the world as God wants it. At the end of the story, the boss king finds out that the slave took his mercy and forgiveness, And forgot all about it. Returning to the world as we know it. The boss king handed him over to be tortured until he would pay his entire debt. And Jesus, In a really uncomfortable moment says, “so my heavenly father will also do to every one of you, If you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.” The one who forgives, Ushers in the world as God wants it. The one who doesn’t forgive, Lives in the world as we know it. A world that we very well know can be filled with the torturous pain of vengeance. It’s easy to live in the world as we know it, And to forget that we’re forgiven. To forget to forgive. And that’s why we gather here. Where we confess our sins, And hear that we are already forgiven. We gather here in this throne room, And present to God, Our selves, our souls, and bodies. And when we come to the table together, We see a brief glimpse of that world as God wants it. And then the time comes to leave this throne room, And go out into the world as we know it. Where we will certainly meet someone who needs our mercy. And will we remember? Will we remember the possibility, The potential, And the blessing of the world as God wants it? Here lies the beauty. And here lies the challenge. Amen.
“God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.”
These words are Peter’s impulsive response to the devastating news that Jesus – his friend, healer and teacher, beloved: his divine Lord and savior – would suffer. MUST suffer, be killed and be raised. Peter, like most of us, reacts to the fact of suffering with fear and denial. Jesus famously replies: “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.” In his human concept of time, Peter has reacted out of fear of suffering and loss in the short term. He has focused on the fact that Jesus must suffer and be killed. His focus on suffering-- ignoring the good news that follows is a stumbling block to Jesus’ work in the world-- Leaving Jesus to liken him to Satan-- As one who cannot see the good to come. Jesus continues with a paradox: “For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.” “It” refers to eternal life. A great and glorious future-- Jesus is instructing Peter to focus on this glorious future: To focus on divine things: Not merely human sensibilities of time, suffering, and pain: But the Divine promise that Jesus will be raised, and in the last day, we all shall be raised. And Peter already knows this. Just prior to the conversation, we heard Peter answer the question: “Who do you say that I am?” Peter declared that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the living God. Jesus complimented him on his great faith and offered him the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven. Yet here’s the Christian paradox: One that Peter demonstrates quite well: Of being a faithful yet human Christian. We, like Peter, believe Jesus’ words that suffering will ultimately be eliminated. At the same time, we live in the world: A world where suffering exists. And Jesus reminds us, over and over again-- To work toward alleviating this worldy suffering wherever we can: feeding the hungry, healing the sick, blessing the dying, loving our neighbor. It seems that we are to set our minds on both human and divine matters. And Jesus too demonstrates this paradox: As Jesus himself is the point where the reality of God, enters the reality of this world. Fully human, and fully God: Where the human and divine purposes are fully united. Our lesson from Jeremiah shows this suffering (and the paradox) in a real way. Jeremiah laments in his pain unceasing, his wound incurable. And also proclaims that God’s words became a joy and delight of his heart. And in Jeremiah’s lament: God still says: “I am with you to save you and deliver you. I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked and redeem you from the grasp of the ruthless.” It’s the constant paradox: The pain, grief, and mess of life: Right next to the joy and delight promised by God. Theres another lesson appointed for today: That we didn’t read. And it’s a well known one from the book of Exodus: Where the Holy Mystery meets the reality of this world. The paradox of God’s great power, amid human mess. It’s the famous story about Moses and the burning bush. Where Moses is going about his daily routine. Tending the flocks, doing nothing out of the ordinary. Yet in the burning bush, God says to Moses: “Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” We see that the first response of the human to the divine encounter must be of reverence. But that is not all: God is clear that reverence is to be followed by action. The Divine meeting the human world. Moses is given the task to lead the Israelites out of slavery. A human task: Given by God. When Moses asks God’s name: God says “I am who I am,” Which is also translated: “I shall be who I shall be.” God is now and God is eternal. And so are we. In his letter to the Romans, Paul gives instructions for living a faithful life today: But he also talks about this paradox: The tension between the now, and the eternal future. Paul says: “Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Yet when Paul speaks of rejoicing in hope, he is speaking of the hope of the resurrection: The Kingdom of God on Earth. Be patient in suffering because suffering WILL cease. Persevere in prayer because this is the reverent response to the divine. Yet pray the prayer that always leads to action: extending hospitality to strangers. Rejoicing with those who rejoice and weeping with those who weep. And do it now. Jesus reminds us that we do not have much time. “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.” In the early Christian communities there was a strong sense that the Kingdom of God was coming soon. And Jesus portrays this urgency: By telling his disciples to live with the paradox of faith. As he embodies the greatest paradox of all: Christ himself: Both fully human and fully divine: MUST suffer and die before he is raised to eternal life. JESUS: is the embodiment of both the reality of the world: Which always includes suffering and death, And the reality of the divine: Which is eternal life. Jesus even instructs the disciples in the form of a paradox: “For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.” We are to live the way of the great “I Am” and the glorious “I shall be.” Because we ARE We also SHALL BE. We are to live a life of reverent prayer and a life of faithful action. We are to live as if we have not much time and as if we have all the time in the world. German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in prison during World War II, faced great suffering, alongside great faith. He wrote: “What remains for us is only the very narrow path, sometimes barely discernible, of taking each day as if it were the last and yet living it faithfully and responsibly as if there were yet to be a great future.” This is the divine way. It is also the human way. This is the mystery and the paradox of faith. Amen. |
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