May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)
SEASON: Pentecost 13
PROPER: C
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: August 30, 1998
TEXT: Luke 14:1, 7-14 - Jesus at a Pharisee's Banquet
"But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."
ISSUE: In the passage, Jesus addresses how the Pharisees seek honor, and honorable places at meals. It reveals an excitement for position and honor granted by fellow pharisees. Jesus makes the point that our genuine and real honor comes from God as we accept all of his people as our brothers and sisters, including the poor and outcast. Problem for 1st century as well as our own is that we just don't get it; we don't grasp the meaning that honor comes through humble servanthood.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The occasion of Jesus being invited to the home of a Pharisee is another one of those occasions for Jesus to proclaim another great reversal, according to Luke's gospel. Last week, recall, that we heard that the last would be first, and the first would be last. This reading is about the reversal of what true and genuine honor is, as well as the reversal of who to invite to dinner. The passage also raises the issue of why can't the Judeans, and us, get what it is that God is calling us to be?
In our Lord's time, meals or banquets were of extreme importance in terms of communicating status and giving honor or status to people. Normally, persons invited to a banquet were of the approxiamate rank. The fact that Jesus is invited into the home of a Pharisee for a banquet would imply that Jesus had achieved some status, rank, and honor in this community. You place at the table, or tables, indicated you place and honor within that community. How you behaved and conducted yourself was equally as important. On another occasion in Luke 11:38, pharisees are surprised that Jesus does not wash before eating. On another occasion in Luke 8:44f (when the woman washes Jesus' feet with her tears), Jesus rebukes a pharisee for not providing him with water to wash his feet, or with an appropriate hospitable welcome kiss. Keeping the ritual cleansing was important. You were also expected to return an invitation. If you were invited into one's home for a banquet, you were expected to return the favor. If by chance you could not financially make a return invitation, then you would not likely accept an invitation. The stories of the Wedding Feasts where people are invited but who turn down the invitations by making excuses may be an indication of their inability to return the favor. In any event, the person who extends an invitation, would extend it to people of close but significant rank in order to receive an invitation in return for the purpose of extending you own place in society.
According to Luke, Jesus is invited to this banquet in a Judean setting which is also somewhat like a Greek-Roman symposium for discussion. It is not a particularly pleasant scene. There is hositility. The Judeans are watching Jesus closely, that is, they are watching for any mistakes that he might make which could be used to dishonor or discredit him. Without a doubt, Jesus is watching them closely as well. His ability to challenge them and beat them at their own game of trick questions and riposte is a part of what gives and makes Jesus on par with the pharisees. When given an opportunity to speak, he tells them a parable which points out traditional piety common to Jewish writings in Sirach (Ecclesiasticus 3:17-20): "The greater you become the more humble you should be" And Proverbs 25:6-7: "When you come before the king don't try to impress him and pretend to be important. It's better to be asked to take a more important position than to be asked to give your place to someone more important." He has noted how they shuffle for the best places of honor. As in Matthew, 23:6, "They like to have places of honour at feasts and the chief seats in synagogues, to be greeted with respectfully in the streets, and to be addressed as 'rabbi'." Jesus' parable, in keeping with traditional teaching, tells of those who seek honorable status at Wedding Feasts. His parable also advises them to take lower places with the possibility of being called up higher.
For us this may come across as a bit phoney. If I set myself up for being called higher then I am not really any better than the person who simply takes the higher seat in the first place. I suggest that there is a possibility that in the midst of the hostility (Jesus being closely watched) that his parable is possibly sarcastic. That is, if you guys really want to get ahead with places of honor, why don't you set yourselves up for it. Put yourself in a position hwere you'll be called up higher. The sarcasm highlights the arrogance and pride of some of the pharisees. Yet he clearly stresses the point that those who exalt themselves will find themselve ultimately in the eyes of God dishonored, and those who are dishonored will find themselves exalted in the sight of God. The point here is not that this teaching is anything new. What Jesus says is that while the Judeans have known this principle of their faith all along, they simply do not practice it. That, my friends, is the story of us all. We often know our faith and its teachings, we simply fail to put it into practice. Inspite of our advanced years, and all the readings, all the Sundays in church, all the sermons, the putting of our faith into practice is often one of our greatest failures.
The great shift or great reversal in the passage today is when Jesus is critical of his host, and challenges the whole cultural system. "When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invited your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you have a banquet, invited the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind." For a pharisee, or a Judean of status, to invite or welcome the outcasts, and that's what the poor, lame, cripple, and blind were. (They were not necessarily poor in terms of lack of money.) They were the dishonored, those considered unworthy, outcasts. Your status was determined by those with whom you associated. If you associated with the outcasts, then you became an outcast and comitted a cultural suicide. But for Jesus, your self worth was not determined by the world, by your peers, friends and relatives. Honor for Jesus was a gift that came from God. True honor for Jesus comes in and through servanthood, and seeing all people as the people of God the Father, and seeing all people regardless of their place in life as our brothers and sisters.
We have heard all this before. We know that that is what Jesus proclaimed as true honor in the sight of God. Jesus' own life as we know it was a ministry to Judeans, Pharisees, as well as to the outcasts: poor, widows and children, blind, crippled, lame, deaf, and dying. His own life becomes a sacrifice of self-giving in order that the world and his followers might get it. That is, appreciate what the real meaning and significance of life is all about. Yet it is hard, very hard, for us as it was for Jesus own, to really and genuinely cast off the culture of the world and to step into the Kingdom of God into the ways of God.
As long as we continue to see ourselves as needing to be important and powerful hot-shots, we cannot enter into the Kingdom of God. We may wish to exalt ourselves, but the high and mighty are brought low according to the scriptures. In the eyes of our peers we may look good and powerful, but how about how we look through the eyes of God, of Jesus Christ.
Inspite of our knowledge of the Scriptures, racism among us continues. The idea that we are better than another race persists in our world. Sometimes it is graphic through the actions of the Ku Klux Klan and red necks. It is often more subtle through our failures to befriend, to seek friendships, and to resort in private to deragatory names and jokes. There are those we still simply fail to see as brothers and sisters in the Lord. Remember the words from Kris Kristoferson's old song Jesus Was A Capricorn, "Everybody needs somebody else to look down on." Looking down on others often makes some people think in more exalted ways about themselves.
The Church which for a long time now has been modeled on an heirachical system still puts crowns and mitres on our bishops, and has allowed the system of heirarchical ministries continue. We still like titles in the church. Bishops, priests, and deacons are often seen as more special than the ministries of the laity. Men for years were seen as holding the power over the potential ministries of women in the ministry of the church. We also, not too unlike the outcasts of Jesus' time, have difficulty in dealing with the handicapped, the disabled and physically challenged. While we know what needs to be done, we still can't quite get to it. In some cases churches have been cruel to those suffering with AIDs, who are often seen as the lepers of our time. Some Christian churches have been more quick to condemn this illness as God's curse then they have been to convey mercy and compassion.
Many Christians will accept the fact that we must let go of the old ways of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. We know theoretically anyway that nothing is changed when there is a perpetuation of violence. Yet our own country with its great physical might and the belief that we must never look weak continues to use the bombs in our arsenals without struggling to find newer creative ways to make peace in the world. The solution by people and by governments when it comes to violence is not easy to find. Perhaps there are times when a violent strike must be made, but never as the final solution to a problem, and never without second thoughts, thorough investigation, and never without great sorry and penitence. Being the great super power, and the only super power in terms of physical strength may not be what God really has in mind for us as a nation, a church, or people.
It is indeed hard for us not to be caught up in the culture and ways of the world. It is hard for us to change. Inspite of centuries of Scripture being read and preached, it is hard for us to get it, just what it is that God is saying to us. We take pride in being the best, the most powerful, the most secure, the first, the biggest. Yet it is Jesus who honors and lifts us the least, the last, the lost, and the dying. He came among them, lived with them, and loved them. His profound ministry still lives and haunts the world confronting and challenging, and calling for change of hearts, minds, and souls. We allow the world to seduce us and claim us. Inspite of the fact that everyone of the lessons, the readings today call for an end to pride and arrogance, and a turning, repentance that is a way of mercy and compassion. We know the principles of our faith yet we cannot get it; we cannot break away. We know its a good faith, but we say you can't always realistically do and be what God calls us to be and to do. It's like Christmas. We all know it's too commercial, but our efforts to change that have a long way to go.
Yet Christ continues to confront us with the banquet for the multitudes, taken from their spiritual poverty of five barley loaves and two small fish. Christ touches the lepers. Christ touches the dead. He calls forth the dead Lazrus. He embraces the children and the widows. He holds up and honors the poor, those who mourn. To all that have been outcasts, he reclaims them and honors them by his ministry. Never snatching at honor, prestige, and never succumbing to the power of Satan or the world. Our hope is to try to hear him again for the millionth time and become vulnerable to trust, belief, and change.
Sunday, August 30, 1998
Sunday, August 23, 1998
Pentecost 12
May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)
SEASON: Pentecost 12
PROPER: 16 C
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: August 23,1998
TEXT: Luke 13:22-30 - Someone asked him: "Lord will only a few be saved?" . . . . . . He said to them, "Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many I tell you will to enter and will not be able."
Paraphase from Eugene Peterson's, The Message (The New Testament in Contemporary Language) - The way to life - to God! - is vigorous and requires your total attention.
ISSUE: Salvation is about our being with God and in God's Kingdom. It does not come from family ancestry, magic formulas, or good hard works, which earn our way. It is indeed a wonderful gift of God's love. Yet Jesus also teaches that it is a matter of personal yearning and the putting on of the ways and teachings, the attitudes of Jesus Christ. It is claiming our sonship and comraderie with Jesus Christ.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
A man comes to Jesus and raises the issue of salvation. "Master," he says, "Will only a few be saved?" In Jesus' time there were two schools of thought on the issue of salvation. There was a common belief among the Palestinian Judeans (according to the Misnah 200 AD, a collection of rabbinic laws) that all Israelites had a share in the the world of God to come. The other school of thought was taught by the Pharisees that only a few, a small remnant would get into the coming world of God. ( Apocrapha 2 Esdras 7:45f - 51 As you say, only a few people are righteous, but there are large numbers of wicked people.) Pharisees were strict and intent upon rules and regulations which was thought to make thier relationship with God special, to the exclusion of the impure people of the land.
Actually both schools of thought in their own way were inclusive in terms of their seeing themselves as "chosen" or unique in the eyes of God. Palestinian Judeans were a group that excluded Gentiles, and the Pharisees even more exclusive than that, declaring themselves as special among the impure common people of the land.
Being part of an inside group was very important in Jesus' time. I've often remarked about how important families were. You were born into your family establishing your membership. It's ointeresting to note that you were also considered to be part of the same family, if you shared the same wet nurse or shared the same blood relatives in some way. If you did not have a strong family support group, of which you were an insider, you were in big trouble. In that world there were other groups to which you might belong in which you established friendships and business relationships. These close groups - today we might call them especially in some churches "cliques" - were established through eating together, or "Table Fellowship." A bonding took place at meals that confirmed friendships and strangers were integrated into community through the sharing of a common meal. Thus, to eat with someone was to claim a relationship.
Jesus does not answer the man's question in terms of whether or not a few or many for that matter will be saved. Jesus raises another issue. The door to the Kingdom is narrow. Some people may well be excluded. It's hard for us to get a handle on this, as Jesus has already claimed in Luke's gospel account that the Kingdom of God is like a tiny mustard seed that grows into a large and bountiful bush. The kingdom is like the minimal amount of yeast that causes the loaf to rise. (Luke 13:18-21) Thus, the kingdom of God is large and spacious, open and welcoming, available. It is the gift of God's bountiful grace. Yet there are those who may well find themselves locked out. There comes a time of reckoning. It's meaning is similar to the parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins. Five of them get locked out, and the Master says he does not know who they are. What's going on here? Again Jesus declares in this passage that some will be locked out.
Those who are locked out will begin to argue, "We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets." They are laying claim to the culture of the time. They are claiming their right to enter by the old traditional standards of belong. They ate with him. They were, therefore, in partnership with him. They may even argue that by virtue of their being family, that is fellow Israelites then they have an immediate claim on Christ's kingdom and fellowship. But here again, you have Jesus daring to confront, reverse, and challenge the traditional culture. To be included in the Kingdom of God is not a matter of ancestral and family privilege, and ceremonial activities like eating meals together. To be included in the Kingdom of God is a matter of personal radical change of life, a repentance. For those who maintain the old status quo, they will be excluded from the Kingdom. They will not be known, or seen to be, because of their refusal to change, as those who belong to the genuine family of God. For the early church it was not merely a matter of knowing Jesus, eating with him, listening to his word. It was a matter of being transformed and changed into a new likeness. It was a matter of putting on Christ.
Remember the parable of the Wedding Feast, when the one man who is invited is thrown out. He had failed to put on the approopriate wedding garment. People often want the bounty and beauty of the Kingdom, but fail to have a deep respect for the abundant grace that comes that changes them. It seems that for Jesus, the Kingdom of God was not a reward. The Kingdom of God, and our place in it was a matter of being the people God wants us to be. To be in the Kingdom is to be a person of God, a reflection of Jesus Christ. And when we are not that, then God does not identify us as his own, as citizens of his Kingdom.
Let's look at what some of the ideas we have today about being worthy of or citizens of the Kingdom of God. Unfortunately many people think of being in God's Kingdom as merely a matter of magic formulas. We get baptized with water, and are therefore "zapped" into being a Christian. We want to get our baby baptized so it will be in the Kingdom and not go to hell. This magic approach sees no value, and recognizes no value in growing up to know Jesus as Lord, and how to shape our lives in his image and way of life.
There is the cultural or ancestral belief, much like that of the Judeans, that we are saved and the people of God by virtue of our heritage or ancestry. My grandfather built this church . . . . My aunt was the organist in this church for fifty years . . . I grew up in this community . . . . therefore we deserve all the rights and privileges and have a claim on the Kingdom of God. A friend of mine frequently makes the statement, "God has no grandchildren." God calls upon each one of us for our own personal relationship with Him.
Of course, the claim is made that we deserve the Kingdom of God by virtue of our good deeds. I taught Sunday School for years. I used to be an acolyte. I lived by and kept all the commandments. Therefore I am righteous and worthy of being in the Kingdom. Have you ever noticed that religious people, and people who make a claim upon being right, and righteous are sometimes very evil people. Tragically some very religious people destroy their lives and families through alcoholism and the refusal to go for treatment. Who are the people making and detonating bombs in city streets, clinics, and embassies that cripple, maim, and murder. It is often done by people who believe that they are right, and make a special claim of the righteousness of their cause. Sometimes we religious people can be very manipulative and unkind and unChristlike in our efforts to proclaim our righteousness and to make our claim on the Kingdom of God.
It is interesting to me that our time in history is presently very concerned about salvation. Consider some of the big and popular movies of recent years. Many of them about who's going to get saved. "Titanic" was one. "Deep Impact" another. "Armeggedon." "Saving Private Ryan," certainly a good but dreadfully intense film." Underlying these films may be a deeper concern and fear about subtle atomic weaponry and biological weapons in evil hands. What saves and assures us we are going to be with and deleivered by God. Will some other ship or philosophy and fad in the night come in time be our salvation from our pride and arrogance when we are sinking? Will our science save us from the things in space and the things out of our control, be the ultimate salvation. Shall a remant be saved when a few of the heartiest are sent to another planet to begin life over, when our own old planet reaches its time of demise? Who will be saved, many or few. How does one get in to God's saving grace in an often hostile world?
A bystander asked Jesus how many people would be saved? Jesus does not answer that question. He can only say that we persist to enter the Kingdom of God. We seek, we knock. We ask. We search for the narrow door. It is our life's vigorous ambition. It is a matter of wanting to be all that God would have us to be. To be people like Christ who love and forgive, who have compassion and mercy. It is people who sacrifice and give away their own lives for others. It is in embracing Jesus that we find the Kingdom. Magic rituals, ancestors, trying to earn it is not the way. It is a personal embracing of the Jesus as the way, the truth, the life, that leads into the mansion, to the kingdom with many rooms, where we know God and God knows us as his own children in the image of Jesus Christ. Put your mind on your life with God. Eugene Peterson's paraphrase:
A bystander said, "Master, will only a few be saved?"
He said, "Whether few or many is none of your business. Put your mind on your life with God. The way to life - to God! - is vigorous and requires your total attention. A lot of you are going to assume that you'll sit down to God's salvation banquet just because you've been hanging around the neighborhood all your lives. Well, one day you're going to be banging on the door, wanting to get in, but you'll find the door locked and the Master saying, 'Sorry, you're not on my guest list.'
"You'll protest, 'But we've known you all our lives!' only to be interrupted with his abrupt, 'Your kind of knowing can hardly be called knowing. You don't know the first thing about me.'
"That's when you'll find yourselves out in the cold, strangers to grace. You'll watch Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets march into God's kingdom. You'll watch outsiders stream in from east, west, north, and south and sit down at the table of God's kingcom. And all the time you'll be outside looking in - and wondering what happened. This is the Great Reversal: the last in line put at the head of the line, and the so-called first ending up last."
"The Message: The New Testament in Contemporary Language" by Eugene H. Peterson, Navpress Publishing Group, Colorado Springs, CO., 1993
SEASON: Pentecost 12
PROPER: 16 C
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: August 23,1998
TEXT: Luke 13:22-30 - Someone asked him: "Lord will only a few be saved?" . . . . . . He said to them, "Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many I tell you will to enter and will not be able."
Paraphase from Eugene Peterson's, The Message (The New Testament in Contemporary Language) - The way to life - to God! - is vigorous and requires your total attention.
ISSUE: Salvation is about our being with God and in God's Kingdom. It does not come from family ancestry, magic formulas, or good hard works, which earn our way. It is indeed a wonderful gift of God's love. Yet Jesus also teaches that it is a matter of personal yearning and the putting on of the ways and teachings, the attitudes of Jesus Christ. It is claiming our sonship and comraderie with Jesus Christ.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
A man comes to Jesus and raises the issue of salvation. "Master," he says, "Will only a few be saved?" In Jesus' time there were two schools of thought on the issue of salvation. There was a common belief among the Palestinian Judeans (according to the Misnah 200 AD, a collection of rabbinic laws) that all Israelites had a share in the the world of God to come. The other school of thought was taught by the Pharisees that only a few, a small remnant would get into the coming world of God. ( Apocrapha 2 Esdras 7:45f - 51 As you say, only a few people are righteous, but there are large numbers of wicked people.) Pharisees were strict and intent upon rules and regulations which was thought to make thier relationship with God special, to the exclusion of the impure people of the land.
Actually both schools of thought in their own way were inclusive in terms of their seeing themselves as "chosen" or unique in the eyes of God. Palestinian Judeans were a group that excluded Gentiles, and the Pharisees even more exclusive than that, declaring themselves as special among the impure common people of the land.
Being part of an inside group was very important in Jesus' time. I've often remarked about how important families were. You were born into your family establishing your membership. It's ointeresting to note that you were also considered to be part of the same family, if you shared the same wet nurse or shared the same blood relatives in some way. If you did not have a strong family support group, of which you were an insider, you were in big trouble. In that world there were other groups to which you might belong in which you established friendships and business relationships. These close groups - today we might call them especially in some churches "cliques" - were established through eating together, or "Table Fellowship." A bonding took place at meals that confirmed friendships and strangers were integrated into community through the sharing of a common meal. Thus, to eat with someone was to claim a relationship.
Jesus does not answer the man's question in terms of whether or not a few or many for that matter will be saved. Jesus raises another issue. The door to the Kingdom is narrow. Some people may well be excluded. It's hard for us to get a handle on this, as Jesus has already claimed in Luke's gospel account that the Kingdom of God is like a tiny mustard seed that grows into a large and bountiful bush. The kingdom is like the minimal amount of yeast that causes the loaf to rise. (Luke 13:18-21) Thus, the kingdom of God is large and spacious, open and welcoming, available. It is the gift of God's bountiful grace. Yet there are those who may well find themselves locked out. There comes a time of reckoning. It's meaning is similar to the parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins. Five of them get locked out, and the Master says he does not know who they are. What's going on here? Again Jesus declares in this passage that some will be locked out.
Those who are locked out will begin to argue, "We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets." They are laying claim to the culture of the time. They are claiming their right to enter by the old traditional standards of belong. They ate with him. They were, therefore, in partnership with him. They may even argue that by virtue of their being family, that is fellow Israelites then they have an immediate claim on Christ's kingdom and fellowship. But here again, you have Jesus daring to confront, reverse, and challenge the traditional culture. To be included in the Kingdom of God is not a matter of ancestral and family privilege, and ceremonial activities like eating meals together. To be included in the Kingdom of God is a matter of personal radical change of life, a repentance. For those who maintain the old status quo, they will be excluded from the Kingdom. They will not be known, or seen to be, because of their refusal to change, as those who belong to the genuine family of God. For the early church it was not merely a matter of knowing Jesus, eating with him, listening to his word. It was a matter of being transformed and changed into a new likeness. It was a matter of putting on Christ.
Remember the parable of the Wedding Feast, when the one man who is invited is thrown out. He had failed to put on the approopriate wedding garment. People often want the bounty and beauty of the Kingdom, but fail to have a deep respect for the abundant grace that comes that changes them. It seems that for Jesus, the Kingdom of God was not a reward. The Kingdom of God, and our place in it was a matter of being the people God wants us to be. To be in the Kingdom is to be a person of God, a reflection of Jesus Christ. And when we are not that, then God does not identify us as his own, as citizens of his Kingdom.
Let's look at what some of the ideas we have today about being worthy of or citizens of the Kingdom of God. Unfortunately many people think of being in God's Kingdom as merely a matter of magic formulas. We get baptized with water, and are therefore "zapped" into being a Christian. We want to get our baby baptized so it will be in the Kingdom and not go to hell. This magic approach sees no value, and recognizes no value in growing up to know Jesus as Lord, and how to shape our lives in his image and way of life.
There is the cultural or ancestral belief, much like that of the Judeans, that we are saved and the people of God by virtue of our heritage or ancestry. My grandfather built this church . . . . My aunt was the organist in this church for fifty years . . . I grew up in this community . . . . therefore we deserve all the rights and privileges and have a claim on the Kingdom of God. A friend of mine frequently makes the statement, "God has no grandchildren." God calls upon each one of us for our own personal relationship with Him.
Of course, the claim is made that we deserve the Kingdom of God by virtue of our good deeds. I taught Sunday School for years. I used to be an acolyte. I lived by and kept all the commandments. Therefore I am righteous and worthy of being in the Kingdom. Have you ever noticed that religious people, and people who make a claim upon being right, and righteous are sometimes very evil people. Tragically some very religious people destroy their lives and families through alcoholism and the refusal to go for treatment. Who are the people making and detonating bombs in city streets, clinics, and embassies that cripple, maim, and murder. It is often done by people who believe that they are right, and make a special claim of the righteousness of their cause. Sometimes we religious people can be very manipulative and unkind and unChristlike in our efforts to proclaim our righteousness and to make our claim on the Kingdom of God.
It is interesting to me that our time in history is presently very concerned about salvation. Consider some of the big and popular movies of recent years. Many of them about who's going to get saved. "Titanic" was one. "Deep Impact" another. "Armeggedon." "Saving Private Ryan," certainly a good but dreadfully intense film." Underlying these films may be a deeper concern and fear about subtle atomic weaponry and biological weapons in evil hands. What saves and assures us we are going to be with and deleivered by God. Will some other ship or philosophy and fad in the night come in time be our salvation from our pride and arrogance when we are sinking? Will our science save us from the things in space and the things out of our control, be the ultimate salvation. Shall a remant be saved when a few of the heartiest are sent to another planet to begin life over, when our own old planet reaches its time of demise? Who will be saved, many or few. How does one get in to God's saving grace in an often hostile world?
A bystander asked Jesus how many people would be saved? Jesus does not answer that question. He can only say that we persist to enter the Kingdom of God. We seek, we knock. We ask. We search for the narrow door. It is our life's vigorous ambition. It is a matter of wanting to be all that God would have us to be. To be people like Christ who love and forgive, who have compassion and mercy. It is people who sacrifice and give away their own lives for others. It is in embracing Jesus that we find the Kingdom. Magic rituals, ancestors, trying to earn it is not the way. It is a personal embracing of the Jesus as the way, the truth, the life, that leads into the mansion, to the kingdom with many rooms, where we know God and God knows us as his own children in the image of Jesus Christ. Put your mind on your life with God. Eugene Peterson's paraphrase:
A bystander said, "Master, will only a few be saved?"
He said, "Whether few or many is none of your business. Put your mind on your life with God. The way to life - to God! - is vigorous and requires your total attention. A lot of you are going to assume that you'll sit down to God's salvation banquet just because you've been hanging around the neighborhood all your lives. Well, one day you're going to be banging on the door, wanting to get in, but you'll find the door locked and the Master saying, 'Sorry, you're not on my guest list.'
"You'll protest, 'But we've known you all our lives!' only to be interrupted with his abrupt, 'Your kind of knowing can hardly be called knowing. You don't know the first thing about me.'
"That's when you'll find yourselves out in the cold, strangers to grace. You'll watch Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets march into God's kingdom. You'll watch outsiders stream in from east, west, north, and south and sit down at the table of God's kingcom. And all the time you'll be outside looking in - and wondering what happened. This is the Great Reversal: the last in line put at the head of the line, and the so-called first ending up last."
"The Message: The New Testament in Contemporary Language" by Eugene H. Peterson, Navpress Publishing Group, Colorado Springs, CO., 1993
Sunday, August 2, 1998
Pentecost 11
May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)
SEASON: Pentecost 11
PROPER: 15 C
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: ,1998
TEXT: Luke 12:49-56 - Jesus said, "I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!" . . . . . . . . . .You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?
ISSUE: Jesus comes to enliven the world. He is the fire and catalyst to awaken the world to its need for and new understanding of God as love and compassion. The church today along with its members are often lulled into being passive. We look for a peace and quiet, not a peace that his vital to the well being of all of God's creation. We know how to interpret and think, but are passive about the being channels through which God's grace may flow effectively. We stand under the judgment of being or not being the faithful followers of Christ Jesus.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
This day is one that has been set apart for a breakfast in which we might all get to know one another better. It is designed to welcome new people, and for there to be mingling together so that we might develop greater bonding in Christian fellowship. We'll also be installing two of our young people into the Acolytes's Guild. It's a day set apart for doing some of the lighter pleasanter things that help to make a church community a welcoming and supportive place. We long for and enjoy comraderie, peacefulness, and harmonious activities. We also are inclined to think of our church as that peaceful place where we come to be set apart from the anxities, the stresses and strains of our lives to find comfort and peace.
To that hope for peace and quiet, for fun, welcoming, and harmonious fellowship comes this reading from Luke that seems to shatter any hope of peace and quiet. Luke has Jesus saying, "Do you think I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you but division." These are some of the discomforting words of the Gospels, which we do not particularly like to hear, and which many preachers do not like to preach about, particularly on a day like today in our hopes for unity and peace in the parish. We cherish the more comfortable aspects of the Scriptures and prefer to avoid the more troublesome passages. Yet it is still our Bible and we shall have to live with it. Since so many of us are here today, maybe it is good for us to be challenged by some of the more difficult aspects of the Scriptures.
The passage begins with Jesus saying, "I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!" Fire is often a symbol of judgment in the Scriptures. John Pilch, a biblical scholar, has an interesting interpretation of this saying attributed to Jesus. The word in for "earth" in Aramaic (the native language of Jesus) and in the context of his passage can mean earth-oven. Thus, the passage can read, "I came to bring fire to the earth-oven. The earth-oven was a common stove in the Jesus' time. It was made of earth and lined with salt. The salt was a catalyst which held in the heat and was also mixed with the fuel which was camel dung to make the oven stay hotter longer.
Remember too, that Matthew's account of the Gospel has Jesus saying to his disciples, "You are the salt of the earth, (possibly earth-oven, or salt for mankind) But if salt loses its saltiness there is no way to make it salty again. It has become worthless, so it is thrown out and people trample on it." (Matt.5:13 and Luke 14:34 is similar) Thus, the salt is the catalyst that makes the over hold heat and makes the fuel burn steady, long, and hot. Now putting these things together what you have Jesus saying in effect is that He is the fire to light the oven, and his people are the salty catalyst that keeps the energy and the vitality of Christ alive. There is that partnership of Jesus and his disciples who are to be the the extention of his mission that is an integral part of this passage. There is also a verse in the Psalm (82:6) that strikingly reinforces this whole concept: "Now I say to you, 'You are gods, and all of you children of the Most High.'" You have Christ Jesus coming to enliven his own and uniting them in his mission. He is the fire; his people are the catalyst, and out of Christ working in them the oven bakes the bread for the Messianic Banquet in the Kingdom of God which is to come.
The Messianic Kingdom, however, does not come easy. Just as the Jewish people left slavery in Egypt, their pilgrimage to the Promised Land was not with great cost to them. The fought others as well as fighting and complaning within themselves. Yet the distant goal was the Promised Land, a land of eventual peace and hope. In Jesus period of time for anyone to follow him, it meant great sacrifice. It meant giving up a great deal of security. It created tremendous uproar. It often meant sons being against fathers and fathers against their sons. It meant contention and fighting among mothers and daughters and all the daughter-in-laws within a family. To step out of or challenge one's assigned place was to risk death. A strict social heirarchy was what characterized this period in history. Jesus' ministry was establishing a new order: "My mother and brothers are those who hear the word of God and obey it." (Luke 8:21) Jesus' ministry and mission created significant havoc and challenged the culture of his time significantly. It was a significant risk to leave the old order behind and join in the new community of Jesus Christ.
Now many of us like what we call peace and quiet. The very idea that Jesus' ministry and being in union with him brings turmoil is not a comfortable picture for us. As Episcopalians we are noted for saying that peace is a matter of doing things decently and in order. Peacefulness in the Scriptures was anything but orderliness. The Biblical Middle Eastern culture was one of noisy, active, and spontaneous. According to John Pilch, kids screaming and yelling, adults shouting and quarreling, people singing, and everything in delightful disarray was peace. Peace and quiet might be nice for a spell, and an occasional sabbath rest is important. But life can become very dull, uninteresting, even deadly, if we become too interested in decency and order, still quietness.
Jesus brought fire for the purpose of purification, energy, vitality, and renewal. He calls his people into that partnership. When lives become too quiet and peaceful, we refer to ourselves being in a rut. Churches and Christians that become cozy and comfortable may well be in a rut, and missing the vitality of their calling to be involved in human need and the vivacious spreading of the Gospel. We miss and/or dismiss the part about being on fire with Christ. In so much of our modern life, the religious life is set apart from the world. We permit the chaplain to pray at Congressional gatherings, but we resist having the chaplain criticize government. Presidents will call upon church leaders to bless their wars, but they do not want to hear or welcome protestations of their wars.
It was not easy for the Jews to leave Egypt behind. Once they left on the road to freedom they often reminisced about the past and the good things they had left behind. It is not easy for us either to leave behind old traditions and comfortable settings to face the uncertainty of the future. Yet a fiery Lord calls us to a mission that challenges the times and to be outspoken and energetic in our efforts. Around us is a world that is violent, that has little respect for human life as a precisous gift from God. Understanding of what is best for the common good is often thwarted by our greed and an outrageous obsession with our own proud individualism. We've come from a background that has not been ecologically concerned, and the potential for ecological disaster is very real. Constant fish kills in the Chesapeake Bay, and declining species may well be signs and signals of pitiful future for the earth. Vicious acts of racism and brutality, abuse, and scar our country. In so many instances we are seeing the decline of men, fathers, who are not being with their children in such a way as to bear witness to spirituality and faithfulness their children need. In many of these areas a battle needs to be raged and waged that challenges the world to hear and experience the Word of God. The faith needs to be promulgated in our homes as well as in our chambers of goverment and local communities that extends the hope of a loving compassionate God to all people. There can be no real peace until the battle has begun, until the fiery Christ is allowed to lead us.
The passage concludes with Jesus telling his people they are not stupid. You can tell, he says, when it is going to rain. When the wind is blowing in off the Mediterranean Sea, the coulds on the horizon in the West, you can pretty well guess it's going to rain. If the wind is from the south, off the desert regions, you can predict it is going to be hot as hell. If they you have sense enough to figure these things out, why aren't you bright enough to know that your present way of life is in need of change, and you have to do something about it. If it's going to rain you get out your umbrella. If it's hot you prepare to crank up the air-conditioning. If you sit in a church where there are only 12 people in the pews at the main service, you have to know something has to happen, or change. If you live in a country of violence, where children murder one another, you know there is a need for recovering and renewing values that teach the sacredness of life and respect. Peace and quiet and going into retreat is not the calling of the Christian nor of the church. Jesus said, "I have come to bring fire to the earth-oven." John the baptist declared "I baptize you with water; but he who is mightier than I is coming, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire." (Luke 3:16) Today's reading is one not about grace, and forgiveness, and love in the strictest sense. It is about Judgment. And Judgment passages are always the more uncomfortable ones. But we are infact under the judgment. We have been given the ways and teachings of Jesus Christ. We have been given a real and living Lord to be with us and in our midst. We have been called into a wonderful and meaningful partnership with our Lord. To stand outside of that calling and ministry is to place ourselves into a position of a meaningless peace and solace. Do any of us really want to rest in peace? Eternity is a very long time. Yet to live as members of Christ, to be the salt of the earth, to be the catalyst for good, for hospitality, for the yearning for peace isn't that more like real living. To be mothers and fathers who witness to the magnificence of God in their childrens lives, and to encourage them in their awe and wonder of God has to be one of the greatest callings on the earth. To be people who yearn for an end to racial injustice and an end to prejudice, and who work for a blossoming earth are grand callings. To enter the fray of violence, abusiveness, and injustice is surely terrifying. Yet to enter it with Christ is our peace. To be truly at peace is to be with God with the feeling that we are at one with God and his Will is real peace. To join in the noise and the yelling and the screaming, the singing for joy, to join in the arguing and the struggles to know what God in Christ would have us do is the real peace of being with Christ and in Christ.
We're gathered today to know one another better. But it's not just in knowing one another that's so important as it is to see ourselves as a community of people who are in the journey and the pilgrimage to be partners in Christ and in one another.
(date assumed to be 8/2/1998 based on file date -- DAR)
SEASON: Pentecost 11
PROPER: 15 C
PLACE: St. John's Parish, Kingsville
DATE: ,1998
TEXT: Luke 12:49-56 - Jesus said, "I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!" . . . . . . . . . .You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?
ISSUE: Jesus comes to enliven the world. He is the fire and catalyst to awaken the world to its need for and new understanding of God as love and compassion. The church today along with its members are often lulled into being passive. We look for a peace and quiet, not a peace that his vital to the well being of all of God's creation. We know how to interpret and think, but are passive about the being channels through which God's grace may flow effectively. We stand under the judgment of being or not being the faithful followers of Christ Jesus.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
This day is one that has been set apart for a breakfast in which we might all get to know one another better. It is designed to welcome new people, and for there to be mingling together so that we might develop greater bonding in Christian fellowship. We'll also be installing two of our young people into the Acolytes's Guild. It's a day set apart for doing some of the lighter pleasanter things that help to make a church community a welcoming and supportive place. We long for and enjoy comraderie, peacefulness, and harmonious activities. We also are inclined to think of our church as that peaceful place where we come to be set apart from the anxities, the stresses and strains of our lives to find comfort and peace.
To that hope for peace and quiet, for fun, welcoming, and harmonious fellowship comes this reading from Luke that seems to shatter any hope of peace and quiet. Luke has Jesus saying, "Do you think I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you but division." These are some of the discomforting words of the Gospels, which we do not particularly like to hear, and which many preachers do not like to preach about, particularly on a day like today in our hopes for unity and peace in the parish. We cherish the more comfortable aspects of the Scriptures and prefer to avoid the more troublesome passages. Yet it is still our Bible and we shall have to live with it. Since so many of us are here today, maybe it is good for us to be challenged by some of the more difficult aspects of the Scriptures.
The passage begins with Jesus saying, "I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!" Fire is often a symbol of judgment in the Scriptures. John Pilch, a biblical scholar, has an interesting interpretation of this saying attributed to Jesus. The word in for "earth" in Aramaic (the native language of Jesus) and in the context of his passage can mean earth-oven. Thus, the passage can read, "I came to bring fire to the earth-oven. The earth-oven was a common stove in the Jesus' time. It was made of earth and lined with salt. The salt was a catalyst which held in the heat and was also mixed with the fuel which was camel dung to make the oven stay hotter longer.
Remember too, that Matthew's account of the Gospel has Jesus saying to his disciples, "You are the salt of the earth, (possibly earth-oven, or salt for mankind) But if salt loses its saltiness there is no way to make it salty again. It has become worthless, so it is thrown out and people trample on it." (Matt.5:13 and Luke 14:34 is similar) Thus, the salt is the catalyst that makes the over hold heat and makes the fuel burn steady, long, and hot. Now putting these things together what you have Jesus saying in effect is that He is the fire to light the oven, and his people are the salty catalyst that keeps the energy and the vitality of Christ alive. There is that partnership of Jesus and his disciples who are to be the the extention of his mission that is an integral part of this passage. There is also a verse in the Psalm (82:6) that strikingly reinforces this whole concept: "Now I say to you, 'You are gods, and all of you children of the Most High.'" You have Christ Jesus coming to enliven his own and uniting them in his mission. He is the fire; his people are the catalyst, and out of Christ working in them the oven bakes the bread for the Messianic Banquet in the Kingdom of God which is to come.
The Messianic Kingdom, however, does not come easy. Just as the Jewish people left slavery in Egypt, their pilgrimage to the Promised Land was not with great cost to them. The fought others as well as fighting and complaning within themselves. Yet the distant goal was the Promised Land, a land of eventual peace and hope. In Jesus period of time for anyone to follow him, it meant great sacrifice. It meant giving up a great deal of security. It created tremendous uproar. It often meant sons being against fathers and fathers against their sons. It meant contention and fighting among mothers and daughters and all the daughter-in-laws within a family. To step out of or challenge one's assigned place was to risk death. A strict social heirarchy was what characterized this period in history. Jesus' ministry was establishing a new order: "My mother and brothers are those who hear the word of God and obey it." (Luke 8:21) Jesus' ministry and mission created significant havoc and challenged the culture of his time significantly. It was a significant risk to leave the old order behind and join in the new community of Jesus Christ.
Now many of us like what we call peace and quiet. The very idea that Jesus' ministry and being in union with him brings turmoil is not a comfortable picture for us. As Episcopalians we are noted for saying that peace is a matter of doing things decently and in order. Peacefulness in the Scriptures was anything but orderliness. The Biblical Middle Eastern culture was one of noisy, active, and spontaneous. According to John Pilch, kids screaming and yelling, adults shouting and quarreling, people singing, and everything in delightful disarray was peace. Peace and quiet might be nice for a spell, and an occasional sabbath rest is important. But life can become very dull, uninteresting, even deadly, if we become too interested in decency and order, still quietness.
Jesus brought fire for the purpose of purification, energy, vitality, and renewal. He calls his people into that partnership. When lives become too quiet and peaceful, we refer to ourselves being in a rut. Churches and Christians that become cozy and comfortable may well be in a rut, and missing the vitality of their calling to be involved in human need and the vivacious spreading of the Gospel. We miss and/or dismiss the part about being on fire with Christ. In so much of our modern life, the religious life is set apart from the world. We permit the chaplain to pray at Congressional gatherings, but we resist having the chaplain criticize government. Presidents will call upon church leaders to bless their wars, but they do not want to hear or welcome protestations of their wars.
It was not easy for the Jews to leave Egypt behind. Once they left on the road to freedom they often reminisced about the past and the good things they had left behind. It is not easy for us either to leave behind old traditions and comfortable settings to face the uncertainty of the future. Yet a fiery Lord calls us to a mission that challenges the times and to be outspoken and energetic in our efforts. Around us is a world that is violent, that has little respect for human life as a precisous gift from God. Understanding of what is best for the common good is often thwarted by our greed and an outrageous obsession with our own proud individualism. We've come from a background that has not been ecologically concerned, and the potential for ecological disaster is very real. Constant fish kills in the Chesapeake Bay, and declining species may well be signs and signals of pitiful future for the earth. Vicious acts of racism and brutality, abuse, and scar our country. In so many instances we are seeing the decline of men, fathers, who are not being with their children in such a way as to bear witness to spirituality and faithfulness their children need. In many of these areas a battle needs to be raged and waged that challenges the world to hear and experience the Word of God. The faith needs to be promulgated in our homes as well as in our chambers of goverment and local communities that extends the hope of a loving compassionate God to all people. There can be no real peace until the battle has begun, until the fiery Christ is allowed to lead us.
The passage concludes with Jesus telling his people they are not stupid. You can tell, he says, when it is going to rain. When the wind is blowing in off the Mediterranean Sea, the coulds on the horizon in the West, you can pretty well guess it's going to rain. If the wind is from the south, off the desert regions, you can predict it is going to be hot as hell. If they you have sense enough to figure these things out, why aren't you bright enough to know that your present way of life is in need of change, and you have to do something about it. If it's going to rain you get out your umbrella. If it's hot you prepare to crank up the air-conditioning. If you sit in a church where there are only 12 people in the pews at the main service, you have to know something has to happen, or change. If you live in a country of violence, where children murder one another, you know there is a need for recovering and renewing values that teach the sacredness of life and respect. Peace and quiet and going into retreat is not the calling of the Christian nor of the church. Jesus said, "I have come to bring fire to the earth-oven." John the baptist declared "I baptize you with water; but he who is mightier than I is coming, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire." (Luke 3:16) Today's reading is one not about grace, and forgiveness, and love in the strictest sense. It is about Judgment. And Judgment passages are always the more uncomfortable ones. But we are infact under the judgment. We have been given the ways and teachings of Jesus Christ. We have been given a real and living Lord to be with us and in our midst. We have been called into a wonderful and meaningful partnership with our Lord. To stand outside of that calling and ministry is to place ourselves into a position of a meaningless peace and solace. Do any of us really want to rest in peace? Eternity is a very long time. Yet to live as members of Christ, to be the salt of the earth, to be the catalyst for good, for hospitality, for the yearning for peace isn't that more like real living. To be mothers and fathers who witness to the magnificence of God in their childrens lives, and to encourage them in their awe and wonder of God has to be one of the greatest callings on the earth. To be people who yearn for an end to racial injustice and an end to prejudice, and who work for a blossoming earth are grand callings. To enter the fray of violence, abusiveness, and injustice is surely terrifying. Yet to enter it with Christ is our peace. To be truly at peace is to be with God with the feeling that we are at one with God and his Will is real peace. To join in the noise and the yelling and the screaming, the singing for joy, to join in the arguing and the struggles to know what God in Christ would have us do is the real peace of being with Christ and in Christ.
We're gathered today to know one another better. But it's not just in knowing one another that's so important as it is to see ourselves as a community of people who are in the journey and the pilgrimage to be partners in Christ and in one another.
(date assumed to be 8/2/1998 based on file date -- DAR)
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