May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)
SEASON: Pentecost 19
PROPER: 21A
PLACE: St. John’s Episcopal Church, Kingsville
DATE: September 29, 2002
TEXT: Matthew 21:28-32 – The Parable of the Two Brats
“Truly, I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of heaven ahead of you.”
ISSUE: A man has two sons, neither of which are particularly good kids. One is dilatory and sassy. The other one responds correctly but lies. But the dilatory son at least amends his way in time. All of us may have a part of both sons in our own nature. We are well intentioned, but slow to respond, if at all, to God’s call to us. This is a parable that calls to repentance and to respectful and diligent faithfulness to God’s call to us. It is the call to faithfulness and belief in God, and loyal trust, and to know grace is in the vineyard.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Here’s a parable, The Parable of the Two Sons, from Matthew that I refer to as The Parable of the Two Brats. The parable is actually given in response to elders and chief priests who were asking him about his authority to speak in the Jerusalem Temple, and to upset the tables of the moneychangers. Jesus also responds to them regarding how John got his authority from God or from man. If they respond from man, the crowds will condemn them because John was thought of as a prophet, and if they say from God, then Jesus would ask them why they didn’t respond to John’s prophetic message of repentance. Jesus cleverly turns the tables. Instead of worrying about where John and his own authority come from, why don’t they become more concerned about their own relationship to God?
So then, the parable: A man had two sons. He asked the first son to go into the family vineyard and work. He tells his father he will do so, but he never gets there to do what needs to be done. Isn’t that kind of familiar to those of you who have children? Isn’t that kind of familiar to each of us when we were kids? Cut the grass, wash the dishes, or clean our room and it gets indefinitely put off. Now the father asks the second son to work in the vineyard too, and he is the sassy kid. He emphatically responds, “NO! And you can’t make me! Does that response sound familiar to those of you who have children, and from your own childhood? That’s the reason why I refer to this parable as The Parable of the Two Brats. Now in this period, the son who actually says that he will go into the vineyard but didn’t was considered the more honorable son. In fact, there are three different translations of this parable, one of which claimed the dilatory son to be the more honorable one, because in public he did not disgrace his father by saying “No” in public. You always were expected to honor your mother and your father, especially in public. However, this version of the parable says who did the will of the Father, and you have to come up with the answer, the second son, because he embarrassed his father publicly, he did in fact change his mind at a later date and go do what had to be done in the vineyard at his father’s request. In the end he seems more obedient and honorable himself.
At this point, Jesus concludes the parable with an insult directed toward the elders, Pharisees and temple leaders. The whores and tax collectors are getting into the Kingdom, or realm of God before you. That is, the whores and despicable tax collectors are responding to message of God through John the Baptist and Jesus, even though at first they were dilatory, now they are responding and respecting the authority of John, Jesus and God the father. The religious leaders pay lip service to God, but do not live faithfully involved the justice, mercy, compassion, and love of God. They say they do and look like they do by keep religious rules and giving a good religious façade, but in fact they are themselves criminal in their attitudes toward the poor, the sinners, the peasants, and the oppressed, and unlike the whores and tax collectors they are not turning their lives around. Jesus’ didn’t get crucified because he said nice things. The parable is a terrible insult.
Be warned good Christians that you too are not just giving lip service to our faith and trust in the ways and teachings of Jesus, lest others get into the Dominion of God before you.
Some years ago, I decided to take a trip that had some adventure to it. I wanted to go where the roads end on the east coast of the North American continent. So, I chose a vacation to the Canadian province of Labrador. You drive along the north side of the St. Lawrence through Quebec, and turn north at a little French Canadian town of Baie-Comeau. There you turn north onto The Labrador Highway. The highway is not and interstate. It is six hundred miles long ending in Goosebay Labrador. About 10 percent is paved road, 50 percent gravel, and the last 40 percent or 200 miles is dirt and gravel. You pass through two towns, Labrador City, and Churchill Falls. There is nothing in between but wilderness. Leaving Churchill Falls you pass a very large yellow sign, which gives you fair warning about the remaining 200 miles to Goosebay. (Goosebay was a secret air base during W.W. II.) Very limited access is what kept it secret. The remainder of the road is a tribute to how difficult it was to get to Goosebay, and how it was kept a secret.
The last 200 miles is very narrow rocky dirt road and very rutty, muddy in spots. It is single lane, but still two-way. Bridges are wooden single lane crossings with no sides and two treads for your car’s tires. Remnants of old trucks that didn’t make it across are rusting in the gullies. Its not exactly a thoroughfare. Traveling well into the 200 miles, I came upon a man and his girl friend who flagged me down. He had a flat tire on his way to Goosebay. In fact he had two flat tires, in that his spare tire had also been flattened and the rim damaged. He wanted me to give him my spare tire so he could proceed on. He said he thought he had help coming, but it would probably take hours coming from the opposite direction.
Now I cautiously examined the situation. Here’s a guy who had a flat tire. He’d put on his spare tire, had damaged the rim, flattened the spare time, and damaged the rim. Now he wanted my spare tire? I hemmed and hauled, and thought I don’t think so. In that he said he had long time help coming, and appeared to be driving recklessly on this road, I declined to give him my spare tire. (“He probably deserved a flat tire,” I thought to myself.) We drove on for a good 3 miles, 5 miles, ten miles, 12 miles. Then I looked at my wife, and she at me, and we found a place to turn around, retraced the twelve miles and gave up our spare tire. The only thing important about this story is the turn around. There are times in our lives when we have to turn around; it’s called repentance. Both the guy and his girl friend and I both got to Goosebay at the same time.
We may well have religious thoughts and ideas, and the finest theology, but without living the faith and trusting in the way of Christ, the whores and the tax collectors, the reckless drivers, the addicted, the tramps, the gypsies, the people we look down upon may well get to the Kingdom of God far ahead of the righteous high and mighty.
The two sons in Jesus parable share the likeness of us all from time to time. Sometimes we feel really faithful, religious, upright, and willing to work in the Vineyard, or the world for God, but fail at really living into what we believe by our actions. Other times we are flatly unable to respond to the call of God through Christ, but thinking it over in time finally try to turn around, repent, make the changes we know we must make. It is not tears that God wants from us, and being sorry for our sins and inadequacies, but a deliberate ethical reversal of the way we live. Are we stingy and minimal in our giving for the good of God’s world? Then change. Are we a fearful folk? Then, change; trust in God’s saving presence. Are we hostile, self-righteous folk? Change; make a deliberate turn around to walk in the humility servanthood of Christ. Are we caught up in a world of revenge and war? Maybe we need to change our thinking dramatically as peace loving people of Christ. Are we inclined to see difficulties in life as someone else’s fault? The fathers and mothers ate the sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge, says an old proverb. Ezekiel the prophet challenged his folks to take responsibility for themselves and not place the blame elsewhere. Turn around your thinking. New life with and in Christ comes from our own personal turn around.
Now let’s be clear. Making a decision to enter the Vineyard of God is not a matter of deciding that you are going to be doing a lot of good things, and that’s what it means to be in the Kingdom of God, is to be a do-gooder earning points with God. The point of the parable is that the one son accepts the invitation to respond to the father and to be with him in the family vineyard. The other has the free choice to be there too, but does not enter in. Robert Capon, a Biblical scholar and theologian fascinated, if not obsessed, with the Doctrine of God’s grace tells a story that goes something like this:
Suppose that I told you that I had buried one million dollars in thousand dollar bills under a rock in a field that you owned. And I have no intention of ever reclaiming it back. I have given you some really sensational good news. If you trust me and go to the field and start turning over rocks, you will eventually find the gift. Now your trust, faith, good works don’t earn you the money. It is simply a gift because; I am a bit crazy, or at least extremely generous. They only one thing you need do is enjoy the gift.
On the other hand, you can say well yes the million dollars is there and believe it, but fail to possess the treasure, and see it as some kind of a problem. You are being forced to work picking up those rocks, or may be you feel like you don’t deserve it. Maybe you feel like you should earn the million bucks on your own. The gift is there, but you simply won’t accept and embrace it. You turn good news into emptiness.
The parable of Jesus moves the religious types onto a more basic consideration. Stop worrying about who has authority, respond to the good news of what is being offered. Accept the treasure earnestly. Step right into the Garden of God and embrace His way, His truth, His love, and revel in the forgiveness, goodness, and love of God. Enjoy partnership in the family of God.
Robert Capon’s book, “The Mystery of Christ and Why We don’t Get It.” Page 26.
Sunday, September 29, 2002
Sunday, September 22, 2002
Pentecost 18
May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)
SEASON: Pentecost 18
PROPER: 20A
PLACE: St. John’s Episcopal Church, Kingsville
DATE: September 22,2002
TEXT: Matthew 20:1-16 - Parable of the Vineyard Laborers
But Jesus replied to one of them, “Friend, I am doing you know wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?”
ISSUE: This is what the Kingdom of God is like. It is not something you bargain for, but grace, free abundant grace. It’s cross bound bleeding grace, says David Buttrick. The Parable is a shock. It is not about fairness and bargaining, like in the world. The Kingdom of God is love. If that’s not what you want and need, then scram!
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
There are few parables of Jesus’ that are so captivating for a variety of reasons than the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard. It is a parable that seems so unfair that it makes us angry and sympathetic with those who worked all day bearing the heat of the day. The parable is surreal, and presents an astonishing understanding of God that is baffling. We Americans think like the labor unions think: “A Fair Dollar for a Fair Day’s Work.” This parable challenges that idea. Most scholars believe, incidentally, that because of the surreal aspects and daring challenge of this parable that it was a parable authentic to Jesus himself.
A man who owns a vineyard goes to the market place to select workers to start bringing in the harvest. It was, of course, critical to get the grapes harvested at the right time. He calls some men to work. Incidentally they would not have applied for the job, as that would have been considered dishonorable in this time, presuming to take something from someone else. The owner calls and selects his men to work for him, and they arrive at what was a fair days wage for a fair day’s work, a denarius, say $40 bucks. They agree to that arrangement in their bargaining.
Undoubtedly the harvest is a bountiful one, so that the owner of the vineyard goes out an additional five times in search of laborers. The work day was twelve hours long. He had selected the original men at 6 a.m. He goes again to the market place at 9 a.m., 12 noon, 3 p.m., and 5 p.m. to select more workers, who are idle in the market place. Each time he selects men, the owner tells the men he will pay them what is right. (There is no bargaining for an exact amount.) Be mindful of the fact that those who are selected at 5 p.m. in the afternoon are going to be working for less than one hour, and are working in the cooler temperatures of the evening. Those that came later were the leftovers of the crowd. These were the undesirables, the boozers, the goof offs, the dumb, and the unreliable tramps. These are those that no one else wanted to hire.
Then the owner at 6 p.m., the end of the workday has the laborers line up in front of the paymaster to get their pay. He has those who came last to line up first, which is very odd in itself. They are paid the denarius’s or the full day’s wage. Those who came first, of course as we might well expect, begin to complain that they worked all day, 12 hours in the heat of the sun, and should receive more than the laborers who came late. They are quite envious and complain to the landowner. We are sympathetic. The word envious in the story means they cast an evil eye on the landowner wishing that he were dead. The landowner tells the angry laborers that they got what they bargained for. “Take what belongs to you and scram, beat it!” or “Get the hell out of here.” What in the world is going on here? No one in the church tells someone who has worked hard to “scram.” Only Jesus, and he didn’t get crucified because he was a nice guy.
It may be that this parable was originally directed toward the early Jewish Christians who having been faithful Jews had expected some privilege over Gentiles and peasants joining the Christian community. Matthew is using the parable to show that those who come last, and who are among the lesser types of people are also worthy of honor and status within the church. Since, however, this parable is thought to be typical of Jesus himself, the parable would have been told before the formation of the church community, and Jesus is saying that even the undesirables, the poor, lame, handicapped, sick, boozers, and riff-raff are among the children of God, and part of the family of God. What is particularly interesting is that the early comers are treated as hired hands and paid a wage they bargain for. Those who come later, who do not bargain, and who haven’t born the heat of the day, are being treated not like hired hands but like family itself!
But in the world we Americans often think of ourselves as the better nation. We think of ourselves as the chosen. We look at our affluence and who we are and are inclined to think that we deserve whatever we’ve got. We worked for it. It is ours to possess and do with what we want and like. Only certain types of people like ourselves need apply to our clubs, organizations and church. We are the best. How dare we not be able to claim it all for ourselves, and get what we really deserve? If that’s the way you think says the parable, beat it! Scram! Get the hell out of the church, and don’t come back. You deny the Lord the very generosity that he extends to all his children in the world.
One of the things that we have to keep in mind is that this parable is about the likeness of God, or The Kingdom of Heaven, the Realm and Dominion of God. God’s ways are not the world’s ways. People in the world like to bargain. If we say our prayers, and we got to church and sing the hymns, and put some money in the plate, and try to be good, then we are worthy of the Kingdom of God, and all the rights and privileges thereof. In bearing the heat of the day as we work in the vineyard of life then we are worthy of God’s benefits more than others. If you work hard in your office or place of business, you would expect the appropriate wage and promotion.
The Hebrew Lesson from Jonah is very similar in its teaching. Jonah, who finally does what God tells him to do, becomes very angry. God has sent him to help change and redeem a sinful city. Jonah preaches and behold they change and receive God’s grace. Jonah gets furious, such love and grace is not deserved. God provides him shade with a gourd. A worm then attacks the gourd, and Jonah is concerned for the loss of the gourd. Well, then how much more is God concerned for the people of Ninevah, His creation? Even prophets need shaping up!
The parable of the vineyard is about undeserved love and grace that comes from God. Everyone gets enough. The parable is about Jesus on a cross dying for those who ‘don’t know what they are doing.’ The love is for the thieves and the robbers, the rebels, for the sinners: poor, lost, least, and last who now through the receiving of His grace become members of God’s family, God’s realm, Dominion. Folks you don’t bargain with God, you only have to receive thankfully God’s unearned grace bestowed upon us by the life and ministry, the crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ, and God’s Holy Spirit.
As difficult as the parable is, as we see it the way the world sees it, it calls us to change our relationship with God. God is not merely the boss; God is the Father; we are members of the family of Divine Grace that sees all as our brothers and sisters. So much love and grace is given to us that we simply share it in the realm and kingdom of God without bitching and complaining, and bargaining that we are some how better. Have we born the heat of the day for the glory of God and his harvest? Well then Alleluia! What a grand privilege! If you can’t see it that way, then bug off! You are a stumbling block to those in search of the free grace of God. Rather, receive the grace and let God’s Kingdom become the surreal reality for the world.
SEASON: Pentecost 18
PROPER: 20A
PLACE: St. John’s Episcopal Church, Kingsville
DATE: September 22,2002
TEXT: Matthew 20:1-16 - Parable of the Vineyard Laborers
But Jesus replied to one of them, “Friend, I am doing you know wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?”
ISSUE: This is what the Kingdom of God is like. It is not something you bargain for, but grace, free abundant grace. It’s cross bound bleeding grace, says David Buttrick. The Parable is a shock. It is not about fairness and bargaining, like in the world. The Kingdom of God is love. If that’s not what you want and need, then scram!
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
There are few parables of Jesus’ that are so captivating for a variety of reasons than the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard. It is a parable that seems so unfair that it makes us angry and sympathetic with those who worked all day bearing the heat of the day. The parable is surreal, and presents an astonishing understanding of God that is baffling. We Americans think like the labor unions think: “A Fair Dollar for a Fair Day’s Work.” This parable challenges that idea. Most scholars believe, incidentally, that because of the surreal aspects and daring challenge of this parable that it was a parable authentic to Jesus himself.
A man who owns a vineyard goes to the market place to select workers to start bringing in the harvest. It was, of course, critical to get the grapes harvested at the right time. He calls some men to work. Incidentally they would not have applied for the job, as that would have been considered dishonorable in this time, presuming to take something from someone else. The owner calls and selects his men to work for him, and they arrive at what was a fair days wage for a fair day’s work, a denarius, say $40 bucks. They agree to that arrangement in their bargaining.
Undoubtedly the harvest is a bountiful one, so that the owner of the vineyard goes out an additional five times in search of laborers. The work day was twelve hours long. He had selected the original men at 6 a.m. He goes again to the market place at 9 a.m., 12 noon, 3 p.m., and 5 p.m. to select more workers, who are idle in the market place. Each time he selects men, the owner tells the men he will pay them what is right. (There is no bargaining for an exact amount.) Be mindful of the fact that those who are selected at 5 p.m. in the afternoon are going to be working for less than one hour, and are working in the cooler temperatures of the evening. Those that came later were the leftovers of the crowd. These were the undesirables, the boozers, the goof offs, the dumb, and the unreliable tramps. These are those that no one else wanted to hire.
Then the owner at 6 p.m., the end of the workday has the laborers line up in front of the paymaster to get their pay. He has those who came last to line up first, which is very odd in itself. They are paid the denarius’s or the full day’s wage. Those who came first, of course as we might well expect, begin to complain that they worked all day, 12 hours in the heat of the sun, and should receive more than the laborers who came late. They are quite envious and complain to the landowner. We are sympathetic. The word envious in the story means they cast an evil eye on the landowner wishing that he were dead. The landowner tells the angry laborers that they got what they bargained for. “Take what belongs to you and scram, beat it!” or “Get the hell out of here.” What in the world is going on here? No one in the church tells someone who has worked hard to “scram.” Only Jesus, and he didn’t get crucified because he was a nice guy.
It may be that this parable was originally directed toward the early Jewish Christians who having been faithful Jews had expected some privilege over Gentiles and peasants joining the Christian community. Matthew is using the parable to show that those who come last, and who are among the lesser types of people are also worthy of honor and status within the church. Since, however, this parable is thought to be typical of Jesus himself, the parable would have been told before the formation of the church community, and Jesus is saying that even the undesirables, the poor, lame, handicapped, sick, boozers, and riff-raff are among the children of God, and part of the family of God. What is particularly interesting is that the early comers are treated as hired hands and paid a wage they bargain for. Those who come later, who do not bargain, and who haven’t born the heat of the day, are being treated not like hired hands but like family itself!
But in the world we Americans often think of ourselves as the better nation. We think of ourselves as the chosen. We look at our affluence and who we are and are inclined to think that we deserve whatever we’ve got. We worked for it. It is ours to possess and do with what we want and like. Only certain types of people like ourselves need apply to our clubs, organizations and church. We are the best. How dare we not be able to claim it all for ourselves, and get what we really deserve? If that’s the way you think says the parable, beat it! Scram! Get the hell out of the church, and don’t come back. You deny the Lord the very generosity that he extends to all his children in the world.
One of the things that we have to keep in mind is that this parable is about the likeness of God, or The Kingdom of Heaven, the Realm and Dominion of God. God’s ways are not the world’s ways. People in the world like to bargain. If we say our prayers, and we got to church and sing the hymns, and put some money in the plate, and try to be good, then we are worthy of the Kingdom of God, and all the rights and privileges thereof. In bearing the heat of the day as we work in the vineyard of life then we are worthy of God’s benefits more than others. If you work hard in your office or place of business, you would expect the appropriate wage and promotion.
The Hebrew Lesson from Jonah is very similar in its teaching. Jonah, who finally does what God tells him to do, becomes very angry. God has sent him to help change and redeem a sinful city. Jonah preaches and behold they change and receive God’s grace. Jonah gets furious, such love and grace is not deserved. God provides him shade with a gourd. A worm then attacks the gourd, and Jonah is concerned for the loss of the gourd. Well, then how much more is God concerned for the people of Ninevah, His creation? Even prophets need shaping up!
The parable of the vineyard is about undeserved love and grace that comes from God. Everyone gets enough. The parable is about Jesus on a cross dying for those who ‘don’t know what they are doing.’ The love is for the thieves and the robbers, the rebels, for the sinners: poor, lost, least, and last who now through the receiving of His grace become members of God’s family, God’s realm, Dominion. Folks you don’t bargain with God, you only have to receive thankfully God’s unearned grace bestowed upon us by the life and ministry, the crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ, and God’s Holy Spirit.
As difficult as the parable is, as we see it the way the world sees it, it calls us to change our relationship with God. God is not merely the boss; God is the Father; we are members of the family of Divine Grace that sees all as our brothers and sisters. So much love and grace is given to us that we simply share it in the realm and kingdom of God without bitching and complaining, and bargaining that we are some how better. Have we born the heat of the day for the glory of God and his harvest? Well then Alleluia! What a grand privilege! If you can’t see it that way, then bug off! You are a stumbling block to those in search of the free grace of God. Rather, receive the grace and let God’s Kingdom become the surreal reality for the world.
Sunday, September 1, 2002
Pentecost 15
May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)
SEASON: Pentecost 15
PROPER: 17A
PLACE: St. John’s Episcopal Church, Kingsville
DATE: September 1, 2002
TEXT: Matthew 16:21-27 – “Get behind me, Satan! Your are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”
See also: Romans 12:1-8 – “I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God – what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
ISSUE: In this passage from Matthew, Jesus sees Peter the Rock, as a stumbling block or a rock people will stumble over and fall. The issue is that discipleship is walking with Christ in a sacrificial way that lays down one’s life for their friends. St. Paul also picks up this theme urging the Roman Christians not to be conformed to the way the world thinks, but to be transformed in their thinking, discerning the way of Jesus Christ, the way of God. The teachings of Jesus emphasize a reversal of thinking differently from the fallen world to achieve our true humanity with Christ.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Just last week we read the passage from Matthew’s gospel in which Simon bar Jonah is renamed to be Simon Peter. He is Peter the Rock. It is what we would call a nickname. In our time it would be Rocky. The result of this renaming comes when Simon identifies Jesus as messiah, Son of the living God. Peter is seen as perceptive person who has discerned that Jesus is Lord. In the continuing passage, however, Peter is not nearly so honored. HE is seen as a rock that people will stumble over. He is a ‘skandalon’; he is a stumbling block. Poor Peter. Peter gets to walk on the water and then sinks. Peter is called the Rock and given the keys, but then becomes a stumbling block. He seems faithful enough, then denies our Lord. Peter seems to be a metaphor of the struggling early church community. It gets the message, but then slips.
Peter had declared that Jesus was the messiah of God, Son of the living God. But Peter’s perception as to what the messiahship of Jesus was not what Jesus himself had in mind. Peter is thinking the way the world thinks. He is thinking the way a large segment of the people of his time was thinking about what to expect from their messianic hopes.
This scene between Jesus and Peter is very similar to the scene where Jesus is in the wilderness being tempted by the devil. Satan, or the evil spirit in the desert, tempts Jesus to make some unique claim or do some mighty convincing act: feed the multitudes turning stones into bread, jump from the pinnacle of the Temple and let angels catch him, or compromise with evil for the greater good. Jesus refuses all temptations. “Get behind me, Satan.” In this scene Jesus is telling Peter, and the early church disciples what his messiahship is like: He must go to Jerusalem, undergo great suffering at the hands of the leadership and the government, be killed, and then raised.
Picking up on the suffering aspects of Jesus’ messiahship, Peter rebukes Jesus. There is no honor or status in suffering persecution and being crucified. This suffering was not the expectation of what the world (the Jewish community) expected from its messiah. The Messiah was thought of in largely military terms. It would be a militant powerful leader that would be like King David in the past. He would be a winner of battles, a giver of national prestige, and a provider of economic stability, and unify the nation. To this notion Jesus tells Peter, “Get behind me Satan. You think like the world thinks.” Jesus did not want word spread around until he had made it clear of what it meant that he was God’s Messiah. Jesus seems to have adopted the notion of Messianic servant as that description given by Isaiah of the Suffering Servant. But Jesus is describing another kind of messiah that was described in Isaiah's passage and especially the Suffering Servant passages. The messiah will have the Spirit of God, be one who will bring good news to the poor, healing for the broken-hearted, and freedom for prisoners. (Isaiah 61:1-2) The Suffering Servant messianic image is also one who shall have no particular dignity or beauty, despised and rejected by men, enduring suffering and pain, and wounded and beaten for the sins of the people. He would be as a lamb led to slaughter. (Isaiah 5213-53:12) Peter following the more popular trend of a 'warrior' messiah rejects the suffering servant image. The 'suffering servant' image was not at this time an honorable image. Remember, a person's honor was most important in this period. People who suffered and died, especially on a cross were not honorable people. Peter wanted no parts of this kind of movement. He wanted honor and success, of course. So he challenges Jesus. "God forbid it! This must never happen to you." But Jesus is not convinced that what the world wanted was what it in fact truly needed. He also knew that in the face of the enemies he had that his death would have been inevitable. In the face of what many people needed was something really quite different.
The passage calls the disciples, the early church and the world today to have transformed minds. It is a passage of baptism, whereby people are immersed in death of the world and raised to a whole new way of thinking and being in resonance with God through the ways and teachings of Jesus Christ. There are things and ways of thinking to be sacrificed, to be given up, and to grow in new understandings of the ways and teachings of Jesus Christ. The way of Jesus in the world over and over again was often a sharp contrast to what the world taught. For Jesus messiahship and the church for early Christians had a significantly different way of seeing things. The Beatitudes of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew are only one example. The Blessed, Unique, Honorable for Jesus were those who were the poor, those who mourned, the meek, those struggling for justice and hungering for righteousness. Turning the other cheek, walking the extra mile, giving up your shirt was not dishonorable. It was in fact the honorable thing to do in the sight of God. How the world perceived you was of little value for Jesus. When you fast hide it. Do it in secret. When you give don’t announce it for all to see, and you get accolades for your generosity. Do it only in the sight of God. For Jesus it was not what a person put into their mouth that made them unclean and impure, it was what came out of their mouth is what made them unclean and impure. Always for Jesus, he was thinking the way God thinks, and not concerned with what the world thought of him.
Think of our own world and what people seem to think is really important. We live in a world where people are very intent on getting revenge. We live in a world where sometimes people are intent on abandoning God, or becoming very angry with God when life doesn’t seem to be fair. We kind of like revenge; and the death penalty is seen as largely appropriate. We see wealth and community status and power as our comfort, and what gives us stability. Forgiveness, rehabilitation, being on a level with those we think are below us, love versus power, are more often the values that capture our attention over the justice that God in Christ reveals.
I know of a pastor who used to walk with his children through the town on summer evenings. He was severely criticized by some members, because he wore Bermuda shorts. Little was ever said of his devotion to his children. How shallow worldly values can become.
A congregation was once very taken with its historical significance, maintaining and preserving its pride and historical treasures. It wanted to be remembered for that fact, even though is survived in the midst of a ghetto having had little or no effect on the lives of its surrounding people. Many of the members thought of themselves as religious peoples.
I think that it is important to realize that this scripture this morning is not to be taken literally in the sense that we see Christian discipleship as a matter of groveling, or seeking out ways to die on a cross, or to seek out humiliation, and suffering. Surely that is not what Jesus himself did. Actually he went in the eyes of many people from a non-significant carpenter from Nazareth from where nothing good comes, to a highly respected human being who brought new hope and good sense, love and forgiveness, restorative healing, to an otherwise pitiful world. His crucifixion came by a world that did not want to be transformed and refused to think as God thought. They put him on trial and tried to finish him off. However, he was acquitted! God raised him up again. What the world thought was foolish and of no account continued to be present and haunting, a haunting reality of what is right and just. Jesus Christ simply carried on living the life of a servant of God.
The life and calling of discipleship, and the church for that matter is just that, living the life of the servant. The church building may not always have the grandest towers and the finest buildings, but it can have a spirited people who love one another and love God’s world, willing to give up some things to serve in the Spirit of God’s love.
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God – what is good and acceptable and perfect – increased in the knowledge of true religion, nourished with all goodness, and bringing forth good works, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Sometimes we fumble and stumble, and sometimes we are the stumbling block. But we are not beyond redemption. “Therefore, thus says the Lord: ‘If you turn back, I will take you back, and you will stand before me. If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless, you shall serve as my mouth.’” (Jeremiah 15:15-21)
SEASON: Pentecost 15
PROPER: 17A
PLACE: St. John’s Episcopal Church, Kingsville
DATE: September 1, 2002
TEXT: Matthew 16:21-27 – “Get behind me, Satan! Your are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”
See also: Romans 12:1-8 – “I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God – what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
ISSUE: In this passage from Matthew, Jesus sees Peter the Rock, as a stumbling block or a rock people will stumble over and fall. The issue is that discipleship is walking with Christ in a sacrificial way that lays down one’s life for their friends. St. Paul also picks up this theme urging the Roman Christians not to be conformed to the way the world thinks, but to be transformed in their thinking, discerning the way of Jesus Christ, the way of God. The teachings of Jesus emphasize a reversal of thinking differently from the fallen world to achieve our true humanity with Christ.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Just last week we read the passage from Matthew’s gospel in which Simon bar Jonah is renamed to be Simon Peter. He is Peter the Rock. It is what we would call a nickname. In our time it would be Rocky. The result of this renaming comes when Simon identifies Jesus as messiah, Son of the living God. Peter is seen as perceptive person who has discerned that Jesus is Lord. In the continuing passage, however, Peter is not nearly so honored. HE is seen as a rock that people will stumble over. He is a ‘skandalon’; he is a stumbling block. Poor Peter. Peter gets to walk on the water and then sinks. Peter is called the Rock and given the keys, but then becomes a stumbling block. He seems faithful enough, then denies our Lord. Peter seems to be a metaphor of the struggling early church community. It gets the message, but then slips.
Peter had declared that Jesus was the messiah of God, Son of the living God. But Peter’s perception as to what the messiahship of Jesus was not what Jesus himself had in mind. Peter is thinking the way the world thinks. He is thinking the way a large segment of the people of his time was thinking about what to expect from their messianic hopes.
This scene between Jesus and Peter is very similar to the scene where Jesus is in the wilderness being tempted by the devil. Satan, or the evil spirit in the desert, tempts Jesus to make some unique claim or do some mighty convincing act: feed the multitudes turning stones into bread, jump from the pinnacle of the Temple and let angels catch him, or compromise with evil for the greater good. Jesus refuses all temptations. “Get behind me, Satan.” In this scene Jesus is telling Peter, and the early church disciples what his messiahship is like: He must go to Jerusalem, undergo great suffering at the hands of the leadership and the government, be killed, and then raised.
Picking up on the suffering aspects of Jesus’ messiahship, Peter rebukes Jesus. There is no honor or status in suffering persecution and being crucified. This suffering was not the expectation of what the world (the Jewish community) expected from its messiah. The Messiah was thought of in largely military terms. It would be a militant powerful leader that would be like King David in the past. He would be a winner of battles, a giver of national prestige, and a provider of economic stability, and unify the nation. To this notion Jesus tells Peter, “Get behind me Satan. You think like the world thinks.” Jesus did not want word spread around until he had made it clear of what it meant that he was God’s Messiah. Jesus seems to have adopted the notion of Messianic servant as that description given by Isaiah of the Suffering Servant. But Jesus is describing another kind of messiah that was described in Isaiah's passage and especially the Suffering Servant passages. The messiah will have the Spirit of God, be one who will bring good news to the poor, healing for the broken-hearted, and freedom for prisoners. (Isaiah 61:1-2) The Suffering Servant messianic image is also one who shall have no particular dignity or beauty, despised and rejected by men, enduring suffering and pain, and wounded and beaten for the sins of the people. He would be as a lamb led to slaughter. (Isaiah 5213-53:12) Peter following the more popular trend of a 'warrior' messiah rejects the suffering servant image. The 'suffering servant' image was not at this time an honorable image. Remember, a person's honor was most important in this period. People who suffered and died, especially on a cross were not honorable people. Peter wanted no parts of this kind of movement. He wanted honor and success, of course. So he challenges Jesus. "God forbid it! This must never happen to you." But Jesus is not convinced that what the world wanted was what it in fact truly needed. He also knew that in the face of the enemies he had that his death would have been inevitable. In the face of what many people needed was something really quite different.
The passage calls the disciples, the early church and the world today to have transformed minds. It is a passage of baptism, whereby people are immersed in death of the world and raised to a whole new way of thinking and being in resonance with God through the ways and teachings of Jesus Christ. There are things and ways of thinking to be sacrificed, to be given up, and to grow in new understandings of the ways and teachings of Jesus Christ. The way of Jesus in the world over and over again was often a sharp contrast to what the world taught. For Jesus messiahship and the church for early Christians had a significantly different way of seeing things. The Beatitudes of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew are only one example. The Blessed, Unique, Honorable for Jesus were those who were the poor, those who mourned, the meek, those struggling for justice and hungering for righteousness. Turning the other cheek, walking the extra mile, giving up your shirt was not dishonorable. It was in fact the honorable thing to do in the sight of God. How the world perceived you was of little value for Jesus. When you fast hide it. Do it in secret. When you give don’t announce it for all to see, and you get accolades for your generosity. Do it only in the sight of God. For Jesus it was not what a person put into their mouth that made them unclean and impure, it was what came out of their mouth is what made them unclean and impure. Always for Jesus, he was thinking the way God thinks, and not concerned with what the world thought of him.
Think of our own world and what people seem to think is really important. We live in a world where people are very intent on getting revenge. We live in a world where sometimes people are intent on abandoning God, or becoming very angry with God when life doesn’t seem to be fair. We kind of like revenge; and the death penalty is seen as largely appropriate. We see wealth and community status and power as our comfort, and what gives us stability. Forgiveness, rehabilitation, being on a level with those we think are below us, love versus power, are more often the values that capture our attention over the justice that God in Christ reveals.
I know of a pastor who used to walk with his children through the town on summer evenings. He was severely criticized by some members, because he wore Bermuda shorts. Little was ever said of his devotion to his children. How shallow worldly values can become.
A congregation was once very taken with its historical significance, maintaining and preserving its pride and historical treasures. It wanted to be remembered for that fact, even though is survived in the midst of a ghetto having had little or no effect on the lives of its surrounding people. Many of the members thought of themselves as religious peoples.
I think that it is important to realize that this scripture this morning is not to be taken literally in the sense that we see Christian discipleship as a matter of groveling, or seeking out ways to die on a cross, or to seek out humiliation, and suffering. Surely that is not what Jesus himself did. Actually he went in the eyes of many people from a non-significant carpenter from Nazareth from where nothing good comes, to a highly respected human being who brought new hope and good sense, love and forgiveness, restorative healing, to an otherwise pitiful world. His crucifixion came by a world that did not want to be transformed and refused to think as God thought. They put him on trial and tried to finish him off. However, he was acquitted! God raised him up again. What the world thought was foolish and of no account continued to be present and haunting, a haunting reality of what is right and just. Jesus Christ simply carried on living the life of a servant of God.
The life and calling of discipleship, and the church for that matter is just that, living the life of the servant. The church building may not always have the grandest towers and the finest buildings, but it can have a spirited people who love one another and love God’s world, willing to give up some things to serve in the Spirit of God’s love.
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God – what is good and acceptable and perfect – increased in the knowledge of true religion, nourished with all goodness, and bringing forth good works, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Sometimes we fumble and stumble, and sometimes we are the stumbling block. But we are not beyond redemption. “Therefore, thus says the Lord: ‘If you turn back, I will take you back, and you will stand before me. If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless, you shall serve as my mouth.’” (Jeremiah 15:15-21)
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