Sunday, September 30, 2007

18 Pentecost, Year C

"THERE ARE NO U-HAULS IN HEAVEN!"
Proper 21: Amos 6: 1 – 7; Psalm 146; I Timothy 6: 11 – 19; Luke 16: 19 – 31
Given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, IL; and at St. John’s Church, Centralia, IL (Contemporary service)


“There are no U-Hauls in heaven!”[1] [2]

If only the Pharisees, at whom today’s parable, the “Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus”, is directed, had taken this central reality of life to heart: “There are no U-Hauls in heaven!”

You see, the Pharisees had been standing around, listening as Jesus instructed His disciples in last week’s Gospel reading, the “Parable of the Shrewd Manager”, which ends with Jesus’ teaching that “no one can serve two masters…you cannot serve God and money!”….

But then, Luke reminds us,[3] that the Pharisees where “lovers of money”. And so Jesus sees through their façade, saying to them “You are those who justify themselves in the sight of others, but God knows your hearts; for what is prized by human beings is an abomination in the sight of God.”[4]

And so, the stage is now set for our hearing of today’s parable…..Knowing the context[5] enlarges our understanding of this text, which goes far beyond the idea that if a person “has it ‘good’ here in this life, they won’t have it ‘good’ in the next life.”

At issue in today’s Gospel is this constant theme, which we have been hearing in one way or another quite a few times as Our Lord made His way to Jerusalem, to His passion, death and resurrection: the really important issues of life are the spiritual ones.

“There are no U-Hauls in heaven!” That is to say, what ever we have in this life: possessions, wealth, relationships, prestige (all of the stuff that the Pharisees seemed to put a great deal of stock in)….all of these will pass away when we depart this life. The only thing that will endure is our relationship to God. So, it behooves us to cultivate that relationship here and now. That’s the “bottom line” of Jesus’ teaching, it seems to me.

And, in the context of Jesus’ teaching, cultivating a relationship with God consisted (for the Pharisees and for all observant Jews of the first century) of keeping the Law of Moses. Jesus explains the importance of faithful observance in verses 16 – 18 of chapter 16.

Now, we turn to some of the details of the text:
  1. Very strong verbs in the Greek: the Greek verbs are quite strong: the verb in verse 14, translated in the NRSV[6] as “ridiculed” is actually quite a bit stronger: the Greek says the Pharisees “mocked” Jesus.[7]

    Then, the feasting[8] that the rich man engaged in has the sense of an extravagant banquet, not just a good meal.

  2. The rich man’s wealth: Jesus describes the rich man as having been clothed in purple. Purple cloth was difficult to make, and hence, expensive. In ancient times, the Romans even had regulations about who could wear purple, and how much, depending on their station in life. Jesus’ description of the rich man denotes a man of very high rank, possibly even a nobleman. (Note the contrast with Lazarus: just as the verb forms used are very strong, so is the contrast between the rich man and Lazarus quite strong.)

  3. The interior dialogue: Jesus allows us to hear the interchanges between the rich man and Abraham, a characteristic of Luke’s Gospel account.

We might be tempted to take some small comfort in Jesus’ treatment of the Pharisees…after all, the Gospels all paint a pretty dismal picture of them: lovers of money,[9] seekers after prestige, power, rank and status, concerned chiefly with outward appearances,[10] but inwardly spiritually dead.[11]

Isn’t it good that they were the target, and not us?

Actually, no.

We are the target as well!

Why? The answer is simple: we are made of the same raw material as the Pharisees were. Being human beings, we are prone to the same spiritual diseases, and we fall prey to the same unseen, spiritual viruses as they did.

All of the Pharisees’ maladies can easily be our own.

Part of the human condition is our constant immersion in a world of people and things…..Our possessions, our wealth, or relationships, all of these create a reality which can be seen, touched and experienced.

But the reality we can see and can touch can block out the unseen reality: our spiritual life, the life lived in God.

And that focus, on the unseen things of God, is the central message that Jesus wants us to “get” today.

For we, like the rich man (or the Pharisees who resemble the rich man), can focus in our own welfare, to the neglect of God and of others, who are given to us that we may minister to and support them in service to God. We can easily get to the point where we think, “this is all there is, so I’d better enjoy it while I can!”. We can begin to believe we’re going to “take everything with us” when we depart this life.

But the reality that Jesus wants us to see is that there are “No U-Hauls in heaven”. Only what is done for God will travel with us into eternity.

May the Holy Spirit enable us to have God’s perspective in view, that we may cultivate our relationship with Him, for the glory of His name, our own spiritual health, and the wellbeing of others.

AMEN.


[1] This quip isn’t an original one, but I cannot remember where I heard it, or from whom.
[2] This text, like almost all of Luke’s accounting of Jesus’ teaching, is quite complex. Treatment of this – and all other of Luke’s texts – could take any number of different approaches. Today’s sermon concentrates on only one possible approach to the text.
[3] Luke 16: 14
[4] Verse 15
[5] Context is always an important part of understanding the meaning of any Scripture text.
[6] New Revised Standard Version
[7] The same verb is used to describe the mocking that Jesus received on the cross. See Luke 23: 35.
[8] Verse 19
[9] Verse 14
[10] Verse 15
[11] In Matthew, Jesus describes them as being “whited sepulchers”.

Sunday, September 23, 2007

17 Pentecost, Year C

“COULDN’T WE JUST SKIP THIS ONE?”
Proper 20: Amos 8: 4 – 12; Psalm 138; I Timothy 2: 1 – 8; Luke 16: 1 – 13
Given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, IL


“Couldn’t we just skip this one (today’s Gospel reading, that is)?”

Doesn’t today’s Gospel reading, the “Parable of the Shrewd Manager” (as it’s often called), puzzle you?

The more we read it, the more we might want to scratch our heads….What does Our Lord mean, “And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth, so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.”?

As we try to figure out what Jesus might have meant for us, as His disciples today, to understand about the life we have in God, we might approach this particular text with two things in view: a systematic way of reading Holy Scripture, called the lectionary; and the open-ended character of Scripture itself. So, the following comments come to mind about each:

  1. The lectionary: granted that, even though there is no perfect system of reading Scripture, yet a systematic way of working our way through a Gospel[1] or a book has great merit….because it forces our eyes to fix on a passage that otherwise might offend or puzzle us. The lectionary prevents us from dwelling on a few certain passages. It also prevents the pastor from preaching on a list of easy or favorite texts.[2]

  2. The open-ended nature of Holy Scripture: “There’s a world inside every verse in the New Testament”, one of my New Testament professors said in seminary. As I reflect more and more on that statement, I believe it’s true….One way we can test Scripture to see if it really is the Word of God is to delve into its depths, discovering as we go that it has enduring applicability to the saints over time.

Returning to the question we began with, “Couldn’t we just skip this one?”, the lectionary and the open-ended nature of Scripture tell us, “We can’t”, not, at least, at the peril of our spiritual welfare. In other words, we would do well to stop and spend some time, gazing into the mysterious words of Jesus that glare back at us from the page.

And, as we gaze at these words, maybe the Lord’s words will burn their way into our hearts and minds….For that is the ultimate purpose of Holy Scripture: to make a change in us at our deepest level (more on that issue in a minute).

To the text we now turn….

As always, we need to begin by looking at the context of today’s parable….We need to hold in view the fact that Jesus is making His way from Galilee down to the Holy City, Jerusalem, where He will be rejected by the ruling elite of His day, and will suffer, die, and be raised again from the dead on the third day. So all of what we have been reading for the past few months, and all of what we will read until early November, forms a sort of last will and testament, Jesus’ own instructions for those followers of His who will come after Him to form the community He established, that is, the Church.

As Jesus walks the road toward His passion, death and resurrection, a series of encounters take place….some of them are with the crowd that has been making its way south with Him, and some are disputations with the Pharisees and the Scribes, the ruling religious elite of 2,000 years ago. Punctuating these encounters are specific teachings of Our Lord, framed as parables, that are aimed directly at the disciples (and us). Today’s reading is aimed directly at the inner circle, the Disciples (big “D”) and the disciples (small “D”) of every age since they were spoken way back then.

The next thing we notice is that some of the markers of Luke’s writing are present in today’s passage, including:

  1. Role reversal: the manager, called to account, suddenly finds himself out of a job.

  2. Interior dialogue: Jesus allows us to “read the thoughts” of the manager, much in the same way that we were allowed to observe the thoughts of the rich man who decided to pull down his barns and build bigger ones.[3]

And now, we turn to a central feature of today’s teaching: the nature of the dishonest manager’s transgression…..Scholars have posited three scenarios to describe what the manager was actually guilty of:

  1. The manager was stealing money that belonged to the master: In other words, the manager, already accused of mishandling the accounts, simply goes ahead and really “breaks the bank”, in one case giving himself a 50% cut of the total amount due.

  2. The manager was taking his commission: Jesus does not explain, and we do not know for certain from today’s parable, if the manager was due a commission for his management, or not. If so, then the manager was simply taking what was his by right and custom.

  3. The manager was complicit with the master in evading the dictates of the Law of Moses: This option needs a little explaining: apparently, in Jesus’ time, it was common for a person who loaned money, or who had debtors, to “pad” the amount due, so as to avoid charging interest on the debt. Essentially, this was a way of avoiding the Law’s prohibitions against charging interest.[4] It worked this way: instead of holding a debt of, say 80 denarii,[5] and charging interest of 1%/month, the debt holder would mark down a total debt of 100 denarii. Thus, legally, the debt carried no interest, and so the legal requirements of the law had been observed.

Since we do not know exactly from Our Lord’s teaching what the nature of the financial arrangements are, it’s difficult to know if the manager was actually stealing from the master, or if he was taking what was his due anyway, or if he was complicit in a basic dishonesty which was a common practice of the time.

Jesus’ story could lead us to conclusions in support of options one and three:

  1. The manager was stealing: Jesus refers to the manager’s actions as “and if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another…” (italics mine).[6]

  2. The manager was complicit in dishonesty: Jesus says that the master “commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly…” (italics mine).[7]

But, regardless of the nature of the relationship between the master and the manager, and the nature of the financial dealings that Jesus has in view, one incontrovertible fact stands out from today’s story: The manager took immediate steps to care for his future wellbeing.

Caring for our future (spiritual) wellbeing seems to be the central teaching that Jesus wants us to learn…..consistent with His teachings about the nature of the Kingdom of God that we have been hearing as Jesus makes His way down the road toward Jerusalem, today’s teaching forces our eyes to gaze on the nature of our spiritual wellbeing.

Maybe Luke, writing toward the end of the first century, was addressing a Church whose members were getting slack about their life in God.

Maybe they didn’t sense the urgency that the life of faith requires.

Maybe Jesus’ teaching was meant to hit them squarely between the eyes, forcing their vision to be clarified so that they could see the need to address their own spiritual future, a future that would endure, unlike the material wealth and the friends who had been acquired by the skillful application of it.[8]

Jesus wants us to be “children of light”,[9] seeing our own peril in the example of the shrewd manager…..seeing the urgency of providing for our own spiritual future, making changes at the deepest level of life, being faithful in the little things, spiritually.

He wants us to live with the light of God shining brightly in our hearts and minds, allowing us to see that we must make a choice: we cannot be tied to the comforts and material wealth of this life, if we would have an eternal life with God.

And that choice – the choice to be faithful in spiritual things – even as the material wealth of this world will eventually pass away, is the choice Our Lord urges us to make today, even as He called his original Twelve and those who heard Him on the road to Jerusalem so long ago, to choose:

“You cannot serve God and wealth.”

AMEN.


[1] As we are doing in this, the third year – Year C – of our current cycle, making our way through the Gospel according to Luke.
[2] In the same way, liturgical worship “saves” the congregation from a pastor’s temptation to make worship into a one-man show, or to allow worship to be driven by gimmicks or stunts that are meant to be entertainment.
[3] See Luke 12: 13 – 21, read on August 5th.
[4] See Deuteronomy 23: 19 – 20.
[5] A denarius, often quoted in the Gospels, was a coin that equivocated to the average pay for a day laborer’s daily wage.
[6] Verse 12
[7] Verse 8
[8] Surely the enduring nature of the eternal life, versus the passing nature of material wealth and earthly friends, is a key part of Our Lord’s teaching, as well.
[9] Verse 8. This phrase, which seems more at home in John’s Gospel (see John 12: 36), appears only here in Luke, and also in the other two Synotic Gospels (Matthew and Mark).

Sunday, September 16, 2007

16 Pentecost, Year C

"LOVING US INTO THE KINGDOM"
(Sermon text: Luke 15: 1-10)
Proper 19: Exodus 32: 1,7–14 -- Psalm 51 -- I Timothy 1:12–17 -- Luke 15:1–10
Given at Trinity Church’s worship service & picnic, Whippoorwill Club, Mt. Vernon, IL

Back in the days of Disco music (about 30 years ago – I am showing my age!), there was a famous Disco club in New York City. It was very popular. So popular, in fact, that people would line up outside on the sidewalk to try to get in. The club was so exclusive that it sent staff members out to survey the crowd, and would pick only those that were deemed worthy of being allowed in – those that wore nice clothes, were attractive, and so forth – to allow them inside.

That image, the one about being worthy enough to be allowed in, is a good image with which to approach today’s Gospel reading.

“This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them”, Jesus’ critics, the Pharisees and the Scribes, say in today’s reading.

And therein lies a tale: In Our Lord’s day 2,000 years ago, it was quite important – especially to the “religious elite” of His day – with whom one kept company, and with whom one ate. The central reason for this type of scrutiny was that is allowed a person to keep oneself ritually pure.

In fact – as far as ritual purity was concerned - it made an enormous difference what one’s status was.

Some of the causes of being ritually impure,[1] or just being a “religious second class citizen” were accidents of birth: being born a Gentile and not a Jew, being born female and not male, being born with a deformity of some sort, or having a skin disease. [2] All of those things (and others) mattered greatly. They determined – in some cases – whether or not one could worship in the Temple in Jerusalem. They determined whether it was important to learn the mysteries of God as they had been received in the Law of Moses or not.[3]

Other causes of ritual impurity or “second class citizenry” were the result of one’s own actions: being a tax collector,[4] engaging in serious sin (like prostitution, e.g.), and so forth.

And so, the Teachers of the Law, the Chief Priests, Scribes and Pharisees all functioned like staff members of an elite club, reviewing those who would be included for their worthiness, selecting some while shunning others.

The zeal with which the rigorous demands of the Law were maintained eventually became the source of religious pride, and then, hatred, as these “first class” religious figures came to look with disdain on everyone who didn’t measure up to their standards.

But Jesus comes, offering a role reversal:[5] like a staff member, combing the line of eager people seeking entrance into the Kingdom, He walks down the line, passing by those who are well dressed, or who are attractive and trendy. Instead, he seeks out the ugliest, the unfashionably dressed, the shy and socially backward.

Why?

Because Our Lord came to seek out the lost, being willing to ignore the 99 sheep for the sake of the one lost one. That seems to be the thrust of the first parable, the Parable of the Lost Sheep, we hear today: God’s economy is different than ours….What one of us would jeopardize the welfare of the group for the salvation of the one? That’s exactly the way God seems to work….God’s “economy” (the word “economy comes directly from the Greek, where it originally meant “plan), God’s “plan” is different than ours.

And the other parable, heard today,[6] the Parable of the Lost Coin (as it’s often called – which appears only in Luke, by the way) drives home the point of God’s diligent seeking for those who are lost….every corner, every part of the house is scoured until the lost is found.

In the process of this diligent search, God overturns our expectations, reversing the roles, bypassing those who think their own efforts will gain them access into the Kingdom.

For Our Lord knows that the lost sheep cannot find itself, and the lost coin cannot make its way back into the purse.

Without the diligent searching of God, we are helpless to save ourselves, or to find our way into the Kingdom. “You see, just at the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”, St. Paul writes in his Letter to the Romans.[7]

God takes the initiative. In Christ Jesus, God loves us into the Kingdom. Instead of casting an eagle eye on us, seeking to determine who should be kept out, the divine eye looks at us with the perspective that only love can provide, seeing us as human beings – made in the image and likeness of God – dearly beloved and loved by God.

God’s loving us into the Kingdom means changes for us: it changes our relationship with God, changes our hopelessness into new life, changes the way we behave toward God and toward others. It allows us to keep God’s holy laws – the holy life that God calls us to, but now, through our new relationship with God, we have His help in doing so. No longer do we need to try to gain access, and surely not by our own worthiness or our own merits, but by the grace and generosity of God, shown in Jesus Christ.

Simply put: God’s searching for us, and our responding to God’s call, changes us forever. God does not leave us where He found us.

Knowing God’s love for us and His earnest seeking after us ought to fill us with joy! For we are infinitely precious in God’s sight, each and every one of us.

We are the objects of God’s searching for us, and God’s diligent search for us is proof of our value in His sight.

We see the proof of God’s love and estimation of us most clearly in the cross. For on the cross, our Lord Jesus Christ demonstrates His love for us, offering us a way into the Kingdom that we ourselves cannot provide. We are dependent on His gracious invitation.

A prayer in our Book of Common Prayer[8] says all of this quite well….It prays:

“Lord Jesus Christ, you stretched out your arms of love on the hard wood of the cross, that everyone might come within the reach of your saving embrace: So clothe us in your Spirit that we, reaching forth our hand in love, may bring those who do not know you to the knowledge and love of you; for the honor of your Name. Amen.”


[1] John’s Gospel account describes in good detail the concern of the ruling elite for ritual purity in their refusal to enter the courts of Pilate during Jesus’ trial, lest they be made unclean by such association and contact, and thus not be able to observe the High Sabbath of Passover. See John 18: 28ff.
[2] Leprosy, e.g.
[3] Females learned what they knew about the Law of Moses from male family members, generally.
[4] Tax collectors were lumped together with other “sinners” because they were generally Jews who collaborated with the hated Romans. The tax system of 2,000 years ago was prone to fraud and extortion: tax collectors were allowed to collect a certain amount above the actual tax itself, but there were few restraints on being able to extort additional funds beyond the usual amounts due.
[5] Luke’s Gospel account is full of role reversals: the high and mighty being cast down from their seats, and the lowly being raised up. See the Song of Mary, the Magnificat, Luke 1: 52.
[6] These two parables, the Parable of the Lost Sheep and the Parable of the Lost Coin, form parts one and two of a three part trilogy of Parables. The third parable is the Parable of the Prodigal Son, which, unfortunately, we do not read in this current cycle of readings.
[7] Romans 5: 6 – 8 (NIV)
[8] This prayer is a Collect for Mission, found in the Office of Morning Prayer, Rite II, Book of Common Prayer, 1979, p. 101.

Sunday, September 09, 2007

15 Pentecost, Year C

“COUNTING THE COST – LONGTERM”
Proper 18: Deuteronomy 30: 15 – 20 -- Psalm 1 -- Philemon 1 – 20 -- Luke 14: 25 – 33
Given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, IL


Every time I see a report of one of the Marathon races that are being run around the country, I think of the individuals, thousands of them, who train for and enter those races.

I am awestruck by their dedication to the training and preparation that are needed to be able to run 26.2 miles. Some of them are marathoners by profession: that is to say, their whole lives are structured around the central place that running such a grueling race occupies in their lives.

Others, I suspect, are people who set a goal for themselves to run such a race, perhaps as a one-time event in their lives, and then they go about preparing for it, even as they tailor the obligations of family and work together with their running, so as to be able to train for the race.

A marathon race is a good image, I think, with which to unpack Jesus’ difficult sayings, heard in today’s Gospel: “Unless you_____, you cannot be my disciple.”: Our Lord’s words hit us hard in the face, like the “wall” that runners hit when they run a marathon race. The “wall” in a marathon is that place that is reached when the body says, “I want to stop now, I can’t go any further.” Our Lord’s words make us want to stop following Him, to say, “I can’t go any further.”

But Jesus’ teachings, spoken as He makes His way to Jerusalem and to the cross, encourage us to “look higher”, to look at the “big picture” of following Him as we, too, follow Him in the way of the cross.

“Look higher, see the big picture”, Our Lord seems to be saying. Indeed, His words are a hyperbole, a figure of speech whose roots are in the Greek language (HYPER + BOLE = “above + “throw”). Hyperboles are deliberate exaggerations which are intended to shock the listener into seeing a greater reality. Hyperboles encourage us to “get out of the rut” of everyday thinking. To get out of that rut enables us to have the strength to go on, and perhaps that is Jesus’ main reason for teaching us as He does today.

So as we consider what Jesus’ words might have meant to His original hearers, we would also do well to consider what they might have meant to the church to whom Luke was writing. And then, we should consider what they might mean to us, today. (Looking at Gospel texts from this three-way approach is an excellent way to study the four Gospel accounts, by the way.) But first, we should look more closely at the text itself, to determine its key features:


  • “Unless you ______, you cannot be my disciple.”: Occurring three times in the text, this phrase is the heart of the hyperbole. Taken at face value, its demands are impossibly high: “hate your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, even life itself”, he says following the first occurrence of this phrase. And then, as part of the second, we read, whoever does not “bear the cross”, and as part of the third iteration, we see, “give up all your possessions”. The sequence of demands follows the natural progression of discipleship: 1. give up family relationships, 2. take up the sacrifice necessary, and 3. give up everything in the process.

  • Two parables of cost:[1] The first has to do with ridicule and shame: The tower-builder who did not consider the cost “up front” becomes the object of ridicule (Our Lord’s word) and shame (by inference).

The second has to do with images of battle and warfare:

Now, let’s turn to the meaning of Jesus’ teaching, for His original hearers, for the early Church to whom Luke was writing, and then, for us as 21st century Christians today:

Jesus’ original hearers: Context is extremely important whenever we consider a Scriptural text. And, in the case of the Gospel accounts, the context is especially critical to the overall meaning of what we read.

In today’s account, we must remember that Jesus is making His way toward Jerusalem. Already, He has told His disciples what will happen to Him there (see Luke 9: 21 – 22 and 9: 43b – 45, e.g.). Jesus’ cross looms large over today’s text. In fact, for about ten chapters (chapters 9 through 19) of Luke’s Gospel account, the cross is the place to which this part of Luke are moving.

His passion and death seem to be foremost in Jesus’ mind….His words denote the progression of martyrdom, similar to the sequence of the things that must be given up:

  1. family relationships,
  2. accept the sacrifice that is necessary, and
  3. give up all possessions in the process.

Remembering what we know of Our Lord’s suffering and death at Calvary, we can see these themes at work in Jesus’ words, heard today, and in the sequence of events that attended His crucifixion (and, most likely, many of the victims of crucifixion): 1. victims of crucifixion were often disowned by family and friends (to get a sense of this, try picturing yourself explaining that a member of your family or a close friend had been executed); 2. crucified persons sacrificed everything: honor, dignity, and, yes, even life itself; and 3. possessions were lost at the time of crucifixion (remember that Jesus’ remaining possessions were gambled away with the casting of the lots).

Jesus’ way to Calvary has often been characterized as a spiritual battle of colossal proportions: the forces of evil battle to overcome the forces of good.

In essence, then, Jesus seems to be painting a picture of the events that He, Himself, will undergo, leading us by example as He walks the way of the cross.

Luke’s church: By the time Luke was penning out his account, the church had already been through times of ridicule and persecution. Many scholars think Luke was writing in the period around 85 – 90 AD. Some 20 – 25 years earlier, the first persecutions of Christians had taken place in Rome under the Emperor Nero.[2] Tradition tells us that Saints Peter and Paul were martyred at this time. So the church was beginning to live into the matter of forsaking “even life itself” in order to be a disciple.

In addition to those who actually suffered martyrdom, for many in the Church of Luke’s day, there was the more present reality of ridicule and shame….Shunning by neighbors became more common, and family members who did not convert to Christianity disowned family members who did.

So Jesus’ words come to Luke’s church, offering consolation: they were beginning to suffer just as their Lord had already suffered.

Just as He triumphed, so through the merits of His death and resurrection, they, too, would triumph, if only they could see “the big picture”. They, too, could win the battle, if only they could recognize the size and the strength of the spiritual forces that were ready to wage war on the opposing forces.

The church today: We do not live in a world which is characterized by the overt ridicule, shame and struggle that Our Lord faced on Good Friday, or that the early, first century church faced when Luke was penning out his Gospel account. To be sure, in some places in the world, Christians still suffer shame, dishonor and even lose their lives for the sake of Christ.

As modern Americans, the battles we face are far more subtle, though no less real: The shame and ridicule we might encounter is more likely to be characterized as indifference and quizzical looks (“who would anyone want to become a Christian, and give up all this fun” is the more likely response we are apt to face from family and friends).

But the spiritual warfare is waged on the same battleground as it was 2,000 years ago: the temptation to become lazy or careless about our Christian faith and life is as real today as it was back then….the opportunities to engage in destructive behavior are probably as plentiful today as they were in the Roman Empire. Anyone who has become serious about their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ can testify that it is tantamount to pinning a big, fat target on your chest: the forces of evil come, bringing their best methods of spiritual assault with them.

Jesus’ words come crashing in, urging us to “count the cost” of discipleship, and to reorder our priorities in the process. His words exhort us to see the true nature of spiritual warfare by which the people of God are worn down and then, finally, conquered in the battlefield of the heart.

So enable us, dear Lord, to see “the big picture”.

Let us pray:
“Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first He suffered pain, and entered not into glory before He was crucified: Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”[3]



[1] These two parables are found only in Luke.
[2] A bit of history might be in order here: At the time of the Great Fire that destroyed much of the city of Rome (64 AD), Nero attempted to blame the fire on Christians, which subsequently led to the first organized persecutions.
[3] From the Book of Common Prayer, 1979, the Collect for Fridays from the
Office of Morning Prayer, p. 56.

Sunday, September 02, 2007

14 Pentecost, Year C

“STATUS IN THE KINGDOM”
(Proper 17: Ecclesiasticus 10: 7 – 18; Psalm 112; Hebrews 13: 1 – 8; Luke 14: 1, 7 – 14)
Given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, IL

“Wherever it tastes best”…..

“Wherever it tastes best” is my reply whenever I am asked where I would like to sit when going out to eat, or when joining friends or family for a meal.

(Now I apologize in advance if ever I should use this – or any other of my one-liners – on you in the future.)

“Wherever it tastes best”…..The response speaks of a certain amount of self-centeredness, perhaps…It says (in essence), “I’m here to have the best time – and the best meal – I can have, and that’s foremost in my thinking.”

Self-centeredness is a key part of the situation that provoked Jesus’ teaching, heard today….self-centeredness and pride….As the guests arrive at the house of a leader of the Pharisees, Jesus watches as they take their places around the table. No doubt (judging from what Jesus said), they were angling for the most prominent seats at the table.

If the guests were other Pharisees, our minds might well go to one of Jesus’ pronouncements about the Scribes and the Pharisees, the religious leaders of Jesus’ day, when He said, “Beware the teachers of the Law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and love to be greeted in the marketplaces and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets.”[1]

The picture we have of the religious leadership in Palestine 2,000 years ago is not a very good one. Consumed with self-importance, their own prestige, and outward shows of their religion, they were – when we look into their hearts – desperately wicked, for they conspired to kill Jesus on more that one occasion.

But the situation that that ancient leadership fell into is one that could be common to all of us….We shouldn’t be too hard on them, for Jesus’ words are aimed not only at the corrupt leadership of His day, but also at our hearts, which are susceptible to the same corruptions of pride and self-importance.

As we look, then, at today’s text, let’s consider what the setting in first-century Palestine was, and what the implications might be for us, 2,000 years later.

As we begin, we ought to remind ourselves right away that Jesus’ words are not directly strictly to the social conventions of His - or any other - day. Jesus’ words are not the equivalent of social guidance of the sort that Miss Manners might give in the newspaper.

Because Jesus has eternity in view, Jesus’ teaching is directed to the Kingdom of God, God’s overarching plan for saving fallen human beings.

How do we know that Jesus has eternity – God’s “big plan” – in view? The answer can be found in verses 13 and 14: “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 paid at the resurrection of the righteous.” Jesus is speaking of last things, of eschatological things.[2]

Moreover, in Luke’s gospel account, banquets are used as an image for the heavenly banquet, the Kingdom of God.

Miss Manners’ advice aside, we, today, have largely lost sight of the importance which first-century Jews attached to the business of eating. Consider the trouble Jesus got into with His adversaries over issues related to eating: people noticed where He ate (Luke 5: 29), with whom He ate (Luke 5:30), and whether the hands were washed before eating (Luke 7: 44 – 46 & 11: 38). In our age today, we have lost to a large degree the social importance of eating – we are a “fast food” society which has become quite casual about such things.

But if we keep Jesus’ long-range view, the view of the Kingdom of God in mind, and factor into it the importance of the place-settings around the table, then we can come to the conclusion (it seems to me) that what Jesus has to say has broad and deeply importance significance for the nature of God’s kingdom here on earth, and in the age to come.

And it is to the subject of the nature of the Kingdom that we now turn….

Luke’s gospel account is full of role reversals… Consider the Blessed Virgin’s song, the Magnificat: “He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and hath exalted the humble and meek”, she sings.[3]

And here we have another role reversal….Today Jesus says, “For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”[4]

But we have already seen role reversals of the sort Jesus describes before in Luke’s gospel account…Remember our gospel reading from three weeks ago? [5] In it, Jesus tells a parable about the servants who are left alone to care for the household while the master is away. When the master returns, he rewards those servants who are awake and who are taking care of the household by having the servants sit at the table while the master serves them.

Jesus will also pick this theme up again at the Last Supper…Luke tells us[6] that a dispute arose among the disciples about who would be the greatest among them. Jesus responds by saying, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those in authority over them are called benefactors. But not so with you; rather the greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like one who serves. For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.”

“The Kingdom of God has come near you”, Jesus said.[7] Indeed, it has. In fact, it’s already here, present among us this morning, for Jesus said,[8] “The Kingdom of God is within you.”

God’s kingdom comes breaking into our everyday world, altering by its coming our perception of the world and our place in it

The world we live in, characterized by a relentless pursuit of status, importance, meaning and indulgence, is superseded by the coming of the Kingdom.

The Kingdom of God is a radical call to service and to humility. Our Lord served His disciples at the Last Supper, and in His sacrifice on the cross demonstrated His willingness to take the last and most humble place for our salvation, “emptying himself” as Philippians 2: 7 says, in the process.

The Kingdom of God is here, among us, this morning. Its presence is made known in the Holy Eucharist in which we will share in a few minutes. The heavenly banquet comes to us on the altar set before us. The Holy Eucharist is a foretaste of the heavenly banquet which awaits us, as the Lord Himself is really present in the bread and the wine.

As receive the blessed body and precious blood of the Lord, Our Lord’s presence within us transforms us, altering our attitudes and behaviors, that we may serve one another in the name of Christ, and be sent out into the world in service to others in Christ’s name, as well.

That is our calling as Christians. That is the example Our Lord gives us. We are grateful for His invitation to this Holy Table of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. So deliver us, Good Lord, “from the presumption of coming to this table for solace only, and not for strength, for pardon only, and not for renewal.”[9]

AMEN.
[1] Luke 20: 46
[2] The word “eschatology” comes from the Greek word for “last”.
[3] Luke 1: 52
[4] Verse 11
[5] Luke 12: 32 - 40
[6] Luke 22: 24 - 30
[7] Luke 10: 9
[8] Luke 17: 21
[9] Taken from Eucharistic Prayer C, page 372 of the Book of Common Prayer, 1979.