7 Pentecost, Year A

“BOUNDARY MARKERS, RITES OF PASSAGE”
Proper 8: Isaiah 2: 10 – 17; Psalm 89: 1 – 4, 15 – 18; Romans 6: 3 – 11; Matthew 10: 34 – 42
A sermon by: The Rev. Gene Tucker. given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, IL; Sunday, June 29th, 2008

Ever think about the major events of your life? You know, the sorts of occurrences that shape us…They might include: school graduations, moves from one town to another, entering the military, getting married, the birth of a child or children, or retirement.

These and many more experiences mold and shape us. They do so because they have a profound effect on our lives, making what follows different from what went before.

I think that’s the definition of a “boundary marker” in life: something that makes what follows an event different from what goes before.

Now, consider the spiritual boundary markers in your life…..

What would those be?

Baptism, perhaps? Certainly, that would be St. Paul’s argument, which we hear in today’s Epistle reading…..(we’ll examine that more closely in a moment).

How about a decision we may have made to follow Christ, or to follow Him more closely. Such a decision may have come as the result of a major crisis in our lives. That was surely the case with my father, who hit “rock bottom” in a hospital in the wee hours of a Sunday morning, when his heart stopped. Following a three hour battle by the doctors and nurses, they were finally able to get his heart restarted, and to keep it going. That following morning, God reached out to my father through the words of his doctor, who said, “Jess, if you want to live, there will have to be some changes.” And changes there were….my dad was a completely different man after his near-death experience. My dad had experienced a “boundary marker”, an event that totally changed what followed from what had preceded his heart attack.

So major crises can evoke such a decision to follow Christ, or to follow Him more closely.

How about a realization that we’re headed in the wrong direction, running away – if you will – as fast as we can from God. Or maybe if we aren’t running, maybe we’re slowly drifting away.

That sort of a realization can prompt a conscious decision to get closer to God.

Keeping in mind this idea of a “boundary marker”, let’s look now at our Gospel reading for today, in which Matthew concludes Jesus’ discourse to the twelve disciples He is about to send out on their first mission trip. (We’ve been following this discourse over the past couple of Sundays.)

Then, let’s see how St. Paul regards the “boundary marker” of baptism, as we look at his explanation of the significance of baptism, which creates a “boundary marker” for our spiritual lives.

Turning now to Matthew’s recalling of Jesus’ discourse, let’s identify the “boundary marker” which constitutes the “rite of passage” for the original twelve disciples, for Matthew’s church (or churches) of the late first century, and for us, modern-day disciples.

That “rite of passage”, the “boundary marker”, is the reference to “taking up one’s cross” and “following me” (verse 38).[1]

Notice the structure of today’s passage:

• All that precedes the reference to the cross has to do with separation and division,
  
  
• All that follows has to do with the good works of the Kingdom of heaven.

The cross is the thing that separates the two.

Jesus’ point seems to be that, to become a disciple, one must take up one’s own cross to follow Him.[2] In the process of taking up our own cross, we die to our former lives, to our former relationships (such as family, which are the focus of Our Lord’s comments heard today), and to everything that mattered before our death to those former things. In other words, the cross forms a “boundary marker” which creates a new reality: Life in Christ, in which Christ becomes the center of our lives.

Christ as the central reality is the theme which St. Paul picks up in Romans, chapter six. For Paul says, “We know that our old self was crucified with him, so that the sinful body might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin.”[3]

And what of the new reality which the “boundary marker” of the cross, what is that new reality? It is the resurrected life that we share in with Christ, as we rise out of the waters of baptism. You see, baptism creates the new reality of full and complete and eternal life in Christ. The waters form the boundary between our old, sinful life, in which we lived, separated from God, before we entered the waters of baptism.

But now, we have crossed the river,[4] and those waters form a boundary through which we cannot return to our former lives. Nor would we want to return, given the vitality of this new life in Christ, when compared to the death-spiral we were in before we died to that old life, burying that old life in the waters of baptism.

But, wait a minute….. As we hear this description of the baptismal process, both physical and theological, we might be tempted to say, “But I don’t remember my baptism! I was a only a baby!”

Baptism loses its significance if we don’t follow up with good training by parents, Godparents, and the church itself. After all, we make solemn promises to God to bring up a child who is baptized to come to know the Lord personally…we ask the parents and Godparents this question, “Will you be responsible for seeing that the child you present is brought up in the Christian faith and life?” (Book of Common Prayer, page 302)

We also ask, a little later (page 302), if the parents and Godparents themselves “turn to Jesus Christ, and accept him as their personal Savior.”

Oh. What we are asking, and what we are promising to God, is that we will make Jesus Christ the very center of our lives…more important than family ties, more important than careers or pastimes or any of the many other distractions that can draw us away from God.

We are saying that Jesus Christ will become the central organizing reality of our lives, the reality that creates new life (which is the central point of baptism, and which St. Paul makes abundantly clear in his explication of it in Romans, chapter six). We are saying we will die to all that came before. Only if we do that, will the relationships we enjoy and the work we do take on new meaning and a new perspective.

This morning’s Gospel calls us to reassess all the major events of our lives. Have those events caused us to take God more seriously and to draw closer to Christ, that He might be the central reality of our lives? Or have those events formed a boundary that has gradually separated us from the Lord Jesus Christ?

Reflect with me this Sunday morning.

Where am I? Closer to God, and seeking to make God the center of my life, or further away and separated by boundaries I myself have created.

AMEN.

___________________________________________

[1] Jesus will repeat these words again in Matthew 16: 24 - 25.
[2] It’s worth noting here that this is the first reference in Matthew to the cross. To date, Jesus has not spoken of His death, nor of the means of His death. The first reference we read in Matthew to Jesus’ suffering and death occurs in 16: 21, and the first reference to the Pharisees’ determination to kill Jesus does not occur until 12: 14. Clearly, Matthew and his church are looking backward at Jesus’ death, and are understanding it in terms of its significance for their lives, and for the lives of the saints (they most likely knew that St. Peter had been crucified upside down some years before).
[3] Romans 6: 6
[4] It’s worth recalling here that the early Church often baptized people in rivers or ponds. The candidates were fully immersed in the water, rising out of the water to new life. Then, following their baptism, they were clothed in a white robe (which is the ancestor of the alb which is worn today), and they exited the river or pond by another route, signifying the separating quality of the water.

6 Pentecost, Year A

“THE FAITH: A PRIVATE TREASURE TO HOARD – OR – A GIFT TO SHARE?”
Proper 7: Jeremiah 20: 7 – 13, Psalm 69: 7 – 10, 16 – 18; Romans 5: 15b – 19, Matthew 10: 16 – 23
A sermon by The Rev. Gene Tucker, given at: Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois; Sunday, June 22nd, 2008


“What I tell you in the dark, utter in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim upon the housetops.”[1]

Our Lord’s words echo down the halls of time.

They strike the ears of the perplexed disciples who are about to be sent out by the Lord into the harvest, that is, to the “lost sheep of Israel”.[2]

They reverberate against the walls of the house church where the church (or churches) that Matthew was addressing in his Gospel text were meeting, challenging those early believers to overcome their fear of the persecution they may well have been suffering at the hands of their spiritual adversaries, the leaders of first century Judaism, that had survived the fall of the Temple.

They goad our thoughts and disturb our souls as we consider what these strange words, which promise hardship, adversity and persecution, might mean for us in 21st century America today.

To strengthen, to goad and to disturb, these seem to be the very goals our Lord has in mind as His words land on our ears and burrow their way into our minds and into our souls.

Jesus’ words seek to remind us that the faith is not a private possession to be hoarded, but a gift from God which is to be shared.

So much for the idea of a “gentle Jesus, meek and mild”…..”Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves…”[3]

So much for the “prosperity gospel” which is preached by so many these days[4]….”they will deliver you up to councils, and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before kings and governors for my sake.”[5]

We are following a Jesus who promises us hardship, rejection, persecution and difficulty.

But we are also following a Jesus who tells us that all that we do in following Him is done with the full knowledge and supervision of the heavenly Father. Remember, Jesus tells us, “You are of more value than many sparrows.”[6] Moreover, “He who endures to the end will be saved.”[7]

You see, Jesus (and His heavenly Father), have the “big picture” in view. Therefore, the temporary trials and troubles that this life inevitably brings with it fade in importance, when eternity is kept in view. That seems to be Jesus’ message of comfort.

But what actions, you might ask, gets Jesus’ followers into the awful circumstances our Lord describes in today’s reading from Matthew? The answer is: sharing the Gospel with others! That is the source of the disciples’ troubles.

In the early Church, simply witnessing to the power of the risen Christ was enough, in many instances, to merit persecution, hardships and even death. Recall with me the many trials that St. Paul enumerates in II Corinthians 11: 24 – 27, which reads, “Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked.”[8]

St. Paul knew, and he would remind us, that the faith is not a private possession which is to be hoarded, but it is a gift from God which is to be shared.

So much for “gentle Jesus, meek and mild”…..“Behold, I send you out…”

So much for the “prosperity gospel.”…“They will drag you before councils…”

Following Jesus can mean difficulty, sacrifice and hardship.

“So openly and forcefully tell everyone what great things the Lord promises to those who love Him”, Jesus says (in effect) today. “What I tell you in the dark, utter in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops.”

We Christian believers of today live in a vastly different world than the one to whom our Lord Jesus first addressed these words, or to the world that St. Paul encountered as he went about sharing the great good news of Jesus Christ, or the world of the ancient part of the Greco-Roman world that Matthew’s church(es) would have known in what is now modern-day Syria.

Jesus, Paul and Matthew lived in a world where troublemakers who upset the power structure of the first century suffered for their faith. Recall our Lord’s passion and death….In part, His sufferings were directly related to His proclaiming that the “Kingdom had come near”,[9] which threatened the powerful ruling elite of His day. Likewise, St. Paul’s sufferings were directly related to the disturbing aspects of his preaching, which upset the conventional wisdom of his day, and challenged Rome’s claim of absolute authority and allegiance. No doubt, Matthew’s church(es) faced much the same situation as they shared their faith in the great Rabbi, Jesus.

Today, we are much more likely to encounter apathy and indifference to the Good News whenever we share what God has done for us as we walk with Him by faith through the course of this life.

Indifference and apathy do not remove the difficulties we face. Indifference and apathy simply create different problems which we must face and overcome, as we follow the Lord’s command and the example the Apostles and the saints of ages past set for us. For they all “proclaimed from the housetops” what had been given them initially in secret.

As I reflect on our situation today, I think the main difficulty we face is the same one that the Matthew’s early church might have faced….we are often unwilling to share the “good news” we ourselves have received. Matthew’s church may have shied away from a public confession of faith in Jesus for fear of persecution. We might tend to do the same for fear of offending someone, or for fear of being labeled as a “Jesus freak”, or worse.

If Matthew’s church(es) might have been tempted to adopt a “fortress mentality” in which the Christian faith was shared only among – and for the benefit of – the small group of believers within the church itself, then we have to admit we can be tempted to adopt the same “fortress mentality”, turning our gaze and attention strictly inward, toward the small group of God’s chosen ones.

This “fortress mentality” is the main enemy we face.

Such a mindset is more prone to be in place during times of change and distress. We live in such a society, such a world, and such a church today….All around us there are signs of major change:

Society is changing, often in ways that aren’t at all positive;[10]


The world is also changing, offering new challenges and difficulties that seem
complex when compared to the problems our ancestors faced.


The church itself is in the midst of what many observers are calling a “new reformation”. Indeed, our own part of the Christian family is deeply troubled, as is the entire Anglican Communion. This summer, the Lambeth Conference will take place in England from mid-July to early August. What does – or does not – occur there may well determine much of the future course of our part of the Christian family for years to come.

Uncertainty abounds: what will society look like in years to come? Will some of the world’s enormous problems find a solution? What will the church look like in the years to come?

We may be tempted to think it’s best to simply “batten down the hatches” in order to ride out the storms we are encountering.

But, I believe, we are called to overcome our fears and unwillingness to look outward. We are called to share the news that God is still in charge, still present with His people.

I also believe that, as we move outward, armed with the power of the Holy Spirit in response to our Lord’s command to “go into all the world”,[11] God will provide the opportunities to share our experience of God, so that receptive hearts will be present in our lives, presenting us with times and places to share what God can do.

How do we do that today? How do we “proclaim from the housetops” what we have heard?

As an answer, the following are offered as possibilities:[12]

"Preach the Gospel, and when necessary, use words”: Put another way, we might say it this way: from the world’s perspective, the people we encounter on our daily lives often have this attitude: “what you are doing speaks so loudly I can’t hear what you are saying.”

People are much more affected by others’ behaviors, much more so than by words. Consider (as a negative example) how many persons in leadership positions – sacred and secular - have lost either their authority or their positions, or both, by actions that undercut their honesty and trustworthiness. “Let your insides match your outsides,”[13] ought to be our motto.

So, simply put, allow the love of God which has been poured into our hearts
radiate to those we encounter. This sort of an attitude and action
goes beyond simply “being nice”. It stems from two realizations:

1. All persons are made in the image and likeness of God, and therefore, are
worthy of love, care and respect.

2. We are called by God to “see others as He sees them”.

"Through many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come”: How many times has God lead us through difficult and trying times or circumstances? Can we recall examples of His leading when changes in life circumstances have come our way?

Such times and experiences can serve as the basis for sharing our own story. Sharing that story can emanate from two places:

1. We are changed in our attitudes and behaviors by the experiences we’ve had, and by God’s leading us through these experiences.

2. We have the basis for sharing in word and deed what God has done for us in times past.

Today’s Gospel text calls us - Our Lord calls us – to examine our attitudes and our behaviors…..Are we hoarding the faith as our own private possession? Or, do we “proclaim from the housetops” in word and by our deeds what great things the Lord has done, and will do, until the end of time?

May it ever be so with God’s people, until the Lord comes again!

AMEN.

_________________________________________________

[1] Matthew 10: 27
[2] Jesus’ reference as we read it in Matthew 10: 6.
[3] Verse 16
[4] The “prosperity gospel”, broadly speaking, asserts that God simply wants to shower His people will all sorts of blessings (quite often material blessings: money, wealth, and possessions). The weakness of the “prosperity gospel” is that it – like so many heresies – emphasizes on aspect of the Christian faith at the expense of other parts of the faith. True and balanced Christian belief recognizes that the way of Jesus Christ often also entails hardship, sacrifice and difficulty.
[5] Verses 17 - 18
[6] Verse 31
[7] Verse 22
[8] New International Version (NIV)
[9] Matthew 10: 7
[10] Think, for example, of the news that broke this week that 17 freshman girls in a high school in Gloucester, Massachusetts had entered into a “pregnancy pact”. This story is evidence of the general decline in behavior and morals that afflicts the times in which we live.
[11] Matthew 29: 19
[12] Based in part on my own faith walk, and also on general observations of others’ faith walk.
[13] I think I heard Bishop Peter Beckwith say this.

5 Pentecost, Year A

“LOOKING BACK, WITH NOSTALGIA AND DETACHMENT?”

Proper 6 -- Exodus 19: 2 – 8a, Psalm 100, Romans 5: 6 – 11, Matthew 9: 35 – 10: 15
A sermon by The Rev. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, IL on Sunday, June 15th, 2008

Ever think about some of the great events in history? Consider the founding of our great country, for example….perhaps a very timely exercise with July 4th on the way, as we consider the Declaration of Independence and the Revolutionary War that followed.

Sometimes, when we look back at great events like these, we may tend to:

1. Look back with nostalgia: Surely, those great people who led us through the great events of the past were different than people are today, we might think. They seem to be smarter, wiser, and tougher, somehow.
   
   
2. Look back with detachment: When read in a history book, the events of the past tend to flatten out, don’t they? Somehow, declaring our independence from Great Britain (to use the event we started out with) seems like such an easy thing to do, doesn’t it? The human drama, the dangers and perils that were associated with the events of July 4th, 1776, seem to fade away, somehow. We seem very detached from the world of the 18th century.

As we look at today’s Gospel, we see that Matthew is also looking back. In fact, all the Gospel writers are looking back at the great events of Jesus’ life, ministry, teaching, death, and resurrection.

They’re all looking back at these great events, but they do not look back with a sense of nostalgia and detachment.

On the contrary, Matthew and the other Gospel writers look back, in order to bring the power of the “Christ event”[1] into the present.

For Matthew, Jesus’ teaching and Jesus’ presence is as real and as powerful as it was in the beginning of Jesus’ ministry and work. There’s no detachment from Jesus’ power. There’s no detachment from Jesus’ presence, for it is in Matthew that we read, “Wherever two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of you,”[2] and “I am with you always, to the close of the age.”[3]

Matthew’s understanding – which is critical to the Church’s understanding of itself, the ministry given to it by Christ, and the continuing power and presence of Christ among the gathered believers – is that our Lord is present with us always, whenever we are gathered together, and until the end of time. The Lord is present with us now, in this worship time when we gather together!

So, there’s no nostalgia and no detachment in Matthew, not at all.

What does Matthew see as he looks back at Jesus’ ministry and teaching? Let’s look at that first. Then, we’ll turn our attention to Jesus’ continuing presence and power for us today, recognizing that Jesus is present with us today in the same way He was with the original twelve disciples, and with Matthew’s church.

Notice, as we turn to the text, these key points:

1. Jesus recognizes and responds to people’s needs: Jesus laments that the children of Israel are “harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”[4] Why was that? Because the leadership of Jesus’ day, the Chief Priest, the Sanhedrin, the Pharisees and the Scribes, had their own self-interest at heart. But they did not have the peoples’ welfare in mind. Power, the acquisition of more power, and the preservation of their own privilege, these were the matters which occupied the minds of the ruling elite in Israel 2,000 years ago.
   
   For Matthew’s infant church, perhaps meeting somewhere in modern day Syria, the contest with what remained of the ruling elite of Jesus’ day (the priestly caste had been largely wiped out in the Jewish – Roman War of 66 – 70 AD) continued unabated. These early Christians had to deal daily with hostile Jewish Pharisees and Scribes, who had survived the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD, and who now were the leaders of Judaism.
   
   
2. Jesus recognizes the need for workers, and then provides them: Notice Jesus’ prayer, “Pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest.”[5] Having uttered this prayer, Jesus immediately answers it Himself, sending out the original twelve into the harvest.
   
   The need for workers for the harvest (a term in Matthew which refers to the final, spiritual harvest when God the Father would gather in all those who had been called into the Kingdom at the end of time – Matthew had the “big picture” in mind!) continued in Matthew’s church….Workers were needed to care for the flock, workers who would work alongside the sheep, not as overlords or masters (Matthew has a very egalitarian view of leadership….see Matthew 23: 1- 12).
   
   
3. A focused ministry: Note that Jesus limits the twelve to the “lost sheep” of Israel. Perhaps this is in keeping with Jesus’ concern for those lost sheep, the harassed and helpless ones He encountered during His earthly ministry. Perhaps He seeks to meet the immediate needs He saw around Him.
   
   By the late first century, Matthew’s church had come to be composed of Jews and Gentiles. By this time, too, the mission field had been widened considerably by our Lord Himself, when He said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.”[6]
   
   But it’s worth remembering that Jesus’ original focus was closely connected to the immediate needs He saw around Him.
   
   
4. Travel lightly: The instructions Jesus gave to those original followers seem strange today….”Take no gold, nor silver, nor copper for your belts, no bag for your journey…”[7] Boiled down to their modern day equivalent, they simply say, “travel lightly”, and “don’t misuse the Gospel for your personal enrichment”.
   
   Perhaps Matthew’s church had to deal with travelling preachers or prophets who came from the Holy Land north (and east-ward) to their church. Perhaps Jesus’ instructions served as a reminder that the body of the faithful were to be wary of those who would seek to fatten their own pockets by claiming to represent Jesus.[8]
   
   
5. You will face rejection: Jesus has no “rose-colored glasses” with which to see the world around Him. After all, He knew His message would eventually stoke the fires of opposition from the ruling elite. Such opposition was, in part, the reason for His passion and death. He also knew that those who carried His message out into the world would also face opposition.
   
   Matthew’s church, no doubt, encountered continuing opposition from the form of Judaism that had survived the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple. Perhaps the opposition came from the cultural descendents of the Pharisees and the Scribes who constituted the opposition Jesus encountered some years before.
   
   
6. “Your ministry is the same one that Jesus had”: Here, we paraphrase Jesus’ instructions to His disciples as He commissions them to go forth, carrying the Good News of the Kingdom. “He gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every infirmity.”[9] Jesus sends his disciples out with the same message and the same work He himself had accomplished. For Jesus has been curing diseases and healing infirmities throughout chapters eight and nine of Matthew’s Gospel account, all the while proclaiming that the Kingdom had “come near”. Jesus now sends His disciples out with the same message, with the same mission, and in His power and His authority (which are connected - in my mind - to His continuing presence).

Some 60 to 70 years later, Matthew’s church is reminded that the works of Jesus will not only match their works, but those travelling prophets and preachers that they may well have been encountering will also have their authority and their fidelity to the Gospel authenticated by the message they preach and the works they do.

Now, in closing, what might we apply to our own Christian lives and walk today? We take our clue from today’s Gospel passage. Perhaps these points are worth considering:

1. See the needs around us, and respond: We live in a world of “harassed and helpless” people, to whom we are called to minister, bringing the Good News of God in Jesus Christ. We are to tell them as the original disciples did, “The Kingdom has come near.”
   
   
2. We are to be the workers today: Just as Jesus promised to be with us “until the close of the age”, we are to be Jesus’ hands to do and Jesus’ heart to love in this day, in this time, and in this place.
   
   
3. Pray and work for good leadership: Times have not changed all that much….the flock of Christ is still required to deal with leaders who seem to have their own self-interest in mind. Remember Matthew’s egalitarian view of the Church, in which the leadership serves by example, fulfilling Christ’s model of servant-leadership.
   
   
4. Some will reject: Essentially, all we are called to be is “seed planters” for the Kingdom, planting the seeds of the Good News. Some who receive the seeds we cast, like the rocky soil in Jesus’ parable,[10] will reject the message. We are still called to be bearers of the Good News, regardless of the response.
   
   
5. Jesus’ works will be our works: Jesus proclaimed the Good News. He pushed back the frontiers of disease and infirmities that made people ritually unclean and rendered them to be outsiders, set apart outside the community. He confronted the powers of evil that were present in His day.

We, too, are called to bring people into communion with God through Jesus Christ, allowing healing to take place that enables relationship with God. We are to counter the forces of evil we encounter in the world today, and we are to tell out the Good News of God in Jesus Christ.

For Jesus’ power and presence are ours today. There’s no nostalgia in our recognition of His presence, and no detachment from His power.

AMEN.

__________________________________________________________

[1] The “Christ event” is a technical term used by scholars to refer to any and every facet of Jesus Christ’s birth, life, teachings, passion, death, resurrection and ascension.
[2] Matthew 18: 20
[3] Matthew 28: 20
[4] Matthew 9: 36
[5] Matthew 9: 38
[6] Matthew 28: 19
[7] Matthew 10: 9
[8] A second century Christian document called the Didache apparently tried to deal with the phenomenon of preachers and travelling evangelists who might be tempted to use the Gospel for their private enrichment. The Didache (11 – 13) states that a travelling preacher is to “be received as the Lord”. If the traveler stays one or two days, he is a genuine servant of the Lord, If, however, the person stays three days, they are to be regarded as a false prophet.
[9] Matthew 10: 1
[10] Matthew 13: 1 - 23

4 Pentecost, Year A

“FOLLOWING THE RULES – OR FOLLOWING THE CALL?”
A sermon by The Rev. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, IL; June 8th, 2008
PROPER 5 --- Hosea 5: 5 – 6: 6; Psalm 50: 7 – 15; Romans 4: 13 – 18; Matthew 9: 9 – 13

“For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Ever since God revealed Himself to us human beings, we, His creatures, have pondered God’s righteousness and holiness. In particular, we’ve wrestled with this central concern:

How can human beings – sinful and unrighteous – relate to God?

People of faith down through the ages have come to at least three basic conclusions in response to that central question, including:

1. Follow the rules! People must meet God’s holy standards, or be rejected,
   
   
2. Follow the rules! Proper worship will be pleasing to God.
   
   
3. God reaches out to us to bring us into proper relationship with Him.

Let’s consider how these three conclusions figure into our Gospel reading today:

Follow the rules! People must meet God’s holy standards, or be rejected: Of course, the picture the Gospels paint of the Scribes and the Pharisees is in keeping with this first concept. “Meet God’s holy standards, or be rejected,” they seem to say. We see it in their comment to Jesus’ disciples, heard today, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” The Pharisees made it a central part of their believing and practice to avoid all sinners. For to associate with sinners (of whom the tax collectors were but one category) was to become “unclean” yourself. Being “unclean” meant exclusion from Temple worship, among other things.

So the Pharisees spent a good deal of time trying to figure out who was “in” and who was “out” as far as God was concerned. And they, themselves, felt sure that they were doing God’s will in doing the sorting.

Follow the rules! Proper worship will be pleasing to God: This approach, too, fits into the practical effects of the Pharisees’ approach: Some categories of persons were forever “unclean”, and therefore, were consigned to the fate of being excluded from God and from God’s people. Temple worship for such persons was impossible. Acceptance into the community of the Chosen People was forbidden. Sometimes, the basis for exclusion was a physical malady or deformity (leprosy, lameness, e.g.). Other times, the basis was an occupation (tax collecting, prostitution, e.g.). A “second class status” was conferred on the basis of gender (women could not participate in Jewish religious life to the extent that men could, e. g.).

Often, the realization that a tremendous gap existed between God’s holiness and man’s sinfulness led to an outward observance of the “rules”, and this approach is characteristic of the Pharisees, who were careful to maintain a scrupulous observance of the minutest details of the Law of Moses. But the net effect was to create a formal, outward observance of the Law, even as their hearts were far from God.

It also smacks of “works righteousness”, that approach to God that says – in essence – “if I work hard enough at following the rules, I’ll curry God’s favor.” Such an attitude permeated not only the daily observance of the 413 laws of Torah, but it affected the exalted place that Temple worship assumed in Jesus’ day.

God seeks human beings out, so as to bring them into a favorable relationship: This is the central message of Jesus Christ. Hear again His words, spoken in reply to the Pharisees, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.” Clearly, our Lord is about the business of seeking sinful people out. Jesus’ approach stands in sharp contrast to the Pharisees’ approach, which sought to keep people out. Jesus seeks to bring them in.

But as we look back into the Old Testament, we see evidence of all three approaches recorded in its pages.

1. Follow the rules! Meeting God’s standards: The Book of Leviticus has as its basis the maintenance of purity before God. Detailed regulations spelled out who was “clean” and who was “unclean”.
   
   
2. Following the rules can lead tto an empty, outward religious observance: Finally, concern with the minute details of “the rules” and with ritual purity led to a focus on proper, liturgical worship that was devoid of any right inclination of the heart toward God. It is against this sort of formal, outward approach which cloaks an inward emptiness that the 8th century prophet Amos speaks when he warned the Israelites of God’s wrath, saying, “I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. But let justice roll down like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!” (Amos 5: 21 – 24, NIV)
   
   
3. God sought people out: The ancient prophets, time and again, reached out with God’s word and God’s favor, seeking to bring the Chosen People into right relationship.

As we reflect on the experience of God’s people in ancient times, it seems like the Pharisees forgot (or perhaps – ignored) some aspects of God’s holiness and God’s activity. For God maintains high standards, but God also reaches out to His people, seeking to bring them back into a proper relationship with Him. He did so through the prophets, time and again. Moreover, the harshest condemnation is reserved for those who simply “go through the motions” of following God, while their hearts are far from Him. Perhaps it was for this reason that Jesus says to them, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.”

Simply put, the Pharisees seem to have concentrated on points #1 and #2, while they forgot point #3 altogether.

Let’s return now to today’s Gospel, and remember the setting in which Jesus’ motivations and actions stand in such contrast to the Pharisees. As we do so, we need to set aside our 21st century notions of social relations, which affect our perceptions of this 1st century encounter.

The pivotal point of the contrast centers around the person of Matthew, the tax collector who was sitting at his tax booth when Jesus’ call came to “follow me.”

Tax collectors in every age and in every society are not the most well regarded or well liked people. In fact, I suspect tax collecting can be a pretty lonely profession, in any age or culture. Certainly, in 1st century Palestine, being a tax collector would limit one’s social contacts, severely so.

For tax collectors were especially despised by observant Jews for a number of reasons, including:

1. They worked as hired agents for the Roman occupation. As such, their work prolonged and perpetuated the hated occupation under which God’s people lived.
   
   
2. The Roman tax system provided that a certain amount of taxes were levied against the people. But the tax collectors made their living by “padding” the amount owed, from which these agents skimmed their portion. It’s easy to see that the system was open to graft and corruption, another source of anger.
   
   
3. In the course of their work, tax collectors associated with Gentiles (the Romans), and so became unclean themselves. To associate with an “unclean” person meant that the person who made contact with tax collectors was also “unclean”.

So for all these reasons, a devout Jew would avoid a tax collector if at all possible.

But Jesus does just the opposite….He walks right up to Matthew and says, “Follow me.” And Matthew does so.

Later on that evening, Matthew hosts a banquet for Jesus, and for other “sinners”. Somehow, the Pharisees see the proceedings and comment on the lamentable lack of judgment Jesus is showing by associating with such notorious people, asking the disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

Quite possibly the kindness that Jesus showed to Matthew was a rarity in Matthew’s life. And, it’s not beyond the realm of possibility that the large number of other tax collectors and sinners who came to be present with Jesus at that evening banquet were there because they’d heard of the actions of this strange man who - instead of shunning and judging Matthew – walked right up and invited Matthew to become a disciple.

You see, Jesus seeks out those who live in the corners of the world, the sinful, the unrighteous, those whom society deems to be beyond redemption.

If we looked squarely into the deepest reaches of our hearts, we’d have to admit that we fall into one or more of those “untouchable” categories ourselves, for all of us are spiritually bankrupt in some way or another. All of us are in need of God’s searching for us, His seeking us out, and His call to “Follow me.”

For all of us fail to meet God’s standards, and we are often prone to thinking that simply “going through the motions” is good enough.

In spite of all that, Jesus has sought us out in baptism, and seeks us still.

Thanks be to God!

AMEN.

3 Pentecost, Year A

“THE WALK WITH THE LORD”
Proper 4: Deuteronomy 11: 18–21, 26–28; Psalm 31; Romans 3: 21–25a, 28; Matthew 7: 21–27
A sermon by The Rev. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, IL.

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.”

This morning, we hear yet another harsh statement from our Lord. It hits us in the face with the sting we might feel if a branch whipped across our face as we walk through the woods.

Perhaps that was Jesus’ intention: to wake up his calloused, indifferent Jewish audience.

It could have been Matthew’s intention, as he recorded these words of Jesus, as well.

Surely, these words are a “wake-up call” to God’s people.

They call us to examine every area of our lives, and to ask some difficult questions: They all have to do with the inclination of our hearts.

• What is the inclination of my heart toward God?
• What is the inclination of my heart when I am present for worship?
• What is the intention with which I do the things I do everyday?

And, most importantly, how does my inner disposition connect with my outer actions?

So, let’s turn out attention to Matthew’s text this morning, and then we may draw some conclusions from Jesus’ teaching.

We should remind ourselves that we are in the very last part of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. For nearly three full chapters, beginning with the Beatitudes in chapter five, Jesus has been turning the conventional religious world of first century Judaism on its head. For example, He reverses almost all conventional understandings of the way the world works.

Consider this example from the Beatitudes: “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth,” Jesus says. (Matthew 5: 5) But our response to this statement might well be, “No, the meek get stomped on by the powerful, and all they inherit is six feet of earth when they die.”

You see, that’s the way that the world worked way back in Jesus’ time, too….The weak and the meek got trampled, either by the Romans, or by the power structure of Jesus’ day, or by economics, or whatever other forces we might name.

Or consider this example: To the issue of religious worship, Jesus says we should practice our piety in secret. Listen to these words of Jesus, “Beware of practicing your piety before men in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 6: 1)

“But wait a minute”, Jesus’ hearers might have said as these words fell from Jesus’ mouth. “Wait a minute,” they might have retorted, “Temple worship is all about a public display of our love for God.” (After all, Temple worship in Jesus’ day was essentially liturgical worship. The form of the service and the activities that took place there were organized events that followed a pattern, time after time.)

How about this example? Jesus raises the standard of behavior, linking inner thoughts and desires to outward actions. Hear these words, “You have heard that it was said to the men of old, ‘You shall not kill; and whoever kills shall be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that every one who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment.” (Matthew 6: 21 – 22)

You see, Jesus was speaking to an audience whose religious practices observed all the right, outward forms and actions. In fact, the Rabbis of Jesus’ day spent hours and hours debating such minute details as how far a person could walk on the Sabbath day, or what sort of activities they might do that day. Life in its totality was methodically examined down to the last detail, so as to apply the Law of Moses to every aspect of daily life.

The Rabbis had a term for this view of God’s will and its focus on daily life. It comes from the Hebrew verb meaning “to walk”, and is called halakah. Halakah literally means something like, “the way” or “walk” with God.

Halakah is very practical in its focus. It seeks to take the worship and love of God out of the realm of the heavenly and bring it squarely into the earthly. It seeks to focus on the physical, so as to be able to apply the spiritual.

Matthew, in his Gospel account, follows this tradition quite closely. That shouldn’t be surprising, given that Matthew was most likely a Jew, writing to a church that was composed at least partly of Jews who had become followers of the great Rabbi, Jesus (for that is how Matthew portrays Jesus). Moreover, Matthew seems to be locked in deep combat with the Jewish establishment that existed in his own time, possibly late in the first century.

Apparently, not much had changed in the 60 or so years since Jesus attacked the Scribes and the Pharisees, for though the Temple and its priestly caste was gone following the Jewish – Roman War (66 – 70 AD), these two groups, the Scribes and the Pharisees remained. And Matthew might have seen the same disconnect between the inner inclinations of the heart and the outward actions that Jesus did.

But we shouldn’t be too hard on the Scribes, the Pharisees, and the priestly caste who took such harsh criticism from our Lord. You see, all people, in every time and in every place, are subject to the same temptations these groups were subject to.

That temptation is to begin to focus on the concrete, objective aspects of religious worship and in everyday life, at the expense of the inner life and walk with God.

Then, worship becomes disconnected from life. Ritual practices take on an importance and a life of their own. The focus falls on the rules which govern worship, and the beauty of it, rather than on God.

But, you see, the forms of worship, the rules which govern it, and the beauty of it are all meant to point beyond themselves to allow us to see God in these outward forms.

But how can we avoid this pitfall in our own walk with God, and in our worship of God?

For the answer, let us return to Matthew for a moment. Notice Jesus’ comment, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’….” Implicit in the title with which Jesus is addressed is belief in Him. To call someone “Lord” in Jesus’ day was to acknowledge that person as a great teacher (again, Matthew’s portrayal of Jesus), and it was also a title which was applied to God. And so, in this title, we hear both meanings, I think, and belief in Jesus as Lord seems to be clearly intended.

Matthew does not ignore the issue of belief. It’s implicit in his entire Gospel account.

What Matthew seeks to do is to connect outward observance with inner belief and disposition toward God.

For Jesus seems to link a personal relationship with Him as a prerequisite for right action. He says, “I never knew you, depart from me, you evildoers.” (Matthew 7: 23) Those who claimed to be doing all the right things, even in Jesus’ name, didn’t have a real relationship with the Lord they claimed to be following!

When we hear the phrase “personal relationship” when it is applied to personally knowing Christ, we might be tempted to think of John’s Gospel account. For John emphasizes the spiritual aspects of knowing God, while Matthew emphasizes the daily, practical, walk with God.

Much of the Christian family makes such a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus the focus of its teaching and preaching. We must be “born again”, they say. Such an emphasis draws heavily on John’s Gospel, for the phase “born again” appears in Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus, John, chapter three.

On the other hand, much of the Christian family, by contrast, focuses on the practical, everyday duties of living the Christian life. This focus seeks to do good works, acts of love and charity toward others, particularly those in any need or trouble.

But each Gospel account contains both elements, even if the focus of John differs from the focus in Matthew.

A genuine, deep, and personal relationship with God through the person and work of Jesus Christ is the foundation for all that we do and for all of our worship. Matthew would affirm that, I feel safe in saying. John would also affirm that, for he records Jesus’ teachings that often mention “doing the will of my Father in heaven,” or “keep my commandments.”

A final comment: We Christians who worship in the liturgical tradition can be particularly prone to the same religious disease that Jesus confronted in His own day….we can become outward observers of correct and proper liturgical worship. Don’t get me wrong, liturgical worship and particularly its beauty is a great gift that we have inherited, and a rich legacy that we can share with other Christians whose worship practices would be greatly enriched by sharing in this treasure that comes down to us from the early centuries of the Christian community.

But, we must pray for God’s Holy Spirit to assist us in our inner dispositions, for we cannot pull ourselves up by our own religious bootstraps through our own actions and deeds to gain God’s favor. No, you see, the truth is that we be so easily fooled into thinking that all the right, outward stuff will earn us some favor with God.

The exact opposite is true: lowliness of heart, and an understanding that we are entirely dependent on God’s ability to cleanse our hearts of impure motivations is the starting place for being able to genuinely please God, and to do those things that are good to be doing, that will be fully pleasing to God.

May the Holy Spirit open our eyes, cleanse our hearts, and direct our paths, that we may serve God with pure intent and with acts that are pleasing to Him.

AMEN.