It is good to be among you all again today. If you missed me last year or are surprised by the fact there is a Eucharist today, my name is Brian McVey. Some of you probably know my father, George, through Trump & Trump. All of you know my son, Nathan. On behalf of his family, thank you for that cross you bore welcoming Nathan into your midst! It’s ok. Don’t look so shocked. We love him, but we know him, too! I am a priest serving as rector of the Church of the Advent in Nashville, TN. My family has just finished a two-week vacation in Maine, and we are headed off to Nashville Wednesday, after we take a side trip to Philadelphia to help our daughter move tomorrow and a visit to see Nathan in DC.
I have
served on Episcopal Boards of Directors in two dioceses, so I understand the
challenges facing congregations on the margins, especially in rural areas. Nathan and Michelle have told me you only had
Eucharist twice last year, once on my visit and once on the bishop’s
visit. I have been known to chew out
retired clergy who visit congregations and do not offer Eucharists in place of
Morning Prayer in various counsels of the church, so this is a bit of God reminding me of some of my words in the
past. It's ok to laugh ruefully. I am sure He has done the same to you! But I also understand that faithful people
in such circumstances hunger and thirst for the Eucharist, they yearn to be reminded of God's promises. So, I am enthusiastically willing to
celebrate the Eucharist with you at St. Mark’s, as we give thanks and praise to
God for the work He has done for each of us in Christ Jesus.
Before I
launch off on the sermon, though, I want to thank Michelle for her work making this all
happen. Y’all should thank her for
fending off Nathan’s demand that we celebrate a high Rite 1 Eucharist. Had Nathan won that particular battle, we
would not be using Rite 2 Prayer A. We'd be using Rite 1. Of
course, Michelle knows Nathan much like you and likely steeled herself, with a bit of God's grace, to that
battle!
As I shared
last year, one of the big challenges for me as a visiting preacher is not
knowing the congregation. Sermons, for
me anyway, are far better when the preacher is able to bring God’s Word into
daily life and work. I apologize in
advance, if I do not connect God’s word to your life, but that is my failure
and not God’s. And if I do connect them,
then we all know it is truly from God, because I have not been working with and
counseling you as is usually the case in Episcopal churches.
I will also
tell you ahead of time that I will be preaching the Gospel from the prophet
Zechariah this morning. Some of you may
want a sermon about yokes and light burdens, but I am a big fan of preaching
the Gospel from the Old Testament.
Jesus, in His instructions to His disciples and Apostles, claimed
everything the prophets wrote was about Him.
Because He was raised from the dead, we know His claim is true. And I have noticed that many Episcopal clergy
are loathe to preach on the OT, and many of those who do, preach moralistic
sermons. Be like David, not like
Saul. Be like Jacob, not like Esau. That does no one any good because none of us
can determine to be good, and even those heroes from the OT have some serious
sins plaguing their lives. But about 2/3
of Scripture is Old Testament, so there is a lot we skip when we ignore it.
Our reading
from Zechariah today might have you confused. Probably 90% of Episcopalians would recognize
this passage from the Palm Sunday liturgy.
Good, most of you are nodding.
Each year when we gather to begin Holy Week, we are reminded of this
prophesy in our liturgy. We wave palms
and sing All Glory, Laud, and Honor as we process into the sanctuary. Why, then, are we reading the OT basis on the
Sixth Sunday after Pentecost? Who
thought it was a good idea to kind of repeat the reading?
In truth,
you and I are in the green season of after Pentecost. Nearly half the Church year is spent in this
season. Because its color is green, some
clergy like to remind us it is the growing season of faith, where we dive a bit
deeper into the consequences of Jesus, birth, life, death, resurrection, and
ascension. Some of us might say it
answers the question of What now?
If Christ is truly raised from the dead, as we all proclaim when
baptized and when we celebrate the Eucharist, what does such an event mean for
us?
In this
case, of course, we are more recently reminded of both Pentecost and of Trinity
Sunday. We kick off this season
reminding ourselves that because Jesus has Ascended to the Father, we have been
sent the Advocate. Better still, because
such is the will of the Father, because we welcome Christ as Lord of our lives,
you and I are drawn into that relationship we describe as the Trinity. Oh, I know, none of us will ever experience
the full benefit of being in that relationship with God until He returns or
until He calls us home, but we do get hints.
You and I are called to minister in His name, to represent Him in the
world around us, and God promises that we will be glorified in that work that
intends to glorify God. The world thinks
we think we will be celebrated and praised and blessed as we do this work in
His Name, but because we know our Lord Christ called us to take up our cross
and follow Him, we understand the glory, the blessing, might not come until
later.
One of the
great challenges for those who follow Jesus is the fact that discipleship is
cross-bearing. How many preachers like
to proclaim what we call the prosperity gospel, which is, of course, not good
news, let alone great news. Make no
mistake, there are some big gatherings of people who proclaim that God wants
them to have a mansion and fancy car and healthy bodies and who knows what
else, which is true on a certain level, but then they remind congregants that,
if they do not have a particular blessing they want, it is always because of
their lack of faith. Then they ask for
more money.
You are
laughing, and that’s good, but I hope they are frustrated laughs. I hope that you have been shaped by the liturgy
we use to understand that the true path to glory is through the Cross, that the
true path to blessing is through obedience to God and His instructions to us,
that our ability to keep even the least of His commandments, to use the words
of our collect today, is due to His work and His grace. I dearly hope that your hunger and thirst
which exists for this Eucharist primarily because you know that in this
celebration, we remember His death, we proclaim His Resurrection, and we await
His Coming again. Good, I heard a few
murmurs with me there. Don’t worry, we’ll
all say it again in a few minutes.
Back to
Zechariah, though. Zechariah is one of those places in the Old Testament
prophets that prophesies the coming of Jesus as the Messiah. In fact, it is rather overt in its prophesy,
we would say, so much so that we use it in our liturgy each and every Palm
Sunday. There is, however, an important
teaching in our passage, a passage that helps us see why God’s people were
unable to recognize Messiah when He walked and taught and worked among them. A passage which points us to our own futility
and for the need to understand that God’s ways are not our way and that God can
even overcome our ways.
There is a prophesy
today that should shock and confuse us.
At the end of our appointed reading, God proclaims through the mouth of
the prophet “Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; today I declare
that I will restore to you double.” I
will not ask for a show of hands, but ask yourself which confuses you more, the
idea that God’s people can be prisoners of hope or that God will restore us double,
especially in light of our scoff at the prosperity gospellers a moment ago?
In our
passage today, I hope you see some of the misunderstandings about Messiah and
the root of those misunderstandings. I
am going to hope that you have all heard sermons or read articles how God’s
people had a couple different prevailing understandings of how to spot
Messiah. One image was that of a
conquering war figure. Such figure rode
war horses and commanded armies. Our
Jewish brothers and sisters craved a hero who would cast off the bonds of
oppression belonging to whichever culture was oppressing them at any time. Some even took this understanding to the
supernatural level by insisting that Messiah would have an army of angels at
his back. It makes sense that one would
need supernatural help when fighting a super-power. There were understandings that Elijah would
return and either rule in God’s Name or advise the king about questions of
rule. And then there was the lineage
question. How could a son of David rule,
when others had claimed the throne? Please
understand, I am oversimplifying for brevity’s sake. You and I have all been taught about the
three-fold nature of Christ’s role in salvation history: He is Prophet, Priest,
and King.
We forget,
or we do not know, that a lot of energy was put to figuring out who Messiah
would be and how His reign would come to be.
It was not an academic question to God’s people. They were oppressed. They were the inheritors of God’s promises to
Abraham. How can God be in charge if His
people are allowed to remain enslaved and oppressed? Further muddying the waters were the number
of men claiming to be messiah to the people.
Part of why it is remarkable that Pilate listens to Jesus is the fact
that under Pilate’s reign along, more than 250 false messiahs were put to
death. By the time Pilate meets Jesus of
Nazareth, he has already condemned more than 250 men to death. What makes Jesus special in his eyes?
I share
some of this so that you might begin to understand the prisoner of hope
reference. Israel knew She was God’s
chosen people. Israel knew She would
freed from Her oppressors. Israel knew
there were lots of false prophets, teachers, and even messiahs. How were they to understand God and His plans? Human beings being human beings, they
imagined how they would manage things or how they would accomplish goals and
attributed such ideas to God. Would the
Messiah be a war leader? Would the
Messiah be a prophet? Would the Messiah
rule like other kings around us? Human
beings took their experiences and understandings and created a system of what
to expect, not unlike how Christians have developed a rather complex, and often
disputed, understanding of the eschaton, in spite of Christ’s warning not to
worry about the when and God’s instruction that He will do more than we can ask
or even imagine. This system, or cord,
if you would allow the word nerd pun, is called tiqvah.
Tiqvah is a
word that is usually translated into English as hope, but, as is so often the
case in translating, hope does not fully capture all the nuance of the
word. I told you I made a pun. I know that none of you understood it. But the word literally means a cord made up
of threads. Those who sew will understand
this nuance better, but the idea of a rope will work. You should picture a rope made up of many
twisting fibers. All those fibers contribute
to the strength and utility of the rope; all those fibers or strands are
integral to the function of the rope.
Good, I see nods. We would do
better to realize that our Jewish brothers and sisters had an idea of Messiah that
was made up of various strands. Depending
on their need, depending on their experience, and even depending upon their understanding
of the Exodus and Exile and of the monarchy, they had an expectation of
Messiah. Those sorely oppressed craved
freedom. Those who wanted to be like the
other ANE nations wanted to have a king like other nations. Many wanted God to take charge because He was
the One who promised their ancestors to going with! The consequence was that they were too caught
up in their hopes and expectations, Zechariah would say they were imprisoned,
that many missed Messiah when He walked and taught and worked in their midst.
It drives
some in the Church nuts that Jesus does not give a “straight” answer to the disciples
of John the Baptizer when they ask, on behalf of John, is He the One, or are
they to wait for another. Jesus answers
them straight and clear. What do they
see? What do they hear? They saw and heard the same miracles as those
around them, the same miracles about which you and I read in Scripture. The lame walk; the deaf hear; the dead are
raised—these are signs of the Messiah given by God through His recognized
prophets. How many, though, miss the
signs? Some complain about Jesus’
pedigree because He was not born in a palace.
Some complain about His teaching because He claims authority rather than
building on teachings, the systems, created by those who came before. Some cannot see the proof because they are
blinded by His willingness to speak with, dine with, or acknowledge the marginalized. They are prisoners of hope, because they
cannot see Him when He is among them!
Lest you
think this is a polemic against the Hebrews, they are no different than the
rest of humanity throughout time and the world, including ourselves. What is your best ministry to the world? It’s ok to speak, I asked the question. Awesome!
Everyone is using the same ministry.
How does this ministry work? Cool. How often do you do this work? How many do you serve? Y’all made this too easy for me—I cannot tell
you the number of times I have had to speak against this tiqvah. What is the tiqvah of the world and of many
in churches regarding such work? You are
serving 122 people a month a sit down meal.
Ever heard anyone complain that you are making the recipients lazy? Ever heard anyone complain that you are naïve
and being taken advantage of, that you are enabling grifters? For those of you doing the work faithfully,
have you ever met anyone who did not need the help, who thought your cooking
was a way to get Michelin Star food for free?
Great, tell me about it. What I
am hearing in your example is that some who are lonely come for the fellowship
at that meal? So maybe the meal is doing
more than feeding the food insecure in your midst?
As I asked
questions, though, most of you were nodding.
You have heard those stories. You
have heard that advice and expectation.
How many in the Church are trapped by tiqvah and unable or unwilling to
do the work to which God calls them? How
many are prevented by their own wisdom from devoting themselves to the purposes
of God? Part of your work, whether you recognized
it before now or not, is to serve as a pattern of discipleship even for
them. So, while you are feeding the food
insecure, you accidentally created community and you are serving as witness to
your brothers and sisters in the Church.
How about the world? What do they
see month in and month out, year in and year out? Have you run out of food? Have you run out of energy? Hmmm.
It’s almost as if you really believe that God will provide what you need
to serve others in His Name.
I am going
to stop there because I am sure some backsides are getting sore. You are all out of practice of suffering
through long sermons and teachings. We
can certainly continue the discussion of your ministry after services. But I think most of you see how we can be
seduced and trapped by human wisdom and power just like our spiritual predecessors. And we have the advantage of being born AFTER
Messiah, AFTER His rejection and betrayal, His suffering, His Cross, His death,
His Resurrection, and His Ascension! We
know that He is the Messiah despite the fact that we might wonder at God’s plan
of salvation because of our tiqvah!
Remember
when you were a bit confused by the “restore to you double” promise before you
understood what it meant to be a prisoner of hope? That promise of God, to restore to us double,
is not just a prosperity promise. The double
portion inheritance belonged to the first born son. The first born sone received a double portion
of inheritance for several reasons. One,
of course, was the expectation that he would become the patriarch of the
family. Another was that the first born
son needed the extra portion to care for those for whom he was responsible, be
they widowed mothers, extended family members, or even slaves. God is promising through the words of
Zehcariah today that He will make us all firstborn sons, that we will all
inherit a double portion. In one sense
it is an amazing promise. The make of
all that is, seen and unseen, promises each and every one of us the opportunity
to be treated as a first born son and all that comes with it. In another sense, it seems impossible. Mathematicians would rightly tell us that if we all receive a
double-portion, we are all receiving the same amount, no one is receiving
double. Such would be true were we
trapped by human understanding. How can
we all be treated like first born sons?
How can we all be treated like princes and princess? I cannot tell you. I cannot explain it. But it is His promise.
That
promise is assured by the events that we remember each Palm Sunday. Though He rides on a donkey and is praised by
the crowds, we are fickle. Within days
the crowds will join the chorus of “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!”
As we work our way through Good Friday it will appear that God’s plan
failed. His trusted friends abandoned Him! The women are wracked by grief. Then comes the full extent of God’s
redemption power! Despite all human
wisdom, despite all human knowledge, despite all human effort, God raises Jesus
from the dead! Jesus’ Resurrection reminds
us that God’s ways are not our ways and that His power is exponentially beyond
our own power! He accomplishes that
which we could not accomplish ourselves.
But even as we wrestle with that miracle, much like you wrestled this
morning with the effects of your feeding ministry, so much more is
happening! It is like a gem with glorious
facets. As we turn it in our hands, it
continues to sparkle and cause us to marvel and wonder.
One of
those great sparkles is His promise that those who accepted Christ’s work and
person will be made first born heirs of His kingdom. We know that this is not yet His
kingdom. We know that the riches of this
world are not what He values and what He esteems, even as we understand we will
buy food and drink without money, to paraphrase the words of another prophet. But we know, we absolutely know, that we are
inheritors because we belong to the Messiah, the Christ. God has promised, and God always keeps His
promises, even when things look utterly defeated, even when death seems to be
and claims it is the last word. And
comforted by that reminder, and for today at least, nourished by that pledge in
His Sacrament, you and I are sent forth to do the work He has given each one of
us to do, you in the metropolis called Berkeley Springs and me in Nashville,
but each of us assured that One Glorious Day, we will all share in the
blessings He intended for each one of His sons and daughters when He first
created the heavens and the earth!
In Christ’s Peace,
Brian†
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