In Whose image?

      It is that time of year when we Episcopal churches lean into our budgeting program or stewardship, and people begin to complain that all any churches care about are money.  If you are visiting today, I remind us repeatedly throughout the year that we are called to be good stewards of all with which God has entrusted us, but we do have to spend a bit of time planning for next year, 2027.  There are buildings to be maintained, a big yard to be mowed, utilities and salaries to be paid, and ministries to be supported.  This year, because of the timing, we also have the extra reminder that stewardship includes our vote.  God has planted us in this nation, in this community, and we have a thankful obligation to Him to cast our votes for those leaders who will govern us as He calls them to govern.

     Our passage from Matthew takes place after Jesus has told the parables of the two sons and the wicked tenants.  For their part, the leadership in Israel has figured out that Jesus is not pleased that they ignore God’s instruction about how they are to live in the world.  To be sure, the leadership can mouth the words, but they do not live the life to which God calls all of His sons and daughters.  As a result of Jesus’ teaching and preaching, they are enraged at Jesus and want to put Him to death.  Were Jesus only a fun-loving hippie, no one would want to kill Him, let alone crucify Him.  When He describes them as white-washed tombs or wicked servants, they get really upset.  After all, they want those around them to think highly of them, right?

     Today is interesting because the Pharisees send their disciples along with the Herodians to entrap Jesus.  There are a couple things we need to understand.  The first is the unlikelihood that Pharisees and Herodians would ever work together.  We think we live in a divided nation.  Some of us think that those of other political parties are an enemy to be defeated.  To be sure, we have dehumanizing language that we cavalierly drop in our political discourse.  But we are not an occupied land.  Like it or not, other Americans govern us at every level.  Americans run the federal government; Americans govern the state in which we live; Americans govern Nashville; Americans even govern Oak Hill or whatever section or community from which we hail.

     At this time in Matthew’s Gospel, Rome rules Judea.  Rome has brought in soldiers, companies made up mostly of their own ethnic enemies, in order to make sure that nobody gets too out of hand.  As we will see in the next few weeks, the distance between a life of ministry and death on a cross in not particularly far.  Most subjected or oppressed people hate their conquerers, so most rank and file Jews longed for a messiah that would cast off the Roman oppressors.  One group which liked the oppressors, though, were the Herodians.  Herod had famously and successfully bribed Caesar so that he could be named king.  Yes, Herod was answerable to the Governor appointed by Caesar, but he had some limited autonomy which allowed him to recoup the bribes he had paid Caesar.

     All of that is to say that the Pharisees and the Herodians were not known for their ability or willingness to compromise.  The Pharisees resented the Herodians for conspiring with Rome, and the Herodians did not care much for the Pharisees’ unwillingness to live in the world in which they found themselves, namely in service to Rome.  The fact that they came together to speak with Jesus would have set off the alarm bells of many Jews.

     The second understanding we need is that of the tax which will be the subject of these short verses.  Specifically, the tax being discussed in the so-called “Head tax.”  Rome collected a denarius from everyone in the empire.  A denarius equaled a day’s wage.  The money that was raised by this head tax was then used to pay the salaries of the soldiers stationed in the area.  Now, I have reminded you already that Rome brought in ethnic enemies of the Hebrews to patrol and keep the peace in Judea.  So, this tax was rather despised.  The conquered people paid the tax that was then put to the salaries of the soldiers who were used in their oppression.  Everyone understand the psychological game Rome was playing?  Good.  By the way, if the oppressing soldiers were not being paid for their work, what do you think their attitude would be to those whom they were patrolling?  That’s right, not very good.  There was no “to protect and to serve” in their esprit de corps.  They wanted their money, and their ethnic enemies were responsible for paying them.  You can imagine how those interactions went.

     One final note is a reminder.  Everyone understands that one had to pay for sacrifices with Temple shekels, right?  The only currency accepted by the leadership was the Temple currency.  Some of us might remember Jesus’ attitude about the bankers set up in the Temple.  Those of us who traveled in the dark ages might remember that the worst conversion rates were from the money changers at the airports.  The Temple moneychangers did not take a back seat to that gouging.  In fact, Jesus’ criticism of them as He flips their tables is that they have made the worship of God burdensome for His people.  All that is to say that the more the traditional the individual, the less likely they were to accept the currencies of the world in their midst.  Some experts argue that money changers could conduct their business from the Court of the Gentiles outward, but I do not believe we can be certain where the line was drawn for this encounter.

     The attempted trap is a question that follows a lot of flattery, “Is it lawful to pay tax to the emperor, or not?”  A fight raged among the controlling parties as to whether the tax was immoral and part of idol worship or just the cost of doing business.  The Herodians fell into the latter camp because they were the ones licensed to do business in Judea by the emperor.  The Pharisees were likely the ones most consistently opposed to paying taxes because they followed the torah given to Moses by God.  Political parties being political parties, I suspect these boundaries were not etched in stone.  And I expect that other groups switched sides depending upon the sentiment of the people and other self-interest considerations, much as there is little difference between the modern democratic party and republican party.  Members of both parties work today for their own enrichment and that of the families rather than the benefit of those who elect them, right?

     The trap is laid with the understanding that if the rabbi says yes, the Pharisees can denounce Jesus.  Similarly, if Jesus says the tax is immoral, the Herodians can appeal to their Roman overlords with the claim that Jesus is an insurrectionist and will lead the people into rebellion.

     Unfortunately for those springing the trap, Jesus is not just a rabbi, a teacher, as they diminuize Him in the eyes of the crowd.  The people think Jesus a prophet and hope He is the Messiah, and they are closer to understanding His identity than the leadership which should recognize the signs He has done as those of Messiah.  Jesus calls them out for being hypocrites.  A wise Pharisee or Herodian might have thought better of the trap at that point, but Jesus plays along and asks them to show Him the coin used for the tax.

     I have just reminded you about attitudes toward the non-Temple coins.  The audience does not need that reminder.  So imagine their surprise when the coin is produced quickly by those claiming to lead Israel.  To use easy language, they would appear as true hypocrites in the eyes of those who witnessed this exchange in the Temple!  They are carrying coins that signify idolatry in the Temple!  What do I mean.

     I have already reminded you that the head tax was a denarius.  The denarius was a Roman coin and stamped with the image of Caesar on it.  Often there were inscriptions.  Think of our coins with presidential profiles and mottos.  Inscribed on the coin was a phrase something like Caesar Augustus, of Caesar, Son of God.  You all have suffered through nerdy details during my tenure, but that one should ring a bell.  Euangelion and Son of God were words that were as much a political polemic as a theological truth in the ANE.  Caesars claimed to be the sons of gods and, therefore gods themselves.  That is on the coin the trappers lay for Jesus in the Temple.  See the problem . . . for them?

     In case anyone misses the coin, Jesus asks them whose head and whose title in on the coin.  They answer truthfully that it is Caesar’s.  Jesus calmly responds “Give to the emperor the things from the emperor and to God the things that are God.”  Notice the brilliance of the answer.  Who stamped the coin, put it in circulation, set the salary of the occupiers, and determined the tax collection?  That’s right!  Caesar.  Caesar created this, so give it to him.  Some Christians in history and today like to argue that they do not have to pay immoral taxes.  Interestingly, they get to determine what is immoral or moral.  Scripture reminds us again and again to pray for those in authority where God plants us.  We do it not because we agree with them or to justify their actions, but just to be good citizens and so it will go well with us.

     We are fortunate that God planted us in the United States, right?  We change our ruling officials by casting a vote.  That, of course, brings us to one of the big Stewardship teachings today.  Part of our stewardship is voting.  We are placed in a country by God that governs itself through elections.  We are called to cast votes for those individuals whose manner of governing best represents the character of Jesus as a thank offering to God for where He chose to place us.  Some of us may argue that our votes do not count.  Individually one vote may seem insignificant.  But what if we Christians voted as if we were stewarding the government of the land in which we are placed?  What would be the result in national elections?  State elections?  Local elections?  I know, I know, it is an uncomfortable question.  In America Christians tend to value, dare I say worship, things other than God when placing a vote, right?  That is not our calling as His sons and daughters, and we are reminded as we consider His teaching today.

     I know a few of us are wondering internally if that claim is too much, that God is concerned about things other than who governs.  But look at Jesus’ answer again.  What do we give to God?  That’s right, the things of God.  What are the things of God?  Ouch.  I know.  That’s the nub of this teaching.  Who created us in His image?  That’s right, God.  Who created the earth upon which we live?  That’s right, God!  Who created the ecosystems in which we live?  That’s right, God!  Are we beginning to see a pattern?  God made everything, so what do we steward for Him?  That’s right, everything!  That means all that is is His!  Our passions, our strengths, who we are were all created by Him.  But so was the world in which we live.  Even Caesar.

     The call on our lives is that we offer everything to God.  We model that giving each time we gather to celebrate what He has done for us in Christ Jesus.  You know this, even if you have forgotten it.  We present to God gifts of Creation in the bead and the wine and, at Advent, our financial benefits.  We remind ourselves intentionally that He gives us our daily bread.  What do we really offer to God that is not God’s already?  Our sacrifice of what?  That’s right, a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving!  We offer our very selves, our souls and bodies, in service of Him because He has redeemed us in Christ!  He did the heavy lifting that we could not.  And so we offer praise and thanksgiving, which if we think about it is not a huge sacrifice, for our creation, preservation, and redemption.  We may say these words over and over and never stop to think what we mean by them, but we say them, trusting that the Holy Spirit will give us better understanding about the meaning and transform our hearts and minds to live them.

     On some level the trappers understood this.  None of you have had the expression of a light bulb going off at anything I have said.  God’s truth is enshrined in our literature, constantly sprinkled throughout Scripture, and, at least for us Episcopalians, a major subject in the fall.  I simply reminded you of things you may have forgotten, as Jesus did those who sought to trap Him.  Such is the enmity of the world, of the human heart, that the reminder of these truths are incredibly dangerous.  For now, they go away amazed, leaving Him to continue His teaching in the Temple.  But the time is at hand when they will put Him to death for demanding that kind of allegiance from those who claim to worship God.

     But to remind us of His power and His will we know that their betrayal and His death is not the last word, that His Resurrection demonstrates to us the power of God to redeem all things in our lives, that only He is worthy of what He instructs of us, that only He was willing to pay the price for all those under His authority, that only He is truly deserving of our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving which we offer during worship and during our work out there.

     In the coming weeks, John and other volunteers will lead us intentionally into the season we call stewardship.  Some of that talk will be boring.  Who cares about salaries?  About utilities?  About lawn care?  About HVACs?  Other discussions will remind us of the lofty purposes of God.  How can we glorify Him more in our feeding of those who hunger?  How can we glorify Him more in our care of those with no home?  How can we glorify Him more as we seek to proclaim His healing in bodies and minds?  Perhaps we will even speak of vision.  Is God calling us, or a significant portion of us, to other works which glorify Him, that the world might be reminded yet again of His purpose and power?  I encourage you to listen to those discussions and testimonies and to attune yourselves to Him, prayerfully considering what He is calling you and all of us around you to do.

In His power and promises,

Brian+

On Hilda and trust . . .

      If you are visiting with us today and wondering at the white and gold, it is the Anglican tradition that this is a celebration of the promises made to Hilda by God being fulfilled.  The Paschal Candle is always lit at the funeral of one who has been baptized into Christ’s death and promised an inheritance in His Resurrection.  Likewise, the white and gold reminds us of the fact that she is now with the Lord, waiting until His return and making those sad things untrue, as CS Lewis famously wrote.  There are other signs, and many are encouraged in your Orders of Worship.  Feel free to ask an Adventer or me about any after the service.

     That celebration is not to say we are not mourning with her family at the loss of Hilda.  Though Hilda was a private woman, she had good friends at Advent and participated in a number of ministries.  She had a heart for those suffering in the world, so it was appropriate that the food pantry continued its work even as we shared our stories about Hilda before the service in the Parish Hall.  Hilda also served several years as one of our youth teachers, sharing her faith and love with what is now an adult generation.

     I was asked by a couple astute Adventers if Rosemary and I conspired to use last week’s Isaiah 25 reading to jump start a sermon today.  Rosemary will attest that neither of us were looking that far ahead when we met about the readings.  Our funeral service gives us a lot of opportunity for personal touches, and one of the better ways to personalize services is through the choices of readings and hymns.  I entourage individuals to plan their services in advance of their deaths as a last testimony.  Failing that, though, I encourage families to choose those readings that are important to them or their loved one.

     The feast on the Holy Mountain provided by God and prophesied by Isaiah is certainly a wonderful passage.  God promises that on that Glorious Day He will swallow the shroud of death that has covered His people and provide a feast of sumptuous foods, well-strained wine, and great desserts.  Those who are expecting a McMansion in an agreeable HOA in the sky might be surprised by the imagery, but God is rather insistent that He calls all of us to the Wedding Feast and that our job is to invite others in His Name.

     For my part today, I was drawn to our reading in John.  I was drawn to a word study, of sorts.  That part made sense to me since Hilda and a number of the family are wordsmiths.  Many of them enjoy good books and good poetry, but not all of us gathered here today do.  It also seemed a bit weird, as I would expect God to want me to focus on the promises made to Hilda and all who proclaim Him as Lord.  Part of the problem, I confess, was that I was really struggling with the illustration for the sermon.  I have learned over more than two decades of doing this that God always shows up, even though I wish He would sometimes make it clearer sooner.  Today the sermon made sense to me just after 10:30.  Her son shared the story in the Parish Hall that helped illustrate what I thought God had taught Hilda, what Hilda shared with those whom she loved, and what we were supposed to realize today. So thank you for sharing that story with those of gathered.

     Our passage from John’s Gospel comes from what theologians describe as  the Farewell Discourse of John.  What we think of the Eucharist has been instituted; Jesus has predicted His betrayal by one of them whose feet He has washed; Peter has famously pledged his loyalty only to hear his Lord prophesy that he, too, will betray Jesus; He has foretold His departure; and He has commanded His Apostles and disciples to love one another.  We, of course, know how this story will end.  His betrayal will lead to a false conviction by the Sanhedrin, His Crucifixion and Death on Good Friday, and His Resurrection that first Sunday.  His Apostles and disciples, however, have no understanding of all that, despite His instructions to that effect.  All they understand is that He seems serious that He is going to leave them, and they are understandably unhappy at the prospect.

     Jesus tells them in the midst of their concern not to worry, that He goes to prepare a place for them, and that He will return for them.  Better still, Jesus reassures them that they know the way to the place He is going.  Thomas protests that they do not know where He is going and that, because they do not know His destination, they cannot possibly follow.  We all understand Thomas’ complaint.  We need addresses to put into Waze and other map Apps, right?  Jesus reminds them what they have seen, what they have experienced, and what they have learned during their time with Him, that He is the way, the truth, and the life.  It’s that reminder that serves for the basis of them having no worry and an understanding of who He is, particularly on the other side of His death.

     Twice in verse one, Jesus tells His disciples and us to believe in God and to believe in Him.  The Greek word, pistuete, is usually translated as belief or faith.  Often, as our translators render it in the passage today, this verb form is treated as an imperative verb, a command.  It can just as easily, however, be an indicative verb reminding the disciples that they believe in Him and need to keep believing in Him.  The problem for us in English is that we think of faith or belief as a kind of theoretical acceptance.  That command to believe in Him nudges us to that intellectual assent understanding, almost like we force ourselves to accept certain principles or maybe the Creeds.  

     Jesus reminds His disciples and us, however, of those works that He has done which have attracted them and us to Him, which testify to who He is.  They know, perhaps even better than us, Jesus’ love of the hungry, the poor, the hurting, and the outcasts, because they have lived it.  They have seen the lepers healed.  They have seen His anger at death and His power to overcome it.  They have seen Him exercise His authority in the Temple and on the Sabbath.  Thinking of believing in Him as simply an intellectual assent misses His instruction.  Some of us, like Hilda, have that same draw to those whom God loved.  It is in that work we begin to experience God’s love of those on the margins and His power to redeem all things, even sinful human beings such as ourselves.  So, how do we translate that verb better, so that we understand Jesus’ instruction or observation?

     Thankfully, James shared that when they were younger, Hilda bought a Volkswagen bus.  The bus that she purchased lacked the middle bench.  So Hilda had a bench running from the driver seat to just in front of what should have been the third bench.  Then she had a table put in there.  Apparently, the kids used the table for homework and, during trips, for games.  I know, I know.  Those of younger generations would be appalled.  No anchored captains chairs?  No seat belts?  A table just sitting in the van?  No way to anchor youth seats?  Some of us here today are old enough to remember when there were not such things as baby seats and youth seats, right?

     James shared that the kids would claim their seats, as children of any generation are wont to do, and he would often sit on that Hilda-installed bench.  Now, I know a lot of the family and their friends are in the medical world.  As traumatized as the younger doctors might be at this arrangement, keep in mind the Hilda-bench ran the length of the driver’s side of the VW bus.  You know what that means?  If mom or dad took the corners like Mario Andretti, the bench would tilt.  An unsuspecting passenger might be thrown from the bench, much to the amusement of those others in the bus with them.  I am certain that none of these angelic children that Hilda raised ever put a friend on that bench hoping to see them freaked out by the wobble later, right?  lol

     James shared that a few friends might have been tossed about, but it became his preferred seat, tipping and all.  And, as you might imagine, the lightbulb went off in my head.  When some of us were children, we did things that kind of defied common sense.  We rode in the back of pickup trucks.  On the highway.  We rode our bicycles without helmets.  We played lawn darts.  We even placed benches facing the wrong direction and unanchored in VW buses and rode around on those seats.  The youth of today marvel that we survived, and some of us probably do marvel ourselves at some of the things we did.  But some of us were blessed to be raised by parents whom we could trust.  My guess is that the kids knew when mom or dad might be a bit angry or a bit rushed and hung on a bit stronger to the bench.  Most of the time, though, those who could trust their parents had no reason to think of such an arrangement as anything but a solution to a missing bench.  It did not occur to us that drivers like those we encounter on the roads in Nashville could get a driver’s license.  Mom and dad were in command of the vehicle, and they would keep us safe.  And now you know the good practical way to understand pistuete, trust.

     Just as the kids trusted mom and dad to get them safely from destination to destination, Jesus is reminding His disciples that they have trusted in Him and should continue to trust Him.  Has He ever failed them?  No.  Has He ever abandoned them?  No.  As these next events unfold, they need to remember those experiences and continue to trust He is who they think He is, that He is the Christ, the Messiah, sent by the Father for the redemption of the world. Just as He always has, He will get them where they are going!

     You and I live in an equally crazy world.  We all laughed as I mentioned how the youth today perceive such actions from our own childhood.  How could we be so naive?  It is worse in their family because so many are doctors.  They are, by and large, intelligent risk averse people, and they understand better the possible injuries.  And, yet, they rode around in that bus confident that mom or dad would get them to their destination safely.  In some ways, it was a different world, but Hilda was a mom who demonstrated her character to her children constantly.  It probably never occurred to her or them that there was any danger.  Better still, as Hilda faced those crazy turns and potholes in the experience we call life, she continued to trust in the Lord who demonstrated the character of her Father in Heaven who created her and who longed to draw the world back to Himself in that intimate relationship for which He created us all back in the Garden.  And she modeled that behavior for her own family and for her friends.  Like her kids on the turns or bumps in the road, she trusted that He would see her through her trials, her mournings, and her celebrations.  And she passed that trust on to her children as well as those who counted her a friend.  And now we celebrate that she is with her Lord who has always proved Himself trustworthy, confident that He has proven Himself most trustworthy as that shroud covered her.

     In fact, even as we mourn her death with the family, we know our Lord has taken her to where He is, where now she joins the great cloud of witnesses and makes intercessions on behalf of all whom she knows, but especially for those whom she loved.  Now, I do caution the family that, if they receive another e-mailed petition purportedly from her for them to sign that it most likely belongs in the trash bin on your computers.  Sorry, that is a bit of an inside joke for them.  But we remind ourselves even as we mourn that she partakes of the Feast of which this bread and this wine is just an appetizer, a pledge of our own inheritance.  We remind ourselves that, when we pass from glory to glory as Hilda did, that same trustworthy Jesus will take us where He and all the saints are, until that time when He swallows up the shroud that covers humanity and serves the Feast that He promised to Isaiah.  Best of all, we remind ourselves that as we travel our own bumpy and curvy roads of life, that same Jesus will prove Himself trustworthy again and again, that we might become heralds of His Peace, His Joy, and His promise to unmake all that is sad, just as our beloved Hilda did in her life.

In His Promises,

Brian+

On the Feast!

      I know, I know, there was a bit of a push on social media late in the week  to “re-consider” the parable of Jesus in Matthew’s Gospel today.  People were sharing “edgy” takes or interpretations that made them feel better about the parable.  Rather than spending our time going through some of those interpretations and, in several instances, reminding us that the author “who came up with the new interpretation” was not the first to try and interpret the parable that way.  More importantly, we remind ourselves that we have almost 2000 years of Church tradition regarding the Scriptures.  Is it possible someone today will come up with a better interpretation of any Scripture?  Possibly, but unlikely.  We are far more likely to discover a nuanced interpretation that causes us all to think, but the chances of a new creation are not particularly high, given the fact that the Apostles taught what Jesus taught them and we have a chunk of that in the early writings.

     I spent most of my week doing a different deep dive.  Let’s just get it out there that I am pretty sure I do not have an original thought today regarding the passage from Isaiah.  My illustrations are my own, but that’s it.  Had it been left up to me, I would have preached a political science sermon.  A couple commentators piqued my interest complaining that God’s people were more concerned about rabbinical teachings than God’s teachings.  The political science nerd in me was all about raising his hand to say something.  A number of Americans self-describe as Christians, a significant minority, but how many of us resort to Hume and Locke when it comes to questions about rights rather than God?  What is unfortunate, of course, is that so many self-described American Christians proclaim they have the right to tell others how to behave or speak about everything.  I can choose to live my life following Jesus, but our founders explicitly rejected the idea that they or I could make you follow Christ.  We can chat more in the Parish Hall about that, if you are of such a mind.

     Our passage in Isaiah today reminds us of the invitation we have been given to share with those around us in the world.  We are like the slaves in the parable who go to invite everyone to the Feast given by the Lord.  We cannot compel like the soldiers.  We can merely remind people who it is that calls them and invites them to come.  Our reading in Isaiah today takes place after the the prophesied destruction of the southern kingdom in chapter 24 and in light of the feast in Exodus 24.  Now, I know it is the wrong time of year to ask the question, but does anyone remember the feast described in Exodus 24?  I see a lot of people watching Charlton Heston in their minds right now.  Quit laughing.  We all have it on a reel in our heads.  You did not see it there, did you.  You only know it if you read Exodus and studied it like a Berean.

     When Moses complains to his father-in-law, Jesse, that he is exhausted from settling all the disputes of the people, how does his father-in-law advise Moses?  Good answer!  He tells Moses that he needs help.  The result of that conversation is that God takes some of the Spirit given to Moses and gives it to seventy other men, who will share in the settling of disputes.  Sound familiar?  It is rather boring stuff, so it did not make the script in the movie.  Who wants to hear Moses complaining more, and how is the spirit taken from Moses and given to the 70?

     Exodus 24 records that Moses, the 70 men, Aaron, and Aaron’s sons, the priestly caste, went up Mt. Sinai and encountered Yahweh standing above a clear, sapphire-like stone.  In the presence of Yahweh, all those invited feasted.  In fact they eat and drink in the presence of the Lord.  Everyone with me so far?  Good.

     When Isaiah utters the destruction of Judah in chapter 24, it is the very opposite of that experience.  In fact, Isaiah notes how some try to ignore the destruction and desolation of the earth in God’s judgment by singing with joy and celebrating the majesty of God.  Isaiah reminds us all that treachers deal treacherously with each other and with God.  God knows the heart, however, and still punishes.  There is nothing any human being can do to avoid the punishments and the judgment.

     As is almost always the case, however, the prophet does not leave God’s people without hope.  That is where our reading picks up.  Isaiah reminds himself and us that the desolation was God’s doing, that God was faithful even when His people were not.  But in the midst of that desolation, the prophet reminds us that the Lord is a refuge to the poor, to the needy in distress.  God always hears the cry of the oppressed and humbled.  In fact He reminds all of us that the blood cries out after their deaths, a reminder that should give rulers lots of pause.

     In verse 3, 4, and 5 our translators render the Hebrew as ruthless.  The word is often used to describe a ruler who cares only for himself.  In Aristotle’s Politics we would call such a person a tyrant, one who rules for his benefit and very few others.  One of the problems with human beings, of course, is how easily we are swayed by pretty words and selfish desires.  Most of us sitting here today can name those whom we think were tyrants in world history, people like Nero, like Hitler, like Idi Amin, and like Kim Jong-un.  There would be little argument, I imagine, over whether they were tyrants or despots.  As Americans, we naturally like to think our enemies at any given time are tyrants or despots and that we are never the bad guys in any story.  I suspect, however, if we spoke to residents of Gaza or Iran, they might have a different color hat on our heads in their stories.  And those of us who really study political science understood our forebears were concerned about the tyranny of the majority, that part of the reason our three branches of government exist and check one another is to prevent the majority of us from tyrannizing those in the minority.  Looks like I shook loose a couple cobwebs.  

     Isaiah reminds us that the tyrants and despots of the world are accountable to God for their treatment of those whom He loves, namely the poor and the distressed, the widows and the orphans.  One cannot be a disciple of Jesus and an abuser of the poor and the distressed.  We might claim to be someone who cares for them, but the Lord knows our heart and our actions, just as He knew Israel’s.  But we are also accountable when we support such abuse of those whom He loves.  We, like Israel, are called to repentance and to action.  When someone is hungry, we who claim Jesus is Lord are called to feed them.  When someone is naked, we are called to clothe them.  When someone is a stranger, we are called to welcome them.  Jesus in Matthew will make that much clearer in a couple chapters.

     Even as the prophet is reminding us of God’s attitude toward the ruthless, though, God has another lesson for us.  Now many of us will not understand the polemic, but I hope to make it make sense.  Verse 7 and 8 speak to the shroud that is cast over all peoples and God’s swallowing up of death for ever.  We recognize that death hangs over all humanity.  It should not surprise you, but people in the ANE recognized that death hung over all who lived.  The God of death, Mot, was perceived as having a mouth that stretched all the way to the horizon.  When Mot closed his mouth, he captured the dead and swallowed them.

     In Canaanite understanding, though, the chief ba’al (remember, there were lots of ba’als) fights with Mot.  Mot, I think, actually threatens to swallow up the baal in the initial encounter, but it does not really matter who started the fight.  Both fight to what you and I would call a draw.  But, they would rest and then continue their battle after that rest period.  The outcome of the repeated battles came to explain why droughts happened or why the rains came.  This was incredibly important in that area of the ANE, which we know had little water.  That area depended on the rains in order to nourish the crops.  If ba’al won the battle, the rains came and people ate.  If Mot won the battle, there was a drought and people starved and, naturally, died.  Remember, this understanding has developed in that area before the Exodus and settling of God’s people there.

     The Lord of hosts says He will swallow up death for ever in verse 8.  This is not going to be an annual battle between two powerful mythological figures.  When God acts to swallow death, it will be the end of death.  Faithful Jews, like us, understand that death results from the curse of sin.  When they heard and we hear these words, we are supposed to understand that God is undoing the sin in the Garden of Eden AND restoring His people to that intimate relationship for which He created us.

     Keep in mind, this is several centuries before Jesus and a couple centuries before Israel begins to really consider the existence of an afterlife.  But God switches from His identity as a warrior to that of the Covenantal Lord and says that on the day when He swallows up death, He will wipe away the tears from all faces and take the disgrace of His people away from all the earth.  To use the language of our favorite Anglican, everything sad in creation will be made untrue.  That’s CS Lewis’ description, for visiting.  How does that work?  We really have no idea.  In our Anglican tradition we do not fight much about it because we remind ourselves daily that God often does more than we can ask or imagine, right?

     Speaking of more than we can ask or imagine, back to verse 6 and the big lesson for today.  I reminded us at the beginning of this sermon that Exodus 24 needs to be in our background understanding.  What happens in verse 6?  God calls all peoples to a feast of sumptuous food, of well-matured and strained wines, of rich food filled with marrow.  God is inviting all humanity to the feast on His mountain, Mount Zion rather than Sinai.  At this feast amazing food and wines and desserts will be served.  You and I cannot begin to understand how good the feast will be.  I know, how can wine be better than your favorite?  How can food be better than your favorite meal?  How can anyone improve on chocolate or on ice cream or whatever our favorite dessert happens to be?  Time and time again we experience God’s abundant blessings, we remind ourselves He often does things that are exponentially better than what we ask or imagine, and still we think the Creator of heaven and earth, the Make of all that is, seen and unseen, is limited by our imagination.  You are laughing, but we do.

     Part of our rejoicing, though, will be learning these things, experiencing these things first hand.  Like loving children in the presence of a loving Father, we will get to sample and tell each other how good the items taste.  We will get to celebrate with one another that all our tears have been wiped away.  And this feast that He sets will not last for a day or a season, but for eternity.  And like the slaves in the parable this morning, you and I are sent into the world inviting people to this feast, a feast for which we do not pay, do not set up, and after which we do not clean up.  That’s our primary job, inviting!

     How many self-described Christians relish in the idea of judgment?  How much money is spent on those billboards which threaten everyone who pass by them with “One day you will meet God.”  We so desperately want to judge, we so desperately want to make sure that we, and people like us, are the good people in God’s story of redemptive history, that we forget He takes no delight in the death of anyone, that He purposes that everyone should turn to Him and live!

     And if you think this feast imagery is nuts, look at our psalm today.  What does God do in the presence of our enemies?  Prepares a feast.  Most Christians know that psalm by heart.  Heck, many non-Christians know Psalm 23.  In the midst of enemies, God prepares a feast.  And our Gospel lesson reminds us that it is like a marriage feast for a son.  What if we embraced that messaging?  What if our billboards said “Don’t miss this party!” instead?  What would be the result?  Some would choose to skip it, but I bet more people would want to know the details of the party.

     You and I have an advantage in this.  We are liturgical Christians so we remind ourselves all the time, every time we gather.  Our primary service is an offering of praise and thanksgiving to God for what He has done for us in Christ Jesus.  We remind ourselves intentionally of God’s redemptive and judging activity in the world  in the Liturgy of the Word and in good preaching.  We remind ourselves each time we gather of our need to repent.  And we go to that rail to be nourished by His Body and Blood, reminded of the fact that it is a foretaste or pledge of that heavenly banquet about which Isaiah prophesied several centuries before Jesus’ birth.  Then we are sent out into the world to do the work He has given us to do, that others might be drawn into His saving embrace!

     Some of that work we do speaks directly to this invitation.  How many of us serving the food insecure in our midst have heard the wonder of those whom we serve, the criticisms of our brothers and sisters that we cannot keep doing this, regarding simple feeding?  And we never know what some of that food means to those whom we serve, unless they tell us.  A grandma speaks of her love of catfish with her own grandma and the joy that she gets to prepare the same meal for her granddaughter.  A woman crazily thanks us for allowing her to serve cow tongue tacos to her friends coming to town.  Thankfully, all were from a culture that esteemed and loved cow tongue.  Lol People ask how we can afford to give them lobster or steak or fresh produce, with thanksgiving and wonder in their voice.  Others take the wisdom of the world and instruct us that we cannot keep serving them this kind of food in God’s Name.  And we get to truthfully answer that God gave it to us to share with them and that He invites them to that feast where death is swallowed up and the sad things are untrue.  Moms have needed chocolate.  Adults have been blessed with the good ice cream.  I could go on and on, and I bet the Holy Spirit is reminding each of you of your own experiences or perhaps a story I or volunteers have shared over the years.

     And how much better are we prepared by our Lord for this work than our spiritual ancestors?  You and I know how the shroud of death was torn!  We know the robe that must be worn to that great feast.  And because we know that it was God coming down from heaven to live among us, who was betrayed by us and condemned to death, and who was raised from the dead as the firstfruits of that great Marriage Feast, we can speak even better to that celebration, even though our descriptions and dreams will, in the end, fall far, far short.

     Like the Church year, time is drawing closer to the eschaton, the day when our Lord returns and God calls His people to this amazing Feast.  And for reasons we do not yet understand He has entrusted this invitation to people like us, men, women, and youth who call upon His Name for salvation.  Men, women, and youth, who like those 70 men from Exodus, have His Spirit within them, transforming them and equipping them to do the work He has called them to do, until that Day when the work is ended, and we are called to His mountain, to His feast, to rejoice in His love of us for not just a day, not just a season, but for eternity!

In His joy and hope!

Brian+

On the Cornerstone and our Temple . . .

      I suppose the simplest way to describe my sermon this week is that I will mostly be focusing on a part of Matthew’s Gospel today, though you might notice a bit of all four readings included.  I am also of the opinion that maybe this should be a set of readings for Epiphany rather than the Season after Pentecost.  So many commentators that I read talked about the passage directing us to manifest fruit worthy of the Kingdom of God, which is certainly one of the lessons from Matthew today, that I was convinced the reading might need to be moved.  Good.  Some of us are awake and caught the wordplay.

     Our lectionary editors did a great job putting these readings together.  The Isaiah 5 passage serves as the background illustration of both Psalm 80 and our passage of Matthew.  The vineyard planted by God in Isaiah spares no expense and gives the vineyard everything necessary to bear good fruit.  The best vines are planted, the plot is cleared of stones, a wall around the plot protects the vineyard from larger beasts and people from passing through the plot and damaging the vines or eating the fruit, a winevat is hewed in the center for convenience, and a watch-tower is built to provide security.  God asks the rhetorical question “What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it?”  And, yet, the vineyard is yielding wild grapes rather than grapes.

     Isaiah, in case you have forgotten quickly this summer as we have considered the prophetic readings for Year A, served God during the 700’s BC.  Isaiah famously encouraged King Hezekiah to resist the Assyrians when they reached Jerusalem.  By that point, Assyria had carried the northern kingdom off into Exile.  The king of Assyria did not like King Hezekiah’s fortitude in the face of an overwhelming army and predictably threatened the king of Judah.  Isaiah’s encouragement to resist is proved right as the angel is sent against the encamped Assyrians and destroys them, pretty much ending Assyria’s threat against all its enemies and ensuring that Babylon will easily conquer it.  Good, I see some nods.

     Part of Isaiah’s ministry is to exhort the southern kingdom to keep the Covenant with God.  They do not want to be carried off into Exile like their northern brothers and sisters.  God, of course, knows that the southern kingdom will not heed the lesson of the northern kingdom.  Some in Jerusalem will interpret the defeat of Assyria as God being forced to defend His Temple to ensure His strength in the heavenly spheres, much as their neighbors understood such things.  Isaiah reminds them that if they reject God, if they fail to produce good fruit to use today’s image, God will remove the hedge of protection, and allow others to destroy the vineyard.  Because we are Adventers and read other passages during our patronal season, we know that Isaiah tells Israel that at some point in the future, after they have experienced the carrying off and destruction, God will restore them.

     All that is background to Matthew’s passage today.  Everyone, but especially the priests and other leaders, would have known the vineyard story as their own.  When Jesus tells the parable, they would have heard the prophesy of Isaiah.  Keep in mind that prophesy was from the early part of Isaiah’s book.  One did not have to read sixty chapters to hear it!

     The arrangement Jesus describes is rather normal, except for the fact that the landowner spares no expense building the vineyard.  People would have expected the landowner to cut corners where possible to save on cost, much as we expect landlords to do the same today.  What happens next would seem as nuts to the original audience as it does to us.  The landowner sends slaves to begin collecting the rent.  The renters respond by beating one of the slaves, killing another, and stoning yet another.  The landlord responds, generously I might add unless you are a slave, by sending more slaves to collect the rents.  Jesus says they were treated in the same way.  Finally the landowner decides to send his son, assuming they will respect the son.

     At this point, Jesus gives the motivation of the renters.  They plot to kill the son, because he is the heir, thinking they will get his inheritance.  So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.  I assume Matthew intends that little detail as a bit of foreshadowing of what happens to Jesus.  What will the leadership do with Jesus when the time comes?  Yes, try Him and kill Him.  But where?  Right, Golgotha.  Which is where?  Inside Jerusalem or outside?  Good!  We are thinking today.  Some in the Church have taught this is both a parable and a prophesy because of that added detail.  Plus, who plots to do all that?  You got it!  The priests and other leadership of Israel.

     Now, I want to stop and remind us of an important detail.  When this passage is preached, it is often interpreted as judgement on Israel.  Specifically, in Christian circles, it is often interpreted as God giving up on Israel and transferring His efforts to the Church.  First thing I want to remind us, since we just read it last week, what is God’s character?  Does He constantly search and reach for those whom He created, or does He love zapping them?  Right.  He takes no delight in the death of anyone, as we read last week.  Second, who is Jesus in God’s covenant with Abraham?  I guess that was a toughie.  He is the seed of Abraham’s faith in God.  God promises Abraham way back in Genesis 12 that salvation will come through his descendant, that God’s purpose in making a people out of Sarah and Abraham is to create a nation of priests whose calling it is to draw the nations into a right relationship with Him.  Good, I see nods of reflection.  That means Jesus is the Jew or the Seed or the Messiah, to use capital letters signifying His unique role.  To teach that God has divorced Israel, not the country but the people, is simply wrong.  Over and over and over again, God renews and redeems His people, just as He over and over and over again renews and redeems His Church.  If you have friends or family who heard in church this week that God has abandoned His people, you might want to push back gently.  God never gives up on us, even when we give up on Him.  And it is His desire that everyone turn to Him.

     Plus, there’s that pesky reminder about our role in eschatological judgement.  What is our role in deciding the eternal state of another’s body and soul?  That’s right!  Never!  Jesus instructs us that it is His job to judge, that when He comes again He will judge.  Yes, the angels apparently get to gather humanity before Him, but He is the Judge.  He is the only one whose judgment matters.  But that seems just since, you know, He is the One who died on the Cross in accordance with the Will of the Father, right?

     Our job in salvation history is to draw others into the loving embrace of our Father in Heaven.  You and I are called to live as a redeemed people, a people tasked with representing the character of God in the world around us.  That’s it.  We are like Jonah.  We do not get to decide who is worthy of God’s love and who is not.  We serve them all in His Name, trusting that He gives meaning to our thankful service.

     Back to our parable.  After everyone responds that the wretches will be put to a miserable death for killing the son, Jesus asks the question about the cornerstone.  He asks if they have read in the Scriptures, Psalm 118 specifically, about the cornerstone.  Understand that in antiquity, cornerstones served at least three purposes.  One, and perhaps most important, they helped to make sure the building was using right angles both for the horizontal exterior wall of the building and for its vertical.  If the cornerstone was cut correctly, builders could use rope or wood or any number of materials to make sure that the building was constructed properly and not given to falling over.  Another purpose was for history.  Has everyone noticed our cornerstone and what is on it, even though it was not the cornerstone laid for the foundation of this building?  That’s right!  Dates.  Each date that we began constructing one of our locations is carved into the stone.  It reminds us of our history, that we have survived two moves.  That tells professional Christians something, too.  Few churches survive more than one move.  The third purpose was cosmological.  I suppose some of us would say it was astrological, but some builders would claim it was astronomical.  When building sites were chosen in the ANE, there was a belief that they needed to mirror what was happening in the heavens.  We often accept that pyramids and ziggurats and stonehenge and other big monuments were constructed in accordance with the heavens, but we need to understand that arguments over where to put buildings followed that same understanding.

     Now, when Jesus calls Himself the Cornerstone, what is He saying?  It is really the same thing, right?  He is the focus of Salvation History.  Our temples, our hearts, are being built based on His teachings and His pattern of living.  Remember, Jesus is not only concerned about our eternal destination but also with how we represent the will of the Father who sent Him.  We can parrot actual theology all we want, but if we do not live it, we are white washed tombs.  When our theology forgets its Cornerstone, we know we have erred and need to knock it down to where our theology was accurate and proper.

     Jesus also tells us the history of God’s love for all of us.  Way back in Eden, God promised Adam and Eve that He would draw them back to that intimate relationship He intended in creating them.  Yes, life will be hard because of their sin, but He will restore them.  Everything in Scripture points to Jesus.  The prophets announce His coming.  The Psalms announce His coming.  The histories often point to our need of His Coming.  And all of that reminds us that God promises to dwell with us forever.  Heck, we all know Isaiah’s famous prophesy of Immanuel, right?  And of course, Salvation History is God’s doing.  No matter what goes on in the world, God’s purposes in heaven is to draw His people back into that intimate relationship He intended in the beginning.

     Then comes the word of judgement from Jesus’ mouth.  The one who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.  Yes, Jesus warns the chief priests and Pharisees that the kingdom of God will be taken from them and given to a people who produce the fruit of the kingdom.  But Jesus knows the heart, the will, of those with whom He is speaking.  They have ignored whichever miracle they thought would be The Sign of Messiah.  Healing on a sabbath?  Casting out demons?  Causing the lame to walk?  Curing lepers?  Feeding 5000 men besides women and children?  Like us, they had their favorite miracles.  And Jesus does those miracles as a sign of His identity.  Like John the Baptizer, they are expected to understand all the signs and discern who Jesus is by virtue of them.  But they reject the signs and the One who does them.  In fact, we would say they are the wicked tenants in the parable.

     But notice, does Jesus call them the wicked tenants?  Who discerns the parable is about them?  We would say that the chief priests and Pharisees discern their role in the parable through their own wrestling faith with God.  They recognize the signs; they know the people regard Him as a prophet; and they refuse Him of their own free will.  In fact, despite all this, they conspire to put Him to death, just like the foolish tenants in Jesus’ parable, reminding us of Jesus’ identity to us yet again..

     Had they considered the signs and understood the parable, what should have been their response?  That’s right, repentance.  Had they repented, what would have been the result?  That’s right!  Forgiveness.  And to carry it a bit farther, what would have been the fruit of their repentance?  That’s right, the fruit of the Kingdom of God.  Or, to be more accurate, either that or the need to repent again.  Sound familiar?

     I realized my sermon needed to be both an instruction against the confident declaration that God has divorced His people and a reminder of our work in light of His teaching.  You and I encounter people at the gym, at work, at parties, and who knows where else that such is the lesson they are given with respect to the parable.  But this parable is just one parable in a string of parables and teachings by Jesus.  Consistently, Jesus warns us to give up our selfish ways and death and turn to God and live.  And the living He promises is not subsistence; it is abundant living.  Again and again He lives the life that God called Him and us to live.  And when the time comes, He suffers the betrayal by His friends, the mocking of those whom He came to save, and the death He did not deserve.  Time and time again He instructs us that, while we sojourn in this place, we are to pick up our own crosses and follow Him, that the cross is the path to that abundant life offered by God.  More challengingly, He teaches us that some will work the whole day, some will work part of the day, and some will work very little.  But it is ever His purpose that all should be drawn into His saving embrace, that we are no different than those who turn to Him on their death bed.  And with all of the instruction, and fortified by His Body & Blood, we are sent back out into a world that needs to learn that selfishness leads to death and that life built on the Cornerstone leads to abundant living and, eventually, eternal presence with God.  

In His Peace,

Brian+