Advent 1 Year B

Advent 1 Year B Mark 13:24-37 November 30, 2008 The Rev. Benton Quest

Welcome to advent. Again we enter the season of waiting. Waiting for the next cashier. Waiting for the light to change. Waiting for the snow to stop. Waiting for the waitress to being our food. Waiting for the whole craziness to get over so we can return to life as we know it.

Isn’t that often how Advent feels? We try to pack so much stuff into so little time that we begin to despise the whole season? We try to grab for all we can just end up with a balled fist? Advent has so much promise but so often leaves us feeling a little flat.

In thinking about the season of Advent, I often think about the book and the movie, The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. This classic book by C.S. Lewis, tells of a land called Narnia. The interesting thing about Narnia is that it is constantly winter but it is never Christmas. Although it snows incessantly in Narnia, the celebration of Christmas never comes. And if Christmas never comes, then spring, and the new life of spring never come.

I find it interesting the way Lewis gave us a concise view of what the coming of Christ is all about: We were lost in the dark of winter. Then Christmas comes, the Christ child is born, and the Light of God comes into the world. It is through this light, through this child, that darkness is dispelled and the warmth of spring can be felt. It is through this light of Christ that we leave behind the darkness of winter and the light of spring begins to shine.

We light the advent wreath each week with a new candle to represent this light of Christ getting nearer, to represent this spring breaking through the winter. And with each candle we anticipate not only the coming of Christ as a baby at Christmas, but Christ’s return in the end times as final judge.

What is unfortunate is that quite often, this time of waiting gets side-tracked and gets taken-over by the cares of our daily life. Or we get so focused on the coming of spring that we miss the beauty that can be found in the snow. The unfortunate truth is that although we may be in a time of waiting during Advent, with the push of the world, we are often waiting for the wrong thing.

In our gospel reading for today, Jesus talks about waiting and what we are supposed to be doing while we are waiting. Actually, he tells us two things that seem to contradict each other: He tells us that we are to be aware and to prepare but we are also supposed to realize that even with all the preparation we do, we cannot know when the anticipated events will happen. So Jesus gives us a bit of a contradiction; we are to prepare for an event we know will happen, we just don’t know when it will happen.

Why would we be given such advice from Jesus? It sounds kind of silly, doesn’t it? But Jesus was addressing some of the problems he saw in his day and I think some of the problems we still see today.

The first problem Jesus addressed were those people who really didn’t believe the messiah was coming. They didn’t believe that the time when God would send a savior would ever happen so they did not do anything to prepare their lives. These people went about life getting pulled by whatever trend happened to be popular. But since they were never looking for the signs, they missed the signs when they appeared and they missed the Messiah they were looking for. These people Jesus addressed were waiting but they were waiting for the wrong thing.

In our world today we can hear all kinds of stories about people who seem to be waiting for the wrong things. This year there wasn’t really a big, “Have to Have” item, but in the past people have waited days in line just get an electronic game system or a certain cell phone.

But what I have to ask is: What if those days in line were not spent waiting for the “honor” to be the first to buy a toy but were spent for the true honor of giving food and clothing to those who are in need? What if, instead of spending $500 dollars to buy another TV, the $500 dollars was given to those who have to wait out in the cold not as a sign of fanatical commitment but because there is no adequate housing for them?

Are we looking for the signs of Christ in our midst or are we just chasing after whatever catches our attention or whatever we are told is important?

The second problem with waiting addressed by Jesus is the problem of trying to control the wait. There is a feeling that if we know everything that is going to happen, then the wait will not be as long. In some ways, there is even the feeling that if we know what is supposed to happen, then we can MAKE it happen and force the event to happen. But what Jesus is telling us is that even if we know all of the signs, we cannot force God to act.

When I was a kid in second grade, we were growing bean seedling in milk cartons. Each day we would chart the growth of the seedling. I was so excited as I watched the little seedling break through the ground. But I wanted it to grow faster. I knew that it would eventually get bigger but I thought I could help it a little. So I decided to “help” the seedling along by gently pulling on it. Well, as you can probably guess. The growth chart for my seedling went up and then took a sharp drop from which it never recovered. In trying to force the seedling to grow, I actually killed it.

I saw another example of this inability to wait just a few days ago. I saw a person waiting for the traffic light to change from red to green. There was a second person waiting behind the first. The second person got tired of waiting and moved into the oncoming traffic lane, drove past the car waiting at the light and then turned left down the road. As you can probably guess, not more than 10 seconds later, the traffic light changed to green. Now, thankfully, nothing happened to anyone. But the comparison of people waiting three days for a toy while someone couldn’t wait ten seconds for a light just was too much. We will stand for days waiting for something unimportant but cannot wait ten seconds for something like a traffic light.

What Jesus is telling us is in the gospel is that we are to find a middle way. We are not to get so caught up in the things of life that we waste our life on those things that are unimportant. But also we are not to get so tied in trying to make things happen that we kill off the possibly of what God may have planned.

In Narnia, the people looked for signs Christmas coming but also realized that they needed to plan for the winter that was there. They waited and hoped for the coming of spring but remained aware that winter was still there.

We wait for the return of Jesus to our lives but we also know that we must live in the world we have today. We look for the feast to come but live in the knowledge that forgiveness has already come. We look forward to the coming of the Christ child while living in the knowledge that Christ the man is a true presence in our lives, now!

So, what are you waiting for? Are you waiting for the things that will eventually pass or those things that are eternal? Are you waiting for the sales or for the savior? Whatever you are waiting for, Advent is here. The time of waiting is here. We wait in the winter but we know that Christmas will come and with Christmas the birth of new life. We wait but also we know: We know the savior born as a child will grow to become a man. And we know this man will bring us forgiveness. We wait but we don’t wait as ones without hope. We wait as those who know that even in the dark of winter, the warmth of spring is assured.

Christ The King Year A

Matthew 25: 31-46

Well, I told you a couple of weeks ago not to worry, that soon enough we would have a scripture reading that would again baffle us. Well, you guessed it! Here it is!

Again, this parable is probably very familiar to most of us. It is one of those parables that have even made it into the public sphere. When we say “sheep and goats” most people know exactly what we mean: Sheep are good; goats are bad. Pretty simple. But hopefully, when we encounter a scripture that we can view as “pretty simple,” we know that we should probably be a little leery.

So let’s take a look at this parable and see what is happening.

We have a vision of the end times presented to us. Jesus as the “Son of Man” is sitting upon his throne of glory and the peoples of the world are spread out in front of him. Then Jesus begins to separate the people into two groups; the sheep and the goats. When asked how the groups were split; Jesus tells the people that the sheep were the ones who attended to those in need and the goats were the ones who only attended to themselves. Then the goats were sent to the eternal fire pit for punishment while the sheep were invited into eternal life.

So the trouble begins.

When we look at the parable, the first thing that causes some problems is that it appears to promote predestination. Goats are born goats; sheep are born sheep. No matter what a goat does, it will remain a goat. The goat can try to roll around in fuller’s soap to make itself white like a sheep, but deep down inside, it will still be a goat.

And there also seems to be this thing about how we are born affects our behavior. Goats, who were born that way, are bad. Sheep, who were born that way, are good. So again, it seems that we are a product of our birth. We are the way we are and there is no changing that. All the Son of Man has to do is look at us, see if we are a sheep or a goat, and then either allow us into eternal life or eternal punishment.

Hopefully by this point, you should start to feel a little uncomfortable. We are celebrating the feast of Christ the King and we are presented with a scripture reading that depicts our savior damning creatures to Hell for no other reason than they happened to be born goats.

Well, before we get too far down this path, I would like to follow in the lines of one of my favorite shows on National Public Radio and present my four disclaimers:

1. The Grace of Christ is bigger than anything we can comprehend. If we can comprehend something, then by definition we are thinking too small.

2. Salvation was given as a gift. If there is something that we have to do to earn or merit salvation then it is not a gift and by definition what we believe we are receiving is not salvation.

3. The Bible wasn’t written to be read literally. This may seem obvious, but the people of Biblical times were not of the television generation. They had more of an understanding of imagery and symbolism. They were people of the theater, not people of the special-effects extravaganza at the multiplex.

4. We need to use scripture to interpret scripture.

When we are faced with a conundrum, we need to look back at these four disclaimers. These disclaimers, which can also be called hermeneutics, give us a consistent way of viewing the scriptures. And in working through these disclaimers, we should be able to find a meaning in the scriptures that will give us understanding and a direction in life.

So let’s take a look at the parable with our disclaimers in mind.

In the literal interpretation we started with, can we find any grace? We find a lot of grace given to the sheep. They are the ones who are place on the Son’s right hand. They are the ones who are going to eternal life. But what about the goats? Does the Son of Man show any grace toward the goats? It wouldn’t appear so.

We can probably think of people whose worldview is this black and white: You do good things, so you are good; you, though, do bad things, so you are bad. But through life, I would guess that we have met all kinds of people and know that people are so much more complex than just the simple sorting method of: You do good things so you are good.

We can comprehend of this simple method of sorting. We probably know people who use this method of sorting. If we can comprehend it, then it is not grace. We are thinking too small! Christ’s grace should make us stop in our tracks and just stare in awe. This literal sorting of sheep and goats doesn’t stop us in awe, so therefore, we must not be getting the full picture.

The Son of Man, it seems, continues with a kind of quid pro quo. The sheep did good things so they get to go to eternal life. The goats didn’t do good things so they have eternal punishment. This makes salvation sound like something that has been – if not paid for – then at least bartered for. “I do good things so Jesus will give me heaven.”

But disclaimer number two says salvation is a free gift! If it is free, then that means there is nothing anyone can do to pay for it. It is there, it is salvation, it is given by a loving and grace filled savior. Anything that hints at earning or payment reduces the magnitude of the gift. We may not be able to comprehend the love and grace that could give such a gift without condition, but that is the realization we make in disclaimer one. Disclaimer two is an extension of number one; such a great gift could never be paid for.

Disclaimer three says that the Bible was not written to be read literally. People in Biblical times were people who told stories and had lots of time to use their imaginations. Unlike the stories of today which need to be comprehended in one reading because we probably will not go back and reread them, the Bible stories were told and retold. People would hear them many times and would seek deeper meanings. People would see sheep as animals that followed the shepherd and relied on the shepherd to protect them. They would also see the goats as animals that were difficult to maintain and could be aggressive. Even though these are broad categories, the people of Biblical times would have made the been able to quickly understand what type of people Jesus was describing.

But it is disclaimer four that makes all the difference! Without this last disclaimer, we are still left with a bleak story. It still looks like Jesus is going to damn a bunch of people to Hell just because of what they have done. However, with this last disclaimer, we are to look at this parable in the full scope of the scriptures. We are resurrection people! We know the rest of the story. We know that it is Christ who goes to the cross and dies for our sins. We know it is Christ who is risen from the dead so that we may have salvation. It is Christ who does this for us! This is the incomprehensible gift of grace and salvation. It is this gift of grace and salvation that makes all the difference. Christ did not die for the few but for the many! Christ rose so the sins our sins would be forgiven. Christ died and rose so we God’s creation would not be destined to be goats damned to punishment, but so we could be sheep living in the eternal joy we find in our shepherd!

So why would Jesus tell this parable?

Christ the King is the Good Shepherd also. Christ does not care for his sheep so that they may only be dinner; Christ wants his sheep to have a happy, fulfilling life! Christ wants us to have a happy, fulfilling life! This parable tells us how to live so that Christ is happy and our lives are full.

The good that the sheep do in the world is because of what they are. In this parable, sheep are good, period. They are judged by their actions because it is their actions that show the Son of Man what they are. It is not something that they have planned to do; they just were kind and compassionate.

In life, the sheep would be the people who have taken the grace and salvation that has been given by Christ into their lives. In taking this great gift into their lives, they have changed. Their acts of kindness and compassion are just a part of who they are. These acts of kindness and compassion make Jesus happy because they show in our lives that we have taken the truth of Christ’s love to our very core. They show that we have truly begun to follow our shepherd.

Disclaimer four helps us to know that the Son of Man’s anger is a tool to help us learn. Christ died for the goats just as much as for the sheep; it is just that the goats are stubborn and have not taken the message to the core of their being. Their actions show that they have not yet received the peace that comes from being near the shepherd and feeling the grace and salvation that is there.

How are we like sheep? How are we like goats? It is in recognizing the gifts that have been given to us that we take that love, grace, and peace of Christ into our hearts. As we make room in our busy lives for the incomprehensible grace of Christ, our goat nature slips away and our lives shine through with the kindness and compassion of the sheep that is within each of us.

I think of this a Christ the King with the Four Disclaimers. On this last day of the church year and right before we move into Advent, it is good for us to realize that the biggest gift we could ever hope for has already been given to us. It was there before the Christmas sales, there before we were even born. God in Christ Jesus reaches out to us to change us from within. God in Christ Jesus touches our lives and gives us grace and salvation. God in Christ the King gives us a taste of the eternal even as we live in the here and now.

And all we need to do is be willing to accept the gift. Come forward and receive the strength of Christ from the table. And go out and let the grace and salvation that comes from our Shepherd show through our lives.

Pentecost 27 Year A

Matthew 25:14-30

We have all given people gifts, haven’t we? I like giving gifts to people. Actually, it is not so much that I life giving the gift, I like know that the person will get enjoyment out of the gift. Isn’t that why we give gifts? Not just to hand a wrapped box to someone: No, we give a gift because we want the person who is receiving the gift to have more enjoyment out of life. We hope that our gift will make the person’s life more enjoyable than it would be without the gift.
I think most of you know that I make stained glass. I enjoy giving pieces to people as gifts. It is always my hope that those who receive the gifts will hang them up and enjoy them. It is always my hope that my will bring joy to those who see it.
What would sadden me is if I gave a piece of glass to someone and they just threw it and broke it. It would sadden me to think that I put effort into creating something for a person of enjoy and that person purposely destroyed the gift. It would also sadden me to think that I gave someone a piece of glass and they just placed it into a brawer and never brought it out. Part of the enjoyment of the glass is in looking at it and using it, not just hiding it away.
I would be less saddened if a piece of glass I made was broken because it fell or the suction cup malfunctioned while the person was using it. It would make me very sad if the person intentionally broke it into pieces. But given the choice, I would rather have the piece break because it fell while in use than to have it sit in a drawer, never to be seen.
In today’s gospel, we hear a story about gifts and what we do with our gifts. From the reading I think we can draw some conclusion about God: God seems to want us to take our gifts and talents and put them out there in the world. God doesn’t want us hading our gifts away. What we have been given, we are to use and invest. What we have been given, we are to share with the world.
In the gospel reading, we see that the master gave various amounts of talents to the three servants. Each servant receives an amount of talents according to his abilities. We hear about these talents and may feel sorry for the poor servant that only got one talent. But we need to remember that these talents are no little thing. Each talent that the master gave to the servants is actually a very large amount of money; it is equivalent to the amount of money a day laborer would make in 15 years. So if we take this into consideration, even the servant that is given only one talent is given the monetary equivalent of 15 years of work. If we were to look at a pay rate of $20,000 a year, that would be $300,000! That is a lot of money!
A little factoid: It is from this story that the word “talent” came into the English language meaning a “God given ability or gift.”
Usually, priests like to talk about the large amounts of money that was entrusted to each of the servants. They also like to talk about the large amounts of money that God entrusts to us. And, of course, priests like to talk about how we, as good servants, should use our money in the service of God. And, our course, being a priest, I want to talk about these things too! You should have received a letter in the mail asking you to consider you pledge to the church. I know that the financial difficulties in the world have hit most of us, and that our paychecks do not seem to go as far as they used to. But the financial difficulties have hit the church, also.
Actually, talking about money is one of my least favorite things to do, but what we do with our talents is something that the Bible never backs away from. Actually, in the Bible, Jesus talks about our relationship with money over 400 times. So what we do with our gifts and our talents is of great importance to Jesus.
But lets move away from the monetary understanding of talents and think more in line with the “God given ability” understanding. God gives us each skills and talents. And if we think about it, there is no one who is left untalented. In the gospel story, even the servant that received the least received one talent -- $300,00 dollars worth! So if we translate that amount into skills and abilities, then even the least talented of us has a whole lot to offer!
Sometimes I think we hide away our talents because we do not think that what we have is good enough, or we are afraid that we will not do something right. Sometimes we may bury our talents because we do not realize that we even have these talents to contribute. But we see in the gospel reading that ALL of the servants were given something, even if it was just one talent. And I don’t care who you are; you have at least ONE talent! But even if you have only one talent, that talent is important and valuable. Even one talent is not something to be buried away and hidden from the world. The servant that was given one talent was expected, just as much as the other servants, to take that talent and us if for God’s glory!
However, most of us have all kinds of talents. Yes, we speak of money, but we also can give other gifts to being glory to God. We can give the gift of time. We can give the gift of our physical abilities. Some of us have the gift of creativity and can use that for God’s glory. Others have the gift of care and nurturing. Granted, we may not have been given all of these gifts, but we each have some. And the one thing that we all have been given is the gift of time. So even though we may not have been given all things, we all have been given the gift of time.
But you know, we can bury our gift of time just as easily as we can bury our other talents. Actually we can probably bury our time easier than we bury our other talents. Sometimes we become so busy in the trials of life that we allow our time to get buried. Or we may take on things because we are afraid that if we do not do them, the task will not get done correctly. In either case, we don’t wisely invest our time into the work that God has for us in the world. Our time gets lost in the multitude of things that the world tells us are important.
But what God asks of us is that we use our gifts and talents wisely. That we truly invest what we have. And this is not just on the personal level, but this is on a congregational level too! God asks that we do not bury the great talents that we have as a people together. God asks us to share our blessings with each other, and with the community and the world. God asks us to use our talents to bring greater glory to God. God does not want us to hide these talents away, God wants us to bring these talents out into the light!
We have been given the ultimate gift in Christ. We are called to share not only our talents but to share THE gift we have in Christ. We do not need to hide away the life we have been given and no need to be afraid. The gifts we have been given will be multiplied if we just trust and share. I invite you today to consider how the wonderful talents you have been given can be unearthed and shared. I invite you to take careful consideration of how Christ may be asking you to share the love that you have been given through Christ’s own death and resurrection. I invite you to consider how God may be calling the congregation of St. Augustine’s to be a beacon of light and hope in a world that need directions. Our talents have been given to us to enjoy, here and now! But I also invite you to present you talents before God and see what wonders God has in store!

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Pentecost 26 Year A (Actually)

Matthew 25:1-13

While I was reading the gospel for today, I kept having this image of Bob Eubanks and that old game show “The Newlywed Game.” I had to wonder, was I getting some kind of profound theological insight into this reading? Was it something about weddings? Did I find the only Biblical reference to 20^th Century television? What was going on here?

Then the tag line of the show came back to me! (Can anyone remember it?) “You can always expect the unexpected on The Newlywed Game!” That was it! That was the exact feeling I was getting form the reading; as Christians, we need to expect the unexpected.

But then I thought, “What a stupid concept. If you expect the unexpected, it is no longer unexpected!” So if something is truly unexpected, we couldn’t expect it. So we may not be able to expect the unexpected, but we can at least prepare for the unexpected.

In the past, I learned the truth of preparation. Through Martial Arts and through Aggression Management Training, I learned to keep my senses attuned. I learned that through practice, actions and reactions would be come automatic. When someone is pulling your hair, you don’t have time to thing, “Humm…Let’s see…Maybe I should grab his arms and pull them down onto my head.” By this time, you would be missing huge amounts of hair. No, it is important to work and practice until the actions become automatic. And when these actions become automatic, life, in general, becomes better.

In today’s gospel reading, we have another parable. We can ask all kinds of questions about the reading, like why do we have bridesmaids? Why are there 10? Why are 5 silly and 5 not? Why wouldn’t the 5 bridesmaids share their oil with the other 5 bridesmaids? We could go in all kinds of directions, but we really need to ask one question: What is the main point of the parable?

This is where the idea of The Newlywed Game cropped up. The bridesmaids were to expect the unexpected. Or probably even better, they were to be expected for the unexpected; the return of the bridegroom.

A while back, we discussed some of the overarching metaphors of the Bible. We discussed feasts and that feast represent the reign of God. I pointed out that the feast in question was a wedding feast and that weddings were a symbol of our relationship with God. So now we have the bridesmaids awaiting the bridegroom. We should be clued that we, at least in part, are speaking about Christ return. Or maybe we are discussing our return to Christ? Either way, the overarching theme is that we will not know when we will meet the bridegroom. Therefore, we need to be prepared at all times.

I guess another thing we can learn from this parable is that it is not a case of “if” the bridegroom returns. He is coming back. The question is “when.” And then, when he does return, will we be prepared?

So if we are supposed to be prepared for Christ’s return, what would being prepared look like?

Depending on your view of God, preperation may take entirely different forms. If you view God as a vindictive bean counter, who is totally keeping track of everything we do wrong just to zing us in the end, then preparing would be making sure everything was in order: All the “t’s” are crossed and all the “I’s” are dotted. Being that good all the time is something that is really tough to do. I don’t think any of us can do everything right at all times. If we want the bridegroom to be happy when he returns, we would need to be perfect at all times since his return will be unexpected.

Granted, keeping our lives tidied up is probably a good thing, and something that the bridegroom would probably appreciate, but the cleanliness of the house is not what the bridesmaids are judged on. Rather, they are judged by whether their lamps are full and lit. They are judged by whether their light is shining or not.

Light is another symbol in the Bible. Light represents goodness, wisdom, and faith. So when the Bridegroom comes, he is looking for those with the light of faith in their lives. Those who were not ready and who do not have their lamps lit, the Bridegroom says he does not know.

Wow, how do we deal with this? This does not seem much like the Christ that I know. The Christ that I know and that I preach would have worked to help the bridesmaids to find oil or would have suggested that the other bridesmaids share their oil so that all could have light. But in this parable, the Bridegroom tells the silly bridesmaids that he does not know them and in effect leaves them alone in the dark. I am not so sure how to deal with this!

The only way that this makes any sense to me is to remember that we may not know when the Bridegroom is coming, but we also do not know when we might be going to the Bridegroom. We would like to think that we can all kinds of things to prolong our lives. We exercise and eat right to add years to our lives. But a car accident or something such as an aneurysm could take our lives without any notice at all. We can consider these to be situations where the Bridegroom arrives unexpectedly.

In these situations, would the Bridegroom find our lamps filled and our wicks trimmed? Are we prepared for situations such as this? Are there people we need to make amends with? Are there situations that are currently in need of having the light of grace shine upon? If the Bridegroom were to arrive right now, would you feel prepared for his unexpected arrival or would you feel that you were caught off guard?

Well, the good news is that there is still time to make those preparations. There is time to embark on spiritual exercises such as prayer and Bible study and daily devotions. These practices help us to expect the unexpected, or maybe it is better to say be prepared for that which is unexpected. These practices also help us with the here and now. These practices help us to be prepared when the unexpected events of life befall us.

Just like it would be foolish to think the Bridegroom will never return, it would be foolish to think that there will never be hardship in our lives. But by keeping the oil of our faith full, we can make it through even the times that seem insurmountable. In keeping with spiritual disciplines, we learn to rely on Christ and to know that even when things appear difficult, Jesus is there to lead us and to help us.

We will remember that the bridesmaids were not able to share their oil; well, in life, we cannot give our faith to another. If situations of trial, we need to rely on our own faith to see us through. And the wisdom that we show in how we tend to our lives and our faith lives will have a large impact on our lives.

I still believe that Christ’s death and resurrection trumps any parable that we might read. Even if we do not have a strong faith life, we will not be left out in the cold. Christ called us in our baptism and that call cannot be revoked. But the strength of our faith has a great deal of influence on the quality of our life right now. And I do believe that God wants us to have a life of giftedness and wonder here on earth. I believe our faith is something that is give not just for the hereafter, but for the here-and-now! And as we head into what appear to be some troubled waters in life, it is our faith that will help us through.

How is your lamp doing? If you lamp is full, then continue to thank the Lord for the gifts you have been given. Thank the Lord for the firm foundation in faith that you have. If the lamp is a little low, there is still time! There is still time to take on those spiritual disciplines that will help prepare you for the difficulties in life.

The Bridegroom is coming, of that we can be assured, but we can also be assured that the Bridegroom that is coming wants to find us all with our wicks trimmed and our oil full. And we can also be assured that it is not to late to start to get our spiritual lives in order.

Pentecost 26 Year A

Matthew 23:1-12

I’ve noticed something; in looking back over some of my past sermons over the years, many of them start with some kind of comment about the difficulty I was having with the scripture. So often the readings just seem obscure or I am having a bit of reaction to what I have just read. Well, I have something to tell you, today’s scripture is not going to be any different.
I guess that is the function of the scriptures; they are supposed to challenge us – invite us to a higher level of being. The scriptures are not content to leave us where we are and hope that we do ok; scripture pulls us out of our sleepwalking through life and entices us to truly live!
Well, the big dilemma I had with today’s reading is that it all flies right in the face of everything anyone who has ever dealt with kids knows: “Do as I say and not as I do” just doesn’t work. We were just talking about this a while ago. We were being told to practice what we preach because the world is going to be watching. We were told that the best way to witness to the world is to be sure our words and our actions are in synch. But now Jesus would appear to be telling us something different. Jesus is telling us that we are to listen to what the priests are saying, but we are not to pay attention to what they are doing. For how psychologically wonderful the Bible is, this comment does not seem psychologically wonderful at all.
Or maybe not…Jesus is not telling us that we can go around doing whatever we want, we are not let off the hook that easy! I am the only one that gets let off the hook. You see, Jesus is telling the people to listen to what the priests have to say, because they speak the truth, just do get caught up in what they see the priests doing. So for y’all, that means you have to listen to what I say and then live it out in your lives. For me, that just means I just need to preach a powerful sermon and then I can do whatever I want! I’m beginning to like this scripture more and more!
But that still leaves me in the dilemma of the past couple of weeks. If I claim to be a Christian – which I do – I still need to be aware that people are watching me. So I guess that means that I can’t just go off doing whatever I want. So we are all in the boat together: We need to be aware of not only what we say, but what we do.
But still, why this whole thing about listening to the priests, even if we disregard their actions? Well, that comes down to the whole working of the Holy Spirit. We don’t talk a whole lot about the Holy Spirit, but I believe the Spirit is continually at work around us. I believe the Spirit is continually at work nudging us and prodding us into the way of fullness and life in Christ. And I also believe that if we approach the scriptures and the preaching with a willingness to be open to the workings of the Spirit, we will be strengthened and empowered to be about the work of God in the world. This is the message that Christ is bringing us in today’s scriptures.
The Biblical times were not all that different from our times. We have well-intentioned preachers out there trying to help us lead Godly lives. The unfortunate thing is that most preachers, both then and now, forget that God is really quite a loving God. (If you have any doubt, just step outside and look at the glorious spectacle of the leaves changing in the fall or the explosion of color from a prairie field bursting with wildflowers. This is not a gift from a God who does not love us!) As such, these preachers get all caught up in what specific things we need to do to make God happy. To these preachers, a happy God is a tolerable God and an unhappy God is going to heap pain upon our lives and damn us to Hell. When a preacher forgets the abundant love of God, the message gets twisted. When we forget about the abundant love of God, then we get into all kinds of “Have To’s.” “Have To’s” are all those things that we have to do to get God to love us. In Biblical times, there were all kinds of things that were called fences to the law. These were things that you needed to do to make sure you didn’t violate the law. In many ways, these fences became just as powerful as the law itself.
A simple one to look at is the whole Sabbath thing. Now, the law states that we are to keep holy the Sabbath Day. What is the meaning of this law? Why should we have it? Well, we have it so that we do not work ourselves to death and that we take time away from the routine of life to recognize God’s place in our lives. When we are constantly working, which can become especially trying for an agrarian people, we tend to place God on the back burner.
But we need to remember that the law does not say, “You shall not work on the Sabbath Day.” It says, “Remember to keep holy on the Sabbath Day.” Let’s not lose the difference there. Throughout history, people have taken “keeping holy” as meaning “doing nothing.” But that lead to a whole bunch of weird things like “If my cow falls in a pit, how far can I walk to save it before it becomes work.” And then it goes even farther, “If I can only walk 70 steps and the cow is 71 steps away, can I not walk the extra step to save the cow or do I have to wait and hope it does not die over night?” A current embodiment would be wondering if it is work to turn on a light switch (I kid you not!) or take a meal out of the over.
It is these sorts of things that I believe Jesus is talking about. The law to keep the Sabbath is a good thing. It is something that we should listen to and take to heart. It is when we get into all kinds of weird rules that we need to stop. When we start adding rules upon rules, we forget our role as the created, beloved children of God and try to move ourselves into the role of the creator. When we get all these little nit-picky things that we need to do, then we are moving into the realm of trying to force God.
What we forget is that God is so much more willing to give then we are to receive. The laws of God are not there to make our lives onerous; they are there to make our lives a joy! Do you think people who freely tithed of their income started the financial collapse we see around us? The key word here is freely. To give a tithe, just because you have been told to do so, is only following the letter of the law. What Jesus is asking us is to follow the spirit of the law.
And just what is the spirit of tithing? I was just discussing this very point last week at the diocesan convention with the Rector of Christ Church, Grosse Pointe. I liked the way he described it: He said that we don’t give a tithe just because the Bible tells us to; We give an amount that is large enough to make us aware of what we are doing with the amount that is left over. If we are not made aware of our spending habits through our offering to the church, then we need to increase the amount. What we give should make us stop and think about what we are spending. And in so doing, what we give should increase our pleasure in those things that we have.
This is a whole different way of looking at laws. Laws are not there to restrict our lives but to make our lives more full. Laws are there to help us fully enjoy what we have been given. Laws are there to teach us how to employ the abundance of God in the most responsible and fulfilling way possible.
Well, I guess another scriptural mystery has been laid to rest. Don’t worry, I am sure with the next scripture reading a whole new set of questions and dilemmas will arise. And then, through the insight of the Holy Spirit, hopefully an answer will shine through which in turn will probably raise a whole new batch of questions. That is the beauty of the Bible, as we grow, it is already waiting with new challenges.
Oh, and remember to vote on Tuesday. I will not tell you who to vote for, but just remember, if you vote for the wrong person, society as we know it will end; the power grid will collapse; pink will become the new national color and Pig-Latin will become the new national language! Don’t leave your country down!