[Our lessons were Leviticus 19:1-2,15-18, Psalm 1, 1 Thessalonians 2:1-8, and Matthew 22:34-46.]
In the Gospel today, we hear Jesus say what we often call the Great Commandment. In Mark’s version, which scholars now believe was written first, the question is posed by a scribe who seems to really want to know the answer. Here in Matthew’s version, the question by the Pharisees is intended to test Jesus and is asked by a lawyer—imagine that! [Remember, as a lawyer, I get to make remarks about lawyers.]
This is an important question: What matters most to God? This apparently was not an unusual question in Judaism of that time. The Talmud reports that a Gentile asked two of the best-known teachers to teach him the whole of Torah—the first five books of the Hebrew Scriptures—while standing on one foot. One of the teachers, Hillel told him, “What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. That is the whole Torah, while the rest is commentary thereon; go and learn it.”
In answering, Jesus quotes two passages from the Torah. From Deuteronomy, he cites the classic Jewish affirmation of faith and loyalty to God: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is the only Lord. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.” He then quotes from Leviticus: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” and adds “There is no other commandment greater than these.”
Jesus basically says that we must treat everyone around us as if they were members of our own family, deserving of equal honor and special care.
In our culture, we normally think of “love” as a description of how we feel. But in the culture of Israel two thousand years ago, “love” wasn’t just a vague warm, mushy, feeling towards someone. “Love” meant attachment to a person backed up with action.
As James wrote in his letter, using “faith” and “love” synonymously:
What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill’, and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. But someone will say, ‘You have faith and I have works.’ Show me your faith without works, and I by my works will show you my faith.
Faith and love both are matters of relationship backed up with consistent action, of acting compassionately, not just feeling that way.
These two commandments call on us to use all of our abilities, all of our selves, to help our neighbors. And remember from the parable of the Good Samaritan that everyone, even—perhaps especially—our enemies, is our neighbor.
And, as Paul’s letter to the church in Rome tells us, “‘if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” There is no better way to overcome the agenda of those who hate us. And in serving our neighbors around the world as we would ourselves, we will act that love, not just feel it.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Some words from my day job...
In real life (or sort of real life), I'm a civilian attorney for the Air Force who advises people on ethics rules and fiscal law. Part of the ethics rules are the standards, found mainly in the Hatch Act, dealing with government employees and political activities. Last week, a reporter for the Macon Telegraph, the main local newspaper, interviewed me and this story ran last Saturday:
Robins workers walk fine line during elections
By Gene Rector - grector@macon.com
ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE -- As you cruise down the main thoroughfares, back roads and housing areas of Robins Air Force Base, you will see nothing that reminds you of the hotly contested political races on the outside.
No Barack Obama or John McCain posters. No signs pushing Saxby Chambliss or Jim Martin [U.S. Senate candidates]. No reminders for Jim Marshall or Rick Goddard {U.S. House candidates]. No workers wearing politically oriented T-shirts or hats or campaign buttons. No one standing on a street corner waving a placard and encouraging you to vote for their candidate.
That's the way Robins and Defense Department officials want it. It's also what the law demands.
Military members fall under Defense Department directives. Civilian employees must comply with the Hatch Act. Both require federal workers-military and civilian-to walk a very narrow course as the elections unfold.
The rules are most restrictive for the military. "We want the military to be above politics," said Paul Davison, a lawyer in the base legal office at Robins. "However, for the most part, the civilian employee restrictions apply only when they're doing their jobs."
In general, military and civilian workers may do nothing that supports or opposes a political candidate while on duty, while wearing a government uniform or operating a government vehicle.
Supervisors are additionally restricted from using their position to influence an election. Neither may federal workers solicit or receive political contributions either on or off duty or run for office in partisan elections.
Desks, offices or work cubicles must be free of political references. E-mails supporting or opposing candidates may not be sent while on duty or at any time using government systems.
Although the rules are exacting, they also are protective, Davison said. "No administration-Democrat or Republican-can push us to contribute or work on campaigns," he said. "One of the reasons the Hatch Act was passed years ago was to prevent things like that. There is also the effect of letting the taxpayer know that political activity is not what we're spending our time doing."
Military and civilian workers may express their private opinions about candidates and issues, attach bumper stickers to their vehicles and post signs at their off-base homes. They may also contribute money to political candidates and attend fundraising events when not in uniform.
Civilians may attend political rallies and meetings. Military members also may attend, but only as an observer and in civilian clothing. All may join a political party or club but the military cannot serve in any official capacity.
Only civilian employees may campaign for or against candidates in partisan elections-but not on base, not on duty and without identifying themselves as government employees.
Both military and civilian workers may sign nominating petitions and campaign for or against referendum questions and constitutional amendments.
Civilian employees and military enlisted members may run in nonpartisan elections.
"They can run," Davison noted, "but they cannot campaign while they're on the job."
The prohibition against military officers is a historic one. "A military officer is considered to already hold an office of the United States," he said. "There is an old statute that says a person holding an office under the U.S. cannot hold a second government office."
There is one political activity the Defense Department encourages, the Robins attorney emphasized. "We certainly want everyone to vote," he said. "For a long time, military officers felt it was somewhat inappropriate to vote, but we try to discourage people from thinking that way. It's very important for people to vote."
Robins workers walk fine line during elections
By Gene Rector - grector@macon.com
ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE -- As you cruise down the main thoroughfares, back roads and housing areas of Robins Air Force Base, you will see nothing that reminds you of the hotly contested political races on the outside.
No Barack Obama or John McCain posters. No signs pushing Saxby Chambliss or Jim Martin [U.S. Senate candidates]. No reminders for Jim Marshall or Rick Goddard {U.S. House candidates]. No workers wearing politically oriented T-shirts or hats or campaign buttons. No one standing on a street corner waving a placard and encouraging you to vote for their candidate.
That's the way Robins and Defense Department officials want it. It's also what the law demands.
Military members fall under Defense Department directives. Civilian employees must comply with the Hatch Act. Both require federal workers-military and civilian-to walk a very narrow course as the elections unfold.
The rules are most restrictive for the military. "We want the military to be above politics," said Paul Davison, a lawyer in the base legal office at Robins. "However, for the most part, the civilian employee restrictions apply only when they're doing their jobs."
In general, military and civilian workers may do nothing that supports or opposes a political candidate while on duty, while wearing a government uniform or operating a government vehicle.
Supervisors are additionally restricted from using their position to influence an election. Neither may federal workers solicit or receive political contributions either on or off duty or run for office in partisan elections.
Desks, offices or work cubicles must be free of political references. E-mails supporting or opposing candidates may not be sent while on duty or at any time using government systems.
Although the rules are exacting, they also are protective, Davison said. "No administration-Democrat or Republican-can push us to contribute or work on campaigns," he said. "One of the reasons the Hatch Act was passed years ago was to prevent things like that. There is also the effect of letting the taxpayer know that political activity is not what we're spending our time doing."
Military and civilian workers may express their private opinions about candidates and issues, attach bumper stickers to their vehicles and post signs at their off-base homes. They may also contribute money to political candidates and attend fundraising events when not in uniform.
Civilians may attend political rallies and meetings. Military members also may attend, but only as an observer and in civilian clothing. All may join a political party or club but the military cannot serve in any official capacity.
Only civilian employees may campaign for or against candidates in partisan elections-but not on base, not on duty and without identifying themselves as government employees.
Both military and civilian workers may sign nominating petitions and campaign for or against referendum questions and constitutional amendments.
Civilian employees and military enlisted members may run in nonpartisan elections.
"They can run," Davison noted, "but they cannot campaign while they're on the job."
The prohibition against military officers is a historic one. "A military officer is considered to already hold an office of the United States," he said. "There is an old statute that says a person holding an office under the U.S. cannot hold a second government office."
There is one political activity the Defense Department encourages, the Robins attorney emphasized. "We certainly want everyone to vote," he said. "For a long time, military officers felt it was somewhat inappropriate to vote, but we try to discourage people from thinking that way. It's very important for people to vote."
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Give to God the Things That Are God’s
[Our readings this week are Isaiah 45:1-7, Psalm 96:1-9, (10-13), 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10, and Matthew 22:15-22.]
Our Gospel reading today continues Matthew’s description of Jesus’ activities during Holy Week. Today, we hear one of the most misunderstood statements Jesus made.
This is on Tuesday of Holy Week. Remember that Jesus has already disrupted the money changers in the Temple. Now the Pharisees and the Herodians approach him together in the Temple. The Pharisees are devout Jews, scrupulous in their observance of the Law. The Herodians, as their name indicates, supported the family of Herod, the puppet king appointed by Rome. It appears they were seen by most people, including the Pharisees, as Roman collaborators. That they appear to be working together is ominous.
Jesus was probably already on his guard as they approached, but, if he hadn’t been, their attempt to butter him up—“we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality”—would certainly have made him suspicious. In modern day language, this is when you check to make sure your wallet is still there.
Of course, this is a trap. When the Pharisees ask him, “Is it lawful”—does it comply with Torah—“to pay taxes to the emperor?” they think they have caught Jesus no matter how he answers. If, in front of the crowd, he says that it is lawful, then he will be seen as siding with the collaborators. If, on the other hand, he says that Jews shouldn’t pay taxes, then he can be arrested for treason and sedition.
Jesus’ response is simple but brilliant. He never answers the question (a frequent habit of Jesus). He asks them to show the coin used for the tax. They produce a denarius, a coin worth about a day’s wages for a laborer which had the image of the emperor, probably Tiberius, and a Latin inscription which translates “Tiberius Caesar, Son of the Divine Augustus.” To a good Jew, this description of the emperor as divine was scandalous.
And here we have the people who are trying to trap Jesus, themselves carrying a coin with this “graven image” into the Temple! You can be sure that the crowd would have noticed that.
It is here that Jesus says the famous words: “Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s and give to God, the things that are God’s.”
It is important to understand that Jesus was not trying to set up a separation of church and state, but avoiding a trap. Unfortunately, this is how this sentence has often been interpreted—that there is this compartment for the church over here and a compartment for the government over there and particularly, that the church should stay in its own box. Clearly, Jesus must be telling bishops and preachers to mind their own business.
This idea has been used to support some pretty awful concepts of loyalty to the state, including the loyalty of many German Christians to Hitler, although of course there were exceptions whose light will shine forever. Whenever someone tries to justify that obedience to the state overrides our obedience to God, you can be sure that this interpretation is at the bottom of it.
Instead of focusing on what is the emperor’s, let’s focus on what belongs to God. To an observant Jew like Jesus, the answer is simple—Everything!
As we hear in Isaiah today: “I am the LORD, and there is no other. I form light and create darkness, I make weal and create woe: I the LORD do all these things.”
Everything comes from God and God has a claim on all of life and we are made in His image. Remember that when Jesus asked whose image was on the coin? The emperor’s image is only on a coin; God’s image is on every human life.
Even though the state—even a relatively gentle state as ours—seems to have a claim on much of our life, nothing belongs to the state. Everything belongs to God.
We are citizens of a kingdom, the Kingdom of Heaven, even while we are citizens of an earthly country. When the obligations of our two citizenships conflict, which do we honor first?
Jesus calls us to our true, ultimate and permanent citizenship. Our true citizenship will be at the heavenly banquet. As one writer has noted, the seating arrangements should be interesting. It is quite possible that a French Huguenot murdered in the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre will be seated next to a Roman Catholic who may have been the murderer. It is quite possible that a Roman Catholic who was executed in England may be seated across the table from one of our Anglican forebears responsible for the execution. Most of the soldiers who slaughtered each other in our Civil War were Christians. Most of the Russians, Germans, Austrian, Serbs, Italians, French, English, and North Americans who slaughtered each other in World Wars I and II were Christian and undoubtedly will be gathered at the heavenly banquet. We are all citizens of that kingdom.
And if we really take seriously the claim that God is rightful Lord of the earth and all that is in it, over what is the emperor lord? Nothing.
When we say “Jesus is Lord”, we make a radical, liberating claim that nobody and nothing else gets to make. So when it comes to all worldly powers who would be Lord, whether it’s the flag of a nation, a cause, respectability and achievement, or a person who wants to take God’s place as Lord of our lives, understand that they have no rightful claim at all.
Our Gospel reading today continues Matthew’s description of Jesus’ activities during Holy Week. Today, we hear one of the most misunderstood statements Jesus made.
This is on Tuesday of Holy Week. Remember that Jesus has already disrupted the money changers in the Temple. Now the Pharisees and the Herodians approach him together in the Temple. The Pharisees are devout Jews, scrupulous in their observance of the Law. The Herodians, as their name indicates, supported the family of Herod, the puppet king appointed by Rome. It appears they were seen by most people, including the Pharisees, as Roman collaborators. That they appear to be working together is ominous.
Jesus was probably already on his guard as they approached, but, if he hadn’t been, their attempt to butter him up—“we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality”—would certainly have made him suspicious. In modern day language, this is when you check to make sure your wallet is still there.
Of course, this is a trap. When the Pharisees ask him, “Is it lawful”—does it comply with Torah—“to pay taxes to the emperor?” they think they have caught Jesus no matter how he answers. If, in front of the crowd, he says that it is lawful, then he will be seen as siding with the collaborators. If, on the other hand, he says that Jews shouldn’t pay taxes, then he can be arrested for treason and sedition.
Jesus’ response is simple but brilliant. He never answers the question (a frequent habit of Jesus). He asks them to show the coin used for the tax. They produce a denarius, a coin worth about a day’s wages for a laborer which had the image of the emperor, probably Tiberius, and a Latin inscription which translates “Tiberius Caesar, Son of the Divine Augustus.” To a good Jew, this description of the emperor as divine was scandalous.
And here we have the people who are trying to trap Jesus, themselves carrying a coin with this “graven image” into the Temple! You can be sure that the crowd would have noticed that.
It is here that Jesus says the famous words: “Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s and give to God, the things that are God’s.”
It is important to understand that Jesus was not trying to set up a separation of church and state, but avoiding a trap. Unfortunately, this is how this sentence has often been interpreted—that there is this compartment for the church over here and a compartment for the government over there and particularly, that the church should stay in its own box. Clearly, Jesus must be telling bishops and preachers to mind their own business.
This idea has been used to support some pretty awful concepts of loyalty to the state, including the loyalty of many German Christians to Hitler, although of course there were exceptions whose light will shine forever. Whenever someone tries to justify that obedience to the state overrides our obedience to God, you can be sure that this interpretation is at the bottom of it.
Instead of focusing on what is the emperor’s, let’s focus on what belongs to God. To an observant Jew like Jesus, the answer is simple—Everything!
As we hear in Isaiah today: “I am the LORD, and there is no other. I form light and create darkness, I make weal and create woe: I the LORD do all these things.”
Everything comes from God and God has a claim on all of life and we are made in His image. Remember that when Jesus asked whose image was on the coin? The emperor’s image is only on a coin; God’s image is on every human life.
Even though the state—even a relatively gentle state as ours—seems to have a claim on much of our life, nothing belongs to the state. Everything belongs to God.
We are citizens of a kingdom, the Kingdom of Heaven, even while we are citizens of an earthly country. When the obligations of our two citizenships conflict, which do we honor first?
Jesus calls us to our true, ultimate and permanent citizenship. Our true citizenship will be at the heavenly banquet. As one writer has noted, the seating arrangements should be interesting. It is quite possible that a French Huguenot murdered in the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre will be seated next to a Roman Catholic who may have been the murderer. It is quite possible that a Roman Catholic who was executed in England may be seated across the table from one of our Anglican forebears responsible for the execution. Most of the soldiers who slaughtered each other in our Civil War were Christians. Most of the Russians, Germans, Austrian, Serbs, Italians, French, English, and North Americans who slaughtered each other in World Wars I and II were Christian and undoubtedly will be gathered at the heavenly banquet. We are all citizens of that kingdom.
And if we really take seriously the claim that God is rightful Lord of the earth and all that is in it, over what is the emperor lord? Nothing.
When we say “Jesus is Lord”, we make a radical, liberating claim that nobody and nothing else gets to make. So when it comes to all worldly powers who would be Lord, whether it’s the flag of a nation, a cause, respectability and achievement, or a person who wants to take God’s place as Lord of our lives, understand that they have no rightful claim at all.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Dressing for the Wedding
[Our Lessons today were Isaiah 25:1-9, Psalm 23, Philippians 4:1-9 and Matthew 22:1-14.]
We continue today with the series of parables in Matthew’s Gospel where Jesus is responding to the questions of the Chief Priests and Pharisees at the beginning of Holy Week. We heard first of the parable of the two sons where Jesus identified the Jewish authorities as those who spoke the right words but did not really do what God wants. Then came the parable of the vineyard where Jesus said the kingdom of God would be taken from the religious authorities who oppressed the people and given to a people who produce the fruits of the kingdom. Today’s parable throws us a curve.
For his parables, Jesus used common images which would be instantly familiar to his audiences. Now he specifically identifies the kingdom of Heaven as being as a wedding feast. Wedding feasts were big deals in that culture. Here the king—clearly God the Father—is holding a wedding feast for his son—just as clearly Jesus. Just as in last week’s vineyard parable, the king’s messengers—the prophets—are mistreated by those invited guests. Many of the invited guests don’t bother to show up, even though the feast has “the rich food filled with marrow” and “well-aged wines strained clear” in the words from Isaiah describing the heavenly banquet. So the king tells his servants to invite “everyone you find” to the feast—not just those originally invited. This sounds like the Gentiles.
Now comes the curve: the king finds a guest not wearing a wedding robe! He asks the guest how he got in without a wedding robe and receives no reply. (Our translation says that the guest was “speechless” but some translators believe the better sense of the Greek text is that the guest chose not to reply.) In an act that seems totally bizarre to us, the king tells his servants to bind the guest hand and foot and to “throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” When you hear about “weeping and gnashing” in the Scriptures, you can be pretty sure you are seeing a reference to God’s judgment.
And this is a story of God’s judgment and Jesus will return to that theme later in Holy Week when he speaks of God’s judgment as the separating of the sheep and the goats. We'll here this reading next month at the feast of Christ the King. Those who took care of the least will be placed on one side and those who didn’t feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, and so forth, will go on the other. Judgment will fall on them.
In our story today of the wedding feast, no one has to earn an invitation. God invites everyone—the Jew and the Gentile, the good and the bad, the rich and the poor.
As for the unfortunate guest without a wedding robe, guests did not provide their own robes; they received them on entering the hall. If a guest is willing to put on the wedding robe—perhaps the white robe the newly baptized put on to symbolize their being washed clean—they can enter. They have faced God’s judgment.
And it is God’s judgment, not ours. We should not enjoy the idea that anyone will not be chosen and we absolutely must never hope that someone—anyone—won’t be chosen. I commentator I read says that we should hope that no one is in hell and leave to God the decision as to whether anyone is. I think one of the most important concepts that we often forget is that we will be judged by God by the measure which we use to judge others. Our problem is that, like Jonah last week, we don’t trust God’s judgment to be as rigorous as our own.
We mustn’t be smug or self-righteous at the wedding feast because we haven’t earned a place there. No one has. We should be humble in that knowledge, but we in this country sometimes feel we are better than those who are less well off.
Right now, the entire world is going through difficult economic times. Businesses are failing, jobs are being lost. I read that $2 trillion—two thousand billion—in retirement savings have evaporated. I read about obscene—there is no other word for it—displays of wealth and arrogance by leaders of financial institutions. In many cases, peoples’ lives have been drastically altered. People are afraid.
I don’t have gentle platitudes to offer. I can’t say that if you come to church, you won’t have problems or that if you don’t you will. That might help attendance, but it wouldn’t be true. I can offer this promise: God wants to help you get through. If you let Him, you will find that you are given strength necessary to endure these times and come through them.
The Archbishop of Canterbury said recently that “the causes of poverty are many. Setting aside the lazy but persistent mythology that blames all poor people for their poverty, the majority of people … who experience deprivation and disadvantage are caught in events beyond their control—and this is manifestly true of children.”
We are all linked to each other and we are all affected by the pain these times bring to our fellow children of God around the world.
Father, we pray for your Church, that we may be a compassionate community, ready to stand alongside those who suffer the burden of debt. We pray for those who work in government, finance and the law, that they may work towards practical solutions for the problems caused by debt. We pray for those individuals who, because of their debts, feel they have nowhere to turn: that they may know your presence, guidance and peace. We pray for those countries affected by the enormous burden of international debt: for a just and lasting solution to the problems they face. We pray for ourselves, that through our choices, actions and words we may daily live out our faith, and bear witness to you, the source of all good things, through your Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
We continue today with the series of parables in Matthew’s Gospel where Jesus is responding to the questions of the Chief Priests and Pharisees at the beginning of Holy Week. We heard first of the parable of the two sons where Jesus identified the Jewish authorities as those who spoke the right words but did not really do what God wants. Then came the parable of the vineyard where Jesus said the kingdom of God would be taken from the religious authorities who oppressed the people and given to a people who produce the fruits of the kingdom. Today’s parable throws us a curve.
For his parables, Jesus used common images which would be instantly familiar to his audiences. Now he specifically identifies the kingdom of Heaven as being as a wedding feast. Wedding feasts were big deals in that culture. Here the king—clearly God the Father—is holding a wedding feast for his son—just as clearly Jesus. Just as in last week’s vineyard parable, the king’s messengers—the prophets—are mistreated by those invited guests. Many of the invited guests don’t bother to show up, even though the feast has “the rich food filled with marrow” and “well-aged wines strained clear” in the words from Isaiah describing the heavenly banquet. So the king tells his servants to invite “everyone you find” to the feast—not just those originally invited. This sounds like the Gentiles.
Now comes the curve: the king finds a guest not wearing a wedding robe! He asks the guest how he got in without a wedding robe and receives no reply. (Our translation says that the guest was “speechless” but some translators believe the better sense of the Greek text is that the guest chose not to reply.) In an act that seems totally bizarre to us, the king tells his servants to bind the guest hand and foot and to “throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” When you hear about “weeping and gnashing” in the Scriptures, you can be pretty sure you are seeing a reference to God’s judgment.
And this is a story of God’s judgment and Jesus will return to that theme later in Holy Week when he speaks of God’s judgment as the separating of the sheep and the goats. We'll here this reading next month at the feast of Christ the King. Those who took care of the least will be placed on one side and those who didn’t feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, and so forth, will go on the other. Judgment will fall on them.
In our story today of the wedding feast, no one has to earn an invitation. God invites everyone—the Jew and the Gentile, the good and the bad, the rich and the poor.
As for the unfortunate guest without a wedding robe, guests did not provide their own robes; they received them on entering the hall. If a guest is willing to put on the wedding robe—perhaps the white robe the newly baptized put on to symbolize their being washed clean—they can enter. They have faced God’s judgment.
And it is God’s judgment, not ours. We should not enjoy the idea that anyone will not be chosen and we absolutely must never hope that someone—anyone—won’t be chosen. I commentator I read says that we should hope that no one is in hell and leave to God the decision as to whether anyone is. I think one of the most important concepts that we often forget is that we will be judged by God by the measure which we use to judge others. Our problem is that, like Jonah last week, we don’t trust God’s judgment to be as rigorous as our own.
We mustn’t be smug or self-righteous at the wedding feast because we haven’t earned a place there. No one has. We should be humble in that knowledge, but we in this country sometimes feel we are better than those who are less well off.
Right now, the entire world is going through difficult economic times. Businesses are failing, jobs are being lost. I read that $2 trillion—two thousand billion—in retirement savings have evaporated. I read about obscene—there is no other word for it—displays of wealth and arrogance by leaders of financial institutions. In many cases, peoples’ lives have been drastically altered. People are afraid.
I don’t have gentle platitudes to offer. I can’t say that if you come to church, you won’t have problems or that if you don’t you will. That might help attendance, but it wouldn’t be true. I can offer this promise: God wants to help you get through. If you let Him, you will find that you are given strength necessary to endure these times and come through them.
The Archbishop of Canterbury said recently that “the causes of poverty are many. Setting aside the lazy but persistent mythology that blames all poor people for their poverty, the majority of people … who experience deprivation and disadvantage are caught in events beyond their control—and this is manifestly true of children.”
We are all linked to each other and we are all affected by the pain these times bring to our fellow children of God around the world.
Father, we pray for your Church, that we may be a compassionate community, ready to stand alongside those who suffer the burden of debt. We pray for those who work in government, finance and the law, that they may work towards practical solutions for the problems caused by debt. We pray for those individuals who, because of their debts, feel they have nowhere to turn: that they may know your presence, guidance and peace. We pray for those countries affected by the enormous burden of international debt: for a just and lasting solution to the problems they face. We pray for ourselves, that through our choices, actions and words we may daily live out our faith, and bear witness to you, the source of all good things, through your Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
The Vineyard
[Our lessons were Isaiah 5:1-7, Psalm 80:7-14, Philippians 3:4b-14, and Matthew 21:33-46.]
We hear first today this beautiful story of God’s vineyard from Isaiah. The vision of a terraced vineyard built into a hillside would have been familiar to the people of Israel. The best location, a fertile hill, was chosen. It has been dug out and the stones cleared. A watchtower is raised and all is in readiness for the grapes. There’s even a vat in the center for winemaking.
Imagine the landowner’s disappointment when instead, all that comes are wild grapes, sour to the taste and perhaps with large seeds. In the words of Isaiah, “he expected justice, but saw bloodshed; righteousness, but heard a cry!” What will God do? Remove the walls and let it be trampled. The judgment of the Lord that Isaiah foretold did come when the Babylonians and Assyrians conquered Israel.
In our reading from Matthew, we are continuing the events of Holy Week. On Tuesday of Holy Week, immediately after challenging the Temple authorities with the parable of the two sons, Jesus tells a new parable of a vineyard, re-presenting the vineyard of Isaiah.
It’s pretty obvious that God is the landowner and Jesus is the heir that the tenants kill. It’s very tempting to assume that the tenants are the Jews and for centuries this has been the accepted view by many. This has been used to claim that Christianity is the completion of Judaism or the replacement of the people of Israel as God’s chosen people.
But, I want to suggest a different meaning. Remember the context—the week in Jerusalem before Jesus is crucified. Jesus has already had a stormy encounter with the Pharisees and the chief priests. Remember about the words at the end of our reading: “When the chief priests and Pharisees heard his parables”—this one and the parable of the two sons we heard last week—“they realized that he was speaking against them.” The chief priests and the Pharisees were the greedy tenants who killed the prophets sent by God and who would, in three days’ time, kill the son. The vineyard belongs to God, not the powerful and wealthy at the top of the domination system that Jesus spoke out against.
But this isn’t how the story ends, of course. The death of the Son is not the end. But Jesus expresses this death through a new image: “The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone...” From the Son’s death springs life, a new vineyard. Christ himself became the vine, and this vine always bears good fruit: the presence of his love for us which is indestructible.
In fact, the stories—God’s story and our own—never end. There is always time to change. While it isn’t a fairy tale with an ending of “they lived happily ever after”, there are always future chapters to be written, and that can be comforting.
Comforting, because our current chapter isn’t a happy one. The financial news of the last week and the predictions of the future are dire. People’s jobs and retirement savings are at risk, prices are rising, and homes are being lost. There are clearly tough times ahead.
That is why we are grateful that this isn’t the final chapter. There is still time for the Kingdom of God to come. As the Body of Christ here, we are called to do what we can to lift up the lowly, feed the sick, and show justice, mercy and love to all.
In our version of the parable, when the landowner returns, let Him find us working for the welfare of all people and not, like the chief priests and the Pharisees of our Gospel reading, working for our own welfare at the expense of others.
We hear first today this beautiful story of God’s vineyard from Isaiah. The vision of a terraced vineyard built into a hillside would have been familiar to the people of Israel. The best location, a fertile hill, was chosen. It has been dug out and the stones cleared. A watchtower is raised and all is in readiness for the grapes. There’s even a vat in the center for winemaking.
Imagine the landowner’s disappointment when instead, all that comes are wild grapes, sour to the taste and perhaps with large seeds. In the words of Isaiah, “he expected justice, but saw bloodshed; righteousness, but heard a cry!” What will God do? Remove the walls and let it be trampled. The judgment of the Lord that Isaiah foretold did come when the Babylonians and Assyrians conquered Israel.
In our reading from Matthew, we are continuing the events of Holy Week. On Tuesday of Holy Week, immediately after challenging the Temple authorities with the parable of the two sons, Jesus tells a new parable of a vineyard, re-presenting the vineyard of Isaiah.
It’s pretty obvious that God is the landowner and Jesus is the heir that the tenants kill. It’s very tempting to assume that the tenants are the Jews and for centuries this has been the accepted view by many. This has been used to claim that Christianity is the completion of Judaism or the replacement of the people of Israel as God’s chosen people.
But, I want to suggest a different meaning. Remember the context—the week in Jerusalem before Jesus is crucified. Jesus has already had a stormy encounter with the Pharisees and the chief priests. Remember about the words at the end of our reading: “When the chief priests and Pharisees heard his parables”—this one and the parable of the two sons we heard last week—“they realized that he was speaking against them.” The chief priests and the Pharisees were the greedy tenants who killed the prophets sent by God and who would, in three days’ time, kill the son. The vineyard belongs to God, not the powerful and wealthy at the top of the domination system that Jesus spoke out against.
But this isn’t how the story ends, of course. The death of the Son is not the end. But Jesus expresses this death through a new image: “The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone...” From the Son’s death springs life, a new vineyard. Christ himself became the vine, and this vine always bears good fruit: the presence of his love for us which is indestructible.
In fact, the stories—God’s story and our own—never end. There is always time to change. While it isn’t a fairy tale with an ending of “they lived happily ever after”, there are always future chapters to be written, and that can be comforting.
Comforting, because our current chapter isn’t a happy one. The financial news of the last week and the predictions of the future are dire. People’s jobs and retirement savings are at risk, prices are rising, and homes are being lost. There are clearly tough times ahead.
That is why we are grateful that this isn’t the final chapter. There is still time for the Kingdom of God to come. As the Body of Christ here, we are called to do what we can to lift up the lowly, feed the sick, and show justice, mercy and love to all.
In our version of the parable, when the landowner returns, let Him find us working for the welfare of all people and not, like the chief priests and the Pharisees of our Gospel reading, working for our own welfare at the expense of others.
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