The Reverend Tommy Thompson
“The Precious Way of God”
Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52
Sixth Sunday after Pentecost/Proper 12A
24 July 2011
“Sometimes human beings are confronted with something that they must reject outright or that, if they accept it, will demand the remaking of their entire worldview.”1 It is rare, but sometimes something comes along in life -- an event, a gift, an experience--that is so great that we must either dismiss it altogether or allow everything to be torn down and rebuilt around it...
Dr. Wood was a very wealthy retired surgeon and owner of a well to do medical practice. Though most of his life’s energy was spent in the medical field, his one hobby--the only one he ever had time for--was art. When Dr. Wood was not in a business meeting or performing an intricate surgery, you could find him in an art museum or gallery. He enjoyed experiencing new art...always looking for that one piece that would be a few notches above the rest. He had acquired a few of these over the years...art that had the perfect balance of color...the most intricate details that sometimes seemed more vibrant than real life. But there was this one that was almost too perfect...too beautiful...too unique. Every time Dr. Wood gazed into its beauty, he’d get lost in it...it was magnificent. But there was one problem...it was too unique--too beautiful. It simply would not fit any of the spaces in his lavish, historic Victorian home or his contemporary medical practice building. He knows the painting is very important...it took his whole life for this one to find him...but it won’t fit in with any of his surroundings...so he puts it in his house, in a large walk in closet, encased with a light shining down upon it, and locks the door.
He would go into that closet from time to time and gaze into the beauty of the painting...and get lost there...but it stayed in that closet...it was too unique to fit in with his current surroundings. As Dr. Wood grew in years, he had some regret that such a magnificent piece of art was locked away in a closet for no one else to experience. He knew he had to do something...He didn’t want to make money on the piece...he wanted to give it as an extravagant gift to someone who would appreciate it at least as much as he did...Instead of being locked away in a closet, he knew this piece’s beauty was created to enhance whatever world it found itself in...
He decided to gift it to the college he once attended on the occasion of it’s 150th anniversary celebration. When he unveiled it, the crowd gasped with awe. Committees met to decide the best place to hang such a beautiful and unique piece of artwork. But they ran into the same problem as did Dr. Wood. It was too beautiful...it simply would not fit in the current architectural arrangement. But instead of locking it away in a closet, they decided on the only other possible solution. “We will tear everything down and build around this great and unexpected gift.”
Once the building project was completed, anyone who walked the campus knew that all the best things about the college are now enhanced within the new structures and the problems of which people had been aware of had been dealt with...simply by rebuilding everything around the beauty and majesty to which this piece points.2
“Sometimes human beings are confronted with something that they must reject outright or that, if they accept it, will demand the remaking of their entire worldview.”3 It is rare, but sometimes in our lives something comes along -- an event, a gift, an experience--that is so great that we must either dismiss it altogether or allow everything to be torn down and rebuilt around it...
In the Gospel lesson for today, Jesus is still in parable land...except today we get not simply one parable and its explanation but several parables and no explanations. Today we are more like the crowds who hear and not so much like the disciples who get to go into the house to hear the meaning of the parables...and boy do these parables engender a sense of wonder and awe! They, like the parable sower and the parable of the weeds & wheat, compel us to press in a little closer...to dive deeper into the mysteries of God in Jesus Christ.
As we press in, we have to be, at the least, intrigued with the nature of the kingdom these parables present. The kingdom of heaven is likened to a man, likely a hired plowman, who is out working in another’s field...just an ordinary day in the ordinary world and then a treasure that has been right there in the ordinary is uncovered by the plowman. The parable doesn’t tell us what this treasure is...but the man is overjoyed by it...so much that he hides the treasure in the field and goes and sells everything that he owns...This treasure is so important...so utterly priceless to this one that EVERYTHING the plowman has acquired throughout his entire life doesn’t even come close to comparing...he JOYFULLY sells it all and buys that field that contains this treasure.
It is interesting, this parable. If we got to know what the “treasure” actually is, we might not have as many questions as we do...I mean, why didn’t he just take the treasure? Maybe he knew the treasure wasn’t his in the fist place...well, then why did he make himself feel better by hiding the treasure and buying the field so the owner wouldn’t realize there was a treasure in the first place?
I don’t think Jesus is justifying what seems to be unethical practices by the plowman...but I do think that this parable shines light on the nature of the Kingdom of God. The kingdom of God, the way of God, is precious. It is something so valuable, so important that it requires leaving everything we’ve ever understood as worthy and investing EVERYTHING WE HAVE AND EVERYTHING WE ARE IN IT. Sometimes this investment will mean breaking the rules of the current established ways. Jesus has done that more than once you know...
But what strikes me as much as anything about this parable is the way the plowman is described...upon discovering this treasure out in this field, he JOYFULLY sells all that he has and invests in this field with this treasure. And this is the nature of the precious way of God, the Kingdom of God. When it is revealed, it takes total commitment...total investment of all that we are...we can’t hold on to this and that from the age that is passing away...no, all that dies in the baptismal flood. Because all those things we’ve always held on to...those things we’ve always assigned worth...they were all mere “fillers” of the real thing...we always knew there had to be something else...then the real thing is revealed to us and all those other things that filled that hole are no longer needed...they are joyfully done away with and all is invested in this new way of life--the precious way of God that we’ve risen from the baptismal flood to make our pilgrimage...the one thing that was missing that makes everything right—the treasure that is kingdom life.
Another parable in today’s lesson is a lot like this one. The kingdom of God is likened to a merchant in search of fine pearls. This merchant has surely found pearls before...even fine pearls...but this time the merchant finds THE pearl...like Dr. Wood found THE painting...like the plowman found THE treasure worth selling everything for.
In the first century Mediterranean world, pearls symbolized the highest good in similar fashion as the way diamonds are understood in our world. It is a very good thing to find a pearl...but to find THE perfect pearl!...the merchant is left to do one thing: go and sell EVERYTHING he has and invest it all in this one pearl of great value.
That is what the kingdom of God is like, brothers and sisters. They way of God is THE most precious of treasures--the most costly of jewels. When we understand what is before us, the only logical conclusion is for us to liquidate all that we’ve ever had and invest EVERYTHING in this kingdom Jesus came to inaugurate: our time, our energy, our space, our resources...EVERYTHING...it’s that central to life.
You see, “Sometimes human beings are confronted with something that they must reject outright or that, if they accept it, will demand the remaking of their entire worldview.”4 The kingdom of God happens to be that something.
But what is so precious and important about this something that it requires such a response? Enter the other parables of the mustard seed.
The kingdom of God is likened to a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.
What a curious parable...anyone who knows anything about mustard plants knows that there is no mustard tree...at best it is a garden shrub...in reality it is more like a garden herb. Is Jesus confused? I mean the Gospel of John teaches us, and we confess it in the creed, that all things were made through him and without him nothing was made. Surely he knows something about that which he has made! So I don’t think we should dismiss this parable as Jesus being misinformed...i don’t think he slept through his botany courses...
In the ancient world, trees were imperial symbols. The great empires would be compared to various strong, mighty, or towering trees. It was their imperial symbol of power. So, when Jesus likens the “Kingdom” of God to a certain kind of tree...it doesn’t matter whether it’s botanically accurate...what matters is he is making a qualitative statement about the kingdom he is inaugurating and his hearers would have made this identification. If we look at the back of a U.S. quarter, we see a symbol of the eagle with outstretched wings symbolizing the presidential coat of arms. If we were to look at the back of the coin of the kingdom of God, maybe we’d see a mustard seed...like on this coin that Elizabeth Chenault loaned to me...on the front is a mustard seed and on that back, the mustard “tree.”
This is the meaning Jesus is sharing through this parable. The imperial tree of choice of the kingdom of God is not a strong oak or a towering California Redwood...No, it is a garden herb. Talk about upsetting the equilibrium. Talk about turning the tables upside down...This kingdom is alternative to the so called “power” structures of the world we live in...it redefines power...it shows us what power really is...
This is the “preciousness” of the kingdom of God...it’s power...This “little shrub” will one day be finally understood and accepted as the greatest of all trees--of all kingdoms or empires.
If you think your mighty...great...someone of note, i hope you hear the Gospel who proclaims His kingdom’s imperial tree is a garden herb and not a gigantic oak. Again today, Jesus has invited us to become the “least of these” and by so doing become the greatest in the kingdom of God. This is true power...humble, selfless, becoming least, elevating the other--self-giving love that reveals the heart of God. This love came face to face with the oak trees and redwoods of the world, and in Jesus Christ, the mustard tree conquered. Now the slaughtered Lamb is revealed as the powerful Lion of Judah. The way of God is the way of the cross. The power of God is the self-less humble love of Christ. And the cross has given way to new creation through His resurrection when death was beaten down by death. What the world understood as a mere garden herb has become the greatest of trees that nurtures the creation through it’s far-reaching and shade proving limbs. One day it will be completely evident for all to see...
“Sometimes human beings are confronted with something that they must reject outright or that, if they accept it, will demand the remaking of their entire worldview.”5 It is rare, but sometimes in our lives something comes along -- an event, a gift, an experience--that is so great that we must either dismiss it altogether or allow everything to be torn down and rebuilt around it. What will you do with such a unique and precious treasure?
Amen.
End Notes:
1. N.T. Wright, Surprised by Hope (New York: Harper Collins, 2008) 66.
2. Ibid. Wright tells a story about a painting that was so great that, for it to fit, everything had to be torn down and built around it. I have based my fictional story off Wright’s original.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.
5. Ibid.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Resurrection Rather Than Rapture
The Reverend Tommy Thompson
“Resurrection Rather Than Rapture”
Romans 8:12-25 & Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
5th Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 11A)
17 July 2011
How many here this morning enjoy gardening? Playing in the dirt...sowing seeds, nurturing the seeds to become healthy plants, watching them grow, and then eventually, harvesting and enjoying their fruit. That we enjoy... How many here this morning enjoy watching those seeds that we did not plant grow? I mean who gets overjoyed over watching weeds grow in the garden right beside the onions or all throughout the rows of beans?
I think God shares our frustration. In the Gospel Lesson for this morning Jesus tells another parable to the crowds that included the disciples. Another one of those stories that engenders awe and wonder more than clarity and understanding...one of those stories that invite those who hear to listen closely...to press in closer to Jesus to dive deeper into the mystery...or dismiss it altogether because it makes us think too much...
In this parable, Jesus likens the kingdom of God to a sower who went out and sowed good seed in his field. Then, while everyone was asleep an intruder--an enemy came...and he sowed weeds among the wheat and then ran away...
Then, because of the nature of this weed known in the Mediterranean world, it stayed almost unrecognizable, blending in with the wheat until the wheat began to bear grain. Then, the weeds were recognizable...the servants of the householder came and said, “Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where then, did these weeds come from?” Of course we already know, but those in the parable itself cannot yet know...so the master tells them “an enemy has done this.”
Naturally the servants ask if they should go and gather the weeds, separating them from the wheat...but the master tells them not to do this...because the nature of these weeds, too, is that their root grows deeper than the wheat ...causing them to be tangled with the good wheat...if the servants were to go out and pull them up, they’d pull precious wheat up with the weeds...so the master tells them that the de-weeding must wait until harvest time. Then the reapers will collect the weeds first and bind them to be burned while the wheat is gathered into his barn.
Like last week, this is all the crowd gets to hear...they walk away trying to make sense out of this parable...of how the Kingdom of God is like this story of wheat and weeds...of a good sower and an enemy sower sowing in the same field...but the disciples and us gathered here this morning are not satisfied with just hearing the parable...it engenders wonder, awe...mystery...so we press in a little closer to Jesus where he invites us to journey deeper with him into the mysteries of God.
And Jesus teaches us that the one who sows is the Son of Man--Jesus. The field is the world, good seed are the children of the kingdom and the weeds are the children of the evil one...the enemy who sowed the weeds is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age and the reapers are angels...Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age...The Son of Man will send his angels and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evil doers, and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then, he says, using similar language used of him on the mountain of transfiguration, the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen!
And I hope we who have pressed in closer truly do have ears to listen...We live in a world where folks are constantly preaching a different gospel than Jesus’ gospel. A gospel that says that the world is evil...that we are evil...and that the solution is for God to destroy the world. These persons preach that the only hope for anyone is to accept Jesus as savior and Lord and then one day, when the trumpet sounds, these souls will fly away or be raptured into eternal bliss, leaving the evil world behind to burn in judgment. There are entire series of books and movies based on this anti-gospel...and that’s just what it is--not the gospel.
In the Gospel lesson for this morning, Jesus invites us to a different understanding of the world and salvation...an understanding that is in continuity with the grand sweep of God’s creative and saving activity from Genesis to Revelation. This story, in similar fashion as Jesus’ parable, presents God as the Good Creator who makes the world and everything in it and calls it “good.” Note that the beginning of the story begins with God’s affirmation of it ... with God’s enjoyment of it and not with God’s condemnation of it...God does not make evil...This is what is revealed in the very beginning of our story in the book of Genesis, when after God creates, we are reminded by the biblical text, “And God saw that is was good.” This phrase is repeated from the 3rd day of creation through the fifth day of creation...and then on the sixth day, just in case we didn’t quite understand, this time we get a superlative...it is not just that God saw that the creation was good...no, after God had made human beings and everything else in the world, we read, “God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good.”
Back when I was a children’s pastor in Tennessee, I remember teaching the children the creation story one Sunday morning...we used creation cards...helping them to make a card that represented each of the six days of creation. With each day of creation, we stressed to them how much God enjoyed what he had made and expressed that by naming it as “good.” The seventh card would be different, however. The children were given a blank card and asked to pray and ask for a good way to demonstrate what happened on that day. Many children left their card blank, representing the rest that God took and the rest that is woven into the fabric of creation. Some drew pictures of God’s love for his world and for them and their families...there were some creative responses...but one stands out for me...the picture has never been erased from my mind. One little boy drew a picture of all the different parts of creation...he drew the ocean with fish and dolphins jumping out of the water...he drew birds in the sky...a bright sun and only a few clouds...he drew islands in the distance...with palm trees and fruit trees...i believe there were some monkeys and other kinds of land animals...and human beings...then, out in the middle of the ocean, on a gigantic floating lounge chair was God...with lemonade in hand with an umbrella popping out of the lemonade, relaxing with a GREAT BIG smile on his face...with one of those little cartoonish bubbles extending from his mouth saying, “This is all so COOL!” To this day, i think that is some of the best theology of creation...God is pleased...God enjoys what God has made.
Like Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field.”
Well that’s all fine and good...but we are all overcome by the fact that the antithesis of good exists in God’s world. Like the disciples, we want to know, “Where did these weeds come from!?” Where did this heart disease come from? What caused my son to be taken away from me? Who gave mom this cancer? What caused that man to rape that woman? Why did those men fly those planes into those buildings? Why did those white men beat that black man? Why are those Americans so mean to those people from the middle-east? Where did these weeds come from!? Who put them here?
The parable and the bible’s answer is that these things do not originate from God. God is not up there somewhere testing us as some theologies suggest...he doesn’t see that mom is strong enough to deal with cancer and therefore gives her cancer...he doesn’t work with terror to give nations wake-up calls...he doesn’t take children from their parents or parents from their children...God is not the author of evil, chaos and death. God is the giver of life and the life God gives God says is very very good!
Jesus’ parable, and the larger narrative of the bible wherein we read Jesus’ parable makes it clear that an enemy has done this...the evil in the world does not originate with God. In Genesis 3 we read the story of the Fall of humankind and the snowball effect of evil from that point forward until finally “The Lord saw that the wickedness of humankind was great in the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually.” Our disobedience...our bowing down to the enemy rather than the Creator, has brought about evil at a systemic level in God’s world. Now the entire creation moans and groans...is subjected to the horrible consequences of human sin...our disobedience has led to evil consequences of suffering and strife for not only human beings, but the entire cosmos... We opened the door in curiosity and behind that door was a multitude of demons that once the door was opened and they began stampeding through it, it was impossible for us to somehow muster up enough strength to shut the door back...we opened the door to evil, Genesis says, and evil has left it’s mark on the world in ways that sometime seem irreparable.
Oh, but we think we can...we respond to evil with evil...we go to war...we drop bombs...we fire our weapons...we want revenge...but all that has ever accomplished is the multiplication of evil...like those servants in the parable, we want to go out and pull up all those weeds...we think somehow we can...but Jesus makes it clear...YOU cannot! Not now, not ever.
But, contrary to what many popular theologies claim, God chooses to stay with his world that has become so broken and scarred by the evil that runs rampant due to human sin. God has not given up on human beings and on the rest of creation. God’s plan is not to mark a few to be rescued from the world, but to restore the image of God within his people that the world might know the order and beauty that God intended in the very beginning. And though we can do nothing about the weeds, God can and God has.
From the very beginning of our story, God is at work bringing restoration...justice...new creation. He called forth a people from Egypt and made them to be his people ... a people he hoped would be the image of God restored, shining the light of salvation for the entire cosmos to see...to bring restoration and salvation...but the people of Israel, overwhelmed by evil’s strong grip, kept rebelling...kept doing what they had been doing since the fall...and every-time they made a few steps toward the goal of restoration and justice, their sin would cause them to take ten times as many steps back...God never gave up on them though...he never does...he raised up judges and prophets to show the way to salvation...and when, time after time, they found themselves unable to respond to God’s gracious initiative for the world, God himself, instead of giving up and abandoning ship, became one of us in Jesus Christ, taking upon himself our flesh by the power of the Holy Spirit and through the obedience of His mother Mary.
He became one of us and lived as one of us, without sin...in Him the image of God was restored...in him, the creation, once again, got to experience what it is like to be ruled by one who is truly human...who lives in the world as God intended when God made us in the very beginning. Jesus, fully human, did not rebel against His Father. He lived in a broken world among broken people, and rather than adding to it’s brokeness, he brought forth justice and grace--healing and wholeness. When we look at his human life, we see what human life is truly meant to be...but when the entire world is living contrary to the way God intends for them to live, it is tough for the one who lives that way. The world did not know what to do with such beautiful humanity. So we condemned him...that’s right...we are so far from the truth that we are actually condemning what is right and good--God himself...but even when he was condemned and beat and spat upon, he did not return evil for evil, but loved us to the very end...even when we had him suspended and hanging from the cross, the electric chair of the first century world...treating him who knew no evil like the worst of criminals, he prayed for our forgiveness and invited us into the paradise he was about to open for us.
On the cross, God faced death. Jesus died. He didn’t fall asleep and then wake up...he was as dead as dead can be. Death is the ultimate consequence of sin...it is Satan’s greatest boast. And oh how the devil celebrated when the 2nd person of the Trinity was six foot under! But as St. John Chysostom so beautifully preached one Easter: Evil took a body and, face to face, met God! It took earth and encountered heaven! It took what it saw but crumbled before what it had not seen! "O death, where is thy sting? O hades, where is thy victory?" Christ is risen, and you are overthrown! Christ is risen, and the demons are fallen! Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice! Christ is risen, and life reigns!
Christ is risen, and not one dead remains in a tomb! For Christ, being raised from the dead, has become the First-fruits of them that slept.”
This is the good news of the Gospel. What happened to Jesus will happen to us and the creation rather than experiencing the horrible consequences of human sin, will, again, experience the caring rule of the image of God in the world, causing it to radiate with beauty that is unimaginable.
What happened to Jesus in His resurrection will happen to us...as St. Paul says in Romans, “ we are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ--if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.” Elsewhere Paul calls the resurrected Jesus the “first-fruits” of those risen from the dead. He is the prototype of the new creation--the firstborn from the dead...this language means that more are to come in like manner. And note Jesus did not fly away to an eternal bliss never to return. In Jesus God has made it clear that matter is not evil...that physicality is not bad...in Jesus, God has healed the physical world...he has brought forth new creation from the sinful creation...and this is the goal of God for all people...not rapture but resurrection...not soul flight but new creation, walking upon the good earth God has not given up on...creation as God intended.
Jesus made clear in the parable that what is taken out of the world is not the children of God but the weeds--evil. The excision of evil will happen...and that will be new creation. Like a cancer that must be cut out or like weeds that must be pulled out so that the garden may flourish, God will rid His world of the cancer of sin--the weeds--and the world he has called very good will flourish again...God will, again, lounge in the pool and say this is so cool...
St. Paul really sums it up well when he says, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; and not only the creation , but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.”
This picture painted for us by the apostle Paul, is not a picture of God removing his children from the world and and then pouring out destruction on what is left. No, this is a picture of renewal--transformation--new creation. The image is that of the creation crying out in labor pains. As we all know, birth is a transformative process. Here the picture is of the current creation being pregnant with possibility in the resurrected Christ, one day giving birth to something beautiful, that though is obviously different from that which gave it birth, stands in continuity with that which gave it birth.
The creation cries out, St. Paul, says: cries out for the real children of God to be revealed...and we join it’s cry, in eager anticipation of the day when Christ shall return and we, like him are resurrected to be fully what he intends us to be...when that revelation happens, the world will once again sing and rejoice and radiate with beauty like we’ve never seen or known...
Until then, we are called by the Gospel to be Easter people--children of God--the wheat among the weeds...to live among the weeds as Christ--love in the midst of hatred -- life in the midst of death -- new creation in the midst of anti-creation. There will be suffering...the world won’t always respond the way we’d like them too--i mean they killed our Lord...but the hope of resurrection--the future glory that is coming, cannot be compared to what we see or imagine...it will be worth it all...we will shine in the transfiguration glory of Jesus Christ our Lord where evil has been eradicated and the world is full of the glory of God as the water covers the seas!
May the Holy Spirit empower and encourage us from deep within that we might go into the world bringing the new creation to fruition everywhere we go by our faithfulness to the Risen King. Amen.
“Resurrection Rather Than Rapture”
Romans 8:12-25 & Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
5th Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 11A)
17 July 2011
How many here this morning enjoy gardening? Playing in the dirt...sowing seeds, nurturing the seeds to become healthy plants, watching them grow, and then eventually, harvesting and enjoying their fruit. That we enjoy... How many here this morning enjoy watching those seeds that we did not plant grow? I mean who gets overjoyed over watching weeds grow in the garden right beside the onions or all throughout the rows of beans?
I think God shares our frustration. In the Gospel Lesson for this morning Jesus tells another parable to the crowds that included the disciples. Another one of those stories that engenders awe and wonder more than clarity and understanding...one of those stories that invite those who hear to listen closely...to press in closer to Jesus to dive deeper into the mystery...or dismiss it altogether because it makes us think too much...
In this parable, Jesus likens the kingdom of God to a sower who went out and sowed good seed in his field. Then, while everyone was asleep an intruder--an enemy came...and he sowed weeds among the wheat and then ran away...
Then, because of the nature of this weed known in the Mediterranean world, it stayed almost unrecognizable, blending in with the wheat until the wheat began to bear grain. Then, the weeds were recognizable...the servants of the householder came and said, “Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where then, did these weeds come from?” Of course we already know, but those in the parable itself cannot yet know...so the master tells them “an enemy has done this.”
Naturally the servants ask if they should go and gather the weeds, separating them from the wheat...but the master tells them not to do this...because the nature of these weeds, too, is that their root grows deeper than the wheat ...causing them to be tangled with the good wheat...if the servants were to go out and pull them up, they’d pull precious wheat up with the weeds...so the master tells them that the de-weeding must wait until harvest time. Then the reapers will collect the weeds first and bind them to be burned while the wheat is gathered into his barn.
Like last week, this is all the crowd gets to hear...they walk away trying to make sense out of this parable...of how the Kingdom of God is like this story of wheat and weeds...of a good sower and an enemy sower sowing in the same field...but the disciples and us gathered here this morning are not satisfied with just hearing the parable...it engenders wonder, awe...mystery...so we press in a little closer to Jesus where he invites us to journey deeper with him into the mysteries of God.
And Jesus teaches us that the one who sows is the Son of Man--Jesus. The field is the world, good seed are the children of the kingdom and the weeds are the children of the evil one...the enemy who sowed the weeds is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age and the reapers are angels...Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age...The Son of Man will send his angels and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evil doers, and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then, he says, using similar language used of him on the mountain of transfiguration, the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen!
And I hope we who have pressed in closer truly do have ears to listen...We live in a world where folks are constantly preaching a different gospel than Jesus’ gospel. A gospel that says that the world is evil...that we are evil...and that the solution is for God to destroy the world. These persons preach that the only hope for anyone is to accept Jesus as savior and Lord and then one day, when the trumpet sounds, these souls will fly away or be raptured into eternal bliss, leaving the evil world behind to burn in judgment. There are entire series of books and movies based on this anti-gospel...and that’s just what it is--not the gospel.
In the Gospel lesson for this morning, Jesus invites us to a different understanding of the world and salvation...an understanding that is in continuity with the grand sweep of God’s creative and saving activity from Genesis to Revelation. This story, in similar fashion as Jesus’ parable, presents God as the Good Creator who makes the world and everything in it and calls it “good.” Note that the beginning of the story begins with God’s affirmation of it ... with God’s enjoyment of it and not with God’s condemnation of it...God does not make evil...This is what is revealed in the very beginning of our story in the book of Genesis, when after God creates, we are reminded by the biblical text, “And God saw that is was good.” This phrase is repeated from the 3rd day of creation through the fifth day of creation...and then on the sixth day, just in case we didn’t quite understand, this time we get a superlative...it is not just that God saw that the creation was good...no, after God had made human beings and everything else in the world, we read, “God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good.”
Back when I was a children’s pastor in Tennessee, I remember teaching the children the creation story one Sunday morning...we used creation cards...helping them to make a card that represented each of the six days of creation. With each day of creation, we stressed to them how much God enjoyed what he had made and expressed that by naming it as “good.” The seventh card would be different, however. The children were given a blank card and asked to pray and ask for a good way to demonstrate what happened on that day. Many children left their card blank, representing the rest that God took and the rest that is woven into the fabric of creation. Some drew pictures of God’s love for his world and for them and their families...there were some creative responses...but one stands out for me...the picture has never been erased from my mind. One little boy drew a picture of all the different parts of creation...he drew the ocean with fish and dolphins jumping out of the water...he drew birds in the sky...a bright sun and only a few clouds...he drew islands in the distance...with palm trees and fruit trees...i believe there were some monkeys and other kinds of land animals...and human beings...then, out in the middle of the ocean, on a gigantic floating lounge chair was God...with lemonade in hand with an umbrella popping out of the lemonade, relaxing with a GREAT BIG smile on his face...with one of those little cartoonish bubbles extending from his mouth saying, “This is all so COOL!” To this day, i think that is some of the best theology of creation...God is pleased...God enjoys what God has made.
Like Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field.”
Well that’s all fine and good...but we are all overcome by the fact that the antithesis of good exists in God’s world. Like the disciples, we want to know, “Where did these weeds come from!?” Where did this heart disease come from? What caused my son to be taken away from me? Who gave mom this cancer? What caused that man to rape that woman? Why did those men fly those planes into those buildings? Why did those white men beat that black man? Why are those Americans so mean to those people from the middle-east? Where did these weeds come from!? Who put them here?
The parable and the bible’s answer is that these things do not originate from God. God is not up there somewhere testing us as some theologies suggest...he doesn’t see that mom is strong enough to deal with cancer and therefore gives her cancer...he doesn’t work with terror to give nations wake-up calls...he doesn’t take children from their parents or parents from their children...God is not the author of evil, chaos and death. God is the giver of life and the life God gives God says is very very good!
Jesus’ parable, and the larger narrative of the bible wherein we read Jesus’ parable makes it clear that an enemy has done this...the evil in the world does not originate with God. In Genesis 3 we read the story of the Fall of humankind and the snowball effect of evil from that point forward until finally “The Lord saw that the wickedness of humankind was great in the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually.” Our disobedience...our bowing down to the enemy rather than the Creator, has brought about evil at a systemic level in God’s world. Now the entire creation moans and groans...is subjected to the horrible consequences of human sin...our disobedience has led to evil consequences of suffering and strife for not only human beings, but the entire cosmos... We opened the door in curiosity and behind that door was a multitude of demons that once the door was opened and they began stampeding through it, it was impossible for us to somehow muster up enough strength to shut the door back...we opened the door to evil, Genesis says, and evil has left it’s mark on the world in ways that sometime seem irreparable.
Oh, but we think we can...we respond to evil with evil...we go to war...we drop bombs...we fire our weapons...we want revenge...but all that has ever accomplished is the multiplication of evil...like those servants in the parable, we want to go out and pull up all those weeds...we think somehow we can...but Jesus makes it clear...YOU cannot! Not now, not ever.
But, contrary to what many popular theologies claim, God chooses to stay with his world that has become so broken and scarred by the evil that runs rampant due to human sin. God has not given up on human beings and on the rest of creation. God’s plan is not to mark a few to be rescued from the world, but to restore the image of God within his people that the world might know the order and beauty that God intended in the very beginning. And though we can do nothing about the weeds, God can and God has.
From the very beginning of our story, God is at work bringing restoration...justice...new creation. He called forth a people from Egypt and made them to be his people ... a people he hoped would be the image of God restored, shining the light of salvation for the entire cosmos to see...to bring restoration and salvation...but the people of Israel, overwhelmed by evil’s strong grip, kept rebelling...kept doing what they had been doing since the fall...and every-time they made a few steps toward the goal of restoration and justice, their sin would cause them to take ten times as many steps back...God never gave up on them though...he never does...he raised up judges and prophets to show the way to salvation...and when, time after time, they found themselves unable to respond to God’s gracious initiative for the world, God himself, instead of giving up and abandoning ship, became one of us in Jesus Christ, taking upon himself our flesh by the power of the Holy Spirit and through the obedience of His mother Mary.
He became one of us and lived as one of us, without sin...in Him the image of God was restored...in him, the creation, once again, got to experience what it is like to be ruled by one who is truly human...who lives in the world as God intended when God made us in the very beginning. Jesus, fully human, did not rebel against His Father. He lived in a broken world among broken people, and rather than adding to it’s brokeness, he brought forth justice and grace--healing and wholeness. When we look at his human life, we see what human life is truly meant to be...but when the entire world is living contrary to the way God intends for them to live, it is tough for the one who lives that way. The world did not know what to do with such beautiful humanity. So we condemned him...that’s right...we are so far from the truth that we are actually condemning what is right and good--God himself...but even when he was condemned and beat and spat upon, he did not return evil for evil, but loved us to the very end...even when we had him suspended and hanging from the cross, the electric chair of the first century world...treating him who knew no evil like the worst of criminals, he prayed for our forgiveness and invited us into the paradise he was about to open for us.
On the cross, God faced death. Jesus died. He didn’t fall asleep and then wake up...he was as dead as dead can be. Death is the ultimate consequence of sin...it is Satan’s greatest boast. And oh how the devil celebrated when the 2nd person of the Trinity was six foot under! But as St. John Chysostom so beautifully preached one Easter: Evil took a body and, face to face, met God! It took earth and encountered heaven! It took what it saw but crumbled before what it had not seen! "O death, where is thy sting? O hades, where is thy victory?" Christ is risen, and you are overthrown! Christ is risen, and the demons are fallen! Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice! Christ is risen, and life reigns!
Christ is risen, and not one dead remains in a tomb! For Christ, being raised from the dead, has become the First-fruits of them that slept.”
This is the good news of the Gospel. What happened to Jesus will happen to us and the creation rather than experiencing the horrible consequences of human sin, will, again, experience the caring rule of the image of God in the world, causing it to radiate with beauty that is unimaginable.
What happened to Jesus in His resurrection will happen to us...as St. Paul says in Romans, “ we are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ--if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.” Elsewhere Paul calls the resurrected Jesus the “first-fruits” of those risen from the dead. He is the prototype of the new creation--the firstborn from the dead...this language means that more are to come in like manner. And note Jesus did not fly away to an eternal bliss never to return. In Jesus God has made it clear that matter is not evil...that physicality is not bad...in Jesus, God has healed the physical world...he has brought forth new creation from the sinful creation...and this is the goal of God for all people...not rapture but resurrection...not soul flight but new creation, walking upon the good earth God has not given up on...creation as God intended.
Jesus made clear in the parable that what is taken out of the world is not the children of God but the weeds--evil. The excision of evil will happen...and that will be new creation. Like a cancer that must be cut out or like weeds that must be pulled out so that the garden may flourish, God will rid His world of the cancer of sin--the weeds--and the world he has called very good will flourish again...God will, again, lounge in the pool and say this is so cool...
St. Paul really sums it up well when he says, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; and not only the creation , but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.”
This picture painted for us by the apostle Paul, is not a picture of God removing his children from the world and and then pouring out destruction on what is left. No, this is a picture of renewal--transformation--new creation. The image is that of the creation crying out in labor pains. As we all know, birth is a transformative process. Here the picture is of the current creation being pregnant with possibility in the resurrected Christ, one day giving birth to something beautiful, that though is obviously different from that which gave it birth, stands in continuity with that which gave it birth.
The creation cries out, St. Paul, says: cries out for the real children of God to be revealed...and we join it’s cry, in eager anticipation of the day when Christ shall return and we, like him are resurrected to be fully what he intends us to be...when that revelation happens, the world will once again sing and rejoice and radiate with beauty like we’ve never seen or known...
Until then, we are called by the Gospel to be Easter people--children of God--the wheat among the weeds...to live among the weeds as Christ--love in the midst of hatred -- life in the midst of death -- new creation in the midst of anti-creation. There will be suffering...the world won’t always respond the way we’d like them too--i mean they killed our Lord...but the hope of resurrection--the future glory that is coming, cannot be compared to what we see or imagine...it will be worth it all...we will shine in the transfiguration glory of Jesus Christ our Lord where evil has been eradicated and the world is full of the glory of God as the water covers the seas!
May the Holy Spirit empower and encourage us from deep within that we might go into the world bringing the new creation to fruition everywhere we go by our faithfulness to the Risen King. Amen.
Monday, July 11, 2011
Sowing Extravagance
Rev. Tommy Thompson
4th Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 10A)
Matthew 13:1-9; 18-23
10 July 2011
In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
I recently became infatuated with a movie from 1987 called “Babette’s Feast.” The movie is set in the late 1900s, north of Germany on the Jutland peninsula. In this movie, Babette, a refugee from Paris, shows up at the door of two elderly sisters who care for an aging parish their late father started almost 100 years ago.
As a refugee, Babette is looking to be a servant for this family that she had heard about. The two sisters bring her in and she begins to cook for them and to serve them in many ways, over time making life easier for both the sisters and the parish the sisters watch over.
It was a whole new life for Babette…she brought nothing with her from Paris except what she had on her when she arrived at Martine and Philippa’s door and one lottery ticket that a friend back home would continue to renew, to give Babette hope of better resources for living.
That lottery ticket pays off for Babette when she learns she is the winner of 10,000 francs. But rather than using the money to go and start a life for herself, Babette does something a bit out of the ordinary. Babette decides she will use the money to prepare a delicious dinner for the sisters and their small congregation on the occasion of the founding pastor's hundredth birthday. This feast will be an outpouring of Babette’s appreciation and gratitude…but she doesn’t tell anyone that she is spending her entire winnings on the people she serves.
As the ingredients for the feast start arriving at the house, folks cannot believe their eyes. These are the best of ingredients…what is Babette doing? Can she handle this? Will it be a meal fit for Christians? There is much curiosity and even anxiety in the air over these preparations…but they allow her to go through with her plan.
When the day for the feast comes, the curious and even anxious guests of Babette finally become more than satisfied…this is not a mere small feast…she has gone all out…demonstrating extravagant generosity as a thank you to this family who has brought her in.
Not only does she cook lots of food well, but she also ensures that there is fine china, crystal, and linens. With the food she pairs fine wines…one rare vintage from Burgundy, France and another from Champagne. The six course meal includes lavish foods such as turtle soup, caviar, amazing French cheeses, quail in puff pastry shell, and a rum sponge cake with figs and glazed fruits.
They didn’t know before the meal…Babette is the famous former Chef of a very famous high class restaurant in Paris. She has gone all out … and she spent all of her money on this meal. And these sisters will be ever grateful for her for what she has done…
Now that is a picture of extravagant generosity! And that is the picture of God the Gospel paints for us this morning as folks gather along the seashore to hear what Jesus has to say from the boat. At first, it is not clear that Jesus is speaking about His Father. He simply says, “A sower went out to sow…and as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path and the birds came and ate them up. Other seeds fell on the rocky ground where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly since they did not have depth of soil…but when the sun rose they were scorched and since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell upon the thorn bushes…and as the thorns grew they choked them up. Still others fell upon good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”
Do you see the picture? A sower out sowing lavishly, without concern where the seeds are scattered, as long as they are scattered EVERYWHERE! The sower sows everywhere without reservation and fruitfulness comes from places we might not have expected…
But this is all the crowd got to hear…only the first half of the Gospel reading for today. Just this parable about a sower who went out to sow. Will the crowd of people listening to Jesus’ parabolic speech ever get it? Will they make the connections Jesus intends for them to make? Will they understand and receive life? We do not know…and that is the nature of the parable.
The parable engenders mystery and awe…curiosity more than immediate clarity and understanding. The parable brings about wonder that leads us to either dismiss it or work our way through the crowd, pressing in as close as we can to this Jesus to hear more…to go deeper into the mysteries he presents and represents.
and that’s what we get to do this morning…we join the disciples as those who are struck with awe…who have more questions rather than answers and who keep pressing in closer and closer to Jesus to be led further into the deep mysteries of God.
And to this small band of inquirers Jesus reveals truth. ‘Hear then the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.’
What is Jesus trying to teach us who have pressed in about God? about us? about the world we live in?
Firstly, we serve a God of extravagant generosity! Like Babette, God is preparing a lavish feast for all the world and he wants all to come to His table. He is like a sower out throwing the seeds of the Kingdom of God in each and every direction until they cover the world as the waters cover the sea…like rain and snow fall from heaven and saturate everything below, so God’s grace is being sown in Jesus Christ so that every millimeter of God’s creation is radiating with the glory of God—the love of God that is in Jesus Christ our Lord!
This is what Jesus has come to do…to sow seeds of the kingdom…the word of the Kingdom—to show the way into the kingdom, and most importantly, the way of the kingdom. We know that way…we who have been baptized into it! The way of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit…the way of light that has shone in the darkness and the darkness could not overcome it…the way of love that came marching to the beat of another drum, overturning the tables of this world, bringing justice and righteousness to light in God’s world. the way of life conquering death in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ…the way of the kingdom of God…and this Way of life—the way of love that swallows up deathliness…this is the way that God chooses to saturate the earth with as the waters cover the sea…That is the picture of God here…extravagant generosity…amazing pity…far reaching mercy…these seeds get scattered EVERYWHERE!
Then there’s the world…and it should be obvious…God is not careful when sowing is he? He sows everywhere…yes, even among “those people…” Who are they to you? You know the ones you’d be surprised to see standing with you in the fullness of God’s Kingdom? Who are they? …. Well God sows even there, and yes, even where you stand.
But there is sad news…news that breaks the heart of God…even though God, like Babette, has prepared a lavish feast and pulls up enough chairs at his table for every person who will ever live, some do not understand…they do not press in to go deeper…
some never even notice the seeds being scattered…they soil is too hard… like a path that has been trod over day in and day out…the way of the kingdom is presented but they are blind to it…it never gets to take root within their soil and grow into something beautiful for the Kingdom of God…others receive the good news of the new and enduring way...and they do so with joy…but they do not cooperate with God’s grace…they do not allow the master gardener to till their soil…to remove all those hard, callous, and rocky places within…so there’s too many blockages…the way of the kingdom cannot take root deep within…these are surfacy Christians…they wear the t-shirts, they have the bumper stickers…they even listen to the music…but when persecution comes and the rubber hits the road, like a plant trying to live with shallow roots, the sun’s heat scorches them and they wither away, not bringing forth fruit for the kingdom of God. And then there’s the whole group of modern day folk who are so caught up in anxiety, worry, fear, and in the wealth they’ve acquired in the world that they cannot grow into the full stature of all God is calling forth in their lives…too many other things have been planted in their garden…these thorns grow and choke the way out of them…
but then there is the good soil…the soil that has been tilled by the prevenient grace of God…the soil that receives the seed with gratitude and nurtures the seed by the means of grace and the seeds takes root deep within and behold, fruit is all over the place…in these lives the Way of God’s kingdom – the way of love that swallows up death—is revealed in and through these lives…they become participants in God’s mighty work of extravagant generosity and become sowers themselves…
This is where we come in…we who have pressed in…who are the baptized, participating in the sowing of God in the world…in God’s extravagant generosity in Jesus Christ. I believe God has some encouragement for us this morning…in the style of last week’s Gospel. Do not be discouraged…scatter freely…without reservation…live the Way of the Kingdom…spread the good news of the kingdom EVERYWHERE!!! That is all you are called to do…you cannot bring about the fruit…that is dependent upon the life-giver (God), and the soil the seeds is planted in (people)…for fruit to be reality, there must be cooperation with the life-giver…
We easily get overcome by what we understand to be failure…but the lack of fruit…folks rejecting the way of God…even by persecuting God’s precious co-sowers, is not failure. If we are scattering the seeds of God’s kingdom in all directions with the goal of the way of God covering the earth as the waters cover the seas, then we are succeeding…we are being faithful…and that’s all that matters, brothers and sisters…faithfulness to the way of the kingdom—love that swallows up death.
Jesus knows his crowd…he scattered the seed to many through the parable…but to those who demonstrated they were good soil, he took the a few steps further…making sure they understand that even the seeds that God himself sows will not all bring forth fruit. There will be rejection, denial, persecution…it is not personal failure…but a lack of cooperation with the extravagant generosity of God. You can’t give away something that another doesn’t want…even when it is the most precious of treasures!
But even though God warns us from the beginning that not all the seeds will bring forth fruit, he invites us to continue in his work of extravagance, because eventually some seeds will fall into good soil…and when that happens…when we start to see more and more fruit—evidence of the coming Kingdom of love in our midst—then we realize that every seed we scattered was worth scattering, because you never know where the seed will take root and blossom!
May the Holy Spirit go before us, even beginning in this place right now, tilling up the rocky places and thorny places of our hearts that we may be deeply rooted for the sake of a world that longs for the new and enduring way. Amen.
4th Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 10A)
Matthew 13:1-9; 18-23
10 July 2011
In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
I recently became infatuated with a movie from 1987 called “Babette’s Feast.” The movie is set in the late 1900s, north of Germany on the Jutland peninsula. In this movie, Babette, a refugee from Paris, shows up at the door of two elderly sisters who care for an aging parish their late father started almost 100 years ago.
As a refugee, Babette is looking to be a servant for this family that she had heard about. The two sisters bring her in and she begins to cook for them and to serve them in many ways, over time making life easier for both the sisters and the parish the sisters watch over.
It was a whole new life for Babette…she brought nothing with her from Paris except what she had on her when she arrived at Martine and Philippa’s door and one lottery ticket that a friend back home would continue to renew, to give Babette hope of better resources for living.
That lottery ticket pays off for Babette when she learns she is the winner of 10,000 francs. But rather than using the money to go and start a life for herself, Babette does something a bit out of the ordinary. Babette decides she will use the money to prepare a delicious dinner for the sisters and their small congregation on the occasion of the founding pastor's hundredth birthday. This feast will be an outpouring of Babette’s appreciation and gratitude…but she doesn’t tell anyone that she is spending her entire winnings on the people she serves.
As the ingredients for the feast start arriving at the house, folks cannot believe their eyes. These are the best of ingredients…what is Babette doing? Can she handle this? Will it be a meal fit for Christians? There is much curiosity and even anxiety in the air over these preparations…but they allow her to go through with her plan.
When the day for the feast comes, the curious and even anxious guests of Babette finally become more than satisfied…this is not a mere small feast…she has gone all out…demonstrating extravagant generosity as a thank you to this family who has brought her in.
Not only does she cook lots of food well, but she also ensures that there is fine china, crystal, and linens. With the food she pairs fine wines…one rare vintage from Burgundy, France and another from Champagne. The six course meal includes lavish foods such as turtle soup, caviar, amazing French cheeses, quail in puff pastry shell, and a rum sponge cake with figs and glazed fruits.
They didn’t know before the meal…Babette is the famous former Chef of a very famous high class restaurant in Paris. She has gone all out … and she spent all of her money on this meal. And these sisters will be ever grateful for her for what she has done…
Now that is a picture of extravagant generosity! And that is the picture of God the Gospel paints for us this morning as folks gather along the seashore to hear what Jesus has to say from the boat. At first, it is not clear that Jesus is speaking about His Father. He simply says, “A sower went out to sow…and as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path and the birds came and ate them up. Other seeds fell on the rocky ground where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly since they did not have depth of soil…but when the sun rose they were scorched and since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell upon the thorn bushes…and as the thorns grew they choked them up. Still others fell upon good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”
Do you see the picture? A sower out sowing lavishly, without concern where the seeds are scattered, as long as they are scattered EVERYWHERE! The sower sows everywhere without reservation and fruitfulness comes from places we might not have expected…
But this is all the crowd got to hear…only the first half of the Gospel reading for today. Just this parable about a sower who went out to sow. Will the crowd of people listening to Jesus’ parabolic speech ever get it? Will they make the connections Jesus intends for them to make? Will they understand and receive life? We do not know…and that is the nature of the parable.
The parable engenders mystery and awe…curiosity more than immediate clarity and understanding. The parable brings about wonder that leads us to either dismiss it or work our way through the crowd, pressing in as close as we can to this Jesus to hear more…to go deeper into the mysteries he presents and represents.
and that’s what we get to do this morning…we join the disciples as those who are struck with awe…who have more questions rather than answers and who keep pressing in closer and closer to Jesus to be led further into the deep mysteries of God.
And to this small band of inquirers Jesus reveals truth. ‘Hear then the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.’
What is Jesus trying to teach us who have pressed in about God? about us? about the world we live in?
Firstly, we serve a God of extravagant generosity! Like Babette, God is preparing a lavish feast for all the world and he wants all to come to His table. He is like a sower out throwing the seeds of the Kingdom of God in each and every direction until they cover the world as the waters cover the sea…like rain and snow fall from heaven and saturate everything below, so God’s grace is being sown in Jesus Christ so that every millimeter of God’s creation is radiating with the glory of God—the love of God that is in Jesus Christ our Lord!
This is what Jesus has come to do…to sow seeds of the kingdom…the word of the Kingdom—to show the way into the kingdom, and most importantly, the way of the kingdom. We know that way…we who have been baptized into it! The way of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit…the way of light that has shone in the darkness and the darkness could not overcome it…the way of love that came marching to the beat of another drum, overturning the tables of this world, bringing justice and righteousness to light in God’s world. the way of life conquering death in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ…the way of the kingdom of God…and this Way of life—the way of love that swallows up deathliness…this is the way that God chooses to saturate the earth with as the waters cover the sea…That is the picture of God here…extravagant generosity…amazing pity…far reaching mercy…these seeds get scattered EVERYWHERE!
Then there’s the world…and it should be obvious…God is not careful when sowing is he? He sows everywhere…yes, even among “those people…” Who are they to you? You know the ones you’d be surprised to see standing with you in the fullness of God’s Kingdom? Who are they? …. Well God sows even there, and yes, even where you stand.
But there is sad news…news that breaks the heart of God…even though God, like Babette, has prepared a lavish feast and pulls up enough chairs at his table for every person who will ever live, some do not understand…they do not press in to go deeper…
some never even notice the seeds being scattered…they soil is too hard… like a path that has been trod over day in and day out…the way of the kingdom is presented but they are blind to it…it never gets to take root within their soil and grow into something beautiful for the Kingdom of God…others receive the good news of the new and enduring way...and they do so with joy…but they do not cooperate with God’s grace…they do not allow the master gardener to till their soil…to remove all those hard, callous, and rocky places within…so there’s too many blockages…the way of the kingdom cannot take root deep within…these are surfacy Christians…they wear the t-shirts, they have the bumper stickers…they even listen to the music…but when persecution comes and the rubber hits the road, like a plant trying to live with shallow roots, the sun’s heat scorches them and they wither away, not bringing forth fruit for the kingdom of God. And then there’s the whole group of modern day folk who are so caught up in anxiety, worry, fear, and in the wealth they’ve acquired in the world that they cannot grow into the full stature of all God is calling forth in their lives…too many other things have been planted in their garden…these thorns grow and choke the way out of them…
but then there is the good soil…the soil that has been tilled by the prevenient grace of God…the soil that receives the seed with gratitude and nurtures the seed by the means of grace and the seeds takes root deep within and behold, fruit is all over the place…in these lives the Way of God’s kingdom – the way of love that swallows up death—is revealed in and through these lives…they become participants in God’s mighty work of extravagant generosity and become sowers themselves…
This is where we come in…we who have pressed in…who are the baptized, participating in the sowing of God in the world…in God’s extravagant generosity in Jesus Christ. I believe God has some encouragement for us this morning…in the style of last week’s Gospel. Do not be discouraged…scatter freely…without reservation…live the Way of the Kingdom…spread the good news of the kingdom EVERYWHERE!!! That is all you are called to do…you cannot bring about the fruit…that is dependent upon the life-giver (God), and the soil the seeds is planted in (people)…for fruit to be reality, there must be cooperation with the life-giver…
We easily get overcome by what we understand to be failure…but the lack of fruit…folks rejecting the way of God…even by persecuting God’s precious co-sowers, is not failure. If we are scattering the seeds of God’s kingdom in all directions with the goal of the way of God covering the earth as the waters cover the seas, then we are succeeding…we are being faithful…and that’s all that matters, brothers and sisters…faithfulness to the way of the kingdom—love that swallows up death.
Jesus knows his crowd…he scattered the seed to many through the parable…but to those who demonstrated they were good soil, he took the a few steps further…making sure they understand that even the seeds that God himself sows will not all bring forth fruit. There will be rejection, denial, persecution…it is not personal failure…but a lack of cooperation with the extravagant generosity of God. You can’t give away something that another doesn’t want…even when it is the most precious of treasures!
But even though God warns us from the beginning that not all the seeds will bring forth fruit, he invites us to continue in his work of extravagance, because eventually some seeds will fall into good soil…and when that happens…when we start to see more and more fruit—evidence of the coming Kingdom of love in our midst—then we realize that every seed we scattered was worth scattering, because you never know where the seed will take root and blossom!
May the Holy Spirit go before us, even beginning in this place right now, tilling up the rocky places and thorny places of our hearts that we may be deeply rooted for the sake of a world that longs for the new and enduring way. Amen.
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Dust & Yokes...
The Rev. Tommy Thompson
Gospel Lesson: Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30
Text for Preaching: Matthew 9:36-11:30
3rd Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 9A)
3 July 2011
Wow...what do we do with that? First Jesus scolds entire cities for not responding appropriately to His works of power. Next, Jesus prays to His Father, thanking Him for concealing “things” from the wise and intelligent yet revealing them to infants. Then Jesus says some words about the nature of of his identity and the logistics of divine revelation. Finally, he issues a grand invitation for ALL who are weary and carrying heavy burdens to come to him and find rest....What do we do with this?
Well the easiest thing to do would be to pick and choose what makes sense and go with that...and most folks today will probably be dealing with the last part of the reading...the “come to me all you are weary and heavy-laden and I will give you rest...” part. We can make a good, heartfelt sermon out of that portion of the text any day of the week (especially on our first Sunday together as pastor and parish)...But what about all of that stuff that came before the “good stuff?” What do we do with that?
Well, we do the same thing we would do if we walked into the room and a movie is playing and it is obvious that we walked in too late...many different layers of the story are piled on top of one another and we don’t know where to begin understanding the implications of some of the scenes we are presently watching. To help us understand the many layers of development thus far, we need to back the movie up to the beginning...or at least far enough to get into the dramatic flow of the movie...
That’s exactly what is needed for this Gospel reading. We walked into the room and the movie is almost over...what led to these current developments? Let’s take a look.
When we do press the rewind button and experience the sequential events that gave rise to to the place we were when we first walked in the room, the fog begins to clear and things begin to make sense.
Scene 1 is titled “Compassion & Mission.” Jesus is out doing the hard work of ministry...he is preaching, teaching, healing...and he is overwhelmed with compassion as he sees the people he loves wandering about with no real purpose or mission...like sheep do when they have no shepherd. In this scene, Jesus, with much intensity, calls to whoever will listen: “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
Immediately after giving the call for laborers to be sent into His harvest, new characters come into the next scene...they must have responded positively to Jesus’ call. They are gathered around their leader who gives them authority to go and do the work of ministry. But before they go, their teacher has them sit down and listen for a little bit as Jesus preaches a sermon that prepares them for the mission fields they will soon enter.
Just in case they assume it would be easy...even though surely they wouldn’t...i mean since when is harvesting easy work? But just in case they do not understand the full intent of the metaphor, Jesus makes it crystal clear to them. This mission is not as easy as 1-2-3. It is demanding, dangerous, and potentially demeaning. Here, let me press play...listen to Jesus’ words:
“Proclaim the Good News, ‘The Kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast our demons. You received without payment; give without payment. Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff... Whatever town or village you enter, find out who in it is worthy and stay there until you leave. As you enter the house, greet it. If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town. Truly I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgement that for that town.”
Okay...let me press pause for a brief observation...Before they ever set out on the mission, Jesus let them in on the truth. He didn’t tell them it would be as easy as 1-2-3. Instead he said, “See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of them, for they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues; and you will be dragged before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them and the Gentiles. When [not if] they hand you over, do not worry what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you at that time; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will betray brother to death and father his child and children will rise against parents and have them put to death. You will be hated by all because of my name.”
If they expected they’d go out and tell the world all about this Jesus and the hearers/observers would always receive this message with thanksgiving and all would be fine and dandy, now they’ve received their wake-up call! I wonder...maybe it’s because Jesus let us in on the arduous nature of this missional journey that we make excuses for staying focused inside the four walls of our wonderful church buildings, maintaining a much more comfortable and cozy life than the Gospel demands!?...well enough of that for now...back to the flow of the story....
And as we continue to hear Jesus’ sermon unfold, we hear Jesus say, “A disciples is not above the teacher nor a slave above the master; it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher and the slave like the master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household?!” He continues, calling his newly authorized missionaries (the disciples) to fear only God and not those who can only kill the body and not the soul...wow, this mission he is painting for the disciples is not looking much like a walk in the park, is it!?
Just in case they’re starting to think their master is a little on the crazy side, Jesus reminds them that shame is not the name of their game... “Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven; but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.”
Jesus made it clear to these being sent out that he came to confront...to bring not peace but a sword...to set set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother...a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law... Jesus isn’t foolish...he knows how alternative the kingdom of God is to the kingdoms and power structures of this world...he knows that acceptance of this kingdom is going to cause division amongst those who chose to be yoked to the powers that be in the world. But if the world is ever going to be free of the sinful power struggle of the world it is going to have to be confronted with the Kingdom of God...Jesus has made it crystal clear that the ultimate healing of the world outweighs the division that will exist due to the kingdom of God clashing with the demonic kingdoms of this age that is passing away.
Jesus wraps up his sermon of preparation for mission preached to his disciples and then does something very interesting. He himself goes and preaches the exact sermon again, this time without so many words. Before the disciples are sent out, Jesus goes out and demonstrates for them exactly what he had preached to them. So he goes out into the surrounding cities and announces the good news of the kingdom of God, which is at hand. But no sooner than he begins the work of ministry in those cities does word get to John the Baptist...the last one we’d think would question Jesus‘ message...John must be confused...maybe he thought the Messiah should be doing something other than what the reports suggest...so he sends his curiosity to Jesus saying, “Are you who I thought you were or are we to wait for another?”
Jesus himself is questioned! There is doubt among even the greatest of those who have ever been born! As Jesus continues his mission in these surrounding cities, His ministry is likened to flutes being played yet no one dancing...wailing yet no response of mourning. Flutes are supposed to cause dancing...wailing is supposed to bring about mourning...and the Gospel is supposed to bring about transformation...but instead they call the Son of Man a drunkard and a glutton who hangs out with “those people.”
And now we can press pause again for a moment. Now we are back to the place when we first walked in the room. The dust should be beginning to clear. The whole time Jesus had been preparing his disciples for the mission to which he had authorized them. And so far, it is revealed as demanding, dangerous, and even demeaning. What will Jesus do with such rejection, mockery, and indifference? ... But before we go there...you know what this whole chapter reminds me of? It reminds me of a Christian baptism...do you see where I get that?
In baptism, persons respond to the call of God to join the church in the satisfaction of salvation which, from beginning to end, is immersed in the mission of God on behalf of God’s world. The call is accepted, the person responds and is given the opportunity to prepare for baptism. Throughout the season of Lent preparation is made where the soon-to-be-baptized learn a very similar sermon as we just heard when Jesus himself preached and lived out the nature of His mission to his newly authorized disciples. After a long lent of baptismal preparation, Easter day comes...the church is celebrating resurrection and is overwhelmed with joy as another child of God no longer wonders like sheep without a shepherd, but is now on track...following in the footsteps of her shepherd....but just in case the soon-to-be-baptized has failed to realize how arduous the journey in these footsteps can be, before she comes to the waters, she hears one more sermon that prepares her even while reminding the rest of the baptized...she learns that persecution and death are the seeds that give way to the fruit of resurrection and life in a whole new way as the Gospel is once again proclaimed. She thinks to herself, this is the most serious of commitments ever made...to reject the evil powers of this world...to be in opposition to them...to trust and serve Christ as Savior and Lord, and no other, from this day forth. The sermon ends, the baptismal covenant is once again declared, the waters splash and out of the font comes forth a new disciple, a new citizen of the coming age--the kingdom of God, which is by nature at odds with the rebellious age that is passing away.
Just as the twelve responded to Jesus’ call, were authorized by Jesus to join in His mission, but first were made aware of the demanding, dangerous, and sometimes demeaning nature of this work, so we, the baptized have been made aware. Jesus has trod the path before us, not only in word, but most especially in deed. And when he stands in that transitory place between rejection and hope, where he has played the flute and yet no one danced...where he has wailed and yet no one mourned, when he preached the good news and no one repented, what does he do?
I’ll tell you what he didn’t do. He didn’t hang his head in shame. He didn’t get choked up in all the unsettled dust of his last missionary effort, unable to see the new possibilities in front of him...No, he did exactly what he taught us to do: he shook the dust off his feet and kept on journeying with his eyes focused upon his goal.
To the baptized gathered in this space this morning, Jesus has a message to give. Maybe, he says, that last missional effort that didn’t go as well as you had hoped...the one you’ve accepted as personal failure is actually faithfulness? Maybe what you’ve allowed to paralyze you in fear is actually grounds for thanksgiving to God? Sometimes, Jesus says, rejection and indifference is the response of faithful ministry. It is not failure but rejection. It is only failure if we fail to give the world Jesus to either accept or reject. If rejected, the disciple has still succeeded in faithful proclamation of the Gospel, which truly is the only thing the disciple has been called to do. Failure and rejection of the message we carry to folks are two totally different things. The truth is that successful mission is in the proclamation of truth (faithfulness), not in what is done with that truth (fruitfulness)--only God can cause the latter to come to fruition. Successful mission may even result in the rejection of the Messiah. Good news is that when in our story this Messiah is rejected and crucified, resurrection happens! The question Jesus asks us this morning is this: are we giving them the ever-crucified but risen Messiah to accept or reject or something else?
The good news of the Gospel this morning is that, when rejected, Jesus did not hang his head in defeat. He did not drown in the unsettled dust of his ministry...instead he did exactly what had instructed his disciples to do...he shook the dust off his feet and kept on going.
Jesus wants to teach us, his precious people, that with faithful ministry will come rejection...it is inevitable. Many times, maybe even most of the time, folks will respond to the Gospel with flat out rejection or even worse, indifference. The question is, will we accept the Spirit’s propelling power to keep on going, accepting each proclamation of Jesus Christ as faithful success or will we attempt to usurp the role of God and expect fruitfulness with each and every missional attempt and drown in the despair of our own perceived failures?
Jesus modeled for His newly authorized disciples the picture he painted with his sermon that prepared them for their mission. Jesus went to the surround cities and He was rejected. He played the flute of God’s kingdom and they were indifferent...they just sat there while the most beautiful music ever made was performed. Instead of hanging the hat and becoming paralyzed by fear of further rejection, he shook the dust off his sandals and kept going, knowing full well that He and His Father are in the business of bringing new life from the dust of the earth.
And this is how he knocked the dust off his feet. Instead of wallowing in the unsettled dust of rejection, he offers this prayer to His Father: “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.”
Renewed by the power of prayer and in the center of His Father’s will, he keeps going, the dust of the last missional effort left to settle in the creative hands of God the Father. Not walking around in the dust storm of the last missional effort, he is able to see clearly, again, the harvest in front of his very eyes and continues to announce the good news to all who would hear:
“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Sisters and brothers in Christ, I do not know of a better context to share this particular section of Matthew’s Gospel with you than right here and right now. Everyone of us in this room knows what it feels like to experience rejection in mission. Any of us who have attempted faithful Christian ministry have met rejection and disappointment time and time again.
Today Jesus offers a bit of perspective for those of us who have become weary or heavy-laden due to our own perceived failures in the mission field. He offers us a brand new start. And that start begins with an invitation to simply come before Him who is gentle and humble of heart...that we might learn the truth from Him. He invites us to let him break the yoke of bondage that has so weighed us down over the years...the lies that say we are failures...that tells us the Gospel will not bring forth fruitfulness in our town, county, and surrounding areas. He wants to take that heavy load from us and refresh us with His yoke which is easy...with his burden which is light.
May the Holy Spirit blow away the dust we are not meant to carry, letting it settle in the only hands that can form life from the dust of the earth. May the songs of the "infants" who have truly accepted the Good News we have offered (even in the midst of the "wise and the intelligent" who attempt to silence them) ring and resound in our hearts and minds so that we, like our Savior, may be thoroughly and joyfully thankful even in the face of rejection and right out indifference. And may that thankfulness propel us forward to crowds full of “infants” ready to hear--those who are weary and heavy-laden, which may include some of us gathered here today...for Jesus seeks to be the Good Shepherd for His sheep who’ve been wandering for too long without a shepherd.
Will you accept the invitation walk with the God who has time for you? Will you allow him to heal you of the past hurt that has arisen from the dust of rejection and indifference and empower you for present and future ministry that will include both rejection and acceptance? Will you let him free you of the unnecessary guilt associated with mistaking faithfulness for constant acceptance of the message of the Gospel? Will you accept that all he asks you to do is proclaim the Gospel in word and deed and nothing else? And, then, will you we do it?
May we be free from the yokes the world has placed upon us and renew our acceptance of Jesus’ invitation to the restful life of being yoked with Him in Christian ministry. Amen.
Gospel Lesson: Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30
Text for Preaching: Matthew 9:36-11:30
3rd Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 9A)
3 July 2011
Wow...what do we do with that? First Jesus scolds entire cities for not responding appropriately to His works of power. Next, Jesus prays to His Father, thanking Him for concealing “things” from the wise and intelligent yet revealing them to infants. Then Jesus says some words about the nature of of his identity and the logistics of divine revelation. Finally, he issues a grand invitation for ALL who are weary and carrying heavy burdens to come to him and find rest....What do we do with this?
Well the easiest thing to do would be to pick and choose what makes sense and go with that...and most folks today will probably be dealing with the last part of the reading...the “come to me all you are weary and heavy-laden and I will give you rest...” part. We can make a good, heartfelt sermon out of that portion of the text any day of the week (especially on our first Sunday together as pastor and parish)...But what about all of that stuff that came before the “good stuff?” What do we do with that?
Well, we do the same thing we would do if we walked into the room and a movie is playing and it is obvious that we walked in too late...many different layers of the story are piled on top of one another and we don’t know where to begin understanding the implications of some of the scenes we are presently watching. To help us understand the many layers of development thus far, we need to back the movie up to the beginning...or at least far enough to get into the dramatic flow of the movie...
That’s exactly what is needed for this Gospel reading. We walked into the room and the movie is almost over...what led to these current developments? Let’s take a look.
When we do press the rewind button and experience the sequential events that gave rise to to the place we were when we first walked in the room, the fog begins to clear and things begin to make sense.
Scene 1 is titled “Compassion & Mission.” Jesus is out doing the hard work of ministry...he is preaching, teaching, healing...and he is overwhelmed with compassion as he sees the people he loves wandering about with no real purpose or mission...like sheep do when they have no shepherd. In this scene, Jesus, with much intensity, calls to whoever will listen: “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
Immediately after giving the call for laborers to be sent into His harvest, new characters come into the next scene...they must have responded positively to Jesus’ call. They are gathered around their leader who gives them authority to go and do the work of ministry. But before they go, their teacher has them sit down and listen for a little bit as Jesus preaches a sermon that prepares them for the mission fields they will soon enter.
Just in case they assume it would be easy...even though surely they wouldn’t...i mean since when is harvesting easy work? But just in case they do not understand the full intent of the metaphor, Jesus makes it crystal clear to them. This mission is not as easy as 1-2-3. It is demanding, dangerous, and potentially demeaning. Here, let me press play...listen to Jesus’ words:
“Proclaim the Good News, ‘The Kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast our demons. You received without payment; give without payment. Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff... Whatever town or village you enter, find out who in it is worthy and stay there until you leave. As you enter the house, greet it. If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town. Truly I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgement that for that town.”
Okay...let me press pause for a brief observation...Before they ever set out on the mission, Jesus let them in on the truth. He didn’t tell them it would be as easy as 1-2-3. Instead he said, “See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of them, for they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues; and you will be dragged before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them and the Gentiles. When [not if] they hand you over, do not worry what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you at that time; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will betray brother to death and father his child and children will rise against parents and have them put to death. You will be hated by all because of my name.”
If they expected they’d go out and tell the world all about this Jesus and the hearers/observers would always receive this message with thanksgiving and all would be fine and dandy, now they’ve received their wake-up call! I wonder...maybe it’s because Jesus let us in on the arduous nature of this missional journey that we make excuses for staying focused inside the four walls of our wonderful church buildings, maintaining a much more comfortable and cozy life than the Gospel demands!?...well enough of that for now...back to the flow of the story....
And as we continue to hear Jesus’ sermon unfold, we hear Jesus say, “A disciples is not above the teacher nor a slave above the master; it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher and the slave like the master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household?!” He continues, calling his newly authorized missionaries (the disciples) to fear only God and not those who can only kill the body and not the soul...wow, this mission he is painting for the disciples is not looking much like a walk in the park, is it!?
Just in case they’re starting to think their master is a little on the crazy side, Jesus reminds them that shame is not the name of their game... “Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven; but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.”
Jesus made it clear to these being sent out that he came to confront...to bring not peace but a sword...to set set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother...a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law... Jesus isn’t foolish...he knows how alternative the kingdom of God is to the kingdoms and power structures of this world...he knows that acceptance of this kingdom is going to cause division amongst those who chose to be yoked to the powers that be in the world. But if the world is ever going to be free of the sinful power struggle of the world it is going to have to be confronted with the Kingdom of God...Jesus has made it crystal clear that the ultimate healing of the world outweighs the division that will exist due to the kingdom of God clashing with the demonic kingdoms of this age that is passing away.
Jesus wraps up his sermon of preparation for mission preached to his disciples and then does something very interesting. He himself goes and preaches the exact sermon again, this time without so many words. Before the disciples are sent out, Jesus goes out and demonstrates for them exactly what he had preached to them. So he goes out into the surrounding cities and announces the good news of the kingdom of God, which is at hand. But no sooner than he begins the work of ministry in those cities does word get to John the Baptist...the last one we’d think would question Jesus‘ message...John must be confused...maybe he thought the Messiah should be doing something other than what the reports suggest...so he sends his curiosity to Jesus saying, “Are you who I thought you were or are we to wait for another?”
Jesus himself is questioned! There is doubt among even the greatest of those who have ever been born! As Jesus continues his mission in these surrounding cities, His ministry is likened to flutes being played yet no one dancing...wailing yet no response of mourning. Flutes are supposed to cause dancing...wailing is supposed to bring about mourning...and the Gospel is supposed to bring about transformation...but instead they call the Son of Man a drunkard and a glutton who hangs out with “those people.”
And now we can press pause again for a moment. Now we are back to the place when we first walked in the room. The dust should be beginning to clear. The whole time Jesus had been preparing his disciples for the mission to which he had authorized them. And so far, it is revealed as demanding, dangerous, and even demeaning. What will Jesus do with such rejection, mockery, and indifference? ... But before we go there...you know what this whole chapter reminds me of? It reminds me of a Christian baptism...do you see where I get that?
In baptism, persons respond to the call of God to join the church in the satisfaction of salvation which, from beginning to end, is immersed in the mission of God on behalf of God’s world. The call is accepted, the person responds and is given the opportunity to prepare for baptism. Throughout the season of Lent preparation is made where the soon-to-be-baptized learn a very similar sermon as we just heard when Jesus himself preached and lived out the nature of His mission to his newly authorized disciples. After a long lent of baptismal preparation, Easter day comes...the church is celebrating resurrection and is overwhelmed with joy as another child of God no longer wonders like sheep without a shepherd, but is now on track...following in the footsteps of her shepherd....but just in case the soon-to-be-baptized has failed to realize how arduous the journey in these footsteps can be, before she comes to the waters, she hears one more sermon that prepares her even while reminding the rest of the baptized...she learns that persecution and death are the seeds that give way to the fruit of resurrection and life in a whole new way as the Gospel is once again proclaimed. She thinks to herself, this is the most serious of commitments ever made...to reject the evil powers of this world...to be in opposition to them...to trust and serve Christ as Savior and Lord, and no other, from this day forth. The sermon ends, the baptismal covenant is once again declared, the waters splash and out of the font comes forth a new disciple, a new citizen of the coming age--the kingdom of God, which is by nature at odds with the rebellious age that is passing away.
Just as the twelve responded to Jesus’ call, were authorized by Jesus to join in His mission, but first were made aware of the demanding, dangerous, and sometimes demeaning nature of this work, so we, the baptized have been made aware. Jesus has trod the path before us, not only in word, but most especially in deed. And when he stands in that transitory place between rejection and hope, where he has played the flute and yet no one danced...where he has wailed and yet no one mourned, when he preached the good news and no one repented, what does he do?
I’ll tell you what he didn’t do. He didn’t hang his head in shame. He didn’t get choked up in all the unsettled dust of his last missionary effort, unable to see the new possibilities in front of him...No, he did exactly what he taught us to do: he shook the dust off his feet and kept on journeying with his eyes focused upon his goal.
To the baptized gathered in this space this morning, Jesus has a message to give. Maybe, he says, that last missional effort that didn’t go as well as you had hoped...the one you’ve accepted as personal failure is actually faithfulness? Maybe what you’ve allowed to paralyze you in fear is actually grounds for thanksgiving to God? Sometimes, Jesus says, rejection and indifference is the response of faithful ministry. It is not failure but rejection. It is only failure if we fail to give the world Jesus to either accept or reject. If rejected, the disciple has still succeeded in faithful proclamation of the Gospel, which truly is the only thing the disciple has been called to do. Failure and rejection of the message we carry to folks are two totally different things. The truth is that successful mission is in the proclamation of truth (faithfulness), not in what is done with that truth (fruitfulness)--only God can cause the latter to come to fruition. Successful mission may even result in the rejection of the Messiah. Good news is that when in our story this Messiah is rejected and crucified, resurrection happens! The question Jesus asks us this morning is this: are we giving them the ever-crucified but risen Messiah to accept or reject or something else?
The good news of the Gospel this morning is that, when rejected, Jesus did not hang his head in defeat. He did not drown in the unsettled dust of his ministry...instead he did exactly what had instructed his disciples to do...he shook the dust off his feet and kept on going.
Jesus wants to teach us, his precious people, that with faithful ministry will come rejection...it is inevitable. Many times, maybe even most of the time, folks will respond to the Gospel with flat out rejection or even worse, indifference. The question is, will we accept the Spirit’s propelling power to keep on going, accepting each proclamation of Jesus Christ as faithful success or will we attempt to usurp the role of God and expect fruitfulness with each and every missional attempt and drown in the despair of our own perceived failures?
Jesus modeled for His newly authorized disciples the picture he painted with his sermon that prepared them for their mission. Jesus went to the surround cities and He was rejected. He played the flute of God’s kingdom and they were indifferent...they just sat there while the most beautiful music ever made was performed. Instead of hanging the hat and becoming paralyzed by fear of further rejection, he shook the dust off his sandals and kept going, knowing full well that He and His Father are in the business of bringing new life from the dust of the earth.
And this is how he knocked the dust off his feet. Instead of wallowing in the unsettled dust of rejection, he offers this prayer to His Father: “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants. Yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.”
Renewed by the power of prayer and in the center of His Father’s will, he keeps going, the dust of the last missional effort left to settle in the creative hands of God the Father. Not walking around in the dust storm of the last missional effort, he is able to see clearly, again, the harvest in front of his very eyes and continues to announce the good news to all who would hear:
“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Sisters and brothers in Christ, I do not know of a better context to share this particular section of Matthew’s Gospel with you than right here and right now. Everyone of us in this room knows what it feels like to experience rejection in mission. Any of us who have attempted faithful Christian ministry have met rejection and disappointment time and time again.
Today Jesus offers a bit of perspective for those of us who have become weary or heavy-laden due to our own perceived failures in the mission field. He offers us a brand new start. And that start begins with an invitation to simply come before Him who is gentle and humble of heart...that we might learn the truth from Him. He invites us to let him break the yoke of bondage that has so weighed us down over the years...the lies that say we are failures...that tells us the Gospel will not bring forth fruitfulness in our town, county, and surrounding areas. He wants to take that heavy load from us and refresh us with His yoke which is easy...with his burden which is light.
May the Holy Spirit blow away the dust we are not meant to carry, letting it settle in the only hands that can form life from the dust of the earth. May the songs of the "infants" who have truly accepted the Good News we have offered (even in the midst of the "wise and the intelligent" who attempt to silence them) ring and resound in our hearts and minds so that we, like our Savior, may be thoroughly and joyfully thankful even in the face of rejection and right out indifference. And may that thankfulness propel us forward to crowds full of “infants” ready to hear--those who are weary and heavy-laden, which may include some of us gathered here today...for Jesus seeks to be the Good Shepherd for His sheep who’ve been wandering for too long without a shepherd.
Will you accept the invitation walk with the God who has time for you? Will you allow him to heal you of the past hurt that has arisen from the dust of rejection and indifference and empower you for present and future ministry that will include both rejection and acceptance? Will you let him free you of the unnecessary guilt associated with mistaking faithfulness for constant acceptance of the message of the Gospel? Will you accept that all he asks you to do is proclaim the Gospel in word and deed and nothing else? And, then, will you we do it?
May we be free from the yokes the world has placed upon us and renew our acceptance of Jesus’ invitation to the restful life of being yoked with Him in Christian ministry. Amen.