Sunday Sermon - October 18

October 18, 2020
20^th Sunday after Pentecost
Isaiah 45:1-7
Psalm 96:1-9 (10-13)
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
Matthew 22:15-22

Please pray with me,

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable and suitable in your sight, O God, our rock, our strength and our redeemer.  Amen.  

Alright, friends, it’s another wonderful gospel reading this Sunday. 

As we first read it at our weekly clergy Bible study, we all shuddered just a bit to think about how to preach the good news of Jesus Christ that we hear shared in this text. 

So, let’s get to that good news, shall we? 

It’s going to take a little bit to get us there, but we will get there, together. 

We are still in the Gospel of Matthew and now the Pharisees and the Herodians are trying to entrap Jesus…so they pose this question, that is exactly that: a trap. 

The question, is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor or not? 

If Jesus says it’s lawful, then he is siding with and supporting the Roman control at the time. 

If he says it’s not lawful, then he’s not following the rules of the land. 

It’s a no win, really.

As General Akbar says in Return of the Jedi, It’s a trap! 

No seriously…it’s a trick question. 

They are trying to entrap Jesus…to find a way to snare him. 

In the words of the Beastie Boys, listen all y’all it’s a sabotage! 

They are looking for a way to catch Jesus off guard, to make him say something that gives them reason to arrest him, to turn him over to authorities and to stop his preaching and teaching. 

But Jesus doesn’t fall for it. 

He doesn’t skip a beat. 

He shifts the conversation on a sharp pivot. 

Leading them to leave amazed…probably thinking what just happened? 

We were asking him about taxes and the emperor…and now we need to think about what is the emperor and what is God’s? 

He sends them of…heads spinning, minds whirling, and thoughts set on fire. 

 

And maybe after initially hearing this passage from the gospel that’s where you are too. 

You heard the words - entrap, Jesus, taxes, hypocrites…maybe other words jumped out for you and you heard them and just started pondering, your head starting spinning, your mind started whirling…and you’re not sure what the right answer is to the question asked of Jesus and what is the gospel lesson about anyway!?! 

Let me stop you right there…because guess what? 

It’s a trap! 

As they ask this question of Jesus, he realizes…I mean he already knew, but here Jesus names that the temple, the holy space, God’s house, is being occupied by the values of the world. 

Let me say that again…the image of the world…through coins, and emperors and taxes are finding their way into the church, and this shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise, Jesus pushes back. 

Jesus pushes back, as Jesus always does. 

Against the ways of the world that wiggle their way or drive their way into God’s holy space.

 

Jesus pushes back, as Jesus always does.

Against the ways of the world that wiggle their way…or drive their way into God’s holy space. 

In case you didn’t hear it yet, Jesus pushes back…

Against the ways of the world…

Against evils of the world…

Against the devil and all the forces that defy God…

Against the powers of this world that rebel against God…

Against the ways of sin that draw us from God…

Did those last three sound familiar? 

They might have. 

They come straight out of the baptismal liturgy. 

And the cool thing about today?  There will be a baptism, yup. 

Following the service, with just immediate family, to maintain the health and wellness of the littlest among us, we will welcome Owen Henry Brown into the body of Christ…

into the family of God….

into a community of faith that seeks to live out our baptismal calls daily…

into a community of faith, that like Jesus works to reclaim church as a holy and sacred space. 

But to do that…I mean really do that; we need to work together. 

So, let’s work together, right now to claim the holiness of this space, the Body of Christ, the church, gathered together, today. 

Do you renounce the devil and all the forces that defy God? 

If so say, I renounce them.

Do you renounce the powers of this world that rebel against God?

If so say, I renounce them.

Do you renounce the ways of sin that draw us from God?

If so say, I renounce them. 

Yes…for this space to be holy and sacred…we must remember to constantly cleanse our hearts and our minds as we are drawn together each week. 

And when this space is sacred…

And when this space is holy…

We are able to actively respond to God’s word and God’s call in our lives and in our world. 

When we are able to gather together in a holy and sacred space, we are able to talk about things that weigh on our hearts and our minds in a place that is guided and guarded by God’s love and grace. 

When we are able to gather together in a holy and sacred space, we are able to listen to and respond to challenging questions, enter into difficult dialogue and work together for the sake of the gospel being at work in the world. 

Friends, if this sacred space doesn’t allow us to hear God’s call for justice and peace…

If this sacred space doesn’t allow us to wrestle with our faith and how to be a faithful Christian in the world today, then the evil is still here…and the devil is at work.

But, big but, BUT….when we gather, on holy ground….open to the world of God and how it may challenge us or comfort us or call us…or do all three to any number of us on a Sunday morning, then we are church together. 

When this ground is holy and sacred, the work of God can be done. 

When this ground is holy and sacred, together, we can live out our baptismal vows. 

Together, we can…

live among God's faithful people,

hear the word of God and share in the Lord's supper,

proclaim the good news of God in Christ through word and deed,

serve all people, following the example of Jesus,

and strive for justice and peace in all the earth. 

That my friends is our response as we were washed in the waters of baptism…

That my friends is who we are called to be, together.

That, my friends, is who we are able to be when we gather on holy ground…

With ears to listen to one another…

With words to respond out of care and compassion to one another…

With hearts to love one another…

And with actions that live out God’s love and God’s grace in the world around us. 

Together, we come to this space. 

Together, we are washed in the waters of baptism.

Together, we are called into the Body of Christ, to live out our baptismal calling. 

Together, we are called to reclaim this place as holy and sacred space…where the cares and worries of the world can be civilly discussed, prayed about and acted upon as we respond to a world in need with God’s love, forgiveness and grace. 

Together, we are church…in the world, where a message of love, forgiveness and grace is so desperately needed. 

Together. 

And now may the peace, which surpasses all understanding, keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus and let all God’s people say, amen. 

 

Sunday Sermon - Oct. 4

 October 4, 2020

18^th Sunday after Pentecost

 

Isaiah 5:1-7

Psalm 80

Philippians 3:4b-14

Matthew 21:33-46

 Please pray with me,

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O God, our rock, our strength and our redeemer.  Amen. 

Woah…just another great parable from Matthew’s gospel again, right? 

And with those zingers at the end…

Jesus says, have you never read in the scriptures?

And therefore, I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people what produces the fruits of the kingdom. 

Tough stuff…

But there must be good news somewhere, right? 

It may be tough to find in the gospel lesson and maybe because when we hear this, we don’t think Jesus is talking to us or about us. 

You see, we are still in the thick of all these conversations where the chief priests and Pharisees and people in the temple with religious education and authority are wondering where Jesus gets this authority he is preaching and teaching with. 

Maybe we hear this passage and think, he is addressing a certain group of people at a certain time so they hear a certain message. 

That is most certainly true. 

Yes, Jesus is addressing the people around him and specifically pointing out those in his midst, the teachers and leaders in the temple who had become so focused on the laws of the faith that they had forgotten about living the faith. 

It seems that that religious leaders of Jesus’ time were more focused on following the law than being shaped by the law to show and share God’s love with others. 

The religious leaders of Jesus’ time were doing what they thought was good, and just and right.  But in their following of the law…they lost sight of why they were doing it.  And in terms of today’s parable with the terrible tenants, they may have even forgotten that they, too, were tenants of God’s kingdom.  That they, too, were stewards of God’s creation, God’s temple and God’s love, but they were acting in such a way that they seemed to think it all belonged to them. 

When you think you’re doing something right…and then someone calls you out on it…it doesn’t feel good. 

You wonder why it’s not right…it’s the way we’ve always done it. 

We don’t want to change…we know from our life experiences – what we have been taught and what we have personally experienced is true….and we will move forward based on that gained knowledge and experience. 

So that chief priests and Pharisees are like…wait, what?  We’re the tenants who are not giving the produce to the landowner…and we think that we own the land now, so we’ll kill the heir so that it will be ours forever…wait…what? 

They are caught.  Between doing what they have known to have been good and right and true….and that is no longer the case. 

Maybe they are struggling to fully come to terms with who this Jesus is and what he is teaching. 

Maybe they are struggling with Jesus’ teaching, struggling to be open to a new or different way of experiencing God’s love and how they are called to be faithful stewards. 

In their mind, they probably thought they were fine stewards of God’s creation, God’s kingdom, God’s temple and God’s salvation. 

Yet, here comes Jesus…like he always does….breaking into the old…and breaking open a new way to feel, see and experience God’s love for all of God’s people. 

Leave it to Jesus…the savior of the world…to bring forth a new experience, new views, new teachings – yet all coming from the same God – the God of creation, the God of Abraham and Sarah, the God of Moses and Miriam, the God of the laws found in the very scriptures the religious leaders had been prayerfully reading, studying and living out in their day to day lives. 

Just when you think you’re getting it just right, bam!  Jesus is like…but what about if you experienced God’s love and grace through a tax collector, the poor, the sick, the lame, or the outcast? 

Or, Jesus says, what if the tax collectors, prostitutes, the poor, the sick, the lame, and the outcast experienced God’s grace and then opened your eyes and your life to experience it? 

Woah…

Hard stuff.  But good stuff.  Amazing stuff.  Amazing grace. 

That’s the good news in this parable…the hard stuff but at the same time the amazing stuff.  That just as Jesus challenges the chief priests and the Pharisees, we too hear and heed a question and call. 

It’s one that we’ll talk about in our Bible study on Tuesday evening as we dig a little deeper into this text together.  But I want you to hear these two questions now:

What does it mean to you to be a faithful steward? 

AND

Will we have the courage to be faithful stewards, bearing fruit? 

These are tough questions that come as a call from Jesus. 

What does it mean to you to be a faithful steward? 

Let’s just remember for a moment that all that we have, and all that we are…it doesn’t belong to us.  It’s God’s.  All of it.  God’s. 

So, thinking about all that you have and all that you are, what does it mean to you to be a faithful steward of all that you have?

Each of us will answer differently. 

In just a moment we will hear how our young and young at heart are faithful stewards, we will hear how they share and show God’s love. 

We each respond out of God’s abundant grace and gifts differently. 

And that’s okay. 

Some days we will respond generously…giving abundantly out of what we have been gifted. 

Some days we will be less generous, we will worry about having enough and we will hold on a little more tightly to the abundance God has given us. 

Some days we will be faithful stewards, bearing fruit.  Showing grace. Working for justice.  Giving voice to the least among us.  Standing with those who have been exploited or abused.  Speaking words of love to words and actions of hate.  Renouncing evil and all it’s forces that we see around us. 

We will experience each day in a new way, because we are on a journey.  As Paul writes in the letter to the Philippians,

Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 

Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesu has made me his own. 

That, my friends, is the good news. 

That on this life long journey while we press forward, we know that we have already been claimed by Christ.  We know that Christ Jesus has made each of us his own. 

Called by Christ, Gathered in Grace… we press forward, joyfully serving in the vineyard here and now. 

How do you know you are claimed by Christ? 

Just look in the mirror…at the cross on your forehead.  The one you received at your baptism. 

In addition to chalk this morning, I was tempted to hand out sharpies so you could trace the sign of the cross on your forehead.  I decided against it.  Or the idea of a Snapchat filter that shows the cross on your forehead?  But remember dear ones, that you are named and claimed and called by Christ to work in the vineyard here and now.  To share and show God’s love here and now.  

You can do it. 

You are equipped with a cross on your forehead and abundant love and grace in your heart. 

Show and share that love with others in all that you say and do. 

And may the peace, which surpasses all understanding, keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus and let all God’s people say, amen.