When Jesus comes into your church

Mark 1:21-28

The Devil made me do it.

It’s a famous catch phrase from Flip Wilson, an icon in the comedy world. This phrase became a part of our American culture very quickly. When he talked of a woman buying a dress at the store, the third one that week, she used the excuse “The devil made me do it.” And we laughed.

It has become a very common theme in our thoughts, comedy, even children’s cartoons. You all remember the angle and devil siting on Tom or Jerry’s shoulders influencing their behavior? Would they listen to the saccharin sweet voice of the angel or the gruff fun-loving guy in red? And we laughed.

Because its easier to laugh at those things that make us uncomfortable. Because we deep down don’t want to admit that evil is real, that bad things happen to good people, that demons don’t always dress in red. To quote author Tucker Max “The devil doesn’t show up dressed in a red cape with pointy horns.  He comes as everything you’ve ever wished for.”

In our world, yes even in the world of the church, it is easier to poke fun at evil than to address its reality. We Presbyterians like to do things decently and in order, we don’t have time for this “supernatural stuff.” I remember discussing whether spirits/demons still existed with a fellow seminary student. He told me that demons or unclean spirits were just the way that ancient people dealt with things like epilepsy, cancer, migraine headache and mental illness. It was a catch all to explain the unexplained. After sitting there for a while I asked, “Then why does Jesus waste time talking to them?”

In the gospel of Mark Jesus spends a good deal of time dealing with these unclean spirits. Specifically casting them out of the people they have held captive.  And while I do believe that some of these instances are probable explained by some of our modern medical issues, that doesn’t make them any less real. And I think we still encounter them today.

In our scripture this morning, Jesus has gone into Capernaum and is teaching in the synagogue. Mark moves his narrative of Jesus along very quickly, with a heavy use of the word immediately. In Mark Jesus’ public ministry only lasts a year, so he keeps things a quick pace.

We are not given the details of his teaching, this teaching with authority. In Matthew and Luke, we get detailed notes on Jesus’ teachings, like the sermon on the mount and sermon on the plain, but Mark doesn’t take time to do that. Instead he tells us Jesus taught with authority. Then he shows us what that authority looked like.

Jesus is on the synagogue, the center of worship and faith for the local people of Israel. This is where they came to learn, to discuss, to worship, to celebrate, to mourn, to question. It was the place where the faithful gathered to hear the word of God interpreted and to seek guidance. Sound familiar?

It was the church, the local community of believers doing the best they could to follow the rules of the faith in a world oppressed by the romans and filled with all sorts of potholes. SO, the faithful gathered, in theory, to keep one another accountable, to encourage one another. But the leaders of the day had gone from encouragement to perfectionism. It had become a museum for saints instead of a hospital for sinners. It became a place to show how holy you were, instead of how holy God is.

I can’t imagine the wonder people would have felt to hear Jesus teaching, a new teaching, with authority. He wasn’t quoting the past leaders of the synagogue, or the great former priests. Instead he spoke with his own level of authority- interpreting the scriptures directly. If this was a shock, what happened next was unbelievable.

There amid the people of God, immediately, Mark says, there is a man with an unclean spirit that cries out "What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God."

Take a step back. There is an unclean spirit possessed man chilling in the synagogue? Say what? There were so many rules and regulations about who could and who could not worship, where people could sit, or stand, how they washed their hands, feet, even whole selves, so how did a known demon possessed man get into the synagogue?

I read several commentaries about this lesson and without fail they said that someone with an unclean spirit, even a suspected demon possessed person, would have been ostracized. They would have been shunned, considered unclean. People, respectable people at least, would not associate with them. They speak as if this well-known demon possessed man just happened to sneak into the worship service without notice.

That doesn’t ring true to me, or to my reading of the scripture. I think something much different, and perhaps more disturbing is happening here.

The man is in the community, a part of the community. Possibly even an upstanding part of the community of faith. From the outside he looks pulled together, righteous even. But within him is an unclean spirit, a spirit contrary to the will and works of God. Faced with the real honest truth of the word of God he can no longer hide his possession. The unclean spirit is threatened and cries out "What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God."

When Jesus shows up in church it is challenging. When Jesus shows up at church it is life changing. When Jesus shows up at church, even there he exposes the spirits that are contrary to the work and will of God.

Throughout the remainder of the Gospel of Mark Jesus will encounter unclean spirits, demons. He will call them out, he will cast them into the abyss or into the swine herds. He will not let the people of God to remain infected with these spirits. But the first one he calls out is in the house of worship. This is important to Mark, and important to us.

When Jesus comes into your church he comes to set you free. This is good news, but it is not always welcome news. The liberating power of Jesus rubs against the powers that be in such a way as to cause disruption, fear, and push back.

"What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God."

Have you come to destroy us? The answer is a resounding yes, and step by step in the Gospel of Mark Jesus goes about destroying any and all unclean spirits that come into his path, whether they be in the church, or in the political sphere, in homes or by tombs.

What does this have to do with us today? Plenty. You see there are still unclean spirits around today. And just like in Jesus’ day they are not always easy to spot. You don’t always find them in expected places. They lurk in places that from the outside appear healthy, clean, even good- like places of leadership and power, schools, capitals, and yes, even churches. They can hide because as a society we have reduced them to a joke, a punch line “The devil made me do it.” But let me assure you all, they are not a punch line, they are real.

They manifest in many different forms. I don’t think that any of us can look at the current addictions crisis in the USA and honestly think there is not something more than meets the eye. These are not isolated individuals who were born bad and therefor some how deserve the pain and anguish caused by addictions.

I hope that none of us can look at the increase in mass shootings and school shootings in this country and think there is nothing more than bad parenting and poor security at its roots.

I hope that in this city, where just this month, at least 4 people have been killed and 4 others wounded by gun violence, one of whom is a member at our sister church, Church Street, and think that there isn’t more going on then living on the wrong side of the tracks.

Institutional demons or racism, poverty, sexism, they are real. I believe at my core that they are not just policies and procedures that have become bad or harmful, but that at their root there is an unclean spirit, a spirit against God and the will and work of God.

Demons are personal as well. Individuals face demons, created by others, created by hate or loss or pain of course. But also, those with an honest to goodness spiritual component.

I know, its not something we talk about, but its real. Just look at this scripture.

Jesus, who just verses before is confirmed as being possessed by the Spirit of God comes into the place of worship and the Spirit of God is so powerful it causes the demon to cry out, to expose itself.

If I could talk to each of you, one on one, I could tell stories of encounters with unclean spirits, with demons. Those where I have witnessed the power of the holy spirit to cast them out. I could tell you of places where you walked in and knew something was not right. I can tell you of thin places, where the space between heaven and earth seemed to all but disappear.

And my guess is that many of you have these same stories, you just don’t talk about them in polite conversation because our modern world is somehow above all of that spiritual non-sense.

But here is the truth, and we will hear it a lot in the gospel of Mark, just like the line between sacred and secular doesn’t exist, everything every aspect of our lives is sacred. Likewise, every aspect of our lives is spiritual. We are not just flesh and bone, but spiritual beings. To deny that reality is to enter into a type of dualism that winds up denying the power of God all together.

As Ephesians 6 v 12 tells us “12 For our[b] struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”

This new teaching with authority that Jesus brings about shook the foundations of not only the synagogue, not only the Roman empire, but the whole of the world. Its still shaking the powers that be, be they earthly or spiritual. The good news is that we know who wins, that the darkness cannot and will not put out the light of Christ. SO, let us carry that light with us into the darkest of places, casting out the demons, the unclean spirits, the things contrary to the work and will of God in Jesus name. Amen.

Image Matters

Matthew 22:15-22

Image

Who do you look like? Who do you favor? It’s one of the first things we ask about newborn babies. Whose eyes do they have? Whose chin? Whose hands or feet? I remember praying that my oldest might resemble me in some small way when we were expecting her. Zanna has my feet by the way.

At any family reunion we compare relatives to one another, looking for similarities. Searching for Aunt Wanda’s nose or Uncle Tony’s hair, we comb the room trying to find what characteristics hold us together, unite us, identify us as belonging to one another.

Where you are a chip off the old block, a carbon copy, or a doubleganger a generation removed, there is comfort in finding a similar trait. Even in adoptive families there is a need to identify with a personality trait or habit that ties you together.

Image

Image has a different connotation in our society. People cultivate their image. They want to make sure that what they present to the world sheds the best light. When we post a selfie online we rarely pic one that makes us look bad. We cultivate, pick and choose, what we will show the world, and what we keep to ourselves. We have family friends in Memphis and Steve often says to me “I wish I had the life Will and Angie have on Facebook.” It’s not their real life, their real life with two full time jobs, one serving a church, and three kids in High school, Junior High and Elementary is complicated, messy and hectic. But the image they have cultivated is enviable.

Image

In our Old Testament lesson reading from Exodus, Moses asks to see God’s glory. He doesn’t ask to see God’s image, that would be too much for anyone to handle, so he asks to see God’s glory. And the image the writer of Exodus gives us is one of Moses standing in the cliff, covered by the very hand of God until God walks past and Moses can see God’s back.

It’s an odd picture, Moses seeing the back of God. What good does it do to look at something from behind? It doesn’t do too much good, unless you are following them, then its exactly the view you need. Moses was going to return to the people and tell them to follow his lead because he was following God’s. Behind God was exactly where he needed to be so that he could follow faithfully.

Image

The Gospel Lesson has Jesus dealing with an image problem as well. He is still in the temple, teaching and preaching. This is still Holy Week and his death is looming large. He has been very clear about the fact that the religious leaders and political leaders of the day were not acting in the people’s best interests. They were not helping the people live the lives God was calling them to live.

This had upset those in power, as speaking truth to power often will do, and so they began to plot to harm him. The Herodians, supporters of Rome, came and stood among the crowds. The Pharisees sent their disciples over to listen. Politics makes strange bedfellows, doesn’t it? The leaders of the temple in cahoots with the biggest Roman nationalists you’ve ever seen, uniting to get rid of this teacher, this Jesus. This guy whose image has gotten to big.

They begin to ask questions in order to trap him in something. “Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor?”

That seems like a fairly straight forward question. It’s a yes or no answer. Or is it?

Jesus is in the Temple, a place set aside for the worship of God. A place where you were to give your offerings, your sacrifices and acknowledge that God has first place in your life. That whole first commandment thing was a big deal.

It was such a big deal, in fact, that you had to change your Roman money for Temple money when you came through the gate. You gave sheckles to the Temple, special coins, not Roman ones. Why? Because Roman money had other symbols on it, other images.

So when Jesus asks what coin is used to pay taxes he is handed a Denarius, a Roman coin. He asks “Who’s head is this, who’s title.” He actually asks “Who’s image is this? Who’s title?”

Image

The people responded, “The Emperor’s” It is an image of the Roman Emperor, with the inscription “Caesar Augustus Tiberius, Son of the Devine Augustus.” A claim of deity. An idolatrous coin, there in the Temple.

“Give to the Emperor what is the emperor’s and to God what is God’s” The Emperor can have his Roman money, it is printed in his own likeness. But what then will be given to God?

Hypocrites, Jesus has called them. Why? Because they are so concerned with image that they forget the most important image.

Genesis 1:27 “So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them.

Image.

God’s concern is not with earthly wealth and the power that comes with accumulating that wealth. God’s concern is for how those with wealth treat the people made in God’s own image. God’s concern isn’t that taxes get paid or tithe’s get paid, but that the people made in God’s image give themselves back to God.

Image.

Give to God what is God’s. We are made in God’s image, every one of us, and we are to see and recognize that image in others. But too often we choose instead to see the cultivated image. Whether its one the individual has crafted, like the images we post on social media, or an image that our prejudices have created; we have a hard time seeing past them to the God-image inside.

Sometimes we have such a deep belief in the images other’s share, that we don’t even realize we are blind to God’s image, in us and in others.

A woman told me a story about one of her son’s this week. I’ll call her Laura. Laura and her husband have two biological children, boys, Jack age 9 and James age 11. They love these boys with their whole hearts. Through some interesting circumstances they are also raising two other boys, mixed race, Michael age 9 and Patrick age 11. These boys have made their way into their home and into their hearts. And while they are not biologically or even legally related, they are family.

One day Michael the younger of the boys not biologically theirs, came home upset from school. He had heard another little boy talking about his church and how his pastor had said that God was black. Michael disagreed with the boy. He told Laura “I don’t think God is black. I think God is just regular colored.”

Image.

TO this little boy “regular color” meant white. Something he was not, and would not every be. He couldn’t imagine God looking like him, he was other, different, not regular.

This is what comes of praising images that are not God. This is what comes in a world that values what is the emperor’s over that which is God’s. The world becomes a place that can dehumanize an entire group of people because of their skin color, their gender. The world revolves around commodities to the point where even the people we see are reduced to commodities.

Image.

Think about it. We rank people’s looks on a 1 to 10 scale.  We send aid quickly to one section of the population, but delay sending it to other citizens who don’t have the same voice or power to be heard.

Image.

It’s a powerful thing. You and I are made in the image of God. So is everyone else. What might it look like to live into that image? What might it look like to truly give to God what is God’s?

Saving Scraps; a sermon from Matthew 15:10-28

Matthew 15:10-28

The Old Turtle and the broken truth. I asked Beth to read this book as the children’s message this morning specifically as an introduction to this morning’s scripture. The story of a world holding up the mantra You are Loved, sounds amazing, sounds peaceful, sounds Holy, and it is, but it is not the whole message.

You are a child of God. It’s an amazing, peaceful, Holy thing. But it’s not the whole truth, not by a long shot.

Let us listen for the word of God.

Read Matt 15:10-28

10 Then he called the crowd to him and said to them, “Listen and understand:  it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.”  Then the disciples approached and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?”  He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit.” But Peter said to him, “Explain this parable to us.”  Then he said, “Are you also still without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach, and goes out into the sewer? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile.”

 Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.” But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, “Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.”  He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”  But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” He answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed instantly.

The Word of God, for the People of God.

I have struggled and wrestled and fought with this scripture so much this week that it has seeped into my relationships with other people. I’ve talked about this scripture with friends and family. I’ve fought about this scripture with my Mom, and blessed the truth of these verses and found agreement with my brother. I even considered naming this sermon “Going to the Dogs” but couldn’t bring myself to be bold enough to put it in the bulletin.

I love and have loved this passage of scripture. It is an honest, clear theological debate between Jesus and a woman. And, like most of us in this world, my ears perk up when someone I perceive as “like me” is mentioned in scripture. I’ve had an affinity with this persistent, loud mouth woman who refuses to give up. I’ve admired her tenacity, her spirit. This woman, who gets in a theological debate with the Messiah, has always been my hero.

But there’s been a part that is unsatisfying about her story. Most of my life I have heard it interpreted in this manner.

Jesus is with the disciples, perhaps tiered in spirit if not physically, and this annoying woman makes her plea. Jesus ignores her, then denies her to test her. If she passes this litmus test of faith, her daughter will be healed. If not, well, let’s not think about this too much.

When viewed from this perspective, the woman, and her sick daughter, are turned into an object lesson with little to no actual value of their own. And that bothers me.

It bothers me because it doesn’t jive with the way Jesus acts in the Gospels in general and in Matthew specifically. It bothers me because it dismisses the experience as nothing more than a training exercise. It bothers me because the langue of test is nowhere in this scripture. It bothers me because it isn’t true, to the character of Christ, or to the witness of scripture.

Too often this story is read in isolation, which is why I choose to add verses 10-20 to our reading today. Context is key.

This section comes at the end of a discussion about the Pharisees and their purity culture obsession. They were so concerned about remaining pure and clean that they created an entire system of dos and don’ts and ins and outs. These laws and systems had become oppressive, rather than life affirming. They had been twisted and turned to keep people down instead of uniting God’s people under a shared identity. They had become tools to harm rather than signs of holiness.

Jesus argues against such systems, using words that would make any little boy giggle, saying that it’s not what you put into your body that makes you unclean, it’s what comes out of you that is unclean. Jesus’ potty humor here may make you smile, or may offend you, but it has a purpose. He goes on to say that it’s what comes out of the mouth, the words you speak, that show the cleanliness or uncleanliness of your heart.

Immediately following this we have the Canaanite woman calling out “Have mercy on me Lord, Son of David.” This is shocking and unexpected. Why?

Well a couple of reasons. One, Canaanites had not been around for many, many years. The promised land had been the land of Canaan, and the region had been “cleansed” shall we say by the Israelites as they moved in.

There were not a group of people who called themselves Canaanites at this time, it was an ancient label meant to evoke a feeling, an image. “Outsider, other, Gentile.”

This woman was not Jewish, she was not of the family of Abraham, she was not a part of the family of God.

She however, has heard of this Jesus, this Lord, this Son of David, and as a mother, will do anything, even speak publicly to a man she is not related to in any way shape or form, for the sake of her ailing child.

And Jesus ignores her.

Perhaps he is exhausted from the crowds. Perhaps he doesn’t hear her. Perhaps he thinks one of the disciples will step up. These are all arguments I’ve heard, but they go in the face of what is on the page. He does not answer her at all.

He couldn’t have missed her crying out, described as squawking, and to be sure he doesn’t miss it, the disciples beg him to send her away. Send away this gentile, loud obnoxious women, Jesus. Her begging for mercy is getting on our nerves, we are sick of it. She needs to be quiet and go back where she comes from.

The disciples are uncomfortable. This Gentile woman is making a scene with her asking/demanding for mercy and healing. She should know better, she should know her place.

And Jesus doesn’t seem to disagree. “I was sent to the lost children of Israel.” That’s it. Jesus was sent to the people of Israel and everyone else is just out of luck.

She however, she persisted. She did not give up. She hit her knees in the dirt before him and again cried out “Lord, help me!”

Jesus looks at her there on her knees and says, “It’s not right to take the children’s food and give it to the dogs.”

Yes, this is Jesus here, calling a woman, an entire group of people, dogs. And not in the cute and cuddly, I love that puppy kind of way. Dogs were not pets. They were utilitarian at best, used as living alarm systems. But more often than not, they were scavengers, roaming the outskirts of town and launching missions into populated areas in search of food.

 Jesus say his mission as being to the children of Israel. The chosen people. God’s people. This gentile woman did not fit into the picture. She complicated things, perhaps even made him as uncomfortable as she made the disciples. She didn’t fit into how Jesus saw this whole thing working out.

And that’s a hard thing for many of us to hear. Jesus had to learn. As Jill Duffield points out perhaps at this point, “How can this be? He is Jesus, Son of Man, Son of God, Son of David, divine, Jesus!

But he's fully human too, remember? Without sin, but fully human, and being fully human encompasses grief, frustration, desperation, fatigue, love, compassion and indifference. And I find this messy display of Jesus' complex discernment a relief. If Jesus has these feelings they are not only allowed, but sanctified and holy. It is also a relief to know that our circumstances today, no matter how dire or seemingly intractable, are not destined to be our circumstances forever. God is, after all, always doing a new thing, and Jesus in this story proves that truth.”[i]

The woman does not give up at this point, but instead says “Even the dogs get to eat scraps.” And with those words, in that moment. Jesus learns more about himself, recognizes more about his calling. He sounds joyful to me as he is honestly surprised by this gentile woman’s faith. His tone is celebratory as he agrees to heal her daughter and to step into this part of his mission, as a savior to not only Israel, but to the world.

It is as if she showed him the other half of that truth, you are loved, and so are they.

That is the truth that Jesus, for lack of a better word, learns in his encounter with the Canaanite Gentile woman. There is a wildness in God’s mercy. It spreads farther than we can imagine and is deeper than we can fathom.

Sometimes I am guilty of forgetting that truth. Sure, I know God is no made in my image. I know that God is reflected in the eyes and faces of all nations, races, genders. But it’s not always easy to see.

Jesus didn’t take the easy road here, and neither should we. We need to speak out against the things that are sinful, that harm God’s people, like the sin of While nationalism, the sin of Neo-Nazi attitudes and actions. These things must be condemned in the strongest of ways.

At the same time, we must not become that which we condemn. We must pray for, love, seek to teach those whose sins lead to actions and words of hate. We must not fight fire with fire, because if we keep doing that, the only thing that will happen is the whole world will burn.

The woman could have yelled at Jesus to treat her better. She could have spat in his face, called him racist and shook the dust off of her feet. She could have led a group of demonstrators against him. She could have called for Jesus and his people to be attacked. But instead, she humbled herself before him and honestly spoke of her need.

We need to humble ourselves before God and ask for what we really need. Healing, forgiveness, unity. We must listen when our brothers and sisters tell us what their lives are like. We must acknowledge that, in the words of Will Wheaton “It is a privilege to learn about racism instead of experiencing it your whole life!”

We must be willing to open our eyes, minds and hearts, just like Jesus. And have faith that the God in whose image we are all created, will heal us all.

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[i] Jill Duffield, Looking into the Lectionary

One Bride for Seven Brothers

Luke 20:27-40

The first time I went to Steve’s grandmother’s house I was amazed. There was furniture everywhere. Three dressers in the dining room to hold various linens, curio cabinets filled with choochkies, tables of various sizes and uses. The house was pulled together beautifully, but there was a lot of stuff. It was a lot to take in.

The next time I went I looked a little bit more closely at the items around. And I noticed that there were stickers or labels on almost everything. They said Jim, Donny, Kelly, Heather, Steve, Gladys, Shela, and Cheryl. She caught me looking at them quizzically and explained quite quickly. “Those are the names of who gets what. If your name is on it, when I die, it’s yours.” She didn’t want her children arguing over her things, so she decided in advance who got what, and she expected her wishes to be fulfilled.

The first visit I made to Steve’s parents’ house after we were married was filled with very similar conversations. They told me where the important papers were, just in case. They showed me what furniture was Kelly’s and which was Steve’s. They even took me to the storage building to see which tools would go to which child. And every time we visited after that some version of that conversation would occur.

Some of you may be very familiar with these kinds of conversations. I didn’t grow up with them. I haven’t figured out if that’s because my extended family never really had much to argue over property wise, or if it’s because my Dad and his Dad had the same attitude “You aren’t going to get much of an inheritance,” he says, “It is my intention to watch you enjoy the blessings I can share while I’m still alive.”

Perhaps on All Saints Celebration Sunday it seems a bit odd to talk about inheritances. Isn’t it callous to think of the dead in terms of what they have left for us? And what does that have to do with the one bride for seven brothers scripture anyway?

The answer to the first question is, no. It’s not callus to think of the dead in terms of what they have left us, as long as we are not just talking about material things.

The answer to the second question is, it goes along perfectly with the scripture for today.

In our lesson from Luke Jesus has made his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. You remember that entry of course, riding an unridden colt, people laying down their cloaks and waving palm branches? After this he goes into the city teaching and listening all the while heading to the cross.

In walk the Sadducees. We have not heard any other conversation between Jesus and the Sadducees in Luke. This is the first time they have spoken. Why might this be? Because the Sadducees believed that the place to worship God was at the temple, and only at the temple. Therefore, Sadducees were found where the temple was.

They have no doubt heard from other religious leaders the tales of this Rabbi. They have heard of his teaching, of his ability to draw a crowd, of his miraculous acts. A group decides to get close enough to test the mantle of this vagabond preacher so they ask a question.

““Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, the man^[b] shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. ²⁹ Now there were seven brothers; the first married, and died childless; ³⁰ then the second ³¹ and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless.³² Finally the woman also died. ³³ In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her.”

What an interesting question! It takes a lot of mental gymnastics to unravel, some knowledge of the Old Testament idea of levirate marriage. But Jesus can work this one out in his sleep, right?

Only the Sadducees don’t want an answer to that question, whose wife will she be. They are trying to catch Jesus in an unwinnable argument. How do we know that? Luke tells us right up front, the Sadducees who don’t believe in the resurrection of the dead. These men don’t even believe in the resurrection. They believe that this life is all you get, so follow the rules, worship in the right place, live well and your eternity will be what you leave behind, what inheritance you can offer as a legacy.

Sometimes we can get so caught up in what our legacy is, what we are leaving behind, that we forget to live now. Sometimes we can be so focused on getting to heaven that we forget to live as resurrection people now.

Jesus knew that the Sadducees had no real belief in the resurrection, he saw their question for what it was, an attempt to put Jesus into a box, to pin him down so that they could openly reject him, so they might have just cause to end his ministry.

But Jesus doesn’t play by their rules. He doesn’t get caught up in their question. Instead he makes perhaps one of the most liberating, most amazing, most radical statement that we never hear.

To understand let’s get a bit of a background on marriage in biblical times. Marriage was a contract entered into by a man and another man. Yes, you heard me right. Marriage was a contract between two men. The bride’s father, and the groom. The bride had no legal say in the matter. Very often she was not consulted on her willingness to be married at all let alone to the person she is sold to.

Yes, I said sold. There was a bride’s price paid by the groom’s family for a bride. This was an economic transaction. You paid for the bride a certain price based on age, social status, virginity and these prices fluctuated with the market.

This question the Sadducees asked was whose wife will she be, and at its heart this is a question not of relationship, but of ownership. Who will be her husband? Who will be the one responsible for her in the afterlife?

Jesus’ response is amazing. Marriage will not be an issue in the resurrection of the dead. People will not enter into such contracts with one another. People will no longer marry or be given in marriage. People will no longer be sold. The contractual nature of marriage as was known in the 1^st century will not be needed in the afterlife. Resurrection people will know how to care for each other without looking to profit from that. Resurrection people will understand relationships and mutuality.

Think about that for a moment. Resurrection people will not sell one another. There primary identity will be that of a child of God, not husband or wife, father or mother, but a child of God. The relationship with God will be the primary relationship, all other relationships will stem from that one.

Wow! Can you imagine what that will be like? The first thing you will think when you see someone else will be, family, another child of God. Not, I don’t like his hair, or her teeth, or his politics, or her voice. They are a child of the Living God.

Some scribes reply to Jesus saying “You have answered well.” Note that these scribes are not Sadducees, but rather other teachers of the law. Jesus has not played the Sadducees game and has if fact said that their worry about inheritance is unnecessary.

So, what does this mean for us today in Huntsville, AL? What does this say to us two days from an election that has caused a lot of division and aggravation the past 18 months?

I believe, with all my heart, that we are called to be resurrection people, citizens of the kingdom of God, children of the Almighty, in the present and not yet kingdom. As resurrection people, we should live in the way Jesus describes- not selling people, aware of their inherent value as fellow children of God, fellow image bearers of God.

The legacy we have inherited from those who have gone before us has lead us to this place. We have benefitted from their faith. We have been blessed by their belief. We have been lifted by their prayers. But to remember their legacy is not enough. For God is a God of the living!

I ask, when we think of those matriarchs and patriarchs that have gone before, when we say things like “Those are big shoes to fill” or “We need more people like her or him” what are we saying? Are we standing there looking at the footprints hoping that someone else might step up? Are we looking around expecting another person to become the one that helps?

Let me be frank, if those of us here today are unwilling to step into those shoes, then there will not a be a Christ Church to leave as a legacy to Wyatt and Everett, to Madeline, Genevieve and Aylee.

If we live as resurrection people, acknowledging God’s love for all, then we will reach out to share that love with all. We will give joyfully to our sisters and brothers in need. We will respond with all that we are to God’s call because God is our primary relationship.

In the big things and in the small things, we have the chance to be the people of God. When you vote, if you haven’t already, take time to remember that everyone there, even the people who disagree with you, are God’s image bearers, and treat them as such. Remember that everyone running, yes, even Him, even her, are the image bearers of Christ. Pray for them both accordingly.

When you take these boxes home tonight, remember the children who you will be helping. The boys and girls in Haiti who will receive food and education through these funds, the boys and girls whose hair will grow back once their nutrition issues are addressed. Think of the families that will be reached with God’s love because one of the least of these was shown love.

May we, as resurrection people, carry the legacy of our Father in heaven with us willingly. May we step up and show love in action. Let us not wait to see what people do with what we leave behind. Let us help them enjoy the love of God in the here and now. Amen.

Be Dishonest

Luke 16:1-13

I honestly like my house. This may be the first home that Steven and I have lived in that I really liked. It’s not the nicest house in the world, maybe not even the nicest on my block, but I like it. We put down new floors this summer and I really enjoy the laminate flooring we have.

I feel settled, secure, safe, perhaps for the first time in my adult life. We live in a nice neighborhood with kids about the same age as our kids running around. It’s a quiet neighborhood, except when my neighbor has his band over practicing like he did last night. I have wifi, cable TV, the roof doesn’t leak and the air conditioner runs well enough. I like the security of my situation. I don’t have everything anyone could want by any means. In fact, there are dozens of things I can think of right off of the bat that I’d like, starting with a car big enough for my family, but even with that I know that I am blessed and more than that, fairly content.

And that my friends, might be why I really don’t like our parable for this morning. It is unsettling. It is disturbing. It is confusing. I don’t like it, and I am not alone.

The most common thing I read when studying this text, the thing almost all commentators agreed upon was this: This is perhaps the hardest passage in the Gospel of Luke, perhaps even in all of the Gospels.

The parable of the dishonest manager is troubling at best and worrisome at the very least. Why would Jesus tell this story? Why must it be so unsavory? Why must it be so confusing? Why tell a story about money to begin with? After all money is a touchy subject and when a church or preacher bring it up it makes people uncomfortable. So uncomfortable that many, including me, try to avoid the topic at all costs!

And why tell this story about money, Jesus? Why tell us a story where the ending is so unsatisfactory? Why tell a story where the bad guy wins?

There is a strong taboo in our society against speaking of or preaching about, money. But in Luke, and throughout scripture, God makes it very clear that money matters. Why talk about it so much if it doesn’t? I think one of the main reasons it gets brought up is that people in Jesus’ day, just like today, struggled with money. How much is enough? How much do I need? How much do I share? And while this parable doesn’t give clear answers it does “present us with characters who also struggle with money, characters with mixed motives and yet who change overtime in relationship to their circumstances. Characters, perhaps, not unlike ourselves.”[i]

That is the beauty of parables. They are stories connecting the ordinariness of our life with the extraordinary nature of God. They give us a glimpse into the present not yet kingdom of God. And while today’s is certainly difficult, its goal is to illuminate a part of the kingdom that is hard for us to see.

What happens in this parable is hard for us to understand. I think with our 21^st century understandings of the world, everything about this passage is wrong. The steward or manager is told he is fired and so he goes and cheats his boss out of a large percentage of profit and then he is commended by that same boss for his shrewdness. To do this he goes and negotiates with these debtors with no real authority to do so. This goes beyond bad business practice; this kind of stuff will land you in jail. From the capitalist perspective he is guilty of all charges.

But perhaps some of what we see here is in our world view, most specifically our economic world view. We forget that biblical times were not the same as today. We forget that charging interest for loans was forbidden in Jesus’ day because it exploited the most vulnerable. Exodus 22:25-27, Leviticus 25:36-38 and Deuteronomy 23:19-20 all say do not charge interest.

Theologian Barbara Rossing says “We pray in the Lord’s prayer ‘Forgive us our debts’ but when we encounter a debt collector who actually reduces poor people’s debts by 20% to 50%- namely, reducing their debts to what was probably the original amount borrowed, without hidden interest charges- our first instinct is to judge him.”[ii]

Here we have a man reducing debt and he seems like a bad guy. Why is that? Well partially because he is seen as cheating his master out of potential gains. So we get put off by these actions. But the master, he commends the man for these actions. Not only that, but Jesus tells the crowd to make friends with dishonest wealth so that you will have a place in the eternal homes. Clear as mud right?

But maybe we are looking at this the wrong way. Perhaps the economics of the situation are clouding our vision. Let’s try something else. Perhaps if we look at this parable through another modern day parable.

Biblical Scholar Sarah Dylan Breuer tells this story:

When she was in her junior year of high school she played a trick on a teacher based on this very scripture. This was a VERY unpopular teacher. Students thought she was humorless and inflexible as well as very, very odd. A lot of teachers occasionally let the class order and chip in, one by one, for pizza to munch on during class, but not this one. A few friends and Sarah decided to see what this teacher was really made of.

They collected money from peers, sworn to secrecy, to buy pizzas for the whole class.

Sarah ordered the pizzas in the teacher’s  name, but had the cash on hand to pay for it.

The pizzas arrived, with the deliverer proclaiming that "Mrs. ____" (the teacher) had ordered them. The teacher looked flummoxed and panicked.

But within a second, Sarah sprang to her feet and said, "Mrs. _____, it's SO generous of you to buy pizza for the whole class. But I can't do that. Some friends already pooled some money for lunch, and we'll spring for it."

Her teacher had a choice to make in that moment. The whole class was applauding her for ordering pizza for all -- which she hadn't done. She looked at Sarah with a raised eyebrow, accepted delivery, and then paid for the pizza.

She could have let the class eat pizza but let the class pay for it, but Sarah thinks the teacher is a good person, and she decided that since everything was disrupted anyway, she might as well accept the acclaim of the class for her generosity, even if it wasn't her idea.

She had an in-between choice not available to the landlord of the "Unjust Steward" parable: she could have accepted the applause of relaxing class discipline, but refused the cost of the pizza.

But things were already upset. She did what I probably would have done in her shoes, and took the applause and affection of the crowd. She was a little different from then on; Sarah thought she saw a glint of mischief in her eye after that, and Sarah likes to think it was a glint that was always there, but was before suppressed. I suspect she wasn't so married to the order of a traditional "orderly classroom" as they all thought, and she welcomed the freedom to do things differently.

Maybe the landlord in the parable felt the same. Maybe he felt freed to function in ways that would make him a "Bad Landlord," but a better human being.

The Steward in this story doesn’t tell the farmers that he has been fired, that he has no real authority to make these changes, any more than he tells them that the landowner didn’t authorize this generosity.

“The result is that the farmers believe that the landowner is more generous than just about anyone else in his position would be. The landowner is now a hero in the farmer’s eyes- and the steward is also, by extension.

Dishonest this manager may indeed be, but he understood how to use what was entrusted to him for a greater good. We should take note of that Jesus says. How much more must the children of God do with the riches entrusted to our care?

What, precisely, is it that the steward does, albeit without authorization and with deception?

The steward forgives debts.

“The steward forgives. He forgives things that he had no right to forgive. He forgives for all the wrong reasons, for personal gain and to compensate for past misconduct. But that's the decisive action that he undertakes to redeem himself from a position from which it seem he couldn't be reconciled, to the landowner any more than to the farmers.”[iii]

Forgive. Forgive everything. Forgive it for whatever good or bad reason you may have, or for no reason at all. Forgive for every reason in the world.

Forgive because you were forgiven. In the realm of God, debts are forgiven and slaves are set free.

This is so radical to us because somewhere along the way being in debt became normal to us. Owing someone something, whether it be money, favor, power or pride, became an everyday occurrence. Somewhere along the way we lost the freedom in God’s vision for God’s people. We stopped hearing the joy of God’s voice telling us that we are all beloved children of God, just as we are. Somewhere along the way we buried our treasures and are not sure where to find them.

What is important is not how much we have, how much we accumulate, how much we are owed. What matters is how we use what resources we have in light of our relationship to God and to those God loves. We, my friends, you and me, we have been entrusted with the resources of God’s kingdom. Will we act on behalf of God’s kingdom with the same sense of urgency and creativity as if our own personal well-being depended upon it?

You cannot serve two masters. It’s there in black and white, or red and white if you have a red letter bible. We are kidding ourselves if we think we can have two separate lives, one Sunday mornings and another the rest of the week. We cannot bounce back and forth between serving two masters when it is convenient.

“When faced with the pronouncement that we cannot serve God and Mammon we might do well to remember that whereas the Lord’s attention, care, and providence are constant; Mammon proves to be a pretty fickle and ultimately untrustworthy master.”[iv]

In the end my friends, this parable is like so many of Jesus’ parables. It expands our knowledge of the kingdom by pushing us to look outside of what is comfortable and into what, through Christ alone, is possible.

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[i] David Lose, Working Preacher 2013

[ii] Barbara Rossing, Working Preacher 2016

[iii] Sarah Dylan Breuer Dylan’s Lectionary Blog 2007

[iv] David Lose . . . In the Meantime

Tales from the table

Luke 14:1, 7-14

Are any of you here today people watchers? I rarely get the chance to people watch with three kids to keep up with, but it is something I enjoy. I enjoy thinking about what these individuals or groups might be doing. Where are they going? What are they celebrating? Sometimes I even come up with elaborate stories as to what has happened in that day to lead them to wherever we happen to be. People watching is a great way to keep your mind occupied and to be entertained.

Our lesson today starts out saying that the Pharisees were watching Jesus. Not only are they watching Jesus, they are watching him closely. There watching is not for entertainment purposes. They are watching to see what Jesus will say, who he will interact with, what he might do and when so that they can see just what kind of teacher is this man from Galilee.

Often we think of the Pharisees as being anti-Jesus, but in the Gospel of Luke they seem to be balancing the role of inquisitive and offended. It is the Pharisees in Luke that warn Jesus to stay away from Jerusalem because people are planning to kill him. It is the Pharisees who invite Jesus to fancy meals and dinner parties. They are curious about him, and watch closely to learn more.

Jesus is a people watcher in his own right. Not for entertainment purposes. “Jesus’ watching is all about noticing people in order to heal, teach, saved and enlist into kingdom work. His close watching is about awareness like a parent in a crowded park, not a security guard behind a monitor."[i]

On the way to this wedding feast, held by the way on the Sabbath, Jesus sees a man with dropsy and heals him. Even on his way to other events Jesus takes the time to really encounter those around him.

When Jesus arrives at the party he surveys the landscape he watches people as they weigh where they should sit and how they should act. It’s a tension that most of us can understand. Perhaps not in our current fancy wedding culture, as most weddings concerned about seating have place cards or at the minimum reserved seating for the families of the bride and groom. If this particular place does not cause us social anxiety, I think most of us can relate to another place where seating is important. The school lunch room. Not so much in elementary school, where you sit with your class, but perhaps in middle or high school where you are finally given the freedom to sit with anyone you like. In theory.

Imagine walking into the school cafeteria for the very first time and knowing you are going to have to pick where you sit very carefully. Too close to the super popular kids and people might think you are trying to use their social currency. TO far away from the hubbub and you might seem to think you don’t belong at all.

Like a scene from the movie mean girls, you scan each table trying to figure out who you should sit with and pray you don’t make the wrong choice.

Jesus was like a new kid in class at this event. Likely this Pharisee always invited a similar guest list to whatever functions he gave. There were family, close friends, and those of influence. These were most often people of the same social stature, or rich neighbors who could improve your standing. They were so practiced and knowing where they stood in a group that they almost instinctively went to their place for a meal. By looking around the room Mr. Williams knew he could sit above Mr. Fitzgerald, but not above Mr. Hohenwald. Mr. Hohenwald could sit close to the host, but had to leave room for the governor. Mr. Fitzgerald hoped and prayed that Mr. Green had been invited so that he wasn’t at the end of the table once more.

The guests may be mentally sorting themselves but Jesus is new to the situation and he’s seeing what they don’t see. Jesus is seeing how this turmoil of where to sit is completely beside the point. Jesus is watching these men turn themselves inside out for the right seat at the table without realizing a very They are all invited guests.

He turns to them and tells a story about guests at a wedding. He talks about worrying about where to sit, how to act. I wonder what was going through their heads at that moment. I’d guess a mix of “Who does he think he is?” and “How did he know what I was thinking?” Then he talks about taking a higher seat and being humiliated, so better to take a lower seat and be lifted up.

This wisdom comes from Proverbs 25, words from Solomon himself, no doubt familiar to these men. It is good to not place yourself too highly in the face of a noble. Good practical advice. After all, one could lose their head for coming before a king uninvited.

I imagine there were some nods around the table, thinking this was good sound advice.  But I think most of them still missed the message. Jesus turned then to the host and said “When you throw a party don’t invite the expected crowd. Your family and rich neighbors. Instead invite the poor and lame, those who will never be able to pay your back or increase your social standing.”

I imagine there was shock at this statement. Why give a party at all if it wasn’t going to increase your social standing? Where you sat at a meal and whom you sat with were extremely important things in Biblical times. I can imagine that the host was shocked and offended at these words from Jesus. But Jesus was making a very important point.

Jesus says when you are invited. Jesus says when you have a party, invite. Invited. That means you are expected. That means that you will have a place. It does not matter one bit

How low you sit at the table, what matters is that you are invited! You are there to celebrate and there will be room at the table. Too often we can get caught up in where our place is, instead of rejoicing that we have a place at all.

This passage is about being stewards of God’s grace by making room at the banquet for everyone. We get caught up in this higher lower talk. This is not making yourself less and putting others above you so that they now control you. This is much more like Isaiah 40:4 “Every valley shall be lifted, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain.”

This is a leveling of sorts. It’s not a switching of elevations, its realizing that we are all on the same plain in God’s kingdom.

And this doesn’t just apply to meal times. This teaching of Jesus’ is about how we treat one another all of the time, especially those who are not in a position to “pay us back.” Jesus is calling us to the kind of people watching he does. Watching with eyes not of judgement or for entertainment. Watching to share God’s grace across boundaries that we may not even realize are there.

Ronald Byars says “From one society to another, and from one era to another, there seem to be different lists of those from whom respectable people expect to turn aside. Jesus’ challenge reaches across boundaries of place and time, calling us to be more aware of those from whom we are inclined to turn our eyes, and to follow him rather than those who baptize common prejudices as virtues.”[ii]

Who are we watching, my friends? Who are we noticing? To what are we paying attention? And perhaps most important of all, what are we doing in light of what we see?

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr said “Our goal is to create a beloved community and this will require a qualitative change in our souls as well as a qualitative change in our lives.”

Are we willing to make those changes? To participate in a leveling of the field so that the beloved community, the kingdom of God, might be as we pray, here on earth as it is in heaven?

May it be so, friends, may it be so.

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[i] Jill Duffield Looking into the Lectionary 22^nd Sunday in Ordinary time

[ii] Ronald P. Byars Feasting on the Word Year C Volume 4 page 25