Proper 16

I welcome your comments. I know I preached entirely too fast but I got a little excited over my message. A sociologist will always get excited for a text about loving others and ignore laws that oppress.



In the name Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Let us pray, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.” Psalm 19:14

Why Jesus? Why? I mean tell me, why do you always have to pick a fight? You know the leaders do not like it when you do work on the Sabbath. I mean come on Jesus. You do this all the time. You are going to get the leaders angry and the people riled up. Then Rome is going to get involved and probably kill us all or threatens to tear down our temple. Our temple Jesus. You know the one that has been built, destroyed, built, destroyed, and finally built again by Herod. We got protection now Jesus. Why do you have to always throw a wrench into it? Just sit there and be quiet. Things aren’t that bad.

Well maybe things are that bad. Maybe Jesus did need to heal the woman that very instant. We know Jesus was not in the business of just sitting around idly by while some injustice was happening. But at the same time, I know some of you, well maybe it’s just me, might be wondering, “Why did Jesus always have to make a scene?” As I sat at my desk pondering this question, I found myself going back to an even larger question--“Why was Jesus given to us?”

This question has remained a mystery for the church for centuries. Thousands of Christians, theologians, pastors, priests, and even Popes have tried to answer the age old question--“Why was Jesus given to us?” While we have some suspicions and theories we cannot nail down an exact answer as to why Jesus came to be with. I worry about those Christians who say with surety, “I know why Jesus came” because every time we come up with a theory, it just opens the door to another question. Those that say Jesus came to die can never get pass the next question why did Jesus have to die. Doesn’t God love us? Why couldn’t God just forgive us? You see, it creates a snow ball effect. One answer leads to another question which leads to another answer and then another question. We do not need to know why Jesus came but we do need to respond to his teachings, commands, life and actions. Particularly the action today’s reading—ensuring the wellbeing of all no matter the circumstances. Unfortunately, that tends to upset people.

In almost every story, Jesus upsets another person by telling them they are wrong and there old way of doing things is not good anymore. Jesus never holds back but calls out individuals who are no longer following Gods word or they are not open to a new way of understanding God’s word. Jesus does not let injustices go unnoticed. Jesus will even call out his own friends when they are wrong. Just look at Peter. It does not matter who you are or where you come from, Jesus has a message and the world will hear it.

What Jesus is preaching is not all that unheard of. It has been preached for thousands of years before by prophets and angels--Love one another just as God has always loved you. It is the message that the prophet Isaiah is preaching:
Isaiah 58: 10-12
if you offer your food to the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the afflicted,
then your light shall rise in the darkness
and your gloom be like the noonday.
The Lord will guide you continually,
and satisfy your needs in parched places,
and make your bones strong;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring of water,
whose waters never fail.
Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;
you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
you shall be called the repairer of the breach,
the restorer of streets to live in.
Every time I hear a text like this on, I give myself a little bop on the head. It is a “duh” moment. Maybe Jesus did have a point in this situation. Maybe Jesus was not doing something radical here. Maybe Jesus is not doing the wrong thing. Maybe what Jesus is doing is following the will of God. MAYBE WE ARE WRONG AND JESUS IS RIGHT. (I know it’s a crazy idea but Jesus knows a things or two.)

So why was the synagogue leader wrong? Brian Stoffregen writes:
"It is the synagogue leader who calls Jesus' actions "healing" (therapeuo in v. 14 twice) -- and thus a "work".
But misses the boat.
“He doesn't see it as the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy of releasing from bondage -- or a re-enactment of the Exodus journey from slavery to freedom."
He misses the grace of God. He doesn’t open his mind to the big of God’s love and God’s grace. How many times have we missed the big picture? How many times have we made a bad call all in the name of keeping the law or keeping the word of God? Humans will always be tied down the legalities of a situation and forget look at the big picture because of sin.

This sin condemn us. It reminds us of how we just cannot make the cut. But the cross changed that. God took an instrument of torture and death to show us that love can exist anywhere-That God can even love us broken and sinful. That is what the cross shows us and the same message is being said in our gospel text today. Yes, God does care about laws but God cares more about us and that is made visible in the cross.

The welfare of God’s creation always come first. It is foolish to think that this woman who had been bent over 18 years, crippled and a social outcast for 18 years, could not receive healing by Jesus on the Sabbath. Even a donkey is given water by his master. It makes no sense that a poor, crippled woman is not able to receive nourishment far beyond what simple water could ever do for her but an animal is. This was not just a healing of her aliment but also a restoration of her status--and status meant everything to the people in this day. Robert Capon writes, “if Jesus had waited until sundown, his wonderful miracle would have supported the people's expectations of a victorious and immortal messiah -- one ‘who is coming to punch the enemies of the Lord in the nose.’” Jesus was not an immortal messiah who came in with guns blazing. Jesus came and taught that we need to start caring more about people and less about tradition or laws.

We all have some kind of aliment that cripples us. We all have something that has kept us bent over, unable to stand up straight. We are not perfect and we are not immune from being an outcast. Simply by confessing our Christian Faith we create ourselves as an outcast because we believe there is something more to this world than status and wealth. What the world tells us is of great wealth we respond with the cross--a symbol of shame, death, pain, torture. The cross represents everything the world tells us to avoid but we, as Christians, cling to it. The cross is where we find salvation and love. The cross is where we find the true wealth of the world. The cross is where we see a man--who told us to love one another, who told us to think differently about who God is, who stood up to leaders that denied the poor life, who stood up for a woman bent over for 18 years and released her from her bondage, who broke the law to save the lives over—-the cross is where we saw a good man crucified. The cross is where we see the innocent killed but brought back to us on the third day. Jesus stood up for those who could not stand up for themselves. We all have an aliment and maybe, just maybe, we should take Jesus’ advice and begin to care for each other--ignore what the world tells us to do and just care for each other just as Jesus cared for this woman.

In the name Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Sermon from Proper 14

In the name Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Let us pray, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.” Psalm 19:14

It is not uncommon for many urbanites to feel a sense of fear every night before they fall sleep. “What if my house is broken into?” I still have that fear living here in Rural Retreat, VA. This fear for many urbanites, like myself, is all too real: My family’s house was broken into a couple of time, my bike was stolen off the front porch, and to top it all off the church was even broken into a number of times. Thieves--a thief in the night--is a never a metaphor I want to use to describe Jesus. But Luke does.

So the question is why a thief and what is this treasure Jesus is talking about? First let’s talk about the metaphor thief. What Godly qualities do thieves have? What good are they to the world or to God for that matter? But then it hit me. Thieves teach us. Whenever we were robbed we changed something. We bought new locks, installed an alarm system, and learned something. Every attack, every robbery, taught us something about ourselves and made us change our ways. In a way, our fears brought us safety because we knew how to prepare ourselves for the next thief.

So how do we prepare for our “Godly thief” named Jesus? It is hard to know how to prepare for Jesus when Luke changes the meaning of metaphors constantly in his Gospel account. Luke loves to bounce back and forth on metaphors such as knocking on the door or a thief. For example, In Luke 11, we are the ones knocking on the door but in this story Jesus is knocking on our doors. I think I am beginning to see why the disciples never had a clue what was going on. “Did Jesus just say WE are the ones knocking on the door? I thought he said were the ones who were supposed to knock.”

This is why we always need to look at the big picture that Luke is working with. We can’t get bogged down with the details and intricacies of the text. Preparing for a Godly Thief is not as important as knowing what this text, this story, this Gospel say about the Kingdom of God. You see, parables are not simply little metaphors or allegories where we are to put Jesus or ourselves into the characters of the parables. Parables are so much deeper than that. I mean, they did come from Jesus. So how is this parable showing us the Kingdom of God? Is the Kingdom of God like a thief or the Kingdom of God like something we could never imagine?

I was recently reading a synopsis on an old classic--Count of Monte Cristo. The author of the synopsis writes:
“Over a century ago, Alexander Dumas created one of the really fascinating characters in literature the count of Monte Cristo. Dumas introduces Edmond Dantes, a young sailor who is about to become captain of his own ship and marry the girl of his dreams. Then he unfolds the story of a double-cross, a false accusation and 14 years in the dungeon of the Chateau D'If. After licing in fourteen years of darkness, Dantes’ brightest hope was the old priest, Abee Faria, who told him of a great treasure buried on the Isle of Monte Cristo. Escaping through the sea, Dantes travels with smugglers on the Mediterranean Coast until finally he is alone at the mouth of the treasure cave. The closer Dantes came to that treasure the more terrified he felt. His terror was not that the treasure was a fiction, but that it really was there. Dumas observes that it is one of the strange phenomena of human nature that we feel. We dread of the daylight more than the darkness. Why? In the light we can be seen, watched, observed.”
In the light, we see what we truly are—we see our sin and this sin is terrifying because it creates fear; What if my sin is too great for even Christ to love me.

It is this kind of fear that Jesus has in mind in today's gospel when he tells his disciples, "Fear not, little flock, for it is your father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." Fear not. Fear is what holds us back. We have all been freed from sin by Jesus but it is our fear of the future that paralyzes us. Do not be afraid. We fear what we do not know. We fear what we cannot see. We worry about tomorrow and if we will have enough money, enough clothes, enough of ourselves because we cannot see what the future holds. That is our greatest fear--the fear of the unknown and the loss of control because in the end we need to trust in God and not ourselves.

Imagine doing what Jesus tells us to do. Sell everything we own, what the world considers treasures, and give it away. Imagine the fear we would have of not knowing where our next meal would come from or where we would lay down our heads. We like to be in control. We like being in a routine but God has no routine. God simply loves us. In a way, that is God’s routine--God constantly showing us God’s love. God’s love encompasses everyone and God always has the welfare of God’s creation in mind. There is never anyone left behind.

Now we know we are never going to be forgotten by God but we are still left wondering how we are to live in a world where we are constantly afraid of the unknown? Jesus does not offer a simple answer of how to overcome this fear but simply offers us a lifestyle. We are left with a practice of daily stewardship where we put first the things that matter most to us--what the real treasure of the world is:
-God
-The Church
-Our Spouse
-Our Children
-Our Grand Children
-Our Great-Grand-Children
-Those things we would run into a burning house for.

It is because of verse 34 (For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also) that we need to begin to consider what is important to us and not what the world tells us is important to us. We need to covenant the real treasures of our world—God’s treasures.

Personal valuables and material goods do not have any significance or relevance because in the end, a thief could come and take them away. Jesus, the people hearing this parable, and we the readers all know how fragile life is. Jesus is reminding us of this well-known fact. This fact, unfortunately, stands the test of time. Instantly, lives can be changed and Nobody is immune from tragedies but we all can place the real treasures of our lives first. This is what Jesus is calling us to do. Our gospel text this day is calling us all to forget about the material goods and place the real treasure of our world first--God’s children. That is what the real treasure of God is—it is the people of God. It does not lie somewhere in a bank or in a far away land. God’s treasure is every one of us sitting in this room, in Rural Retreat, in Virginia, in the ELCA, in USA, in Christendom, in the world. Now while we all may look different, we must always remember that have been created in God’s image. That is the great gift of God’s treasure. Though we may be different, we are all valuable to God. May God give us the strength to see the real treasure of the world does not lie with money, fame, or fortune but is the welfare of all God’s children.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

In the name Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Let us pray, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.” Psalm 19:14

NBC, for a number of years now, has been running a program called “the Apprentice.” It’s theme song title is “Money, money, money, money.” Donald Trump is the host and the prize is a job in his company. Teammates live in the lap of luxury till they are voted off, FIRED, by the Trump himself.

Computer programmers turned billionaires like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs have turned a simple “toy” into a powerful machine. Computers have transformed industries from health care to higher education. And the driving force behind all these ventures is money.

Money. It rules our lives, our nations, our world, and even the church. Without it, we could not function (or so we think anyway). It has invaded our lives and causes us only to desire more of it. It is an addiction. If you don’t believe me, take a trip out to Las Vegas or Atlantic City and watch how every individual’s eyes light up when they see a slot machine or a sign that says, “WIN A MILLION DOLLARS!!!!” Money is all we ever think about but yet it is such a taboo subject in the church. I cannot think of a single pastor, other than maybe a bishop or supply preacher, who says, “SURE, I WOULD LOVE TO PREACH A SERMON ON MONEY. THEY ARE MY FAVORITE!” It is not an enjoyable topic but it doesn’t have to be that way.

Lutherans love to talk about Justification by Faith, Love, God’s grace. We even enjoy talking about things not found in the bible like Martin Luther. How quickly we move towards theological ideas like these that may only appear in scriptures 10 or 15 times (some not at all) but yet avoid preaching and teaching about one of the most talked about subject in the entire bible--MONEY and ECONOMICS!

It is for good reason that money and economics talked is mentioned a lot in the bible. We all have this notion that Hebraic Law is very complicated (frankly, any law system is complicated though) but there is one main theme throughout Hebraic Law--TAKE CARE OF THE POOR. Every law could be ignored as long as the poor were taken care of. God does not practice survival of the fittest. It is never okay to leave someone behind because they are too weak, too poor, too much like an outcast. The decision to leave someone behind, an act still forbidden by God, should never be determined by any kind of human classification but especially because of an individual’s economic status.

Money and economics has always been a main topic of scripture but our way of thinking about economics is slightly different from biblical economics. We think more globally but the early prophets and writers did not have such a global mindset. The world was a much smaller place 2000-3000 years ago in their understanding. But there are still similarities between the ancient civilizations and us today. Mainly, humanity has always been concerned with the short term. This short term focus is what biblical scholars call Human economics. In human economics, we ask, “How do I make the most money the fastest? It is all me, me, me. We are never thinking about the long term--not just 15-20 years long term but rather generations down the road. That is the divine economy. God’s economy looks at the whole picture. We look through a telescope but God looks at the entire sphere--God looks at the past, present and future--to create a plan. We want instant gratification but God wants sustainable gratification.

Well okay preacher, sustainable gratification. I can deal with that. So preacher, tell me, how is storing up grain in a barn or storing up money in a bank account not sustainable gratification? To answer that question, I need to tell a story my father told me once.

There was a man who was dying. The night before he died he summoned his wife. He told his wife to put everything he had in a box, all his money and gold, and place it in the window upstairs. Once he died, he would take the chest up to heaven with him. His wife did as he asked and later that evening, the man died. The next morning, his wife went upstairs, found the chest in the same spot she left it and still full of all the man’s riches. The wife said, “Shucks, I knew I should have put this chest in the basement.

The moral of both the biblical parable and this parable is that it doesn’t matter how much you have on earth. Once you die, it means absolutely nothing to you or God. The men in both of these parables, the one Jesus told and the one my father told, were both fools. Joel B. Green, NT scholar defines a fool, in biblical terms, as someone who denies God through their actions. Storing up an abundance rather than trusting in God’s promised of sustainable gratification--sustainable abundance--is foolish. Now this word abundance needs to be defined more clearly. If you look at the text very closely, it says he filled up his first barn. I believe, this text is saying he has enough to make it through winter. He is able to get through till the next harvest. Once his barn is full, he is left with an over abundance of crops. Instead of using the abundance to help those who do not have an abundance, he hoards it for himself. The poor are not able to reap the bounty, the hungry go away empty, but the rich fool sits on top of his “extra-large barn” and says, “relax, eat, drink, be merry.” The text never says it is bad to save what is needed to live rather it is bad to hoard what is not needed.

In Jesus’ day, one did not get wealthy by simply working harder. One got wealthy by hurting, trampling, and stealing from the their family, friends, and community. What is even more startling is the people Jesus is speaking to know this all too well. One commentary writes:
“Greed was widely regarded as a form of depravity, both in Jewish literature and in the larger Greco-Roman world.”
Greed was essentially seen as stealing--taking candy from a baby. This man was wealthy because he withheld God’s abundance from the community. He is wealthy because he saw his abundance as his own and not God’s own abundance. Think about what is going on here economically. By holding back his abundance, he is able to increase the market price of his goods and sell them at a high cost. Supply and demand. Low supply means high demand. High demand means high prices. Higher prices means a larger profit. Instead of helping his community, he only cripples them even more. He secures his economic status by being the “big dog on campus.” He doesn’t trust in God to secure his future but tries to do it himself. If recent news has shown us anything, the only one worth trusting in anymore is God. Banks can fail, governments can fail, and computers can fail (unless you buy a Mac but they can even fail).

My friends, this text is not all about money. This text is about faith. That is what Stewardship is about. It is about our faith in GOD providing for us. How do we trust in God? Do we do it by hoarding or do we share it confident God will provide for us in the future just as God has provided for us in the past? We commit our abundance, rather God’s abundance, to the community and ensure a better community for everyone. It does not mean depriving ourselves our own basic needs but sharing what we do not need. We do this by spreading the gospel, clothing the naked, feeding the hungry, caring for the widows and orphans, the abused, the neglected. This is God’s divine economy. We need to think long-term and not short term. Yes, there is God’s grace if we mess up and yes, maybe God’s divine economy is just a utopia and unattainable but that doesn’t mean we abuse God’s grace and abundance by hoarding it all for ourselves. It doesn’t mean we do not try. We have been graced with abundance and we trust that God will continue to bless us with the same abundance in the future--we are not to be or act like a fool. If you forget everything I have said today, remember this; God was not cheap with us--God sacrificed God’s Son so that we might see the revelation of God’s love. God was not cheap with us, why then should we be cheap with God’s grace and abundance? Amen.

In the name Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.