"steadfast love endures forever"

Being the official leader of any group of human beings is a very hard task.  It is not often that “everyone” within the group “supports” the one who is the leader.  As a result there will normally be those who will challenge every discussion made or action taken by the group leader.  And of course there have been throughout the course of history far too many examples of local or worldly leaders who have let the power of their office inflate their egos and their own sense of self-worth and justification.

In our Gospel reading (Matthew 23:1-12) this morning, Jesus is reminding those who are listening to him that over the course of time the Scribes and the Pharisees have become like other earthly leaders.  He is telling his listeners that these leaders have become hypocrites.  They now are requiring and demanding great discipline from all of the other followers, while at the same time they excuse themselves from living by such rules and they do just exactly what pleases themselves and their bodies.

Jesus both cautions and encourages his true followers by reminding them that, “All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.”[1]  If you are not sure of the deep truth of these words, than I suggest that you review the recent events found in our own world news.

In reality it is often all too easy to find fault with the actions of any group of worldly leaders over a long enough time frame.  Some might even be tempted to wonder about the actions of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.  But we must be sure to remember that God is not human.  God is the creator of all that exists … including humanity.

Do you remember what the author of Psalm 107 wrote as the opening words for this outstanding song of praise?  “O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever.”[2]  God may become angry with us from time to time, but we are told that God’s love is steadfast and that it will endure forever.

Now the truth is that I love my children, but there are times when I have become angry with them.  And yes, there have been times that I have expressed my anger.  And yet I continue to love them with my entire being.  I continue to reach out to them with compassion and love; hoping that they will choose to change their course of action. 

Now I’m a simple human being and if I can find within myself the ability to forgive those who have done hurt-full actions in my eyes, then how much more is God capable of continuing to love each and every one of us? 

What about the question: why is God allowing hurtful things to happen in this world?  The reality is that the question is being asked in the wrong direction.  We should be thinking about the choices that we are making.  Are we following the teachings of our faith?  Are we willing to embrace, encourage, and love our families the same way that God loves us?  

And if you are among the lucky ones who are able to answer in the positive – like I am – then consider this question: Am I also willing to embrace, encourage, and love my neighbor, or someone who does not even look like me? 

The dark side of humanity has had many followers in the past, and there are just as many with us today.  But today our challenge is to truly belief in the words of the Psalmist … That God’s love endures forever.  That the strongest power and hope in this world is the power of love … for true love will bring hope to all of creation!

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[1] Matthew 23:12 NRSV

[2] Psalm 107:1 NRSV

What is your motivation?

Once again we heard in our reading from the Gospel of Matthew (22:34-46) that the Pharisees are attempting to set a trap for Jesus.  This trap was set while they are engaging him in a period of questions and answers.  It is true that there is to be found a value in any question, but the real value of the question only becomes clear when the actual motive for the question is understood.  When a co-worker asks me if I have been paid yet, there are many possible motives.  Is he asking me about pay because he wants to know if I have remembered to pick up my pay?  Or is he asking me because he has forgotten when we are being paid?  Or is he asking me because he needs to borrow some extra money from me?  Or did I somehow forget to repay a loan to him?  What is his real motive for the question?

And then there are the questions of motivations for actions.  When my friend offers to come over in the evening to watch a special event on TV, is it because he wants to be spending time with me?  Or is it because his TV is broken?  Or is it because he doesn’t have that Cable Channel?  What is the motive for his actions?

In our scripture readings however, it is one of the lawyers of the Pharisees who is asking Jesus a direct question about which is the greatest among the many laws of their faith.  In all honesty we know that the lawyer’s real motivation is to set up a trap for Jesus in the presence of his faithful followers.  But the answer that Jesus gave did not leave anyone with a chance to set a trap for him; “[Jesus] said to him, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the greatest and first commandment.  And a second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."[1]

And so we should listen carefully to these very critical answers.  We, as Christians, are called to first love God with our heart, soul, and mind.  And then we are called to love our neighbors as our selves.

But how will this love manifest itself?  How will God know that we are in love with God?  How will our neighbors know that we are in love with them?

The simplistic answers would be for me to tell you that you are all to attend worship on each and every Sunday, that everyone of you are to go beyond tithing in your giving, and each and every one of you are to be working on at least one committee within the church’s leadership structure.  For some of you, the answer would be to stop your resistance and to begin the process of answering your call into ministry.  Any yet, even though it would be wonderfully great if every one of you where to follow these paths, the reality is to be found in the motivation. 

A young man calls on a young and attractive lady.  He is gentle, kind, and courteous with her.  But the reality is that he wants others to see him with this attractive young woman so that other beautiful young ladies will want to date him.  It also doesn’t hurt that her father has a lot of political pull, and as a result he will in the future have an easy and high paying job.  Somethings the motivations are more important than the actions.

A young mother is working as a check-out clerk at a local chain store.  An elderly man is paying for his weekly food purchases, and in the process his wallet falls out of his pocket onto the floor.  No one notices at this moment, and so he walks away, unaware of what he has left behind.  A short while latter the young woman sees that wallet and checking inside for any identification, she finds not only his license but $100 in cash.  If she where to keep the money and toss everything else … no one would ever know!  And yet she returns that wallet and all of its contents; because she and God would know the truth.

Some of you who hear these words of mine in this time of reflection, might take exception to my thoughts and comments.  However, I know my own motivation.  As Paul wrote to the faithful community of believers in Thessalonica; “but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the message of the gospel, even so we speak, not to please mortals, but to please God who tests our hearts.”[2]  Truly it is about motivation!  Why are we doing what we are doing?  Are we trying to “buy our way into eternal life?” or are we trying to help our brothers and sisters … our children and grandchildren … to discover a better way of life here in this world, so that when eternity comes we will be able to find our way into the presence of the ever lasting God of Love and Grace.

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[1] Matthew 22:37-40 NRSV

[2] 1 Thessalonians 2:4 NRSV [2:1-8]

Many are called ...

This morning’s reading from the Gospel of Matthew (22:1-14) contains a parable which I find disturbing on multiple levels.  Jesus is telling those who are gathered about him that God could be compared to an earthly king who has thrown a big pre-wedding party for his son, and that the invited guests – the chosen ones from society – would not come.  Not only would they insult the king by not coming to the banquet, but when the servants where sent to remind them that they were invited by the king – those elite ones made excuses that they had more important “worldly” things to do.  Some of the chosen ones even decided that they had the right to seize the king’s servants – beating them and even killing them!

This kind of conduct does not really surprise me.  The actions of any society’s elite over the course of centuries has taught many of us that their “self-centeredness” and their “sense of entitlement” can blind them to the reality of almost any situation.  A mob of poor people are in the streets crying out in desperate hunger for bread to eat, and the elite respond, “Let them eat cake.”  Those individuals whose loved ones have been arrested, beaten, or killed because of their race are walking in the streets in protest, and the elite of the society call for them to be washed away with fire hoses.

The king’s reaction in this morning’s parable was to send out his troops to destroy all of those who had murdered his servants and refused to come to his son’s party.  The king even had his servants burn their city to the ground.  But what of his son’s wedding party?  Who would now be attending this event?  The king sent his servants into the streets to gather all that they could find.  Everyone, the bad and the good, were gathered so that the wedding hall would be filled to the brim with guests to honor his son.

And now comes for me a very disturbing thought.  The king discovers an individual within the hall who is not dressed in the proper clothing to celebrate the wedding of his son.  The man is directly questioned, but he is speechless, and so the king has this man bound and thrown into the outer darkness.  For some this is a disturbing thought, and it may even appear that the king is merciless, but we should remember that this is a parable being told by Jesus.  I believe that the issue is not the type of physical clothing that the individual wore.  Rather the type of clothing is a metaphor for the individual’s attitude toward being at the event.

We are all called by the Creator to a time of celebration.  Some will come to truly celebrate, they express their unbridled joy for all that God has created and shared.  Some will come out of fear; fear of being punished by God or by others for ignoring the call, and so they come only out of a sense of “social duty” to be observed and not to truly celebrate.

Others will not come to join in the time of celebration.  But we must be very careful of becoming judgmental for they have many reasons.  True, there are those who do not believe in the Creator, but there are also others.  A few of them may have “pressing responsibilities” that MUST be attended to: some may have an ill loved one for whom they are responsible for, another has finally – after many years of struggle – gotten a chance to become gainfully employed, and yet another is being held against their will.  And yet there are those who have become so lost that they can not even remember how to celebrate.

I hope I have not put any of you to sleep, for it is possible that these thoughts can also be applied to those of us who for years have been attending these gatherings of celebrations.  May be they are the ones who are sitting next to us, or may be it is we who have forgotten how to celebrate. 

Paul is writing to each one of us as well as to the faithful worshiping community found within the church at Philippi, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.  Let your gentleness be known to everyone.  The Lord is near. … the God of peace will be with you.”[1]

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[1] Philippians 4:4-5, 9c NRSV [Philippians 4:1-9]

Becoming like him

Today is World Communion Sunday, and in a short while we will be joined together sharing in a service dedicated to commemorating the Last Supper of Jesus and his disciples.  This is the Sunday that has been set aside each year by most of the world’s active worshiping Christian communities to celebrate our unity.  Though there are differences in each of our worshiping communities, yet we are still united in our dedication to following the teachings of Jesus.  Each one of us is encouraged to freely engage in our thoughts and responses to the stories that have been passed down to us throughout the ages.

Our reading this morning from the Gospel of Matthew is known by many as the Parable of the vineyard.  Jesus is continuing to engage both his followers and the chief priests and the Pharisees.  Parts of this Parable are very easy to inteperate; the vineyard is either the Promised Land or the entire earth, the landowner is God, the slaves sent to collect the produce are the prophets, and the son is Jesus.

As to who are the tenants, that’s a different question.  They can be seen as all of humanity, all of the Israelites, or maybe they are to be seen as the chief priests and the Pharisees.

However they are seen, Jesus is once again giving them a chance to see the reality of the consenquences for their actions in the past and the choices they have for their future.  We are called upon by our Creator to remember that we do not own this world forever.  Rather we are here but for a short time as the “care takers” of God’s creation.

How would we answer the question possed by Jesus?  Would we be as blood thirsty and sanctamonious as the chief priests and elders?  When we believe that someone has sinned, do we always demand that they be punished or do we really believe that forgiveness is possible for anyone?  If we believe that we are worthy of compassion and forgiveness, than why would we not accept and believe that compassion and forgiveness is available to all? 

And so we hear the words that Jesus spoke to those who would not allow forgiveness to be extened to others, “Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom.”[1]

In Paul’s letter to the faithful community in Philippi, we heard how much Paul desires to become like Jesus.  But what does it mean when an individual says that they want to become like Jesus?  This seemingly simplistic statement is in reallity an extremely complex one with an almost endless maze of possible courses of actions and desires. 

Was it Paul’s true desire to be rejected by the religious authority to the point of being arrested, beaten, and crucified so that in three days he would also be resurrected?  Or was Paul truly encouraging others to be more deeply embracing of the teachings of Jesus?  Maybe Paul really desired to become an even more encouraging, loving, healing, embracing, and humble teacher.  Or could it be that Paul’s true desire was to become a confrontational prophet, speaking out against those who claiming to be the true agents of God’s judgements?  Is it also possible that Paul had a vision of some combination, of a few or many, of the other terms which could be used to discribe the life and the actions of Jesus?

I believe that Paul was a man gifted with a clear vision of the task of helping all of our brothers and sisters to return to the loving embrace of our Creator.  We are called not to being set apart so that we may be considered special, rather we are called to action.  We are called to help bring our brothers and sisters back into the loving embrace of the family of God.  It is never the desire of a truly loving family to create or enforce isolation.  Rather a loving family truly wants to remain fully connected to each other and richly healthy.

Jesus came to remind us of the truth, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that eveyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”[2]

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[1] Matthew 21:43 NRSV

[2] John 3:16 NRSV