Of course, as we see from this psalm, this isn’t the Hebrew’s first trip to the rodeo either. While I can’t speak to what they witnessed firsthand, scripture is filled with stories of their ancestors constantly being blown away by God’s glory. The most famous happening as they wandered in the wilderness, for 40 years after their exodus from Egypt.
And now, once again, a large group of God’s people have found themselves wondering in a state of flux. After being exiled for 70 long years, they're finally allowed to go home only to find there is no home to go too. Their city and beloved temple were in ruins. The shops, houses, and infrastructure had been completely demolished. Everything was gone. Everything but God. Despite all that they had endured and the challenges they face to rebuild Jerusalem, these refugees were able to rejoice, if for no other reason but by their faith in God’s faithfulness. They knew what God had done for them in the past. And they knew God would do the same for them in the present…and all they could do was laugh. Their hearts were so in awe of God’s faithful love that the psalmist said their sorrow literally poured out of them as pure delight. Yes, they cried as they looked at their city in ruins. But they laughed because they knew this was not the end of the story. God is always up to something. Always moving heaven to earth and earth towards heaven. What this tells me is that we are never without an excuse to rejoice and be filled with laughter because whatever mountainous pile of rubble we find ourselves stuck on, we know God is there with us… moving, transforming, restoring. Just as God is busy in our lives, we too are needed to be here in this present space because there’s still work to be done. Now, the second half is this psalm makes it really clear that this isn’t a trip down memory lane. It’s not a call to return to the good old days… but a reminder that better days are about to come. Although their faith is in the past, the exiles stand in the present with their eye on the future. With tears mixed with sadness and joy, they shout, “Do it again, God. Bring rains to our dried-up lives so as we plant our crops in despair, we will be able to rejoice at the harvest.” Like Talithia Arnold notes, “Their seeds of joy were planted in sadness and watered with tears.” And this is where God meets them, taking their deepest and darkest despair and bringing new life. Their city and the Temple would rise like a phoenix from the ashes. And God’s glory shined so bright upon them that the world is taken by surprise. And God’s people became the talk of all the nations. In that space between our suffering and joy, God is hard at work; loving us and making all things new again. While this psalm might seem more fitting for spring or autumn, it is given to us in the darkest part of advent to remind us that in Christ, God is with us. God has not abandon us or left us to suffer alone in our pain. Instead, God hears our cries and comes to us in the flesh, to make us whole and new again. We can rejoice in our weariness because we know that when the world kicks the joy out of us God will kick it back in. God’s love can never be defeated. It always wins. Next week is a special Advent in that it falls on Christmas eve. And so we will not only light the candle of love, but we also light the Christ candle as a reminder of what God’s love can ultimately do. Bring hope when life seems hopeless. Bring peace when life is chaotic and restless. Bring joy into those spaces of our lives that have been joyless. In Christ, God’s steadfast love has redeemed our past and secured our future. But what we do with that love now, is up to us. As we spend the season of advent waiting for Christ, we are called to wait actively in all the ways we love God, love others, and serve both. We do this by being fully present in Anamesa, living our faith in God’s faithfulness; shining Christ’s light in all the ways we can bring hope, peace, joy, and love to someone who has none. As we wait, we participate in heaven here on earth, knowing what God has done, is doing and will do. God is up to something and has invited us to be a part of the surprise. Let us go out into the world, preparing our hearts and home for his wondrous birth, knowing whatever seeds we sow in Christ’s name will reap a harvest of God’s joy. WORK CITED Bartlett, David L. and Barbara Brown Taylor, eds. Feasting On The Word, Year B Vol. 1 (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2008).
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As we wait for Advent to ends so Christmas can begin…we wait with hopeful expectation and peace knowing and believing God became incarnate in the baby Jesus, whose name in Hebrew means “Salvation.”
Although we are weary and worn down, we can rejoice because God’s salvation is with us and in us. We can rejoice because God has heard our cries and has come to us. We can rejoice because God gets us, and still loves us in spite of ourselves. And so, it is here in God’s house, true peace does not allude us. But instead embraces us, heals us, and fills us. No matter who you are or where you are, God is there for you. So come as you are and let us worship our loving God together. For most of the week, I had this earworm stuck in my head. Perhaps this has happened to you; a particular line in a song just keeps looping over and over again. I recently learned you can trick your mind to forget the loop by counting backwards from 100. I’ve also learned that earworms are not always accidental. Sometimes God’s uses them to get our attention.
Advent is a time we wait for the birth of Prince of Peace, in a world that worn down by war and violence. Families and communities are divided over ridiculous things. The lack of unity and harmony in government has stalled progress. The stress of all this is not very good for our physical, mental, or spiritual well-being.
We wait for Christ to come because we need peace more than ever. But we need more than just a veneer of calm and tranquility, or the absence of war and strife. We need the kind of peace portrayed in this psalm. A peace that comes not from humans but from heaven. This passage uses the Hebrew word, shalom, which it’s often translated as peace. But in actuality the word is better understood as “wholeness” and “completion.” It often signifies connectedness, righteousness, and justice to name a few. Which is why when we see the word Shalom in scripture, it’s always connected to God. Therefore, to possess God’s shalom or be in the presence of it, is to be made whole or complete with the very essence of God. Over time, shalom has become a way of blessing someone you meet or send off. But according to this psalm, it’s more than a blessing or a balm to soothe our spirit. In fact, God’s shalom is our salvation. It is the very thing that redeems and restores back to God’s steadfast love. If you were brought up like me, you might have been taught a different version of salvation. One that requires payment to God because of our sinful nature. And in some Christian circles the only way we can receive it is by believing the right things. If your belief is wrong, well then be very afraid. While there passages in the bible that describe Jesus as the atoning sacrifice for our sins, this psalm tells us that God’s forgiveness predates Jesus’ work on the cross by a few hundred years. It begins with the declaration that God has already forgiven our past transgressions. Moreover, it describes salvation, not as a blood sacrifice, but as God’s glory taking up residency in the world. The vision we’re given is not hellfire-and-brimstone, but the glorious indwelling of God’s love, faithfulness, peace, and righteousness upon the earth. This tells me God came not to “save us” from our sin but to bring salvation to “make us” whole and complete; to give us shalom so we have no need to ever sin again. Better still, we don’t get this kind of peace as a reward for reciting the right doctrine or creed, God gives this as a loving gift to anyone and everyone who turn their heart back to God. Like I’ve said before, when our hearts are focused on God then our actions can’t help but do what God wants us to do. And what is that? According to scripture, it’s “to seek justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with our God” (Micah 6:8).
So, this raises a thorny the question. If salvation isn’t about our brokenness and sin, then where does Christ fall into this picture? After all, tis the season to make him front and center, right?
Well, the way I read scripture it seems somewhere along the way, we humans forgot where our hearts and focus need to be. So John’s gospel tells us, God sends the Son, the perfect and complete embodiment of God’s shalom that is fully realized in Jesus, the manifestation of God’s perfect love. While comforting his disciples before his betrayal, Jesus tells them “I am in the Father and the Father is in me. You have seen God, because you have seen me.” (John 14:7).This is more than clue for us to correctly identify Jesus as the Messiah. It’s an invitation to become one with God as Jesus is one with God. God is always inviting us. Through Christ, God took on human form so we could see God, know God, and follow God back to God’s heart. The way I see it, Christ Jesus leads us to our salvation because with him, and through him, and by his holy light, we are made whole and complete and one with God again. While the world offers chaos, warfare, division, and death – the very things that steal our peace and make us weary and incomplete – Jesus shows us the way of true peace and harmony which comes from our connectedness to God and each other. You see, our God isn’t distant or removed from us but has come to us to dwells with us. God wants a relationship with everything God creates. Not just humans but with all of creation. The psalms are filled with verses where nature offers praise and glory to God. Where trees tremble before the Lord; mountains and rivers bow down in reverence. Paul even writes, “we know God, through the things God made” (Romans 1:20). Our job is to always be on the lookout, finding ways to connect our hearts to God. One way we often connect is through our daily prayer. When we are in our most intimate and vulnerable space, or at the end of our rope, we know we can faithfully cry out and God will hear us and come to us. Of course, Jesus - who taught us how to pray - shows us how to connect with God in all the ways we welcome a stranger or forgive a debt or trespass. Each time we offer mercy or show compassion to another our hearts are drawn closer to God through them. When we strive for justice, seek unity where there is division, our hearts become one with God where we find our peace, our salvation, our completeness.“No one has ever seen God,” wrote John, “but if we love one another God lives in us and his love is made complete in us” (1 john 4:12). Shalom. Salvation. This is what Christ Jesus gives to us. He is the road, the truth and the life we are to follow because of where it leads. Advent is a time of active waiting, a time we get our hands in the messiness of life as little incarnations of God’s glory. It is a time to go out into Anamesa, that space between heaven and earth, to illuminate peace in all the ways we love God, love others, and serve both. To shine so brightly that others will be able to find their way back to God’s heart. If we want to see hope and peace and love and joy prevail in this weary world, then we need to be a part of the solution and not the problem. If we believe Jesus is the solution then we must imitate him, we must shine his light and love as he loved. We have to allow him to flow through us freely and liberally until “steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss.” When God’s steadfast love and faithfulness meet in our everyday, ordinary lives; when God’s righteousness and peace embrace in all our relationships, our business practices and nations policies; when we work for God’s justice, care for the widows and orphans; when we strive for equality and free the oppressed; when we are tender to ourselves and show kindness to one another we make way for God in our world. And wherever God is so too is God’s shalom, our wholeness, our completeness, and our salvation. Work Cited Bartlett, David L. and Barbara Brown Taylor, eds. Feasting on the Word Year B, Vol 1. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2008).
Like I said, it's not unique, or flashy, or fast. But it can go forwards. And it can reverse. If you have ever driven a car, or been in one, you know that really isn't a groundbreaking mechanical feat. Every car, be it gas or electric or a hybrid in-between, can do that. Most of us drivers only focus our attention on those two gears, neglecting or overlooking or ignoring the gear between those two - Neutral. Neutral is a good place, I image, because it is the most present gear in my humble opinion. It is literally in the moment. It's like park, but you still have the freedom to move both forward and backwards; sometimes without having to do anything depending on the grade of the pavement underneath. Neutral isn't being stuck, it's being present, completely mindful of everything around us. It's in this space where we meet God, and are awaken with the awe that comes with such a gathering. This is not to say that going forward or backward is a bad thing. We need to know where we're going and where we've been. This is especially true when we set out on a spiritual journey. Henri Nouwen wrote this about it as a message of hope for Advent.
By looking back we can see the future and by looking forward we remember the past. But it's in the present state that we are able to do this, to fully realize what was and what will be. This is hard to do when we are worried about what happened or zipping off to whatever comes next.
Neutral is that Anamesa space where we can contemplate, meditate, pray, or simply be still and allow ourselves to be in awe of what God is doing right now. As Bruce Epperly noted, "Awe is more than an emotion; it is a way of understanding, insight into a meaning greater than ourselves. The beginning of awe is wonder, and the beginning of wisdom is awe." And Rabbi Abraham Joshua Herschel (1907-1972) said it like this, “Awe is a sense for the transcendence.… It enables us to perceive in the world intimations of the divine.... Just to be is a blessing, just to live is holy. The moment is the marvel.” If history tells us anything is that we know God is up to something because God has always been doing something. That's what reverse shows us. And we know because God is always up to something, then we can drive into the future knowing something greater is unfolding. If we are too busy speeding ahead, or trying to avoid our past in reverse, we lose our space in the middle where we meet God and discover who we are and where we are going. We need to take a moment each day to idle in neutral for a while just to be in the. presence of God - full of wonder and awe. Again, Rabbi Herschel, "Forfeit your sense of awe, let your conceit diminish your ability to revere, and the universe becomes a market place for you. The loss of awe is the avoidance of insight. A return to reverence is the first prerequisite for a revival of wisdom, for the discovery of the world as an allusion to God." Work Cited Bruce G. Epperly, Mystics in Action: Twelve Saints for Today (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2020); Abraham Joshua Heschel, I Asked for Wonder, ed. Samuel H. Dresner (New York: Crossroad Publishing, 1983, 2022) Abraham J. Heschel, Who Is Man? (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1965). Henri J.M. Nouwen. You are the Beloved (New York: Convergent, 2017).
That’s what we’re celebrating at Christmas, right? God, enfleshed in our humanity, comes to us in our weariness, to redeem us - to change the way we think, which in turn changes the way we act. We can acknowledge and embrace the weariness of our world rejoicing with hope knowing and believing that God in Christ Jesus has come to us.
We can rejoice with hope knowing and believing God knows the shape and form of our weariness. We can rejoice because God doesn’t just expect us to just survive and exist. God wants us to have joy and delight. And will turn the world upside down to ensure that happens. And so it is here in God’s house, we can be joyful. We can be grateful. We can be hopeful. We can be weary. We can be anxious. We can be grieving. In God’s house, we can be honest—inspired or tired; delighted or doubtful; connected or curious, and everything in between. This is God’s house. You are welcome exactly as you are. So come as you are and let us worship our loving God together. ...“When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified, for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately.” Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom; there will be great earthquakes and in various places famines and plagues, and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven. “But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. This will give you an opportunity to testify....You will be hated by all because of my name. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your souls. Read all Luke 21:5-19 here
I find it a bit weird and troubling that the church calendar begins and ends with a similar theme. Not with a baby being born in Bethlehem, but with apocalyptic pronouncements like this chaotic stuff that could easily be found scrolling across our new feeds today.
But by paying careful attention, we can see how Jesus offers words of hope and encouragement in this passage. It may seem like Jesus is speaking of what many like to call “The End Times.” Personally, I don’t read it as the end but beginning of something new. You might see the conflict in Israel and Palestine as biblical proof that the end is near. Many thought that about the pandemic. And Y2K. And World War I. And the crusades. And the fall of Jerusalem by the Roman Empire. But again, scripture tells a different story. It tells us that Jesus did not come to destroy us but to build us up - redeem us and save us. And so, he tells us to “keep awake,” not with worry but with readiness. Remain active in your faith and “Not a single hair on your head will parish. By your endurance you will gain your soul.” Despite how horrific the world seems, despite however tired and worn out you feel, Jesus gives us hope in this promise. Of course, Jesus is not saying these things won’t cause you to suffer or grieve or feel a sense of dread. In fact, he said some of us will be killed for our faith. What he promises isn’t a good life, but life everlasting. If we live out our faith, testifying in his name, then we will not parish but gain our souls. If you ask me, this is where our focus ought to be preparing for his arrival by living out his gospel. How do we do this? If you’ve ever taken the opportunity to watch Rev. Bob’s Bible Study, you’d know that he sends us off each week with the same charge: Go and be a light in a dark world. This seems juxtaposed to those Christians hoping and praying for the Israel-Palestine war to ignite God into action. As if we can control God’s will to trigger the second coming of Christ. Even Jesus himself confessed he doesn’t know when that will happen. In this passage he seems to be saying, whatever you see happening out there is not to bring about the end of time. They are simply opportunities for us to proclaim the good news. In fact, he goes so far to warns us not listen to the false prophets crying for war. Instead, go be a light shining in the darkness. Go proclaim the glory of God by being God’s glory. After all, Christ did not come to inaugurate an apocalyptic cleansing. He did not come to make more suffering, but to eliminate it for good, by revealing the power of the powerless in his self-giving sacrifice on the cross. The birth in Bethlehem is just the beginning of the story. The way I see it, Christmas is just a gift God gives us. A gift we have to wait until Easter morning to unwrap. Melissa Bills reminds us that even the most apocalyptic scripture teaches us that “God’s final word will be one of resurrection, not of destruction. Beyond all other endings that we experience in history, God promises us a stunning bonus scene, a celestial final chord. We persevere through this world’s beginnings and endings because we have faith that God’s final ending will be a decisive victory for all that is good, beautiful, and true.” Christmas is merely the preface for what’s to come. When the world looks bleak, we find hope knowing restoration is coming because we have already seen what God has done - not just in the manger but in the grave. So, what does all this mean for us today? It means we can rejoice in a weary world because we are Easter people. But it also means we will have to wait. Advent is a season of waiting. This is not passive waiting, like waiting for a bus that is late, but active waiting like Jesus who saw the messiness of life as fertile soil to testify to God’s glory. Henri Nouwen wrote, “We are always waiting, but it is a waiting in the conviction that we have already seen God’s footsteps.” What we are waiting for has already been planted. Like a seed buried in the ground at winter… we can get through these tough times knowing that seed will produce fruit in the spring. Jesus tells us to keep awake. And he taught us how to do that. By being fully present in this moment, in good times and bad. If we truly believe God is up to something good, then we must be ready if we want to be a part of it. We must keep awake. And the best way to do that is by remaining present and active - proclaiming and participating in God’s divine glory. We can do this through the many ways we welcome God’s love in us. And allow that love to move through us. We only get one chance to live this life of love. Therefore, we must take every moment of our precious and short life as an opportunity for God’s love to become incarnate in us. To quote St. Teresa of Avila, “We are the only hands and feet, the only eyes and ears that Jesus has.” Jesus did not call us to sit around, crippled with fear. He sent us out into Anamesa, that space between now and then, to love God, love others, and serve both. Love is the antidote to the things that are destroying this world. So, “How does a weary world rejoice with hope?” By being the light that illuminates God’s love in the darkness. A light that brings hope to those who are tired, worn down and bedraggled. In the same way, if we want to rejoice in peace, we must be the light of peace. If we want joy to fill the world, then we must find ways to rejoice when others cannot. If we want Christ to come again, then we must let Christ come alive through us. To quote Meister Eckhart, “We are all meant to be mothers of God, for God is always needing to be born.” The moment you step outside yourself and love a neighbor, feed the hungry, or welcome a stranger, Christ is born again. We are God’s hope for a weary world, because we are Christ’s body. Easter people crafted from the promises of God’s eternal love. Like the Apostles witnessed and Paul professed, “Not even death can keep us from God’s love which is Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:38-39). Tired as we might be, that alone is reason enough to rejoice. Work Cited: David L. Bartlett, and Barbara Brown Taylor, eds. Feasting on the Word: Advent Companion. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2014). Bills, Melissa. The Christian Century newsletter November 28, 2023 (accessed on December 1, 2023). Nouwen, Henri. Bread for the Journey. New York:HarperOne, 2006).
As far as I can recall, this is the only time Jesus speaks directly about actual judgment from God. As a child, I was constantly told I was a sinner. Moreover, any joy I had in life would be the reason why I’d burn in hell for all eternity. This was my first introduction to God’s love. A lesson which taught to fear God, to be very afraid of God, especially come judgment day. Decades later, while watching the Olympics, it dawned on me that judgment isn’t necessarily a bad thing. A competitive gymnast welcomes it. Same is true with someone who works hard to merit a promotion at work. As long as it’s fairly decided, most of us have no issue with judgement. It’s when it’s not fair, when the playing field isn’t level or the scales of justice aren’t equal that things go wrong. Jesus pretty much tells us that we will all be judged equally and fairly, each according to the actions we take towards another human being. Which means, when it comes to judgment the onus is on you and me. It’s like God will judge us, but we get to decide the outcome by what we do now. In this passage, it’s pretty clear that judgement has nothing to do with what team you’re own, anymore than it is saying the right prayers or reciting the correct creed. It’s simply about acting out of faith and trust to the way Jesus showed us. That list of what to do isn’t that extensive. In fact, it’s pretty basic stuff. Feed the hungry, cloth the naked, welcome people, visit the sick and imprisoned. In other words, be the visible manifestation of God’s love in this space we call Anamesa. How you do that is up to you. Imagine what this world would be like if every person who claimed to be a Christian actually did what Jesus asked. No human would ever again suffer from food insecurity. Everyone would enjoy the benefits of quality health care. No one would die alone. I suspect wherever you are there is a way you can do what Jesus asks of you. I’m sure there are folks in your community who could benefit from your help. Because whatever we do towards those on fixed incomes, we do also to Jesus. When I was in seminary, a man would come every Wednesday and serve the most delicious curry chicken lunch to the students - free of charge. He made it his ministry to fed those training to feed the world. I can’t say if he saw Christ in us, but it was hard to miss the Christ in him. In fact, this single act of love taught me more about God’s generosity than most of my professors had. I took that lesson to a church I served in Michigan where I was reprimanded for being irresponsible by giving money to a notorious drunkard. I was told I needed to use better judgement. Never mind the fact Jesus said whatever judgment we give will be the measure by which we will be judged. The man was thirsty, and Jesus told me to be compassionate. Whatever we do for a drunk, or an ex-con, or dead-beat dad, we do also to him. Jesus gives us a choice. We can be a goat or we can be a sheep. Both have eternal consequences. And it all comes down to how we see someone in need and act to help. As tempting as it is to focus on the judgement aspect of this passage, we don’t want to overlook or forget what Jesus is actually revealing here. That in him, God has ushered in a radical new social structure. Every human being is worthy to enter into the presence of God where dignity and mercy are given to all. Any attitudes we have that lead either to apathy and neglect towards a person in need must be destroyed. They have no place in God’s kingdom. In this final warning, Jesus seems to be telling us that the ways we live out the gospel will always reflect the true relationship we have with God. That should make us pause, to think long and hard about what we say or do to anyone from the least to the greatest…because we say and do those things to God. If we want to see God’s glory, Jesus tells us to look no further than the face of your neighbor; in the eyes of the weak and vulnerable; in the laments of the ones crying out for help. This is where God is. And where God reveals to us and through us, God’s glory to the world. You see, Anamesa is more than a church, or a space to worship God. It’s a way to live out the gospel in real time, and in real ways that makes God glory come alive in the world. It’s a way to take our faith and trust in God and put it to good use in this kingdom - meeting our neighbors with love, and facing our enemies with prayer. It’s a way of living life in all its eternal glory by acting on our faith and trusting in God, who through Christ Jesus, came to be with us in the flesh, in all our messiness and ambiguity. Just as Jesus was judged by the way he loved us with his faithful trust and deeds, we too will be judged on how and if we show loving compassion towards one another like Jesus commanded us to do. Because here’s the hard truth about this passage: We can’t say we follow Christ and then completely ignore what he demands of us. We can’t say we have faith in God if we don’t trust God enough to act in such a way that reveals God’s glory in the world. We can teach children to be afraid of God. Or we can teach them to love God so completely that they can’t help but love others the same way. Throughout all of Matthew, Jesus has given us vivid descriptions of God’s kingdom. He has shown us how to throw open the doors of our hearts, our homes and churches to welcome everyone as if they were welcoming him. This was the heart of St. Teresa of Calcutta’s ministry. She repeatedly preached, “Whenever I meet someone in need, it’s really Jesus in his most distressing disguise. It’s him I help.” According to Jesus, if we can’t see him in the least of these then we are missing out on God’s presence among us in a crucial way. And so we are called out into Anamesa where we are to love God, love others, and serve both. This will require a little bit of faith, trust and action. If we take Christ into our hearts, then we must also take him into the world. He is the one God gave us so that we can enjoy the gift of a true, authentic life. Life where to live is to love. To quote St. Paul, “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things and endures all things. Love never ends” (1 Cor. 13:7-8). Love is the measure by which God saves us, redeems us, and at the end, will judge us. If we love, then we have no fear of judgement. The Apostle John wrote, “there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love” (1 John 4:18). Faith. Trust. Action. This is love at work, redeeming us, saving us, and welcoming us into God’s open heart forever. Work Cited Bartlett, David L and Barbara Brown Taylor, eds. Feasting on the Word, Year A, Vol 4. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2011). Hansen, Rebecca D. Christus Rex. November 20, 2023 (accessed on 11-24-2023).
When Jesus told this story, he was in the middle of his own high-risk venture. He’s left Galilee for Jerusalem where in just a few days he will be executed on a Roman cross.
To help make sure his disciples don’t lose hope when that time comes, Jesus tells a series of eschatological parables; stories about what is to come. Last week it was about Ten Bridesmaids. Today, it’s Three financial investors who are given a specific number of talents to invest. When we hear the word talent, we often think of someone who has a skill or certain ability. But in Jesus’ day, talents were money. From what we know, one talent was roughly 15 year’s worth of wages for the average laborer. For someone to give these men even one talent meant they were entrusting them with a good fortune. As we’ve learned over the year, when Jesus tells a parable it’s often a metaphor for something else. Which tells us this parable isn’t about money or one’s ability. So, what’s it about? I’m thinking it’s about trust. Without giving them any instructions on what to do, the master trusts these three men with his investments. The first guy takes it and invests in a high-risk venture. The second dumps it into the stock market. Both men do very well; doubling their master’s money. The third guy takes a very different approach. Instead of taking a risk he buried the money in the ground, a common security measure in ancient times. Given the volatility of the market these days, and the uncertainties that are affecting the economy, it might seem like a wise investment plan. If only that were the reason. Instead, he confessed he buried the money because he was afraid of the master. He had zero trust in the one who trusted him, so he took zero financial risk. And as a result, got nothing in return. This parable isn’t about money or one’s ability to acquire wealth but about trusting God who first trusted us. To be prepared for Christ to return, we need to trust God by doing God’s will. That’s what the first two do. They take a chance in their faith and as a result they both receive the same commendation: “Well done, good and trustworthy servant…enter into the joy of your master.” I will go out on a limb and say, I think the master would have responded just the same had they risked it all and come back empty handed. After all, he doesn’t commend them for their profits, but their willingness to trust. The master made it clear to the third one that he would have accepted anything – even the measly interest the bank would offer - had the intent had been motivated by faith rather than fear. This story reminds us that fear has no value. It only drives us away from God, and towards our downfall like it did to this man. Faith on the other hand is invaluable. And leads us into the joy of God. In giving his fortune to these investors, the master reveals his faith and trustworthiness. He’s not terrible and appalling like the fearful man saw him to be. In fact, it seems he’s more interested in the well-being of his workers than making a profit for himself. The first two men see this and take the risk without any promise of gaining anything in return. They have some faith and run with it. The third guy has none. And he loses out. Today we are faced with the same dilemma. God has given us life, so how will we invest it? What will we do with the love God has given us? More importantly, do we trust God’s faithfulness enough to be faithful to God’s love? If you focus on your fears, allowing your worry and anxieties to make your decisions then your fears will be realized. If you focus on God’s faithfulness in you, then by your own faith you can step out of your comfort zone, knowing and believing and trusting God is in control. You might recall the story of the disciples in a boat, full of fear because of a storm. (Granted, it must have been a big storm to make professional fishermen worried.) In the midst of the chaos, Jesus walks out to them, and calls Peter to get out of the boat to come to him. Without giving it a second thought, Peter did what Jesus asked. And by his faith defied the laws of nature. But when he began to focus on the storm fear set in, and he began to sink. Despite the challenges, doubts, and uncertainties we will most assuredly face, Jesus calls us to step out into Anamesa with a bit of faith. Trusting in God’s faithfulness is like stepping out onto the water knowing we don’t need the absence of storms to do amazing things, we just need the presence of faith the size of a mustard seed. With the parable of the bridesmaids, Jesus said come prepared to wait and the way we remain prepared is by having enough faith to get us through the long, dark nights. In the same way, Jesus wants to know if his disciples can trust God enough to remain faithful when times get hard after he’s gone. Will the Twelve invest in the kingdom of heaven by investing their hearts in the gospel? Will they risk it all to care deeply and profoundly for all of God’s children? We each must ask ourselves: Am I willing to risk it all – trusting the one who first trusted us? Can I faithfully and fearlessly love God, love others, and serve both? As Jesus will further explain in the next parable, we enter into the joy of God by loving and caring for the least of these our brothers and sisters. You see, faithful living requires taking risks, stepping out of your comfort zone, and getting involved with your heart and hands. It means taking God’s love and investing it in relationships that will yield a positive return. As we come closer to the end of the church calendar, we near the end of our theme for the year, pilgrimage. This has been time spent walking with Jesus through Anamesa. Our theme for next year is “unlocking the space between.” Here’s a hint of what to expect: Jesus is the key. You see, Anamesa isn’t just a space to worship Jesus in, it’s a way to live like him. I’m hoping we will discover, like we did in this parable, that faith isn’t just believing ideas about Jesus, it’s about trusting God enough to actually follow the Way of Jesus, to live in such a way that God’s will is done on earth as it is in heaven so that we too will hear, “Well done, good and trustworthy child…enter the joy of God’s heart.” The disciples will soon find out, the only way to really follow in the footsteps of Jesus faithfully is by trusting God so completely. In trusting God, the disciples go all in - faithfully and fearlessly - with the presence of Christ illuminating every dark space they find themselves in. It’s a risky investment for sure. But one that has proven time and time again to pay out in abundance. Each one of us must ask ourselves: How will I respond to the extravagant grace and generosity of God’s love that I have been given to live by? Will I go out into the world with that love and live graciously and generously? "Or will I allow fear to dig a bottomless hole to throw in my talents, and crawl in after them?" “Jesus gives you a choice,” argues Joseph Pagano. “You can choose to be like the fearful servant who gets exactly what fear has to offer: Nothing. Or you can choose to put your trust in God’s faithfulness and reap the rewards that come with being like God’s most faithful child.” It’s a high-risk investment where the only ones who lose it all are the ones who dare to put nothing in. Work Cited Adapted from an original work, Trusting Fearlessly. November 15, 2020. Bartlett, David L and Barbara Brown Taylor, eds. Feasting on the Word, Year A Vol. 4. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2011). Hoffacker, Charles H. Trust, Not Fear. November 2014 (accessed on 11-12-2020). Pagano, Joseph. Windfall. November 12, 2023 (accessed on 11-15-23).
To our modern minds, waiting feels like we’re losing productive time. And most of the time it is, unless of course we’re waiting for something worthwhile, like the reveal at the end of suspenseful movie or for the Advil to kick in so the pain will go away.
Sometimes waiting is the best thing we can do…especially when our anger or frustration flares up. More often than not, God makes us wait, and often for a good purpose. I had to wait six months before God awoken my heart to plant a church. While I spent most of that time filled with stress and having doubts, God was busy assembling the right community to launch what is now Anamesa that space between every second of life. Life is a game of waiting for the next thing to happen. As we will see from our reading today in Matthew 25:1-13, how we wait is equally as important as what we are waiting for. ‘Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a shout, “Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him. Then all those bridesmaids got up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish said to the wise, “Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.” ut the wise replied, “No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.” And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut. Later the other bridesmaids came also, saying, “Lord, lord, open to us.” But he replied, “Truly I tell you, I do not know you.” Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. - Matthew 25:1-13. -
The parable of the Ten Bridesmaids is unique to Matthew’s gospel. It comes at the midway point of Jesus’ discourse about “End Times,” which will mean something different to everyone. Although Jesus makes it perfectly clear we have no ideas when that time will come, many people would argue it’s just around the corner. Whether or not that’s the case, Jesus tells us to “Keep awake.”
I take this to mean, be present, be mindful, be right here, right now, ready to go at a moments notice. Of all his parables, I actually share a similar story with this. It’s not so much about end times, unless of course that’s how you understand weddings. As a minister, I know that even the best-planned wedding doesn’t always go as planned. The weather can turn on a dime. The cater can go to the wrong venue. Or the groom can be rushed off to the hosptal. I also know from a personal experience that the organist can play “Here comes the bride” seven times before the bride actually comes...leaving the poor groom to wait nervously at the altar. I don’t know why the bridegroom made these ten women wait so long. But I have my theory. You see, weddings were different back then. The groom and his family would gather at their house. The bride and her family at theirs. When the groom was ready to seal the deal, the bridesmaids would escort him to the bride’s home, carrying lamps or torches to light the way. The groom would then go in and the two would consummate the marriage (without any vows or rings being exchanged). After they were done, the bridesmaids would escort the couple to the feast at the grooms house, again carrying their lamps to light the way. So you see, the bridesmaids had only one job: to bring the light. Since it was impossible to know when the bride and groom would be done with their nuptials, the attendants must come prepared to wait. And wait they did. But only five were properly prepared. When it was there time to shine, the other five asked to borrow some oil, but there was none to spare. While they run out to get more, the newlyweds are ready to be escorted to the party. Once there, the doors are locked shut and no one else is able to get in. If you’re familiar with parables you might have noticed this one seems to contradict another where Jesus said, “the first will be last and the last will be first.” But in that one, Jesus is talking about the kingdom of heaven that he already ushered in. The one that is here still. In this parable, Jesus is talking about a kingdom to come at a later date. Since we do not know either the day or the hour when that will happen, we have to be prepared to wait, whether we want to or not. The good news is scripture is full of passages to encourage us through the waiting game. The author of Lamentations writes, “The Lord is good to those who wait for him” (Lam. 3:25). And in Isaiah we are told “Those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength” (Is. 40:31). The psalmist shouts, “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently…” (Ps. 37:7). “Be strong and let your heart take courage as you wait for the Lord” (Ps. 27:14). James tells us that those who patiently wait will see how “the Lord is compassionate and merciful” (James 5:11). And even Paul chimes in to remind us that we can wait, knowing “by the power at work within us,” God is always doing something; “accomplishing more than all we can ask or imagine” (Eph. 3:20). We may not always like it, but “we may need to wait in order to become aware of what God is doing” in our life. (Richter) Jesus said, “Keep awake.” Always be ready and prepared to bring your light into the dark world. Sometimes that means just sitting still trusting God is at work. What I take from this parable is, one: We can’t sleep on the job. We have to always be ready to go. And two, we have to have enough “spiritual oil to keep us going, to recharge, to stay connected with God and God’s love.” So, what are some of the ways that keep us connected to God? Praying and meditating, cutting out the clutter and noise by sitting in silence to listen for God. Reading scripture every day is another way God speaks to our heart. Showing up for church and being in fellowship with others because sometimes God speaks to us through the person we least expect. Another way is to live out the gospel intentionally. In loving and caring for others, we are meeting and loving Christ who fills our spiritual reserves. Amy Richter writes, We know “our spiritual oil can run out if we aren’t mindful about refueling it. If you don’t have a conversation with your spouse that isn’t about paying the bills or scheduling car maintenance, your marriage is going to get pretty dry.” Just the same, “If you don’t know some words of scripture so well that they become part of your bones, then someday you’re going to be sitting alone with nothing to draw on when your own words fail.” (Richter) You can be the best prepared person and still find yourself in the dark. Yet God is still diligently at work. So, we need to have the faith to “keep awake.” And that’s what I think this parable is really about. Faith. The emphasis of this story isn’t the newlyweds or the banquet. It’s on the oil, which I believe Jesus uses to describe our faith. The wise come prepared with enough faith today to get them through the uncertainty. The foolish don’t. They want the faith of the wise, only to discover it can’t be shared. We all must have to have our own faith, our own light, to guide us through the darkness. Since we don’t know what life will bring us next – be it joy or sorrow, ease or adversity – Jesus said, “Keep awake.” Cling to your faith and stay alert. If you’re asleep, or lack the light you need, there’s a good chance you will miss Christ coming. As we enter the space we call Anamesa, we must take Jesus’ words to heart. We must “Keep awake” be present, be ready to see Christ in the flesh of the other. In our wakeful state we bring the light of God’s glory to expose the darkness of the world. Jesus wants us to be present, mindful to all that is going on around us, because there is still work to be done. God needs faithful and active disciples; one’s who will take up their cross and continue what Jesus began. The more we embrace and imitate his light, the more our well of faith increases. With him, and through him, we will always have enough faith to get us to where God needs us to go. It’s been said, “The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it.” Every moment we let pass is time ticking off the clock before the doors are shut. Christ has already invited us to the wedding celebration. We don’t know when it will begin, but we better be ready when it’s time to go. Let us pray: Work Cited: Bartlett, David L, Barbara Brown Taylor, eds. Feasting on the Word, Year A, vol. 4. (Louisville, Westminster John Knox) 2011. Kelley, Shannon. Be Prepared. September 21, 2014 (accessed on Nov. 12, 2017) Richter, Amy. Be Prepared to Wait. November 6, 2023 (accessed on Nov. 10, 2023).
There have been a few great saints throughout history. But today I want to look at the one who has influenced my ministry and inspired the very idea of Anamesa. That is St. Francis of Assisi – the saint who launched a million birdbaths and backyard statues.
Francis is a shining example for us to follow today, both as humans and as a gathered church. He taught that there is joy in life apart from material possession. And showed us how to treasure the natural world and humanity’s relationship to all of life. Most importantly, Francis taught us to see Christ in all things. By looking at the world around us with an eye of finding the divine in our midst, Francis invites us to participate in God’s Kingdom in a radical new way. In our reading today, we will see how the disciples doubt they have what it takes to accept such an invitation. In addressing their concerns Jesus gives us this reminder in Luke 17:5-6
In his critique of Christianity, G.K. Chesterton said, “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult and left untried.” Richard Rohr was less kind when he wrote, “After two thousand years of studying to be like Jesus Christ, we’ve managed to avoid everything that he taught to do.” Both men, however, would agree that if anyone has ever come close to living up to that Christian ideal …of which so many of us try hard to avoid, it was St. Francis of Assisi. The son of a wealthy textile merchant, Francis lived the good life. He wore the finest clothes. Drank the best wine. And had all the power and prestige that most people envy. But then something changed in him. He began to have a series of divine interventions. This confused and and trouble the young, soon-to-be saint. So he took it to prayer. And pray he did. One day while Francis was praying in an old dilapidated chapel, he heard God clearly say to him, “Repair my church.” For most of us, we’d take that to mean start a capitol campaign to fix up the actual building; throw up a new roof, some fresh paint, cushions on the pews. But Francis would soon come to realize God meant something bigger. You see, by the 13th century, the church was a far cry from what it was at Pentecost. The Pope’s were starting wars. Bishops were selling positions of power. And priests were giving special dispensations to the wealthy. All the while, the church was forgetting the poor completely. Francis, who was not a theologian, soon realized his call was to lead a revolutionary new interpretation of the gospel; one based more on the works of Christ than the doctrines of man. Taking Jesus at his word, Francis embodied a radically different lifestyle than that of the heads of church and state. He shed his wealth for a vow of poverty. He ministered in the fringes instead of in cathedrals. Most importantly, he looked at all people the way God did - with a loving gaze. Then acted upon that love as if he was giving it directly to God. Realizing even the lowliest of people carry God’s DNA, “Francis discovered that the glory of God is found in identification with the most vulnerable people, the poor, disabled, and leprous.” (Epperly) This made it easier for Francis to care for those who were forgotten or pushed away by the church. I think this says something about who we are as a gathered people, and what we are called to do as Christ followers. Which takes us to our reading. For whatever reason the Apostles ask Jesus to “increase their faith.” Jesus reply was simply you don’t need more, because there is no “more” or “less” faith. There is just faith. It only takes the tiniest amount to do the impossible. Scripture is full of examples of what a speck of faith can produces through ordinary people like you and me. Look at what it did for an ordinary nomad named Abraham. And lowly nobody named Mary. The first church was established with uneducated fishermen, and a small group of folks like us who prayed and shared all things in common. While no mulberry trees have been recorded as jumping into the sea, the faith of these ordinary people made extraordinary things happen. Here’s why I think that is true. It’s not us. But God. It’s not our faith that God relies on. It’s God’s faith in us. It’s God’s faithfulness that does all the work, but does so using our hearts and hands. One needs to look no further than Mary’s baby to see how God can do a lot with little. As so many saints before us would realize, it’s the faithfulness of God that redeems and transforms the world and all that is in it. Francis didn’t set out to be a saint. He was just trying to figure out what God was calling him to do. Through his little bit of faith, he would come to discover, the closer he was to the one’s the church had tossed aside, the closer he was getting to Christ. As a result, his faith grew stronger and stronger with every person he served. The stronger his faith grew, the closer he came to our Lord. I believe the same is true for us today. Christ is calling us to be closer to him so we can be more like him. And it only takes having faith the size of a mustard seed. Imagine how our world, our country and our communities, our churches and our hearts might be transformed if we actually met and loved Jesus in the poor, the sick,…the marginalized and outcasts. Instead of pushing people away because of who they voted for who choose to love, maybe we'd do better welcoming and embracing them as if we are welcoming and embracing Christ himself with love. You see, it was his love for Christ, not fear or his desire for knowledge, that motivated Francis into action. And to borrow from Jesus, there is no “more” or “less” love…just love. Love is faith in action. It’s the way God’s faithfulness is seen and felt by others. God is calling people like us – beloved saints hidden inside beleaguered sinners – to live out the Gospel of Love even if we’re not very good at it. If we believe Jesus’ words are true, then it doesn’t take a lot for God to change the landscape of life. But it does take our willingness to open our hearts and hands to Christ. You might be wondering what you can do with your small, barely adequate mustard seed. The Apostles thought the same thing. They eventually took theirs out in the world and planted Christlike communities in homes across the Roman Empire. St. Francis took his to revolutionize the gospel and show us a way to live in imitation of Christ. St. Brigid’s mustard seed inspired a global charity, helping impoverished people get the help they need. St. Christopher, St. Patrick, St. Catherine were all ordinary people through whom God did extraordinary things. And now it’s our turn. Your presence here today is proof that you have just the right amount of faith to feed the hungry, heal the sick, seek justice, care for the widow and orphan, and to love your neighbor as if you are loving Christ himself. Like Chesterton concluded, “Religion needs to be less of a theory and more of a love affair.” Frank Logue reminds us that “walking the life of faith then is not done in search of sainthood but is simply an act of love.” That was Francis to the letter; finding Christ in all living things and loving Christ through them. In his most famous prayer, Francis cried, “Lord make me an instrument of your peace; where there is hatred, let me sow love.” In Anamesa, we are called to sow love through our commitment to faithfully serve God’s will by loving God, loving others and serving both. With this simple act of faith, you and I can join Francis and all the other saints as mere “servants doing what we were called to do knowing that what we do, we do for love, for the one who knows us fully and loves us more than we could ever ask for or imagine.” Let us make love our intention as we move along this pilgrim path, unlocking the space between where God comes to meet us and redeem us in our words and deeds. Work Cited Adapted from an original message, A Servant Saint, on October 6, 2019. Bartlett, David L. and Barbara Brown Taylor, eds. Feasting on the Word, Year C, Vol 4. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2010). Epperly, Bruce G. Walking with Francis of Assisi: From Privilege to Activism (Cincinnati, OH: Franciscan Media, 2021). Logue, Frank S. An Act of Love. October 1, 2016 (accessed on 11/3/2023).
This was a wholly moment for me to say the least. Wholly in the sense of entirely – as in my heart was now complete and full. But it was also a holy moment as in it felt like God had something to do with bringing us together. Kathleen is an answered prayer for sure.
When two people come together in love, it truly is a holy and sacred moment. If you ask me, that’s the whole point of life – to be both whole and holy in mind, heart, and soul; including with God and with each other. According to scripture, it’s the way we are to live into our truest self to be who God truly made us to be. And what did God make us to be?
Leviticus is the book in the Torah that is filled with life’s little do’s and don’ts (mostly don’ts). It includes things like purity laws, types of sacrifices, and moral holiness. Which is why most people avoid this book like the plague, which Leviticus covers as well.
One of the central themes of the book (as it is throughout the entire bible) is holiness. It talks about holy priest, holy places, holy clothes, holy objects and holy utensils, holy holidays, and of course, holy laws. And it all can be summed up in one sentence: “You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.” Is it me, or does that feel like God is setting us up to failure? Perhaps the best way to think of this passage is to recognize that “God is holy. And this holy God is intent on making a holy people to live forever in a holy heaven.” (DeYoung) We tend to think that holiness is something for the cloistered halls of a monastery. Something that’s impossible to obtain in a sinful and corrupt world. But I think that’s just an excuse not to try our best to be our best. While the Hebrew word “Kodesh” does refer to moral purity, the basic meaning of holy or holiness is to be "set apart for a specific purpose.” For example, in his Gettysburg Address, Abraham Lincoln declared the infamous battlefield as “hallowed ground.” In doing so, he set it aside and dedicated it to be place of special significance; consecrated to commemorate the lives of the soldiers sacrificed in the battle. Having been made in God’s image means God’s holiness is a part of our DNA. We’ve been consecrated and set apart by God’s Spirit to bear the good fruit of God’s glory which “consists in thinking as God thinks, and willing as God wills.” What does God think? What does God will? Well, that too can be summed up in one sentence – “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Which is exactly how Jesus set himself apart.
As I've pointed out before, Matthew 22 is filled with numerous challenges from all sorts of people trying to stop Jesus’ influence from spreading. Although today’s question doesn’t seem to be that challenging to him. They want him to pick the greatest commandment.
On a good day, most of us could recite the 10 great commandments. But I doubt any one of us knows all 613 found in the Torah, including the 365 laws that tell us what not to do, and the 248 laws that tell us what to faithfully do? As Jesus has clearly demonstrated time and again, he’s pretty smart when it comes to this kind of stuff. He honors their question by reciting two passages from the law. The first being the “shema” found in Deuteronomy 6:5 which states: “Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.” The second one is from our passage today, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” But then Jesus flexes his muscles a little by making the two verses one when he declares, “On these two commandments hang all the law and prophets.” If you’re a regular at Anamesa it shouldn’t surprise you to learn that our holiness comes down to this basic principle: love God, and love others. Like Kathleen and I, these two actions are intertwined; one in the same. Love is the way to live a faithful and holy life in the eyes of God. And it’s expressed in the way we faithfully demonstrate that love to one another. Of course, this is no ordinary love Jesus speaks of. It’s not puppy love like we have as teenagers. It’s not emotional affection, which we have with family and friends. And although there are plenty of passages in scripture that describe it as such, it’s not romantic love like that share between two people. However, it is the kind of love that makes me deliriously happy. Matthew uses the Greek word “agape,” which is a self-giving, sacrificial love. The kind that is more concerned about the other person’s needs and wants than fulfilling one’s own. Agape is a love that is of and from God, whose very nature is love itself. The Apostle John describes agape with this charge: “Love one another because love is from God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.” (1 John 4:7-8) Having been made in the image of God, means we are made with love, for the purpose of love…to be holy as God is holy. But here’s the thing, “agape” is a conscious decision one makes to see others as God sees them. And to intentionally love all things the way God loves them – wholly and infinitely. It’s the holiness of love that enables us to be inclusive, forgiving, honest, charitable, and healing. It encourages us to tear down the barriers and walls of division, and frees us to love our neighbors without fear, jealousy, or anger. For Jesus, this is simple math. The love of God equals the love of neighbor. The two are not mutually exclusive as if one could love God but hate another. Again, John declares, “Those who say they love God and hate a brother or sister is a liar. If you do not love a brother or sister whom you see, you cannot love God whom you do not see.” (1 John 4:20) Wendy Farley writes, “Compassionate action reflects and mirrors the divine image. Love is not an emotion or obligation but is God present in the soul.” One thing we ought to be striving to do is to see others through the eyes of God the way Jesus did. To be holy as God is holy begins by looking through that divine lens, and choosing to love what you see in the same way as God loves you. It’s through acts of self-giving charity, kindness and generosity that God’s holiness becomes visible and tangible in us and through us, just as it was in and through Christ Jesus. You see being holy isn’t about being perfect, it’s about being like Christ - God’s perfect love made manifest in human form. It’s about mirroring your life with Jesus, reflecting his way of being one with God and one with creation. It’s about putting flesh on God’s presence like Jesus did. And making love the first and only priority until the world is deliriously happy. It’s about letting go of yourself and “thinking as God thinks, willing as God wills”…loving as God loves. Instead of trying to convince yourself that this impossible…simply ask yourself “What can I do with what I have right now in front of me to make God’s love come alive in me?” John of Kronstadt was a Russian Orthodox priest who lived in a neighborhood rampant with alcohol abuse. Compelled by love, John would go out into the streets where “he’d lift the hungover, foul-smelling people from the gutter, cradle them in his arms and say to them, ‘This is beneath your dignity. You were meant to house the fullness of God.’” (Smith) Mother Theresa did something similar with those where were left to die on the streets of Calcutta. She took them into her home, not to heal them or prolong their suffering, but to simply be the visible presence of God’s love and compassion as they pass on. Fr. Greg Boyle, the founder of Homeboy Industries, used agape to transform the lives of thousands of violent gang members in Los Angeles. It’s not impossible at all. There are so many ways you can make love grow in Anamesa…in that space between our God and our neighbor. There are Food Pantries who need volunteers to pack and handout meals for people who are suffering from food insecurity. There are men and women living on our streets who need basic items like clean socks and fresh water. There are teenagers in foster care who could use a mentor. Elderly neighbors who could use some companionship. Co-workers who need a compassionate friend to trust. Simple acts like these make love whole and holy. It can make us deliriously happy. And like Jesus said, it’s these type of things that will set us apart in the kingdom of heaven. “For what you do to the least of these, you do also to me.” Kathy Walker reminds us that “God is challenging us to see the face of God in our neighbors and then love them as we love ourselves. We should focus our energy and attention on the things that we must do every day…as a recognition that we love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our being, with all our mind.” It’s only when we truly understand what God’s love means to us that we are truly able to understand who we are. God’s very own beloved children. From love we were made, and for love we are sent out into the world to be holy like God is holy. Work Cited: Bartlett, David, Barbara Brown Taylor, eds. Feasting on the Word, Year A, Vol. 4. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2011). DeYoung, Kevin. The Hole in Our Holiness. Wheaton, IL: Good News Publishing, 2012). Farley, Wendy. The Thirst of God (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2015). Smith, James. The Good And Beautiful God. (Dower Grove, IL: IVP, 2009) Walker, Kathy. Stumped. October 23, 2023 (accessed on October 27, 2023).
Then the Pharisees went and plotted to entrap him in what he said. So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, ‘Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?’ But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, ‘Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin used for the tax.’ And they brought him a denarius. Then he said to them, ‘Whose head is this, and whose title?’ They answered, ‘The emperor’s.’ Then he said to them, ‘Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.’ When they heard this, they were amazed; and they left him and went away. - Matthew 22:15-22 -
In 1773, the phrase “taxation without representation is tyranny” was first coined. Three years later America became an independent nation. And guess what we’re still arguing over? Taxes!
It’s an issue as old as time. Matthew gives us a taste of what it was like in first century Palestine, one of many territories who were required to pay taxes to the Roman Empire. Just as America had loyalists to the English crown, the Emperor had the Herodians, a secular group of Jewish supporters of the puppet king Herod Antipas, who most-likely skimmed from the revenue meant for Rome. The Herodians colluded with the uber religious Pharisees who weren’t keen on paying Caesar anything. The Pharisees saw how the suffocating tax rate smothered their people and enslaved them in revolving debt. It kept them under the thumb and at the mercy of their conqueror. Still this very strange alliance wasn’t put together to debate tax-reform. They came together to stymie Jesus’ growing influence and power. You got to hand it to them. It was a very clever trap, a political conundrum designed to be that “gotcha!” moment to get Jesus in trouble. But leave it up to Jesus to find a loophole. Before he answers their question, he asks to see the coin used to pay the tax. It is a denarius, a familiar silver coin that equaled a day’s wage for the average laborer. It wasn’t a Jewish coin. It was Roman. Which meant it had an image of Tiberius Caesar, the reigning emperor, stamped on it. The coins also had the words ‘Long live the Son of God,’…a title reserved only for Caesars. To a good and faithful Jew, the Roman coins broke a number of commandments - no graven images comes to mind. (Notice who didn’t have one in his purse.) When they show Jesus the coin, he asks a basic, simple question that he knew they couldn’t get wrong. “Whose image is on this coin?” When they answer correctly, Jesus tells them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” It's like he just leaves it up to them to decide who gets what. Writing in the 3rd Century, Tertullian translated Jesus’ response to say, “Give to Caesar… Caesar’s image, which is on the coin and to God … God’s image, which is on mankind.” His translation was based on the idea from Genesis 1, that everything created by God bears the image of God. The one definitive, universal characteristic of every human being is that we all have God’s divine inscription etched within us. Worth more than silver or gold, this inscription gives us our worth and purpose. Like Phil Hooper wrote, “God is not interested in your coins but in your conscience, in your compassion and your complicity with the empires of this world.” We belong to God. And yet, we continue to chase after that which is Caesar’s. We strive to make gods out of coins, but struggle to allow God to be made fully manifest in us. Jesus knew that a royal coin, crown, or robe that bear Caesar’s image are merely material things; objects that thieves can steal, rust can destroy, and moths can eat. You and I do not belong to Caesar. We belong to God whose dwells within each one of us. To quote Thomas Merton, “There is that in you that no one can destroy or diminish because it belongs completely to God.” Jesus knew Caesar is finite and life taking. But God is infinite and life giving. Same is true of God’s Son. Rulers don’t want us to be like them. They want us to be in fear of them so we will serve them. God actually wants us to be the living manifestation of God’s image, like Jesus was, so others can discover the divine indwelling of love within themselves. Jesus wants us to receive and enjoy the love he offers. Love that was given to him by God, he gives to us - not because we earned it, but because he chose to love us independently of any effort on our part. (Nouwen) That God-given love we receive from him, should be the same love that flows through us to each other. “Jesus was one human person among many, just as the Church is one organization among many. But Jesus is the Christ; he is Emmanuel, “God with us,” revealing God's love to us.” Just as Jesus came to us, he sends us to go to others. Our job as his sacred body is to go out into Anamesa, that space between everything, to continue what he started: ushering in the kingdom of heaven by being and sharing God’s love in the world. This is a kingdom that runs on God’s economy, not Caesar’s. Again…Caesar wants to take from us. God wants to give, give, give to us. There is no limit to God’s generosity. “What God wants is nothing less than to come and abide in your heart Jesus did not care about the tax. His real concern was that you live in the image and likeness of God, who lovingly created you.” (Lague) The way we begin to live into the image and likeness of God is to shape and form your life to be more like Jesus, and less like Caesar. We were very intentional when we set our mission for the church. To follow Christ Jesus, which means to love God, love others, and serve both. The Herodians and Pharisees couldn’t have been any more different, same could be said about Jesus and Caesar, or you and me. Yet, we have all been minted and stamped with God’s imprint. We are all sons and daughters of God. And thus we were all made to love all…even if it means sacrificing ourselves to do so. So here’s what I hope you remember from today. Do not let Caesar’s world define you. Instead allow God’s universal love to come alive in you. Let the peace of God shape you, and allow God’s joy to embrace you and lead you to be who you were made to be: One with God. One with Christ. One with Spirit. Because you possess that sacred, indwelling divine image, you are worth what God is worth. You are precious as Christ is precious. And as powerful as the Spirit is powerful. So give Caesar his damn coins. And give God everything else. Your flesh and blood has a value that cannot be calculated by human means. Work Cited Bartlett, David, Barbara Brown Taylor, eds. Feasting on the Word, Year A, Vol. 4. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox) 2011. pp. 188-193. Claiborne, Shane. Jesus for President. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan) 2008. pp.116-17. Hoffacker, Charles. The Coin That God Wants. October 16, 2005. (Accessed on October 20, 2023). Hooper, Phil. Games. October 22, 2023 (Accessed on October 20, 2023). Logue, Frank S. Render Unto God What Is God’s. October 19, 2014. (Accessed on October 20, 2023) Thomas Merton quote is from a devotional by Richard Rohr, October 2017. |
Ian MacdonaldAn ex-copywriter turned punk rock pastor and peacemaker who dedicates his life to making the world a better place for all humanity. "that they all might be one" ~John 17:21“Prius vita quam doctrina.”
~ St. Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) * “Life is more important than doctrine.”
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