You Got It

 

Based on Matthew 21:23-32

            “Why don’t they get it?” This is a question that surely was on the minds of many in Matthew’s church. For those who had come to belief in Jesus as the messiah, it seemed so obvious to them. His authoritative teaching, the healings he performed, the miracles, his resurrection: how could anyone not believe that Jesus is the messiah? Sure, it didn’t happen like we thought it would. The messiah didn’t come riding in to lead a revolution, shaking off Rome and establishing Israel again to its rightful place as in the days of King David. But what we thought about the messiah was off base, they realized. If Jesus was not the messiah, who else could he have been? These first followers of Jesus realized that they had to re-think their messianic expectations, so to speak. It was clear in their minds that Jesus was the messiah. The evidence was overwhelming. And yet…not everyone saw it. Especially the chief priests and elders of the people. The Christians in Matthew’s church wanted to know, why is that?

            This confrontation Jesus has with the chief priests and elders of the people helps explain why they, of all people, were unable to acknowledge who Jesus is and to follow him. It centered on a battle over authority. Now, to their credit, the chief priests and the elders were exercising their authority as overseers of what goes on in the Temple. Jesus was teaching on their turf. They were responsible for what went on at the Temple. Jesus had not asked for their permission to teach there. They had not granted him the authority to teach at the Temple. So, when they asked that question, “On whose authority are you teaching these things?”, this is a legitimate question.

            However, this question they asked of Jesus was really a power play. After all, by this point everyone knew who Jesus was, especially the chief priests and the elders. They were putting their positional authority on the line. It was God that had granted authority to the priesthood to oversee and care for the Temple. These chief priests and elders had positional authority that was respected. Even the Roman empire recognized the authority of the chief priests and elders. When they ask Jesus the question of who gave him the authority to teach in the Temple, it was an attempt to publicly humiliate Jesus. By asking that question, the chief priests and elders were making it clear to everyone that they had not granted Jesus permission to teach. Jesus was acting on his own authority. Jesus had ignored their authority as guardians of the Temple. Jesus had disrespected them. They were basically saying publicly, “Who do you think you are?”

            Jesus, of course, would not be bowed or intimidated. The common portrayal of gentle Jesus, meek and mild, does not conform to the portrayal of Jesus in the gospel of Matthew. He wasn’t going to meekly bow before the chief priests and elders and humbly ask for their apology for not seeking their permission first. Then again, why would they expect him to? This is the same man who the day before went into the Temple and overturned the tables of the moneychangers and ran them all out, an event that was surely on the minds of these chief priest and elders as they call Jesus out for his teaching without their permission. What we have here is really a confrontation over authority. Jesus was acting like he owned the place and he wasn’t going to wilt before their question of the source of his authority.

            Jesus throws the question back at them. He says, “I’ll answer that question only if you will answer me this question. Was John’s authority from divine origin or human origin?” Just like Jesus turned over those money changer’s tables the day before he just turned the tables on those chief priests and elders. Now, with everyone watching them, they find themselves on the defensive. What unfolds next reveals how fragile was the authority of these chief priests and elders.

            You heard the back and forth as they argue with each other how to answer this question. If they were honest and trusted in their authority as religious leaders, they would have said what they thought, that what John was doing out there in the wilderness baptizing people was on his own authority. They had to think that because if they acknowledged that John was acting on divine authority then Jesus would question them as to why they didn’t believe him. And they did not believe in what John was doing.

            Alas, they were unwilling to stand on their authority because they were afraid of what the crowd would think. Their problem was that the crowd had made up their own minds about John. They were convinced that John was a prophet. They believed that John’s authority was of divine origin. The chief priests and elders were afraid that if they said what they really thought about John that they would face a backlash from the crowd. They ceded their authority to that of the crowd. So, they sidestepped and said, “We don’t know.” The chief priests and elders were unwilling to state clearly what they thought about John. They ceded their authority, so Jesus refused to answer their question. They humiliated themselves.

            But let’s get back to that first question. Why didn’t they get it? Why was it that the chief priests and elders were unable to acknowledge what was so obvious, that Jesus was acting on divine authority? I wonder if positional authority, and the power wrapped up in that, creates a blind spot. By positional authority, I mean that the chief priests and elders, because of their roles as chief priests and elders, had authority. Because of their position, they had responsibility for what went on at the temple. Their position gave them authority to oversee and manage the temple. That was a powerful, even sacred authority. Anyone who, in their view, undermined their authority would be perceived as a threat. When they looked at Jesus, someone who did not ask for their permission, someone who was doing their job for them when he chased out those money changers, someone who acted like he ran the temple, they saw Jesus as a clear and present danger to their own authority, their own power. They were blinded by that threat. They couldn’t see the miracles and the healings. They couldn’t hear the teachings. They just saw a threat to their power. So, Jesus had to be exposed and, if need be, eliminated.

            The crowd, on the other hand, were unhindered by positional authority. They had no power to protect. So, they were in an easier position to judge by their own eyes and ears. They saw Jesus heal people and work miracles. They heard his teaching. He clearly was acting from divine authority. There was no other explanation. When you have no power to protect, it’s a lot easier to make a judgment about authority. It’s much easier to call it like you see it when you are not in a position of authority like those chief priests and elders were. So, why was it that that the chief priests and elders failed to acknowledge and follow Jesus as the messiah? Because they were blinded by their positional authority and could not tolerate any threat to the power they clung to. It was too bad. Of course, let’s not forget that the crowd that was all in with Jesus, a few days later, cried out for his crucifixion. Crowds can be very fickle. What the crowd thinks is not something you can take on good authority.

            The question that the Christians in Matthew’s church asked back then could be asked today. Why is it that not everyone believes in Jesus? You may recall a few weeks back I mentioned the book Mere Christianity written by C. S. Lewis that makes a brilliant case for the truth of Jesus as the messiah. But the truth is that clever arguments and testimonies of life changing transformation will not convince everyone that Jesus is the messiah. It just won’t. Do people refuse to believe because they are invested in another set of beliefs? Sure. Do people refuse to believe because they have been victimized and hurt by the church, by those who call themselves Christians but did not walk the walk? Unfortunately, it is true that many people have been turned off to any possible openness to Jesus because of the words and actions of his purported followers. That’s to the church’s shame for failing to always be a good and faithful witness to the gospel. There are a lot of reasons why people choose not to follow Jesus.

            But that’s not you. You and I have decided to follow Jesus. And as that old song goes, “I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back.” You and I are on that road. You and I are working in the vineyard, like we talked about last week. And sometimes people question our faith. I still remember this time back in my seminary days when I was having a drink at this bar not far from the seminary. I got into a conversation with one of the bartenders and I don’t remember exactly how the conversation went. But at some point I shared that I was a divinity student at the seminary and that triggered a reaction in this bartender who looked me right in the eye and said to me, “You don’t know ­­­­____ from shinola.” You can fill in the blank. He walked away and another bartender who overheard this apologized on his behalf. I can only guess that he had a negative view toward religious people, perhaps from some bad experiences with them. Sometimes we have our own doubts and questions. Some of us get hurt by the church, by other Christians, and it makes us question what we truly believe. Nothing wrong with that. Doubts and questions, working through hurts and disappointments, are part of the discipleship journey. That’s how we grow and mature in our discipleship. Our faith shouldn’t remain at the level of what we believed when we were kids. Life has a way of forcing us to deal with deeper questions of faith, hope and love. Acknowledging and working through those questions and doubts is part of the path toward wisdom.

            What I am saying is that even though not everyone will get it and even though we have our questions and doubts and struggles in our faith, don’t let that stop you from staying committed to the way of Jesus. You have responded to the invitation of Jesus to follow him. You have said yes. Stay on the journey. Keep working at it day by day to be faithful, to trust in the promises we have in Christ Jesus, to live your life after the example of Jesus, walking in his ways. Keep at it, even when people question your faith or challenge you, make fun of you, dismiss you, or whatever negative response we may get from people from time to time. Just keep at it. Be the best witness of Jesus that you can be. Who knows, maybe those who say “no” to Jesus now will change their minds one day and join you and me in the master’s vineyard.

 

We All Receive the Same

 

Based on Matthew 20:1-16

             Have you ever heard of the 80/20 rule? It is shorthand for a common experience in all kinds of organizations. The rule is that 20% of the people in a group do 80% of the work. That’s not scientifically accurate. But I think we would agree that in many organizations, especially if you are one of those 20% who put in the work, that this feels right. It seems like only a handful of people do the work and everyone else is along for the ride. There are reasons for this. Some people are naturally more active and need to stay busy. Some are more dedicated to the cause. Some have more time or have the skills needed to do the work. We shouldn’t assume that everyone else in the organization don’t care or are lazy. I think most people are spread out too thin and are doing the best they can. But, whatever the reasons, it does seem like most of the work of an organization falls on a small number of people.

            In this parable that we heard today, the landowner of the vineyard was not going to settle for the 80/20 rule. He was bound and determined to get as many people as possible in his vineyard and doing the work that needed doing that day. He wouldn’t settle for the early risers who gathered at the marketplace at the crack of dawn to be hired for the day. He kept going back all through the day to see who else was standing around waiting to get hired. The landowner wanted all available to come work for him. He didn’t want anyone standing around waiting to get hired. Even near the end of the day, and there were still some folks that had not been hired, this landowner would take them on, even if that meant they would be doing nothing more than standing around at the vineyard, this landowner wanted them.

            A basic rule of justice is equal pay for equal work. Another basic rule is that a person should be paid an honest wage for an honest day’s work. In those days, an honest wage for a day laborer was one denarius. When the landowner hired those workers at the beginning of the work day for one denarius, that was a fair wage. One denarius was just enough to feed a typical family for that day. We could call it these days a minimum living wage. It was just enough to keep the laborer’s family out of poverty. It was a fair and honest wage.

            What does not seem fair in this story is that those who only worked one hour got paid the same as those who worked all day. We would assume that those who worked would get paid based on the hours they worked. If you worked half a day, you should expect to be paid half a denarius, for example. For those hired at the eleventh hour, it is fair for them to be grateful to receive whatever little bit they got. I don’t know what the unit of money that would be. Certainly, nobody expected the workers last hired to get paid a full day’s wage. But if that is how it is going to be, we can understand why those who worked all day would expect to get paid more. That only seems right. So, they grumble about it. We probably would too.

            I think we would agree that the landowner is generous. He is generous in two ways. First, he is generous because he paid those workers who were only there for one hour a full day’s wage. Second, he kept going back to hire more workers. We don’t know exactly what all those workers were doing. Was it harvest time? Did the landowner really need all those workers? Maybe they all had something to do. But I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them were standing around waiting for something to do. The point is that this landowner would take anyone available and he paid each one of them a denarius. That is generous. But those who were hired on first may not have seen that generosity. They were probably thinking to themselves, “if this landowner is so generous with his money, how about giving us a bit extra?” It just doesn’t seem right that everyone gets paid the same. Remember that basic rule of justice, equal pay for equal work?

            It’s true. In this story, the landowner does not follow the rule of equal pay for equal work. But that doesn’t mean that the landowner was not a good man or was unjust. Look at it this way. Day laborers depended on getting hired and getting paid a denarius to feed their families and make ends meet. If someone isn’t hired, then the family will go without. They didn’t have food stamps back then. The landowner knows this. Every time he would go back to the marketplace and look around, he would see people waiting to be hired who had a responsibility to care for their families. He took it upon himself to hire them on so that they would have the dignity of earning their denarius and be able to provide for their families. That is just. And what about those who stood around all day and never got hired? We can imagine they were not hired because they did not appear to be able to do the work that was required. Maybe they had some kind of disability. Maybe they were too old…or too young. Whatever the reason, these people who had been passed over all day long also had families to care for. It was right and just that the landowner hired them as well. And, again, he gave them the dignity of earning that denarius. He didn’t just give them a denarius and send them on their way. He said, “You also go into the vineyard.” Even if it meant they would be standing around, they would be at the job site. They were included. This right here is what I believe is a big part of why Jesus told this story. Everyone is invited. Everyone is wanted. Everyone belongs.

            The temptation here is to take this parable and use it as a blueprint for how to run a just economy. Those who advocate for a living wage, or looking to the government as the employee of last resort to make sure that everyone has the dignity of work, would point to this parable as justification for their economic policy. But this parable is not intended to be about economics. Jesus told this story to describe the kingdom of God. This story is about the goodness of God and about the eternal life that God offers to all.

            Some of us grew up in the church. We can’t remember when we didn’t know about Jesus. We consider ourselves to have been Christians our whole lives. Others of us accepted that call to follow Jesus later in our lives. Maybe it was in high school or college, or a bit later in life. Some of us don’t give our lives to Jesus until we are well into our senior years. It is not unheard of for people in their 70s and 80s to get baptized. Maybe you have heard stories of death bed confessions. When a person is lying there contemplating the reality of death and confronting head on their demise, they decide they need to get right with God and they ask God to forgive them as they accept the promise of resurrection. That promise of resurrection, of salvation from the power of sin and death, that is what we receive as believers in Jesus Christ. Everyone receives eternal life, whether you put your faith in Jesus when you were 3 or 93, it makes no difference. The gift is the same for everybody. For some that is a word of comfort and for others that’s a warning against being presumptuous of God’s grace.

            Peter seemed to need that warning. Bless his heart. He was always opening his mouth that gave Jesus an opportunity to teach a lesson about faith and humility. Just before this parable, Jesus had been in conversation with a man who was eager to know what he needed to do to have eternal life. He was doing all the right things. So, Jesus said all he had to do was sell all his possessions and give the proceeds to the poor and then follow him. That was this man’s limit. He had a lot of wealth. The cost was too much. He couldn’t do all the things to achieve salvation on his own strength. He walked away. Peter had to point out to everyone that he and the disciples did that. “Look, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?” Oh, Peter. That sounds like those eager day laborers who were out there first thing in the morning so they could get hired and earn that money. They were all in. Jesus told this parable to let Peter know that he and the rest of the disciples will receive much more than they sacrificed and will inherit eternal life. But so will that man who hung on the cross next to Jesus, who asked, “Remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And Jesus said, “Today, you will be with me in paradise.” The one who comes to Jesus just before their last breath will receive eternal life just the same as Peter and the rest, who bore the burden of the day and the scorching heat of being a follower of Jesus in this old world.

            Some of us hear the invitation from God early in our lives to work for God, to give ourselves to God as a follower of Jesus. Others of us hear and respond to that call later in life. Some of us near the end of our lives. And some of us never respond in this life. What then? No one knows. But we do know that God is merciful. We do know that Jesus died for everyone, not just for some. The point I’m making is this: be careful about presuming you can earn extra benefits from God. We joke sometimes when someone in the church goes above and beyond and we will say, “Martha, you just earned another star in your crown.” That’s kind of bad theology. Those who dedicate their lives to Jesus and struggle with their discipleship their whole lives ought not to anticipate earning more of whatever or be placed on some higher level in heaven above those people who barely showed up for church. Let’s just do the work. We have responded to God’s invitation to live our lives as followers of Jesus Christ. We are working in the vineyard. It is our task to bear the burden and the scorching heat of these times. But we do this work with confidence, knowing that at the end of our day, when the sun sets on our lives, we will hear the master call each of us forward to receive our eternal reward. And what we will receive in the life to come will be more than enough.

Forgiveness is Medicine

 

Based on Matthew 18:21-35

             This week concludes a series of teachings from Matthew 18, Jesus’ instructions he gave his disciples about how to relate with each other in community. For Matthew’s church, as well as our own, we have for us wise and helpful instructions on how to maintain a healthy community. Like any relationship, it takes work and intentionality to keep relationships strong and healthy. What a gift that we have these guidelines from the scriptures that give us a tangible process of how to keep our relationships healthy but also a reminder of the necessary values that undergird healthy relationships in community.

            Before jumping into this week’s scripture, let’s have a quick reminder of last week’s teaching on how to hold church members accountable when they do something offensive. We recall that three step process, moving to the next level if the person who committed the offense refuses to listen. If, after the three levels of accountability demonstrate the offender won’t listen to anyone, then the relationship with the community shifts. They are no longer like family and are now to be treated like an outsider, like a tax collector or Gentile. And, as we recalled how Jesus was often criticized for eating with Gentiles and tax collectors, this means when someone leaves the church that doesn’t mean we break off relationship. The other part of last week’s teaching that is critical to keep in mind is that for this process of accountability to work there have to be some values in place. We have to love each other like family. If someone is like a brother or sister to you, that means you trust them, respect them, want what is best for them, are invested in their growth. These values have to be in place before we can have the courage and take the responsibility to hold each other accountable. If we lack these values then healthy accountability can’t happen. We either won’t care about holding each other accountable or we will fragment as a community and fall apart.

            Today, we add one more value necessary for healthy community life. It is the value of forgiveness. As family, who love, trust and respect one another, we must forgive each other when we mess up. Holding on to grudges, withholding forgiveness, is like acid that eats away at the bonds of love that hold us together. It is so important in order to keep relationships strong that forgiveness take place. We are going to talk about forgiveness this morning.

            Peter sets this teaching up by asking Jesus a question as he wraps up his instruction on how to deal with conflict in the church. Peter wants to know how often we are to forgive someone. Why Peter suggests seven times as the possible limit we don’t know. But we can guess that Peter is attempting to sound generous, that forgiving one person seven times goes beyond what can be expected. This question Peter asks is also found in Luke 17:4 but there is a glaring difference between these two versions. In Luke 17:4 Jesus is teaching about forgiveness. He says, “If the same person sins against you seven times a day, and turns back to you seven times and says, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive.” The big difference in this teaching in Luke and Peter’s question in Matthew is that when Peter asks the question he says nothing about the offender saying “I repent.” Maybe Peter implied that, but I think it is significant that this is left out.

            Do you remember last week I pointed out that when an offender is pulled off to the side to be talked to privately, all the offender has to do is listen? They don’t have to ask for forgiveness. They don’t even have to agree they did anything wrong. All they have to do is listen. Listening is not the same thing as agreeing. If you trust, respect and love one another however you will listen to each other, and that is the most important thing when dealing with conflict. What about forgiveness? Peter presents the question without specifically asking if the person who offended has to first ask to be forgiven. Jesus goes on to say that we are to forgive the person not up to seven times but seventy-seven times. Actually, it is limitless. As Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 13, love keeps no record of wrongs. People who love one another don’t keep track of how many times they forgive the person they love. That’s kind of silly, honestly. But I think the most important point is that forgiveness is to be offered whether the offender asks for it or not. The following parable underscores this point.

            We go to this parable of the two servants. Both servants are being held accountable for the debt they owed. Notice that both of them ask for patience as they attempt to pay off the debt. Neither of them asked to have their debt forgiven. That’s an important point that underscores that whole process of accountability we talked about last week. The king out of pity forgave the first servant the debt that he could never pay. He could not. It was an unrealistic amount he owed. For perspective, it would take a common laborer fifteen years to earn one talent. To earn 10,000 talents would take one person 150,000 years. This is a ridiculous number meant to make the point that there was absolutely no way this servant could repay that debt. Even if the king did sell him and his family into slavery as well as all his possessions, that would barely make a dent in this massive debt. Yet, the servant asks for patience, knowing full well he would never be able to pay it back. So, the king forgives the whole debt. What an amazing act of generosity. And, again, the forgiveness was offered out of pity, not because the debtor asked for the debt to be forgiven.

            Then, being mindful of the incredible amount of debt that this servant had been forgiven, we are shocked when he fails to forgive the debt a fellow servant owed him. One day of common labor equaled one denarius in payment. This servant owed 100 denarii. It is still a significant amount but payable. They could work something out, some kind of payment plan. It would take time but that debt could be repaid. It is nothing in comparison to 10,000 talents of debt. Yet, the servant throws the fellow servant into debtor’s prison until the whole debt is paid. He had the right to do that. But wow, that was pretty harsh, especially when you consider how much he had been forgiven.

            And that is the core point of the story, which is underscored in verse 35, the moral of the story, where Jesus says that we are to forgive each other from the heart. I think forgiveness from the heart means the forgiveness is sincere. But I also think Jesus says it has to be from the heart because when forgiveness is withheld, that’s where the corrosive acid of unforgiveness does its work, on our hearts. I am convinced that forgiveness is critical medicine to heal the hurt inflicted on our hearts when we have been hurt by someone else. That’s why it doesn’t even matter that much if the offender asks to be forgiven first or even acknowledges they did something wrong. It’s not really about them. Forgiveness is necessary for our own healing. That’s why it is to be offered regardless and as many times as needed.

            A spirit of forgiveness is a necessary value for the health of a community. Forgiveness is medicine. It helps to heal the hurt in our hearts. It helps to heal the relational bonds that hold a family together. A community in which forgiveness is not freely offered is a community quickly headed for destruction because unforgiveness will absolutely obliterate a community. For our own heart health and for the health of the community as a whole, forgiveness must be offered to those who mess up.

            But there is one thing so important to keep in mind. Forgiveness is not the same as permissiveness. I could see how this parable of the two servants can give the impression that forgiveness means letting someone off the hook. The first servant got his massive debt forgiven. He didn’t have to pay it. Here’s the problem. If forgiveness means a “get out of jail free” card, then people can get the attitude that they can do whatever they want to each other and there won’t be any consequence because they will be forgiven. That’s not the kind of forgiveness that Jesus is talking about. I mean, it is true that when a debt is forgiven that you don’t have to pay it back. But when we forgive each other from the heart this has to do with heart healing and with keeping relational bonds strong.

            What I am trying to say is that we can forgive someone and hold them accountable for what they did. If someone offends you, you want to forgive that person from the heart as Jesus directs, but you also want to pull them aside privately and talk about what they did, which also Jesus directs. Forgiveness does not short circuit the accountability process. In fact, forgiveness is the lubricant that helps make the process work. Accountability without forgiveness can quickly lead to bitterness. Healthy accountability requires forgiveness.

            Please hear me, I am not saying this is easy. I’m not going to start naming examples of how people hurt each other in ways that makes forgiveness hard, if not impossible. Each situation is different and the intensity of the pain or betrayal can vary. Some people are not as easily offended as others. Some people have an unbelievable capacity to forgive while others struggle with forgiving others their whole lives. Sometimes we are in a good head space and we are able to forgive easily while other times when we are tired or stressed forgiveness is much harder to achieve. Sometimes forgiving someone is easy and sometimes it’s hard. Forgiving one person over and over for the same thing gets frustrating. Still, forgiveness is the medicine for healing. We offer forgiveness to those who sin against us, not only because of that line in the Lord’s Prayer, “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us,” but because forgiveness is necessary for our own healing. It is a process. It can take time. And some offenses are so great, the hurt so deep, that forgiveness just isn’t going to happen. Withholding forgiveness, however, should be the exception and not the rule, unless we are bound and determined to have a bitter heart, weigh ourselves down with grudges, and rip apart the ties that bind us together. I for one have no desire to be a part of a community where forgiveness is not freely offered, even as I am held accountable for the times I screw up.

            I think this parable also gives us some insight into what can help us be more forgiving. The first servant was forgiven a lot. It was an incredible act of mercy given to him. Anyone who has been under the weight of debt who has had that weight lifted knows what it feels like. If we consider how often God forgives us for the ways we fall short, the ways we offend God by our actions or inactions, the things we say or fail to say, I mean, I’m pretty sure that God is regularly forgiving me for things I didn’t even know I did. That’s often the case in our relationships. How many times have you offended someone and didn’t even know you did it? How many times has someone hurt you and they seem completely oblivious to what they did? Yet God forgives us. We recall how Jesus shed his blood on the cross for the sake of the sins of the whole world for all time. All sin has been covered by the blood of the Lamb. The incalculable amount of sin each of us have committed and will commit in the future has already been covered by the sacrificial death of Jesus on the cross. In Christ we are forgiven. To the extent that we can marvel at and deeply appreciate how much we have been forgiven, the grace that has been given to us by God’s mercy, the easier it is to forgive others, whom God has already forgiven. Easier, I said. I haven’t even talked about the struggle of forgiving ourselves. That would be a whole other sermon. I just want to end it here by reminding us again of the values needed for healthy community life which we find in Matthew 18. The values that maintain healthy community are familial love, loving each other as brothers and sisters, the values of trust and respect for each other, and the value of forgiveness. Love, trust, respect, forgiveness: these are the values that undergird a healthy practice of accountability, that provides healing to our wounded hearts, and that keeps a church together.

 

Community Values

 

Based on Matthew 18:15-20

            This pandemic we are enduring has reminded us how precious it is to be physically together. Talking to each other through screens is not the same. We miss being together. Thankfully, we are doing better as a community to slow the spread. There have been some upticks in some places. But we are definitely not seeing our hospitals overrun. We are starting to come back together, slowly and responsibly re-establishing community life. We are still staying physically separated, still wearing masks, still limiting the size of groups that can gather. But at least we are increasingly getting physically gathered and that is a good thing. For our health we need socialization. This is a positive thing that our diligence over these six months is making possible.

            As we are re-establishing community life, it is like we are getting a chance to start fresh. We are being mindful about how we gather and do life together as a community. For sure that means how we engage with each other to minimize the spread of viruses of any kind, especially as we think of flu season right around the corner. But also, we can be thinking about what we value about being in community and letting those values guide how we live together in relationship. What is the value of being together?

            The scripture reading for today is a brief five verses that provide concise instruction on how to manage conflict in a community. These instructions are grounded in a few values that Matthew’s community held, values that we can apply in the communities we belong to, not just our church family but all the communities we belong to, work, social groups, whatever. Let’s take a look at these instructions and see what we can glean from them to help us intentionally re-start our life together in community.

            First, let’s state the obvious…we sometimes offend each other. As we start socializing again, this increases the odds that one of us will say something or do something, intentional or unintentional, that rubs someone the wrong way. That’s just what happens. For a community to be healthy, conflict has to be addressed in a healthy way. The values we hold as a community can go a long way in guiding us in the work of addressing conflict in positive ways.

            See how in verse 15 a literal translation would be, “if a brother sins against you…”. This is family language. We are not talking about strangers offending you, but people you consider to be your brother or sister. The relationship is one of kinship. The community that Matthew is writing to, his church, is conceived of as like family. We have people in our life who are not blood relation but are like family to us.

            What makes someone family who is not related to you by blood or marriage? It is someone you have a significant relationship with. You love each other, respect and trust each other. Someone who is like a brother or sister to you is someone who you are committed to, someone you want the best for, someone you are invested in and want to help them grow. You are going to be with them through the hard times, call them to task when they mess up, encourage and give advice and support. From the beginning of these instructions Jesus gives, it is inferred that the relationships in the church is one of family. It seems to me that before this process in Matthew 18 can even work, these baseline values have to be in place. The community has to be one of mutual trust, respect, and love for each other. If those values are wavering or absent, then this process of accountability isn’t going to work.

            Notice that the one who has been offended has to take responsibility to speak up for themselves. They have to talk directly to the person that offended them. Not go complain to someone else, not suck it up and internalize the hurt, not become passive aggressive or ghost the person that offended you. If someone has hurt you, offended you, sinned against you as the scriptures say, you have to take the initiative to talk to the person that offended you and not wait for that person to come to you. It is likely that the person that offended you didn’t even know they did anything wrong. Unintentional offense happens all the time. Do you see why trusting and respecting each other is necessary before doing such a thing? It seems to me that before you can tell someone that they have offended you there needs to be some level of trust that the person will listen to you. There has to be some level of respect. If you don’t respect someone, why would you care what they do to you? Why bother? But if you respect someone and they do something that you know is out of character, and you want what’s best for them, it is that love and respect that prompts you to pull them aside and talk about it.

            Now see how the accountability starts small and only expands as necessary. You start by pulling the person aside privately to have a word. Discretion is the value here. You want to save the person from embarrassment. You don’t want to call them out in front of everyone because that can be hurtful. Instead, you want to call the person in where the two of you can talk about it, try to understand each other and grow. This is taking the offensive or hurtful experience and doing something positive with it, to let it be an opportunity to grow but also to strengthen the bond of trust and respect. Talking to the person who offended you privately strengthens the values that hold the community together as a family. Just having the private conversation is good.

            We are instructed that all the offender has to do is listen. That’s a low bar. They don’t have to admit they did something wrong. They don’t have to ask for forgiveness. They don’t have to agree with you at all. All they have to do, according to Matthew 18:15, is listen to you. Remember, listening is not the same as agreeing. I don’t think Kim and I are the only couple that have had this kind of argument. I have a certain way of doing certain chores. Kim has a better and more efficient way of doing things. Sometimes she will suggest to me how I should do it. But I keep on doing it the way I do it. She will say, “You’re not listening to me.” And I say in response, “No, I heard you, but that’s not what I’m going to do.” Listening and agreeing are not the same thing. What we are being instructed here is that the offender only has to be willing to listen to the person who has been offended. Now, obviously if there is already mutual trust and respect for each other, the offender will acknowledge the hurt and, even if they still think they haven’t done anything wrong or have been misunderstood they will at least acknowledge the offense and ask for forgiveness. There have been a few times where something I have said in one of my messages has caused people to be offended. In fact, one time I got a phone call from a parishioner one Sunday afternoon telling me how offended he was about something I said and his expectation that I wouldn’t say such things again. It was something I said about racism. I knew that what I had said may be offensive but it was truth. But I acknowledged he was offended even though I could not promise him that I wouldn’t offend him in the future. Listening and agreeing are not the same thing.

            But let’s say the person who offended you won’t even listen to you. They wave you off. Then you take one or two others with you and set up a meeting so you can talk it out with a neutral party. And if they still blow everyone off, then you take it to the church. And by that point, if the person won’t even listen to the church, then they have already essentially exited themselves from the community. It is clear that they have lost trust and respect for the community. So, you let them go. They are no longer your brother or sister. It’s just naming the reality of how the relationship has changed.

            So, if someone exits themselves from the community, then the church re-identifies them as like a Gentile or tax collector instead of like a brother or sister. That means the church relates to them differently. The relationship is not cut off, it is changed. What does that new relationship look like? Jesus gave the example for them. One of the critiques leveled against Jesus was that he ate with tax collectors and Gentile sinners. So, looks to me like when someone exits themselves from the church then the church treats them like tax collectors and Gentiles by breaking bread together. If that person that offended you has lost your trust and respect and has walked away from the church, reach out every now and then and see if the two of you could get together for coffee. In other words, keep the line of communication open, or, as Jesus talks about in vv. 10-14, take on the role of the shepherd who leaves the ninety-nine to go after the one sheep who went astray. The principle is that although the relationship has changed, the person is no longer like a brother or sister to you, that doesn’t mean that you have to walk away from them. Grab a coffee, have lunch, keep the conversation light, just hang out. Don’t burn bridges. That’s the principle underlying this teaching.

            Is this instruction we receive from Jesus and passed along by Matthew idealistic? You bet. But we need ideals so we know what to aim for. These directions on how to deal with conflict, and the values and principles that undergird these instructions, give us an ideal for us to strive to create in our communities, whether it be the church, our family we live with, our social circles, whatever relations we have that are like family to us. These aren’t instructions for society at large. It is meant for those smaller, more intimate communities we belong to. We are challenged to do the work of relationship building, to address conflict in ways that seek to keep each other in the family, even as we keep the circle open as we socialize with others who aren’t yet family and see if we can’t bring others in or bring people back in. As we all start the process of re-starting our in-person relationships, I hope we all keep these values in mind and let them guide how we go about renewing our communities of family.

 

Get Behind Jesus

 

Based on Matthew 16:21-28

            What would happen if someone tried to teach you calculus in the first grade? How would you do if someone handed you a piece of writing in Tagalog and asked you to translate it into English? My hunch is that in both of these situations you and I would not get very far. It takes years of study to get to where a person can do calculus. You have to learn the language before you can translate it into another. We can’t just do these things from the start. We have to start with the basics and build up our knowledge and capacity before we can take on the challenge of working calculus problems or translating Tagalog into English.

            Being a follower of Jesus is sort of like this. You have to start at the beginning, with the basics, and move on from there. We see this development with the disciples in the gospel of Matthew. Their process began when Jesus invited them to leave behind what they were doing and to follow him. That’s a pretty big ask to start off. But these disciples are willing to do that, to leave behind their fishing nets and go wherever Jesus was going. And as they walk with Jesus over the course of two or three years they watch as he performs miracles and heals people. They listen as he teaches the crowds with parables. The disciples get time alone with Jesus where he instructs them privately. Then Jesus sends the disciples out in pairs to do what he was doing, giving them the authority to heal, cast out demons, and to proclaim the coming kingdom of God. And they are successful in their efforts. They witness the feeding of the 5,000. They watch Jesus walk on water. The evidence is overwhelming to the disciples that Jesus is the messiah, the son of the living God, which Peter proclaims when Jesus asks who they think he is. For saying that, Jesus says that the church will be built on Peter’s confession. Everything is coming together. The movement is taking shape. The disciples understand that they are going to have leadership and responsibility as Jesus the messiah establishes his reign. Step by step, these disciples have moved from basic arithmetic to calculus. They are hitting their stride. They had to be feeling good about themselves and thrilled about their fate as the ones Jesus had chosen to be his associates in the emergence of the restored kingdom.

            And then, after all of this, Jesus tells them that he will suffer, be crucified, and then rise on the third day. Not only that, the disciples will have to deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow him. They are being asked to lose their life for his sake so that they can keep it for eternal life. Jesus is calling them to an even deeper level of commitment. He is calling them to go all the way in. Everything they had experienced up to that point was preparation to go to the next level of discipleship.

            None of us are surprised that Peter stepped forward and opened his mouth. His response is understandable. “God forbid that such should happen to you!” They thought they were getting set up to take the world by storm, with Jesus as the leader. The kingdom of heaven was set to be established, they thought. King Jesus was about to set up his throne and Peter and the disciples were preparing themselves to be a part of Jesus’ court. And now Jesus is talking about suffering and dying? I’m not sure Peter even heard that part about being raised on the third day. What Jesus said threw a kink in what Peter and the rest thought everything was supposed to go. It made no sense to Peter that the messiah, the son of God, would suffer under the hand of the religious leaders and be crucified like a common criminal. No, that’s not how this is supposed to happen. Peter had it all figured out. But he still didn’t get the whole picture. Peter and the disciples had to go to another level.

            If Jesus had told his disciples from the very beginning that he was going to suffer, be crucified and then rise again on the third day, without first letting them watch him perform miracles, listen to his teachings, be empowered by him to do ministry, they wouldn’t have followed him. The disciples first had to come to belief, they had to know with firm conviction that Jesus was the messiah, the son of the living God. Only then, when they reached that level of commitment, could Jesus then tell them the hard truth of his coming suffering and crucifixion. They needed that foundation first and had to demonstrate their commitment before learning the hard stuff.

            Discipleship ought to be more challenging and demanding the longer we follow Jesus. It’s not enough to just stick with “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” More is asked of us. It is a healthy relationship with the Lord when we find ourselves being prodded to take a stand or risk ourselves beyond what we can handle and find ourselves saying to God, “God forbid it, Lord, surely not I!”

            Maybe what I just said is too strong. I have heard stories from many people, of how God was calling them to go deeper in their discipleship, to step out in faith. Usually the call was around giving up a career to enter into ordained ministry or to become a missionary. But that nudge doesn’t have to be that extreme. Everyone’s relationship with Jesus is different. As I think back over my life, I don’t remember ever finding myself saying “God forbid it.” Instead, I have said to myself, “Am I really cut out for this? Do I have what it takes?” There have been times in my ministry where I have found myself stepping into something with butterflies in my stomach or uncertain about what I am supposed to be doing. But it has also happened more than I care to admit, when I felt a nudge to respond to someone in need or care for a particular situation and I said to myself, “I’m too busy, it’s more than I’m willing to give, I just don’t wanna’.”

            To grow and mature in our discipleship does require sacrifice. To put Jesus at the center instead of your own desires takes commitment. And it’s easy for Jesus to slip out of the center. All kinds of people want the center of our attention, don’t they? And if we are honest, we often put ourselves in the center of our life. My experience has been that who or what is controlling the center of my life is constantly shifting. Again and again we have to choose to put Jesus at the center of our life, choose to live for Jesus instead of for ourselves, or even to live for others. It’s not easy. It is something we have to consciously choose again and again.

            And I can tell from experience that some of the most meaningful experiences I have had in my life were times when I did not put myself first. When I have responded to the needs of others, when I have felt that nudge from God to give of myself for others, it has been those times that I have been blessed, that I feel like I am living life to the fullest, a life with meaning, with purpose, that makes a difference. I am convinced that we experience what life is all about when the focus of our life is on following Jesus and not ourselves, responding to the promptings of God’s spirit, offering ourselves to be used of God to bless others. We don’t have control over what God may prompt us to do. We won’t always get it right. We won’t always know what we are getting ourselves in to when we put Jesus at the center. But if we want to identify ourselves as followers of Jesus, then we have to follow. When Peter pulled Jesus aside and said what he said, he did not have divine purpose in his mind. He was focused on how he thought things were supposed to go, anticipating what his role would be. He had mapped out in his mind how things were supposed to go and he was driven to pull Jesus aside to get him back on board. The follower was trying to lead the leader. So, Jesus told Peter to get behind him. He reminded Peter that Jesus is the one who leads. We have to let Jesus take the lead, especially when we are not sure about where we are heading or what is the plan. We are in a time where we need Jesus to lead so we can follow, as we move together into the future. The promise is that by letting Jesus lead, we will live the life that God intends for us to live. Jesus will lead us into life that is abundant and everlasting. Let us commit again to get ourselves behind Jesus.

 

What Great Faith

 

Based on Matthew 15:21-28

             This is a hard passage. Why does Jesus have to be so rude? I feel like we have to deal with Jesus’ poor attitude or, I’ll just say it, bias against Canaanites, before we can dig in to what this passage is about and how to apply it to our lives.  I sense this need to defend Jesus, to try to explain away why Jesus first ignored the plea of a woman desperate for the healing of her daughter and then calls her a dog. Yes, Jesus could sometimes be pretty strong with his words. He often called Pharisees hypocrites and snakes. There is that famous example where he went into the temple courts and turned over the tables of the moneychangers, deriding the temple as a den of thieves. But there was some justification for calling Pharisees hypocrites and turning over the tables. What is the justification for Jesus to call this woman a dog? What does Jesus have against Canaanites? We have to deal with this before we can move in to the heart of what this passage is about.

            As I have thought about it and read the thoughts of others, I have come up with two justifications for why Jesus comes across as at least rude if not prejudiced. Let’s remember that Jesus is a human being like you and me. When he was walking on this earth, he got hungry and thirsty. He needed to sleep. He had feelings. So, let’s recall quickly what has been happening since his cousin was decapitated by Herod’s thugs. He wanted to get away, but the crowds followed him desperate for healing. He heals them and miraculously feeds 5,000 men, not including women and children. He sends them away and he finally gets his night alone on the mountain. Then he catches up with his disciples by walking on the water. When they get to the other side, in Gennesaret, we read how the people from all over brought to Jesus people to heal, begging to just touch the fringe of his cloak. I wonder if Jesus said to the crowd, “I’m worn out, I need a break.” “But all we have to do is touch your cloak.” “Fine.” So, Jesus kept walking silently through the crowd while they reached out and touched his cloak. Then he is confronted by Pharisees who want to argue with him. At this point, he’s had enough. He sets out for Tyre and Sidon, which is located in present day Lebanon. In other words, he is going about as far away from the Israelites as he can get. He really needs a break. Compassion fatigue is setting in. He wants to go somewhere that he can be left alone, where no one is going to come up to him asking for anything. But, sure enough, as he approaches a place where he anticipates being left alone, here comes a Canaanite woman shouting and pleading for him to heal her daughter. He just can’t get a break. So, he clams up and then demeans her. He acted that way because, frankly, Jesus was tired and not his best self.

            If that doesn’t work for you, here is another possible justification. When Matthew composed this gospel, he was writing it with his church in mind. This means that the stories of Jesus he knew were shaped in ways that addressed the situation of his church. The past few weeks, you may remember, we have looked at these stories of Jesus as ways to encourage Matthew’s church who was experiencing persecution and struggle. It is also likely that the makeup of Matthew’s church was likely Jewish Christians. But there were Gentile Christians who wanted to be a part of the church as well. And this created tension. Matthew deals with this tension by having Jesus stress that he was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel. When Jesus sent the disciples out two by two, he told them to only go to the lost sheep of Israel. At the end of the gospel, Jesus tells the apostles to go make disciples of all nations. But the focus, certainly when Jesus was walking on the earth, was to present the good news to Jesus’ fellow Jews. Gentiles were peripheral to the mission. Israel was the primary concern. That said, the way Jesus relates to this Canaanite woman highlights one of Matthew’s concerns for his church, to make it clear that Christianity is first and foremost a Jewish movement. Gentiles may participate but they are not on the same level and should be considered as exceptions to the rule. This is how Matthew is addressing a specific source of tension in his church. So, for us, we don’t have that same issue. Of course, now the church is pretty much Jewish free. There are some messianic Jews but for the most part Christianity is a Gentile religion. And there is a long and painful history to explain this current state of affairs that I can’t get in to now. I only bring this up as a justification to explain Jesus’ standoffishness by connecting it with the context of what Matthew’s church was having to deal with. If that is the case, then maybe we don’t need to focus too much on how Jesus responded to the Canaanite woman. It reflected a time and place that is different from our own.

            Maybe neither of these justifications are good enough to defend Jesus’ rudeness. Maybe we have to be honest and acknowledge that Jesus is being plain rude or revealing that Jesus had a negative bias against Canaanites. The Canaanites were, after all, ancient enemies of the Israelites. But who can blame them? They were the people who were living on the land that God chose to settle Israel. The Canaanites were displaced from their land to make room for God’s chosen people. The mutual animosity had a history. Perhaps Jesus couldn’t escape the impact of that history. At the same time, we believe that Jesus is without sin. So, maybe we can take comfort in knowing that being rude is not a sin.

            Anyway, let’s focus in on the issue of faith. I think faith is the big theme of Jesus’ encounter with this Canaanite woman. At the end of their back and forth, Jesus states that the woman has great faith. What was so great about it? What was it that the woman said and did that gave Jesus the impression that she had great faith?

            One way to answer that question is to contrast her faith with the not so great faith of Peter and the other disciples. Last week, we reflected on the weakness of Peter’s faith. He did not believe that was Jesus walking on the water. Instead of trusting what he heard, Peter decides to test the truth of the words by telling Jesus to command him to get out of the boat and walk on the water toward him. Peter ordered Jesus to do something that only the divine can do, which is to walk on water. Peter walking on the water had nothing to do with his faith. It had everything to do with his testing the truth of Jesus’ words. It was Peter’s weak faith that put him out there walking on the water.

            The Canaanite woman, however, had no doubt whatsoever. She was clear in her mind who Jesus was and what Jesus could do. She approached Jesus asking for mercy. She wasn’t looking for a sign. She wasn’t looking for proof that Jesus was who he said he was. She knew what Jesus was capable of. She’s begging for mercy. She calls him “Lord” and “Son of David”, which is a messianic title. She was identifying Jesus in ways that even many of his fellow Jews wouldn’t call him. She knew who she was talking to. She knelt before him, blocking his path so he couldn’t keep walking. She is in a posture of submission. She is not ordering Jesus to do something. But look at the disciples. They tell Jesus to send her away. They order Jesus around a lot don’t they? They told Jesus to send the crowds away. They tell him to send this woman away. Later they will tell Jesus to send the children away. These disciples sometimes come across as pretty arrogant, telling Jesus to send people away. Who are they to treat Jesus this way? To Jesus’ credit, he never does that. He tells the disciples to feed the crowd. He engages with the woman. He says, “Let the little children come to me.” Jesus never sends people away, even if, in this case, he is rude to this woman. At least Jesus engages in conversation and explains why he is not inclined to help her. But that resistance does not stop this woman. She doesn’t walk away dejected. She doesn’t come back at Jesus by saying, “How dare you call me a dog!” Instead, she responds by acknowledging that she has no standing to demand anything from Jesus but still pleads for mercy. The dogs get to eat the crumbs that accidentally fall from the master’s table. All she is asking for is a crumb of mercy so her daughter could be freed from the demon and live the life she is meant to live, a life freed from demon possession.

            This is the character of this woman’s faith. She does not order Jesus to do something for her. She does not approach Jesus with a sense of entitlement, that she has the right to make any claim on Jesus’ healing power. She is humble in her request and motivated by love for her daughter. She is persistent in her asking for healing. Through it all, she has no doubt that Jesus has the power to heal her daughter. She has unwavering faith in his power to heal and she asks for that healing for her daughter without any sense of entitlement and acknowledging that Jesus does not have to respond to her request. Great is her faith indeed.

            What does this mean for us? What lesson can we learn about the quality of great faith?

            The way the Canaanite woman approached Jesus with her request is an example for us in how we can exercise our faith when we present our requests to God. The woman was unwavering in her faith that Jesus could heal her daughter if he was willing. She had no doubt. Do you sometimes waver in your faith? Fred Craddock tells this story of a small rural church somewhere in Appalachia that he visited one time. Typically, in the sanctuary you will find portraits of Jesus praying at Gethsemane, or of Jesus with his arms held wide open, or maybe a painting of the river Jordan. But in this church, they had a painting of a bulldog. Fred had to ask, “what is the reason for the painting of the bulldog?” One of the elders of the church said, “Because we have the faith of a bulldog. We never let go.” They have faith that is as tenacious as a bulldog. I’ll admit my faith is not always as tenacious, especially in times of anxiety when it seems everything is closing in and nothing is going right. How tenacious is your faith?

            The Canaanite woman approached Jesus without any sense of entitlement or claim on Jesus to do what she wants him to do. And when her request was met with silence, she doubled down, falling on her knees before him and begging. And when the response was not in her favor, she responded with humility but also with a plea for mercy. She was clear that Jesus was the one with the power to heal and all she could do was make the ask and hope that Jesus would respond. And she would persist when met with silence or an unfavorable response. Humility and persistence are the examples this woman gives to us. What have you done when you have prayed for something and sensed no response at all, as if your prayers went no higher than the ceiling? I think we all have had those times where we have prayed, asking for help, for guidance, for comfort, and were met with silence. Or things don’t get better, but instead get worse. But we need to remember that God is not a concierge. There is a bigger picture. And maybe there are situations where what we are asking of God would not be for our good. Or maybe certain things have to fall in place before God can make something happen for us. The timing isn’t right. Or maybe God is trying to answer our prayer but free will or other forces are getting in the way. Maybe you’ve heard this story before. A neighborhood was being flooded out. This man crawled up to the roof of his house to escape the flood waters. A rescue team with a boat came by to get him, but the man refused. “It’s ok, I’m waiting for God to save me.” Later, as the water continues to rise, a helicopter comes by and a rescuer comes down to pick him up, but he refuses saying, “God’s going to save me.” The water continues to rise, and the man drowns. When he gets to heaven, he asks God, “Why did you not save me from drowning?” God replied, “I sent a rescue boat and a helicopter, what more did you want?” God’s will is resisted all the time. There are any number of reasons why our prayers aren’t always answered right away. And sometimes the answers we get were not what we were looking for. Great faith prompts us to keep praying, to persist in the requests we bring before God with humility. Whether God answers the prayers as we want is up to God. I like this line in this ancient prayer that was composed back in the fourth century: “Fulfill now, O Lord, our desires and petitions as may be best for us. So good. We offer our desires and petitions to God and trust in God’s wisdom to respond in ways that are best for us. That is great faith to pray this prayer with conviction.

            I invite you today to consider the quality of your faith. Is your faith more like the faith of Peter on the ship in the stormy sea? Or is it more like the Canaanite woman who comes to Jesus begging for mercy? Whatever is the quality of your faith today, remember this. Jesus never sent anyone away. And he will never send you away. Whether your faith is strong or wavering, Jesus is always with you and Jesus is constantly praying for you.

 

You Give Them Something to Eat

Based on Matthew 14:13-21

First delivered August 2, 2020

Rev. Dr. Kevin Orr

            They were cousins, John and Jesus. We don’t know anything about what relationship they had. But we can guess that it would be like typical cousins. They must have played together when their mothers, Elizabeth and Mary, got together. Imagine the conversations John and Jesus had growing up. From the beginning they knew that their lives were intertwined in a special way, John as the greatest prophet ever, the forerunner, the one who would prepare the way of the Lord. And Jesus, the Son of God, the savior of the world. They had a relationship that no one else could have, a relationship that no one could fully grasp.

            When Jesus heard of John’s death, and how it happened, the circumstances behind it, you can imagine how that had to have hurt Jesus deeply. Like any of us, Jesus needed some time and space to grieve. As soon as he heard the news, he withdrew by boat to a deserted place so that he could be alone. He was compelled to get away from the demands of life so that he could be alone with God and process this difficult loss.

            For those of us who have gone through times of grief, we wish the world would stop. People are going on about their business, going to work, going to movies, going out to eat, and all we wish to do is stay in our grief while the world passes us by. The world doesn’t stop. And for Jesus, the demands for his attention didn’t let up. As soon as the crowds heard that Jesus had left them, they set out after him by foot. Whether they had heard why Jesus left, and it’s very likely they did know the reason, their needs compelled them to track him down. Surely they knew that Jesus needed some time to deal with his grief. But their desperation for healing overrode whatever sympathy they may have had for Jesus in his time of grief. They were hurting as well, and Jesus was the only one who could provide for them the healing they needed. So, the crowd tracked him down and met him at the shoreline as he got out of his boat.

            It would be completely understandable if Jesus had asked his disciples to run interference for him so that he could have some space. He just needed one night alone. Just a little space to breathe, to grieve, to tend to the hurt in his heart.

            But Jesus was driven by compassion. He saw that large crowd filled with desperate people. They had not walked all that way to pester him with questions. They were not interested in arguing with him. They weren’t even there to hear a good sermon or to learn something. No, they had gone all that way because someone they loved, or even themselves, were sick and needed cured. Jesus is the great physician and they needed healing. His compassionate heart compelled Jesus to override his need to be alone with God for a season. He was compelled to offer what only he could offer…a healing touch.

            The best way I can relate to Jesus’ compassion for those people is thinking about when Kim and I were raising our kids. When they were babies, it didn’t matter how tired we were. Their needs came first, whether that meant stopping what we were doing to change a diaper or rocking them to sleep at 3 in the morning, if they needed something we had to provide for them. Our boys depended on us to give them what they could not provide for themselves. We had time to tend to our needs, but their needs took priority.

            In the same way, Jesus provides for us what we cannot provide for ourselves. Living a life as a follower of Jesus is not easy. We are distracted by many things. We often forget that we represent Jesus in the world. We neglect to love God and love others as we love ourselves. We grow tired and weary. We need spiritual and emotional energy to stay on the narrow path. We need to be motivated and inspired to live our lives after the example of Jesus. That’s what Jesus does for us. Jesus provides for us that spark, that energy, that motivation, that grace to keep living a life of love that honors God. Just like what we read in the gospel of John, Jesus said, “I am the vine and you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.” We depend on Jesus to do what is right and loving.

            Earlier this week was the home-going service for John Lewis. Several inspiring speeches were given that captured what his life was like and the legacy that he has left for us to draw inspiration from. Jenifer Holiday sang a few songs to break up the speeches. Just before Barack Obama spoke, she sang “Precious Lord, Take My Hand.” At one point in the song, Jenifer is pleading, “We need you now.” Sometimes we need Jesus to take us by the hand, to lift us up when we are weary and tired, to lift us up and lead us on the path set before us. That’s what only Jesus can do for us. With compassion that is unbowed, Jesus is there for us to lift us up and keep us going.

            As the evening drew on, the disciples began to feel some compassion of their own. They saw this large crowd of people, men, women and children, who had rushed out so quickly to meet Jesus by the lakeshore that they had brought little or nothing to eat. They saw children starting to get a little crabby, complaining about being hungry. It was probably time to wrap things up and send people away so they could go into the villages and get something to eat. Everyone can rest up and come back the next day for more healings and more teachings.

            But Jesus wanted his disciples to learn something about what Jesus can do that we can’t do for ourselves. He wanted the disciples to learn that sending people away to fend for themselves was not always the compassionate move. Yes, the need was great. We are told that there were about 5,000 men in the crowd. Let’s assume half of them were there with their wives. That gets you to 7,500. And let’s say that half of those couples brought a child with them. That gets you to 8,750. I think that’s a conservative number. There could have easily been 10,000 people in that crowd. What other options were there than to send the people away? The need was so great. But Jesus wanted the disciples to learn that with Jesus all things are possible, that in the economy of the kingdom of God there is always enough, if we trust in Jesus. They couldn’t help these people by themselves with their own resources. But with Jesus there will be enough.

            They brought all they had available, five loaves of bread and two fish to feed perhaps 10,000 people, and Jesus took it from there. He received all they had to meet the need, blessed it, gave it back to them, and they distributed it to the crowds. And it was more than enough. This is not just a miracle. It is a sign of what the kingdom of God is like, a community in which there is an abundance.

            Are we not tempted to send away those who are in need? Especially when we find ourselves with someone whose needs are great and our resources are few or not helpful, what else can we do but try to point them to agencies or other resources that can address their needs? I carry in my backpack papers that list all the different agencies in the Columbus area that address all kinds of needs. It’s called a Street Card. If someone is homeless, or has substance abuse issues, or needs clothes, or food, or healthcare, it’s on that sheet. I guess if you send someone away with that street card, that’s something. Still, that command from Jesus rings in our ears when we find ourselves confronted with someone who is in need. “You give them something to eat.” Don’t send them away to fend for themselves. Do something. Offer all you can.

            But remember that when Jesus met the needs of others, he did not do it from the place of duty. He certainly didn’t respond to feed his ego or feel better about himself. He responded to the needs of others from the place of compassion. Compassion is what stirs in us the drive to do what we can for those in need. We aren’t Jesus. We can’t meet all the needs of everyone. But compassion compels us to respond the best we know how. Compassion propels us to respond with what we have, trusting that Jesus will bless what we offer. Will it be enough? All we can do is offer what we have to those in need and trust Jesus to take it from there.

            The giving never ends. Compassionate response to those in need is a way of life. The needs of the world never end. We have our own needs, to say nothing of others. Let’s face it. To be human is to be in need. And we can’t always meet our own needs by ourselves. Sometimes we all need a little help from others. If you think about, we all have to depend on each other to meet our needs. Someone has to grow, harvest, and process the food and get it to market. Someone has to make the clothes. Someone has to build the cars and refine the oil. Meeting needs is a large part of what we do in life.

            Sometimes we need to get away from it all, to have some alone time with God where we can rest and even grieve. Jesus finally got his night alone on the mountain. After everyone was well fed and the leftovers were collected, the crowd was sent home. Then Jesus went up the mountain to grieve the violent murder of his cousin, John. The next day, Jesus came down the mountain and got back at it, fulfilling his purpose.

            It is ok for us to have some time alone with God, to take that time to be still and rest in God’s presence and even to grieve in the presence of God. We need to tend to our hearts, the pain and sorrow we carry. We need Jesus to heal us. But we can’t stay there. That voice of compassion stirs again in the face of the needs of the world. Again and again, we hear those words of Jesus, “You give them something to eat.”

            I hear that challenge in the face of so much need in our community today. In the battle to contain this virus, our economy has taken a hit such that I don’t think we yet have our minds wrapped around what the fallout can be. The prospect of virtual learning to start off the school year presents another huge set of challenges, especially for single parent households. How can a mother work at the Dollar Tree and know that her two kids will stay on task and do their school work? How can they do that if there is no wi-fi in the house? Just spending a few minutes reflecting on the great need in our community these days can stir up low grade panic. There are so many and the resources seem so puny. But where to send people away? Where can they go?

            In these challenging times when there is so much need, the compassionate voice of Jesus says to us, “You give them something to eat.” What can I give? What can you give? What can we collectively offer up to Jesus so that Jesus can do what only Jesus can do? These times require us to figuratively offer up to Jesus all we have, to bring to Jesus all the bread and fish we can find so that Jesus can bless the resources we have and then give those resources back to us so that we can then distribute them to all who are in need. This is the promise. If we act collectively, offer what we have, and trust Jesus to do what only Jesus can do, we will find that there will not only be enough, there will be an abundance. This is where we can find hope in these hard times.