How Fortunate We Are

 

Based on Matthew 5:1-12

            All Saints Day is our version of Memorial Day. It is the one day a year when we as a community of faith remember, not just those who have passed away since last All Saints Day, but all who have passed away since the church began. But not only that. All Saints Day invites us to call to mind all throughout time who have passed into the fullness of God’s presence. If we go back and look at Hebrews 11, the author speaks of the faith of Abraham, of Moses, of Rahab, Samson, David, of men and women whose names are known only to God. This great assembly that stretches back thousands of years are called in Hebrews 12:1 a great cloud of witnesses. These are the saints, the untold millions, billions, countless number of witnesses who surround us. It is these saints, our ancestors in the faith, that we memorialize today.

            All Saints Day is the day we memorialize all the saints, the community of saints, the great cloud of witnesses, who have gone before us. As I think about this image of the great cloud of witnesses, I am reminded of a story I once heard of this man who went to visit a well known Russian Orthodox Church somewhere. The building was massive. For those that are familiar with what the sanctuary of an Orthodox church looks like, this sanctuary was other-worldly. The icons, the ornate tile work, the candelabra. But as the man entered the sanctuary for worship in this famous, well known church, there were a few elderly women in the pews, the priest and a deacon. The sanctuary was virtually empty. After the service was over, the man introduced himself to the priest and expressed his gratitude for the beautiful service. Then he asked, “How does it feel to be offering up the liturgy in such a large space with so few people in attendance?” The priest laughed and said, “What do you mean, just a few people?” We are surrounded by a mighty cloud of witnesses. When we gather for worship, we are joined by the angels and archangels and the mighty throng of the church triumphant.” I know that for some they look at the Orthodox church a bit askance because when you enter the sanctuary you see icons everywhere. In the front, along the sides, on the ceiling. You are literally surrounded by the icons, images of saints, of Mary, of Jesus. Perhaps this is off putting to some. But especially on All Saints Day, it makes sense to be in a space surrounded by icons. It is a visual reminder that when we gather for worship, whether the gathered space is filled with icons, bare walls, or even in a living room or out in the woods, we are surrounded by a mighty cloud of witnesses, the saints who have gone before us. This is the day to remind ourselves of this truth.

            As we remember all those who have gone before us, our ancestors in the faith, we also recognize today that we too are part of that community of saints. I know that in the Roman Catholic Church and in the Eastern Orthodox churches there is a process in which a person is vetted and, in time, may be officially declared a saint. As an aside, you may have heard that a few weeks ago, the Roman Catholic Church beatified Carlo Acutis, who died at the age of 15 in 2006. Beatification is the first step toward sainthood, making Carlo the first of the millennial generation to potentially become a saint. I understand why this is done. Those who are declared saints serve as role models for the rest of us. They are looked to as those who embodied the best of what it means to be a Christian. In this light, saints are like Christian heroes.

            But the truth is that all of us who have responded to the invitation to follow Jesus and be a disciple are saints. You and I, right now, are saints and we belong to the community of saints. Belonging to the community of saints is not reserved for after you are dead. We belong to that community now.

            What is a saint, anyway? We find a definition in Rom. 1:6-7, where Paul speaks of those who are called to belong to Jesus Christ, God’s beloved and called to be saints. These phrases are all synonymous and point to our calling to be distinct from those who do not belong to Jesus, that is, those who do not follow the way of Jesus. A saint is someone who follows Jesus. A saint is another word for disciple. We often think of saints as great, holy figures. But in the broadest meaning of the term, a saint is a follower of Jesus Christ. If you understand yourself to be a follower of Jesus, that makes you a saint…warts and all. The community of Jesus followers is the community of saints. That’s our community.

            What does the community of saints look like? What are its characteristics? This is where today’s scripture reading comes in. The beatitudes of Matthew 5 give us a glimpse of what the community of saints looks like, both in this world and in the world to come. The beatitudes name current reality and then describe a future promise that can be trusted because the one who speaks these beatitudes is Jesus, the very Word of God. These beatitudes cover the community of saints of this current time and of the future promise that we expect to experience fully when we die and enter into what is sometimes called the church triumphant, that mighty cloud of witnesses that currently surround us and are now experiencing the promise we find in the beatitudes.

            There are two quick points I want to make about the beatitudes. One is that these beatitudes describe a community, not individual disciples. What I mean is, we should not read the beatitudes as a description of an individual disciple. In any given moment, you are not all at once poor in spirit, mourning, peacemaking, meek, and merciful 24/7. You are sometimes expressing some of these characteristics. But no one person is all these things at the same time, all the time. But, if we look at the community of saints as a whole throughout the earth, we will absolutely see these characteristics expressed. The beatitudes describe a community, not individual disciples.

            The second point is that the beatitudes are gospel. They are good news, an expression of hope. When you look at them, they tend to move from struggle to relief. For example, there is movement from being poor in spirit to possessing the reign of God, from mourning to being comforted, from hungering and thirsting for righteousness to being filled. It’s this movement from a tough current reality to a future promise of comfort, fulfillment, salvation. The beatitudes are an expression of a hopeful future. And it is this hopeful future that allows us to proclaim our current blessedness. This phrase “blessed are” could also be “fortunate are.” Fortunate are the peacekeepers because they will be called children of God. It is the future promise that makes our current position one of being fortunate, in spite of the current suffering that we from time to time have to endure.

            And this gets me to the next thing I want to say. As I look over these beatitudes, I am particularly drawn to two of them. In these times in which we live, two of these beatitudes really resonate with me and I think they resonate with you as well.

            The first one is, blessed are those who mourn. We have a lot to mourn over these days. Today we mourn over those family and friends who have died this past year. We mourn over the hundreds of thousands of lives lost to Covid. We mourn over the continuing divisions and polarization in our society, how some of us have lost friendships or seen family ties strained over this political divide. We mourn the loss of civility. We mourn over the lives cut short due to gun violence or drug overdose. There is so much these days that we can mourn about. And we are fortunate that we can mourn. Fortunate are those who mourn. We are fortunate to belong to a community that values mourning, lamenting, grieving. I know what it’s like to be surrounded by my church family when I was grieving the loss of my mother. I had the space I needed to be sad and to take my time to process my grief. And often I thought to myself, how do people get through their grief without the church? We are fortunate to have a community where we can mourn. We are fortunate, because Jesus has declared that we will be comforted. We experience a taste of that comfort in this life and can be assured of our comfort in the life to come.

             The second beatitude that resonates with me is this one: blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Righteousness means doing the right thing. Another word for that is justice. That really speaks to me in these days. Fortunate are those who hunger and thirst for justice. This year has revealed so much injustice. One example: when we moved into shut down mode earlier this year as the pandemic erupted, we discovered who are the essential workers and who are non-essential. And as it turns out, a lot of those non-essential workers are quite well compensated while quite a few essential workers barely make ends meet from paycheck to paycheck. The officer that shot and killed Breonna Taylor as she lay in her bed will face one charge, reckless endangerment, because some of the bullets he shot hit another apartment. He will not be held accountable for killing Breonna Taylor. For many of us, this appears to be unjust. We hunger for a just society free of racism, sexism, all the -isms, where every child has equal opportunity to thrive regardless of what zip code they live in, where people are judged by the content of their character and not the color of their skin. We hunger and thirst for justice. And it is fortunate that we do. We are fortunate because that hunger and thirst for justice is what motivates us to be engaged, to speak up, to demand more. And we are fortunate because Jesus has promised that we will be filled. We will experience a taste of justice in this life even as we are promised to experience the fullness of justice in the life to come.

            Fortunate are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Fortunate are those who hunger and thirst for what is right, for they will be filled. Our current reality is marked by mourning and by longing for justice, for people and institutions to do the right thing. We are a global community of saints in which many of us are mourning and longing for justice. These are the times we are living in.

            And we are fortunate to be living in these times. We are fortunate that we live in these times as a community of saints. As we mourn, we comfort each other. As we long for justice, we practice justice together as a community. But above all else, we have the promise of God spoken through Jesus. In these days and in the days to come, both in this life and the next, we will be comforted, we will be filled. We are fortunate because we have hope for a better future. Of this future hope we can be certain because God has spoken it into existence. And there is a great cloud of witnesses that can vouch for that promise because they are currently experiencing it.

 

Have the Conversation

 

Based on Matthew 22:34-46

            It’s a strange question to ask. Today’s scripture reading marks the end of a section in Matthew’s gospel where Jesus and the religious leaders have a public confrontation. Starting off by questioning Jesus’ authority, they go back and forth. The chief priests and Pharisees try to trap Jesus in questions to make him look bad and diminish him. But Jesus turns it around by asking them questions and telling them stories that forces them to condemn themselves by their own words. We get to the end of the confrontation. Jesus has come out on top in every argument. I guess we would suspect that they are going to ask one last zinger they have been saving up to finish Jesus off. So, what question do they ask? A lawyer among the Pharisees steps forward and asks Jesus, “Which commandment is the greatest?”

            Of all the questions Jesus was asked in this series of confrontations, this one is a softball. How is this a trick question? It is obvious what is the greatest commandment. Everyone knows this. It is the commandment that every pious Jew recites at least once a day. “Hear, O Israel, the Lord is God. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.” Here in Matthew’s gospel, for some reason, the word “might” is exchanged for “mind.” Maybe that is done to suggest that this is a commandment that calls for the whole person, heart, mind, and soul, is to be engaged in love for God. Everyone knows this is the first and greatest commandment.

            It makes you wonder. Did they think Jesus was going to give some kind of off-the-wall response to such a simple and straightforward question? It makes me wonder if at this point they have just given up. They just throw a question out just to ask one. It’s just a strange question to ask when they are trying to undermine Jesus’ authority.

            But Jesus doesn’t let this easy question go to waste. He gives the answer that everyone already knows. The first and greatest commandment is to love God with all our being. Then Jesus goes further. He says that there is another commandment that is like the first in importance. We are to also love our neighbor as ourselves. Scholars have looked and looked and have yet to find anywhere in Jewish writings where love of God and love of neighbor are connected the way Jesus does it here. What we have in Matthew 22:37-40 is a new teaching that the Pharisees and the crowd had not considered before. They knew the command to love God. They knew the command to love the neighbor as you love yourself. That’s in Leviticus 19:18. But never before had these two commands been connected in this way.

            Specifically, Jesus says that the second commandment of loving your neighbor is like the first commandment of loving God. By “like” is to mean “equivalent to.” The two commands are equal in importance. They are, in fact, two sides of the same coin. To do one, you do the other. To love God, you love your neighbor. To love your neighbor, you love God. They go hand in hand. This is the new teaching that Jesus gives here. This, by the way, is a teaching that gets further development in 1 John 4:20-21:

Those who say, “I love God,” and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen cannot love God whom they have not seen. The commandment we have from Jesus is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.

           As followers of the way of Jesus, central to that way is to live out this teaching: we love God by loving our neighbor. We love our neighbor by loving God.

            Speaking of love, we affirm that Jesus lived a perfect life of love. Everything he did when he walked the earth was motivated by love for God and love for the world. Jesus is love in the flesh. The way of Jesus is the way of love. I think we all would agree with that.

            Yet, Jesus had rivals. Just because Jesus lived a perfect life of love did not mean that everyone loved him back. As we have seen over the past few weeks, his way of life was seen as a threat to the authority of the chief priests and the Pharisees. Not everyone chose to believe in and follow Jesus. There were those who resisted Jesus and wanted no part of him. The one who is love incarnate had enemies that saw to it that he suffered and died on a cross. Just by observing how people responded to the way of love that Jesus walked, we see that this way of life can be perceived as a threat by some. Not everyone gets it. And the resistance can be extreme.

            So, if Jesus is love incarnate, the one who perfectly loves God and his neighbor, how did Jesus respond to his accusers, the chief priests and Pharisees? He had to respond motivated by love. Jesus loved the chief priests and Pharisees. We must not overlook this. The crowd needed to recognize this. Matthew’s church needed to recognize this. Hopefully the chief priests and Pharisees were able to recognize this. Jesus did not hate anyone. He did not hate them. He loved them. He loved those who publicly called him out and sought to undermine him, and eventually have him killed.

            How did Jesus express love to those chief priests and Pharisees? He did not say, “Hey, let’s agree to disagree” to avoid the confrontation. He didn’t blow them off by saying, “I don’t have time for this. You do you and I’ll do me.” Obviously, he didn’t get his disciples together to wait until the chief priests or the Pharisees were alone so they could beat them up and threaten them. When Jesus was confronted by those chief priests and Pharisees, people whom Jesus loved perfectly, he engaged by asking questions and telling stories that got to the deeper issue. Last week was a great example. The question about paying taxes to Caesar was not really about taxes. The deeper issue was, what is owed to Caesar and what is owed to God. Through his questions and little stories, Jesus was trying to get the chief priests and Pharisees to realize on their own where they were getting things wrong. I will grant you, Jesus called them hypocrites. That goes to show that you can love someone and also call them out. But Jesus was not about trying to humiliate them or to best them in some debate to boost his ego or make him look better before the crowd like this was some kind of blood sport. Jesus responded to his opponents in a way that could potentially convert them, to come to an understanding that Jesus really was the messiah. Jesus was trying to get them to see who he really was so that they too would believe in him and follow his way of life, to become his disciples.

            What can we learn from this when we find ourselves in confrontations with others? We all have people in our lives we have issues with. None of us can get along with everybody. There are various reasons for this. Personalities clash. Jealousy or envy can get in the way. Stereotypes or bad first impressions can set up a roadblock in a relationship. Deeply held beliefs sometimes create what we call irreconcilable differences. There are all kinds of reasons why, as we go along in life, we have confrontations with people and maybe even pick up an enemy or two.

            It’s unrealistic to expect when we find ourselves in a heated discussion or argument that we will be able to come up with the perfect question or have a great story like Jesus could. How many times after an argument with someone and you are replaying the argument in your head and you think to yourself, “Ah! I should have said…” We come up with all kinds of great come-back lines long after the fight is over. Some people have a knack for debate and making good arguments on the fly. But to be able to ask great questions or tell probing stories like Jesus could? We should not expect to be able to do that.

            But what we can do is to engage in the argument. Easier said than done. I for one am wired to avoid conflict. I’m the kind of person who wants to rush to agreement or fall into the “agree to disagree” move that avoids deeper engagement with the issue at hand. Is that always what love requires? This is the issue when we find ourselves in a situation where there is a disagreement or some kind of personal conflict. Love for the person you have the conflict with challenges us to find ways to engage with that person so that there can be some kind of back and forth conversation. Not rushing to agree to disagree. Not blowing it off and saying, “you do you and I’ll do me.” Not calling names or getting verbally or even physically aggressive, obviously. Love challenges us to engage in an attempt to go to the deeper issue.

            Even though we can’t ask great questions in the heat of the argument like Jesus could or tell amazingly rich little stories that leaves everyone pondering the deeper issue, we do have for us a guide on how to engage with those who are against us, whatever that means in the situation. But before getting into that, we need to go back to those commandments: love God, love neighbor. To engage with opponents as Jesus did, the prerequisite is love. Can you honestly say that you love the person you are having a problem with? And, again, love is not a feeling or emotion. Love is an act of the will. Love is to desire the well-being of the other and the willingness to contribute to that well-being. It seems to me that before any of us can engage with our opponents the way Jesus did there has to be a commitment to love. If it’s not there, it becomes too easy to tell each other off or use any other method to avoid the conflict. And even then, it’s hard. Hardly anyone enjoys conflict and most of us try to avoid it by any means necessary, especially toward those we love. The point is that Jesus was committed to loving God and neighbor. Love for God and neighbor was the central motivation of his life. For us to follow the way of Jesus, that commitment to love God and neighbor needs to be there.

            When you are engaged in some kind of confrontation, ask questions. Be curious. I know it had to be so annoying to Jesus’ opponents but almost every time they asked him a question, he would throw it back at them with another question. But that’s how conversations get going. When you get into an argument, try to respond first by asking a question.

            Keep the conversation going by telling stories. Again, they probably won’t be deep and profound like the stories Jesus told. But tell stories about your own life experiences. Tell stories about how you came to hold the opinion you have. Tell your story. Make it personal. Try to get your opponent to tell their story. Telling each other stories, sharing from personal experiences, can take a confrontation to a much deeper level that can draw out something good, even transformative.

            But don’t forget this: even Jesus couldn’t convince the chief priests and Pharisees that he was the messiah. So, it is foolish to think that we can “win” our opponents over to our side or way of seeing things or whatever. It could happen. But don’t feel bad if the two of you walk away still not seeing eye to eye or even still on bad terms. Let’s face it. There are some people we just don’t want to be around. And asking questions of each other and telling our stories isn’t going to change that. There is truth in the old saying that strong fences make good neighbors. That’s just part of the human experience. At some point you and your opponent will have to settle with agreeing to disagree.

            The main thing though is having the conversation. If you get to the point of agreeing to disagree after the conversation; after asking questions and telling stories, then that’s fine. You were engaging from a place of love for your opponent, someone who is loved by God. You honored that person’s dignity as one who bears the image of God. The engagement in conversation motivated by love for God and the person you are having the conversation with, that’s what love requires.

 

What Does God Require?

 

Based on Matthew 22:15-22

            For most of us, the subject of taxes stirs up some emotion. We understand that taxes are necessary to pay for public services that we all need and enjoy. The military who protect us have expenses that need covered. Police and fire fighters and school teachers need paid. Roads aren’t constructed for free. We all get that. But it’s still taxes. It’s a necessary obligation, not something most of us pay with excitement. And when we hear of people or businesses that use current tax laws to get out of paying what we think is their fair share that can tik a lot of us off. What I’m trying to say is, when it comes to taxes, none of us are joyful or excited about the subject. When you get a letter from the IRS, the response is likely that of your stomach getting tied in knots and your blood pressure spiking. More often than not, we find the subject of taxes to be annoying, stressful or sometimes a topic that makes us angry.

            In the days of Jesus and of Matthew’s church, taxes brought a different kind of burden. Judea was a land occupied by Rome. The taxes in those days didn’t just fund public works. It helped to fund the infrastructure of their oppression. When Caesar imposed his power on Judea, any expenses incurred would not come from Caesar’s treasury. It came from the oppressed population. You can imagine how the people disdained the tax because they knew what it was being used for. They despised that symbol of oppression that funded their oppression. As a matter of fact, the uprising that led to the destruction of Jerusalem was sparked in part by the shared disdain for that tax, in the same vein as the Boston Tea Party tax revolt in our own nation’s history.

            It is this hot button issue about paying taxes that the Pharisees present to Jesus. They know that by asking Jesus this question about whether it is lawful or not to pay taxes that it’s going to get the crowd’s attention and that the crowd already shares an opinion about this tax. But the question they ask is particularly tricky. They did not ask, “Is the tax we pay to Caesar fair.” They did not ask, “Is the tax we pay to Caesar right and just.” Instead, they ask, “Is paying the tax to Caesar lawful.” Which law? Roman Law? God’s Law? They don’t specify. That’s part of the trap question.

            To make it more interesting, the Pharisees bring along with them a group of Herodians. Why did they bring them and where did they come from? This is the only time they show up in the gospel of Matthew. The Herodians were a political group that represented the house of Herod to the Roman government. Herod, while not technically a king, was a royal figure that had been placed on that throne by Caesar. Herod’s rule, if you can call it that, was dependent on Caesar. Thus, the Herodians were supportive of the Roman occupation and, by extension, of the Caesar’s tax on the population.

            It wouldn’t take a genius to know this is a trap when the Pharisees bring along the Herodians to ask Jesus a question about taxes. It’s also one of the reasons why Jesus calls out the Pharisees for their hypocrisy. See, the Pharisees as a whole shared the common resentment toward that tax. By no means were they boosters of the Roman occupation. Yet, in this attempt to make Jesus look bad, they bring along with them representatives of a political group that are strong supporters of that very tax they despise. Not only did Jesus see the hypocrisy, surely the crowd did as well. It causes the Pharisees to come across as desperate and even pathetic, trying to use the Herodians to get Jesus to say openly what the Pharisees would not dare to say but actually believed, that this tax representing their oppression is illegitimate.

            We are all amazed at the answer Jesus gives to their question. As usual, when Jesus is asked a question he turns it around and asks the accusers a question. But first he has one of them, or maybe one of the Herodians are carrying one around, the coin that has to be offered once a year by every person in Judea to cover that tax. The coin, worth one denarius, has the engraved image of the Caesar on it. Inscribed on the coin was the phrase “Tiberius Caesar, the divine and august son of Augustus.” For a pious Jew, this coin reeked of blasphemy. If one of the Pharisees was carrying one of those coins around it only heighten the level of their hypocrisy.

            Of course, Jesus doesn’t give a simple “yes” or “no” answer. He never does. Instead, he gives an answer that forces everyone to reflect, ponder and consider the deeper issue involved. However, he indirectly affirms paying the tax. The coin is Caesar’s property. He is entitled to possess his coins. The despised Herodians were certainly satisfied with Jesus’ response. But Jesus also says that we are to give to God what belongs to God. That is a response that the Pharisees would certainly agree with. So, in the end, both groups get a response they could affirm. That’s partly why the Pharisees were amazed at his answer. And disappointed. They surely were hoping that Jesus would say something that would give the impression that paying the tax was wrong, which the Herodians could then take back to their superiors and have Jesus arrested for sedition. Or he could say something that gives the impression that paying the tax is lawful and that would cause the crowd to think a bit less of Jesus. Instead, Jesus responds in a way that forces everyone to ponder their own response. What is owed Caesar? What is owed God?

            Or, better, what belongs to God? The quick response would be that in fact everything belongs to God. God the creator and source of life is the source of all that exists. God’s dominion is over all the heavens and the earth. I can imagine that this is one of the lines of argument that the Pharisees used when they were privately railing against paying that tax. But I wonder if Jesus has something more specific in mind. Caesar had his coin with his image impressed on it. That coin belonged to him. You and I have an image impressed on our souls. That image is God, for as we read in Genesis 1, we are made in the image and likeness of God. Each of us bears the image of God. So, if the coin that carries Caesar’s image belongs to Caesar, then each person who bears the image of God belongs to God. How could a Pharisee argue against that logic? They walk away amazed. And we are left wondering how we go about giving ourselves to God.

            This is the point where we can try to apply this passage to our own context. Again, we don’t pay taxes like Matthew’s church did. We are not under foreign occupation. Although we aren’t excited about paying taxes, we know that our taxes are funding legitimate public services run by a legitimate government ultimately answerable to us through the power of the vote. But also this passage for us is really not about paying taxes. Jesus takes it to a deeper level. Jesus is asking us to reflect on what we give to God. Another way to say it is, in any given moment in our life what does the Lord require from us?

            Our oldest son, Micah, was named after the prophet Micah, who gave an answer to that question. In Micah 6:8 we read, “What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.” In any given situation, what is the just thing to do? What does kindness call for? How am I to express humility before God in this situation? There’s no direct, easy answer. There could be many ways to do justice, love kindness and walk humbly in any given situation.

            Or maybe this teaching that we are to give to God the things that are God’s is pointing to our lives as a whole, our very being as creatures made in the image of God. In any given moment, how can we give ourselves to God in that moment? Consider the present situation we are all dealing with right now with this pandemic. As we live with and cope with this pandemic, how can we give ourselves to God in this pandemic? Could wearing masks, maintaining physical distance, and living our lives without fear of the virus, all ways we can give our lives over to God?

            Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and give to God the things that are God’s. What are those things and how do we give them, how do we give ourselves, to God? That is a discipleship question. And in every given situation we find ourselves in there is no simple yes or no answer. The answer is not always clear or simple. It is a question that requires discernment. And by discernment I mean taking the time to pray, to mull over, to think about, to seek advice, to listen to one’s heart, and even one’s gut, when trying to discern what God is asking, what God is requiring of us in any given moment.

            The good news is that God has given us the Spirit to guide us in these discipleship questions. The other good news is that there is not just one right answer. There are multiple ways we can respond in any situation that is a faithful response to what God requires of us. And even if we goof up in our response, it’s not the end of the world. God is also working with us. God takes our humble efforts and blesses them. In the words of that great songwriter from a few years ago, Keith Green, let’s just keep doing our best and pray that it’s blessed. Jesus takes care of the rest.

            That’s my encouragement for you. As you make your way through life and you find yourself in a situation, sit with the question of what it is God is requiring from you. Pray, reflect, perhaps seek advice. Then make a decision and act on that decision. And as you leave that situation and move on, perhaps you will be amazed at the outcome.

 

Getting Ready for the Party

 

Based on Matthew 22:1-14

             Who doesn’t want to attend a wedding? I have never turned down an invitation. The wedding itself is very touching. But the real fun is the reception afterward. The food and drink, the wedding cake, the toasts, the dancing, throwing rice at the couple as they make their way to the car to drive off for their honeymoon, it’s all fun. Some of the most fun times in my life have been at the weddings of some of my friends from college. I don’t know why anyone would not want to go to a wedding.

            That’s why it is so shocking in this story Jesus tells that the people the king invited to the wedding feast for his own son’s wedding chose not to come. They didn’t even have to attend the wedding. They were refusing to go to the party, where all the free food and drink is and all the fun. Why would they not go? And to top it off, some of those people who were invited beat up and killed the messengers! It is just crazy. When the people heard Jesus tell this story they had to be scratching their heads.

            Then when Jesus gets to the story about the king being enraged and sends in troops to not even kill those people he invited but he also had them burn down their city. Did those guests realize who they were dealing with? Did they think the king was going to just shrug his shoulders or say mean things about them? No, this king had been disrespected in a shocking way. He could not let that stand. So, he sent a message to anyone who heard what happened. He was not to be trifled with. Even if all those guests had their reasons why they didn’t want to go to that wedding banquet, they could have at least made an appearance. Maybe the king’s response was a little over the top. And we don’t know if the wedding banquet was put on hold until the king had his revenge. But at least we can understand why he was upset.

            Now, if we go back and look at the two previous stories Jesus told, I think we all know who those people were and what city got burned down. Again and again, the wicked people represent the chief priests, the elders, and the Pharisees. The servants who went out to invite them to the wedding banquet represent the prophets and maybe even some apostles. The religious leaders reject God’s invitation and kill the prophets. So, God responds by having those religious leaders killed and the city of Jerusalem gets set on fire. The chief priests and elders had multiple opportunities to get it right. They failed and had it coming. No one can blame God for the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem and the disbanding of the priesthood. They brought it on themselves.

            Back to the story. The king has sent out his troops and had his revenge. But he still has this lavish wedding banquet. There is a lot of food and drink just sitting there. Have you ever thrown a party and no one came? It has happened to me a few times. I remember one time where at the church I was serving we decided to have a back to school party for kids in the community. We hired a DJ, did a little advertising, got a bunch of hotdogs and brats. We set it all up outside the church with signs and balloons. And no one came. It was a bit disappointing. The DJ felt bad for us and said if we have another event he would do it for free. We also had a lot of hot dogs and brats we were stuck with. What were we going to do with all that food and drink?

            That may have been the concern of the king in this story. Being this was the wedding banquet for his own son’s wedding, you can imagine how much food and drink had been prepared. This would be the VIP party of the year. The most lavish wedding party possible. It couldn’t just all go to waste. But I also wonder if what was more important for the king was to just have people there. He wanted a full house. He wanted people to celebrate with him the wedding of his son. The food and drink needed to be consumed. But it was the people coming together, dancing, laughing, and having a good time. Surely, that’s what the king wanted most of all.

            So, the king sends more messengers out into the streets to get anyone who they could find and let them know the doors to the palace were open. This closed, VIP party was now open to everyone. You can only imagine how the people in the city felt about the opportunity to attend a royal wedding reception. Especially those who were looked down on in society or who were poor or didn’t fit in, to get to go to that banquet would have meant the world, if just for one night. And so, the wedding hall was filled with guests.

            This part of the story is probably talking about Matthew’s church. I don’t think Matthew’s church was bursting at the seams with people. It’s not like people in those days looked at the church as equivalent to attending a wedding banquet for the king’s son. My guess is that Matthew’s church wasn’t that big at all. But the point is that in Matthew’s church were all kinds of people. It was an open door. Anyone who wanted to be a part of the church were welcome, the good and the bad, the wheat and the weeds, if you remember that parable we looked at several weeks ago. Matthew’s church, just like ours, is open to all who would come. The church is not a secret society. It is not a private club. It is not a walled off enclave where only the wealthy and well connected belong. The church doors are open to all people. And all kinds of people belong to the church. In fact, I looked it up and saw that in 2015, it was estimated that 31% of the world’s population, over 2 billion people, adhere to the Christian faith. The wedding hall is filled, even if the worship space in a lot of our churches still have quite a bit of room for more.

            In most cases, going to weddings means dressing up. I know that’s not always the case. Some weddings can be pretty informal affairs. I have done a quick wedding of an older man and woman in their house with just a few family members looking on. I once did a wedding for a young couple out in the woods, with a best man, a maid of honor, and their black Labrador running around us. But usually people get dressed up. The groomsmen wear tuxes and the bridal party wear matching gowns. And, of course, there is the wedding dress itself, around which the entire wedding is built.

            It takes time and effort to get dressed up for a wedding. Never mind being in the wedding itself. Just being the guest, you need time to get ready. You can’t just throw anything on. You may need to iron your shirt or polish your shoes. You may want to go get a haircut or have your hair styled. You have to give yourself time to get yourself all put together so that you aren’t rushing to the wedding. You may even need to have yourself a little plan on how to get yourself together and looking your best.

            If everyone is expected to get dressed up and someone comes to the wedding wearing ripped up and stained blue jeans and a faded Rush T-shirt, they might stand out. You know people would be looking and wonder what that’s all about. Does this person not have nice clothes? Are they a little off? Are they being maybe a little disrespectful? It just doesn’t seem right to go to a wedding without getting all dressed up if that was the expectation.

            Apparently, there was one person at this wedding banquet the king was holding who didn’t get dressed up. He was not wearing a wedding robe. This obviously grabbed the attention of the king when he scanned the crowd. But this king wasn’t going to let it slide or mutter to somebody about that sloth who came to the party wearing whatever. He confronted the guy, putting him on the spot by asking, “How did you get in here without a wedding robe?” Well, this guy, probably a bit intimidated, didn’t know what to say. So, the king instructed his attendants to bind the man by his hands and his feet, gather him up and throw him out, not just out of the hall, but into the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth! Yikes!

            Now let’s be honest. That seems to be a pretty harsh response toward someone who wasn’t wearing the right clothes. Then again, we already know this king could be pretty over the top with his response toward those who would disrespect him. Remember how he had all those VIPs killed and their city burned to the ground? This king was not to be trifled with, which this poor guy without the wedding gown discovered. It is pretty harsh.

            But, in this story the wedding robe is not about actual clothing. It is about exchanging an old way of living into a new way of living. To put on the wedding robe is to signal taking off your old clothes, the way you used to live, and to put on a new set of clothes, a new way of life that is patterned after the way of Jesus. That’s one of the points being made in this story. Everyone is invited to the wedding banquet. But you need to make a change before you make your way in to the party.

            In other words, it’s not enough to just show up. Everyone is welcome into the church. But just showing up is not enough. There needs to be a change in how you live your life. See, this is one of the big messages that Jesus has been trying to get across over these three stories we have been reflecting on these past few weeks. God wants everyone to be a part of the kingdom of God. All are welcome. But God also wants everyone in the kingdom to be producing the fruits of that kingdom. What are those fruits? Go back and look at the Sermon on the Mount. Or consider Matthew 25, where Jesus said that when you feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick and those in prison, you are doing that to him. That’s producing the fruit of the kingdom. Belonging to the kingdom of God, the community of faith, the church, carries with it the expectation that people will change how they live, will behave in ways that are loving, gracious, compassionate, and life-giving. There are expectations that come along with being in the church.

            It can take a long time to get dressed up for a wedding. Maybe it takes our whole lives to get dressed up for this wedding banquet that we have all been invited to attend. You see, I wonder if the wedding banquet in this story may point to something other than just being a part of the church or belonging to the kingdom of God right now. What if the wedding banquet is also about what we will experience in heaven? I wonder if what we are meant to do with our time on earth is to work through the process of getting dressed up for that wedding banquet.

            When we have communion together, near the end of the great thanksgiving, you will often hear these words:

 

By your Spirit make us one with Christ, one with each other, and one in ministry to all the world, until Christ comes in final victory and we feast at his heavenly banquet.

 

Could this be what our lives as Christians is about, that the relationship we are nurturing with Christ and with each other as we minister to the needs of the world is all about getting ourselves prepared for that banquet?

            The day will come, we believe, when we will be all gathered together at the heavenly banquet. All of our kin will be there. It will be a day of unspeakable celebration. Until then, this is our time to get ready, to do what we need to do so we can have on our wedding robes.

 

We are the Tenants

 

Based on Matthew 21:33-46

            Last week, we considered one of the questions that Matthew’s church was asking: why is it that the chief priests and elders didn’t get who Jesus is. We considered that the leaders were blinded by their power and could not see, or admit to themselves, that Jesus clearly had divine authority. How else could he work the miracles he did, the healings, and the teachings? It was so obvious, but they could not see it. All they saw in Jesus was a threat that needed eliminated. They misappropriated their authority. They forgot that their authority had been given them by God, that it was not their authority to protect. Power can play tricks on people.

            This week, we are going to see how Matthew takes one of Jesus’ stories to answer another question his church asked: why was the Temple destroyed and Jerusalem wiped off the map. This story of the wicked tenants that Jesus tells, based on a prophecy from Isaiah 5:1-7, helps explain why God allowed the Temple to be destroyed, the chief priests and elders to be killed or otherwise dispersed, and their leadership to be taken away from them.

            Let me give you a quick review of some history that will help us understand better what Matthew, through Jesus, is doing with this story. Around 70 AD there was a rebellion in Jerusalem against Rome. It was the latest in a number of uprisings that had occurred over the years. This one was the final straw. Caesar sent in the military who proceeded to destroy the Temple, heavily damage the city of Jerusalem, and, for good measure, renamed the city Aelia Capitolina which remained a Roman colony until 638 when it was occupied by the Arabs.

            As you can imagine, this was a deep shock to Israel. The Temple was at the center of their religious practice. It was the place where God dwelt. The center of their religion was wiped out. How are they to practice their religion without the Temple? What did this say about their relationship with God? It was incredibly destabilizing for Jews, a time of deep crisis, being forced to rethink how to practice their religion and to worship God. Those who followed Jesus, of course, saw themselves as the new Israel, if you will. The Temple in Jerusalem was no longer needed because those who follow Jesus become temples where the Holy Spirit dwells. But now I’m slipping away from history and getting into theology. Let’s get back to the story of the wicked tenants.

            In this story, it is pretty easy to see who represents who. The landowner, of course, is God. The wicked tenants are the chief priests and elders and, perhaps, the Pharisees who get included later in today’s passage. The servants sent by the landowner are prophets. The son he sends is Jesus. It is significant that the wicked tenants throw the son out of the vineyard and kill him. Jesus was crucified outside the city of Jerusalem. The vineyard, by the way, represents Israel and/or the kingdom of God. The other tenants that the landlord hires represent perhaps the leaders of the church, or maybe all the followers of Jesus.

            The key verse in this story, and maybe one of the most important verses in Matthew, is verse 43: “Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom.” Why was the Temple destroyed and the chief priests and elders scattered? Why was Jerusalem destroyed and turned into a Roman colony? Because the leaders, the chief priests, the elders, the Pharisees, they all rejected those whom God had sent. They rejected the prophet John. They rejected and even had killed the son of God, Jesus. So, God took the kingdom of God away from them. That is why this terrible thing had happened. Because of the wickedness of the leaders, the Temple was lost.

            But God had not abandoned Israel. The vineyard was not destroyed. Only the wicked tenants had been removed. According to this story, God selected other tenants to care for the vineyard. In other words, God placed those who believed in Jesus and followed the way of Jesus into the vineyard. The tenants in God’s vineyard now, the leaders of Israel, is Matthew’s church. The point that Matthew is making is that Israel still exists. The disciples of Jesus are the other tenants that the landowner leased the vineyard to who will give the produce at harvest time. It is the disciples of Jesus, the church, that produces the fruits of the kingdom.

            For Matthew’s church, comprised mostly of Jews but also a few Gentiles, this would be an encouraging word indeed. It helped them come to grips with the loss of the Temple. It helped them understand that they, as Jewish disciples of Jesus, continued the religion, maintained the relationship between God and the chosen people Israel. The church represented the continuation of God’s covenant with Israel. God did not abandon Israel. God had simply taken away the authority of the chief priests and elders and laid the authority on the apostles. And instead of having a physical Temple in a city, each believer became a temple where God resided.

            So, what about us? To answer that question could open a huge can of worms. You all know how fraught is the history of Judaism and Christianity. Matthew does an excellent job of explaining to 1^st century Jewish Christians why the Temple was destroyed and the priesthood was scattered. That was a critical question that needed answered in those days. But in our context, as a predominantly Gentile Christian tradition in the 21^st century, we don’t share that same question. This story of the wicked tenants doesn’t apply to us or have the same significance as it did for Matthew’s church back in the 1^st century. Any attempt I could try to make to close that distance is too much. It’s too complicated and, frankly a painful story.

            What I want to suggest is that because you and I are followers of Jesus we can identify ourselves as tenants in God’s vineyard. I have talked about this for a couple weeks now. You and I are workers in God’s vineyard, the kingdom of God, which is all around us, not something we only experience when we get to heaven. We are workers in God’s kingdom right now. We are currently tenants, working to produce the fruits of the kingdom, that is, to live righteous lives. Some of us have been working in the vineyard all our lives, some of us later in life, some of us have strayed off the vineyard and then came back, but we are all tenants working in God’s vineyard right now. This is our task.

            On this World Communion Sunday, we are reminded that we work in one small area of God’s vineyard. We work on a global team. If you think about each church as a work team, there are thousands upon thousands of work teams all around the world. We are reminded of that today. We are challenged to be willing to work alongside of and partner with all these other work teams around us in the common work of producing the fruits of the kingdom.

            Let’s keep at it. Having been chosen and called by God to work in God’s vineyard, we work, serving God, offering our lives, our relationships, our jobs, our creative pursuits, our everything, we offer to God. Let us keep working with all who serve God, not judging or pushing aside but partnering, working alongside, each doing our part to produce good fruit.

            A few days ago, I was talking with my spiritual director. We were sharing about these challenging times we are going through as a country. The pandemic, the economy, the election, the civil unrest, it’s overwhelming. It’s impacting everyone. Everyone is dealing with loss, grief, some confusion, some fear, some anger. I said to her that now more than ever we need to practice grace, compassion, gentleness, kindness. In other words, practicing the way of Jesus, producing good fruit of righteousness, is so important for the sake of our society. We all feel the strain. As we are able, we have to do the work, in all our encounters with others day by day, to act in ways that heals and lifts up. The pandemic may have thrown our plans out the window and upended our lives. Uncertainty about what may happen in the months ahead can be a little scary. But we know what we have to do today: live a righteous life, be gentle, be gracious, be compassionate. I feel our society right now depends on us being the best tenants in God’s vineyard that we can be.