October 30, 2011
Pentecost 20
Joshua 3:7-17
Matthew 23:1-12
(prayer)
October is here in full force and for me that includes that the second season for my kids’ football have arrived. The regular season is over and the playoffs are underway. My oldest son’s high school team has already played their last game. Based on their records, they were the underdogs for the game this past Tuesday. The lost a close one 21-18, with Ft Saskatchewan scoring in the final minutes to take the lead for good. My second son’s bantam team has already played two playoff games. Yesterday, they faced a team that had beaten them 46-06 back in early September. After a big 40-13 win yesterday, they will play for a league championship next Sunday. My youngest son’s semi final game is this afternoon (in Sherwood Park at 3) – if they lose, these 6-10 year olds (which I have helped coach this year) can drown their sorrows in Halloween candy tomorrow; if they win, we’ve got one more week of chilly practices and they go for all the marbles on Saturday.
I have watched it all season – there are so many small things that determine the outcome of each game – a good block here, a missed block there; a dropped pass or a fumble recovery. I think I have a healthy attitude: I know it’s all just a game and that wins and losses can’t be taken too seriously. But I do love the game and all of the possibilities that occur between the whistles.
On the way home, after the high school team’s close match on Tuesday, Sean and I found ourselves talking about more than a half dozen little plays that could have changed the outcome. “If only...” Hindsight is not only 20/20, it has magnifying glasses.
All of this a metaphor for me as I look at life in general – all along the way, the small moments, the choices and circumstances along the way, dictate the joys and sorrows, the frustrations and the wisdom, we will experience.
//
When Jacob and his family left their estate in Canaan (~1700BCE) to survive the drought with the help of Egypt’s bounty, it would be a huge overstatement to say that the Jacob clan was in control of every kilometre of Canaan. Jacob’s family had found themselves living into the truth of the promise God had made with Abraham (Jacob’s grandfather) that their family all their descendants would live in a new land. When they fled the drought, they had come a long way toward that goal, but they were not a nation, but simply a large family with large tracts of land within Canaan.
Four hundred years later, when the descendants of Jacob’s family fled a life of slavery in Egypt, they felt called back to the land promised to Abraham, Sarah and their descendants. Only this time, they viewed all of Canaan as theirs not just the part of the land which Jacob had. By 1300BCE, the people of Jacob were a nation of people. Under the leadership of Moses they made their freedom exodus through the Sinai wilderness for a full generation of forty years. Along the way, they had grown in their trust and faith in God and they were prepared for what a new life in Canaan would be like. All of the small events of that journey led them to the eastern shore of the Jordan River. They had lived through the mysterious hardships that plagued the Egyptian pharaoh and convinced him to give the Israelites their freedom. Faced with walls of water ahead of them and a second-guessing pharaoh behind them, they followed Moses along the path God had provided. When they were hungry and thirsty, they learned to trust in the providence of God. When they were impatient, they felt God’s forgiving compassion.
We have every reason to assume that Joshua was a relatively young man (15-20 years old) when the Israelites first began their exodus journey. The book of Numbers tells us that he had served as Moses’ attendant since his youth (Num 11:28). The varied experience of his life included being among the initial twelve Israelites (one from each tribe) chosen to do some recognisance in Canaan in the early years of the exodus. Ten of the spies came back and reported that they were no match for the current inhabitants of Canaan, Joshua and another young man named Caleb believed that the Israelites would be successful.
The legend in the book of Numbers says that it was this unfavourable report by ten of the spies that led to another forty years in the wilderness before the people would be able to enter their promised land: enough time for a new generation of faithful people to be the ones to enter the land. From the start of the Exodus, Joshua had demonstrated a strong faith. He was seen as a leader among the tribe of Ephraim to be chosen as their rep among the spies. He boldly stood against the majority in his assessment of Canaan. Moses made him his aide and Joshua became Moses’ eventual successor.
//
All of ‘this’ brought the people of Israel to the end of their journey. We heard today about the first steps into this land that the spies had once reported to be filled with milk and honey. In an account that sounds remarkably similar to the escape across the Red Sea, the high waters of the Jordan stood still to allow the people to follow the priests and the Ark of the Covenant into Canaan. [The Ark was the ornate box which had been built to house the remnants of the stone tables containing the ten commandments.] The people and all of the experiences that had brought them to the eastern shore of the Jordan stepped out into the future’s unknown waters.
On that western shore a new life began.
//
It would be a life of hope and promise, but it would not come easily – there was the still the problem of the current inhabitants of the land: the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites. The book of Joshua does give an account of how some of this conquest of the land took place, including one fairly well-known story about how started their own “occupy Jericho” protest refusing to leave until the walls that stood in their way came-a tumblin’ down.
This year the lectionary will skip over all of those details as next week we will read from the last chapter of Joshua after all of the battles are done and the people are faced with making a choice as to who they will serve in this new land and the new life that comes with it. But the book of Joshua is a good and interesting read – I encourage you to give it a look sometime, maybe even before next Sunday, if you want to be chronological about things.
//
The exodus journey served the purpose of preparing the descendants of Jacob to begin the new version of his old life in Canaan. The things they learned about themselves and God were valuable lessons along the way. As were, the expectations of behaviour and conduct that would govern them as they anticipated what true nationhood would be like. They had their God, their experience and the Law. All this would be the foundation of the new life that lay on the western side of the river.
//
The exodus was a deeply spiritual journey. It is fair to say that the people’s faith was severely tested along the way. But the exodus journey was ultimately a practical one: how people actually lived in this promised land of milk and honey would be the ultimate test.
//
//
How people live out their faith is the theme of Jesus’ comments from the gospel of Matthew in today’s second reading. Jesus has some concerns about the way that some of the synagogue and temple leaders offered their leadership. Jesus recognizes that the Pharisees and Scribes are the keepers of the people’s story and traditions. Jesus does not want his disciples to ignore the lessons that tradition has to offer, but he did have words of caution for some of the actions of these faith leaders. He pointed to a hypocrisy that was obvious in their pursuit of status and honour, all the while chastising others for a lack of faithfulness.
Jesus expected his followers to be leaders as well, but their leadership would not be based on titles or status, but would be God-centred and servant-focused.
They are not to see themselves as rabbis, but rather students – always learning, always growing – even as their lives and actions could serve as examples to others. The Matthew passage ended today with the wonderfully paradoxical statement that self-exaltation leads to humiliation, but that a humble heart will be respected and honoured: all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.
//
I guess one of the calls I am hearing in these passages today is to allow my life to be centred in God. I know that each moment (each choice) can and will bring changes to the path of my life. If I am solely on my own, that can be a scary prospect. But if I have company for the journey, even a hard path is passable.
We are sisters and brothers in faith. We share a common story and tradition which unites us with each other and the one who brought us to this point in history. Now, in this unity, is a wonderful variety that encourages us to see the wideness of God’s grace and the multitude of the gifts of the Spirit. We are like a body with many parts.
And...
We are not alone,
we live in God's world.
We believe in God:
who has created and is creating,
who has come in Jesus,
the Word made flesh,
to reconcile and make new,
who works in us and others
by the Spirit.
We trust in God.
We are called to be the Church:
to celebrate God's presence,
to live with respect in Creation,
to love and serve others,
to seek justice and resist evil,
to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen,
our judge and our hope.
In life, in death, in life beyond death,
God is with us.
We are not alone.
Thanks be to God.
**prayer**
Let us pray:
Holy, Loving God;
We hold you in the sanctuary of our hearts and we are not alone. We hold the story of faith and bring it into a new generation. Hold us always. AMEN.
#3MV River
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Sunday, October 23, 2011
GREATNESS
October 23, 2011
Pentecost 19
Deuteronomy 34:1-12
Matthew 22:34-46
(prayer)
The narrative of Moses and the Israelites’ freedom-journey from Egypt to Canaan is told in the books of Exodus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Moses was born into a time of abhorrent persecution. Exodus tells us that a fearful Pharaoh worried about the cohesiveness and unity experienced among the (presumably) thousands of descendants of Jacob: “Look, the Israelite people are more numerous and more powerful than we. Come let us deal shrewdly with them, or they will increase and, in the event of war, join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.” (Exodus 1:9-10). This led to two very oppressive actions: (1) the Israelites were forced into bitter and ruthless slavery and (2) the Pharaoh put in motion a plan to have male Hebrew babies put to death as soon after birth as possible.
Baby Moses was only saved from this infanticide because of the actions of his mother and sister, Miriam (who hid him in a basket on the river’s edge), and the Pharaoh’s own daughter (who hid him in her household, raising him as her own son).
Later, Moses was called by God to tell the Pharaoh to “let my people go.”
As a result, the Hebrews set out for the wilderness that separated Egypt from Canaan. Along the way, they were fed, even when food was scarce, they were provided with water in a dry desert and they were given a Law to govern their lives as they moved closer to Canaan.
By the time, the narrative reached Deuteronomy, chapter 34 (our first reading today), Moses and the people has made it all the way to the land of Moab and were just one river crossing away from the promised land of Canaan. Moses was 120 years old, but he still had lots of energy; he could still see pretty well and he had a sharp mind, teaching the people the nuances of the Law right up to his final days.
One of the last things Moses did was to hike up Moab’s Mount Nebo on the east side of the Jordan River. From there he could see deep into Canaan. God said to Moses “This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob, saying I will give it to your descendants.”
Moses was the first and great prophet; he achieved freedom for his people; he led them through a harsh wilderness for 40 years; he discerned the will of God for them and was the giver of the Law. In retrospect, we can see that his part in the story of faith was to lead the people to the promised land. He brought them to the doorstep. That was as far as his story went. Moses got to see Canaan from the top of Mount Nebo, but he never made it down from the mountain. He died in those hills and was buried down in the valley just east of the land to which he had led his people.
Moses greatness was celebrated with a thirty day mourning period. And they honoured Moses once again, by accepting the leadership of Moses’ apprentice, Joshua. It was Joshua’s part in the story to lead the people into Canaan.
//
//
A Pharisaic expert in the Law asked Jesus a tricky question: “Which commandment in the Law is the greatest?” To the Hebrew people, the Law is more than the original Ten Commandments. It includes all of the interpretations and applications of the words which tradition eventually claimed that God shared with Moses. It is more likely that the details of the Law evolved over time. But the narrative tradition honours the greatness of Moses, by seeing him as the exclusive giver of the Law. In fact, the entire book of Deuteronomy is written in the context that Moses stood up before the people in Moab and detailed for them specific ways to live faithfully in peace. From long before Jesus’ time, the first five books of the Hebrew Scriptures (Genesis, Exodus Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy) have been called the ‘Books of Moses’ or even just ‘The Law’.
So the question ‘Which commandment in the Law is the greatest?’ gives Jesus a lot of texts to choose from. The author of Matthew is convinced that the lawyer intended to criticize whatever answer Jesus gave.
So what was great in Jesus’ mind?
He quoted what we label as Deuteronomy 6:4-5 (also called the ‘shəma’): 4Hear, O Israel: The LORD is our God, the LORD alone. 5You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.
This simple commandment had come to be very close to the hearts of the Hebrew people. It is called the shəma because that word is the first word in the text (Hear). It is an affirmation of faith and it is a declaration that Yahweh is God. In Deuteronomy 6:7 the people are instructed (concerning the shəma commandment): 7Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise.
In Hebrew tradition these words are to be said as a prayer as people come and go from their homes – in the morning and at night. For many modern Jews, the words of the shəma are contained on a small plaque nailed to the house door post. People touch it and recite the shəma as they come and go. [The next time you’re watching the movie “Fiddler on the Roof” take note that Tevye takes his shəma off his door post as he prepares to leave Anatevka.]
Even in Jesus’ day: this daily, coming and going, prayer ritual is a legacy of the great prophet Moses. It was widely practiced. When Jesus answered the question about the greatest commandment with the words of the shəma – everyone listening had to have understood the centrality of those words. Jesus calls the shəma “the greatest and first commandment and then (even though he wasn’t asked) Jesus quickly names number two (what we label as the second part of Leviticus 19:18): 18...you shall love your neighbour as yourself.
”On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 22:40), Jesus concluded.
Jesus may indeed have given the perfect answer to the question: he makes a good point - the entire Torah really could be divided into two basic categories: laws that show a love for God and laws that show a love for people. Since Jesus covered the entire Torah with his answer, he must have answered correctly.
The greatest commandment is To Love.
The command to love is great!
It’s sort of like Jesus is saying that it is a great thing to love. And it isn’t too much of a leap to say that one who loves is doing a great thing or that greatness is seen in the living out of love.
//
It’s easy to say (or even sing): “All you need is love. Do...dado..dado...”. But loving God requires a bit of letting go of some other things that distract us from faithful living. And loving others requires us to set aside judgements of who is worthy. Jesus calls us to love our neighbours, but let’s be honest some neighbours are easier to love than others! And if we are really honest: a few of them might seem impossible to love!
In order to participate as fully as possible in the living out of these great commandments, we have to be honest with ourselves about what might be holding us back.
//
What can hold us back from loving neighbours as ourselves? Well first of all, that commandment implies that we love ourselves. That isn’t always true. When we look in the mirror: is there a part of us that questions whether we are worthy of love?
Every single one of us falls short of our potential: that’s a reality of the human experience.
But sometimes, the message from all around us exaggerates that point in a way that is beyond what really matters. Are we thin enough, fit enough, is our hair colour holding us back? Do our clothes or house or toys express “success”? Are we charitable enough; do we save enough for retirement; do we recycle enough?
If we let these questions mess with us too much, we can actually believe that we are not worthy of adoration and admiration. And yet, the centre of God’s torah is compassion and love – a love beyond condition or judgment. God does not see shortfalls or limitations – God (as the Bible says) “is” love!
If we can open to the belief that God loves us, we can love ourselves. That, Jesus kind of says, frees us up to be able to love our neighbours.
//
Then we might ask: what holds us back from loving our neighbours? And I mean neighbour in the broadest possible sense. We find neighbours in many circles of our lives – within our families, in the church, in our neighbourhoods, our schools, our work places, around town, within our province, country and we have neighbours all over this globe! Everyone one is our neighbour!
Usually there are one of four attitudes that hold us back from loving the totality of our neighbours:
1. Fear
2. Anger
3. Selfishness
4. (and good old fashioned) Prejudice
//
Fear is a hard attitude to shake. Fear is sold to us so strongly in our media. Lock your doors. Watch out for the gangs, the thieves, the terrorists. If it’s not West Nile, it’s H1N1 or the bird flu or SARS. Just barricade yourself and try and survive to see tomorrow. And of course, we are right on the edge of the end of the world (wasn’t it supposed to end this past Friday); don’t relax though, next year is 2012 and we all know what the Mayans said that means! Fear can paralyze us from loving neighbours.
//
//
Anger has a lot of similarities to Fear. It is a lens through which we look at neighbours. Anger is a sign that something is out of balance in our lives – in that way, anger could be described as an out-going version of sadness. We are missing something: maybe we internalize that and feel sad or we externalize it and react out of anger. When we see the source of this imbalance as coming from others – anger can get in the way of loving our neighbour. It is very hard to be loving while we are angry. Anger can keep us from being able to love.
//
We will never be able to focus our efforts on the love of neighbour if all we care about is ourselves. Selfishness is perhaps the greatest opponent of a love of neighbour. We might not be afraid of our neighbours, we might not be angry with them, but if we simply ignore them because our own narcissistic desires, we are a long way from the great love Jesus was talking about. The Love that Jesus preached cannot exist in a bubble only big enough for one (or the few closest to us). Selfishness will thwart many of our opportunities to live out the commandment to love.
//
Some people limit their ability to love because of pre-conceived notions of who the neighbour is.
You know, in another new testament story Jesus reminded us that a love of neighbour really has nothing to do with the identity of the neighbour: it is found in Luke chapter 10 and is in response to a very similar passage we heard from Matthew today. Some of you may know this story. In response to the Levitical statement love your neighbour as yourself, the person talking to Jesus asked “ahh, but who is my neighbour?” Where are the edges of this requirement to love?
Jesus told the story about a person from Judea who was mugged along the road between Jericho and Jerusalem. The priest (who passed by) wouldn’t dirty himself by helping the injured man; likewise a Levite (a respected temple worker) walked on the other side of the road to avoid the man. In the end, it was a foreigner from Samaria who brought the man to safety and tended to his wounds. People from Judea did not like Samaritans – they were seen as unfaithful for their refusal to recognize Jerusalem as the centre for Hebrew life and faith. Samaritans were not neighbours in any sense of the word. [The feeling was mutual – Samaritans didn’t think much of Judeans. After all, what was Jerusalem compared to Bethel?] But in the context of this story, Jesus didn’t get into that old battle, but simply asked which person was a neighbour to the injured man? “The one who showed him mercy” was the only possible answer. Go and do the same, Jesus said.
In spite of Jesus words, some people (even many that consider themselves Christian) limit their ability to love because of pre-conceived notions of who the neighbour is. Whole groups of people can be written off as unworthy of love because of some category we put them in. Obviously, we see this in racism, homophobia, sexism. But I believe that overt prejudice on aspects of people that are beyond their control is quickly fading from our society. It is increasingly hard for people to find support for a prejudice based on skin colour or sexual orientation or gendre. For the vast majority of the younger generations, these are not issues at all.
And yet, there can be a lot of support for a prejudice based on ‘choices’ people have made.
Criminals, dictators, down-right evildoers: they don’t deserve our compassion and love, do they? Clifford Olsen’s and Paul Bernardo’s horrific actions have exempted them from being seen as neighbours worthy of our love, right? Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden, Muammar Ghadafi: these men did evil things. Surely, we can’t be expected to love them.
For some people of faith their religious fundamentalism doesn’t allow them to honestly have a love for people outside their expression and practice of faith. That kind of prejudice of okay, isn’t it?
//
Jesus’ highlight of this commandment has its hard edge, where love is extremely challenging.
For me, I find it helpful to distinguish between “like” and love; between “respect” and love. I believe I can love someone I may not like or respect.
The love of that ancient commandment is a call to see ourselves as part of a wider circle of compassion – a compassion that is the source of existence itself. Without the love of God, life would not exist. And so, to love our neighbours (ALL our neighbours) is to appreciate the enduring and eternal love of God.
//
That brings us back to the ‘greatest’ commandment: love God with your whole being (heart, soul, strength are the words used in Deuteronomy) – I know that the gospel writers have slightly different lists as they quote Jesus:
• Matthew: heart, soul and mind.
• Mark: heart, soul, mind and strength
• Luke: heart, soul, strength and mind.
Matthew eliminates ‘strength’ for some reason and they all add ‘mind’ to the list. Given that Greek philosophy and culture dominated the world of the Roman Empire: still strong from the years of Alexander the Great, some three hundred years earlier, this is not all that surprising – it may very well be true that the place of ‘reason’ was much more secure in the 1st century than it was in Moses’ day.
I kind of doubt that Jesus mis-quoted the shəma. But a few decades later when the authors of the gospels were writing in Greek to churches that were no longer exclusively Jewish, I can imagine, the ‘mind’ sneaking into the old story. It doesn’t really matter – even the three characteristics mentioned in the deuteronomic shəma should not be seen as an exhaustive list. The first and greatest commandment is to love God with everything we’ve got! The emotional (heart); the spiritual (soul); the physical (might, strength). Love God with all that we feel, with all that we believe and with all that we do!
//
As I have reflected on this passage over the years, I have sort of concluded that the characteristic that is hardest for us to give to God is that one added by the gospel writers: love God with all that we think – love God with our whole mind.
As our species grows in knowledge, we can begin to think that there is no room or need for God. We are all that we need. We are masters of the universe. Any mystery that still exists is just a scientific breakthrough away. God is a figment of our imaginations. We can reason our way out of a need for God.
To be able to love God with our whole heart, soul and might in this modern world, we are faced with the challenge of loving God with our mind as well.
That requires another biblically-encouraged means of living: humility. The call to be humble invites us to temper our mind with our heart – to let feelings invade the realm of thought. All of the gospel writers knew that as they all included both the head and the heart in the list of ways to love God: and the heart is at the start of the list.
[Now a quick inside sermon for fans of the Myers-Briggs Personality Inventory, the notion of letting the heart into where the mind exists may come easier to an ISFJ, like myself; but remember my “T” friends, we all need to live away from our preferences from time to time – no matter what our four letters turn out to be, we all have the capacity to both think and feel. End of inside MBTI sermon.]
The simple truth is that faith is not rational. Faith is believing without seeing, without solid confirmation. Faith is believing without evidence.
Loving God invites us to love what may sometimes be hard to grasp. To love God is to let go of the notion that there is no real mystery out there.
There is really nothing other than blind reason that is stopping us from looking at this marvellous universe (and the wonder of the life we do know) and just humbly being open to the mystery that something, someone beyond our understanding is part of this experience along with us. God?
Which is the greatest commandment in all of the Law? ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.’ This is the first and greatest commandment and the second is like it ‘you shall love your neighbour as yourself.’
Jesus was not just saying nice words – Jesus was challenging those inspired by him to commit to the hard work of deep and honest and humble and faithful loving – especially when it might make sense not to.
Let us pray:
Holy and Great God,
In you is folded the mystery of our lives. Help us live out the kind of love you have for us. Amen.
#603VU “In Loving Partnership”
Pentecost 19
Deuteronomy 34:1-12
Matthew 22:34-46
(prayer)
The narrative of Moses and the Israelites’ freedom-journey from Egypt to Canaan is told in the books of Exodus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Moses was born into a time of abhorrent persecution. Exodus tells us that a fearful Pharaoh worried about the cohesiveness and unity experienced among the (presumably) thousands of descendants of Jacob: “Look, the Israelite people are more numerous and more powerful than we. Come let us deal shrewdly with them, or they will increase and, in the event of war, join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.” (Exodus 1:9-10). This led to two very oppressive actions: (1) the Israelites were forced into bitter and ruthless slavery and (2) the Pharaoh put in motion a plan to have male Hebrew babies put to death as soon after birth as possible.
Baby Moses was only saved from this infanticide because of the actions of his mother and sister, Miriam (who hid him in a basket on the river’s edge), and the Pharaoh’s own daughter (who hid him in her household, raising him as her own son).
Later, Moses was called by God to tell the Pharaoh to “let my people go.”
As a result, the Hebrews set out for the wilderness that separated Egypt from Canaan. Along the way, they were fed, even when food was scarce, they were provided with water in a dry desert and they were given a Law to govern their lives as they moved closer to Canaan.
By the time, the narrative reached Deuteronomy, chapter 34 (our first reading today), Moses and the people has made it all the way to the land of Moab and were just one river crossing away from the promised land of Canaan. Moses was 120 years old, but he still had lots of energy; he could still see pretty well and he had a sharp mind, teaching the people the nuances of the Law right up to his final days.
One of the last things Moses did was to hike up Moab’s Mount Nebo on the east side of the Jordan River. From there he could see deep into Canaan. God said to Moses “This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob, saying I will give it to your descendants.”
Moses was the first and great prophet; he achieved freedom for his people; he led them through a harsh wilderness for 40 years; he discerned the will of God for them and was the giver of the Law. In retrospect, we can see that his part in the story of faith was to lead the people to the promised land. He brought them to the doorstep. That was as far as his story went. Moses got to see Canaan from the top of Mount Nebo, but he never made it down from the mountain. He died in those hills and was buried down in the valley just east of the land to which he had led his people.
Moses greatness was celebrated with a thirty day mourning period. And they honoured Moses once again, by accepting the leadership of Moses’ apprentice, Joshua. It was Joshua’s part in the story to lead the people into Canaan.
//
//
A Pharisaic expert in the Law asked Jesus a tricky question: “Which commandment in the Law is the greatest?” To the Hebrew people, the Law is more than the original Ten Commandments. It includes all of the interpretations and applications of the words which tradition eventually claimed that God shared with Moses. It is more likely that the details of the Law evolved over time. But the narrative tradition honours the greatness of Moses, by seeing him as the exclusive giver of the Law. In fact, the entire book of Deuteronomy is written in the context that Moses stood up before the people in Moab and detailed for them specific ways to live faithfully in peace. From long before Jesus’ time, the first five books of the Hebrew Scriptures (Genesis, Exodus Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy) have been called the ‘Books of Moses’ or even just ‘The Law’.
So the question ‘Which commandment in the Law is the greatest?’ gives Jesus a lot of texts to choose from. The author of Matthew is convinced that the lawyer intended to criticize whatever answer Jesus gave.
So what was great in Jesus’ mind?
He quoted what we label as Deuteronomy 6:4-5 (also called the ‘shəma’): 4Hear, O Israel: The LORD is our God, the LORD alone. 5You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.
This simple commandment had come to be very close to the hearts of the Hebrew people. It is called the shəma because that word is the first word in the text (Hear). It is an affirmation of faith and it is a declaration that Yahweh is God. In Deuteronomy 6:7 the people are instructed (concerning the shəma commandment): 7Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise.
In Hebrew tradition these words are to be said as a prayer as people come and go from their homes – in the morning and at night. For many modern Jews, the words of the shəma are contained on a small plaque nailed to the house door post. People touch it and recite the shəma as they come and go. [The next time you’re watching the movie “Fiddler on the Roof” take note that Tevye takes his shəma off his door post as he prepares to leave Anatevka.]
Even in Jesus’ day: this daily, coming and going, prayer ritual is a legacy of the great prophet Moses. It was widely practiced. When Jesus answered the question about the greatest commandment with the words of the shəma – everyone listening had to have understood the centrality of those words. Jesus calls the shəma “the greatest and first commandment and then (even though he wasn’t asked) Jesus quickly names number two (what we label as the second part of Leviticus 19:18): 18...you shall love your neighbour as yourself.
”On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 22:40), Jesus concluded.
Jesus may indeed have given the perfect answer to the question: he makes a good point - the entire Torah really could be divided into two basic categories: laws that show a love for God and laws that show a love for people. Since Jesus covered the entire Torah with his answer, he must have answered correctly.
The greatest commandment is To Love.
The command to love is great!
It’s sort of like Jesus is saying that it is a great thing to love. And it isn’t too much of a leap to say that one who loves is doing a great thing or that greatness is seen in the living out of love.
//
It’s easy to say (or even sing): “All you need is love. Do...dado..dado...”. But loving God requires a bit of letting go of some other things that distract us from faithful living. And loving others requires us to set aside judgements of who is worthy. Jesus calls us to love our neighbours, but let’s be honest some neighbours are easier to love than others! And if we are really honest: a few of them might seem impossible to love!
In order to participate as fully as possible in the living out of these great commandments, we have to be honest with ourselves about what might be holding us back.
//
What can hold us back from loving neighbours as ourselves? Well first of all, that commandment implies that we love ourselves. That isn’t always true. When we look in the mirror: is there a part of us that questions whether we are worthy of love?
Every single one of us falls short of our potential: that’s a reality of the human experience.
But sometimes, the message from all around us exaggerates that point in a way that is beyond what really matters. Are we thin enough, fit enough, is our hair colour holding us back? Do our clothes or house or toys express “success”? Are we charitable enough; do we save enough for retirement; do we recycle enough?
If we let these questions mess with us too much, we can actually believe that we are not worthy of adoration and admiration. And yet, the centre of God’s torah is compassion and love – a love beyond condition or judgment. God does not see shortfalls or limitations – God (as the Bible says) “is” love!
If we can open to the belief that God loves us, we can love ourselves. That, Jesus kind of says, frees us up to be able to love our neighbours.
//
Then we might ask: what holds us back from loving our neighbours? And I mean neighbour in the broadest possible sense. We find neighbours in many circles of our lives – within our families, in the church, in our neighbourhoods, our schools, our work places, around town, within our province, country and we have neighbours all over this globe! Everyone one is our neighbour!
Usually there are one of four attitudes that hold us back from loving the totality of our neighbours:
1. Fear
2. Anger
3. Selfishness
4. (and good old fashioned) Prejudice
//
Fear is a hard attitude to shake. Fear is sold to us so strongly in our media. Lock your doors. Watch out for the gangs, the thieves, the terrorists. If it’s not West Nile, it’s H1N1 or the bird flu or SARS. Just barricade yourself and try and survive to see tomorrow. And of course, we are right on the edge of the end of the world (wasn’t it supposed to end this past Friday); don’t relax though, next year is 2012 and we all know what the Mayans said that means! Fear can paralyze us from loving neighbours.
//
//
Anger has a lot of similarities to Fear. It is a lens through which we look at neighbours. Anger is a sign that something is out of balance in our lives – in that way, anger could be described as an out-going version of sadness. We are missing something: maybe we internalize that and feel sad or we externalize it and react out of anger. When we see the source of this imbalance as coming from others – anger can get in the way of loving our neighbour. It is very hard to be loving while we are angry. Anger can keep us from being able to love.
//
We will never be able to focus our efforts on the love of neighbour if all we care about is ourselves. Selfishness is perhaps the greatest opponent of a love of neighbour. We might not be afraid of our neighbours, we might not be angry with them, but if we simply ignore them because our own narcissistic desires, we are a long way from the great love Jesus was talking about. The Love that Jesus preached cannot exist in a bubble only big enough for one (or the few closest to us). Selfishness will thwart many of our opportunities to live out the commandment to love.
//
Some people limit their ability to love because of pre-conceived notions of who the neighbour is.
You know, in another new testament story Jesus reminded us that a love of neighbour really has nothing to do with the identity of the neighbour: it is found in Luke chapter 10 and is in response to a very similar passage we heard from Matthew today. Some of you may know this story. In response to the Levitical statement love your neighbour as yourself, the person talking to Jesus asked “ahh, but who is my neighbour?” Where are the edges of this requirement to love?
Jesus told the story about a person from Judea who was mugged along the road between Jericho and Jerusalem. The priest (who passed by) wouldn’t dirty himself by helping the injured man; likewise a Levite (a respected temple worker) walked on the other side of the road to avoid the man. In the end, it was a foreigner from Samaria who brought the man to safety and tended to his wounds. People from Judea did not like Samaritans – they were seen as unfaithful for their refusal to recognize Jerusalem as the centre for Hebrew life and faith. Samaritans were not neighbours in any sense of the word. [The feeling was mutual – Samaritans didn’t think much of Judeans. After all, what was Jerusalem compared to Bethel?] But in the context of this story, Jesus didn’t get into that old battle, but simply asked which person was a neighbour to the injured man? “The one who showed him mercy” was the only possible answer. Go and do the same, Jesus said.
In spite of Jesus words, some people (even many that consider themselves Christian) limit their ability to love because of pre-conceived notions of who the neighbour is. Whole groups of people can be written off as unworthy of love because of some category we put them in. Obviously, we see this in racism, homophobia, sexism. But I believe that overt prejudice on aspects of people that are beyond their control is quickly fading from our society. It is increasingly hard for people to find support for a prejudice based on skin colour or sexual orientation or gendre. For the vast majority of the younger generations, these are not issues at all.
And yet, there can be a lot of support for a prejudice based on ‘choices’ people have made.
Criminals, dictators, down-right evildoers: they don’t deserve our compassion and love, do they? Clifford Olsen’s and Paul Bernardo’s horrific actions have exempted them from being seen as neighbours worthy of our love, right? Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden, Muammar Ghadafi: these men did evil things. Surely, we can’t be expected to love them.
For some people of faith their religious fundamentalism doesn’t allow them to honestly have a love for people outside their expression and practice of faith. That kind of prejudice of okay, isn’t it?
//
Jesus’ highlight of this commandment has its hard edge, where love is extremely challenging.
For me, I find it helpful to distinguish between “like” and love; between “respect” and love. I believe I can love someone I may not like or respect.
The love of that ancient commandment is a call to see ourselves as part of a wider circle of compassion – a compassion that is the source of existence itself. Without the love of God, life would not exist. And so, to love our neighbours (ALL our neighbours) is to appreciate the enduring and eternal love of God.
//
That brings us back to the ‘greatest’ commandment: love God with your whole being (heart, soul, strength are the words used in Deuteronomy) – I know that the gospel writers have slightly different lists as they quote Jesus:
• Matthew: heart, soul and mind.
• Mark: heart, soul, mind and strength
• Luke: heart, soul, strength and mind.
Matthew eliminates ‘strength’ for some reason and they all add ‘mind’ to the list. Given that Greek philosophy and culture dominated the world of the Roman Empire: still strong from the years of Alexander the Great, some three hundred years earlier, this is not all that surprising – it may very well be true that the place of ‘reason’ was much more secure in the 1st century than it was in Moses’ day.
I kind of doubt that Jesus mis-quoted the shəma. But a few decades later when the authors of the gospels were writing in Greek to churches that were no longer exclusively Jewish, I can imagine, the ‘mind’ sneaking into the old story. It doesn’t really matter – even the three characteristics mentioned in the deuteronomic shəma should not be seen as an exhaustive list. The first and greatest commandment is to love God with everything we’ve got! The emotional (heart); the spiritual (soul); the physical (might, strength). Love God with all that we feel, with all that we believe and with all that we do!
//
As I have reflected on this passage over the years, I have sort of concluded that the characteristic that is hardest for us to give to God is that one added by the gospel writers: love God with all that we think – love God with our whole mind.
As our species grows in knowledge, we can begin to think that there is no room or need for God. We are all that we need. We are masters of the universe. Any mystery that still exists is just a scientific breakthrough away. God is a figment of our imaginations. We can reason our way out of a need for God.
To be able to love God with our whole heart, soul and might in this modern world, we are faced with the challenge of loving God with our mind as well.
That requires another biblically-encouraged means of living: humility. The call to be humble invites us to temper our mind with our heart – to let feelings invade the realm of thought. All of the gospel writers knew that as they all included both the head and the heart in the list of ways to love God: and the heart is at the start of the list.
[Now a quick inside sermon for fans of the Myers-Briggs Personality Inventory, the notion of letting the heart into where the mind exists may come easier to an ISFJ, like myself; but remember my “T” friends, we all need to live away from our preferences from time to time – no matter what our four letters turn out to be, we all have the capacity to both think and feel. End of inside MBTI sermon.]
The simple truth is that faith is not rational. Faith is believing without seeing, without solid confirmation. Faith is believing without evidence.
Loving God invites us to love what may sometimes be hard to grasp. To love God is to let go of the notion that there is no real mystery out there.
There is really nothing other than blind reason that is stopping us from looking at this marvellous universe (and the wonder of the life we do know) and just humbly being open to the mystery that something, someone beyond our understanding is part of this experience along with us. God?
Which is the greatest commandment in all of the Law? ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.’ This is the first and greatest commandment and the second is like it ‘you shall love your neighbour as yourself.’
Jesus was not just saying nice words – Jesus was challenging those inspired by him to commit to the hard work of deep and honest and humble and faithful loving – especially when it might make sense not to.
Let us pray:
Holy and Great God,
In you is folded the mystery of our lives. Help us live out the kind of love you have for us. Amen.
#603VU “In Loving Partnership”
Sunday, October 16, 2011
THINGS THAT ARE GOD'S
October 16, 2011
Pentecost 18
Exodus 33:12-23
Matthew 22:15-22
(prayer)
Some of you may know that when I came to Leduc to be your minister eleven years ago, it was kind-of my move home. I’m from around here (Edmonton-born and raised). I studied theology and earned my Masters of Divinity degree at the Vancouver School of Theology. While I took to coastal life quite well, it never really became ‘home’ for me.
After I was ordained, I went Swan Hills as a rookie minister. They put up with me for six years. I completed my first decade in this vocation at a large church in Red Deer. I was glad to spend those ten years in Alberta, but I did imagine that (ultimately) I would end up back in Edmonton. And then I heard through the grapevine that St. David’s in Leduc might be looking for a new minister. Then I did a very wise thing – I asked my spouse if Leduc qualified as ‘Edmonton’. As a location, I needed to know if Leduc was a place our family might seek to put down some roots. Patti said ‘yes’. So, the location worked. Fortunately, through the interview process it seemed to be a good match pastorally as well.
One of the things I missed when I was living in Vancouver was the dramatic change of seasons we can experience in this part of the world. I actually like our capital region weather, year round. I want a white, cold winter and a warm, green summer. And I especially like the crisp days of fall! I was married in October – our wedding colours were fall colours (dark red and yellow and orange).
I spend three nights a week on a football practice field at this time of year. While I do hear some people lament to cool air and the darker evenings – I feel a rush of contentment. This is my favourite time of the year.
Autumn is a time of beauty and...it is a time of necessary transition. Winter will force us to slow down and winter IS coming – so we have to adjust.
It is a time when we watch our world transform around us. And so it is a fitting time to be reading the two scripture passages we heard a few moments ago – because they are enveloped in the theme of transformation!
//
//
Today’s reading from Exodus gives us a fascinating glimpse into Moses’ relationship with God: Moses had no problem raising issues with God, even arguing with God if he thought God needed to adjust God’s divine thinking.
Within the biblical narrative that leads up to Moses’ time, there are a few exceptional descriptions of people who have a very familial relationship with God. This personal relationship sits in obvious contrast to the more commonly-spoken-of broad national relationship which God had with all of the Israelites.
From the first day they met at a fiery, non-burning bush, Moses was on a first name basis with God.
“Moses, I Am Who I Am; I Am Who I Am, Moses”
God invited Moses over to God’s home in the mountains. As I mentioned earlier Moses had a comfortable-enough relationship with God, that Moses felt he could ask God for even more from the relationship. Last week (if you were in church) we heard the story of how the people got impatient while Moses was up on the mountain with that distant God, that they convinced Moses’ brother, Aaron, to authorize the creation of a God they could see and touch (the Golden Calf). Meanwhile up on the mountain, God was angry and ready to give up on this impatient, unfaithful nation. It was Moses who convinced God to remember the original covenant where God declared to Abraham: “I will multiply your descendants like the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.”
“I will be their God and they will be my people.”
Today, we heard how Moses desired the relationship with God to become even more familial, more personal: “show me your ways, so that I may know you.” “Show me your glory!”.
God listened intently to Moses’ request and met him halfway: ‘I will make all my goodness pass before you...[but] you cannot see my face.’ While my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by; then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back; but my face shall not be seen.’ Not quite ‘seeing and touching’, but familial and personal nonetheless.
God declared to Moses: I know you by name...[and I] will proclaim before you the name, “Yahweh” (God’s name).
Moses sought a transformation with his relationship with God and he wanted God to be transformative in the lives of all the people!
//
It is undeniable that, in our communities and in our world, there is hatred, prejudice, bullying etc. And so much is based on generalities: broad stroke rhetoric and systemic conflict. But when we take the time to get to know someone – to understand who they are and they, us – compassion has a chance to enter the situation.
I believe that tolerance is gaining more acceptance in our society and this broadens our relationships and allows us to understand each other better. We, as United Church people, know the truth of this (given our history of ecclesial-leading living out of the belief that ‘God’s love is for all’).
Taking the time to understand - allows for transition and transformation nto happen.
//
One of the things that Jesus tried to get the crowd to understand is that our relationship with God is worth paying attention to – we may proclaim God as lord and sovereign in our lives and yet this relationship is unlike another we can imagine. It’s more that we might first imagine.
Look at how Jesus responded to those who sought to embarrass him in front of his followers. “Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor?”
What a loaded question.
Now I know that, in our time, “taxes” can be a dirty word, but the first century middle eastern experience was quite different from our modern one. We pay taxes to serve our common good – we pool our resources to build roads and hospitals; to provide education and social services; to enhance our culture and to maintain a safe society. In the context of the Roman Empire, the taxes did not improve the lives of those who paid the taxes. It was thrust away to serve the emperor – used for the emperor’s enjoyment of ‘a life of excess’ and to tighten the emperor’s grip on power. In fact, one of the main reasons that a key goal of empires is to constantly be expanding is to broaden the tax base and to add to the emperor’s wealth and power. It’s never about a better life for the occupied people.
[“What have the Romans ever done for us?” The aqueducts...]
Monty Python fans might get that reference.
//
So, the Pharisees and supporters of King Herod were pretty sure that an ethical, man of the people like Jesus would never support such an unfair system of taxation. If he did support the system, he would seem a hypocrite to his followers, but if he openly spoke against the law of Caesar, he could be branded as a traitor of the Empire. Either way, they were pretty sure that there was no way out of this for Jesus. His movement would be discredited for sure!
So, what does Jesus do – he flips the hypocrisy coin on his accusers – ‘why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites? Who’s image is on the coin you pay taxes with? Give to the Emperor what belongs to the Emperor.’
If Jesus would have stopped there, the Herodians and the Pharisees’ plan would have worked perfectly, but Jesus added in a second instruction ‘and...give to God what belongs to God.’ Aye, there’s the rub. Give to God what is due to God.
That makes this a personal question of faith for everyone in the crowd: including the Pharisees and Herodians. And yet this was still a deeply political statement – it was to say that true allegiance was to be given to God, not to Caesar. God was sovereign and lord in our lives, not the Emperor in Rome. Jesus’ point to his accusers (fellow Jews) was that they should feel the same way, too, if their faith really meant anything to them.
//
//
Throughout his ministry, Jesus was concerned (primarily) with the people’s relationship with their God. His first sermon was to say (as John the Baptist had): “Repent (turn back to God) for the Kingdom of God is at hand.” Jesus wanted people to be aware of this spiritual kinship – and to honour that relationship with our devotion and with our words and actions – especially how they affect our relationships with each other. Jesus was always concerned about this three-way spiritual connection – God, Self, Neighbour.
• “Repent, for the Realm of God is at hand.”
• “Love God with all your heart, soul and strength and love your neighbour as yourself.”
• “Give to God what belongs to God.”
Jesus’ basic message...was about the transformation of our lives.
//
Moses sought to transform his relationship with God. Yes, God was ‘lord and sovereign’, but Moses desired something more basic, more personal. God and Moses were on a first name basis; they willingly spent time together; Moses even asked to see God in a way that had never been done before: Moses desired less of a king-subject relationship; less of a master-servant relationship; less of a teacher-student relationship (although it was all those things): Moses desired more. Moses desired friendship.
//
In the Gospel of John, just before his betrayal and arrest, Jesus tells his disciples (his ‘students’): ‘I do not call you servants any longer...but I have called you friends.’
Jesus says this is because they have shared so much together – there is a distance in the more formal hierarchical relationship descriptions that do not do full justice to the way Jesus and his ‘friends’ had gotten to know each other.
Can we find a friend so faithful,
who will all our sorrows bare?
//
Our relationship with God (through Jesus) is complex. Some much of our language about it is hierarchical – because, in some ways, that makes sense. But in our lessons today, we see that (from some of the earliest parts of our faith history, through the time that Jesus of Nazareth walked this earth, right up to today) there is a more personal, familial aspect to this covenant relationship. We are invited to transform our way of thinking and being so that we see ourselves as friends of our God.
I’m sure we know what kind of characteristics mark a healthy friendship. What do you say – shout out a characteristic of a healthy friendship.
1. loyal
2. honest
3. unconditional love
4.
If we can include these aspects into the depths of our spirit – we can transform our relationship with God.
The apostle Paul spoke of enduring love saying that it is patient and kind; it is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
//
Faithfulness, trust, understanding, an openness to change/growth, a humility that allows for mystery – these all will foster better relations with each other – and they will deepen our friendship with God.
As you live in this time of falling leaves and crisper air; as the world transforms around you – let yourself be open to the unique friendship each of us can have with our maker and friend.
Let us pray:
God, my friend;
It is good to know you. Journey with me. I’m glad you see me as your friend!
Amen.
#250 VU “O God of Matchless Glory”
Pentecost 18
Exodus 33:12-23
Matthew 22:15-22
(prayer)
Some of you may know that when I came to Leduc to be your minister eleven years ago, it was kind-of my move home. I’m from around here (Edmonton-born and raised). I studied theology and earned my Masters of Divinity degree at the Vancouver School of Theology. While I took to coastal life quite well, it never really became ‘home’ for me.
After I was ordained, I went Swan Hills as a rookie minister. They put up with me for six years. I completed my first decade in this vocation at a large church in Red Deer. I was glad to spend those ten years in Alberta, but I did imagine that (ultimately) I would end up back in Edmonton. And then I heard through the grapevine that St. David’s in Leduc might be looking for a new minister. Then I did a very wise thing – I asked my spouse if Leduc qualified as ‘Edmonton’. As a location, I needed to know if Leduc was a place our family might seek to put down some roots. Patti said ‘yes’. So, the location worked. Fortunately, through the interview process it seemed to be a good match pastorally as well.
One of the things I missed when I was living in Vancouver was the dramatic change of seasons we can experience in this part of the world. I actually like our capital region weather, year round. I want a white, cold winter and a warm, green summer. And I especially like the crisp days of fall! I was married in October – our wedding colours were fall colours (dark red and yellow and orange).
I spend three nights a week on a football practice field at this time of year. While I do hear some people lament to cool air and the darker evenings – I feel a rush of contentment. This is my favourite time of the year.
Autumn is a time of beauty and...it is a time of necessary transition. Winter will force us to slow down and winter IS coming – so we have to adjust.
It is a time when we watch our world transform around us. And so it is a fitting time to be reading the two scripture passages we heard a few moments ago – because they are enveloped in the theme of transformation!
//
//
Today’s reading from Exodus gives us a fascinating glimpse into Moses’ relationship with God: Moses had no problem raising issues with God, even arguing with God if he thought God needed to adjust God’s divine thinking.
Within the biblical narrative that leads up to Moses’ time, there are a few exceptional descriptions of people who have a very familial relationship with God. This personal relationship sits in obvious contrast to the more commonly-spoken-of broad national relationship which God had with all of the Israelites.
From the first day they met at a fiery, non-burning bush, Moses was on a first name basis with God.
“Moses, I Am Who I Am; I Am Who I Am, Moses”
God invited Moses over to God’s home in the mountains. As I mentioned earlier Moses had a comfortable-enough relationship with God, that Moses felt he could ask God for even more from the relationship. Last week (if you were in church) we heard the story of how the people got impatient while Moses was up on the mountain with that distant God, that they convinced Moses’ brother, Aaron, to authorize the creation of a God they could see and touch (the Golden Calf). Meanwhile up on the mountain, God was angry and ready to give up on this impatient, unfaithful nation. It was Moses who convinced God to remember the original covenant where God declared to Abraham: “I will multiply your descendants like the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.”
“I will be their God and they will be my people.”
Today, we heard how Moses desired the relationship with God to become even more familial, more personal: “show me your ways, so that I may know you.” “Show me your glory!”.
God listened intently to Moses’ request and met him halfway: ‘I will make all my goodness pass before you...[but] you cannot see my face.’ While my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by; then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back; but my face shall not be seen.’ Not quite ‘seeing and touching’, but familial and personal nonetheless.
God declared to Moses: I know you by name...[and I] will proclaim before you the name, “Yahweh” (God’s name).
Moses sought a transformation with his relationship with God and he wanted God to be transformative in the lives of all the people!
//
It is undeniable that, in our communities and in our world, there is hatred, prejudice, bullying etc. And so much is based on generalities: broad stroke rhetoric and systemic conflict. But when we take the time to get to know someone – to understand who they are and they, us – compassion has a chance to enter the situation.
I believe that tolerance is gaining more acceptance in our society and this broadens our relationships and allows us to understand each other better. We, as United Church people, know the truth of this (given our history of ecclesial-leading living out of the belief that ‘God’s love is for all’).
Taking the time to understand - allows for transition and transformation nto happen.
//
One of the things that Jesus tried to get the crowd to understand is that our relationship with God is worth paying attention to – we may proclaim God as lord and sovereign in our lives and yet this relationship is unlike another we can imagine. It’s more that we might first imagine.
Look at how Jesus responded to those who sought to embarrass him in front of his followers. “Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor?”
What a loaded question.
Now I know that, in our time, “taxes” can be a dirty word, but the first century middle eastern experience was quite different from our modern one. We pay taxes to serve our common good – we pool our resources to build roads and hospitals; to provide education and social services; to enhance our culture and to maintain a safe society. In the context of the Roman Empire, the taxes did not improve the lives of those who paid the taxes. It was thrust away to serve the emperor – used for the emperor’s enjoyment of ‘a life of excess’ and to tighten the emperor’s grip on power. In fact, one of the main reasons that a key goal of empires is to constantly be expanding is to broaden the tax base and to add to the emperor’s wealth and power. It’s never about a better life for the occupied people.
[“What have the Romans ever done for us?” The aqueducts...]
Monty Python fans might get that reference.
//
So, the Pharisees and supporters of King Herod were pretty sure that an ethical, man of the people like Jesus would never support such an unfair system of taxation. If he did support the system, he would seem a hypocrite to his followers, but if he openly spoke against the law of Caesar, he could be branded as a traitor of the Empire. Either way, they were pretty sure that there was no way out of this for Jesus. His movement would be discredited for sure!
So, what does Jesus do – he flips the hypocrisy coin on his accusers – ‘why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites? Who’s image is on the coin you pay taxes with? Give to the Emperor what belongs to the Emperor.’
If Jesus would have stopped there, the Herodians and the Pharisees’ plan would have worked perfectly, but Jesus added in a second instruction ‘and...give to God what belongs to God.’ Aye, there’s the rub. Give to God what is due to God.
That makes this a personal question of faith for everyone in the crowd: including the Pharisees and Herodians. And yet this was still a deeply political statement – it was to say that true allegiance was to be given to God, not to Caesar. God was sovereign and lord in our lives, not the Emperor in Rome. Jesus’ point to his accusers (fellow Jews) was that they should feel the same way, too, if their faith really meant anything to them.
//
//
Throughout his ministry, Jesus was concerned (primarily) with the people’s relationship with their God. His first sermon was to say (as John the Baptist had): “Repent (turn back to God) for the Kingdom of God is at hand.” Jesus wanted people to be aware of this spiritual kinship – and to honour that relationship with our devotion and with our words and actions – especially how they affect our relationships with each other. Jesus was always concerned about this three-way spiritual connection – God, Self, Neighbour.
• “Repent, for the Realm of God is at hand.”
• “Love God with all your heart, soul and strength and love your neighbour as yourself.”
• “Give to God what belongs to God.”
Jesus’ basic message...was about the transformation of our lives.
//
Moses sought to transform his relationship with God. Yes, God was ‘lord and sovereign’, but Moses desired something more basic, more personal. God and Moses were on a first name basis; they willingly spent time together; Moses even asked to see God in a way that had never been done before: Moses desired less of a king-subject relationship; less of a master-servant relationship; less of a teacher-student relationship (although it was all those things): Moses desired more. Moses desired friendship.
//
In the Gospel of John, just before his betrayal and arrest, Jesus tells his disciples (his ‘students’): ‘I do not call you servants any longer...but I have called you friends.’
Jesus says this is because they have shared so much together – there is a distance in the more formal hierarchical relationship descriptions that do not do full justice to the way Jesus and his ‘friends’ had gotten to know each other.
Can we find a friend so faithful,
who will all our sorrows bare?
//
Our relationship with God (through Jesus) is complex. Some much of our language about it is hierarchical – because, in some ways, that makes sense. But in our lessons today, we see that (from some of the earliest parts of our faith history, through the time that Jesus of Nazareth walked this earth, right up to today) there is a more personal, familial aspect to this covenant relationship. We are invited to transform our way of thinking and being so that we see ourselves as friends of our God.
I’m sure we know what kind of characteristics mark a healthy friendship. What do you say – shout out a characteristic of a healthy friendship.
1. loyal
2. honest
3. unconditional love
4.
If we can include these aspects into the depths of our spirit – we can transform our relationship with God.
The apostle Paul spoke of enduring love saying that it is patient and kind; it is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
//
Faithfulness, trust, understanding, an openness to change/growth, a humility that allows for mystery – these all will foster better relations with each other – and they will deepen our friendship with God.
As you live in this time of falling leaves and crisper air; as the world transforms around you – let yourself be open to the unique friendship each of us can have with our maker and friend.
Let us pray:
God, my friend;
It is good to know you. Journey with me. I’m glad you see me as your friend!
Amen.
#250 VU “O God of Matchless Glory”
Sunday, October 9, 2011
WHERE YOUR TREASURE LIES...
ad lib message
- comparing the use of the people's gold to create the golden calf to the instructions Moses was given by God to use the gold to create ornate items for the worship tabernacle (lamp stands, the Ark of the Covenant)
- comparing the use of the people's gold to create the golden calf to the instructions Moses was given by God to use the gold to create ornate items for the worship tabernacle (lamp stands, the Ark of the Covenant)
Sunday, October 2, 2011
BUILDING UP AND OUT
October 2, 2011
Pentecost 16
Exodus 20:1-21
Philippians 3:4b-14
Matthew 21:33-46
(prayer)
When Jacob and his family first moved to Egypt to join Joseph during a time of severe famine, they were nothing more than a large extended family. The land they had left had not been in the family very long. It was Jacob’s grandparents Abraham and Sarah who first ventured into Canaan and settled there: to a land that God had promised would be theirs – a land where their descendants would live.
Grandson Jacob’s land acquisitions were do, mostly, to his in-laws. When Jacob married both of the daughters of Laben, and began to raise a large family, he became very established and possessed a large estate in Canaan. During the famine, when they moved to Egypt, they left relatively little history of their presence in the Promised Land.
The covenant between God and Abraham was that ‘Yahweh would be Abraham’s God and that Abraham’s descendants would be Yahweh’s people’.
When the Jacob-clan arrived in Egypt they were just one family – a large family spanning three or four generations – but not a nation.
But more than blood bound them – they held to the promise that Yahweh was there God and that they were destined to be a nation living in Canaan.
That resolve was passed on to the generations of Jacob-ites born and raised in Egypt. For many, many years this family lived good lives in their adopted homeland; they intermarried with other people in the area and over hundreds of years grew in numbers. Because they maintained a common faith and history and culture, they could eventually be identified as a distinct people living in Egypt. They were called the people of Israel, taking that title from Jacob’s nickname. Even after a Pharaoh enslaved the Israelites, they maintained a unity.
When Moses went to this pharaoh and demanded “let my people go” – they were a nation! Moses knew it and pharaoh knew it.
As they set out on the long journey to return to Canaan, they brought with them their history, their culture and their faith – what they didn’t have was a sense of what life would be like once they settled in Canaan.
Today’s reading from the Exodus 20 is one of the most well known passages in all of scripture. People may not be able to quote it verse for verse, but most everyone has heard of the ten commandments and I suspect that many people could even name a few of them.
The Ten Commandments summarize God’s rules for living: we begin by honouring our relationship with God: that is the essence of the first three commandments. For the Israelites, it was blood and faith that united them from the beginning of their time together in Egypt. Faith is where it all starts.
The next commandment invites the people to honour a Sabbath rest. Exodus justifies this commandment by making reference to Genesis chapter one – Creation involved God labouring for six days and then resting. The command to honour the Sabbath day and to keep it holy is to match our rhythms with God’s rhythms - to see our lives within the context of the creation of which we are a-part.
The final six commandments invite the people to live in such a way that their relationships with others reflect God’s relationship with them.
Other than honouring one’s parents, the final commandments are phrased using negative wording: but they all have an implied positive command:
6. You shall not murder.
Support the living.
7. You shall not commit adultery.
Honour marriage.
8. You shall not steal.
Work honourably for what you need.
9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.
Tell the truth.
10. You shall not covet…anything that belongs to your neighbour.
Be satisfied with what you have.
//
The Ten Commandments are the summary of how the people of Israel are to live as a nation for their journey to Canaan and for the life they are to have in Canaan. They form the centre of what is called the Torah – the Law, for the Israelite people.
The Ten Commandments do not stand alone – the next three chapters in Exodus includes a narrative where God details for Moses some specific practical examples of how this Torah was to be lived out. Moses later is said to have written all of these ordinances down – it was known as the Book of Covenant.
But this is still not the totality of the Law. The biblical book of Deuteronomy is basically a law book – with specific rules for specific situations. The book of Leviticus is a collection of rituals and practices for worship.
The tradition would eventually evolve to see the full contents of what would become the first five books of the Bible (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy) as The Torah (The Law). It is interesting that much of the text of the first five books (also called the Pentateuch: meaning ‘five books’) are the stories of the people’s lives and journeys – Abraham’s journey to Canaan, Jacob’s journey to Egypt, Moses and the freed Israelite’s journey through the wilderness and back to Canaan. The Torah (The Law) is more the rules – it contains the life lived by the people.
The rules, the commandments, provide the base on which the faith is built up and lived out!
//
So let’s examine how many commandments were broken in Jesus’ parable the vineyard owner and the tenants. We have to assume that the lease agreement that the tenants had with the owner included that the owner was still entitled to some of the grapes and/or wine produced in his fields.
So, broken commandments…
• There’s lying (not living up to the lease contract);
• And coveting (obsessively wanting what belongs to someone else);
• That coveting lead (in effect) to stealing what belonged to the owner;
• And of course, murder – multiple times – a minimum of six people were killed by the wicked tenants.
But Jesus’ parable is not really about the conflict between a landowner and some tenants, nor the breaking these specific commandments. The story is a metaphor – it is about faithful, authentic living.
The 21st chapter in Matthew’s gospel is the start of Jesus’ final week in Jerusalem leading up to his crucifixion. The chapter starts with the Palm Sunday narrative. Jesus is out of his normal setting (the wilderness, the lakeside) – he is on the turf of the establishment – at the seat of political and religious power in the land. And he is not willing to go quietly into the night. It is time to speak up for what is right and just!
Last week (if you were here) we read a debate about authority that Jesus had with pharisaic elders and temple priests. Jesus openly challenged their hypocrisy for their opposition to John the Baptist.
Today, these same religious leaders are (not so subtly) compared to lying, murderous thieves. The are spot-lighted for having rejected the owner’s expectations, even rejecting the owner’s son – (and then, because Jesus and the gospel writers love to mix their metaphors) the priests and elders are accused of ignoring the rock that truly belongs as the cornerstone!
Jesus is not accusing them of actual murder or coveting – he is accusing them of breaking the totality of the Torah – they are not truly honouring God, because they are un-interested in the full story of the people.
//
The Ten Commandments – the centre of God’s Law – are all instructions to avoid dispassionate selfishness. The first commandments are to love and worship Yahweh alone. [Next week, we get to hear how the Israelites broke those commandments even while Moses was still up on the mountain with God.] The other commandments (remember them in their positive forms: honour parents and marriage, support life, be happy with what you have and get what you need in honourable ways) [these other commandments] are all about how we treat others – we are always motivated by a measure of selfishness or greed when we break these commands. The way we live our lives (in the context of our relationships with the rest of God’s creation) is important.
//
No one lives a mistake-free life. We learn how best to live sometimes, by finding ourselves over an edge. There is not one of us who could claim to have religiously lived up to the Ten Commandments. Now, I’m not accusing you of being murders or thieves, but, come on: lying? coveting? truly keeping sabbath?
We’ve all done it.
And sometimes, I suspect that many of us have ignored the place of God in our lives.
The Torah, the Commandments are life lessons and are before us as goal throughout our lives.
The apostle Paul in his prison letter to the faithful few in Philippi notes that he has an impressive, faithful, law-abiding résumé. And yet, he sees himself as being in need of a greater faith – he describes his life as a race – he is heading toward the goal, but he cannot stop because that goal is still before him. Later after his death (in a letter of instruction to a future generation of Christian leaders) Paul will be eulogized as one who “fought the good fight…finished the race…kept the faith.” (Second Timothy 4:7)
But here in the letter to the Philippians, Paul encourages others (through his words and example) to ‘press on’ for a deeper relationship with God through Christ. Paul’s example shows that this is not just prayer and activities of the self, but also service and love and compassion in our dealings with others. As it was in the day of Moses, the Law is more than rules – it is the story of a people – including the lessons they learn along the way from breaking a rule or two.
How do we get away with that?
How does Paul get away with out-right persecution of Christians before his conversion?
How do Aaron (Moses’ brother) and the Israelites get away with worshipping a golden calf in strict violation of Commandment #2?
[more on that next week]
How do we get away with our mistakes and even our egregious, intentional strayings from a path of righteousness?
//
Grace. That’s how.
//
We are a people of a gracious, forgiving God. Grace is God’s faith in us. That we can be the people we are created to be. God loves us and love is patient and kind – love never ends. Grace is our gift from God. It is God’s one commandment to follow – I will be their God and they will be my people! We build our faith up and out from there.
Thanks be to God.
Let us pray:
Gracious God;
Carry us on a journey where we seek deeper a relationship with you, with others and your creation. Help us to follow in Jesus’ loving and accepting ways. Amen.
**OFFERING**
Pentecost 16
Exodus 20:1-21
Philippians 3:4b-14
Matthew 21:33-46
(prayer)
When Jacob and his family first moved to Egypt to join Joseph during a time of severe famine, they were nothing more than a large extended family. The land they had left had not been in the family very long. It was Jacob’s grandparents Abraham and Sarah who first ventured into Canaan and settled there: to a land that God had promised would be theirs – a land where their descendants would live.
Grandson Jacob’s land acquisitions were do, mostly, to his in-laws. When Jacob married both of the daughters of Laben, and began to raise a large family, he became very established and possessed a large estate in Canaan. During the famine, when they moved to Egypt, they left relatively little history of their presence in the Promised Land.
The covenant between God and Abraham was that ‘Yahweh would be Abraham’s God and that Abraham’s descendants would be Yahweh’s people’.
When the Jacob-clan arrived in Egypt they were just one family – a large family spanning three or four generations – but not a nation.
But more than blood bound them – they held to the promise that Yahweh was there God and that they were destined to be a nation living in Canaan.
That resolve was passed on to the generations of Jacob-ites born and raised in Egypt. For many, many years this family lived good lives in their adopted homeland; they intermarried with other people in the area and over hundreds of years grew in numbers. Because they maintained a common faith and history and culture, they could eventually be identified as a distinct people living in Egypt. They were called the people of Israel, taking that title from Jacob’s nickname. Even after a Pharaoh enslaved the Israelites, they maintained a unity.
When Moses went to this pharaoh and demanded “let my people go” – they were a nation! Moses knew it and pharaoh knew it.
As they set out on the long journey to return to Canaan, they brought with them their history, their culture and their faith – what they didn’t have was a sense of what life would be like once they settled in Canaan.
Today’s reading from the Exodus 20 is one of the most well known passages in all of scripture. People may not be able to quote it verse for verse, but most everyone has heard of the ten commandments and I suspect that many people could even name a few of them.
The Ten Commandments summarize God’s rules for living: we begin by honouring our relationship with God: that is the essence of the first three commandments. For the Israelites, it was blood and faith that united them from the beginning of their time together in Egypt. Faith is where it all starts.
The next commandment invites the people to honour a Sabbath rest. Exodus justifies this commandment by making reference to Genesis chapter one – Creation involved God labouring for six days and then resting. The command to honour the Sabbath day and to keep it holy is to match our rhythms with God’s rhythms - to see our lives within the context of the creation of which we are a-part.
The final six commandments invite the people to live in such a way that their relationships with others reflect God’s relationship with them.
Other than honouring one’s parents, the final commandments are phrased using negative wording: but they all have an implied positive command:
6. You shall not murder.
Support the living.
7. You shall not commit adultery.
Honour marriage.
8. You shall not steal.
Work honourably for what you need.
9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.
Tell the truth.
10. You shall not covet…anything that belongs to your neighbour.
Be satisfied with what you have.
//
The Ten Commandments are the summary of how the people of Israel are to live as a nation for their journey to Canaan and for the life they are to have in Canaan. They form the centre of what is called the Torah – the Law, for the Israelite people.
The Ten Commandments do not stand alone – the next three chapters in Exodus includes a narrative where God details for Moses some specific practical examples of how this Torah was to be lived out. Moses later is said to have written all of these ordinances down – it was known as the Book of Covenant.
But this is still not the totality of the Law. The biblical book of Deuteronomy is basically a law book – with specific rules for specific situations. The book of Leviticus is a collection of rituals and practices for worship.
The tradition would eventually evolve to see the full contents of what would become the first five books of the Bible (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy) as The Torah (The Law). It is interesting that much of the text of the first five books (also called the Pentateuch: meaning ‘five books’) are the stories of the people’s lives and journeys – Abraham’s journey to Canaan, Jacob’s journey to Egypt, Moses and the freed Israelite’s journey through the wilderness and back to Canaan. The Torah (The Law) is more the rules – it contains the life lived by the people.
The rules, the commandments, provide the base on which the faith is built up and lived out!
//
So let’s examine how many commandments were broken in Jesus’ parable the vineyard owner and the tenants. We have to assume that the lease agreement that the tenants had with the owner included that the owner was still entitled to some of the grapes and/or wine produced in his fields.
So, broken commandments…
• There’s lying (not living up to the lease contract);
• And coveting (obsessively wanting what belongs to someone else);
• That coveting lead (in effect) to stealing what belonged to the owner;
• And of course, murder – multiple times – a minimum of six people were killed by the wicked tenants.
But Jesus’ parable is not really about the conflict between a landowner and some tenants, nor the breaking these specific commandments. The story is a metaphor – it is about faithful, authentic living.
The 21st chapter in Matthew’s gospel is the start of Jesus’ final week in Jerusalem leading up to his crucifixion. The chapter starts with the Palm Sunday narrative. Jesus is out of his normal setting (the wilderness, the lakeside) – he is on the turf of the establishment – at the seat of political and religious power in the land. And he is not willing to go quietly into the night. It is time to speak up for what is right and just!
Last week (if you were here) we read a debate about authority that Jesus had with pharisaic elders and temple priests. Jesus openly challenged their hypocrisy for their opposition to John the Baptist.
Today, these same religious leaders are (not so subtly) compared to lying, murderous thieves. The are spot-lighted for having rejected the owner’s expectations, even rejecting the owner’s son – (and then, because Jesus and the gospel writers love to mix their metaphors) the priests and elders are accused of ignoring the rock that truly belongs as the cornerstone!
Jesus is not accusing them of actual murder or coveting – he is accusing them of breaking the totality of the Torah – they are not truly honouring God, because they are un-interested in the full story of the people.
//
The Ten Commandments – the centre of God’s Law – are all instructions to avoid dispassionate selfishness. The first commandments are to love and worship Yahweh alone. [Next week, we get to hear how the Israelites broke those commandments even while Moses was still up on the mountain with God.] The other commandments (remember them in their positive forms: honour parents and marriage, support life, be happy with what you have and get what you need in honourable ways) [these other commandments] are all about how we treat others – we are always motivated by a measure of selfishness or greed when we break these commands. The way we live our lives (in the context of our relationships with the rest of God’s creation) is important.
//
No one lives a mistake-free life. We learn how best to live sometimes, by finding ourselves over an edge. There is not one of us who could claim to have religiously lived up to the Ten Commandments. Now, I’m not accusing you of being murders or thieves, but, come on: lying? coveting? truly keeping sabbath?
We’ve all done it.
And sometimes, I suspect that many of us have ignored the place of God in our lives.
The Torah, the Commandments are life lessons and are before us as goal throughout our lives.
The apostle Paul in his prison letter to the faithful few in Philippi notes that he has an impressive, faithful, law-abiding résumé. And yet, he sees himself as being in need of a greater faith – he describes his life as a race – he is heading toward the goal, but he cannot stop because that goal is still before him. Later after his death (in a letter of instruction to a future generation of Christian leaders) Paul will be eulogized as one who “fought the good fight…finished the race…kept the faith.” (Second Timothy 4:7)
But here in the letter to the Philippians, Paul encourages others (through his words and example) to ‘press on’ for a deeper relationship with God through Christ. Paul’s example shows that this is not just prayer and activities of the self, but also service and love and compassion in our dealings with others. As it was in the day of Moses, the Law is more than rules – it is the story of a people – including the lessons they learn along the way from breaking a rule or two.
How do we get away with that?
How does Paul get away with out-right persecution of Christians before his conversion?
How do Aaron (Moses’ brother) and the Israelites get away with worshipping a golden calf in strict violation of Commandment #2?
[more on that next week]
How do we get away with our mistakes and even our egregious, intentional strayings from a path of righteousness?
//
Grace. That’s how.
//
We are a people of a gracious, forgiving God. Grace is God’s faith in us. That we can be the people we are created to be. God loves us and love is patient and kind – love never ends. Grace is our gift from God. It is God’s one commandment to follow – I will be their God and they will be my people! We build our faith up and out from there.
Thanks be to God.
Let us pray:
Gracious God;
Carry us on a journey where we seek deeper a relationship with you, with others and your creation. Help us to follow in Jesus’ loving and accepting ways. Amen.
**OFFERING**
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