This Week's Lectionary Texts

Numbers 21:4-9

Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22

Ephesians 2:1-10

John 3:14-21

 

This Week's Reflection

A while back I read the gospel lesson for this week which made me look back at the reference it made to Moses and the serpent. I've been extremely fascinated by this story ever since. There are a couple of specific reasons why. I'm not even going to try to touch the whole issue of God sending serpents to kill the Israelites. I can't make sense of that part of the scripture. I mean I can think of ways to interpret it that make me feel better, but truly making sense of it is beyond my capabilities. 

However, here is what stands out. When the people ask for help. They are given help. In fact, when they ask for help - "Please Moses, get God to do something about our loved ones dying of snake bites!" - Moses is told to create a sculpture of a serpent. 

If you are a regular reader of this blog, I hope by now you realize that I believe art is a gift from God. I believe to be created in the image of God is, in fact, to be made to be creative people. So, God speaks through art in ways that is not likely in other ways. This is true for all sorts of artwork - music, visual arts, theatre, poetry, etc.

So, back to this snake on a stick - God tells Moses to sculpt a piece of art which is the image of the serpent. Those who have been bitten are to look at it, to view the piece of art, and they will be saved. In other words, art saves lives.

There is one other thing that is most fascinating to me about this passage. The work of art which is created in order to save lives is created in the very image of the thing that the people feared the most. This is incredible to me. The snakes are biting the folks, they are terrified, people are dying, and the thing that is going to save them is to face that very thing in the form of a sculpture. 

How often do we use works of art to face our fears? In what way is the Christ at work here? What kinds of art can we introduce to congregations in order to help them see Christ's light more clearly?

"He doesn't walk the talk." 

"She doesn't practice what she preaches." 

These are harsh words and words that no preacher ever wants to hear said about him or herself. I imagine the Pharisees felt the same way when they heard Jesus, as Matthew writes in chapter 23, say that very thing about them.

I find myself being sympathetic with the Pharisees, though. As a preacher myself, I often feel that the sermons I write (or this blog for that matter) are like a conversation between me and God. The congregation simply has the opportunity (or burden) of eavesdropping on that conversation. So, I preach about a lot of things that I don't necessarily feel that I have "mastered." I preach a lot of words that I don't yet know how to walk day in and day out in my life.

So, what are we preachers, we broken and sinful preachers, to do with this text from Matthew this week? I think that just maybe the problem comes in when we begin to believe that we are not broken, not sinful. The problem occurs when we believe that everything we say is good and right and that everything we do supports all that is good and right. I'm not a big fan of Christianity that promotes in its believers a feeling of being no better than a worm (no offense to all the worms out there), but there is some place for a balance between thinking that we are God's gift to proclamation and thinking that we could never say anything that would be meaningful for anyone.

Jesus says to his disciples, "Listen to them. What they say is good. Just don't do what they do." Maybe it is a call for balance in living our lives between humility and vanity. This is a good lesson for preachers and for our congregations alike.

This makes me think of the Joshua text in which God is giving him a bit of a pep talk. As if Joshua is wondering how in the world he will follow in the footsteps of the great Moses, God tells him how. God will make it possible, God will exalt him, God will lead him so that he can lead others. While Joshua may not feel worthy, may even feel a bit like a worm, God proves to him that all that is needed to lead will be provided. Right down to stopping a river from flowing so that the people can cross. It wasn't Joshua's power that did that. That was God.

It seems like a similar message is found in Micah. Beware of those who think that it all rests on their shoulders. Beware of those who preach peace, but act in violence. Beware of those who claim power that is not theirs to claim. It is the power of God that makes anything possible.

So, I don't walk the talk and I don't practice what I preach - but, I'll keep working on relying on the power of God. And, in so doing, I'll trust that I'll get better and better at both as balance comes my way.

This Week's Artwork

(in order of appearance)

Walk the Talk by GK Design
Balance Beam by Bill Bowdish

This Week's Resources

A Prayer for Pastors by a Pastor

Dear God who continues to call us, we come to you, broken, hurt, abused, and confused. Like Paul, we too often feel mistreated by the very people we long to serve in ministry to you. We struggle constantly with the question of how to be in the institution, but not of the institution. Help us, God. Help us when we are victims of the religious. Help us to remember the moment when we knew beyond a shadow of doubt that you had called us to ordained ministry. And, help us when we become religious leaders forgetting how to truly follow the Christ. Heal us. Heal the Church. May the healing of one aid the healing of the other so that the body of Christ on this earth become the true representation of his love. Amen.

A Litany

One:  When the religious elite stone the woman caught in adultery,

All:  Love God. Love your neighbor.

One:  When the lineage of the Messiah is called into question,

All:  Love God. Love your neighbor.

One:  When Moses is taken just to the edge of the land promised,

All:  Love God. Love your neighbor.

One:  When the Apostle Paul is mistreated by folks in the church,

All:  Love God. Love your neighbor.

One:  When the single teenaged mother comes into worship,

All:  Love God. Love your neighbor.

One:  When the man with autism yells out in the sanctuary,

All:  Love God. Love your neighbor.

One:  When we can't agree on the color of the new fellowship hall carpet,

All:  Love God. Love your neighbor.

One:  When the rules are broken,

All:  Love God. Love your neighbor.

One:  "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind."

All:  "This is the first and greatest commandment."  

One:  "Love your neighbor as yourself."

All:  "All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Amen.

Think on this:

What are ways in which your congregation could physically represent putting God and neighbor above our religious nature in the Church? I do not intend to imply that being religious is only negative (I am very religious!), but in the context of these passages this week, how can we put ourselves in the place of Pharisees and Sadducees and ask God to help us to be more open to the top two commandments that Jesus shares in the Matthew passage rather than excluding people because of our religious notions of what the rules mean? 

Is there a particular wrong in the life of the congregation that was caused by religiosity taken too far? What symbols could be used in worship to represent a letting go of that event? Would a renewal of baptism or a service of healing be in order?

To take the idea of setting rules aside that may stand in our way of serving Jesus to the extreme, perhaps your congregation should do away with a bulletin this week (if your tradition is to rely on such). Or maybe this Sunday is the day to bring forward some persons who would not normally be acceptable in the sight of the members. Have them participate in leading worship by reading the scriptures or singing an appropriate song.

I attended a conference for ordained ministers last week and I realized something. Most pastors have been through some kind clergy killing event within a particular congregation. I heard pastors repeat again and again, "I come to this conference every year because it is just for us clergy so that we can worship and be fed and taken care of." My first call after seminary ended only two years later and it was not pretty. As I told my kids just today, "It takes two to tango," but at the time I felt persecuted, abused, and unloved. If I'm being honest, there are still moments when the sting of those days sneaks up on me again. I mention the conference because I realized how many of us have had similar experiences. I mention these kinds of experiences because of the passage this week from Thessalonians. Paul is still stinging from trouble with the Philippians. It seems that he has even considered dropping out of the whole pastor business. Even though he and his companions have been treated so poorly by the church, he brings the love of God to the people in Thessalonica saying that with that love, he also brings his very self to them.

Today my mother said to me, "People who are judgmental are religious, not Christian. Unfortunately, our churches are full of the religious." We know that Paul is not the only one who came up against this fact. In the gospel lesson from Matthew, we come to the end of the many questions that the religious authorities brought to Jesus in an effort to trap him, to judge him, to make him look bad in front of others, and in hopes of getting him out of their way. "What is the greatest commandment?" Beyond anything they could have ever imagined, Jesus' answer was "The greatest is to love God, period. And, immediately behind that is to love your fellow human beings as much as you love yourself." To these religious people hell-bent on following the rules (pun intended) even when it meant hurting one of God's children, Jesus says, "Could you just love each other? Could you love God, really love God, and then share that love with everybody you meet? Could you do that, please?"

As Kathryn Matthews Huey points out in her Sermon Seeds, all of the questions by the religious folk had been to trip up Jesus, to prove that he wasn't a good Jewish rabbi, that he didn't truly understand the faith. So, to put an end to all the nonsense, Jesus asks them a question to prove that he understands very well the faith, in fact, he understands much better than they. "Whose son is the Messiah?" When they give their very church-y answer, he puts them in their place to show them and anyone who happens to be listening that they don't have everything all worked out as well as they think they do. Sadly, that is what happens to us when we try to wrap God up in a nice neat package as if we have the ability to understand God and God's ways. Luckily, we have Jesus to remind us that we don't have to understand in order to experience God's love and to share that love with others.

Simplistic, yes. But, not simple. Moses was lead right up to the edge, but did not cross into the land that was promised. Even so, the passage from Deuteronomy speaks of the love that God and the people had for Moses, saying, "Never since has there arisen a prophet in Israel like Moses." And, of course, we find the source material for the Matthew quote in Leviticus when God spoke through the beloved Moses to tell the people, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord."

There are too many religious people in our churches and too few Christians. Don't get mad at me for saying it. Blame my mother! Who, by the way, is the sweetest and most devoted church lady you could ever find. I know that if she and I were to unpack that statement of hers that we would quickly come to disagree about how we define those terms and who we would categorize as each - religious and Christian - but there is truth to be found in that statement. Truth that Jesus fought against and truth that we preachers and pastors better be fighting against too - even if it means we don't get to cross over into the promised land.

Simplistic, yes. But, not simple. This Sunday may God give us strength to preach the truth of love that is God through Jesus, the Messiah. May our religious ways be continuously transformed into Christian ways by the power of the Holy Spirit. Love God, period. And, love everybody else too.

This Week's Artwork

(in order of appearance)

Love your neighbour, photo by John Baw

267 by Bridgman Pottery

This week's gospel lesson has us continuing through Matthew and is the beginning of a series of moments when "the powers that be" attempt to trap Jesus in order to have reasonable charges to lead to the getting rid of this man who has displeased them with his teaching. Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey with a parade of misfits, threw out money-changers from the temple, and told stories in which he painted the rich rulers as the bad guys - a whole new way of talking about those in power. So, now the writer of Matthew tells us right up front that the Pharisees are trying to entrap Jesus by asking about his allegiances. There is no way out of this question, by the way. "Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor?" A "yes" will offend the religious establishment. A "no" will offend the state establishment. There is no winning here. Jesus, of course, throws them for a loop. "What? Why are you wasting my time with this? Oh, good grief, give to the emperor what is the emperor's and give to God what is God's." Now, stopping at this point seems like Jesus won. They left speechless, it appears, but if you read further, you see that this was just the first question of many and they gather others to continue to bombard Jesus with questions that are posed for the purpose of trapping him. There was no winning with these people.

Seems like Moses may have felt like he couldn't win either in the Exodus text. In conversation with God, Moses says, "I've done everything you have ever asked me to do and I'm not seeing any benefit yet. Do something, God, show me your glory!" And, God, being the wonderful God that God is, finds a way to provide. "You can't see me because seeing God in complete glory is too much for your little pea brain. But, I hear you and I will pass by so that you can get a sense of my glory and feel appreciated for all you have done." The prophet Isaiah shows a similar aspect of God. God says, "You don't even really know me, but I help you, I love you, I am your right arm."

This Week's Artwork

(In order of appearance in the reflection)

Roman coin

The Lectionary texts this week read like a story from Exodus to Matthew. There are gaps in the story and problems with the plot in places, but if we look at the pages just right, we can see how the story of God's relationship with God's people is very clear.

In Exodus 20, we have the life changing moment of Moses presenting the 10 commandments - laws given to the people to help them, to make life easier, a little clearer, ground rules to follow in this new life outside of Egypt. The people responded to this gift by asking that God never speak to them again.

The story moves forward and God is witnessing the results of the people's selfish behavior. In a song, the writer of Isaiah 5 laments the fact that even though the vineyard has been planted and cared for with love and understanding, it has not produced as it should have. The owner decides to give up, let it go, allow it to wither away.

Both of the Psalms join in the story by presenting the character of the people. Psalm 19 reminding us to follow the laws of God and Psalm 80 crying out to God to restore the vineyard, to give us another chance, to allow us to grow once again.

Philippians' part of the story is to point us toward the character of Jesus. With Paul reminding us that without Christ, we are nothing. In fact, it is stressed through Paul's boastful language that even at our very best on our own we can't begin to live up to our best in Christ Jesus. This is the second chance of all second chances. If we want to be the productive vineyard that God desires of us, then we have to allow Jesus to help us.

Then, we have Matthew's part of the story with a story in a story. Here we have another parable of Jesus that leaves us asking lots of questions. As we come to the end of this week's story, the lectionary brings us back around to the Isaiah text as Jesus tells of a vineyard owner who cared for and planted those grapes and waited to see what wonderful things would occur. There is a twist this time, though. All good stories have them. It is a nasty and scary twist. In the climax of this week's story, the vineyard isn't simply left to wither away, but those who have been given the opportunity to tend the vineyard are murderers and thieves. They even go so far as to kill the owner's beloved son. (Remind you of anyone?) And, Jesus leaves the chief priests and elders to whom he was speaking with the question of what they think that owner will do. Repay them, of course. Kill them, get rid of them for good, and find someone who will do what they should have been doing in the first place. (These elders are none too happy when they realize that they have been made the bad guy in the story.)

It is a story with lots twists and turns. It also has characters that we don't like and morals that make us squirm. Are we to believe that God will allow us to wither away? Worse yet, are we to believe that God will punish us if we do not tend the vineyard like God wants? Remember how the story began? God gave us these commandments as a gift to help us in this life. They are not rules made to give God a reason to get angry with us, but they are safety nets for us to use so that our lives are the very best they can be. Instead, we ask God to stop speaking to us. So, God finds other ways to provide those gifts to us, stories of vineyards, Paul's dramatic turn-around, and Jesus, God incarnate, providing grace upon grace upon grace.

A fellow pastor in the Lutheran Church, Delmer Chilton, puts it this way:

That is the story this week. It is the story of God's relationship with God's people. It is a story that is often filled with pain. And, it is a story that ends with healing and restoration.

Listen to Another Parable by The Brick Testament 
Fall Grapes 
The Vineyard Parable

Blood on Our Hands

God's Story by Jason Watson

As if in answer to last week's reflection, the Ezekiel passage actually has God asking, "Yet you say, 'The way of the Lord is unfair.' Hear now, O house of Israel: Is my way unfair? Is it not your ways that are unfair?" The Israelites find themselves in Exodus 17 feeling like they will die of thirst. They are angry and confused. They can't help but wonder why Moses has brought them out of slavery, yes; but into a place where they will starve and thirst to death. Moses fears for his life too because he is afraid that the people's anger will lead to his stoning.

I'm most fascinated by that first phrase of the passage, "From the wilderness of Sin the whole congregation of the Israelites journeyed by stages." Isn't that how life feels sometimes? It is like we journey by stages through a wilderness of sin. And, we find ourselves in the midst of that place asking God, "Why have you brought us out here just to leave us to die of thirst?"

Ezekiel reminds us that while we like to blame all our troubles on God, God is not the one to take the blame. Whose ways are unfair? Our ways are unfair. Yuck! It is a whole lot easier to blame God, this being out there somewhere, this God that we know can take it.

It may be a stretch, but I think that the Philippians passage this week flows out of those Hebrew scriptures as a way of saying, "And do you know why you can take the blame instead of God? Because you are selfish and cruel." 

The writer points us to the example we have in Jesus, the Christ, who was willing to give up all power and die on a cross for crimes he did not commit.

This self-righteousness is apparent in the gospel lesson as well. The elders want to test Jesus, to see if he is up to par, but they find themselves being tested instead. It is their self-righteousness - their belief that they know better and do better and believe better - that results in their failing grade. Once again, Jesus uses one of his weird little stories to make a point. While it may seem wrong for a son to tell his father NO, somehow it is made right when he realizes his mistake and does what his father asked in the first place. On the other hand, a son who says YES with no intention of ever following the father's requests has no way of making it right. In other words, Jesus is pointing out to the elders that they have always shouted a big "Yes Sir!" to God, but have refused to heed the commandments given through prophets like John. Others who are clearly sinners, who have had a history of saying, "No way, God!" have instead heeded John's teachings and followed the way of God even though they first refused. They are the ones who have done right in the end and the elders are the ones who have let God down.

For preachers this week, there is an opportunity to challenge our congregations to ask themselves where they fall in that parable. In addition, though, it is of the utmost importance to focus on what God is doing in these passages. 

What God is doing is providing living water from a rock. What God is doing is reminding us that God is a fair and just God. What God is doing is giving us a Savior willing to be humble and self-less. What God is doing is providing opportunity beyond opportunity for God's children to turn around, make a change, and do the right thing. God is gracious and merciful. We may want to challenge our congregations about what they are doing in their lives, but we need to present the Good News of what God is doing as well.