"Give to Caesar that which is Caesar's, and to God that which is God's."

Scripture: (RCL) Exodus 33:12-23 and Psalm 99 (Track 2: Isaiah 45:1-7 and Psalm 96:1-9, 10-13); 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10; Matthew 22:15-22

We have studied the parables of the vineyard owner, workers and tenants, and those invited to the feast of the king, including the one last week who didn't come with a robe - all stories about the nearness of God, being in the kingdom, and of judgment - God's judgment and our choices. At this point in his mission, the week before the cross, Jesus is challenging us to fish or cut bait. Now is the time for God's presence, and entrance into the kingdom. The table is set, and prefigures, like Psalm 23, the great heavenly feast at the wedding of the Lamb, to his bride, the church. We concluded last week with reference to the wedding garment - one of shining linen, made of the good deeds of God's saints - those who choose to accept God's continual calling and reaching out to and for us, and who put on the baptismal robe, dying to old lives of what we discussed last week - vanity, self- righteousness and possessiveness - and, with God's help, taking up a new life where we give our selves in service to God's call, and others. Grace, not cheap, but costly.

This week I include a charming story of a young woman who becomes a teacher for a year in Mexico, in “The Wedding Dress “ by Mary Sue Dehmlow Dreier from the book The Home Stretch - Matthew's Vision Of Servanthood In The End-Time as she ponders the meaning of a favorite hymn and Jesus' answer to the trickery of the Herodians and Pharisees "Give to Caesar that which is Caesar's, and to God that which is God's." She tells us "We cannot really give to God what is already God's. But we can release ourselves and our possessions to God's purposes. It's a matter of the heart."

What does Jesus mean by that? Is he speaking of a dichotomy of matters of church and state, matters religious and secular, or obedience to secular authority? What belongs to "Caesar? To us? To God? What are we to do with what we have?  What does this have to do with the kingdom of God, and the "wedding feast?" As John Donahue says in his exegesis "Tax Time in Autumn," "Paul summons his community at Thessalonica to persevere and grow in 'the work of faith, the labor of love and endurance in hope.' What better way is there to repay to God what is truly God’s?"

"Are you Ready for the Feast?"

Scripture: Isaiah 25:1-9; Psalm 23; Philippians 4:1-9; Matthew 22:1-14

Jesus is headed toward the cross. He has made his triumphant entrance into Jerusalem, and Matthew's gospel contrasts that with the rejection the king who invites guests, and invites them again, experiences when the guests do not come, and, as we study this week's parable, when one comes not dressed for the occasion.

 

As our homilists, The Rev. Frank Logue, and  Samuel Zumwalt in "Ready for the Feast," point out, some Christians and "Christian" leaders through the centuries have used this to justify ant-semitism, or a more subtle exclusionism. What do you think the point of the parable is when the king has the guest bound and removed from the feast? How does this fit the image of a merciful God? We have discussed God's judgment, and our judgment, and themes of justice, mercy, righteousness, grace and forgiveness as well as repentance this year.  How does this week's parable relate to those themes? What do you think the robe stands for? Can you think of other passages where clothing is used as a metaphor or serves to make a point?

 

Last week Fr. Gil told us to be doers of the word, not hearers only, considering James telling us  that faith without works is dead. Does that relate to this week's parable? What about Peter's denial of Jesus? Comparing Peter's denial with this parable, what does Jesus tell us about being received into the kingdom - and at the Table and feast of heaven?

 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer contrasts "cheap grace" and "costly grace".  "Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves ..the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance ..grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate. ..Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock.  Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ.  It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life."  God invites each of us to his banquet that we may share in his joy.  Are you ready to feast at the Lord's banquet table?

 

Conclude this lesson with a reading of Psalm 23.

 

I look forward to our discussion this week.

 

"Alleluia! The reign of the Lord our God the Almighty has begun; let us be glad and joyful and give praise to God, because this is the time for the marriage of the Lamb. His bride is ready, and she has been able to dress herself in dazzling white linen, because her linen is made of the good deeds of the saints."

Revelation 19:7-8

“The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is amazing in our eyes.”

Scripture: Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20 and Psalm 19 (Track 2: Isaiah 5:1-7 and Psalm 80:7-14); Philippians 3:4b-14; Matthew 21:33-46

We continue with Jesus' parables in the vineyard. But first, this week, we have the Ten Commandments, the story of God's vineyard in Isaiah, and Paul's personal testimony and pressing on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.

God gives us the law to help us get it together. He sends us the prophets, and when we still don't get it, he sends his Son, and what do we do to him? What do the tenants of the vineyard deserve under the law? What does God do in this parable told by Jesus? What does Jesus mean when he immediately says after the tenants have killed the son of the vineyard owner that the stone which the builders have rejected becomes the cornerstone, and will crush anyone it falls on? What does he mean that the kingdom of God will be taken away and given to those who produce fruits of the kingdom? What are the fruits of the kingdom?

I include sermons and exegesis by our own Fr. Rodge Wood, The Rev. Charles Hoffacker and John Donahue of the Society of Jesuits. What does Fr. Rodge say is the cornerstone on which the kingdom is built? See his story, when he was a prison chaplain, about the murderer and family of the victims. Hoffacker asks how can we put into practice the lessons learned from the rejection of the stone which becomes the cornerstone. Consider his examples of the Danish king and people's resistance to the Nazis, the stand against Marcos in the Philippines - young and old bound together to oppose the dictator, and Mandela in South Africa. How can we, in our everyday lives have the liberating power and authority (εξουσια) of Christ - the rejected stone, become the cornerstone - in our lives,  and bring it to the lives of others - even our enemies - producing fruits of the kingdom?

I look forward to seeing you Sunday. Give thanks for the wedding of Alan and Jan's daughter, Natalie, and her fiancé, Van, this Saturday. May God's joy, peace and radiant love be with them and us, now, and forevermore.

Love hard at work, but right under our noses.

Scripture: Exodus 17:1-7 and Psalm 78:1-4, 12-16 (Track 2: Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-32 and Psalm 25: 1-8); Philippians 2:1-13; Matthew 21:23-32

Last week we heard the grumbling of the vineyard workers who worked all day and received the same wages as the workers called and invited throughout the day by the owner of the vineyard, and the murmuring of the children of Israel in the wilderness, lamenting having left the "crock-pots" of Egypt, as Father Bill paraphrased it, while clamoring to be fed.

 

This week we find the children of Israel angry at Moses for leading them out of Egypt, and crying out for water. God has Moses strike the rock, and God's grace poured forth.

 

In the gospel lessons this week, and last week, we need to put Jesus' parables in context.  The stories in Matthew 21 center on controversies that occur days before Jesus goes to the cross. They draw our attention to issues of authority and obedience. Jesus is confronted by the chief priests and elders who want to know by what authority he has been doing "these things." We assume "these things" to be the events recorded earlier in this chapter: the entry into Jerusalem, the cleansing of the temple and now his teaching in the temple. Jesus is dead serious in wanting us to get what he means by "love" of God and our neighbor.  

 

Enough of sentimentalism. The children are crying out for sustenance - survival. God is at work in Christ, humbling himself in obedience, even to the cross, to give us more, far more than just survival, because of his love for us. Jesus is hard at work in his mission. The cross is near. Citing a story from a chapter titled "A Lady of Little Faith," in Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov, Laurel Dykstra tells us something about love hard at work, quoting Father Zosima, with a critique of charity which seeks to define and control 'who is in need': "for love in action is a harsh and dreadful thing compared with love in dreams."

 

"Love is central to the readings from Romans and Philippians this month. But the lections from Matthew, in which Jesus and his companions approach Jerusalem, lean more toward the harsh and dreadful. They ask what love means in practical terms. How do we resolve conflicts in community? How do we love one another in a world of complex economic and social relationships? How do we deal with authority and power? How do we honor our families?"

 

In the same vein, The Rev. Dr. James C. Howell asks "Is the Lord Among Us, or Not?" considering the complaints of the Israelites, and our complaints, too. Love hard at work, but right under our noses. 

 

 

Judgment and Forgiveness Lessons on 9/11

 This week's Scripture: Exodus 14:19-31 and Psalm 114 or Exodus 15:1b-11,20-21 (or Genesis 50:15-21 and Psalm 103:(1-7), 8-13); Romans 14:1-12; Matthew 18:21-35

Judgment and forgiveness are the subjects of our scripture and lesson this week.

This Sunday is the 10th anniversary of 9-11. In his sermon, The Rev. Cannon Frank Loguem asks:" Are there not some crimes to heinous to forgive? And on this day, we ask, Isn’t forgiving the perpetrators of September 11 too much to ask? How could those of us who remain alive even have the right to forgive?" Read his comments on the gospel lesson this week by clicking on "Read."

Jesus responds to Peter's request question about how may times we must forgive someone who sins against us in the Gospel passage, and Paul instructs us about judgment and forgiveness in his letter to the Romans.

The Dr. Courtney Cowart, in her sermon, "An Exhortation to Forgiveness," tells us: "It is this kind of belief about the justification of violence for the settling of moral grievances that leads to mornings like 9-11." Read the details of her account of 9/11 which she experienced in New York City that day, and what her prayerful remembrances call us to do - what Jesus calls us to do, and be.

Community - God's community - is the theme this week

This week's scripture: Exodus 12:1-14, Psalm 149; or Ezekiel 33:7-11, Psalm 119:33-40; Romans 13:8-14; Matthew 18:15-20

This week we read about one of the most, if not the most important moment in the Jewish faith - the Passover and the Exodus. We also study about what happens when trouble breaks out in the Christian community. Community - God's community - is the theme this week. The Rev. Dr. Susanna Metz tells us "we can't put limits to our forgiveness either. We can't say, “OK, fine, that didn't work. I don't have to do anything more.” Reconciliation means the door to forgiveness has to stay open. But there’s more. When we wrong others, we must repent...  If we want our life as a church to grow, we need to work constantly on our witness. Others must see us care for each other. They should hear us speak kindly of one another and they should see us forgive and ask forgiveness. It's not always easy, and we won't always do it. But as we try to live as we are called to live, we have only to remember that Jesus also said, “Where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am among them.”

In "Bloody Doorposts," from the book The Divine Salvage by Curtis and Tempe Fussell, Curtis Fussell tells us "The thought of a meal with wine symbolizing blood is awesome and barbaric to the outsider. But in the drinking of that cup we spread the blood of Jesus Christ on the doorposts of our lives. We do it in the belief and out of the assurance that God acts decisively for us in Jesus Christ as He did for the Hebrews on that Passover night. God has not hesitated. God has not waited for us to change our minds. No, God comes and acts decisively to set us free."

The Good Life - the Problem with Certainty

This week's Scripture: Exodus 3:1-15 and Psalm 105:1-6, 23-26, 45c (or Jeremiah 15:15-21 and Psalm 26:1-8); Romans 12:9-21; Matthew 16:21-28

 

Last week Peter was walking on air. He exclaimed that Jesus was the Christ, and was told that upon this rock, Jesus would build his church, giving him the keys to the kingdom. This week, after Peter thinks he knows what that kingdom will be like, and tells Jesus not to talk about suffering a humiliating and horrible death, Jesus calls him Satan, and says to get behind him. What is going on here? How can the kingdom of God be established if it's leader, the Messiah, is to suffer death at the hands of the Romans and the entrenched Jewish religious leaders? We see Moses encounter God in the form of the burning bush, burning without be extinguished. Moses, who was a Prince of Egypt, and now tending the sheep of his father-in-law. How would he, with a speech impediment and loss of esteem, lead God's people out of bondage to the promised land? How can this be?

 

We are given the name of God in this lesson. God speaking to Moses, and Jesus to his disciples says "I AM WHO I AM," or I am becoming who I am becoming - the great "I AM" - the essence of existence, the presence of eternity. Through this power, like the yeast in the parable we considered a few weeks ago, the kingdom rises and spreads.

 

We are called to help bring about the kingdom. God engages us through Christ, the Word and the Holy Spirit. Through a power and paradoxes we may not understand, the kingdom comes. Consider, "God's Economic Plan, " in the Rev. Dr. Gary Charles'  "The Good Life." Our own Father Rodge Wood tells us about "The Problem With Certainty." Fr. Bill has told us about losing or dying to putting our will ahead of God's will.

 

We learn more about the kingdom, and ourselves.