First Trinity Oktoberfest and Outdoor Worship Sermon, September 28, 2014
Matthew 21:23-32
Matthew 21:23-32
When Jesus entered the temple,
the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him
as he was teaching,
and said,
"By what authority are you doing these things,
and
who gave you this authority?"
Jesus said to them,
"I will also ask you one question;
if you tell me the answer,
then I will also tell you by what authority I do these things.
Did the baptism of John come from heaven,
or was it of human origin?"
And they argued with one another,
"If we say, 'From heaven,'
he will say to us,
'Why then did you not believe him?'
But if we say, 'Of human origin,'
we are afraid of the crowd;
for all regard John as a prophet."
So they answered Jesus, "We do not know."
And Jesus said to them,
"Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.
"What do you think?
A man had two sons;
he went to the first and said, 'Son, go and work in the vineyard today.'
The son answered, 'I will not';
but later he changed his mind and went.
The father went to the second and said the same;
and that son answered, 'I go, sir';
but he did not go.
Which of the two did the will of his father?"
They said,
"The first."
Jesus said to them,
"Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you.
For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him,
but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him;
and even after you saw it, you did not change your minds and believe him.
The Gospel of Our Lord! Praise to you, O Christ!
[pray].
Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you.
You can’t really ignore a text like that, can you?
The tax collectors and prostitutes.
Before YOU!
Happy Oktoberfest!
Matthew’s Gospel, as we’ve been discussing for several weeks now,
is constantly challenging the characters in the Gospel—
the disciples, the pharisees, the scribes, the chief priests…
Jesus, in the Gospel, has constantly been challenging everyone,
And in so doing, he’s also been challenging the hearers of the Gospel—
the hearers in the first century church where the Gospel was first received,
and perhaps the hearers,
here and now;
(us).
Jesus, in the Gospel, it seems, has been challenging us…
Challenging us
to change,
calling us to to transformation, to Metanoia, to a new center, a new meaning,
a new direction.
In Jesus words and actions, the Gospel has been challenging us,
members of Christ’s body today,
to think bigger—
[pause]
to think bigger, especially when it comes to
our view of God’s Kingdom,
and
who might constitute God’s people.
Jesus has been challenging us to think bigger when it comes to our religious understanding of
(here it is again)
who is in and who is out.
A call to change,
a call to open our hearts,
to widen our understanding of God’s love,
so that in one way or another our minds might be better in synch with God’s love—
a love that seems to extend not
“even to,”
but
“especially to”
tax collectors and prostitutes, and anyone else we tend to think might be excluded.
(pause).
(pause).
The larger challenge in all of this, of course
The LARGER CHALLENGE,
larger than adopting broader ideals,
Larger than promoting more inclusive ideologies or theologies,
or welcome statements,
or buttons
or signs,
or legislation…
The larger challenge for Matthew’s first century community,
and perhaps for our own,
Even larger than changing our minds or our attitudes,
Of course,
Is changing our actions,
changing our behavior,
making our faith-active-in-love.
The larger challenge is:
doing it.
It is easy to believe in Community, in Service, in Grace, in Liberation…
It’s easy to believe that we are the Body of Christ.
It is incredibly difficult to do it
and
to be it.
It is easy to believe in Jesus
It is much more difficult to leave our baggage and the things we deeply love behind so that me might follow him.
Stumbling and Following
That brings us to the other important thread that has been running though our Gospel readings for weeks now:
Following.
And in this Gospel, following always goes hand in hand with stumbling.
(And I am not talking about the kind of stumbling some of you will be doing toward the end of Oktoberfest).
In the Gospel, Jesus journeys toward the cross.
He asks the disciples to come with him, to follow him.
But even Peter,
even Peter,
Jesus’ prized disciple,
even Peter,
in one moment called by Jesus a stepping stone,
a help on the journey for those trekking though the mud and mire of existence, a rock!…
Even Peter, the Rock, struggles…
Even Peter, the Rock, struggles…
Because, for a moment. Peter is tempted,
perhaps, like us,
into believing that:
“Well, things are pretty good for us here just the way they are…”
“Maybe, Jesus, the journey to the cross could be bypassed…”
This is the same thing the disciples said on the mountaintop!
“Let’s just stay here!”
This is nice! Let’s set up camp. Take it easy…
This is comfortable.
This is comfortable, Jesus!
All this talk about the Kingdom… the Cross! Maybe, Jesus, we can put those weirder,
radical,
offensive,
redemptive
parts of your message on the back-burner.
I mean: you and us, Jesus—Jesus and the 12!…
Kinda has a nice ring doesn't it?
I think we could brand that.
We could paint ourselves eating supper
and hang it up in the front of a big building made out of large stones.
Forget the first being last and the last being first.
Jesus, We could own this Town!
“Get behind me!” Jesus tells even his star disciple, as he entertains the same temptations that Jesus resisted when Satan tempted him with them in the wilderness.
“Get behind me.”
Don’t become a stumbling block.
Don’t get in the way.
Don’t prevent the journey to the Cross, or the path to the Kingdom.
The first shall be last. The last shall be first. The humbled and the humiliated shall be exalted,
the marginalized made central.
Blessed are the poor, the mourners, the wailers, the peacemakers.
Blessed are the ones who thirst for justice.
They will be satisfied.
Turns out it’s not all about community.
Turns out it’s not about community, alone.
Roadblocks
Thinking bigger, opening minds, deepening love:
These things are difficult, and can sometimes take a lifetime’s journey on their own.
And some of us never get there.
Surprisingly, it seems that Jesus understands this,
and at least, on occasion, is patient with those who are slow to understand.
But the chief priests?! The Scribes?!
The Bishops?! The Theologians?!
The Lutherans? The Catholics?
The Assembly of God folk? The Evangelicals?
The New Lifers?
Would it ever become clear?
That call to open up our hearts to everyone?
To see the breadth and depth of God’s love?
Would God’s love ever become
acceptable?
Jesus seemed doubtful.
But God’s kingdom starts as a seed, and grows into a shrub that overtakes the whole field.
God’s Kingdom grows!
And it grows up BIG!
God’s Kingdom grows even if the scribes and the churches and the Christians get in the way.
God’s Kingdom grows even if the scribes and the churches and the Christians get in the way.
God’s Kingdom grows even if the Christians get in the way.
Of course, it’s better if they don’t.
But God’s Kingdom happens regardless.
God is big like that.
God’s love is given, nonetheless.
The first shall be last. The last shall be first. The humbled and the humiliated shall be exalted.
Blessed are the poor, the mourners, the wailers, the peacemakers.
Blessed are the ones who thirst for justice.
They will be satisfied.
They will inherit the earth. Theirs is the Kingdom of God.
If “Christian” unwelcome gets in the way of that promise,
If church walls,
or dogma,
or un-christian attitudes that we pretend are Christian attitudes,
or judgmentalism,
or Puritanism,
Or Lutheranism, Catholicism, Evangelicalism, Pentacostalism, Non-Denominationalism,
or racism,
or classism,
or snobbery,
If we flawed, but loved humans get in the way,
If WE BECOME A STUMBLING BLOCK
ON THE WAY TO JESUS
a stumbling block on the way to God’s Kingdom where all are gathered into God’s love;
If we get in God’s way,
Not a problem, Jesus can pick us up and move us out of the Way
If we get in God’s way,
Not a problem, Jesus can pick us up and move us out of the Way so that everyone else can get in.
Like the tax-collectors and the prostitutes, and the drunks and the homeless guys, and the addicts,
and the depressed (‘cause can’t they just get over it?!—no, sometimes, you can’t…)
and the oppressed and the hopeless and the angry and the mentally ill…
and all the people that make us uncomfortable or unhappy when we show up for church
smelling good and looking pretty…
Fortunately, God can move us out of the way
so the tax collectors and the prostitutes [can go] into the kingdom of God ahead of us,
and not trip over all of our baggage,
because it’s their kingdom, too. It’s their Kingdom, especially.
Thank God that God does make a Way out of no way.
Thank God for grace and Love.
May God give us the grace to follow on that way,
to participate in that Way,
and to keep us from stumbling or causing others to stumble along the Way.
May God give us grace as we journey, imperfectly, but together.
AMEN.
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