Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost Proper 23 Yr B Oct 10 2021

Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost Proper 23 Yr B Oct 10 2021

Job 23:1-9, 16-17, Psalm 22:1-15, Hebrews 4:12-16, Mark 10:17-31

 

Of all the come to Jesus meetings throughout the last two thousand and twenty-one years, this one was probably the first and maybe the most difficult. This earnest man wants to hear from Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. Wouldn't you like to know that too? Wouldn't you like to sit down with Jesus and find out just exactly what you must do to have eternal life? No more guessing, no more praying that you do the right thing, no more "if I do this God, I'd like you to do that," but a clear and concise list that you can check off. Absolute certainty about what it takes to have life after death. And then when you hear it, you hide in the bushes and hope Jesus won’t notice you’re not capable of giving everything. 

 

Jesus' first response to this young man is to tell him to follow the law. And this earnest man reminds Jesus that he is a good Jewish boy and has been following the law since his youth. At this point I imagine Jesus taking a deep breath and gathering his spirit together. Jesus looks at him and loves him and thinks this is not a bad guy. It is really important that we hear Jesus loves him, Jesus doesn’t humiliate him, or drive him to despair, this is an act of love on Jesus’ part. Jesus says, "You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me" because Jesus loves him. Jesus loves us. 

 

The truth is that each one of us gathered here today is that earnest human, and there is no loophole. If we have a roof over our heads, if we have a car to drive no matter what shape it's in, if we have shoes for our feet, if we have food to eat for lunch, we are this earnest human, and this is really hard. Jesus says, use your wealth and security to empower others, and that causes shock and even sadness for the earnest man. 

 

God’s economy is so much different than our economy. This isn’t to make us feel bad, but it is to say that all of us stumble, sometimes hide from God because this is so very hard. God calls us to a different way; a way of following with a different kind of economy and trying to live out a different kind of vision for what the future can hold. A vision that includes kindness, compassion, mercy, giving. 

 

And then the disciples quickly ask, "who can be saved?" And Jesus answers, it isn't about you at all, it isn't about your wealth or even your poverty, your influence, or your social capital, it’s not about what you look like, it's not about who you're related to, it's not even about how much you give to or help others. Jesus looked at them and said, "For mortals it is impossible, but not for God, for God all things are possible." What Jesus is saying is that rich or poor, old, or young, gay or straight, democrat or republican, and all of the places in between, we are all on this rock together, and none of us get out of this life alive. We can do absolutely nothing to earn, deserve, or in any way change the fact of God's amazing and abundant love. There is no checklist for salvation. Love wins. This is an invitation to not look for salvation in your stuff or your position. It is an invitation to be loved, and because we are loved we give, and we divest ourselves of the hold that our position has over us. 

 

So in scripture, when we hear "give all you have to the poor," when we hear "clothe the naked, feed the hungry," we realize that that is how we respond to God's amazing grace, we pour out our love for all those whom God loves, we empower those who have no power. This is at the core of being a follower of Jesus, this is discipleship, and it is hard. The promise is that when you give it all away, whatever it is, you will not be bereft, you will not be left with nothing. The promise is that when you give it all away, whatever it is, Love fills the holes. When you give it all away, you are filled with that which only Jesus has. You will be soaked in God's love, you will be filled with the spirit, you will be re-membered in the body of Christ, you will be transformed. This is the good news. Stop trying to win God's love, stop trying to earn God's love, it can't be done, it is impossible for us. But all things are possible for God. The invitation is to live as God's beloved. 

 

 

So what keeps us from giving it all away, what keeps us from empowering others? What causes us to ignore our history of using our wealth or our power to keep others disempowered? I think it is fear. We are afraid to risk, we are afraid of losing control, we are afraid to live our lives fully alive in the love of Christ. We protect what we have, rather than live as citizens of the kingdom in God’s economy. It’s not just us, it’s all of Jesus’ disciples that have gone before us, those who we read about in our bibles, those of us that sit in these seats, and those who are outside these walls and have yet to hear of God’s amazing and abundant love. But how can we be blamed? We live in a chaotic world, with a blustery, fractured political life, global pandemic, social changes, church attendance in a tailspin. 

 

Even we are afraid that God somehow will not keep God’s promises. 

 

We forget that we are already God's beloveds. Lay down your fear, your need to control, and live your live, fully alive, fully immersed in God's love. Many of you give and give and give. Jesus isn’t telling us to give more. Jesus is telling us earnest humans that we have all we need; we have God’s love. Find ways to respond to God's abundant and amazing love with all your heart, all your soul and all your strength. Give God all that you are. For nothing is impossible in God. Amen.

Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost Yr B Proper 15 Aug 15 2021

Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost Yr B Proper 15 Aug 15 2021

1 Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14, Psalm 111, Ephesians 5:15-20, John 6:51-58

 

When my mom died, we spent some time going through her things of course, and I went through her recipe box. I looked at and read many of her recipes, some I remembered with fondness, others were forgettable. I took pictures of some, the ones in her handwriting, and places where she had taken notes about changes to the recipe. I have her pie crust recipe, with the corners and the edges of the paper all folded and ripped. It's a little like talking to her about it. Kathy, if the air is dry you need a little more flour, or for the lefse recipe, if the potatoes are a little moist, just throw in a little extra flour. A recipe is not just a recipe, it's a story, a story of how it used to be, or a story of scarcity that proves to be abundance. My mom was the queen at being able to make a pound of ground beef feed a family of ten. Isn’t that the way it usually happens, you go looking for a good recipe, and in return you get wisdom, maybe it also happens the other way around too, you share a good recipe, and you share a bit of wisdom as well. 

 

We have the same pairing in our readings today, wisdom and good food; maybe there is not one without the other. Wisdom in scripture is not just about being wise, as opposed to being foolish; God has built wisdom into the fabric of the cosmos. And we learn from wisdom that there are certain ways of living in which people thrive, and other ways of living which lead people to death. Ordering your life to wisdom is what we read about in these scripture passages today. We've been reading through the story of David, from shepherd to king, from young boy to powerful and maybe foolish man. The story is continued today in Kings. King David’s son Solomon is now on the throne, at the ripe old age of 12. You and I know that Solomon is famous for being wise, and it is already evidenced at this young age in his prayer to God, give your servant an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil. In Ephesians we hear about wisdom as right living, be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise. Do not be foolish, but understand what the will, which also may be translated desire, understand what the desire of the Lord is. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, giving thanks to God the father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

 

One of the marks of following Jesus is intentionality and spiritual practice. A mistake is made when people, Christians and others, think morality is the marker. It is not. I believe that intentionality, spiritual practice and our prayer together, or common prayer, forms us into the people who God desires us to be, who God dreams we can be. Not a perfect people, but a wise people, a people who can love one another. Paul’s words for the Ephesians are about wisdom as right living, and that God’s desire for us, God’s people, is to live wisely.

 

In John’s gospel, the wisdom tradition is applied to Jesus; Jesus now is the embodiment of wisdom. We continue to hear about the living bread, the bread that is Jesus. John is making a claim about the radical presence of God in Jesus, essentially John is saying that in Jesus, God provides everything; God’s abundance is made real in Jesus. We are invited to be present in God’s bounty. We are invited to feast on wisdom; we are invited to eternal life, all contained in this loaf of bread. 

 

God has built wisdom into the fabric of the cosmos. Ordering our lives to wisdom brings abundant and bountiful life. Jesus is the embodiment of wisdom, and therefore not only do we feast on wisdom we feast on Jesus. Ordinary bread and our ordinary lives are made extraordinary by God’s abundant love.

 

I am reminded of the movie Chocolat. The story is about a young mother who with her young daughter blow into a rural French village on the first Sunday of Lent. She opens a chocolate shop and prepares amazing confections that seem to transform those who eat them. She has opposition however by those in the town who live by a certain set of rules, a morality, that doesn’t allow for the ordinary pleasure of chocolate, most especially during Lent. 

 

Our main character in the movie dispenses wisdom along with chocolate and other confections. Entering her chocolate shop through the ordinary front door results in extraordinary nourishment. And yet, there remain those who will not cross the threshold for fear of what may happen and how they may be changed. 

 

We are changed by the ordinary bread, into an extraordinary community. We are changed by the wisdom feast into the body of Christ teeming with extraordinary life. We are changed as we abide in the flesh and blood of Jesus. This is as clear as Jesus can possibly get, whoever eats me will live. Wise or foolish, that is the reality. And that reality is scary to some, some will not cross the threshold into love because it changes them. 

 

The call to follow Jesus is a call to a foolish life of love. To follow Jesus is to believe that ordinary bread is made extraordinary, that it can fill you up and heal your heart. To follow Jesus is to practice the intentionality of love, even when you don't feel like it. To follow Jesus is to buck the conventional wisdom that the first will be first and the last will be last, it is to be fools for Christ and witness that the first will be last, and the last will be first. To follow Jesus is to let the truth that loves wins, take hold of your heart and your mind.

 

Following Jesus takes practice, it takes foolishness and wisdom, it takes brokenness and healing, it takes listening to our mistakes, like King David had to listen to Nathan, and it takes forgiveness. Following Jesus is hard in this world where money and power seem to matter more than wisdom and love. Following Jesus means walking the road together, and sharing some bread along the way, oh, and some chocolate too. 

 

Following Jesus is to take into ourselves the very foolishness of flesh and blood, following Jesus is to practice loving our neighbor with intentionality and wisdom, following Jesus means that we will be changed. Following Jesus means receiving grace upon grace.

Thanks be to God!