24th Sunday After Pentecost
Zephaniah 1:7, 12-18 Psalm 90:1-12 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 Matthew 25:14-30 Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ, grace and peace to you from the one who trusts us in the meantime. Amen Well, here we are, nearing the end of the church year, and we have another set of readings about the coming of the Lord after a long delay, and again this ends in weeping and gnashing of teeth and outer darkness, the word of the lord thanks be to God? While it’s tempting to get caught up in the language of the end and visions of judgment and whether or not we think it’s fair the end is not really what these passage are about, rather they are about the middle, the meantime, living life right now and what God expects of us, They speak to where we are because we are living solidly in the middle, our life and faith is lived out in between already and not yet, between Jesus came, lived, died, rose and ascend to the father and Jesus will come to judge the living and the dead. Which begs the question: what are we to do in the meantime? Which is where our parable comes in. In the parable we have a master and three servants, the master is going away and has quite a bit of property which he entrusts to the servants to take care of while he is gone, he gives each what he thinks they can handle and even the smallest amount is a large sum of money, a talent is equivalent to 15 years of wages for a day laborer. It’s a big responsibility, but the master hands it over with no instructions other than the understanding that the master will return and reclaim the property at some point, this is a care taking situation not a gift and the master leaves. Two of the servants take the money and put it to work, they invest it and trade with it and by the time the master returns they have doubled the original amount and are celebrated when they give it to their master. The third servant, the one with the least amount, fearfully takes the one talent, digs a hole and puts it in the ground. When the master returns he digs it up and fearfully gives it to the master who berates him for mismanagement, at least you could’ve taken it to the bank the master says as he takes away the talent from the third servant. We who live in the meantime have a big responsibility because God has entrusted to us the world and God’s message for the world, the message sent through the good news of Jesus Christ. God expects us to do something with what God has given us, to live out the message, the good news, to share it and by sharing it, growing it so that even though we’re in the middle, the world starts to look like God’s vision for the world, where all are loved and fed and clothed, and there is no more war and creation flourishes. We are entrusted with love, the love of family and friends, God expects that we work to make that love grow by sharing it with others. We are entrusted with a community that shares good news with us, God expects that we work to make that community grow by sharing the good news with others. We are entrusted with physical resources, God expects that we share those resources with those who lack them. Because the way God created the world There is more than enough for all And when we live in this way we share, not because we are fearful of judgment, the weeping and gnashing of teeth but because we are grateful that God has trusted us in the meantime. The actions of the first two servants are riskier than the third, it’s true, sharing is risky but only by sharing will the message spread and grow. If we are overwhelmed by fear and take no risks there is no hope of anything spreading or growing. And the tricky thing is that we in the meantime are left to determine how much to risk. How much of what God has given us do we give away? We need some of it to take care of ourselves, so how much is enough? These are the questions we find ourselves asking as we develop our congregational budget, and we ask these questions when we consider our own giving and resources of time and talents and there are very few concrete instructions from God. In some way this situation reminds me of one of my favorite professors in college, I took several classes from him and after the first class, it was always fun to watch people who hadn’t had him before when the time came for the first essay, because in assigning essays Dr. Jodock simply assigned a topic there was no required word count or number of pages, Dr. Jodock told his students that the essay should be as long as it took to thoroughly address the topic. And people freaked out, because it meant that they would have to think hard about the content of the essay, and find the balance between what was too little and too much, they couldn’t just write something and then if it didn’t meet the required length add more, or if it was too long cut things out. It was up to them to decide how much was enough. It really stressed people out who were used to having these things spelled out for them whether it was so they could do enough to get by or because they wanted the best grade possible there was no way to calculate your potential grade and that struck fear into some students’ hearts. But after you got to know Dr. Jodock a bit you learned that he was a gracious grader of essays, and then it became fun to write for him, because then it became about exploring the topic rather than trying to meet a word or page count. Don’t get me wrong, he still took off points for things but you knew that as long as you honestly engaged the topic to the best of your abilities you would get a passing grade. When we think about stewardship, that big church word that means taking care of what God has given us I think it’s in some ways like writing an essay for Dr. Jodock, we’ve been given a topic and it is up to us to figure out how much is too much or too little, and when we get to know God more, we realize God’s a gracious grader which frees us to take some risks, explore what happens when we give love away freely and invite others in to share what God has entrusted to us. Sure God is going to be honest with us when we miss the mark but if we know anything from scripture it is that God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. God wants us to succeed and God will give us all the help we need including God’s own son. The Thessalonians were worried about the end Paul exhorts them to live according to the light to stay awake but he concludes with these comforting words: “For God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live with him.” So whether we are awake or asleep We give thanks to God. Amen
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23rd Sunday After Pentecost
Amos 5:18-24 Psalm 70 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 Matthew 25:1-13 Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ, grace and peace to you from the one who is coming. Amen There was a bumper sticker I saw a few years ago that I thought was pretty funny, it said “Jesus is coming, look busy” the readings for this week reminded me of that bumper sticker, before I used it as a sermon illustration I looked it up online to make sure I wasn’t imagining things and found that yes, I had remembered correctly and that it is still available in a wide variety of styles. Which surprised me at first and then when I thought about it a little, sadly made sense because while it is supposed to be a tongue in cheek funny I think it actually reflects the view of most Christians these days, The view where though we confess in the words of the apostle’s creed that we believe that Jesus will come to judge the living and the dead, we rarely think about it and if we do our reaction is more like realizing that family will arrive for thanksgiving in two weeks and we haven’t dusted for a while and if we don’t mom is going to spend part of her vacation dusting our house, which let’s be honest, wouldn’t be all that bad in the grand scheme of things. We have lost our sense of urgency over Jesus’ coming, to be fair it has been over two thousand years, we are far removed from Paul and the early Christians who expected Jesus to come before the end of their lives. In our reading from 1 Thessalonians we hear Paul counseling the community over their anxiety that Jesus has not yet returned and believers have begun to die, the Thessalonians are worried that their loved ones will miss out on life everlasting with Jesus because they died before Jesus’ coming. Paul assures them that for the one who died and rose death is not a problem and that when Jesus comes all believers both living and dead will be with the Lord forever. This is the hope to which we cling, especially at the death of loved ones. That God is coming and will reunite us with all the Saints like those we remembered last week. But in the meantime, we wait. Perhaps the bumper sticker should read: “Jesus is coming, how are you waiting?” because how we wait matters. We often think of waiting as a passive time and in some cases like when we are waiting for a doctor or in line at the post office the outcome of our waiting will be the same whether we are impatient or resigned during that time. Then there is active waiting, the kind of waiting the accompanies an expected event like the birth of a baby. There are things to do during this kind of waiting, a nursery to get ready, purchasing a car seat and little clothes, stocking up on diapers, packing the hospital bag, so that when the time comes, everything is ready, or as ready as it can be for the expected baby. This is the kind of waiting which God expects of us as we anticipate God’s coming, waiting that includes preparation so that when the time comes, everything is ready, or as ready as it can be for our expected God. But what if we’re not preparing? Or we’ve decided to let the dust build up because mom will take care of it when she comes? The prophet Amos points out to the people of his day, that the way they are acting, the day of the Lord will not be pleasant for them because with the coming of God is the coming of a new order, of justice and mercy, and those who have ignored justice and mercy will have a hard time adjusting even if they have longed for the day of the Lord. Through the prophet God says to the people “I hate, I despise your festivals, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals I will not look upon. Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to the melody of your harps. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an everflowing stream.” God is tired of thoughts and prayers without accompanying action. God is tired of being treated like a cosmic vending machine, you put the right amount of prayers and festivals in and your desired godly treat will come out. That’s not the point says God, the point all along has been to build a relationship between me the God of the Universe and you the people, a relationship built on mercy and justice so that relationships among the people will be built on mercy and justice. God is coming. How are you waiting? Are you sitting back like there’s nothing you can do? Are you preparing? Working for mercy and justice? Perhaps you’re getting tired and need some rest because it has already been a long wait. In Matthew Jesus tells the parable of the ten bridesmaids waiting to greet the groom. The groom is delayed and all the bridesmaids fall asleep. There is no judgment over this, they are tired and the wait is long, the key to the parable comes when the groom finally arrives, half the bridesmaids prepared for a delay and brought extra oil, the other half did not and are unable to fulfill their duties. It seems that Jesus is telling us to be prepared for a delay, and being prepared for a delay means being prepared to keep God’s vision alive, the lamp lit as it were, shining light on the acts of justice, righteousness and peace that keep hope alive, hope in the promise that what we are doing in the way of preparation is only a fraction of what God will do in the way of justice, righteousness and peace when God comes. I think our prayer of the day sums all this up best, so let us pray it again. O God of justice and love, you illumine our way through life with the words of your Son. Give us the light we need and awaken us to the needs of others, through Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord. Amen |
AboutPastor Emily Johnson preaches weekly at Christ Lutheran. These are manuscripts of her sermons given at Christ Lutheran. Feel free to engage with them in the comments section of the blog. Archives
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