The Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost ---- 24 September 2017

Jonah 3:10-4:11

3:10 When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it.

4:1 But this was very displeasing to Jonah, and he became angry. 2 He prayed to the Lord and said, "O Lord! Is not this what I said while I was still in my own country? That is why I fled to Tarshish at the beginning; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing. 3 And now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live." 4 And the Lord said, "Is it right for you to be angry?" 5 Then Jonah went out of the city and sat down east of the city, and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, waiting to see what would become of the city. 6 The Lord God appointed a bush, and made it come up over Jonah, to give shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort; so Jonah was very happy about the bush. 7 But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the bush, so that it withered. 8 When the sun rose, God prepared a sultry east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint and asked that he might die. He said, "It is better for me to die than to live." 9 But God said to Jonah, "Is it right for you to be angry about the bush?" And he said, "Yes, angry enough to die." 10 Then the Lord said, "You are concerned about the bush, for which you did not labor and which you did not grow; it came into being in a night and perished in a night. 11 And should I not be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also many animals?"

Matthew 20:1-16

1 "For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. 2 After agreeing with the laborers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. 3 When he went out about nine o'clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace; 4 and he said to them, "You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.' So they went. 5 When he went out again about noon and about three o'clock, he did the same. 6 And about five o'clock he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, "Why are you standing here idle all day?' 7 They said to him, "Because no one has hired us.' He said to them, "You also go into the vineyard.' 8 When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, "Call the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.' 9 When those hired about five o'clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage. 10 Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage. 11 And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, 12 saying, "These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.' 13 But he replied to one of them, "Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? 14 Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. 15 Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?' 16 So the last will be first, and the first will be last."

Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?

·       I have to admit that this sermon was difficult to write. Not because of the content; there’s plenty to work with. The reason is simple: I wanted to preach on the Gospel but I love the book of Jonah. It’s one of my favourite stories. It’s like reading a comic book!

·       Actually both the reading from Jonah and the reading from Matthew follow a similar path. This why the people who made up the lectionary –the order of readings used at Sunday Worship- paired the two.

·       Both of these stories are not what we’d expect. Characters in both are upset by a display of generosity and feel badly done by since their expectations were not fulfilled.

·       Jonah ran away to Spain (the modern name for Tarshish used in the passage) to keep from proclaiming repentance to Nineveh just in case they just might repent and then God just might change God’s mind. Nineveh of course is the great city of the Assyrian Empire, the empire that hammered the state of Israel. It symbolized all that is evil and wrong in the mind of the Jewish people of the time. When the people repent and God decides not to destroy them, Jonah is so angry he wants to die. And the Lord said, "Is it right for you to be angry?" In the end, God upbraids Jonah for being more concerned about a bean plant that gave him some shade than about the many people of Nineveh who do not know their right hand from their left, and also many animals?

·       The workers in the vineyard are in a somewhat similar situation: they feel cheated for receiving their agreed-upon wage… and nothing more, while expecting more. They worked hard in the hot sun all day and received their denarius. And so did those who worked half a day and those who worked only one hour! Where’s the shop steward? This is so unfair! The landowner reminds them of their agreement, and goes further: Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?

·       Neither story ends as the characters in it (or us, for that matter) might expect. The enemies of Israel are supposed to go down in flames, not repent in sackcloth and ashes. Workers are worth their wage and should be paid what they deserve, with consideration to conditions and time.

·       Well, neither of these stories are about the political situation of ancient Israel or about labour relations in Jesus’ time. The parable and the book of Jonah (which might be a long parable anyway) are about God and the kingdom of God. For the hearers, these words are a bitter pill, tough medicine… like Buckley’s Mixture. God’s generosity is the point, not our desire for “fairness” or our understanding of who deserves God’s generosity. For some of us, maybe me, this generosity is nothing less than scandalous.

·       And I (and maybe you) should be scandalized and offended. This story should mix us up and spin us around like a fast carnival ride. It should turn our world up-side-down.

·       That’s what grace is all about. Grace is nothing less than God’s undeserved choice and the sharing of God’s own life with the likes of us. Grace in action is the forgiveness of Nineveh and the same payment for all the workers, first, last, and in-between. It can’t be bought or deserved or even predicted.

·       The hitch here is… we want to decide who gets God’s grace. We want to decide who deserves it and we’ll ration it out to those folks. In other words, we want to be God and sit in judgement on all around us. Truth to tell, we can be envious because God is generous, to use the Gospel’s words. It is also possible that we believe that we are part of the first batch of labourers paid for working all day in the heat.

·       Does this make us think? Probably so. Can we see that everything is grace when it comes to God? I’d hope so. It might even make us repent… and in that repentance, encounter God’s freely given grace, mercy, and love… like the people of Jonah’s Nineveh AND Jonah himself or Jesus’ parable’s last hired AND first hired vineyard workers.

Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?

The Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost ----- 17 September 2017

Matthew 18:21-35

21 Then Peter came and said to him, "Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?" 22 Jesus said to him, "Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times. 23 "For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. 24 When he began the reckoning, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him; 25 and, as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, and payment to be made. 26 So the slave fell on his knees before him, saying, "Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.' 27 And out of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt. 28 But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and seizing him by the throat, he said, "Pay what you owe.' 29 Then his fellow slave fell down and pleaded with him, "Have patience with me, and I will pay you.' 30 But he refused; then he went and threw him into prison until he would pay the debt. 31 When his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place. 32 Then his lord summoned him and said to him, "You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. 33 Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?' 34 And in anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he would pay his entire debt. 35 So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart."

Jesus said to him, "Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.

·        Peter is always the man for questions. He’s the one who asks Jesus not to talk about dying or the cross. He is often a sort of spokesman for all the other disciples (including us) when it comes to the issues that are closest to Jesus heart. He’s the one who declares Jesus to be the Messiah and the Son of God, and then tried to talk him out of the idea that Jesus had to die. He’s also the fellow who denied Jesus three times in one evening when things went sour according to his understanding.

·        In any event, Peter seems to think that there is a limit on forgiveness. How does seven times grab you? That seems like enough times. The rest of the world is unforgiving. The Law interpreted by the scribes and Pharisees is quite strict. The Roman Code of civic laws can be just as brutal and worse since it was backed up by the sword. So seven times is generous, isn’t it? (Especially since seven is a ‘perfect’ number.)

·        Jesus says “No. More like seventy-seven times.” (I’ll see your perfect number and raise you by eleven times!) And then a parable.

·        For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves.

·        The comparison of the two debts in today’s Gospel reading could be seen as a ridiculous one. In parables, Jesus often went for the absurd and the “over-the-top”, just like "Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.”

·        The servant in question was owed 100 “denarii” (a Roman coin) or about 100 days wages for a farm hand at the time and he would not forgive the servant who owed him that sum. In contrast, that same servant in question owed his overlord the sum of 10,000 “talents” or the equivalent of 200,000 years’ wages. I think it is important to note what the Gospel writer actually said, so the talk of “talents” and “denarii,” while archaic is still important. It actually carries more weight than similar examples from our own time.

·        We can see that this exaggeration was done to present a tremendous dramatic effect and to drive home a lesson. After all, it is a parable.

·        The lesson is “Forgiveness… It sounds ridiculous… and I mean it.”

·        The entire parable is not so much a real example of what God is like nor is it a blueprint for what becomes of us. At first hearing, it sounds less like grace and more like a contract.

·        It is, however, an exhortation to forgive as we have been forgiven. The first slave’s debt is so high that it has almost a comic book style to it. “You owe me the equivalent of the Gross National Product of all of North America. Pay it now, cash on the barrelhead!” The contrast with the debt that the slave refused to forgive is even more striking. “You owe me last month’s phone bill. Pay it now!”

·        The real point is the extravagance of the forgiveness given by the high lord contrasted with the stinginess of the slave in question. If the slave with the huge debt had written off the pittance his fellow servant owed, we might say “Aww; nice story; he learned his lesson” and go on about our day. The failure to forgive and the punishment that follows actually makes the story.

·        For Jesus to say So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart is really a back-handed proclamation of grace. The forgiveness of the debt by the high lord is the focus of the whole story.

·        We can be held accountable for the forgiveness we give to each other because we have been forgiven our sins and offenses by God. Forgiveness is not merely the price of living in the Kingdom of God; forgiveness is the very air we breathe in the Kingdom. There is no entry into the Kingdom without it. There is no living in the Kingdom without it! This is all grace and it is grace we have received and can share.

·        We don’t forgive because it is expected of us; we forgive because we’ve been forgiven.

·        Forgiveness is no less tough to give simply because we’ve been forgiven. We all like forgiveness… so long as we’re the ones being forgiven. There are people – and we all know some – who hold grudges and nurse wounds and refuse forgiveness for any reason. Some go so far as to nurture their hurts and their anger. There are things that are so serious as to make forgiveness so difficult that it seems impossible. That is another situation that requires more than having someone tell us to forgive. There are times that only time and distance permit a point of forgiveness. There are times when only time and distance permit a person to carry on.

·        Forgiveness in our lives is nothing less than grace in action, whether it is the realization in faith that we are forgiven our faults, failings, and sins or it is the movement in our spirit to forgive another.

·        How often dare we forgive? (Yes, I said ‘dare’.) Seven times? Seventy-seven times? So often we lose count? Who can say? How often has God forgiven us? Even if we say we out loud that we never really sin, we’re old enough to know better. Even in that, the soul-deep realization of our own sinfulness is a result of grace, for that grace drives us to the One who can forgive, the One who has promised to forgive, whether our debt is a pocketful of small change or 10,000 talents

Jesus said to him, "Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.

The Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost ---- 10 September 2017

Matthew 18:15-20

15 "If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one. 16 But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 17 If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. 18 Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. 19 Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them." 

For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.

·       Years ago, I was asked to supply at a congregation out in the countryside. The Church building sat all by itself with farm fields all around and a small parking lot on the side of the building. It looked like a nice place, too. There were two services scheduled and I arrived early.

·       A few more people arrived for the first service and we talked a bit while we waited for the person with the key to the building to arrive.

·       Long story short, that person never showed up. I asked who was to bring the key and no one knew. So there we were, about a dozen people there with me in the parking lot. We looked at each other and I said “Well, we’re here and where two or three are gathered in Jesus’ name, he’s there among them.” So we held an abbreviated service with a short sermon right here in the parking lot on that bright Fall morning.

·       We were there. The Word was proclaimed. Jesus was present and we worshiped the living God… in a parking lot… with an improvised service.

·       By the way, the church was opened for the second service. I don’t remember why it wasn’t open for the early service… and by now it doesn’t matter.

·       When we hear this verse from Matthew’s Gospel we might find it both comforting and comfortable. It tells us that whenever the church, the people of God, gather, Jesus himself is present with them, in a beautiful cathedral, at a kitchen table, or in a parking lot. When that happens, what is asked of the Father in Jesus’ name will be given, because it is he who asks through the people who bear his name.

·       It’s a powerful thought that as we gather here today Christ is present as well. We might wonder whether this is place is a special place where Christ is specifically present or is it a place to which bring Christ with us as we come. The answer would be “yes” to both. Christ is present here because we call this place ‘holy’ or ‘sacred’ since the people of God meet here and have met here for some time. It is also the place where the presence is made specific by the proclamation of the Word and the celebration of the sacraments.

·       On the other hand, where we come from to meet here is no less sacred and holy; it’s just that we lay those places aside to make ourselves aware of the presence of God.

·       The idea that Jesus is present whenever even a few people gather in his name is comforting in a time when it appears that so few people come to worship. Well, in many cases, they are worshiping elsewhere. And in any case, it is not the numbers that count. Leaving aside matters of taste or concerns over crowding, we may have to ask ourselves if the worship is more “worshipful” with 700 people present than it is with 45. The experience is certainly different, but is Jesus somehow more present?

·       If the people of God gather, if the Word is proclaimed, and the sacraments – in a sense, when the Word takes on flesh – Jesus is present. If the people of God gather in community to share a meal because they are the people of God and bear the name “Christian”, we can dare to say that Jesus is present.

·       Notice nothing has been said about the ‘worthiness’ of those people. The group of people called ‘Christians’ include sinners and troublesome people. The early part of this morning’s Gospel reading gives an outline for what in some places ‘fraternal correction’ or more simply ‘how to deal with troublesome people.’ Those verses recommend expulsion from the community as a last resort. Such people are to be treated as a Gentile and a tax collector, words that carry the weight of separation from the community to the people of Jesus’ time. Remember, however, who Jesus spent a lot of his time with – exactly such people estranged from the community. Such people and the troubles they cause are dealt with up front and not ignored or neglected. If they are separated, it is only so they can be brought back to the community where the presence of Jesus is known.

·       For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them., Pleasant or cranky, hopeful or glum, those who look up or those who look down… Saints and sinners all. In the community, Jesus is among us. It is his grace that saves and the cross we all received at Baptism is the sign of that saving, transforming, and freely-given grace. He’s here now, and he remains with us. Let’s face it; where else could we turn?

For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.