God’s Offensive Generosity September 21, 2008 Pentecost 19 Lectionary 25

(First, read the texts for this sermon: Matthew 20:1-16; Jonah 3:10-4:11)

Many of us can’t read the Bible!

Many of us, even those who have been life-long, church-going people, say something like: “I try to read the Bible, but I don’t understand what’s going on. I can’t get into it. So I give up.”

Of course, that’s not true for all of us. Some of us are into the Scriptures every day! We use a daily lectionary, such as the one in Evangelical Lutheran Worship, or we use daily devotional booklets such as those available in the narthex, which are always keyed to a passage. Last week, at the first Affirmation of Baptism session of the fall, I passed out study Bibles which include several suggested schedules of reading through the Bible. I understand at least some of the youth are trying them out, which warms my heart!

But what if you are intimidated or overwhelmed because there is so much that’s in the Bible, and you don’t know how to get into it? One reason why the community of believers is essential to the faith journey is because we need others to support and guide us on that journey. So, for instance, in our congregation, beginning in October, Diane Bean will be offering a Sunday morning course for adults called, “Getting Comfortable With The Bible.” She will assume that you have no knowledge of what’s in the Bible! And I’ll be leading a Monday night study sometime after that, using a very helpful book entitled, Opening The Book of Faith. Watch for details!

Why is daily Bible reading a foundational practice of the faith? It’s because, over months and years, God the Holy Spirit forms us in faith by the witnesses to God that we find in the Bible. When you read short passages of Scripture each day and spend a few minutes with them, you begin to find that the Spirit is speaking to you today, through these ancient words. Over the months and years, you and I are formed, through this practice of the faith, into people who are thankful for the blessing of each day, and strengthened by the ancient witness of others who have struggled as we do, and who were conscious of God’s presence in the every day.

And the Spirit forms us to be disciples through the time we spend with those short passages of Scripture. We come to know who God is; that God is love. We come to be formed by that love. We grow to respond – to love others! Your discipleship is simply the day-to-day specifics of how you love others, and invite others into the love which is God,.

For those of you who are overwhelmed by all the stuff that’s in the Bible, here’s one starting point. Know that the Bible is a library of stories about God. Reading and praying the Bible is entering into a book of stories. So, here’s how to start: Read the Bible as you do when you’re open to the truth and meaning of a story. That’s not scary, is it?

Stories are the most memorable way to communicate truth! That’s why Jesus tells such great stories, like the one we read this morning, from Matthew. You remember the scene: a landowner needs workers for his vineyard. He goes out “early in the morning” to hire workers, and he tells them that he will pay them “the usual daily wage,” a denarius. Then the boss man goes out at “about nine o’clock” and hires more workers. He goes out again, at “about noon,” and again, at “about three o’clock”; and he even hires more workers at “about five o’clock!” As it is getting dark, the owner pays the workers, beginning with those guys hired at 5:00 PM, the guys who only worked an hour, and what does he pay them? The usual daily wage! Well, those who had worked much longer saw that, and what did they think they would be paid? A lot more, right!? What are they paid? The same amount.

“It’s unfair!” they complain to the owner. But the owner (who, of course, stands for God) replies, “are you envious because I am generous?”

Well, of course they are! Isn’t this a great story? It’s a story about God’s generosity. And what is the truth communicated? God’s generosity is offensive! It is entirely grace-filled. We do not earn it.

The story of Jonah, from the Hebrew Scriptures, is another of my favorites. In this story, God is God, and Jonah, of course, is you and me. Some of you may know the story. (The whole book of Jonah is only 48 verses long!) God tells Jonah that God is going to destroy a city named Nineveh, full of wicked people, and that Jonah is going to announce that news to the people!

How does Jonah respond to this command of the almighty and all-powerful God? He runs away! Here’s what we read: But Jonah set out to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid his fare and went on board, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord.

“Away from the presence of the Lord?” Where exactly is that? Do you know what happens next, in this comic story? A great storm blows up at sea – and the sailors discover the reason why the ship is about to break up and they are all about to die. It’s because this weasel, Jonah, is trying to run away from God (who can’t be run away from). So they throw Jonah overboard to calm the storm! Do you know what happens next? But the Lord provided a large fish to swallow up Jonah; and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

According to the story, Jonah spends those three days and nights speaking a psalm. (Well, it could be a psalm! It’s as good as any of the psalms in the book called Psalms!) And when the time is right (three days!) God has the fish vomit Jonah out upon the beach. And then we read: The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time, saying, "Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you."

What does Jonah do? This time, he does what God tells him to do! (It’s good to see that Jonah is capable of learning!) We read this: So Jonah set out and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly large city, a three days' walk across. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day's walk. And he cried out, "Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!" (Are you hearing these symbolic numbers that are also present in any number of other stories from the Bible: “three days,” and “forty days”? This is great stuff!)

What happens? Here’s what we read: And the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and small, put on sackcloth (which is what people wore back then, when they felt really, really sorry).

“And the people of Nineveh believed God.” And, this: 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.

Here’s the next twist: But this was very displeasing to Jonah, and he became angry. Why? Because Jonah has gone through all that he’s gone through – he’s spent all his money on a ticket for the ship, and he’s been thrown overboard, and he’s been swallowed by a fish and he’s been vomited onto the shore and he’s finally done what God wants him to do – and now he’s not even going to get to see any fireworks? He’s not even going to get to see the city destroyed?

God’s generosity is offensive to Jonah!

And what makes Jonah especially angry is that he knew it! He knew it all the time! That’s why he hadn’t wanted to go to the city with the warning in the first place: because he knew it was just going to be wasted effort. He knew God was going to forgive them in the end! We read: 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. And now, in all-out self-pity mode, Jonah says: O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live." And the Lord said, "Is it right for you to be angry?"

In other words, God asks Jonah (who, remember, is you and me): “Is it right for you to be offended by my generosity of mercy and grace?” God asks, “Who’s in charge here? You or me?”

Well, Jonah can’t see beyond his resentment and anger. He sits down to watch, in case God decides to fry the city after all.

And the end of the story is full of comedy! 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. But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the bush, so that it withered. 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."

But God said to Jonah, "Is it right for you to be angry about the bush?" And [Jonah] said, "Yes, angry enough to die." 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. 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?"

It’s a powerful question that God directs towards Jonah, who is peeved because he feels that he’s been used; who is whining because he hasn’t gotten his way; who is offended by God’s generosity.

Is it true that God is like this, and that Jonah is just like you and me?

What a great story, huh?

In the name of God, who is Father and Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Pastor Andy Ballentine
St. Stephen Lutheran Church
Williamsburg, Virginia

"God’s Generosity of Forgiveness" September 14, 2008 Pentecost 18 Lectionary 24

(First, read the texts for this sermon: Genesis 50:15-21; Romans 14:1-12; Matthew 18:21-35)

Nearly every Sunday morning, we begin worship by using the order for Confession and Forgiveness. To prevent it from becoming routine and rote, after the pastor says, “Let us confess our sin in the presence of God and of one another,” a period of silence is called for; and there must be a goodly period of silence, so that we will examine ourselves honestly. (One time, when Luther was asked what a person should think about during such a silence, he said something like: “Begin with the First Commandment. You won’t have to work yourself very far down the list!”)

Well, it’s the order for Confession and Forgiveness. So, why does God forgive you and me? Is it because of anything you and I do? No! Remember the words we said a few minutes ago: “We confess that we are captive to sin and cannot free ourselves.”

So why does God forgive us? God forgives us because God loves us. God loves us even when, because of how we act, God does not like us. God’s forgiveness is a pure act of grace. God’s forgiveness is rooted in what has been done, in Jesus the Christ. Remember the words you heard me speak a few minutes ago: “In the mercy of almighty God, Jesus Christ was given to die for us, and for his sake God forgives us all our sins.”

So, if we are awash in God’s forgiveness, and if the life of Christian discipleship is to be a joyous response to this unmerited, unfathomable grace, where does judgmentalism come from? Where does it come from: the impulse to be critical, to point out where another person is wrong, and also to beat yourself over the head whenever you make a mistake? According to all three of our readings this morning, judgmentalism results from poverty: the poverty of heart and spirit. How sad it is to be impoverished in this way!

What about the opposite of judgmentalism: forgiveness? Where does forgiveness come from? Forgiveness arises from what God has done for us, in Jesus the Christ, and from our generous hearts that result! What joy there is in generous forgiveness! What a joyous practice of the faith.

All three passages of Scripture appointed for this day speak to this.

The first reading is from the very end of Genesis, at the end of the long story of Joseph and his brothers and father. You may know the story: how Joseph was simply insufferable as a young boy. His superiority complex was irritating in the extreme. (Remember how Jacob, the boys’ father, loved Joseph best? Remember that fancy-dancy, multi-colored robe Jacob gave to Joseph, which Joseph wore every chance he got, while his brothers slouched around in their drab garments? The show off!) Joseph was the kind of sibling who made his brothers debate whether the best course of action was to simply kill him, or, instead, to throw him into a pit and then to sell him to slave traders headed to Egypt (which is what they did).

Do you remember the rest of the story? Joseph’s rise to power is as improbable and even more dramatic than Sarah Palin’s … and Barack Obama’s. Joseph (a Hebrew!) becomes the second most powerful person in Egypt; second only to the Pharaoh himself. So, with supreme power over peoples’ lives, it turns out that Joseph’s brothers come to him years later, starving, begging for food! What should he do? (What would you do? They sold you into slavery!)

Here’s what Joseph does: he forgives his brothers. The forgiveness arises from Joseph’s knowledge that God has been so generous to him over the years, so rich in blessings. Arising out of that generosity is forgiveness.

The same point comes through the verses from Paul’s letter to the Romans that we read this morning. The setting is as different as could be from the story of Joseph. Paul is writing to an ancient Christian congregation, and it might make you shake your head and think to yourself, “Woo boy! The things people in congregations can judge each other about, and condemn each other about, and fight about!”

Among the Roman congregation, one church fight is over various food practices among the members of the congregation. Is it most pleasing to God to be a vegetarian? Is it permissible to eat meat? (Of course, all of this is in the context of centuries of Jewish teaching about what types of food are clean and unclean.) Another church fight is over proper observance of the sabbath. How should the sabbath be observed, to best make the day a holy one, dedicated to the Lord?

The Christian life is high-demand. It’s not true, for a follower of Jesus, that anything goes. There is right and wrong. There is law, and not only gospel. The Commandment about sabbath observance is fundamental to the practice of the faith. The ethics of what we eat are important.

But here’s the trap: when a person takes right and wrong seriously, it is so easy to become judgmental! It is so easy to become judgmental, rather than invitational, as we encourage each other into deeper practice of the Christian life.

That’s what is happening among the Romans. And so Paul makes this point: that the important thing about our behavior is to act “in honor of the Lord.” “Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister?” Paul asks.

There is judgment! That’s the consistent witness of Scripture. But whose job is it to judge? That’s is up to God. In the first reading, Joseph says to his brothers, “Am I in the place of God?” In Romans, Paul writes, “For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God….[E]ach of us will be accountable to God.”

So, what does God get judgmental about? (That becomes an important question, doesn’t it?) In this week’s shocking twist in Scripture, in the reading from Matthew, we find that God becomes angry when we do not love each other enough, even when we don’t like each other.

In other words, God becomes judgmental towards us when we are judgmental towards each other! Sit with that one for a moment.

The story from Matthew is full of great comic exaggeration, to emphasize God’s generosity of forgiveness. It begins with a question from good old Peter: "Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?" Jesus said to him, "Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times." This, of course, is not a teaching to be forgiving 77 times, and then to lower the boom on the 78th offense! “Seventy-seven” (or, in other translations,“ seven times seventy”) is a doubling of the use of a perfect number. The meaning is that forgiveness is to be unlimited and uncalculated, ungrudging, free and generous.

Christians are called to forgive as generously as the king does, in the parable that follows in Matthew. (The king, of course, represents God.) Look at the comedy here.

"For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. When he began the reckoning, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him; 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. So the slave fell on his knees before him, saying, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.'”

“Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything?” Let’s see, the man’s debt of 10,000 talents, if taken literally equals 50 million denari, give or take a few thousand. Remember, a working man’s wage was a single denarius per day. Working six days a week for 50 years, no time off, the man would earn not even 16,000 denari. Let’s see, 50 million minus 16,000 leaves …

Do you see the exaggeration here? The story is set up so that the debt is beyond the farthest reaches of comprehensibility or possibility! (Which exactly describes our debt to God.) When, in the story, the king releases the slave and forgives him the debt, the point is being made: God’s generosity of forgiveness is unlimited, beyond any human comprehension, shattering any of our concepts of what is fair, or just, or right. And that is the way members of the Christian community are to treat each other.

After exaggeration comes irony in the parable. God becomes angry and judgmental only when you and I are judgmental! That’s the twist as the story proceeds, with the forgiven slave unwilling to forgive another person a debt that is not insignificant, but which pales in comparison to what he owed.

Calculation based on self-interest, anger and judgmentalism: there is no place for these in the Christian life. (Talk about a radical way of life!)

Generous, free, open forgiveness, in response to God’s unfathomable grace: what joy there is, in this radical life!

In the name of God, who is Father and Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Pastor Andy Ballentine
St. Stephen Lutheran Church
Williamsburg, Virginia

“The Life of Christian Love” September 7, 2008 Pentecost 17 Lectionary 23

(First, read the text for this sermon: Romans 13:8-14)

“God is love.”

Haven’t you heard that, since you were a child? It’s absolutely correct, of course! God is love. In fact, here’s the radical faith claim: all love comes from God – even when there is no conscious thought given to God while performing an act of compassion.

But, wait a minute. What does it mean, that God is love? What does the life of Christian love look like? For instance, some of you are old enough to remember Dionne Warwick’s big hit, “What the world needs now is love, sweet love …” Does that describe the life of Christian love -- something that’s sappy, sentimental? (Lots of people who dismiss God think God is like that!)

During my own faith formation, as a teenager, a line from one of Pastor Al Kuhn’s sermons embedded itself into my brain. He said, “We must love people we don’t even like!” That was my first clue that the life of Christian love might not be described by a Hallmark Valentine’s Day card. “We must love people we don’t even like!” There’s nothing even remotely sentimental about that.

I can’t remember if Al was preaching on a text from Romans 35 years ago, but he could have been. Last week and this week we’re reading from a section in Paul’s letter to the Romans in which he is describing the life of Christian love.

First, remember what we read last week (Romans 12:9-21):

Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord." No, "if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads." Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

And, this morning we read:

Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, "You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet"; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, "Love your neighbor as yourself." Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.

“Love is the fulfilling of the law.” The life of Christian love is a life of high demand! It is a life of following the Commandments. The purpose of love, according to the Commandments and Jesus’ teachings, is not to “meet my needs.” It means to love those I don’t even like!

God is love. All love comes from God. For Christians, following the model of Jesus the Christ as interpreted by St. Paul, love is not self-centered. Instead, you and I are formed in love as we are centered in God.

That is what the First Commandment means: to be centered in God. “You shall have no other gods,” as Luther explains it, means: “We are to fear, love, and trust God above all things.”

When we are centered in God, when we fear, love and trust God above all things, then the self-giving love described by the rest of the Commandments follows as a natural thing. That’s how Luther understands the Commandments, steeped as he is in the ethics of Paul. For instance, to quote Luther on the four Commandments that Paul cites (seemingly off the top of his head) in his letter to the Romans:

• “You shall not commit adultery“ means: “We are to fear and love God, so that we lead pure and decent lives in word and deed, and each of us loves and honors his or her spouse.” You see, it’s the other person who is the concern here: not me, but my spouse!

• “You shall not murder” means: “We are to fear and love God, so that we neither endanger nor harm the lives of our neighbors, but instead help and support them in all of life’s needs.” The point is helping and supporting the other person in all of his or her needs.

• “You shall not steal” means: “We are to fear and love God, so that we neither take our neighbors’ money or property nor use shoddy merchandise or crooked deals to obtain it for ourselves, but instead help them to improve and protect their property and income. The point is helping the other person improve and protect his or her property and income.

• “You shall not covet” means we are to “be of help and service to [the other person] in keeping what is theirs.”

St. Paul writes to the Romans (and to us!): The commandments, "You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet"; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, "Love your neighbor as yourself." Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.

The point of Christian love is the other person – even when we do not like the other person!

Can you and I live this life of Christian love?

It is only possible as we center in God. In that grace, in that love, the Spirit forms us to actually believe that God has won our salvation through the death and resurrection of Jesus the Christ. So, because of that, we can let go! As the Spirit forms us and opens us up in grace, we come to enjoy the freedom to be self-giving and selfless!

The life of Christian love is empowered by God the Holy Spirit, in the new age that has dawned in the resurrection of Jesus the Christ. That’s what Paul is writing about in verses 11-13 of the passage we read this morning: Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; the night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; …

Paul puts forward the image of the light of Christ, which overcomes the darkness. The life of Christian love means putting aside the works of darkness, and living in the light: …let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

“The flesh”: that is a metaphor for selfishness. In other words, the danger in my desire to gratify the flesh is that my primary motivation may be to “meet my needs,” above all else. I am still mired in self-centeredness. I am not set free to live the life of Christian love.

Paul constructs one more very interesting image in these verses: to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ.” Luther actually uses that in his Large Catechism teaching on baptism. He writes, “Thus, we see what a great and excellent thing baptism is, which snatches us from the jaws of the devil and makes us God’s own, overcomes and takes away sin and daily strengthens the new person.” (“The new person”: that is, the new person God is creating within us; the new person arising from the drowning of the baptismal waters.)

Now, listen as Luther continues: “Therefore let all Christians regard their baptism as the daily garment that they are to wear all the time. Every day they should be found in faith and with its fruits, suppressing the old creature and growing up in the new. If we want to be Christians, we must practice the work that makes us Christians, and let those who fall away return to it.”

“Put on the Lord Jesus Christ,” writes Paul.

“Therefore,” writes Luther, “let all Christians regard their baptism as the daily garment that they are to wear all the time.”

The baptized life is the life of Christian love. The result is that you and I are centered in God. And so, we are free to act in compassion.

For the opportunity to love in this way, thanks be to God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit! Amen.

Pastor Andy Ballentine
St. Stephen Lutheran Church
Williamsburg, Virginia