20 November 2011

Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24
Psalm 95:1-7
Ephesians 1:15-23
Matthew 25:31-46

“So which are we? Sheep or goats?” the disciples are busy asking one another upon hearing this parable. “You know, the weird thing about the sheep,” says one of them, “is that they have no idea that they have ever done anything for the king. But we, we know: we have been very, very busy feeding, healing, and caring, all in the name of Jesus.” “Yeah,” says another. “But the goats . . . they sort of sound like us. ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not take care of you?’ We’ve been very, very busy feeding, healing, and caring, all in the name of Jesus. It’s almost as if we can’t win.” “I’ll say,” responds yet another of the disciples. “It sort of sounds like the good deeds of the sheep were invisible – even to themselves. They didn’t even know they were doing good works.” The first disciple snorts, “That’s ridiculous. How can you not know when you’re doing good? And aren’t we supposed to do good things in Jesus’ name?” “See, that’s what I mean,” says the second. “It all seems . . . so . . .  impossible.” “This stuff gives me a stomach-ache,” the third disciple chimes in. “It would be easier to just be an atheist and do good deeds merely for the sake of the neighbor and leave it at that – forget about religion, forget about ideology, forget about what we even think makes God happy.” The other two look at each other glumly, and so they discuss until they all have severe headaches from trying to figure out if they’ve been acting like sheep or goats and how it is they’re ever going to get it right. They want to be sheep, doing good unawares, but they’re just savvy enough to know that then in reality they’d be doing good works so that they could sit at the king’s right hand. And when they do that, they become like the goats – doing good to receive a reward. Finally the first disciple, displaying his usual bull-headed bravado, puffs out his chest and proclaims, “I don’t care. I’m just going to follow Jesus no matter what!” And not wanting to be outdone, the other two sheep-wanna-be-s nod their heads vigorously, “Me too!” and “Same for me. To the very end! We’re gonna do whatever we have to be the sheep!!”

13 November 2011

Zephaniah 1:7, 12-18
Psalm 90
1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
Matthew 25:14-30

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

One of the orders given to us pastors when we are ordained is to be diligent in our study of scripture. And as I was diligently studying this morning’s Gospel portion, I read in commentary after commentary, in article after article, a common assertion, one perhaps most succinctly summarized by Duke University’s Professor of Theological Ethics, Dr. Stanley Hauerwas: “No parable has been more misused than Jesus’ parable of the talents.” Scholar after scholar has assured her or his readers that this parable is most certainly not about money, not about our innate abilities, not about the protestant – or any other – work ethic. And it most assuredly is not to be used to justify capitalism or the so-called “gospel” of prosperity, or as the basis for a stewardship sermon. As to what this parable is all about, most scholars, having gored the ox, shuffle off to Buffalo without so much as a fare-thee-well, anxious instead to spill great quantities of ink over the parable we’ll hear next week.

6 November 2011

Revelation 7:9-17
Psalm 34:1-10, 22
1 John 3:1-3
Matthew 5:1-12

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Anybody want to see a real, live saint? Well, just look at the person next to you or in front of you, behind you, across the aisle from you. Or just look into a mirror. Saints are everywhere and anywhere the baptized people of God are. And least you think this is just some nifty, new thing I dreamed up – well, just go the letters that St. Paul writes to various groups of the baptized in his time. He begins almost all of his letters with phrases such as “To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi,” “To the saints and faithful brothers and sister in Christ in Colossae,” and so on. The saints are all those whom God in Holy Baptism has proclaimed just and holy – for whom there no need to embark on spiritual projects, no need to show off good works, no need to try to take heaven by storm. God has proclaimed you, sisters and brothers of Christ, sanctified, sancti, santos, saints -- and that’s all there is to it. Of course, while we yet live in a world where we are also in bondage to the forces of this world, we are simultaneously sinners – but on that day when we become fully dead to this world and are received into the full presence of God . . . . well then, all that’s left is saint. And it is those completed saints whom we remember and honor on this day.