Lectionary 25A

Matthew 20:1-16

Let us pray.

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.

 

I started teaching a Bible study on parables last week, just as the lectionary started featuring parables in our gospel readings. The timing was fortunate because it reminded me that reading the parables is different from reading the early stories of our ancestors in faith in the Hebrew Bible, the narrative stories of Jesus’ ministry, or Paul’s letters to the different early Christian churches. 

 

Jesus was a master storyteller, but he didn’t teach in parables to entertain his audience. His stories invited his listeners to consider a new perspective about God and, in Matthew, the kingdom of heaven. He challenged what the people expected of a Messiah and Lord and used the parables to turn their expectations upside down.

 

People often have a favorite verse or story from Scripture. We love the stories of the prodigal son or the good Samaritan, but this parable from Matthew, popularly called the Laborers in the Vineyard is not a favorite. In fact, it’s often disliked. 

 

Because, among the Jewish people, the vineyard was a common metaphor for Israel, the simplest explanation of the parable equates the householder with God and the first set of laborers with the Jewish people and frames the whole parable in terms of who earns salvation and entrance into the kingdom of heaven.

 

Another aspect of the traditional interpretation centers on the laborers and the householder’s payment to them for their work. At the end of the day, regardless of when a laborer began working, each received a full day’s wage. And while the householder paid a fair wage and the agreed amount that they had set when he hired them, the laborers who had worked the most hours were outraged. 

 

I want to challenge some of the assumptions though. 

 

Often, parables tell a story that illustrates an aspect of who God is or what the kingdom of God is like. Other parables compare two things. But it’s helpful to remember that they are stories and illustrations, not historical events, and that while they often make comparisons, but they do not necessarily equate two things. (Luise Schottroff, The Parables of Jesus. 211)

 

In the same way, we can say a giraffe and a leopard are like one another because they have spots, 

but no one would mistake one for the other. 

 

The kingdom of heaven is given to us, not earned by us.

 

The late Episcopal priest Robert Farrar Capon (kay-pon) wrote that God demonstrates “a grace that works by raising the dead, not by rewarding the rewardable.” (Capon. Kingdom, Grace, Judgment. 395)

 

And Paula Gooder, an Anglican biblical scholar wrote that “Justice is not diminished by generosity.” (Gooder, The Parables. 44)

 

As we reflect on this parable, 

instead of focusing on salvation, fairness or even justice, 

I want to talk about generosity and about relationship.

 

In his response to the outraged laborers, the householder asks, “

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

 

New Testament scholar Luise Schottroff writes that “private property in the sense of [this verse] directly contradicts God’s Torah.” (Schottroff, 216) Her comment prompts me to listen again to the householder’s words.

 

In my hearing of the parable, I never thought to question the ownership of the vineyard. But if I take seriously the words of the psalmist who says in Psalm 24, 

“The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it,

    the world, and those who live in it,”

 then how can any of us claim land is ours? 

Surely, we are only caretakers and stewards of what we hold and have.

 

And likewise, if all we have is given to us by the Lord, 

then it makes sense that we would be prayerful and careful in our care and sharing of what we have first been given. 

 

As many of you know, this is the time of year when you are asked to share from what you have first been given and commit to giving financially to the congregation for the coming year. 

You have heard ministry moments and testimonies for why others give, and between now and October 4, you’ll continue to hear inspiring stories and stories about the many ways your gifts sustain our work both within out congregation and in the community and world. 

If you have already offered your commitment for 2027, thank you, and if you haven’t, please do.

 

Today’s parable helps us remember that God entrusts us with care for ourselves and our households, care for our neighbors, community and world.

 

Understood this way, the parable invites us into the role of the householder, the one who looks out, 

not only for those who are readily available and visible, 

but also for those who may cross our paths later. 

 

The householder goes to the marketplace not just once or twice, but five times. The parable doesn’t actually tell us he needed more workers, but he hired more anyway. He didn’t wait for them to knock on his door. He sought them out and invited them into the vineyard. He begins a relationship with them and brings them into the community. 

 

Importantly, the parable never makes a qualitative judgment in favor of the first group or against the last group. (Amy-Jill Levine. The Short Stories of Jesus. 226) That has come from an inadequate translation of the Greek word agroi (ah-GROY) as ‘idle’ as if the laborers found later in the day were ‘lazy’, but the word is better translated as ‘without work’. The parable doesn’t tell us why they were “without work”. And whatever the reason, it didn’t change the householder’s response.

 

The householder’s generous welcome reminds us, as New Testament scholar Arland Hultgren wrote, “God saves us not because we are lovable, but because God is loving in a radical way.” (Hultgren, The Parables of Jesus. 43) We are called to love our neighbor with this same radical love.

 

Let us pray.

Generous and loving God,

Thank you for Your son Jesus who teaches us what love looks like.

Thank you for entrusting us with all that is Yours. 

Encourage us to see our neighbors and invite them into relationship. Show us how to be faithful and generous 

so that all will know Your love.

We pray in your Holy Name. 

Amen.

Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Luke 16:1-13

Sometimes, when we listen to Jesus teach in parables we hear a clear command:
“Go and do likewise.”

Today isn’t one of those times. While the parable we hear in Luke’s gospel leaves us with a lot of questions, I can confidently say that Jesus doesn’t want us to loan money and charge outrageous interest, steal from our employers, or manipulate others so that they will be indebted to us.

So, we’re left with confusion about why Jesus tells us this parable at all.

The best explanation I have heard is one offered by Julian DeShazier (Dee-Shah-Zee-Ay), a pastor and faculty member at McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago. He thinks that “[Jesus] is talking to two different audiences.”[i]

This conversation follows his telling of the parable of the lost things that we heard last week and the parable of the prodigal son.

Jesus is talking to his disciples, but we know they are also surrounded by all these other people who Luke tells us are tax collectors, sinners, Pharisees and scribes. (15:1-2) So “Jesus talks to the crowd, pauses, talks to his disciples, and then talks to the crowd again.”[ii]

A few weeks ago, when my daughter got married in Boston, the ceremony was in the Boston Public Garden. There were about thirty of us at the wedding, but it was a large public park so there were also a number of people on the periphery of where the ceremony took place. People we didn’t know. But they could hear and see everything that was happening.

That’s seems to be what’s happening here. Jesus has two audiences.

This parable isn’t about imparting a life lesson or teaching good behavior.

Instead, I think Jesus tells the people in the crowd who have made dishonest gains or treated others unfairly to change their behavior and redeem themselves.

I think he is challenging all of his followers to see the abundant gifts God has entrusted us with and ask how we can be good stewards.

What does it look like for us to be found trustworthy with what we have been given?

We shouldn’t underestimate the wealth we’ve been given.

The true riches we have are

our very lives, lived in response to God’s love.

We have boundless grace from God and forgiveness for our sin.

We have an inheritance with Jesus as children of God.

And, we are entrusted with the Good News of God’s love and empowered by the Holy Spirit to share that Good News with others.

That is wealth that cannot be measured in dollars and cents.

But we, especially here at Grace Lutheran Church,
are also stewards of wealth that can be measured in dollars and cents.

This week I sat in with board members from the Grace Foundation as they evaluated funding requests and made decisions about the grants to distribute later this year. There is more than $120,000 available for grants and scholarships because the foundation has been a good steward of what they’ve been given.

And recently, Deacon Kimberly has been in meetings with social ministry as they make budget recommendations for next year, deciding which ministry partnerships to continue and where investment is needed most. This year, they gave nearly $60,000 in support for our neighbors, including helping address housing and food insecurity, and care for our children and vulnerable neighbors.

Individually, in the stewardship mailing that may have already arrived in your mailbox, and that Jen Heilemann from the stewardship team described in this morning’s ministry moment, each of us here is also being asked, “How will you respond to God’s abundance?”

One aspect of your stewardship is financial giving. As a former fundraiser, I am not going to shy away from asking you to invest financially in Grace’s ministry and mission for the coming year. Not as something you “have to do” but as something you “get to do.” In our partnership together, you have an opportunity to see God’s love in action through our work as the Church and experience the joy of seeing God’s love transform our world.

Another aspect of your stewardship is your relationship with God, so we ask how you will respond to the invitation to grow deeper spiritually. Maybe you will take time to be quiet and study or read, listening for God’s voice, or to get loud and sing, celebrating all God has given us.

And thirdly, we invite you to reflect on your service in the congregation and community. What does love in action look like for you?

One of the joys I have where I sit is getting to see all the people from Grace who are involved in the community apart from Grace’s initiatives. Independently from Servant Saturday, food drives and the other opportunities we provide, many of you are connected to our ministry partners because you have responded to their needs with your time, skills and knowledge. In the many ways that you are God’s hands and feet in the world, you are being stewards of all that God has given you.

We are all stewards of what we have been given in abundance by God, and God calls us to be faithful and trustworthy in matters large and small.

May it be so in our community.

Amen.

---

[i] Julian DeShazier . “Living by the Word”, Christian Century, August 27, 2019.

[ii] ibid

Lectionary 32B

I preached this sermon in the Spanish service; the English translation is below.

Marcos 12:38-44

Oremos…Que las palabras de mi boca y la meditación de nuestro corazón sean gratas delante de ti, Señor, fortaleza nuestra y redentor nuestro. Amén.

“No tengas temor”. (1 Reyes 17:13)

Estas palabras se repiten a lo largo de las Escrituras. Las escuchamos por primera vez cuando el Señor le habla a Abram (Génesis 15:1) y son repetidas, una y otra vez, por Dios y los enviados de Dios. La última vez es cuando Juan de Patmos relata haberlas oído dichas por “uno como el Hijo del Hombre” en Apocalipsis. (Apocalipsis 1:17)

Y una y otra vez, son seguidas por la promesa de que Dios actuará, que el reino de Dios vendrá, que Dios no ha olvidado las promesas de Dios a su pueblo.

Hoy escuchamos al profeta Elías decir estas palabras.

Elías había estado viviendo de la comida que le traían los cuervos y del agua de un wadi, o arroyo, pero el agua se había secado. Una sequía hizo que el agua y la comida escasearan.

Pero Dios envía al profeta a una viuda en Sarepta, un pueblo fuera de Israel, prometiéndole que lo alimentará. Cuando Elías se encuentra con la mujer, ella le dice que ella y su hijo solo tienen un poco de harina y aceite, y se están preparando para comer lo que tienen y luego esperar a morir.

En el mundo antiguo, la gente creía que el rey podía controlar la lluvia, por lo que una sequía era una señal del fracaso del rey. El rey también era responsable del bienestar de las viudas y los huérfanos, por lo que cuando la viuda le dice a Elías que ella y su hijo se están muriendo de hambre, es otra señal del fracaso del rey.

Pero Elías sabe que su confianza no está en los líderes del mundo, sino en Dios, y Dios lo ha enviado a la viuda. Confía en la provisión de Dios para él. Su confianza surge de su obediencia a seguir la dirección de Dios. Su obediencia surge de su confianza en la fidelidad de Dios a lo largo de las generaciones hacia el pueblo de Dios. Surge de saber que pertenece a Dios.

Entonces le dice: “No tengas temor”.

Y la jarra de comida no se agota, ni falta el aceite , y la viuda, su hijo y Elías comen muchos días más.

En el evangelio nos encontramos con otra viuda. No está en casa, sino en público, donando al tesoro. El tesoro era un lugar en un patio fuera del templo donde la gente podía hacer ofrendas voluntarias para apoyar el templo, como el plato de ofrendas que tenemos sobre la mesa aquí.

Jesús está en los atrios del templo, enseñando a una gran multitud y observando a la gente depositar sus ofrendas en el tesoro.

Y mientras observa, advierte a su audiencia contra los líderes religiosos que son como actores que desempeñan un papel. Saben qué decir y cómo vestirse, pero sus palabras y acciones son vacías. Dan desde un lugar de comodidad y tranquilidad, sin sacrificar nada ni arriesgar nada.

Cuando Jesús ve a una viuda depositar dos pequeñas monedas de cobre, les dice a sus discípulos que “[ella] ha depositado más que todos [los demás]”.

Jesús dice que el regalo de la viuda era un regalo sacrificial, no, como los regalos que muchos de nosotros hacemos, dando de lo que sabemos que podemos prescindir, sino dando de lo que Dios nos ha dado primero, confiando en la providencia de Dios para ella.

Estos personajes no nos dan un modelo fácil de seguir.

Elías y las dos viudas confían en la providencia de Dios. Su confianza surge de su obediencia a seguir la dirección de Dios. Su obediencia surge de la confianza en la fidelidad de Dios a través de las generaciones hacia el pueblo de Dios. Proviene de saber que pertenecemos a Dios.

Por supuesto, el mundo moderno tiene un mensaje diferente. Nos dice que somos responsables de asegurar nuestro futuro a través de nuestros propios esfuerzos. Almacenar, ahorrar y protegernos de nuestros enemigos. Mirar hacia dentro y poner nuestra confianza en los líderes que vemos en la plaza pública. El mundo nos pide que le demos a los humanos autoridad sobre nuestras vidas y nos enseña a ver el mundo a través del lente de la escasez y el miedo.

Pero Dios nos enseña que en Cristo no recibimos “un espíritu de esclavitud para volver al temor, sino… un espíritu de adopción”. El Espíritu da testimonio de que somos hijos de Dios. (Romanos 8:15-16)

Somos a quienes Jesús se dirige cuando dice: “³² No tengan miedo, manada pequeña, porque a su Padre le ha placido darles el reino”.

La Palabra de Dios nos invita a tener una visión diferente del mundo, donde nos sometamos a Dios y veamos el mundo como Dios lo ve, a través del lente de la abundancia y la obediencia.

La escasez no es una realidad del Reino; es una construcción humana que Elías rechaza y que la viuda en el tesoro del templo niega. En cambio, Dios nos promete la plenitud de la vida (Juan 10:10). Sus historias nos recuerdan que el “poder vivificante de Dios puede transformar situaciones de derrota, desesperación y muerte”.ⁱ

“El Reino -o Reinado- de Dios es una realidad que está más allá de nuestra percepción…”ⁱⁱ Y en lugar de tratar de controlarlo, diseñarlo o dominarlo, Dios nos llama a caminar en sumisión, humildad y obediencia, mientras esperamos su realización, en el tiempo de Dios, no en el nuestro.

Oremos…

Dios bueno y misericordioso,

Te damos gracias por nuestro pan de cada día,

por lo que necesitamos para vivir en la plenitud de la vida.

Ayúdanos a rechazar las cosas que no dan vida,

las cosas que nos separan de ti.

Enséñanos a confiar en tu provisión y en la vida que nos das.

Que tu Espíritu Santo nos guíe a dar generosamente de todo lo que tenemos.

Envíanos a compartir tu amor con todas las personas que conozcamos.

Oramos en el nombre de Jesús.

Amén.

---

[i] Walter Brueggemann. Smith & Helwys Bible Commentary on First and Second Kings. 217.

[ii] Mike Breen. Covenant and Kingdom: The DNA of the Bible. 3DM. Kindle Edition.

 

Mark 12:38-44

Let us pray…

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, Lord, our strength and our redeemer. Amen.

“Do not be afraid.”

These words are repeated throughout Scripture. We first hear them when the Lord speaks to Abram (Genesis 15:1) and they are repeated, again and again, by God and those sent by God. The last occurrence is when John of Patmos recounts hearing them spoken by “one like the Son of Man” in Revelation. (Revelation 1:17)

And time after time, they are followed by the promise that God will act, that God’s kingdom will come, that God has not forgotten God’s promises to God’s people.

Today we hear the prophet Elijah speak these words.

Elijah had been living on the food that ravens brought him and the water of a wadi, or stream, but the water had dried up. A drought made water and food scarce.

But God sends the prophet to a widow in Zarephath, a town outside Israel, promising that she will feed him. When Elijah meets the woman, she tells him that she and her son only have a little meal and oil, and they are preparing to eat what they have and then wait to die.

In the ancient world, people believed that the king could control the rain, so a drought was a sign of the king’s failure. The king also had responsibility for the welfare of widows and orphans, so when the widow tells Elijah that she and her son are starving, it is another sign of the king’s failure.

But Elijah knows that his trust is not in the leaders of the world, but in God, and God has sent him to the widow. He trusts in God’s provision for him. His trust comes out of his obedience to follow God’s direction. His obedience comes from his confidence in God’s faithfulness throughout generations to God’s people. It comes from knowing that he belongs to God.

So, he tells her, “Do not be afraid.”

And the jar of meal does not get emptied, and the oil does not fail, and the widow, her son and Elijah eat for many more days.

In the gospel we meet another widow. She isn’t at home, but in public, donating to the treasury. The treasury was a place in a courtyard outside the temple where people could make freewill offerings to support the temple, like the offering plate we have on the table here.

Jesus is in the temple courts, teaching a large crowd, and watching people put their offerings in the treasury.

And as he watches, he warns his audience against the religious leaders who are like performers playing a role. They know what to say and how to dress, but their words and actions are empty. They give from a place of comfort and ease, not sacrificing anything, or risking anything.

When Jesus sees a widow put in two small copper coins, he tells his disciples that “[she] has put in more than all those [others].”

Jesus says that because the widow’s gift was a sacrificial gift, not, as many of us do, giving from what we know we can spare, but giving from what God has first given us, trusting in God’s providence for her.

These characters don’t give us an easy model to follow.

Elijah and both widows trust in God’s providence. Their trust comes out of their obedience to follow God’s direction. Their obedience comes out of confidence in God’s faithfulness throughout generations to God’s people. It comes from knowing that we belong to God.

Of course, the modern world has a different message. It tells us that we are responsible for securing our future through our own efforts. Stockpile, save and protect ourselves against our enemies. Turn inward and put our trust in the leaders whom we see in the public square. The world asks us to give humans authority over our lives and teaches us to see the world through the lens of scarcity and fear.

But God teaches us that in Christ, we do not receive “a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but … a spirit of adoption.” The Spirit bears witness that we are children of God. (Romans 8:15-16)

We are the ones that Jesus addresses when he says, “³² ‘Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”

The Word of God invites us to have a different vision of the world, where we submit to God and see the world as God sees it, through the lens of abundance and obedience.

Scarcity is not a Kingdom reality; it is human construction that Elijah rejects and that the widow at the temple treasury denies. Instead, God promises us the fullness of life (John 10:10). Their stories remind us that God’s “life-giving power can transform situations of defeat, despair, and death.”[i]

“The Kingdom - or Kingship - of God is a reality just beyond our perception….”[ii] And instead of trying to control it, engineer it or dominate it, God calls us to walk in submission, humility and obedience, while we wait for its realization, in God’s own timing, not our own.

Let us pray…

Good and Gracious God,

We give you thanks for our daily bread,

for what we need to live in the fullness of life.

Help us reject the things that are not life-giving,

the things that separate us from you.

Teach us to trust in Your provision and the life you give us.

May your Holy Spirit lead us to give generously of all we have.

Send us out to share Your love with everyone we meet.
We pray in Jesus’ name.

Amen.

---

[i] Walter Brueggemann. Smith & Helwys Bible Commentary on First and Second Kings. 217.

[ii] Mike Breen. Covenant and Kingdom: The DNA of the Bible. 3DM. Kindle Edition.

"Deeper"

Ephesians 2:13-22

This month, as we worship, we are listening to stories from Scripture that shape our lives as disciples. We are asking how we can be good stewards of God’s gifts and people. We have looked at how we gather both as a community in worship and to bring together resources, and we have been encouraged to scatter beyond these walls to be good neighbors and to share generously what we have first been given.

Another dimension of our commitment to stewardship is depth.

Our Scripture today says, “[each of us is a member of the household of God] built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets….”

The apostles and the prophets are the people whose names we know from Bible study.

Prophets like Isaiah who said,

“Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old.

I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” (Isaiah 43:18-19)

and Jeremiah who promised, “For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the LORD, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11)

and Micah who asks God’s people, “what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8)

And apostles like Peter about whom Jesus says, “I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18) Of course, it’s also Peter’s recklessness that shows us that discipleship is not about being perfect and getting everything right. And in whom we see the assurance of God’s mercy and forgiveness when we mess up.

Our foundation is built upon the experiences and words of these ancestors in faith and followers of Jesus. It has been tested and is solid and remains intact.

In Luke’s gospel, Jesus tells the parable of the wise and foolish builders. He says,

⁴⁷ As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like. ⁴⁸ They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. ⁴⁹ But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.” (Luke 6:47-49)

When a foundation is shallow, cracked or sunk, the integrity of its structure fails. It cannot bear the ordinary wear and tear of everyday life, let alone the challenges of sustained storms or trials.

Eleven years ago, the residents of a community in Iron Ridge in Lincoln County, North Carolina found this out the hard way. Torrential rains washed away a bridge that crossed a culvert to where 20 families lived. “After a couple of temporary repairs, a local contractor helped the residents restore the road to the way it had been.”[i] Last winter, it happened again and this time 25 families were stranded. The county put a temporary bridge in place, but it didn’t meet requirements, and they had to remove it. So, then they put in a footbridge. Residents had to park their vehicles on one side and walk or use four-wheelers to cross.

In the meantime, the crisis came to the attention of Mennonite Disaster Services (MDS) and Lutheran Disaster Response (LDR). The Mennonites had experience building bridges on private roads that had been washed out by floods and offered to come to Lincoln County to help, and they connected with Pastors Ray and Ruth Ann Sipe at Lutheran Disaster Response and the county’s Emergency Manager Mark Howell, who also happens to be an ELCA Lutheran. Together, with other partners, they were able to fund a new, larger and heavier bridge, built to support 38 tons.

The bridge opened on June 29 to the joy and relief of the residents. [ii]

The foundations of faith and trust led to relationships that literally connected people across obstacles and created new pathways.

As disciples, we are part of the household of God that is built upon the foundation of the prophets and the apostles. We have both a responsibility to see that it doesn’t erode or rust away into dust, and an imperative to trust its integrity. As our text says, God has placed Christ as the cornerstone. (Ephesians 2:20)

Christ, not our efforts or accomplishments, is the cornerstone. And Christ is the one who has gathered us, and who scatters us, and Christ is the one who invites us deeper into faith and discipleship.

As we look ahead to a new year of ministry, and as we anticipate a new strategic plan and priorities for our work as a congregation and in our community, may we have confidence that we already have the foundation necessary to support robust ideas and to bear the weight of our work. May we have courage to step out in faith, test new directions and try out new possibilities, knowing we are following our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Let us pray.

Good and gracious God,

Thank you for giving us faith built upon a firm foundation, strengthened through generations of faithful people.

Help us be good stewards of all you have first given us.

Deepen our own faith and give us courage to depend on you, listening to Your Word and your Holy Spirit.

We pray in Jesus’ name.

Amen.

[i] https://nclutheran.org/special_posts/a-story-of-partnerships/

[ii] ibid

Photos by Mark Howell, Emergency Manager, Lincoln County

"Stewardship is Worship"

Genesis 28:10-19

Psalm 96:1-9

2 Timothy 1:1-12

John 12:1-8

A few weeks ago, when we were talking about funeral planning, I explained that throughout my professional life, I have made a habit of breaking taboos. My first career was fundraising, where we talked about money a lot. And then I became a pastor and part of my job is to talk about God and religious tradition. And I also worked as a hospital chaplain where I had holy conversations about death. Money, religion and dying - all things that are generally excluded from “polite conversation.”

But when I was fundraising, I got to have conversations with people about what kind of legacy they wanted to leave, and how they wanted to use their charitable giving to tell a story about their lives or values. One conversation I remember was not with donors, but among the staff in our advancement office. As we were thinking about how we would ask people for contributions, we talked about why people give. This was not in a church, but another non-profit, and some of the reasons included “recognition”, “duty”, “loyalty” and even “guilt”.

And while those reasons may be part of why you give,
in the Church, we teach that our giving is a response to what we have first been given;
a response to the abundant grace and forgiveness of God;
and, a response to the fullness of life we have, that especially here in our congregation, we have roofs over our heads, clothes on our backs, and food in our bellies.

As Pastor Jonathan preached last week, when we rightly recognize that everything we have belongs to God, the question we ask isn’t “How much are we giving?” as much as it is, “What are we withholding or keeping back from God?”

During this season, as you reflect on how you will go deeper in your faith and what that may look like as you make choices about your time, financial resources and the gifts you share with our congregation, neighbors and world, I want to offer another way to think about being stewards of what God first has given us.

I truly believe that stewardship - planning how we will respond to what God has first given us - is worship and that giving is joyful.

In our Lutheran tradition, “Worship is fundamentally about what God is doing and our response to God's action. Worship is an encounter with God, who saves us through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.”[i]

Looking at today’s texts, we see where our response to God is gratitude, and where our response to God’s generosity to us is praise. It is worship.

In Genesis, Jacob receives a vision where the Lord speaks to him. And in response, Jacob awakes and says, “Surely the Lord is in this place” and “How awesome is this place!” and he takes a stone, sets it up as a pillar and pours oil over it, creating an altar to the Lord.

And in Psalm 96, the psalmist commands us “Sing to the Lord, bless his name…declare his glory….” And then says, “Bring an offering,…worship the Lord in holy splendor.” Our song and our worship is our response to the greatness of the Lord.

In Second Timothy, the author states his gratitude to God (1:3) and remembers the gifts that God has given them – “the spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.” (1:7) And then he asks Timothy to guard the treasure – which in this context is not gold or silver, but faith and love in Christ Jesus – that was entrusted to him, and to depend on the Holy Spirit for help. (1:13-14) One of the places where we remember the faith we have been given and where we ask for God’s help is here, in worship.

And finally, we have the Gospel text where we witness the extravagant gift that Mary gives to Jesus. Jesus is with his friends at the home of Lazarus in Bethany at a Passover dinner, and the Evangelist John tells us that “Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair.” (12:3)

We’re not surprised when Judas Iscariot objects, and maybe a part of us even agrees with him that her action is reckless or excessive. But Jesus doesn’t.

He praises Mary, recognizing her gift as a gift of love. Mary was delighted to pour out this treasure for Jesus. Her action was an expression of her love and adoration of Jesus. It was an offering, and it was worship.

I have said before that God is always the actor in our Bible stories and in our lives of faith. We are called to live in response to what God has already done. And so, our gratitude and praise for God who abundantly loves us and has set us free from sin is why we give.

Our giving is joyful because, like Mary, it is an expression of our delight and our response to all that we have first been given, and worshiping God – responding to what God has done - is central to our life of faith and following Jesus.

Let us pray…
Good and gracious God,
Thank you for all you have given us.
May we delight in your love for us, and
may we depend on your Holy Spirit to help us respond faithfully,
with glad and generous hearts.
We pray in Jesus’ name.
Amen.

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[i] https://www.elca.org/Our-Work/Congregations-and-Synods/Worship#:~:text=Worship%20is%20fundamentally%20about%20what,and%20resurrection%20of%20Jesus%20Christ.

20th Sunday after Pentecost

Mark 10:17-31 

Often wealth, possessions and financial security have been seen as signs of God’s blessing. Even in modernity, preachers of the “prosperity gospel” promise their followers that “God wants you to be happy. God wants you to be rich. God wants you to prosper.” But speaking to the young man in today’s gospel Jesus answers the question, “What does God want?” differently.

Don’t misunderstand me. God wants good for God’s people. That’s why we have the Law and commandments in the first place, so that we may know how to live in relationship with God and with each other.

But the commandments have never been mere checklists where we can tick off the boxes:

Do not murder. Easy.

Do not commit adultery. Safe.

Do not steal. Yep.

Do not bear false witness or defraud. Good.

Honor your father and mother. Done.

The Law and commandments are the foundation of living as God’s people but no one issues a report card showing how well we’ve kept them, and there’s no honor roll.

So we join the young man in asking, “What does God want?”

Jesus answers, “God wants you.” Not just your obedience to a list of rules and not just your worship for an hour on Sunday mornings, but your very self.

And in our gospel today, the young man judges that the cost of discipleship is too high and he leaves Jesus grieving.

Now, sometimes preachers try to guess what happened next. Mark doesn’t say anything more about the young man, so we don’t know.

Some disciples, like Simon and Andrew, heard the call to follow Jesus and “immediately they left their nets and followed him.” (Mark 1:18)

Other disciples are what one scholar calls ‘resident disciples.’ These are people like the sisters Martha and Mary and their brother Lazarus who know Jesus and call him “Teacher” but live in their own house in Bethany.

And still others are those Jesus has healed like the demoniac in Gerasene. After Jesus delivered the man from the demons, he told him, “Go home to your friends, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and what mercy he has shown you." (Mark 5:19 NRS).

And for others of us, it takes time to recognize God is calling us to follow, and even longer to respond to that call.

So, sure, it’s possible the young man returned after a day, a week or even a month, having done what Jesus asked. But it’s also possible that Jesus was right, and the young man’s wealth and possessions were too great an obstacle to overcome.

And this isn’t Jesus bashing the rich or calling his disciples to a life of self-denial or poverty, but it is Jesus leveling a criticism against those whose wealth and possessions, or desire for safety and security, distances them from God.

There are different ways to live as disciples, but no matter what when we say we want to follow Jesus, we are asked to give ourselves first and fully to God. We are not at a negotiating table. We cannot barter for a more comfortable discipleship.

In this season where you are being asked for a financial commitment to support the ministry of Ascension and we will be creating a budget to plan for our ministry expenses, it’s easy to look at the bills first and give God what’s left. But Jesus calls us to come and follow him, giving everything first to God, and trusting in God’s provision.

That’s not the answer we want to hear when we ask, “What does God want?”

We want, like the young man, for there to be a reasonable answer, not a sacrificial one. We want discipleship to be easy, not difficult. So, it’s no wonder that Mark says the other disciples were amazed and asked, “Who then can be saved?” It feels like God is asking for something impossible.

And they’re not wrong. On our own, it is impossible. We cannot by our own merit or understanding to follow God’s commandments and live faithfully in relationship with God.

As Saint Paul writes in Romans 7, “¹⁸ I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. ¹⁹ For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.” (Rom. 7:18-19 NRS)

And seventeenth century Catholic Saint Vincent DePaul told his priests,

Believe me, we will never be any use in doing God’s work until we become thoroughly convinced that, of ourselves, we are better fitted to ruin everything than to make a success of it.[i]

It is recognizing how far we fall short that brings us to the cross where we find Jesus, grace and love. We cannot do anything apart from God, but God can make all things possible.

The hard answer to, “What does God want?” is that God wants you, and me, from our hands and feet to our innermost thoughts. God wants us to surrender ourselves to God, to let go of our desire to control and preserve and direct and follow God. And then, maybe then, we will see what really is possible.

Let us pray…

Good and gracious God,

Thank you for your Son Jesus who shows the world how much you want us to live in relationship with you.

When being his disciples seems to come at an impossible cost, assure us of the mighty ways you have already beaten the odds.

Give us wisdom and courage to surrender everything we hold onto and follow you, trusting first in You.

We pray in the name of your Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ.

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[i] Jean-Baptiste Chautard. Soul of the Apostolate.