Messes

12^th Sunday after Pentecost

August 27, 2017

Exodus 1:1-14

            One of my favorite lines from Dr. Seuss’ The Cat in the Hat is when the fish says, “That is good, he has gone away. Yes. But your mother will come. She will find this big mess! And this mess is so big and so deep and so tall, we cannot pick it up. There is no way at all!” Part of what I have a tendency to do when finding myself in a mess that “is so big and so deep and so tall,” is to figure out how I got in that mess. What caused it? How did I contribute to it? What were other contributing factors? In The Cat in the Hat, you can go back through the pages and see how the mess got “so big and so deep and so tall,” but we don’t usually have written books about how we got where we are. And so we look back over the events and decisions leading up, try to determine what were causes and what wasn’t. My husband was a biology major in college and has spent a lot of time working in labs. One of his favorite phrases when I start to do this is “correlation does not equal causation.” In other words, just because some things are happening at the same time, does not mean they were a direct cause.

            In bible history, one of the causes that I think we often overlook is what caused the Israelites to go into slavery. How do we get from Genesis, where they’re not enslaved, and the stories of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to Exodus, or specifically, the exodus, where Moses leads God’s people out of slavery? How’d they get from being free people in Egypt, welcomed and invited in by the Pharaoh and Joseph, to being enslaved people? Usually, we skip right to Exodus 2 and the birth of Moses. But why was there a need for Moses? Why did God need to send Moses to lead God’s people out of slavery? It’s there in Exodus 1, “a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.” This verse was first pointed out to me by the senior pastor I served with when I was an associate. I had gone to my local Kroger, a mile and a half from my house in Raleigh, my usual grocery store where we did most of our shopping, and ran into a person who served high up at the Conference level. I knew who she was, of course, but I had no idea she knew who I was. And she greeted me by name! I shared this with my senior pastor, that I had run into this person at the grocery store and she knew who I was! And the senior pastor advised me to enjoy it, because “a new Pharaoh arose who did not know Joseph.” In other words, apparently, I’m known now, but who knows what will happen when leadership changes? And it’s always a when leadership changes, not an if.

            “A new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt. “Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become far too numerous for us.  Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.” The new Pharaoh had to have known at least some of the story of Joseph and how Joseph saved not only his people but also all of Egypt but storing up grain during the seven good years so that there would still be food to eat during the seven years of famine. Because of that, the old Pharaoh welcomed Joseph’s extended family into Egypt and the Israelites prospered in their new land. Yet rather than see that prosperity as good for Egypt, the new Pharaoh chose to assume the worst, that if it came to war, the Israelites would fight against Egypt, instead of with their host country. The new Pharaoh did not try to get to know the Israelites or talk with them. The only thing he knew was that they were numerous and strong, and so he saw them as a threat instead of trying to work with them. Think of how many lives – children's lives, both Hebrew and Egyptian, could have been spared had the new Pharaoh chosen to set aside his fear of people who are not Egyptian, not like him, and gotten to know them instead. A new Pharaoh arose who did not know Joseph, who chose not to get to know the Hebrews better. His response was to oppress the Israelites with forced labor and enslave them. That’s how God’s people became enslaved in Egypt. We’ll read next week about how that oppression extended into male genocide, as God’s people still flourished in slavery and so Pharaoh commanded that all the baby boys be thrown in the river. That’s what leads to the story of Moses. As I said, next week. This week we’re going to sit with this early story of Pharaoh and God’s people. A new Pharaoh arose who did not know Joseph.

            It reminds me of another Dr. Seuss story, one found in the book The Sneetches and Other Stories, called “What was I Scared of?” 

It’s the story of the narrator, who has never been afraid of anything, encountering a pair of pale green pants with nobody inside them. They meet first in the woods, and he runs away. Then they come across each other again in the town of Grin-itch. And then again as he’s fishing for Doubt-trout on Roover River, and again in a field. And each time, the narrator is scared out of his wits, screams, terrified of these spooky pale green pants with nobody inside them. Then, as he backs around a bush in the field, they come across each other, face to face. And he’s scared to death, and the pants begin to cry. He realizes that those pants were just as scared as he was. “I was just as strange to them as they were strange to me! I put my arm around their waist and sat right down beside them. I calmed them down.” And now, when they meet each other around town, they smile and say, “Hi!” The pants and the narrator didn’t know each other. Were scared of each other. Until they got to know each other. Imagine, if Pharaoh had just made a different choice, a choice to not feel threatened by a people who his predecessor had welcomed and invited into his land. God’s people wouldn’t have become enslaved. They wouldn’t have gotten into a mess from which they needed divine intervention and salvation. Pharaoh wouldn’t have gotten into a mess which cost him the life of the first born son, in the tenth plague.

And it’s all a question of, when you perceive a threat, what do you do? Do you run away? Do you call the police? Do you oppress the perceived threat before it can harm you first? Before you learn more about it? When the kids tell me there’s a monster, my first question is to ask if it’s a friendly monster. Or if they asked her name. Or what color she is. In other words, rather than assume it’s a bad monster or a scary monster, what if it’s more like Sully or Mike Wazowski from the movie Monsters, Inc.? A new Pharaoh arose who did not know Joseph. And so he decided to oppress them with forced labor and worked them ruthlessly and made their lives bitter with harsh labor. It’s all a question of what you choose to do. The new Pharaoh chose oppression. That’s how God’s people ended up enslaved. Pharaoh was afraid of them. Saw them as a threat. Perception plays a strong role in today’s culture. Sometimes perception is reality; sometimes it isn’t. Sometimes it’s you acting from a place of fear. Pharaohs always had to be on guard against external threats in order to stay ruler of Egypt and for Egypt to stay Egypt. What’s a new Pharaoh to do? These are the facts presented him. The Israelites are numerous and strong. They live in Egypt and have for many generations. Rather than building a relationship with them so that they’d be part of his army during a war, he chose to see them as a threat to be squashed. A new Pharaoh arose who did not know Joseph. Who didn’t want to know Joseph, or Joseph’s descendants. Who chose not to know Joseph. We’re going to be reading over the next few weeks the rest of this story, how God saved God’s people in Egypt. This is where the story starts. How God’s people became enslaved. Pharaoh saw them as a threat, and responded accordingly. Before we get to the salvation, let’s sit this week with the oppression. 

Healing, Hospitality, and Mercy

11^th Sunday after Pentecost

August 20, 2017

Matthew 15:21-28

            I had wanted all week to talk about healing this morning. The gospel story is one of healing, how Jesus heals the woman’s daughter. The Old Testament story is one of healing in a family. What Joseph’s brothers meant for evil, selling him into slavery in another country, God used for good, putting Joseph in a high position in Egypt so that he could save up grain for the coming famine and thus save many people, including Joseph’s family, from starvation. However, the sermon never came together. It wouldn’t come together. So I read yet another commentary on the Matthew passage and this one pointed out that the woman didn’t ask Jesus for healing. She did not say, “Jesus, please heal my daughter.” She said, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.” She didn’t ask for healing; she asked for mercy. She didn’t ask Jesus to take away the demon from her daughter; she asked Jesus to show kindness and compassion to her.

            In my effort to focus on healing this morning, I even reread part of Henri Nouwen’s book, The Wounded Healer.  Henri Nouwen wrote that much of healing occurs through the gift and offer of hospitality. He said that many people suffer because they look for the one person or event or medicine that will take away their pain. Yet he wrote that it is a “false illusion that wholeness can be given from one to another.” I cannot offer you wholeness; I can offer you Jesus. A doctor cannot offer you wholeness; a doctor can offer you a treatment. A politician cannot offer you wholeness; a politician can offer you a course of action. What each of us can offer each other is hospitality, a place where you can share your pain. Not to take it away or to stifle it, but to say, “I hear you. I love you. You are not alone. You are loved.” Not thinking about what can I get from you or how can I use you, but focusing on that other person. Showing mercy, showing kindness and compassion and just sitting with that other person in all their hurt. Not for a pity party, not for a time of woe-is-me, but to listen. I found a quote, either from the author Robert Benson, or one I heard him share at a seminar, “Sometimes being listened to is much like being loved, and sometimes there’s no difference.”

            Let’s go back to our story with Jesus and the woman. Jesus is traveling since we last saw him on the lake last week and has now entered the region of Tyre and Sidon. He is greeted, he is shown hospitality, by a woman who is from there and who comes out to greet him. She’s a one-woman welcoming committee! And she already knows who he is. She knows he’s the Son of David. And she knows his reputation for healing, for compassion. So she addresses him practically by name, there is nothing anonymous going on here. Jesus doesn’t get to be incognito. Sign of a good host to know your guest, right? And yet then she asks her guest for mercy. She gets right to the point. Her daughter is suffering terribly, please have mercy. This man, this foreigner in her land, this person from a different background, different religion, she knows her people need this bread that comes from another country, from another religion, and this man is the only one who can offer it. She extends hospitality to him, and asks for it to be extended back to her. Not in a give-and-take or a I’ll-scratch-you-back, you-scratch-mine type of way. Simply a welcome, and a please have mercy. My daughter is suffering, and you are the only one who can help.

            And Jesus, who has been welcomed to a different country by this woman, who knows he can help, tells her NO. This is one of those stories where you really wonder at Jesus. That he saved Peter out on the lake, yeah, not a surprise. We expect Jesus to save, to help, to have compassion, to show mercy. But he tells her no! WHAT?! We’re not used to Jesus saying NO, to Jesus rejecting people, to Jesus calling someone names. That’s not the Jesus we know.

            I had a seminary professor who pointed out that our only place in this story is with this woman. We, at least most of us, are Gentiles. We are not Jews. Jesus saying he came only for Israel excludes us. We are the outsider, the foreigner, the immigrant, and we are on our knees with her, begging Jesus to have mercy on us, too! We show hospitality to those who are not like us, we listen, but we cannot offer wholeness, we cannot offer life. Only Jesus can do that. And I have no doubt that each of us, in some area of our life, could use wholeness. Could use compassion. Could use kindness. Could do with some mercy. Jesus, son of David, have mercy on us! Someone close to us is suffering. Maybe it’s us who’s suffering. Lord, we know we risk rejection. We know we risk being called names. Yet Jesus is the only one who can offer true life.

The NO comes first. It’s hard to say NO in this day and age, isn’t it? From Jack Bauer to Olivia Pope, the intense “I need you to do this” and figuring out how to get around or how to make people say yes to what you want, maybe what you need. Jack Bauer didn’t take NO for an answer. And you know? The woman doesn’t take NO for an answer, either. She persists. And so do we in our prayers. Lord, have mercy on me. Lord, hear my cry. How long, O Lord? Perseverance is one of the traits of love in 1 Corinthians 13 that famous chapter on love. In many other places, Paul and the other authors of the New Testament encourage the faithful to persevere. Persevere in the faith. Persevere in your prayers. Persevere during hardships. Persevere. Persist. Because the YES will come. Jesus says, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And we’re told her daughter was healed at that moment.

Jesus’ nature is to show mercy. It is to have compassion. There are so many times we’re told he had compassion on the crowds and healed them or fed them or taught them or all three. Our God is a merciful God. Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the table. In a Jewish household, the dogs wouldn’t have been anywhere near the children while they ate. Gentiles, ancient Greeks, it’s more likely that dogs would have been household pets, getting fed under the table while the children ate.[1] Kids and dogs getting fed at the same time. And so Jesus relents and out of that initial NO, there’s a YES hidden inside. Jesus doesn’t always come through for us how we expect. Jesus first told the woman NO.  Martin Luther said that this is sometimes how Jesus helps us, by killing us to give us life, by hiding the YES inside the NO, which has to come first. Sometimes God will continue to humble us before saying YES and remind us that our salvation and wholeness comes from God alone. 

            Yet, the woman didn’t pray for wholeness; she prayed for mercy. Earlier in Matthew, Jesus told the Pharisees, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”[2] “I desire mercy, not sacrifice” is from the Old Testament book, Hosea, chapter 6. The chapter begins with God’s people saying, “Let us return to the Lord. God has torn us to pieces but he will heal us. He will revive us and restore us.” Then God speaks, “What am I going to do with you? Your love is like the morning mist, like the early dew that disappears. For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.” Did you hear that? God doesn’t want us to focus on doing everything right! God doesn’t want us to make sure we’ve got every box checked on how to be a perfect Christian. God wants mercy. God wants us to acknowledge and remember that he is God and we are not. God asks for mercy, for kindness, for compassion. This is the opposite of hatred. This is the opposite of saying, we’re better than you. This is the opposite of the rudeness that is pervading our society. Jesus didn’t come to call the righteous but sinners, not the healthy but the sick. Jesus came for the sick. Jesus came for those in need of mercy. We are those in need of mercy. Our neighbor is those in need of mercy. The poor are those in need of mercy. The immigrant are those in need of mercy. The LGBTQI person is those in need of mercy. The person in jail is in need of mercy. The person on the street is in need of mercy. They are not in need of condemnation. They are not in need of judgment. They are not in need of criticism. They’re in need of those crumbs that fall from the table even to us. There are enough crumbs to go around, by the way. There is no shortage on Jesus’ love. One of the hymns I almost picked for today was “There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy.” Listen to the first few of the original stanzas:

There’s a wideness in God’s mercy, 

Like the wideness of the sea;

There’s a kindness in His justice, 

Which is more than liberty.

There is no place where earth’s sorrows 

Are more felt than up in Heaven;

There is no place where earth’s failings 

Have such kindly judgment given.

There is welcome for the sinner, 

And more graces for the good;

There is mercy with the Savior; 

There is healing in His blood.

There is grace enough for thousands 

Of new worlds as great as this;

There is room for fresh creations 

In that upper home of bliss.

For the love of God is broader 

Than the measure of our mind;

And the heart of the Eternal 

Is most wonderfully kind.

Thanks be to God.

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[1] http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=3360

[2] Matthew 9:12-13

What Happens After?

10^th Sunday after Pentecost

August 13, 2017

Matthew 14:22-33

First, I would encourage you to read the statement by my Bishop, LaTrelle Easterling:

http://www.bwcumc.org/news-and-views/bishop-easterlings-statement-following-the-violence-in-charlottesville-va/

Also, the one by Bishop Leonard Fairley, formerly my mom’s pastor and who baptized my youngest:

http://www.kyumc.org/newsdetail/when-words-are-not-enough-9023970

Words are not enough, yet they are the preacher’s tool. Here is my outline that was the basis for Sunday’s sermon:

What happens after the storm?

Beaten, battered, weathered, bruised, wind knocked out of you, after we come face to face with hatred, evil, prejudice, and discrimination?

Tubthumping by British rock band Chumbawamba in 1997 – “I get knocked down, but I get up again”

2016 “Trolls” movie – Poppy sets off on a journey to rescue her friends – “Hey! I’m not giving up today. There’s nothing getting in my way. And if you knock knock me over, I will get back up again. If something goes a little wrong, well you can go ahead and bring it on. ‘Cause if you knock knock me over, I will get back up again.”

Most of us get back up again. Most of us get back in the saddle. Or back behind the wheel of a car. Or back wherever it was that knocked us down. A few don’t. Hold them in prayer. Most of us do get back up again. Changed, marked, like Jacob from last week. Like the 19 counter-protesters who were intentionally hit by a car.

What happened to Peter?

Matt 15 – asks Jesus to explain a parable – wants to learn, wants to be taught

Matt 16 – when Jesus asks disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” Disciples answer, “Some say Elijah, others John the Baptist, or one of the prophets, like Jeremiah.”

Jesus asks, “And you, who do you say that I am?” Peter answers, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.”

Jesus replies, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

Peter had new insight, new malleability, new desire to learn, new name, and had grown closer to God

Richard Rohr, “Falling Upward”

My mom gave me this book after she read it with her Sunday school class. She said it was fantastic, and also that I had already moved into the second half of my life due to the disappointment and struggled related to my RA and leaving Nicaragua. That comment made me wonder why read it, if I’m already there. Lately, Bishop Easterling has been sharing quotes from it on Facebook, reminding me of him.

Two “halves” of our lives – not equally in half, 50%. There’s the first part, establishing your identity, who you are, creating boundaries for yourself, seeking security. These things are good and necessary. Some people never move beyond them.

The crossover to the second “half” of life is some sort of suffering, stumbling, storm, mistakes, challenges, loss of control, that move us out of our comfort zone and our usual way of operating. This time of uncertainty makes us see ourselves differently and in a more life-giving way. It’s about how we grow and learn from our failings. It’s about growing spiritually more through struggle and mistakes than we do by doing everything right.

Children’s book “Rosie Revere, Engineer” by Andrea Beaty

            Rosie likes to tinker and make gizmos, but she got laughed at, so she stops. Her great-great aunt Rosie (the Riveter) encourages her to try again, so she does. She makes a flying machine that flies for a few seconds and then crashes. Aunt Rosie calls it “the perfect first try.” Now that she had failed, she could keep going! 

Here’s what I think.

My understanding is that the mismatch between the congregation and a previous pastor was the biggest drama and tension this church has had. That is great! Because now we can get down to work. By struggling through that, and arguing with God (and probably with each other) during that difficult time, you’ve come to see yourselves differently. And that’s ok. Remember, we grow more spiritually through struggle than we do by doing everything right. So, as far as I’m concerned, this is a GREAT time to be at Lisbon! We are falling upward. We are experimenting, trying things out, which may or may not work, and that’s ok. The point is, it has made us more like Peter, in turn more like Jesus, as we seek to learn more, as we want to learn and grow closer to God.

That’s the church level. The reason we do this isn’t for our own sake. The reason we do this hard work is for the sake of the world. As was made evident again by yesterday’s events in Charlottesville, we live in a hurting world that is in desperate need of hope and love and truth. That’s why we’re here. Our world is hurting. God’s world is hurting and needs to hear words of hope and love and truth. So, pray. Pray for all in Charlottesville. Pray for those who have been marked. Stand in solidarity with those who live in fear. Actively call out evil and racism. Find the tools in front of us, like hand sanitizer, that we can use to silence messages of hate.

Let us pray…

For more actions, see https://www.splcenter.org/20170814/ten-ways-fight-hate-community-response-guide

Arguing with God

9^th Sunday after Pentecost

August 6, 2017

Genesis 32:22-31; Matthew 14:13-21

            Anyone ever argued with God? What did you argue over? How long did the argument last? The biggest argument I ever had with God occurred not too far from here. It was 20 years ago and we were in Damascus, visiting my mom’s best friend. That was the time and place my parents chose to tell us children that they were separating and going to get divorced. It was January, there was over a foot of snow on the ground, the wind chill was below zero, and my response was to go take a walk. I bundled up and walked, I don’t know where. As I walked, I argued with God. The walk lasted about half an hour. The argument with God lasted about 7 years. That’s about how long it took me to understand what there was to understand, to accept what I couldn’t understand, to come to peace with it. One of the final keys came through a Nicholas Sparks book, of all things. During that time, I didn’t leave the church. I didn’t stop praying or worshiping or bible study. God and I just had this ongoing argument. My parents moved on and remarried. They are both now much more happily married than they ever were during their 20 years of marriage to each other. It just took me longer, because growing up I thought they had a normal, healthy, Christian marriage. I also thought Christians didn’t get divorced. I had to allow some grace for that, and then come to terms with the fact that their marriage was not healthy. I did a lot of arguing with God.

We have two examples this morning of folks who argued, or struggled with God. Jacob is getting ready to go meet his brother, Esau, from whom he’s been estranged for a very long time. Jacob has already sent presents on ahead to his brother. He’s had his family go ahead and cross the river into Canaan, the promised land. And Jacob’s camped out on the river bank overnight. And he spends the night wrestling, all night long, and when he’s told to give up, he refuses and says, “I will not let you go until you bless me.” In the blessing, Jacob gets a new name, Israel, “because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.” Jacob struggled and did not give up. Then, this reading is paired with the story of Jesus feeding the multitudes. He’d had compassion on the large crowd that had followed him and spent the day healing the sick. As the day drew to a close, the disciples advised Jesus to send away the crowd so they could go get some dinner. Jesus says, “No, you feed them.” The disciples argue back and say, “No, we don’t have enough food.” Jesus says, “Bring to me what food you do have.” And Jesus takes the five loaves and two fish and blesses them, breaks them, and gives them back to the disciples to give to the crowd. There was so much extra food that the disciples collected 12 baskets full of leftovers. The disciples went from a fear of scarcity, of not enough, to such abundance, that they had more at the end than they did at the beginning.

            The first lesson when you’re arguing with God is to not give up. My husband’s alma mater is NC State where there was this famous men’s basketball coach in the 1980s who died from cancer, Jimmy Valvano. His most famous encouragement, that you see printed places around Raleigh, is “Don’t give up. Don’t ever give up.” When you are struggling, when you are going through a dark night of the soul, don’t give up. It is more faithful to stay in the conversation, to stay in the argument, than to walk away. You don’t know what God is going to do if you turn your back. And God is never going to turn God’s back on you. God stays faithful. God stays in the conversation. God can handle all the abuse you throw at God, if your argument turns ugly. Staying in the conversation is a more faithful response than giving in to fear or despair. Don’t give up! The disciples tried to. They were afraid there wasn’t enough food. They told Jesus to send the crowd away. Jesus said no. Don’t despair. Don’t be afraid. You do have enough. And the disciples stayed and Jesus showed them that they did, in fact, have enough.

Then Jacob, he wrestled All. Night. Long. Talk about feeling tired and exhausted a good reason to give up. He needed rest. Jacob was about to meet his brother the next day for the first time in years. They had not parted on good terms. They had not spoken to each other for a very long time. I understand why Jacob had trouble sleeping. He had a lot on his mind. It was the night before a big day. But he didn’t spend it thinking about it, tossing and turning in his bed. Jacob spent the night wrestling physically, with his body and not just with his mind. And yet he didn’t give up. Even when asked to, he still didn’t stop. Even though the night was over and the sun was coming up, he still didn’t stop. “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” And God did bless him. “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.” The only reason Jacob overcame was because he didn’t give up.

Now, you should probably also know that when you argue with God, you may be marked by the struggle. Jacob was given a new name and a new limp. Jacob saw God face-to-face and his life was spared, but he was marked by the encounter. For the last part of the wrestling match, Jacob had a hurt hip. Talk about another good reason to have stopped; he was injured. But he kept going. And Jacob received a new name, as well as the physical reminder of the struggle in his hip.

Another big argument I’ve had with God was over leaving Nicaragua, returning to the U.S., and starting seminary. I had signed a three year contract with a mission agency to serve in Nicaragua. I had students who knew that. I had supporters who knew that. My host family knew that. And here was God calling me to break that contract. Three years had never felt like the right number. Since I loved it there, I thought it would be longer. I never dreamt it would be shorter. God planted me on my butt to get the point through to me. When the doctor first diagnosed me with rheumatoid arthritis, he put me on bedrest. God will do all kinds of things to get your attention. And talk about being marked? My arthritis is a pain, literally at times. And when I’m paying attention, I’m remembering it’s like Jacob’s hip. It’s my marker of how God got me here, in this pulpit. It’s God using something bad, a chronic disease, for something good: coming to be a pastor.

And that is the third thing about arguing with God. When you struggle with God, you may be redeemed.  Esau had good cause to be so mad at Jacob. The reason for their falling out was because Jacob pretended to be his brother and tricked their father into giving Jacob the blessing of the firstborn. Jacob wasn’t the firstborn twin, he was born second, grabbing onto Esau’s heel. His name, Jacob, means ‘he grasps the heel,’ a saying in Hebrew to describe someone who deceives. So Jacob the deceiver, the trickster, struggled with God and becomes the nation of Israel through his twelve sons plus daughters and their offspring. This is because “genuine change is not possible without struggle.”[1] The struggle comes first. Then the redemption can come.

I have been reading the Bible y’all gave me, and it has a whole page commentary about Jacob’s wrestling match with God.[2] It mentions that to be part of God’s people is to struggle with God. That’s normal. It’s part of the relationship. And that makes sense, because if you think about it, anyone you’re in relationship with, you argue with them from time to time. So, of course that includes God. and for those who lived in Biblical times, struggling with God wasn’t just normal, but essential and it left the faithful limping. I would argue that arguing with God is part of your faith development. You trust God enough to argue with God. You trust that your relationship with God can survive a disagreement. And you are changed from arguing with God. Limping, yes. You’re struggling with the One who made the heavens and the earth. Yes, you’re going to be marked when you take on your Creator. However, like Jacob and the disciples, future blessing cannot be separated from the struggle. Jacob was about to enter the promised land and be reconciled with his brother. The disciples were about to feed thousands of people with just two fish and five loaves of bread. There is blessing that comes after the struggle. There is redemption. There is change.

With some arguments, we want to know who wins and who loses. When you argue with God, and stay in the argument and struggle and are willing to be marked by God and changed by God, this is an argument that’s a win-win. These are the kinds of struggles that can draw you closer to God, if you let them. So, if something is majorly not going according to your life plan, or, more faithfully, what you understand is God’s plan for your life, take it up with God! In fact, that may be the first problem. God, this is what I understood, this is what I thought, this is what I expected. Why are we now taking a left turn? Or a zigzag? Was this in your plan all along? Or, as we journey down this new path together, I know you’ll be with me and I know you can use it to change me, to draw me closer to you, to make me more like you. As I said, God wins, and you win. “And when the strife is fierce, the warfare long, Steals on the ear the distant triumph song, And hearts are brave, again, and arms are strong. Alleluia, Alleluia!” That’s from the hymn, “For All the Saints.” Remember, you’re in good company. You’re not ever alone. Thanks be to God.

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[1] Preaching God’s Transforming Justice, Year A, p. 340

[2] NIV First-Century Study Bible, p. 52

Buried Treasure

8^th Sunday after Pentecost

July 30, 2017

Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52

            I went to college in St. Louis and I had a friend who was from there, and is now a fellow United Methodist pastor, and back in the day, we’d occasionally have theological discussions. We’re both baseball fans, and he once told me that he thought the kingdom of heaven was like Busch Stadium, home of the St. Louis Cardinals. This was the old Busch Stadium, the one they tore down to build the current one, and I have not been to the new one. The old Busch Stadium had a crown of arches for its roof, echoing the city’s Gateway Arch, and so the stadium looked like a complete circle. 

My friend thought that complete circle echoed the completeness of the kingdom of heaven. Plus, there’s baseball! Doesn’t your vision of heaven include baseball?! Alas, baseball was about 1,800 years too late to be included in the analogies Jesus used to describe the kingdom of heaven.

            Instead, Jesus said the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, an itty bitty seed that can grow into a bush 20 feet tall! Jesus said it’s like yeast, that you mix in with 60 pounds of flour and it causes all that dough to rise into bread. Jesus said the kingdom of heaven is like a hidden treasure, buried in a field, and when a person found it, he went and sold everything he had in order to buy that field. Similarly, Jesus said it’s like a merchant in search of fine pearls and when she found one of great value, she also sold everything she had in order to buy that pearl. Finally, Jesus said the kingdom of heaven is like a net that you let down into the lake and it catches all kinds of fish. Once the fishermen get back to shore, then the fish are sorted, just like the angels will sort people at the end of the age.

            There are lots of conclusions we can draw from these analogies and there is lots we can learn about the kingdom from those five objects. Yet when Jesus asks the disciples, “Have you understood all this?” and they say, “Yes,” which is a curious answer, then Jesus says, “Therefore every teacher of the law who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.”[1] Wait, what? Everyone who is trained in the kingdom of heaven is like a homeowner who brings out of storage new treasures and old treasures. Beloved, I love to look up and compare different translations of the Bible. I believe the words we use are important and I always find it interesting to compare different Bible translations. For that verse, the one about disciples being like homeowners who bring new and old treasures out of storage, it was not until the seventh translation I looked up before I found one that used the same phrasing of that verse![2] Jesus addressed teachers of the law, legal experts, scribes, students, teachers of religious law, and one translation said both scribes and teachers of the law. Jesus addressed those who are disciples in the kingdom of heaven, who have been trained as disciples for the kingdom of heaven, who are well-trained in God’s kingdom, who are instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven, and who are students of the ways of the Kingdom. Jesus said they are like the owner of a house, the head of a household, the master of a household, the owner of a general store, a homeowner, and a householder. These homeowners bring out of their storeroom new treasures as well as old, bring old and new things out of their treasure chest, brings out of their treasure what is new and what is old, can put their hands on anything you need, old or new, exactly when you need it, bring from their storeroom new gems of truth as well as old, bring out of their treasure things new and old, and take new and old things out of their storage room. To repeat what Jesus asked, have you understood all this? There’s not a lot of difference, and yet it’s unusual for so many translations to have their own phrasing that’s not exactly the same as any other.

            So, here’s the take-away: we are those who have been trained, well-trained, as disciples in the kingdom of heaven. That’s part of why we read and study the bible. It’s not just to get something out of it for us or something to apply to our life situation; it’s training and education in the kingdom of heaven. And because we learn about the kingdom and we pray for the kingdom to come here on earth as it is in heaven, then we are like these homeowners, householders, and masters. We have these treasures, too. Three things about these treasures:

            First, these treasures are things of worth; they have value. Most of the translations actually use the word ‘treasure,’ either calling the things themselves ‘treasure’ or saying that they come from a ‘treasure chest.’ One that was different was the one that called them gems of truth, which is also something valuable, a gem. And the other ones talked about bringing things out of storage, remaining rather neutral on whether these things are valuable or not. Except, that if you’re bringing them out of storage, then they were valuable enough to store in the first place and they are valuable enough to bring out of storage and use now. This isn’t treasure that’s decayed or rotted over time; it is still good. As Jesus’ disciples, as those trained in the ways of the kingdom of heaven, we have treasure! If I could do a better pirate imitation, I would. We have access to these store rooms, these treasure rooms, that have things that are not put in there just to be thrown away later, because they’re really just trash, but things worthy to be used now. Two of those comparisons Jesus made for the kingdom of heaven were things that people had to sell everything they owned in order to be able to buy. The pearl of great price was worth it to the merchant to sell everything else she owned so that she could buy that one pearl. Likewise, the field with the buried treasure cost everything the man had. This is what the kingdom of heaven is worth: everything. The kingdom of heaven is full of treasure, of things to be valued. Just in case you’re still thinking like a pirate, this isn’t value that can be monetized, like gold or coins. Everything is everything, regardless of whether it’s a little or a lot. One of my favorite quotes from Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German pastor who stood up to Hitler, is when he wrote that “when Christ bids a man come, he bids him come and die.” When Christ calls you, as he has called each one of us, as he has called each disciple, he calls us to die to ourselves. He calls us to be willing to sacrifice everything, whether everything is a little or a lot. That’s the cost of the kingdom of heaven: to sell everything for the pearl of great price, to give up everything for the field with the buried treasure. Bonhoeffer also wrote about costly grace: “It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life.” True life is only found in Jesus Christ. Jesus says, “Those who lose their life for my sake will find it.”[3] I know a little bit about this. When I went to Nicaragua, I sold my car, left my students, and lived off support, losing my financial independence. And I loved Nicaragua! I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life there. Then, God called me back, to seminary. I had enrolled but not started when I started dating my husband. We were married after my first year in seminary, and y’all know where we are now. Losing your life to find it. That is the treasure buried in the field; that is why it is treasure that you can’t put a dollar amount on.

Furthermore, these treasures are valuable enough to be used now. How many of us have special jewelry that you only wear for extremely special occasions? I have a few pieces, too. Or maybe a special item of clothing that you only wear once or twice a year? These items cost more, we tend to take better care of them than our everyday clothing and jewelry, and yet we wear them less. And when we do wear them, we usually have to pull them out from the back of the closet or a different jewelry box than the one we use on a daily basis. I wore one of my special pieces this morning. The last time I wore it was to a friend’s wedding and my son broke the chain. I got it fixed, and then put it away. Today is the first time I’ve worn it since then. Special clothing and special jewelry are not too different from these treasures. Did you notice Jesus said they all have to be brought out? That means they are all hidden or stored. They have to be taken out, they have to be found. The merchant had to go seek and find the pearl. The man had to dig to find the treasure buried in the field. These are not things that are always obvious or just lying around in plain sight. This is treasure that has been stored away, just waiting to be pulled out. The kingdom of heaven is not readily apparent to everyone, but only for those with eyes to see and ears to hear, as Jesus says. The apostle Paul even talked about treasure being stored in jars of clay, something completely ordinary and mundane.[4] Who would expect great treasure to be stored in clay jars? Who would look for it there? Only Indiana Jones, who had to remember that Jesus was a carpenter, not a fancy nobleman. Paul says putting treasure in clay jars is to show that the power, the treasure, is from God and not from us. The kingdom of heaven, hidden in a field, stored in a clay jar, is a treasure just waiting to be brought out and used. It’s waiting for someone to look for it and find it and appreciate its value.

            Finally, what every translation makes sure to use to describe these treasures is that they include old treasures and new treasures. Some treasure is old; some treasure is new. Both are valuable. Both are needed. Old ideas. New ideas. Old ways of doing things. New ways of doing things. Both belong in the kingdom of heaven. Both can work together. Putting new words to old songs and old words to new music. My engagement ring is from the 1920’s, it was my great-grandmother’s. The wedding band we bought in 2008 when we got married, yet we had to find a style that matched the engagement ring. Old and new can work together very well, as long as they complement each other. A new frame for an old painting, or moving the painting to a different room in the house. Jesus does not say, “Out with the old and in with the new.” Jesus says the kingdom of heaven has old treasures and new treasures. Both are important. Both are part of the kingdom.

            When both John the Baptist and Jesus began their preaching careers, the first thing they said was “Repent, for the kingdom of God has come near.”[5] That was the good news they each had to share. Repent, change your life, turn back to God, because the kingdom of God has come near. The kingdom of God has come near. I don’t know whether your idea of the kingdom includes baseball or a different sport or no sports. The cool thing about the kingdom is that we get to catch glimpses of it here on earth as it is in heaven. We catch glimpses. One church member voluntarily went out and worked on those weeds in the playground. Another church member, the 2^nd Sunday we were here, voluntarily took my children and her grandchildren to go play during the second half of the service. I don’t know where the idea originated, but someone thought to have peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with the crusts cut off at the reception because they knew there were going to be picky kids there. I know I’ve accidentally stepped on some toes in the month I’ve been here, but no one has taken offense and all have allowed me grace. The kingdom of God is here, if we have the eyes to see and the ears to hear. That’s the true treasure that we have, if we can find the key to the storeroom, or maybe remember where the storeroom is. We have this treasure room, full of old and new treasures that are just waiting to be taken out, just waiting to be seen and used. The kingdom of heaven is like buried treasure, just waiting to be found. Thanks be to God. Amen.

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[1] Matthew 13:52, NIV

[2] I compared NIV, NRSV, CEB, NLT, NKJV, GNT, MSG, ESV, and VOICE

[3] Matthew 10:39

[4] 2 Corinthians 4:7

[5] Matthew 3:2 and 4:17