John 8:31-36 The Truth That Will Set Us Free

A preacher, who was newly called to a small country town, needed to mail a letter. Passing a young boy on the street, the pastor asked where he could find the post office.
After getting his answer, the minister thanked the boy and said, “If you’ll come to my church this evening, you can hear me tell everyone how to get to heaven.”
“I don’t know, sir,” the boy replied. “You don’t even know how to get to the post office!”

There was a time when the church pictured God as an angry God who was watching over us and anxiously waiting for us to make a mistake so that he could punish us with eternal suffering in hell. The church taught people to fear God in the worst sense of the word, and the church used that fear to control the people, to get them to submit to church leaders and obey all of the teachings and rules of the church. The church used that fear to obtain wealth and power for the Pope in Rome and for the Roman Catholic Church. For example, by the 16^th century the Roman Catholic Church became wealthy from the indulgences or fees that worshippers had to pay to free the souls of their loved ones who were in purgatory, which was the place between heaven and hell where the faithful were being cleaned up for heaven. There were at least seven sacraments that were prescribed by man.

By the time of the Protestant Reformation, the church was similar to the Pharisees of Jesus’ time-very authoritarian. The word of the pastor or church elders was law, and no one in the congregation could question it. Part of the reason was because the language of worship services at that time was Latin. There were very few Bibles available because they were copied by hand, and the few Bibles that were available were also in Latin. Since very few people other than the wealthy and the educated could read or speak Latin, they had to trust that what the minister said was the word of God.

 
The situation in the church was similar to the Parable of the Wicked Tenants in Matthew 21:33-42. Reformers agreed with the parable’s idea that because the Israelites had abused their tenancy as God’s people, God would lease his church to another people-the (new) Christian church. They also argued that because the (new) Christian church had abused its tenancy, God would replace it with the Reformed Church.

Over many years the church and its practices were reformed, but the process was not easy. One key event that helped the process was the invention of the printing press. That made the publication and distribution of Bibles easier. The Reformation was also helped by efforts to translate the Bible from Latin into the languages of the common people in Europe, specifically the efforts of John Wycliffe and William Tyndale to translate the Bible into English, and Martin Luther to translate the Bible into German. That made it possible for more people to read the Bible and discover the truth of God’s word for themselves.

Luther also believed that church music was for everyone to sing. He wrote, “The devil who is the originator of sorrowful anxieties and restless trouble, flees before the sound of God’s music almost as much before the Word of God”. That belief inspired him to compose the hymn, “A Mighty Fortress is Our God”, and it is a bold affirmation of the love and power of our heavenly Father.

The end result was the idea that ordinary Christians could and should read the Bible for themselves in their own everyday language and draw their own conclusions from it. They did not have to accept the words of centralized religious authorities at face value. They did not have to accept traditions at face value unless they were prescribed by the Scriptures. Naturally this undermined the authority of the established church, which is why the church prohibited translation of the Bible into the language of the people, and publicly burned such Bibles as they could find.

 
Even today, the Roman Catholic Church is largely authoritarian in nature even though changes were made in the 1960s by the Second Vatican Council-changes that included allowing services to be conducted in the language of the common people. In addition, the Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Mormon Church and other fundamentalist denominations such as the Salvation Army, the Pentecostal Church and some Baptist churches are still thriving today, and individual preachers can be authoritarian.Luther and other reformers understood that Biblical theology can only be done on the basis of a detailed and comprehensive study of all the relevant material, and not by blindly accepting a minister’s word as law. They struggled to accept the church’s teachings. In fact, it is largely due to Luther’s struggle to reconcile his faith with church doctrine that the Protestant Reformation was successful. Luther and other Reformers such as John Knox discovered that the only sacraments that were necessary were those that were explicitly mentioned in the Scriptures; namely, baptism and Holy Communion. On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther had had enough of the corruption and false teachings that were coming out of Rome. He nailed his 95 theses on the Castle Church door in Wittenberg, Germany-thereby opening the floodgates to the Reformation.

There is a difference between knowing about God and knowing God personally. Luther and the Reformers discovered this and so did the common people. The Reformation changed the church’s emphasis from the suffering Christ on the Cross to the Risen Christ and an empty cross.  It’s not the “what” of our faith that saves us, but the “whom”. In his sacrifice for our sins, Christ truly sets us free from our sinful nature. Christ was most concerned about freeing us from our bondage. He came to free us from the bondage of sin, just like the Reformers freed people from unnecessary rules and rituals made by man and replaced them with those that were prescribed in the Scriptures.

Grace is the love of God revealed in Jesus Christ which is freely given without set and described patterns. It is the same point that Paul tried to make in Ephesians 2:8 when he wrote, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing, but the gift of God”. It was hard for both Paul’s readers and Martin Luther to understand and accept this concept because they came from religious backgrounds which underlined the importance of keeping the law to earn the love of God. What made it even harder for Martin Luther to understand this concept was the fact that his church told him that he could become justified before God and cleansed of guilt by doing certain things to make himself more pleasing to God-things such as becoming a monk, praying more, fasting longer, or by going on a pilgrimage. He did all of those things, but he still didn’t feel that he had done enough. It was only by carefully reading the Book of Romans, specifically Romans 8:19-28, that he discovered the reality of grace. Only then did he find peace with God and a sense of assurance and rest for his troubled spirit. He expressed God’s grace in the second verse of “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God”:

Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing

                        Were not the right man on our side, the man of God’s own choosing
                        Dost ask who that might be? Christ Jesus it is He
                        Lord Sabaoth His name, From age to age the same
                        And He must win the battle

The sole aim of the Reformers was to invite Christians into a new vision of the possibility of a genuine relationship with God that was not governed by church officials, of the promise of forgiveness based not on what we have done, but by what Christ has done for us, and the guarantee of access to God’s grace and promise of eternal life that was not mediated by man-made rules. In other words, the Reformers invited Christians to freedom.

The truth of what we believe is set in the truth of Jesus. When Jesus talks about abiding in his word, he is talking about obeying his teachings and building a life based on Jesus himself-a life of faith-a strong life. Christianity is about spiritual growth. It is about the hard work of sanctification, which requires both the Spirit of God and the disciplined and repeated use of the means of grace. A genuine believer holds fast, obeys and practices God’s teachings.

Grace can be abused, and in fact sometimes it is abused. Limitations are appropriate and necessary. God does give us commands. They are not meant to stifle us, but to allow us to grow in faith. Freedom in the biblical sense never means just doing what we want to do. It is the power to do what we ought to do. It is the freedom we need to be Jesus’ disciples. In serving God and serving others, we are free thanks to Jesus.

In the words of Martin Luther, we are justified according to the Scriptures alone, by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. The work of genuine reformation is never finished. The church has always adapted to reflect changes in society while remaining true to the Scriptures.

Reformation can continue here, today, with a commitment to continue in the word of Jesus-not as a hobby, but as the core and source of our daily lives. Grace is focused in Jesus Christ, but it is also all around us. God wants us to learn, God calls us to love with our minds, because the search for truth leads to God.  If we look for it and listen for it, when we least expect it, a voice will say, “You are loved, you are affirmed, you are set free”. If we accept it, embrace it, trust in it, and let it penetrate every fibre of our being, it will make a difference in every aspect of our lives. It truly will set us free.

The Greatest Commandment of All

A few years ago, Billy Graham answered a letter in his daily newspaper column from someone who was upset that churches and charities don’t pay a cent in taxes. The writer was upset that he had to “pay until it hurts”. In his reply, Dr. Graham said that if all the food banks, homeless shelters, hospitals, community centers, addiction rehabilitation centres and other organizations were forced to close, millions of lives would be hurt. If they did close, governmental agencies would be forced to fill the gap-at enormous cost to taxpayers. He closed his reply with the following words:

No system is perfect, but I urge you not to turn a blind eye to the good done by the vast number of churches and other organizations who are sincerely seeking to serve others. Christians take seriously Jesus’ command: “Love your neighbour as yourself”.

 When Jesus was asked which Commandment was the most important, it was a loaded question. The Pharisees were trying to trap Jesus, but Jesus turned the trap on them. All of the commandments were equal because they were created by God. Jesus used the opportunity to point out that all of the laws that the Pharisees came up with to make certain that the Jews kept the Commandments were not necessary. All of their laws, and all of the Commandments, were summarized by the two Great Commandments that Jesus gave us and the Pharisees: “Love God, and love people”. Both commandments are related and are of equal importance. They are the basics of Christianity.

The employees of nursing homes are a good example of the fact that loving others comes from the knowledge that each person deserves to be treated with dignity and respect. They treat the residents with the dignity and respect that the residents deserve. They show their love by doing their jobs to the best of their ability, and by doing so; they show the love they have for the residents. They try to help their neighbours, and by doing so, they are doing what God wants them to do. This love involves denying themselves for the good of others. People don’t care how much we know, until they know how much we care.

But what if loving our neighbour means that we need to listen to the world and be engaged with it? There was a time when neighbours helped each other out by having building bees where neighbours came together to build barns or houses. Other times they came together to help each other with the harvest or to care for sick neighbours or elderly parents. Those are examples of loving people as God loved us. The way God knows that we love him is by how we treat people. Whenever we demonstrate kindness, patience or gentleness, we see the Lord’s love at work through us, especially when the other person has been unkind and doesn’t deserve such pleasant treatment. Our relationships with others demand priority over things that won’t last or won’t matter in a few years. If we love God and love people, we will naturally obey the rest of the Commandments. That’s only natural. After all, the two Great Commandments are an example of the Golden Rule.

It is our faith that God loves us that makes us able to love ourselves and therefore be grateful for the gift of ourselves. This awareness of life as a gift is what we mean by loving God. When we love ourselves, we are grateful to God, and this gratitude sets us free to love other people. When we truly love people, we value them as gifts of God.

Jesus’ teaching isn’t about how we feel about God and neighbour, but what we will do. We are to love God with all our lives, including our work. Doing so restricts our activity to the straight and narrow path that God has created for us to walk on. It is the basis of our obedience to God. It shows that our love for God is number one in our lives. Love for God and love for all of those who are made in his image form the backbone of everything God says to us in his word. In the words of the Apostle Paul in Romans 13:10, “Love is the fulfillment of the law”.

Bibliography

1.      Charles F. Stanley Life Principles Bible, NASV

2.      Exegesis for Matthew 22:34-46. Retrieved from www.sermonwriter.com

3.      Matthew Barnett, “Purpose Summed Up”. Retrieved from www.christianity.com/moi/2001/004/july/5.5.html

4.      Mary Southerland, “And I Love Me”. Retrieved from www.crosswalkmail.com

5.      MacArthur, John: MacArthur Study Bible NASB (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers: 2006, 2008)

6.      The Rev. Dr. Billy Graham, “Why Don’t Churches Pay Their Fair Share of Taxes?” Retrieved from www.arcamax.com

7.      Greg Laurie, “The First and Greatest Commandment”. Retrieved from www.crosswalkmail.com

8.      Les Lamborn, “A Lover of God”. Retrieved from www.rbc.org

9.      Pastor Bob Coy, “Prioritize People”. Retrieved from www.crosswalkmail.com

10.  Les Lamborn, “Two Rules to Live By”. Retrieved from www.rbc.org

11.  Charles F. Stanley, “How Can We Love Like Jesus Commands?” Retrieved from www.crosswalkmail.com

12.  The Very Rev. Dr. Jane Shaw, “Love and Listening”. Retrieved from www.journeywithjesus.net

13.  Jude Siciliano, O.P., “First Impressions: 30^th Sunday (A)”. Retrieved from www.preacherexchange.org

14.  Timothy Gardner, O.P., “The Third Commandment”. Retrieved from www.torch.op.org/preaching_sermon_item.php?sermon=5648

2 Corinthians 5:17 A New Person in Christ

A few years ago, a story in a national American magazine described a couple who “adopted” two wolves. They discovered the wolves, still young and small, while making a movie about the caribou in Alaska. They took them to their home, raised them, gave them the kindest treatment, and for awhile the wolves behaved just like friendly dogs. Finally, however, the wolves turned on their masters, who barely escaped with their lives, and then fled to join a wild wolf pack. No matter how kind their treatment, the nature of the wolves was such that eventually they were bound to behave like other wolves. The wolf nature could not be educated out of them.

Our sinful nature is the same. It always stays the same. No amount of education, refinement, culture, counseling, psychiatric treatment, self-help courses, New Year’s resolutions or anything else can take away its selfishness and proneness toward sin. All of us have fallen, and our fall is not something in the past. It is something very much present right now. It is personal for each one of us. All of us come to a point when we want that which will be harmful to us. We stop listening to God and let the world tell us what to do! We change our loyalty from the Creator to the world.

Thankfully, there is a solution for us. A renewed Christian acts upon new principles with new ends and in new company. He received God’s version of a heart transplant. He loves God above all things. Redemption of a people who now live for Christ by living for others, affected by the Holy Spirit and the death of Jesus Christ, is the beginning of the new creation that God had planned to come during this evil age.

 
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come”. To be “in Christ” means to be incorporated in him, so that God sees us “in Christ” rather than on our won without Christ. This concept fits very comfortably with being united with and identified with Christ as the second Adam.

Our identity changed completely when we became a follower of Jesus, It changed from sinner to saint. If we stumble from time to time, our identity still does not change. God will still look at us in the same way. He will look at us in heaven-in Christ. God has made us into something new. He has taken off our old life. In Christ we are changed into someone who didn’t exist before. What we receive isn’t the point. What we do as a Christian doesn’t determine who we are-it’s who we are that determines what we do. Understanding our identity in Christ is essential to successfully living the Christian life. No one can constantly behave in a way that’s inconsistent with the way he perceives himself. Becoming a Christian changes a person completely. We are to look at others through caring eyes. We must make it a habit to put the best possible construction on any situation.

We have to retrain our brains to believe and accept that we are a new creation. Christ has given us a new life. The old one is gone, along with any horrible things we have done, said or even thought.

If we don’t surrender to God, we surrender to something else-moods, circumstances, fear, or our own self-concerns. If we do, we will be disillusioned. Surrendering to God will lead to the birth of everything-new soul, new relationships, new perspectives on life, new power to face life’s challenges and a new sense of certainty. Christians are to be judged as servants and ministers of Jesus Christ. The old Law cannot be applied to them. They are to be judged by the new environment into which God has brought them.

The simplest definition of taking up the cross or dying to self is “the submission to the will of God”. It requires submitting our will to God’s purposes and plans. That is the only way to kill our old, sinful nature. We can’t subscribe to a defeated mindset and expect a life of victory. Victorious living demands victorious thinking. In the words of legendary NFL coach Vince Lombardi, “It’s not whether you get knocked down; it’s whether you get up”.

We, as children of God, are born again from death into life, just like Jesus was raised from death to life. When Jesus comes into our hearts, we accept the gift of righteousness through him. Our spirit was made alive. We were made worthy to partake of every promise and privilege that the Word of God has to offer. This is the treasure of the gospel-the promise from God that the world deserves to hear. It is the saving message of God’s good work in Jesus Christ –the forgiveness by which God overcomes all human divisions and brings in the new creation in Christ.

We are called to be ambassadors for Jesus Christ. When a person is new in Christ, he becomes controlled by Christ’s love. In fact, the person becomes the goodness of God in human form. We are called to reconcile with each other, reconcile ourselves with God and so what we can to reconcile others with God. Picture a mother embracing a grown child who has come back after rejecting her for many years. That’s reconciliation. But their embrace probably depends on removing roadblocks in their relationship.

 
That’s what Christ does in our relationship with God. Pushing aside the roadblocks of our sin, God reconciles us to himself through faith in his Son. God also gives us the ministry of reconciliation. We are to treat others as God has treated us. This is difficult, and the devil works against us. Reconciliation ministry means working personally and together to bridge interpersonal, family, and social separations.
The new life in Christ begins with the recognition of who we are, and continues with the admission that we are helpless to save ourselves. The final step involves becoming ambassadors of reconciliation. Before a person is reconciled to God through Christ, he lives by the simple law of self-interest. When Jesus captures our hearts, he changes our vision. When we walk in Christ, we seek to walk as he would walk.

Daily we need to repent and admit that we are too willing to resurrect our old ways. Daily we need to be forgiven. Daily we need to return to our baptism and be renewed and reconciled. Daily through the power of the Holy Spirit We renew our commitment to let Christ rule our hearts and lives.

Jesus did not die for our sins so that we would live under condemnation from them. Nor did he die so we would forever be labeled and falsely identified by our sins. He died so we would be set free from our sins and their shame, labels and condemnation.

Some of you might have seen or heard of a TV show called “Extreme Home Makeover”. On this show, a deserving family is taken off to a fancy resort for a week-long vacation; a team of designers and construction workers descends on their small and deteriorating home and transforms it into a mansion like nothing they could ever imagine. The looks on the faces of the family members when they see their new home are priceless. When we accept Christ as our Saviour and walk with him in faith, we also get an extreme makeover. God allows us to become new again. Beyond forgiveness, beyond cleansing, he makes us holy through Jesus Christ.

The new birth experience is exactly what God says it is-a fresh beginning. When we are born again, we not only have our sins forgiven and our guilt removed, but we also receive the Holy Spirit-who comes to dwell in us and live Christ’s life through us. We can never be what we were before, because we have been born into His life-with a new spirit and nature. And because of that, our desires and goals should be conformed to those that God has for us.

Parable of the Loaves and Fish

Imagine for a moment that you're part of the crowd in the parable of the loaves and fish. You've been listening intently to Jesus' words all day. You've traveled a long distance. It's been a long day, you're tired and hungry, and you realize that you didn't bring anything to eat. Suddenly you realize that there is only one member of the crowd who HAS brought any food at all-a small boy who has only five loaves of bread and two fish. You and everyone else in the crowd have the same thought-namely, you wish that he would have brought enough food to share with everyone. Since he only has a small amount of food, what do you do?

Suddenly, you see Andrew the disciple standing beside the boy. You have heard Jesus tell his disciples to find food for the people. Andrew heeded the call, and told Jesus about the boy and his lunch. You also hear Jesus tell Andrew to bring the boy and his lunch to Him. You see Jesus take the food, bless it and give it to the crowd. After the meal, you see the disciples gather up the broken, leftover pieces---enough to fill twelve baskets.

This parable represents the word of God and how we receive it and act upon it in our daily lives. The small boy represents us as children of God, the loaves and fish represent what we offer to God, the blessing of the food represents how God uses what we offer, and the broken pieces represent the bountiful, spiritual food He offers in return.

You may recall another parable where the disciples tried to keep children from seeing Jesus, but were rebuked when He said, "Let the little children come to me, for such is the Kingdom of Heaven". The small boy with the bread and fish represents us , the children of God. We come to Him like a child comes to a parent-naïve, but full of wonder, with an inquiring mind, and with few preconceived notions. God the father is like a school teacher-He teaches us what we need to know about faith, eternal life and our heavenly home.

God the teacher feeds our minds. He teaches us not only through His Word, but also through the priest, the celebrant, the organist and choir, the lesson readers-in fact, He teaches through EVERYONE who does his work in the church family. His teaching materials (teachings, laws, etc.) are never used up. In fact, they are multiplied because those of us who are taught by Him can go out and teach others. By doing so, we do our part to fulfill the Lord's Great Commission, namely "Go forth into the world and make disciples of all nations".

God accepts us for who we are, and in doing so accepts whatever we offer to Him in faith and thanksgiving. Our offering can be big or small. God doesn't care how much we offer, because He uses whatever we offer to do His work in our world and in our daily lives. Our weekly offerings are a good example. Most of what we offer goes to support the work of our own church family, but some of it is also used to support the work of our parish family. Some of it is also used to support the work of the church in our own Diocese, in our own nation, and throughout the world through both our Diocesan Allotment and our offerings to the Primate's World Relief and Development Fund.

God also doesn't care what we offer to Him, as He can use anything and everything we offer to Him in faith. Most people today give in the form of either money or donations of non-perishable food items for the local food bank, but that wasn't always so. Some of you might have heard stories about how in past years ministers were paid in the form of livestock, fruit or vegetables. Recently I read a story written by a minister in the United States about his experiences in a church in a Third World country. He wrote that on one particular Sunday the congregation arrived at the church and was greeted by three turkeys and a pig that were tied up outside the door. The previous week's sermon had been about tithing-giving one-tenth of your income to the church. The three turkeys and one pig represented one-tenth of the income of the farmer who gave them, but he gave them in faith because he knew that God's mission required resources to get it done. The boy who gave his lunch of loaves and fishes in our Gospel reading probably also knew that in order for God to feed the crowd spiritually, He needed to feed them physically, for without the resource called physical food, the crowd could not receive the spiritual food. The same idea applies to the Holy Eucharist, for it is through the physical food of the bread and wine that we receive the spiritual food Christ offers, just like the disciples did at the last Supper.

When God accepts our individual offerings, he blesses them and combines them with the offerings of fellow believers. He uses this combination to bless and multiply what He gives to his people in return. This is like the parable of the mustard seed-God takes something very small like our individual offerings, and makes it grow into something bigger and better-namely, faith in Him. The loaves and fish represent more than just physical food-they also represent the spiritual food and nourishment God offers us.

God is all-seeing, all knowing, and His love knows no limits. He shows his love by offering spiritual nourishment to His people. The spiritual nourishment is so vast that we can't absorb it all at once. There are always leftovers, just like there were leftovers that were gathered up in baskets by the disciples. Just like we need to eat physical food several times a day to live physically, we need to keep partaking of the spiritual nourishment in order for our faith to live. Our human inability to absorb every single item we are taught forces God to keep reminding us about His love and power, just as our human ability to ignore what He has to teach us forces Him to keep reminding us.

The sharing of the loaves and fishes also represents God sharing His wisdom and love with his children. The leftover food reminds us that God's love and wisdom overflow our mind and soul, as well as our capacity to absorb what He offers to us. Whatever overflows can still be absorbed by us, as long as we continue to seek His spiritual nourishment.

God doesn't offer spiritual food without requiring something from us in return. When He feeds us, He also asks us to nourish, teach, rule and lead others. He asks us to feed the multitudes by offering what we can. Our weekly offerings for the support of the church are a good example. As I mentioned earlier, these offerings support more than the work of Trinity Church. They also go toward the spiritual feeding of the church locally, in this Diocese, in this nation, and throughout the world. A more practical example is the offerings of non-perishable food items we offer each week for our local food bank. Since I am the person who looks after taking our donations to the local food bank every Monday morning, I have seen firsthand how our simple act of feeding the multitudes makes a difference in the lives of food bank clients.

As we distribute the spiritual food, it increases and fills the soul, much like the physical food of the loaves and fishes increased and fed the crowds who gathered to hear Jesus. There is an interesting parallel here involving the Holy Eucharist. The Holy Eucharist is a physical representation of the distribution of the spiritual food God offers us. Just like the crowd received the physical food of the loaves and fishes in thanksgiving, we receive the food of bread and wine in thanksgiving for the spiritual food of our Lord's most precious body and blood when we come to Him in faith.

God always likes to know that we have faith in Him. When we don't show this faith openly, He asks us to prove that we have faith. That is why Jesus asked the disciples where they could find food for the crowd. He could have simply made manna rain down from heaven like He did for the Israelites after Moses led them out of slavery in Egypt, but He didn't. He knew that even the disciples couldn't understand everything He had taught both them and the crowd, but their understanding was caused not by ignorance, but by lack of faith. After all, they had been by His side for a long time and had heard His teachings and seen His miracles, whereas the crowd gathered to see Him that one time, much as we would gather to see a famous musician who might come to perform in a major city only once or twice in his entire career. When the small boy offered his meager lunch-a lunch that physically was only enough for that one small boy-his small offering in faith led to a bountiful harvest for the multitudes. Even a small amount of faith in Jesus leads to a bountiful harvest of spiritual food and blessings for His people. Jesus used the request for food to prove the old saying that "big things come in small packages".

In John 6:27, Jesus tells us to "Work not for the food which perisheth, but for the food which abideth unto eternal life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him the father, even God, hath sealed". What this tells us is that spiritual food is much more important than physical food. Spiritual food is key to the survival of our spiritual life, just like physical food is key to the survival of physical life. Spiritual food allows us to understand what God has in store for us, what He wants us to do in our lives, and what is in store for us in our heavenly home. God wants to give us this food because He loves us. All we have to do is come before Him in humility and faith.

Christ himself said "I am the Bread of Life". His doctrine is the word of eternal life, therefore we must live by it in order to have a spiritual life and believe in Him. We must always remember the words of the Prayer After Communion in the Book of Common Prayer-"Almighty God, We most heartily thank thee that thou dost graciously feed us in these holy mysteries, with the spiritual food of the most precious body and blood of thy Son our Saviour Jesus Christ, assuring us thereby of thy favour and goodness towards us...".

Spiritual food is not limited to the Holy Eucharist and God's teachings. Weekly church services fill the void, especially at times where the Eucharist is not celebrated. We can't to come to church only a handful of times in our lives and expect that the small amount of spiritual food we receive at those times will sustain us forever. Just like we have to eat physical food several times a day in order to live, we need to receive spiritual food on a regular basis. That is why many of us attend services every week--because we need to hear and receive the spiritual food offered by regular worship. Those who attend church only on special occasions such as weddings funerals, baptisms, Christmas or Easter receive a small amount of spiritual nourishment, whereas those who attend church regularly and worship in sincere faith receive the honour of having a seat at the Head Table of God's Holy Feast.

Matthew 21:33-46 Wicked Tenants in a Wicked World

He was, by all accounts, a successful man. This builder of fine homes in an upscale American suburb was known to all as a creative craftsman, a shrewd businessman, a fair-minded employer, and a generous benefactor. But he was aging now, and before he set out for Florida for the winter, he approached his top superintendent and told him that he was retiring. “I want you to build me a home, the finest home this company has ever built. Spare no expense, use the finest materials, employ the most gifted tradesmen, and build me a masterpiece before I come home next spring.”

The next day, the superintendent set out to build that home, but not exactly to orders. If his boss was retiring, that meant he would be losing his job, so he needed to pad his own savings account, lest he be destitute. He ordered inferior concrete blocks for the foundation, but charged the builder for premium blocks, and he pocketed the difference.  NowI worked for a local lumber mill several years ago, and I saw some pretty inferior material while I was there, especially lumber!!!

The superintendant hired inexperienced carpenters, plumbers, electricians, roofers and landscapers, but he charged his boss wages that would be paid to master craftsmen, and he put the difference in his own bank account. He installed cheap appliances and lighting, insufficient insulation, inferior carpet, and drafty windows, and he skimmed a tidy sum off the top for himself. In the spring, when the home was finished, it looked spectacular; it was the signature home in the neighborhood, and the only thing that made the superintendent happier than how the project looked was the bottom line in his personal bank account, which had grown by hundreds of thousands of dollars that winter.

When the elderly business owner arrived home from Florida that spring, he toured this home fit for a king, and he was ecstatic. The superintendent handed him the keys and thanked his boss for the privilege of working for him all these years. And then the owner did an unthinkable thing: he said to the superintendent “You have been a trusted friend and a loyal partner in my business for all of these years; you deserve a home like this.” And he handed him the keys.

When you were growing up, did your parents ever have to take anything away from you because you didn’t look after it? If so, you can understand what Jesus is talking about in the parable of the wicked tenants.  It is a parable of God’s kingdom on earth. Specifically, God is the landowner, the Jewish leaders and people who reject Jesus or do not care about him are the tenants, the Old Testament prophets are the slaves send by the landowner, and Jesus is the landowner’s son. God gave the kingdom to the Israelites to tend and do his work, but they rejected their duties and turned away from God. In return, he sent the Old Testament prophets to warn them, but the Israelites rejected the prophets, even to the point of hurting or killing them. Finally, God sent his son Jesus to warn them, but he was also rejected and crucified.

The parable of the wicked tenants in Matthew 21:33-46 represents our broken relationship with God, his attempts to repair it, and mankind’s rejection of his attempts. In spite of our continual rejection of him, God never gives up on us. His love for us never diminishes.

 

Greed is what the parable of the wicked tenants is all about, and greed is everywhere. That’s why the parable is so timely and relevant today; because as that wise homebuilder knew the heart of his superintendant, so Jesus knows the selfish condition of our hearts, and he wants us to change our ways. This parable speaks of anger and hatred against not only God, but against those who oppose him. This can be anyone-nonbelievers, criminals, terrorists, or persecutors.

Exodus 17:1-20 and Matthew 21:33-46 are similar stories. In both cases God has told the people what he wants them to do and how he wants them to live their lives, and in both cases the people rejected him. God has done everything possible to give Israel every advantage. He has established an everlasting covenant with them. He has led them through good times and bad. He has given them the Promised Land as their inheritance. He has even given them the law and prophets to guide them. Were the Israelites grateful to God? No. They accepted everything he offered except for the one thing he asked for in return, and that was to worship him and accept him as their Lord and Saviour. As a consequence, the Jewish leadership, which failed to produce good fruit, was disenfranchised and the vineyard was given to the church, which will produce good fruit. Jesus was not so much foreshadowing the shift of God’s emphasis from Jewish to Gentile realms as he was anticipating the replacement of Israel by the church, which united both Jews and Gentiles.

 

The same situation exists today. God has sent ministers, priests, preachers and godly evangelists such as Billy Graham to us to urge us to change our ways and accept Christ, but we and our worldly society continue to reject him. As men treat God’s people, they would treat Christ himself the same way, if he was with them. If we are faithful to Christ’s cause, how can we expect a favourable reception from a wicked world? Eventually, God will deal with those who reject him just like he dealt with the leaders of the Jewish people. The kingdom will be open only to those who believe him and are willing to do as he asks. Opposition to Jesus is a wrong response as is an attitude of apathy. Those who harbour such attitudes are in danger of being judged.

It is somewhat ironic that the ultimate rejection of Jesus by the Jews led to the foundation of the church-a body of believers who accepted him. It is an example of something that is rejected but that becomes something useful, something that changes history. Another more recent example is Nelson Mandela. For decades he was a prisoner in a South African jail, but he emerged to become the first president of the new South Africa. He was so influential while he was a prisoner that the Apartheid regime held secret meetings with him while he was still in prison. Rebels, young and old, were held with him on Robben Island, and it became a training ground for political leaders. Slowly and painfully South Africa was reformed. A nonracial parliament was elected and chose Nelson Mandela as president. During his inauguration speech on May 10, 1994, he vowed that “never, never, and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another.” The former prisoner was now president. Once rejected, he was now the cornerstone.

The attitude of the tenants is represented by the Pharisees. They were so concerned about obeying the Ten Commandments that they came up with many rules and regulations governing what the people could and could not do. In time, the Pharisees developed an attitude of being entitled to God’s kingdom even though they disregarded the spirit of God’s law and emphasized the letter of God’s law. They considered themselves to be the only people who were good enough for God’s kingdom. In reality, they rejected him even though they thought they were accepting him.

We have a similar attitude today. Our world is not a playground that God will let us live in. His commandments are a reminder that he has expectations for his chosen people-people who have been chosen not for privilege but for service and witness. When we try to be in charge, it speaks of privilege, our misuse of freedom, or our arrogance. We fall into the trap of thinking we have a right to the many blessings that are part of the world we live in-just like the Israelites thought that they had a right to the blessings God gave them.

If we want to avoid the same fate as the Jewish leaders-if we want to inherit the kingdom-we have to know what God wants us to do with our lives. The only way we can do this is through the spiritual disciplines of prayer, reading the Bible and worship. If we want God to bless our stewardship, we have to live righteously, care about each other and bear witness to our faith. In other words, we have to be fruitful and multiply.

Churches in the Third World are growing while churches in North America are in decline. Why? One possible reason is that people in the Third World are on fire for God and are filled with the Holy Spirit. They have few resources, but much enthusiasm for the Gospel-so much so that they are willing to share with anyone who will listen.

God wants tenants who will produce for him. Do we want to be his tenants? If so, what will we produce? If we produce, we will receive the kingdom of heaven. It can’t be taken by us. It can only be given to us, but we have to earn it first and then share it with others. The only rent God will charge us is our time, our abilities and a portion of our money. We are called to be stewards of our lives, to give of ourselves in the name of the Lord as ministers of Jesus Christ. We are to share ourselves, our time and our possessions as a sign of God’s love. Wherever we spend vast amounts of our time and energy working at a job, caring for a family, helping those in need, making sure that the less fortunate get a fair deal, etc., these are places for us to be conscious of the fact that we are doing work in God’s vineyard, and we will be held responsible for it at the proper time.

The task isn’t ours alone to complete. God has invested care and concern for the work we do in his vineyard, and in the end, God’s ways are what we are trying to accomplish. We must remember that we are only tenants, and the full responsibility for the success of our work is not only ours.

Giving grows out of loving, and loving comes from God. We know love because God first loved us. We have known love and so we love others in return. Giving is our response to God’s love, and our giving makes things happen. In fact, at the time I’m preparing this sermon it will only be a few days until we celebrate the Canadian Thanksgiving-a time to give thanks to God for all he has given us, including the opportunity to bear good fruit for him. We are to be thankful for the portion of worldly things that God has given us, be contented with what we have, and trust God to provide for the future.

Leadership must be about service and about nurturing God’s people. Actions have consequences. Good actions reap good consequences like appreciation, respect, a raise in income, etc. Bad actions reap bad consequences like disrespect, prison, other forms of punishment, or even death. The parable is a statement of God’s concern for his people and a declaration that God’s plan cannot be defeated by man. If we love God, we realize that he knows the best way for us to live. He knows how to keep us from following the ways of the world. He sent his son Jesus to pay for our sins so we could be free from sin and walk in a way worthy of him. Which consequences do we want to reap at the end of our lives?

Bibliography

1.      MacArthur, John: “MacArthur Study Bible: NASB” (Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, TN, 2006, 2008)

2.      Exegesis for Matthew 21:33-46. Retrieved from www.lectionary.org

3.      The Rev. Roy T. Lloyd, ELCA, “Wild Grapes and Productivity”. Retrieved from www.day1.org

4.      The Rev. Dr. Wiley Stephenson, UMC, “Who’s in Charge Here?” Retrieved from www.day1.org

5.      Jude Siciliano, O.P., “First Impressions: 27^th Sunday (A)” .Retrieved from www.preacherexchange.org

6.      Ira Brent Driggers, “Commentary on Gospel (Matthew 21:33-46)” .Retrieved from www.workingpreacher.org/preaching_print.aspx?commentary_id=145

7.      The Rev. Charles Hoffacker, “October 2, 2011-Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 22, Year A”. Retrieved from www.episcopalchurch.org/sermons_that_work

8.      Fr. John R. Donahue, S.J., “God’s Labour Lost”. Retrieved from www.americanmagazine.org/content/article.cfm?article_id=2501

9.      The Rev. Beth Quick, “Lectionary Notes-21^st Sunday after Pentecost”. Retrieved from www.bethquick.com/pentecost21anotes.htm

10.  The Rev. Beth Quick, “Give and Take-Matthew 21:33-46”. Retrieved from www.bethquick.com/sermon10-2-05.htm

11.  Dr. Philip W. McLarty, “Whose Vineyard Is It Anyway?” Retrieved from www.lectionary.org

12.  Dr. Mickey Anders, “Wicked Tenants”. Retrieved from www.lectionary.org

13.  Pastor Steve Molin, “Speaking of Us”. Retrieved from www.lectionary.org

14.  The Rev. John Bedingfield, “Stewards of the Planet”. Retrieved from www.lectionary.org

15.  Glen Copple, “What’s wrong with This World?” Retrieved from http://ezinearticles.com/?Whats-Wrong-With-This-World?&id=1559975

16.  Matthew Henry Concise Commentary. Part of Lessonmaker Bible software package

17.  Fr. John Kendrick, O.P., “Working with God”. Retrieved from http://torch.op.org/preaching_sermon_item.php?sermon=5645