Sermon for Sunday, April 14, 2013
Heidelberg Series: Lord’s Day 2
First Presbyterian Church ▪
Lake Crystal, Minnesota
Rev. Randal K.
Lubbers, Pastor & Teacher
“…And all the children
are above average?”
Jeremiah
17:9
Romans
3:9-12, 23
Matthew
22:34-40
Heidelberg
Catechism Q&A 3, 4 and 5
Can you keep
the Law? Can you live up to loving God and neighbor perfectly? No, the
catechism says, No, I have a natural tendency to hate God… I have a natural
tendency to hate my neighbor.[i]
Except,
of course, here in Minnesota, where all of our children are above average?
Right?
Well,
it's been another quiet week in Jerusalem, my hometown, the City of David, out
on the edge of the Roman Empire. Well, not all that quiet—it is the week before
Passover, after all.
Just
yesterday we all followed Jesus to the Chatterbox Café for breakfast and—wow—the
buzz at the round table went from jovial laughter to subdued murmurings as we
took over the 13 stools at the counter.
Seemed
pretty clear to us at the end of the counter—they’d been retelling stories
about Jesus—not even so much about our amazing entry into town amidst the cheers
of the crowd and all the children waving palm branches (that was old news). The
buzz was all about yesterday: Jesus had
waltzed into the Temple, overturned the tables of the moneychangers (those
cheats!) with stacks of coins crashing to the ground and the cages of doves
breaking open—birds flying all over and the sight of steam coming out of the
ears of the Temple big-wigs. That story!
We
ate biscuits and drank coffee in silence. Judas paid the tab. And Jesus
announced—loud enough for all to hear—“Well, let’s not be late for morning
prayers at the Temple. Besides, I’ve got some teaching to do there…”
And
I was sure I heard one of the guys at the round table remark with a chuckle,
“Oh, let’s go too. This could be good.”
So
after yesterday, you can imagine the reception we got at the Temple, right?
“Just
WHO do you think you are?” asked one of the leaders and all the elders and
chief priests chimed in, “Yes, by what AUTHORITY do you do all the things
you’ve been doing?”
Jesus
smiled. “Well, actually, I have a question for YOU. By what authority did John
the baptizer do HIS thing? Was his message from God? Or was he doing his own
thing?”
We
nearly laughed out loud as they conferred with one another. You could just see
the wheels spinning… Because if they said “it was only a human message” they’d
infuriate all the people who had actually followed and believed John to be a
prophet (and that was a big voting bloc); But, on the other hand, if they said
“his baptism was from God” then Jesus would ask them, “Well then, why didn’t YOU
believe him?” They were stuck. And they knew it. And finally one of the elders
says—and this is rich—he says, “We don’t know.”
You
don’t KNOW? You’re the Pharisees; you’re the ones with all the answers. You don’t
know?! Jesus threw back his head and, with a glint in his eye…
Well, then neither will I tell you by what
authority I am doing these things. But listen to this story. There was a man
with two sons…
A
man with two sons? James and John (sons of Zebedee) glanced at each other.
Andrew smiled at Peter. I looked around and wondered if almost everyone there had
their own idea of where this was going…
Would
Jesus offer an encore of his story about the wayward son and his stay-at-home
brother and the long-suffering father who threw the big party?
Or
maybe a story about Cain and Abel? Isaac and Ishmael? Jacob and Esau? Aaron and
Moses?
There was a man
with two sons...
Lots of possibilities here…[ii]
Jesus
paused.
And
then went on:
There was a man
with two sons and he told the first one,
“Those tomatoes out back really need weeding, and really the whole garden needs
attention so I’d like you to do that today.” But the son shrugged it off— “No
chance, Dad, I’ve got video games to play, basketball in the church parking
lot, bike riding… a full day!” So Dad goes to the second son with the same job
and he dutifully bows and says, “Yes, of course, Dad. Consider it done.” And
then, the agreeable son curls up on the sofa and watches TV all day. Meanwhile the
first son reconsidered his answer, went back to the garden, worked there all
afternoon until the work was done… So which of the two sons actually DID what
his father had asked?
“Well,
duh! The first one” answered the elders.
Ding, ding, ding,
ding! Exactly right! And, don’t you
see, that’s just the reason why the tax collectors and prostitutes are launched
into the Kingdom of God ahead of all of you; because John the baptizer came
along to show you the way to Right Living BUT YOU DIDN’T BELIEVE HIM; but the
tax collectors and prostitutes did; And even when you saw their faith you
didn’t change your mind, you didn’t feel any remorse whatsoever. And you didn’t
believe him.
Now listen to another story. There was land-owner
with a vineyard leased out to a cooperative of farm-workers… And when
harvest-time came he sent his servants back to collect his share. But these
farm-workers took the servants; beat up one, killed another, and drove off a
third with stones. So he commissioned a second delegation of servants—a larger
group than the first—but they treated them the same way as the first ones. So
finally he sent…
He sent his own son, thinking, ‘They will respect
my son.’ Yet when the farm-workers saw the son they said to each other, ‘This
guy is the future owner. Come on, let’s kill him and we shall get everything
that he would have had!’ So they took him, threw him out of the vineyard and
killed him. Now when the owner of the vineyard returns, what will he do to
those farm-workers?
Wow,
I don’t think they saw that one coming—certainly we disciples didn’t—
And the chief priests and Pharisees responded immediately to Jesus’
question, “Well, no doubt about it, the owner will go back to the vineyard—he
MUST go back—and he’ll kick those evil farm-workers out on their you-know-what and
lease the vineyard out to new tenants, ones who will respect him and pay him
what they owe at harvest-time.”
And—Oh,
my! You should have seen their faces when it hit them. Just as they gave their
answer the chief priests realized that Jesus was telling EVERYONE that THEY THEMSELVES
were the evil farm-workers in the story.
Quickly, the Pharisees and chief priests appointed lawyers with trick questions—one from the “conservative right” ("Should we pay taxes to the Roman Emperor, or not?") and one from the “liberal
progressive” camp to ask about marriage in heaven for a women married to seven
brothers one after the other after each of their deaths; and Jesus astounded the crowd with his
teachings. Finally, one more question designed to trip Jesus up.
"Of all the commands in the law,
which one is the greatest?" And Jesus responded,
Love God. And Love Others. That’s
it. No long commentary necessary because everything else depends on this: Love
God with your whole heart and soul and mind. And LOVE your neighbor as
yourself.
And then a trick question for
the Pharisees from Jesus. Which they couldn’t answer. And, wow, from that point
on no one even dared ask him a question.
And
for the rest of the day the big-shots were gone and Jesus was left teaching the
crowds and us disciples, warning against those who teach the right stuff but fail to live it out.
They tie up heavy burdens on
the shoulders of others, but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger.
Essentially
Jesus was saying this: There is something worse than breaking the Law
of God. Thinking you’re good enough to
keep it.[iii]
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees. For you clean
the outside of the cup and plates, but inside they are full of greed and
self-indulgence. You blind Pharisees, clean the INSIDE FIRST, then your
outsides will be beautiful too.
And that’s the
news from Jerusalem, where all the women are strong, all the men are
good-looking, and all the children are above average…
Except that our children are no less in sin and
misery than any others. And neither are their parents and grandparents. And
your heart, like mine, is devious above all else—perverted, Jeremiah says,
beyond our understanding: How can one
created in God’s image be so broken?
The
Law of God—love God, love others—points us graciously towards the Grace-Filled
World of God.[iv]
But our world isn’t filled with grace. Our world is broken. Marred by sin. Our
world is in misery. You and I too.
Brennan
Manning, who knew first-hand about sin in his own life and in the world (and
who spoke of it openly) passed away last week. In his final book, a memoir (All is Grace: A Ragamuffin Memoir) he wrote:
My life is witness to a vulgar grace--a grace that
amazes as it offends. A grace that pays the eager beaver who works all day long
the same wages as the grinning drunk who shows up at ten till five.... This
vulgar grace is indiscriminate
compassion. It works without asking anything of us. It's not cheap. It's
free, and as such will always be a banana peel for the orthodox foot and a
fairy tale for the grown-up sensibility. Grace is sufficient even though we
huff and puff with all our might to try to find something or someone it cannot
cover.
Grace is enough.
Our
natural tendency is to set ourselves up as absolute beings[v]—"I
BELONG TO MYSELF— I AM FREE (TO MYSELF)—I CAN TAKE CARE OF MYSELF—I CAN FIX
MYSELF."
We
are in bondage because we think we can transform ourselves into the image we have
mistakenly ascribed to God; we think God to be a solitary and immovable and
independent being who can do EVERYTHING. But God wants our hearts more than our
sacrifices; God is relational and compassionate.
We’re
unable to liberate ourselves from the bondage in which we have enslaved
ourselves. In fact, the things we really, really, really need are all those
things we really don’t deserve: forgiveness,
grace, help, comfort, redemption.[vi]
And
the good news for “above-average sinners” like me and you?
All
those things are given—freely given—to us poor, ordinary sinners
naturally prone to love ourselves above all else—
Given to us by grace alone.
In
the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
[i] Paraphrasing
Heidelberg Catechism Article 5.
[ii] Inspired
by a lecture by Anna Carter Florence at the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary.
