Jesus Rules

Jeremiah 23:1-6   Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says the Lord. Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who shepherd my people: It is you who have scattered my flock, and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. So I will attend to you for your evil doings, says the Lord. Then I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them, and they shall not fear any longer, or be dismayed, nor shall any be missing, says the Lord. The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. And this is the name by which he will be called: “The Lord is our righteousness.”

Luke 23:33-43      When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” And they cast lots to divide his clothing. And the people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!” The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.” One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

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There was a time in my life when I declared myself sovereign ruler of my home, and the kitchen was my throne room.  It was a wide open room in the back of the house, from where I could survey my domain.  I had a clear view of who entered or exited the front or back door.  I could see anyone coming up or down the stairs.  I could stand at my counter chopping vegetables or peeling apples and maintain command over the household.  I called it mission control.  I called out orders as I kneaded dough.  I answered questions while I flipped cookies onto the cooling racks.  And you can be certain, nobody was getting any forbidden snacks, or failing to clean up their messes, while I was in my place. 

For a time, when they were small enough, I actually extended my kingdom to anywhere I happened to be with my children.  They were, the four of them, essentially, my realm.  One day I was walking with my children, carrying Henry and schlepping bags, Joe running ahead of me as he always did.  I never took my eye off him, though, and when he reached the end of the sidewalk, about to step into the street, I called out in an authoritative voice, “STOP.”  He stopped on a dime.  A stranger who observed this whistled appreciatively and said, “Great verbal control.”  I simply nodded at his recognition of my power.  Of course.  I am the ruler of this realm. 

In those days and those places, I was sovereign.  My will and my desires determined what would happen and what would not happen.  Those were the days, my friends.  It is good to be king.

We don’t have kings, of course, in our nation.  That’s what the United States is all about – our desire to distance ourselves from monarchies.  We have democratically elected leaders and systems of checks and balances, and that sort of thing, because we worry about power in the hands of any particular individual.  Absolute power is a dangerous thing in the hands of men and women.

The people of Israel experienced this over and over again.  God never wanted to give them a king in the first place, because they should have known God is the only king they would ever need.  But they had a serious case of keeping up with the Joneses.  Israel looked around and said, everyone in the neighborhood has a king; we want one too.  And finally, they got their way.

This is where that old saying, “Be careful what you wish for,” seems apt.  For hundreds of years, between the occasional benevolent monarch, they were beset with cruel, careless, and malevolent leaders.  The problem with absolute power was absolutely clear.  But the only ones speaking up about it were the prophets, including Jeremiah, calling out those shepherds who destroy the flock.  A shepherd who destroys the flock!  Shameful, isn’t it?  To allow the destruction of those you have been entrusted with care of; to abandon the least powerful and most vulnerable of the flock for the sake of your own gain.  These are, as the Lord says, evil doings.

No one but the prophets were speaking out about it, because no one really wanted to put themselves at risk by challenging the ultimate authority in the land.  Most will choose to rally around the ruler because it is the safer thing to do, thereby making it many times worse for the one who would protest.  Not only will they have the wrath of the king but they will have the wrath of the whole kingdom coming down on them for the crime of disturbing the peace.

And when Jesus challenged the authorities of his day, this is what happened.  It did not matter that he made no claims to be king of Israel.  It did not matter that he voiced no intentions of revolting against kings or emperors.  It did not matter that he broke no laws of the empire.  It only mattered that he questioned the conventional wisdom.  He shone a light on the cracks where evil seeped in.  He peeled away the veneer of law and order, showing the corruption that lay beneath.  This just would not be tolerated because we all, every one of us, wants to believe that the system is ok, that the benefits we carve out from it, however small they might be, are safe.  My tax cuts, my job, my cheap goods are safe.

So it wasn’t just the empire that could not tolerate someone like Jesus.  The Pharisees and the Sadducees and the Chief Priests, who had all carved out their little realms of power could not tolerate Jesus.  The people who just lived day to day, hand to mouth, a breath away from homelessness, who had carved out their tiny realms of what little they had, who heard the authorities warn he was a threat to their safety – they could not tolerate Jesus.  Jesus had to be cast as a criminal, an enemy of the state. 

So they mocked him as king, oblivious to the truth of what they were saying.  They hung him on the cross, alongside two other men who had been charged and convicted in their courts.  And one of these men turned to Jesus and said, “Remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

Remember me when you come into your kingdom.  This one hanging alongside him recognized him for who he was.  He saw in him what so many others could not see, the kingdom of God.  And this man wanted to be a part of this kingdom. 

Perhaps the only reason this man could speak this way was because he had nothing left to lose.  

The truth is that for most of us it is a hard thing to proclaim Jesus’ kingdom because so much of what we value stands as a barrier to it.  The truth is that we may not want to recognize the kingdom of Jesus because it bids us come and die along with him.  The truth is that if we live in fear we won’t be able to see that his kingdom is not just pie in the sky in the sweet by and by, but is also here and now.  The kingdom is in our midst. 

The kingdom of Jesus is here as well as there.  It is now as well as then.  The kingdom of God is present to all who can see it and live into it, and living into it means dying to all that resists it.

Christ is the king of both heaven and earth, of here and now and always, of this realm and the realm of eternity.  He is the one who would be called, in the words of Jeremiah, The Lord Is Our Righteousness.  And we cannot make light of this kingship.  It does not serve us or this world well if we try to reduce his realm in time and place to one hour on a Sunday morning, one room in one building. 

It does not do to reduce his rule to the lord who puts Band-Aids on my wounds, the lord who is my cheerleader, I shall not lack self-confidence.  It does not do to pit him against others because he is my Jesus.  It does not do to claim him as the lord of my needs while ignoring the needs of the refugee, the slave, the hungry, and the homeless. 

If Christ is our king, we will stand with those whom he stands beside, however much the powers of this world despise them.  We will stand with whom he stands with, however different they might seem from us.  We are being called to do this even now.

There has been a new level of hate unleashed in our land.  We are seeing this hate expressed against those who live on the margins of our society – immigrants, or those who simply look like immigrants; racial and ethnic and religious minorities. We must resist this, if we believe in the kingship of Jesus.  We must work for justice if we are citizens of the kingdom of Jesus.

Jesus rules in this world wherever there are people who choose his reign over the reign of might makes right.  Jesus rules in this world wherever there are people who choose to stand where he stands – with the outcasts of this world, the least, the last, and the lost.

Whenever someone stands with the person who is being taunted or bullied.  Whenever someone gives up a privilege so that another might have their basic human dignity.  Whenever someone calls out the authorities who are neglecting their responsibility as the shepherd to all the sheep. 

Jesus rules in this world when he rules in our hearts.  And when he rules in our hearts, the world will know it, my friends.  The world will know it.

A Cheerful Giver

2 Corinthians 9:6-15     The point is this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work. As it is written, “He scatters abroad, he gives to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.” He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way for your great generosity, which will produce thanksgiving to God through us; for the rendering of this ministry not only supplies the needs of the saints but also overflows with many thanksgivings to God. Through the testing of this ministry you glorify God by your obedience to the confession of the gospel of Christ and by the generosity of your sharing with them and with all others, while they long for you and pray for you because of the surpassing grace of God that he has given you. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

Luke 21:1-4 He looked up and saw rich people putting their gifts into the treasury; he also saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. He said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them; for all of them have contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in all she had to live on.”

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I remember an autumn Sunday from my youth when I sat in the sanctuary of my church, and the pastor stepped into the pulpit.  It was the custom at that time for the pastor to make the announcements of the church right before the sermon.  He began with an announcement about the budget.  At that time in my life I paid zero attention to budget matters, but apparently there were some financial difficulties, budget shortfall, if you can imagine such a thing.  I only half listened, but at some point I noticed that his announcement was running really long. 

About 20 minutes later he stopped talking.  He acknowledged rather sheepishly that he had spent too much time on the announcements and would forgo his sermon rather than make them suffer through another 20 minutes of him talking. The congregation laughed, and he wrapped up with a prayer.  I always suspected that it was all intentional.  His message that day, disguised in an announcement, was about giving.  Our message today, on this Consecration Sunday, is also about giving.  But rather than be subversive, I will tell you up front.  And I do so with gratitude for the help of my colleague in ministry, the Reverend Bob Wade, who showed me the importance of speaking freely about giving.

There is an old story about two men marooned on a deserted island in the middle of the ocean. One of them is frantic, filled with despair. The other says, “Hey don’t worry.  I know my church will find us.  I haven’t paid my pledge yet.”

We can laugh about it, and there are plenty of funny stories about the church and money, and the idea that the church is overly fixated on money.  Some people think the church talks about money way too much.  But I disagree.  I think we really don’t talk about money enough in the church.  Given that the Bible has well over 2000 verses about money, given that Jesus raised the issue more than any other subject except the kingdom of God, given that money is one of the most important aspects of our lives and how we use it reflects our priorities and our values, I would say, no, we don’t talk about money enough.

We are afraid we will embarrass one another, or infringe on someone’s privacy by talking about money.  We are afraid of offending one another by asking too much.  We have implicitly agreed to leave the subject of money off the table, as though it had nothing to do with our spiritual lives. 

There is a story about a Sunday school teacher who asks her class of 8 year olds, “Who would give a million dollars to our missionaries?” and all the children cried, “I would!”  Then she asked, “Would you give a thousand dollars?” and they all said, “Yes!”  “How about a hundred dollars?”  “Yes! Yes!”  “Would you give just one dollar to the missionaries?”  Again they cried out yes – except for Johnnie, who suddenly put his hand over his pocket.  The teach looked at him and asked, “Johnnie, why didn’t you say yes?”  Johnnie said, “Well … I HAVE a dollar.”

One of the reasons we have a harder time talking about money is because it touches us where we live.  But may I say that the gospel is meant to touch us deeply, in all aspects of where and how and why we live.  We see this so clearly in the story of the widow’s mite. 

Jesus is with his disciples in the temple in Jerusalem, and he watches the wealthy giving their gifts to the treasury.  Impressive amounts, perhaps.  But then he watches a poor widow putting in her two pennies, which were worth almost nothing.  Yet “this poor widow has put in more than all of them,” he says, for she has given all she had to give. 

I believe we read at the roundtable this week that those pennies she put in the treasury were worth 1/64 of a daily wage at the time.  We tried to work out what that means.  If we consider a work day to be 8 hours, then this is 7 ½ minutes’ worth of work.  Not much, and yet, we are told, it is all she has.  That is how little this widow has.

The story reminds me of a vacation Kim and I took to Mexico City about 30 years ago.  At that time the Mexican peso was drastically devalued.  And it was this fact that made the vacation possible for us.  The very favorable exchange rate allowed us to live like royalty for a few days, staying in the nicest hotels, eating in the best restaurants.  But we were surrounded by poverty.  Everywhere we went, there were women sitting in the streets, head down, hand raised in a begging posture.  There were swarms of young children wandering through the city sidewalks selling chiclets for something like 5 pesos, which was literally worth a fraction of a U.S. penny.  We bought their chiclets and gave them handfuls of coins.  We watched their faces light up as if they had won the lottery.  It felt pretty good.  But we knew it cost us absolutely nothing.

We were the wealthy ones who gave to the treasury enough to impress but not so much that it would hurt.  The important question is, are we willing to sacrifice anything for the sake of the gospel?

We hear in the letter to the Corinthians that the one who sows sparingly will reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.  Paul reminds them that God supplies the seed to the sower, and that they will be enriched in every way for their generosity.  Paul, too, like Jesus, lifts up those who have given generously, even through their affliction and their poverty.  And in doing so the grace of God, the blessings of God, will be granted in abundance.

The point Paul is making is that the act of giving generously is an evidence of God’s grace in one’s life.  What does that say, then, about a refusal to give generously?  This is why Christian giving is said to reveal the spiritual condition of our hearts.  Refusal to give, reluctance to give, may be a sign of spiritual ill health.  Spiritually healthy Christians reflect the generosity of God who is always giving. 

Paul writes to the Corinthian church that they must give as they have made up their minds to give, “not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”  It may feel a stretch to think of giving until it hurts and being a cheerful giver in the same moment, but the important point is that our giving to God is a free act.  The sacrifice we make is an act of giving up something good for the sake of something of far greater worth.  And sacrifice is always given freely. 

Each of you must give as you have made up your mind to give.  God gives us the freedom of this choice.  This year our stewardship team has challenged each member to consider increasing your pledge by 5%.  What will this mean to you, to increase your pledge by 5%?  Well, say your current pledge is $1000 a year.  Increasing it by 5% would mean that you would give about $4.15 more each month.  If you pledge $2000 a year, a 5% increase would mean giving about $8.33 more per month.  If your pledge currently is $3300 a year, then a 5% increase is $13.75 per month.

Since I have been your pastor, Kim and I have increased our pledge by about 10% each year.  This year, in addition to our commitment to the Melt the Mortgage Campaign, Kim and I have increased our 2017 pledge by 13%.  I tell you this so you will know that I would not ask you to do anything that I am not willing to do. 

You are invited to consider whether the challenge to give more is the right thing for you to do at this time in your life.  Some of us will be increasing our pledge by more than 5%, some will be keeping our pledges at the same level, and others may be pledging less than we did last year.  Again, God gives you the freedom to decide.  No one should feel pressured or guilted into doing more than they feel able to do.  As Paul wrote, each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

Consider another translation of this verse from Paul’s letter – this one from Eugene Peterson’s The Message: “I want each of you to take plenty of time to think it over, and make up your own mind what you will give.  That will protect you against sob stories and arm-twisting.  God loves it when the giver delights in the giving.”

Today we are invited to bring our pledges forward and dedicate them to God.  We pledge our funds not just to support the church budget but to delight in the giving.  Out of gratitude for the life that we have in Jesus Christ.  Out of love for the world that needs our ministry of compassion now more than ever. 

Let us give thanks to God for God’s indescribable gift and let us give with glad hearts.