Posted by the US Department of War, not yet legally an official title by statute, although it is used as an official secondary title across the executive branch.
If interested, here are my thoughts on Columbus Day after seeing the Department of War’s post. (This does not necessarily reflect the beliefs of any of the organizations I am part of. Any errors are mine.) In short, the holiday has historic and ongoing value, but it comes with baggage too. I know that I have written about this before.
The holiday is complicated by Christopher Columbus’ mixed legacy – brave perhaps, benefiting trade and modernization, but it also comes to us stained with the very real harms of colonization, slavery and genocidal acts. Why do Italians hang onto it?
Italians, especially from the South and Sicily, looked different (often dark-skinned), spoke differently, and were of a feared faith, Roman Catholicism. They were often the new working poor and unaccepted. Jobs, housing and education were often denied, and slum living or unofficial villages near rivers became a norm of sorts.
Unfortunately, false accusations and violence came too late. Eleven Italian immigrants became accused of killing the New Orleans police chief. History states that most had been rounded up due to their ethnicity. Accusations arose that organized crime was trying to influence the government. The word “mafia” moved into the US lexicon for reportedly the first time. An angry mob did not accept the judgement of acquittal for several of the men. The largest mass lynching in the history of the United States was the result.
Initially the press was quite supportive of the lynchers. Theodore Roosevelt, I’ve heard, actually sent a private letter to someone commending what happened. Yet as Italian organizations complained and an angry Italian government’sdiplomatic responses began to have effect, the xenophobic verbosity lessened.
As you can read in the Wikipedia article about this incident, President Harrison instituted Columbus Day on the 400th Anniversary of his voyage (1892) to help placate both Italy and Italians in the United States. President Harrison even agreed to pay a $25,000 indemnity to the victims’ families. (Which Congress unsuccessfully tried to derail.) Unfortunately, the death of the police chief became a rallying cry to nativists.
As prejudice and racist acts continued, Italians leaned into their faith and cultural celebrations. They welcomed Columbus Day as a hopeful sign. Many of the hated or even toppled statues of Columbus (including in Virginia) were put up as a claim to a new homeland and as a request for respect and recognition as equals. They often were put up despite overt threats and sometimes violent acts including bombings and attacks on Catholic Churches and universities from the KKK and others. The statues went up anyway as paid for through the donations of immigrant families.
The Italian lot did not progress much until WW2 when so many vets came home with an appreciation for Italian food, culture and sometimes wives. New Italian restaurants and Americano coffees became an acceptable thing. Then came Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra and others. Like rap music, it caught the imagination of white youth and changed attitudes. (It’s important to note that particularly Sicilians and Southern Italians before this time were not considered white in the South.)
Even in my grandparents period, my and my wife’s relatives faced overt discrimination in education, jobs and housing in the North. Perhaps just changing the name of the holiday to Italian Appreciation Day would be a help, but I hope we don’t forget about this ugly past and learn from it. We need to remember it and Columbus – what he did, certainly, but why he became this icon – as we interact with new immigrants today. This link leads to the history video on Facebook: https://lnkd.in/eqa3KNiR
As for the War Department’s post. Hegseth is using the post to stir the pot with identity politics because he too often acts like a hard hearted child. From my experience and training, people in AA might call him a “dry drunk.” He seems to have many unresolved issues still harming himself, others, and our national security. His denomination is an angry, unhealthy one. He needs to go in order to stop the harm and negativity being caused. These are distractions when there are real dangers to address. I do pray for his repentance and growth toward personal peace with himself and others – although he’d scoff at me for that. He believes empathy is weak and a sin.
People might think this is inappropriate territory for a pastor, but I’m speaking this in love for him and others, not for punishment or degradation. He’s settling for a counterfeit version of the abundant life Jesus offers the entire universal Church, Christian nationalism. This is a stated desire by leaders of his denomination, dangerous to democracy and easily confirmed.
Indigenous People’s Day need not be put in competition with other cultures. That’s suspiciously looking to be the background intention of the War Department’s post even as it remains a Federal Holiday. As a simple Google search identified: “The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) did not issue a dedicated Indigenous Peoples’ Day social media post or public statement for October 12, 2026.” And recently with changes to rules regarding chaplains and faith, “The update removed the distinct “Native American Religion” category (along with 179 other specific faiths), placing service members whose specific beliefs are not individually listed under the “Other Religion” category for dog tags, military records, and chaplain services.”
Indigenous People’s Day meets a real need and stands on its own merits, as it should. I’m more than ok with it superseding my Italian celebration of culture. Italians have come a long way. I’ve benefited from the sacrifices of those that came before me. Now, others need the attention to help them find justice, acceptance and progress. It doesn’t mean I can’t celebrate my ancestors too even if on the same day.
Today’s Parable of the Wedding Banquet is no different than any other parables that you might come across. As discussed before, parables are part of an ancient teaching method where students or disciples are meant to wrestle with the story in community to find answers – hopefully the best or correct answer. This means there might be several interpretations for the parable in question – some better than others, some wrong, and yet all interpretations can be helpful in affirming or growing our understanding. We learn as we wrestle. And with all the things going on in the world, I wrestled a long time this week. What should I say and not say.
For example with this parable of Jesus, you might hear among traditions that require baptism before reception of the Lord’s Supper that the one guest who refused to wear the robe in today’s parable was unbaptized. Recall Galatians 3 where the Apostle Paul writes, “As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” That imagery of spiritual transformation into a new person is thought to be represented by the wedding garment. And certainly, at least for the first seven centuries of the Church, many Christian catechumens came to the baptismal waters in their regular clothes, stripped naked, and left wrapped in symbolic white garments as they exited. It was only then that they could participate in holy Communion. This would be known to later Christians and might thus hold some truth for them and us (or those who hold this interpretation of value among us), but this was not yet the practice in Jesus’ time. Thus, this might miss the primary mark that Jesus intended.
Another more modern interpretation is from what is called the Womanist tradition. Womanist theology is a religious and ethical lens that attempts to integrate “the lived experiences, survival, and liberation of Black women.” Three days ago, I came across a Roman Catholic article by Emily Sanna asked the question, “What if God isn’t the king in the parable of the wedding feast?”[i] Instead of focusing on the King and the King’s actions, some Womanist theologians invite us to instead focus on the inbreaking of “God’s just and peaceable Kingdom” first. Quoting others, the author unpacks her challenge accepting a God that seemed so judgmental and harsh as in the parable when one considers other teachings about a loving, fatherly, gracious God found in the Gospel of Matthew. And so, the author asks us to consider:
Matthew’s gospel is full of people who quietly resist state power. The magi go home by another way and don’t tell Herod where to find Jesus. Jesus enters Jerusalem on a donkey, not on a war horse. When Satan offers worldly power, Jesus outright refuses it. What if this man’s garments are another example of this same [kind of] resistance?[ii]
She ponders whether we sometimes have mistaken empire for God’s table.
And yes, we are indeed in a time of growing Christian Nationalism where one can blur the lines between national identities and practices. We can forget that we are part of a universal community of saints, meant to cross worldly boundaries just as Jesus taught. With such bent thinking, we might be tempted to ignore the suffering and needs of other non-US Christians, brothers and sisters to us, never mind the strangers and enemies we are asked to love by Jesus. Our primary identity is meant to be that of “Christian” above any other. It confirms much as John Chrysostom, a 4th Century Christian Bishop, who wrote to the people of Antioch long ago (alluding to Hebrews 11:10), “If you are a Christian, no earthly city is yours. Even if we control the world, we are still immigrants and foreigners, because our citizenship is in heaven.”[iii]
This attitude might also help explain why so many Christians can easily call others “heretics,” “schismatics,” or “apostates,” looking and treating their brothers and sisters in Christ as unredeemable rather than just lost, wrong or misled. Some Christians prefer offering the “yoke of the pharisees.”[iv] People become easily damned and not worth talking to never mind looking for, as the lost sheep that they might be to Jesus. Yes, in the United States, such folks currently tend to be from Evangelical and Baptist traditions, but liberal traditions, Lutherans and other Christians fall into this judgmental trap often. I can at times do that too if I am honest. Within our hearts, it is too easy for us to throw others who disgust or challenge us into hell…the outer darkness Jesus talks about today.
And sadly, as heard recently from Professor Pugh in his presentation at Grace & Glory, some prominent Christians today even argue for what’s called theonomy, a view that the judicial and civil laws of the Old Testament given to ancient Israel still apply and should apply to government. So, if one has participated in adultery, or proves an apostate in their opinion, or is homosexual or is worshipping other Gods (among other laws), you might deserve the death penalty in their minds. They say this out loud! And in the darker corners of the internet through my law enforcement and chaplaincy roles, I have seen these specific desires and threats expressed and planned. It is real. And yet, they somehow call themselves Christian, too.
Then, as this week’s news cycle brings up, many Christians might also forget that every life is sacred even the life of our enemies. (And I am a person who is speaking of this as both a former soldier and police officer, so I have wrestled with this for a long time.) Perhaps someone “deserves death” in a fallen world, but might they not be shown mercy anyway? As Paul argues in Romans 6, we all deserve death. He says that. We all deserve death because no one can fulfill the Law. We are saved by grace through faith alone, not our works. So perhaps we should not rush too quickly to kill others, even when seemingly deserved, or perceived as legal, or thought a just necessary action in our world. For, we ultimately defeat evil with good (Romans 12:21).
Nonetheless, if a government truly deems it a necessity to take a life within our fallen world using our imperfect justice systems – and no matter the country, they remain imperfect because they are made by humans – we might also like to remember our own Savior’s death. He was executed as public spectacle with many martyrs to follow him. Violence as found in the Roman Circus never honored the sanctity of God-given life. It diminished it. That was the intention. And perhaps that’s why totalitarian governments not concerned with Jesus’ teachings are those hosting public executions in modern times – Iran, the Taliban, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen. This, too, should give us pause.
So, into this mix, I want to present to you a more ancient view stemming from Jesus’ own context when he first shared it. (It might help, and we can talk more late if you like.) Remember, this parable is offered during Jesus’ last week. He is now in open conflict with those in religious power, and they want to be rid of him. It follows on the heels of The Parable of the Tenants where the son of the landowner is murdered. Jesus explains it more clearly than other parables saying to hypocrites in power around him, “Therefore I tell you [those like the tenants], the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits” – spiritual fruits. Walter Wilson notes the clear imperial nature of Matthew’s framing, “interpreting the invitees as municipal leaders, ‘their refusal to attend the banquet as an expression of political disloyalty toward the royal family,’ and their violent treatment of the palace emissaries as ‘an act of sedition.’”[v] So, this parable might also be intended to target those religious leaders standing before Jesus for their ongoing actions and attitudes toward “the least of these” (Matthew 25:40).
Although our God is a loving and gracious God, we should not ignore that the Jewish scriptures understood and Jesus taught about a time of eschatological (or End Times) judgement. Judgement Say is real, but this should not frighten us as Lutherans, for we understand and accept that we are still sinners although saved by what Jesus has done…only his works. Professor Carolyn Sharp (Yale Divinity School) rightly reminds us:
“This ‘outer darkness’ [referred to in the passage] occurs also in 8:12 and 25:30 (and not in the Lukan parallels) as the eschatological destination of ‘heirs of the kingdom’ who have proved to be faithless or incompetent stewards of that which has been entrusted to them. The threefold iteration of the motif underscores how serious Matthew is about end-time torment awaiting those who dishonor the invitation of God’s grace.”[vi]
We might also discover the astonishing news that this eschatological banquet serves a bulwark (a protection) against all darkness.[vii] This promised celebration will come to fullness during a time outside time within a new heaven and earth where all tears will be wiped away (Revelation 21:4). Our God is a Mighty Fortress just as we Lutherans so often sing.[viii] Just like Isaiah proclaimed in his writings today. God is a mighty fortress protecting us.
Yet, we cannot become complacent. In our ongoing imperfection, we are to confess our sins and return to the Lord each day…every one of us. Here, Matthew is drawing upon earlier Jewish texts, for “Even those who had accepted the invitation of God but are spiritually unprepared are at risk. In this light, the [witty but truth-filled phrase] ‘Many are called, but few are chosen’” is as it appears in 4 Ezra 8:1, 3 and here in Matthew 22:14. It is meant to be absolutely chilling and challenging to each and every one of us who follow Jesus.[ix] We should look at ourselves and examine our behaviors. Are we loving the least of these well? Are we reflecting the Spirit’s fruits?
As Dietrich Bonhoeffer discovered in the time of World War 2 Germany, the Church becomes too easily filled with people who accept a counterfeit or deformed Gospel; accepting cheap grace with no implications or actions expected in response. We humans can become spiritually lazy rather than striving to be Christ-like with the Spirit’s help.[x] For loving others is hard. No one denies that. It is often against our human nature.
Despite failures, it remains true that in Genesis 3, God made garments of skin to cover Adam and Eve, a sign of God’s grace amidst their own rebellion. There are many instructions and commands regarding the use and care of religious garments in the Jewish scriptures.[xi] Garments were thought to reflect one’s tribe and one’s purpose. In the Psalms, God’s loving activity and light is often compared to a garment. And the prophets speak of putting on the Lord’s splendor like a garment. So, the original listeners could have made many complimentary interpretations.
Thus, I propose to you that the garment is meant to define who we are and who we trust in through faith; faith itself being a gift reflecting that garment worn. One modern Orthodox resource alluded to Baptism, but more so, the author argues we will be examined at the End of Time to see if we have shared in a life of repentance within the Church. (Of course, in his mind, it is only the Orthodox Church alone that’s the Church, but I would suggest this applies to the universal Church.). Did we hunger for God’s mercy? Did we share it with others as we were first loved?
Indeed, Pope Gregory the Great (c. 540 – 12 March 604), a Pope before the breaking of Christendom into East and West, who is commemorated for his Christian life and witness on our ELCA calendar on September 12 each year, argued in a sermon that ultimately the garment is God’s love…God’s transformative love. For, “[Jesus] came as a bridegroom to unite Himself to the Church. There was no other means than God’s love by which the Only-begotten could unite the souls of the elect with Himself. This is why John tells us: God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son (John 3:16). He who came to [humanity] for love’s sake, calls this love the wedding garment.”[xii]
Of utmost importance, to Gregory, echoing Jesus’ teachings on fulfilling the Law (including in Matthew’s Gospel), this garment has two threads: the love of God and love of neighbor. As Jesus taught in Matthew’s account, this is the greatest commandment. This doesn’t necessarily exclude one referencing the Baptism, the Eucharist, or political and social realties that surround us, but that explicit connection seems a bit forced if Gregory the Great’s argument and many other ancient arguments like it hold true.
Matthew’s Gospel was first written for a Jewish Christian community struggling to find their way forward after the Ascension of Jesus and the faith-challenging destruction of the Jewish Temple by the Romans. They were being thrown out of Synagogues and their families, often persecuted. And yet amidst this uncertainty and perhaps because of it, this time proved perfect to celebrate a foretaste of the feast to come, “the banquest” to come – gathering with the saints to remember Jesus in his appointed Supper, feeding the hungry, healing the wounded, seeking the lost and lonely, visiting those in prison, and offering forgiveness, patience and love to all those trespassing against us, even our enemies.
This is absolutely not the world’s way, but it is the way of the divine Kingdom as Jesus presents it during his first discourse in Matthew, the Sermon on the Mount (see Matthew 5-7) with the Beatitudes. And that passage helps us interpret all that follows. We are no longer to be dressed as wolves in sheep’s clothing (Matthew 7:15), for we have been made new, clothed in Christ’s love. This new garment, Christ’s love, changes our relationship with God and others forever.
Yet know that as with any new clothing, this gifted garment might feel awkward at first as we try to love.[xiii] Growing into it can prove an inside out process to make it fit better supernaturally over time. The Spirit uses our trials, our errors, and our repeated repentance to help perfect us. Rather than offering any perfect, instantaneous holiness, we are invited to participate in this divine movement toward ultimate perfection.[xiv]
Still, we are invited and included to the banquet all the same. We don’t have to give up our seat or fear being cast out because of our struggles with sin. We sinner-saints can celebrate. For as Jesus has taught just shortly before this parable, it is not the will of our Father who is in heaven that one of his little ones should perish (see Matthew 18:14 and 2 Peter 3:9). We can seek to love without fear, as Jesus loved us. Amen.
[xii] Gregory the Great. “The Wedding Garment: An excerpt from Parables of the Gospel by Pope Saint Gregory the Dialogist.” OrthoChristian.com. https://orthochristian.com/106276.html
Long ago in my VMI cadet days, I heard an Army general say that the best soldier is a grumbler. He was sharing an ancient maxim with roots in the Imperial Army of Rome. He explained that grumbling can be an outlet for stress. It might even build some team cohesion through the experience of shared suffering and perseverance. Ultimately, the soldier who grumbles also often proves the soldier who goes on to fulfill his (or now her) duty.
You see, if troops stop complaining to one another, that’s not the norm. Historically, they are likely fully demoralized or planning a mutiny – neither situation good for an army. Centuries later, this maxim proved true during Napolean’s day where his most loyal, elite, and formidable soldiers came to be nicknamed “The Grumblers.” It remains true for today’s US Army. It is better to grumble and do the job at hand then be a “yes man” or woman who does not.
I have often wondered if Jesus was somehow aware of this well-known Roman military maxim when sharing his Parable of the Two Sons. This would be a sad irony, for the Roman Army would eventually execute Jesus. Yet, the parallels seen could just be the recognition of a common cultural and human frailty. We can tend to say yes as humans but then fail to follow through. We can lose our attention on the matter at hand as other things distract us or overcome us. Or maybe we just get stuck in our sin somehow. This human condition is not unrelated to Paul’s observations in Romans 7:15, “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate, I do.”
When Jesus meets the Pharisees today in the Temple, it is after his triumphant entry into Jerusalem on what we now call Palm Sunday. He’s since caused a scene turning over tables of money changers at work in the Temple (see earlier in Mathew 21). He’s already challenged the religious powers-that-be through his teaching with authority (see Matthew 7:29). This resulted in jealousy among some over the large crowds cheering Jesus, but it also caused concern among other religious elites that a riot might happen through the exuberant crowds. This might mean Roman soldiers would oppress the notably rebellious city in response. Then, there are Jesus’ many other challenges to their authority over time. None of that had been received well. Jesus knows this kind of direct confrontation is dangerous, but he also knows that it is also time for him to die.
So, he pokes the bear[i], so to speak. All along, authority has been a key question in this ongoing conflict with religious authorities. Jesus has demonstrated authority to heal, “even at a distance, as recognized by a Gentile” (Mattthew 8:9). He has claimed authority to forgive sins and shared that authority with all his disciples (Matthew 9:8 and 10,1). As one commentary notes, “At the climax of the Gospel he declares that God has given him all authority [emphasis mine], including specifically to teach.”[ii] He has even demonstrated power over creation in feeding large crowds with very little (Matthew 14 and 15) or calming a storm with a few words of rebuke (Matthew 8:26).
Then, knowing the hearts of the chief priests and elders, he sets a rhetorical trap. Remember that as John the Baptist became popular, the religious and political powers came out from Jerusalem to the countryside. They wanted to hear this popular prophet they had been hearing about for themselves. Like today’s political and religious elite, I suppose some wanted to be seen with the popular John the Baptist to capitalize on his fame.
And in pretension and because of conceit, they say yes to John’s message at that time. Yet in their hearts and actions, they reject John’s message. They don’t repent. They still ignore the marginalize and exclude those whom God loves. Now, in answering Jesus’ question, they must confess their failure and sin. If John was from heaven, why did they ignore his supplications? And if they admit they did not believe in John this could anger the very great crowds gathered for the Passover holiday who were still grieving his murder. For what else can one call the execution of an innocent man but murder.
In contrast, the people they judged as unredeemable and junk – prostitutes, tax collectors and others – are the ones who came to John and repented. In turn, they later responded to Jesus. Yet scripture never reports that they became perfect, but they did turn to Jesus (in other words, repent) to embrace true life. They are the ones who continued to ask, seek, and knock. They are the ones who dined with him, listened to him, and tried to follow him. For also unlike the Elders, Scribes, Pharisees and the like, they knew they were sinners and could not save themselves. Jesus had what they hungered for – a new life and freedom. Jesus taught that clinging to him while still imperfect passengers on the stormy seas of life would save them. And so, many of those labeled as the worst of sinners did just that.
Yes, we understand that the parable was an indictment against those religious, power elites opposed to Jesus. (Although, let us not forget that some relative few of the elites did come to follow Jesus.) And the elites were educated enough to understand that this parable was about them. Yet they could not agree to his indictment, and they refused to change. They willfully blinded themselves to the truth that Jesus was of God…was God. And as pressure on them increased to repent – for that’s what Jesus hungered for, their repentance and restoration – they doubled down on their gamble. They would seek to end Jesus’ life. They would help murder him much as John had been.
Yet, it would be too easy for us to just look at the parable and think it is only about those religious elites opposed to Jesus. In doing so, we become like them – judging and hard hearted, ignoring our own humanity and sin. No, Jesus hoped his followers would hear and understand this parable with the help of his Spirit. It is about his disciples, too. This parable was preserved in scripture partly because it is a parable about each of us including all those “saved,” those who trust in Jesus.
Remember that Roman maxim? Jesus, too, knows and understands well that we aren’t perfect. He recognizes that our hearts can easily be divided between the world and following him. Following Jesus can be difficult if not deadly, and this can cause grumbling. And if people ever tell you otherwise, that we can perfectly fulfill the law, that we don’t have the right to lift our struggles and complaints to God faithfully as the Psalmist does, ignore them. That’s right, ignore them. They are offering us the yoke of the Pharisees while Jesus wants to offer us freedom through grace. For, Jesus loves us…loves us enough to die for us.
Daily, not just once, Jesus longs for us to ask, seek, knock and ultimately repent. And repentance from sin can take time, sometimes a lifetime if grievous enough. Sinner-saints at our best, Jesus only asks us to follow while confessing our need and accepting our own crosses whatever they prove to be. As our friends from twelve Step programs might argue, we should rejoice in progress not perfection. And in our want, Jesus promises to send his own Spirit and the people we need to help us on our way.
It can be a frightening thing when we hear threats of our damnation in the Bible…if we are humble enough to believe them. Yet, our choices do matter. That’s what those threats teach. Yet, are we humble enough to also confess our sins and turn to Jesus without fear? “Those who had been saying no to God’s will revealed in the Torah, the tax collectors and prostitutes, changed their mind and accepted John’s message of repentance”[iii]…and now they were beginning to accept Jesus as Lord. The inability of the Elders, Scribes, and the priestly class, all those powerful people to answer Jesus resulted in their self-condemnation. Meanwhile, sinners like the Roman soldier in Matthew 8 came to understand that Jesus can just say the word (give an order) and they can be healed.
This is faith – trust in the promises of Jesus. We trust in what Jesus teaches while seeking to understand it and concretely live it more each day – asking, seeking, knocking, repenting. This helps us become of the same mind with Jesus. This kind of faith, a saying yes with mind, body, and heart (all that we are) is used by God to transforms us…make us new,
No, we will never master the law in our lifetime. No one ever will. Yet we can accept the truth of Christ’s grace. As Paul declares to the Philippians (2:13), “it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” It is God who is saving you even now as you sit in that pew or leave here today. Do not be afraid for your salvation. Jesus offers it to us for free. He asks only in response that we say yes and try our best to mean it. Amen.
[i] The bear was a common symbol for raw nature and savagery during the period of the Roman Empire.
[ii] Keck, L.E. (chief editor) The New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary in Twelve Volumes, 1995. (Volume 8).
Another election cycle is upon us. Oh, yeah! If you aren’t aware of it, early voting in Virginia began on September 18. If you have not done so, the National Council of Churches (of which we are part of through the ELCA) asks us to please take two minutes sometime soon to check that you are registered and verify your information so you can fully participate. And for Lutherans, that’s very important theologically. We hear and understand a call from both our Jewish and Christian scriptures that we are to pray for the welfare of the land where we are in exile (see Jeremiah 29:7). We are to also actively participate in the life of our community to better love our neighbor (especially those overlooked and in need). And we are also to help our imperfect government (Martin Luther called it the left hand of God) maintain peace, order, and justice as best we can.
That said, I can understand if you aren’t much in the mood to talk politics or struggle with hope these days. You might wish to hold your nose and vote. For we are a generation seemingly stuck in the grist mill of corruption, ongoing caustic conflict, and sour divisions. As some studies suggest, our nation has become more radically divided than since perhaps the Civil War. Then according to 70-year tracking by the Pew Research Center, current trust levels in our government hover around 17% to 27% depending on the specific phrasing of the survey and the government system being discussed.[i] The faceless nature of social media and the selfishness of some political authorities only makes things more insulting, aggressive, and hurtful. It can make one exhausted.
Yet, I am not sharing this in order to tell you how to vote. That’s for you to prayerfully discern. Still, I do think this very real struggle is instructive to our humanity and how we should live as Church. We are to reject the way of the world even though in the world.[ii] We are to love God, our neighbor, and, as stewards of creation, all that God created. We are to love as God has loved us, for we, too, in our sin, faults, and failings, have acted at times as enemies of God. And yet, God loved us always. Jesus died and rose for us. And the Spirit through our faith and baptism still works to sanctify us despite our struggles with sin.
In a past election cycle, a seminary friend of mine posted a startling if not controversial image on Facebook. It was a picture of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump together…both smiling. On it was posted the words, “These people are made in the image of God. Both of them. Yes. Both.”[iii] Well, you can probably imagine the guffaws and less than polite commentary that resulted. This included rants from anonymous sources and likely some bots.
Yet, it remains true! Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, you, me, and any other fallible, miserable, or corrupted by sin human being that we can think of in our world…even the person or persons who most irritate us or prove the enemies of all that is good…or “the worst of the worst,” citizen or not…they are created in God’s image. And this should serve as a caution to all of us as Christians no matter our political bent. Do not be quick to judge. Do not let our hearts close to them even as we struggle if not fight for justice. Treat them with mercy, for God loves them too and wants better for us all.
Indeed, the Ten Commandments call us toward mutual love in community with God and neighbor. The prophets demand justice in God’s name which is impossible without mercy. We must temper our gossip and lies about others even if on social media. Martin Luther argued that to fulfill the commandment on bearing false witness, we should try to frame the actions of others in the best way possible. And when there is seemingly no best way? Well, counselors of this day and across wisdom literature of many ancient cultures suggest we consider how these people we struggle to love got that way. How has their upbringing, traumas, losses, or whatever impacted their decision. This might not limit repercussions. It doesn’t erase error or fix everything, but that attempt hopefully softens our hearts. Even in praying for our enemies, we might open our hearts a bit more to love as God loves.
Once again, I want to remind you that Jesus taught (Matthew 5:22) that calling others raca (the Aramaic word for worthless, good-for-nothing, or empty headed) is a grave sin.[iv] That ends up being consequence of the yoke of the pharisees, a biblical metaphor for legalism, self-righteousness, and the crushing burden of strict religious rules.[v] The Pharisees could have the tendency to think non-Jewish people or those struggling with grave sin were irredeemable. As Jesus unpacks the Beatitudes for us, he explicitly cautions that such attitudes puts us at risk, for murder begins in our hearts.
In response to this biblical call, the image my friend posted was created by a movement called Election Day Communion. Started by Mennonites but now ecumenical, it promotes the sharing of communion on election days since 2012. The founders of this movement remind us, “We are one in Christ, no matter what we vote.”[vi]
Where offered, Election Day Communion is a chance to remind ourselves that our allegiance to Christ is higher than allegiance to any party or political campaign. By gathering with neighbors, we can encounter the power to truly change the world. It is not found not in politics, or presidents, or protests, but in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
Today, we see similar struggles undergone by the prophet Jonah. Through the complete tale, we hear of pagan sailors turning to God for redemption and aid. We hear of a pagan city turn to God in repentance. And we hear of a prophet, chosen by God, unwilling to follow God’s requests if it means we must love our enemies. And while Jonah understands his prophetic message from God that Ninevah be “overthrown” in a violent sense, the Hebrew word for overthrown as used in the passive or reflexive participle can also mean “overturned” in the sense of changed or transformed.[vii] Jonah expected only judgement. God willed inclusion, transformation, reconciliation.
Of all the people in the Book of Jonah, it is Jonah the prophet who turns from God and runs. Others including his enemies turn toward God. And when God relents against Ninevah, Jonah not only questions God’s decision, but Jonah grows angry. After all he went through, why did God let the city survive? As Professor Neal Walls writes, “Our anti-hero takes phrases from what is perhaps the most theologically programmatic description of the God of Israel in Exodus 34:6–7, which extols God’s compassion, mercy, forgiveness, and steadfast love, and throws them in God’s face as an accusation rather than praise.”[viii]
Did you catch it? In the text, Jonah argued scripturally that he knows that God is a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from punishment (Exodus 24:6-7), but then as if not understanding the words he just spoke, he accuses God for not destroying the city. Jonah profanes the description of God as love and misinterprets God’s purposes as he wills.
The people of Nineveh were a dreaded enemy of the tribes of Israel, worshippers of a foreign God, defilers of what was deemed sacred. They had likely murdered or betrayed people that Jonah knew. Righteous anger might be understood in such a situation. The dispensing of harsh justice might be appropriate. Yet rather than offering grace as he has received released from some sort of giant fish or whale, Jonah developed hate for them in his heart. He wished for their murder and total destruction.
Fortunately for Jonah and for us, God’s mercy is deep and wide. We are blessed by the ironic reality that grace is not fair…Hear it again and understand, grace is not fair. God showed the people of Nineveh a second chance they did not deserve just as God gives us that chance through our faith and baptism. And as Jonah began to lick his wounds and pout, God did not give up on Jonah either. God patiently tries to explain things to the prophet, although no explanation is owed from our Creator.
While Jonah mourns the loss of the bush offering him shade, God has compassion on the hundred and twenty thousand residents of Nineveh and their animals, too.[ix] The residents don’t know their right hand from their left, and so God reaches out to them – to show them mercy and embrace those who had been lost.
And this same theme resounds among Jesus’ last words when he dies on the cross for us. He prays for his abusers and those who abandoned him, “Father forgive them. They know not what they do.” Sadly, sin can be so subtle, insidious, and self-justified, that this is often the case. People do not know the right hand from their left…We do not know what we are doing. We come to call evil good and rationalize sin (as the people in the Book of Judges).
With the election upon us, we have many lessons we can learn from Jonah and the Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard. Perhaps the most important thing is to remember that we aren’t the boss. God created each of us with a unique purpose – some important in the eyes of the world, some smaller purposes, some won’t be recognized until with are with Jesus, yet all matter to God. God’s ways are too wonderful for us; to lofty to attain, says the Psalmist.[x] So in the end, God can save whomever God wants; judging with both perfect justice and mercy framed by hesed, loving kindness.
In a world where our understanding of Christian baptism is so often used as a dividing line if not centrifugal force pulling Christians apart, we were urged to see baptism as it was intended…a centripetal force, pulling us (sometimes against our will) toward the centrality of Christ…pulling us inward toward relationship with one another.[xi]
Just before Jesus shared his parable about the Laborers in the Vineyard, he said that with God all things are possible when it comes to salvation – the last can become first, or the greatest sinner become the most honored of saints. In Matthew 20, landowner is literally “master of the house.” And as master of the house of Israel, our Triune God is the boss. If Jesus wants to include gentiles and sinners, his disciples are asked to follow his lead.
And for us, whatever happens, we don’t have to fear for the future of the Church. Islam and other faith traditions, perceived enemies, and all those different from us need not have power over us unless in fear and anger we give it to them. We can seek to treat them justly with loving kindness even when laws must be enforced. We are free to splash in our baptismal waters; trying to love even our enemies rather than drowning in our fears.
Yes, Jonah the prophet was a stubborn, old fool in many ways. And as we face our political divide, business decisions, family tensions, and yes, even life in the church, we can be too. Yet, it isn’t too late for us to learn. It is possible for us to stop our running away to turn toward God and live. And this love turns us toward our neighbors – all of them. As we go into our voting booths, or businesses, or clubs, or schools, I pray we hear Jesus’ words in our minds and our hearts, “A new command I give you. Love one another, as I have loved you.” God has chosen to love all that God created, and since God’s the boss, we should strive to do so as well. Amen.
[ix] Ibid. As Neal Walls explains, “The New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition translation of the verb as ‘concern’ in 4:10–11 misses the nuance of the Hebrew, which really means ‘to pity’ or ‘to have compassion.’”
Beneath the shadows of the twenty-fifth anniversary of 9-11, we gather this morning to contemplate forgiveness. Today’s readings were assigned in the 1980s with the creation of the Revised Common Lectionary, long before that event occurred. And yet providentially, they always remain fresh, for humanity always struggles with forgiveness, reconciliation, and peace.
Thus, the theme of forgiveness and reconciliation echoes throughout our holy texts. When Adam and Eve sinned against God, they were shown mercy. God did not cast them into the abyss. God continued to love then. They were sent out of Paradise together, clothed by God including within the divine intention for humanity’s ultimate restoration. And God continues to work within history to save us.
Through the lives of those remembered within Genesis, we see this divine trendline of activity continue to grow more clear. Contrasting with Cain’s murder of Able, the brothers Ishmael and Isaac reunite to lay their father Abraham to rest (25:8–19), and Esau graciously welcomes Jacob back home after years of bitterness (33:4–15).[i] The family dysfunction displayed is quite incredible and sometimes scandalous, and reconciliation does not prove always perfect or long-lasting. Yet the division and sin seen is never brushed over or forgotten. God’s grace can be found visibly at work in response; trying to heal and unify all those God loves.
Indeed, all of Genesis – with the Fall, murder, sexual offenses, and all kinds of selfish acts – comes to a head in Joseph’s own story of betrayal shared this morning. As Genesis closes, Joseph’s brothers fear righteous anger and retribution. They deserved it after all. They had abused their brother’s love and sold him into slavery.
Yet, they and what would become the Twelve Tribes of Israel were welcomed as strangers only because Joseph ended up in Egypt and allowed it. This doesn’t erase their sin. It doesn’t heal all the very real wounds created. Joseph certainly recalls what they did and failed to do. Yet, he also remembers God’s own faithfulness to him through it all saying, “Even though you intended to do me harm, God intended it for good, in order to preserve a numerous people, as he is doing today” (50:20). God would make good come from evil once again.
Here, Joseph demonstrates a kind of hesed (also spelled in English as chesed). This term “communicates loyalty or faithfulness within a relationship,”[ii] but more so, it describes selfless, unconditional kindness – a going above and beyond what the law requires.[iii] A Rabbi explains, “…though many texts translate [hesed] loosely as ‘loving kindness,’ this is only an approximation. A more complete definition can be broken down to three components:
Choosing to feel and/or hear another person’s pain or hurt.
Choosing to act to heal that person’s pain or hurt.
Doing the above without any expectation of reward or calculation.”[iv]
Hesed shifts focus away from oneself toward the love of others. It is the opposition and antidote to what Martin Luther declared the essence of our fallen nature – being bent inward upon ourselves. Thus, Joseph is seen to be acting similarly to God in offering mercy and forgiveness.
Centuries later as Jesus teaches during the Sermon on the Mount “forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors,” Jesus understood that God wills to forgive. And as Jesus gives his disciples the keys to the kingdom, the authority of binding and loosing, God’s own forgiveness proved foundational to understanding that sacred authority. Throughout his earthly ministry, Jesus reflected hesed in mind and heart. Through his teachings and example, he asks us to strive to become more like our God who loves us even when we stray, for God longs to forgive us and be reconciled.
Remembering our own deliverance and ongoing need, we should remain thankful for what God has done in Christ, is doing now, and will yet do on Judgement Day. God will not repay us according to our own sins, but because of God’s hesed, because of the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus, by grace through faith, we will deserve condemnation but be looked upon as righteous. What was lost through Adam and Eve will be fully redeemed and restored as pure gift.
You have heard it said, forgive and forget. Yet that’s not godliness. In fact, that can prove gravely dangerous. If someone is a threat to themselves or others, or has a tendency for temptation, it is ok to realize it. For God sees us as we are in our own sin, but as God does with us, we should treat them with love them, treat them with respect and kindness, and offer forgiveness from our hearts. After Jesus’ teaching on how to seek justice and make amends, Peter has a question. How often should one forgive? Jesus famously says, “Not seven times, but I tell you, seventy-seven times” (see verse 21-22). Or, it reads seven times seventy in some ancient manuscripts.
In this answer, Jesus remembers what has come before. Cain’s descendant, Lamech, would boast about his ability to seek revenge and honor seventy-sevenfold for wrongs done against him. (See Genesis 4.) Today in stark contrast, Jesus teaches us to forgive seventy-sevenfold, a number signifying without any limits. This echo is likely intentional. Jesus is seeking to move us away from our fallen nature and what seems reasonable in the eyes of humanity toward holiness.
To illustrate, Jesus tells us of a servant forgiven of immense debt. If God is willing to forgive the greater, countless sins of humanity, how much more should we forgive? As commentaries note, “Jesus concludes that his disciples should be willing to forgive their neighbors if they expect God to forgive them.”[v] This understanding was not lost on everyone in the Second Temple period. In fact, in the wisdom of Sirach, a man who lived a bit before Jesus asked, he asks incredulously, “If people have no mercy toward those like themselves, can they then seek pardon for their own sins? (Sirach 28:1–4).[vi]
Yes, the Jewish people of Matthew’s time understood the economy of the Temple well. You were expected to offer something in exchange for God’s forgiveness. In short, you owed God for your accumulation of debt (or sin). Yet, Matthew recalls that Jesus came to “save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). At the Last Supper, Christ says that his own “blood” will be “poured out” for the “forgiveness of sins” (26:28). And Jesus will “give his life as a ransom for many” on the cross (20:28), namely a ransom payment to God for his people’s sin-debt.[vii]
By grace through faith in Jesus Christ, we no longer need to offer anything for our salvation. Our debt has been paid, and we are only asked to trust in Jesus. And yet consequently, we are expected to love others in return as we have been loved. We are to remember all the Gospel laden stories within the pages of both the Jewish and Christian scriptures.[viii] We are to remember to forgive as we have been forgiven. And yet that remains difficult because life in a fallen world is complicated.
Long ago when I was a police officer, I met a woman on a domestic violence call. Her left cheek was swollen as large as a grapefruit. I was back in the Church by then after years of wondering, and I had wrestled with my own struggles to forgive others. As I spoke to her and offered resources, I also encouraged her to seek safety elsewhere even if that meant separation from the one whom she loved. Such violence tends to continue. Yet she answered, “I can’t leave him. I have to forgive him.” Despite her swollen face and labored speech, I heard her clearly say, “Jesus asks us to turn the other cheek.”
In response, I felt obligated to share other teachings of scripture to remind her that she was a beloved child of God. Her understanding of scripture fell far short of God’s love for her. For certainly, Jesus doesn’t always require us to be martyred. And as beloved children, he longs for our safety, happiness, and abundant life. We need to be smart in a Fallen World, even as we are generous. We need to discern not rigidly but with a healthy love for ourselves as we respond to every offense. We need to love others as ourselves, not better than ourselves, while never blinding ourselves to our own wrongs, selfishness, or part in any conflict.
So, in life, we often have more than one possible response to the wrongs we face. When Jesus’ disciples were denied hospitality, he counseled them to dust off their sandals and walk to another town where they would be welcomed. We can redefine boundaries, too. And when he taught us to love others as ourselves, this included treating people as we wish to be treated. I don’t know about you, but if I was a threat to another person or myself, I would hope someone would stop me. Indeed, I have been thanked by people who I’ve arrested before…both for the way I treated them and the second chance my arrest gave them. And at times when nothing seems perfectly right, we can do our best to love trusting that God can correct and forgive our errors in this as well.
When we turn the other cheek, we don’t have to stay. We can walk away. Yet that doesn’t mean that we stop caring about others or hoping for peace. It infers that we should continue to pray for them and their repentance. It requires that we remain open to reconciliation. Realizing that it takes two people to reconcile, we should fully do so only if it is safe or as called by God to risk sacrifice. For, Jesus also taught us to be wise as serpents and gentle as doves. He knew life and people are dangerously complicated at times.
And although the people we wish to forgive might never change nor ever care, we will discover a path to freedom for ourselves rather than gallows. Forgiveness can prove a process lasting a lifetime, but just striving to forgive (asking God’s help in prayer, talking to counselors and spiritual advisors, seeking to repent and make amends for our part in the mess that we find ourselves stuck in), we begin to heal and thus our world heals along with us. As we find peace, more options might even open to us.
As verse threatened at the close of Jesus’ parable (v. 34), it is gravely important that we forgive others. Yet by grace we remain saved even as we struggle to forgive. Forgiveness is difficult, and we aren’t God. S Jesus does not expect our perfection. He asks only that we try…that we orient our own hearts toward his. With Peter, we have the hope of growing into our practice of forgiveness. For when we seek to forgive, we are stepping off the roads of our Fallen World and starting to follow Jesus into new territory. A whole new world will open before us, and we begin to remember who we were created to be…children of God. Amen.
[i] Walls, N. (September 2026). Commentary on Genesis 50:15-21.
[v] Schaser, N.J. (September 2026). Commentary on Matthew 18:21-35.
[vi] As quoted in Schaser, N.J. (September 2026). Commentary on Matthew 18:21-35.
[vii] See Nathan Eubank, Wages of Cross-Bearing and Debt of Sin: The Economy of Heaven in Matthew’s Gospel (De Gruyter, 2013). As cited in Schaser, N.J. (September 2026). Commentary on Matthew 18:21-35.
[viii] A Lutheran hermeneutic asks us to look for both Law and Gospel in every text of scripture.
Below, please find a video of our worship service. The sermon starts at about the 21:44 minute mark.
You might not be as excited as me, but I am excited about this new feast day. This is exceedingly rare. This has been in the works since approximately 1988. And today, we celebrate the Feast of the Creation in Christ for the first time. It is not always easy to get Christians of varied denominations and traditions to work together. Yet in this feast day, for the first time since the 1980’s, the sixteen Christian communions and denominations that use the Revised Common Lectionary, our system for assigning readings for daily worship, representing millions of Christians worldwide, have been invited to add a new festival into the shared life, witness, and worship as the Church – the Feast of Creation in Christ.[i]
This exceedingly rare and historic action invites us to ponder. Perhaps it is a little bit like Mary as she heard things said about her infant son.[ii] Or maybe it is as we ponder that as she kissed her little baby, she was kissing the face of God.[iii] That’s pretty heavy-duty theology and mystery, and it is profound. God’s breaking into creation as the Christ Child, changed everything…not just for us but for all of creation. This can prove hard to believe never mind fully understand. It can blow your mind.
Yet try to fully consider the mystery before us. In the beginning was the Word, and all things came into being through him. Then, Jesus, the Word, came as our Savior and Redeemer. And indeed, Jesus, we are told, will fully redeem us along with the old creation which has fallen into corruption when he comes again in glory. Jesus’ resurrection is just the first fruits of the this transition and renewal (see, for example, 1 Corinthians 15:20). And all creation groans for that day when we and all things will be made new (Romans 8:22) in and through Christ as he returns in. There will be a new Heaven and new Earth, we are told. And we will gather around the divine throne with all the resurrected saints to worship and praise God How can anyone fully understand this mystery of faith which we put in a very short form when we say, “Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again”?
Some of you know I like comic strips, right? And in one of my favorite comic strips,[iv] Opus the Penguin joins Oliver Wendell Jones, brilliant child scientist, and two other children in a field on a starry night. Oliver, looking towards the heavens, excitedly holds up a grain of sand and explains that the tiny patch of sky it covers is exactly what the Hubble Space Telescope was pointed at and can see. (That tiny grain of sand is all the Hubble can see when it comes to the cosmos!)
And here, Oliver excitedly pontificates on the mystery of creation:
“‘It was there [within that speck] – deep within that dot of dark nothingness ten billion light years distant – that [scientists] found the unexpected…Galaxies! Thousands! Thousands! …With billions of stars! And trillions of new worlds. And beyond those …MORE! All in the space of a single grain of sand on the vast beach of the cosmos…Which nicely frames the question man has been asking for millennia.’‘What question?” asks the boy named Milo.Oliver responds, ‘What’s the center of it all?’”
Now, this is when the punchline comes. Deep within the minds of the other children and Opus the Penguin, pondering the awesomeness of all creation in silence, they share an answer only with themselves. What’s the center of the universe?….The boy, Binkley thinks, “Me.” …Milo thinks, “Me,” ….and Opus the penguin energetically if not selfishly thinks, “Me, baby.”
In their childlike (or penguin-ish) hubris, they feel uniquely the center of all that is. They have made everything about themselves. The creator of their own comic (not cosmic) world, Berkely Breathed, might not realize it, but he revealed through pen and ink what hampers all of humanity – our pride. We tend to think everything is about us, or as Martin Luther more theologically put it, we tend to be bent inward upon ourselves. Our wills are in bondage to sin, and we prove selfish.
Through ancient, sacred story, Genesis reveals that the Fall of Creation happened because of pride, and pride remains humanity’s downfall. And this proves no small distinction. For everything that occurs afterwards in the Bible is in response to our fallen condition. And in this sacred story, pride often sets humanity back.
And still, from creation to new creation, God seeks to heal the wounds we commonly identify as sin, sorrow, and death. God wills to make all things new, but as one Baptist pastor, Bobby Gilles, happened to post about this week on Substack, too many Christians misunderstand. They hear the Bible speaking of creation in a way that leads to human, ultimately male autocratic rule (patriarchy). And, in that, they see supposed redemption.[v]
In reality, Genesis speaks of a divine call for partnership, followed by a shared Fall, which results in the mistaken, caustic call for human or “male rule”[vi] and results tribal divisions. This pastor rightly suggested that this version of dominion touted by many today proves a reflection of the Fall and sin…not holiness or God’s will.
No, in God’s sight, we are no longer male or female, but equally beloved children of God.[vii] We are to love, honor, and help one another. And yet rather than a compatible, mutual helpmate, there are today people considered of prominence, some in the halls of power, who argue for a submissive, home-centered wife in the name of Christ. In their minds, women should not vote and certainly never lead. (If you have never heard of this before, come to our speaker describing Christian Nationalism on September 24th. )
Unfortunately, this sin echoes into our environmental attitudes. Some argue for human dominion over all creation. Although God never surrendered God’s ultimate divine authority, in the original Hebrew, Genesis 1:26-28 does say that humans are given “rule” over the world. That word is sometimes translated as dominion.
Yet here, humans have been told to rule only after being made in the image of God. Being in the likeness of God, not equal to God, we are to serve as royal stewards caring for what ultimately belongs to God, our true King.[viii] Like the God we serve, we are to delight in creation, to love, respect, and care for it as best as we can. Even as our fallen condition necessitates that we must use creation and consume it at times for our daily bread and the good of all, we are do so cautiously and with thanksgiving.
As in the ancient Near East, “where kings would place images (statues) of themselves across their empires to represent their presence, we are [placed here] in God’s likeness.”[ix] As the New Testament similarly declares, we are God’s ambassadors.[x] Thus, humanity, both male and female made in God’s image,[xi] is placed on Earth to be God’s visual representatives – echoing and living out in community God’s decrees and love which is and remains creative, life-giving, and sustaining, not destructive or exploitative.[xii] We are to continue the charge given Adam and Eve as if stewards.
This new festival, Creation in Christ, proves a call to worship but also an affront to our pride and a correction of our sin. As sinner-saints all, our daily lives are laden with temptations, risk of missteps, and sometimes feelings of guilt. In talking with the head of the Fluvanna SPCA last Friday in preparation for our Pet Blessing (on September 26 at 10:00 am), she noted that there is a sad nexus between community violence, domestic violence, and animal abuse.
As a former law enforcement officer and having a criminology degree, I know this is true as supported by both my experience and research. Our inclination to not properly value and honor one another, our fellow creatures, and the world reflects the selfishness Martin Luther wrote about so often. It is sin. We forget, as the Lakota whom I formally served with say, “We are all relatives.”
Through our Church liturgical calendar, we tell the story of our faith. “Through Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, and Pentecost, we are drawn again and again into the mystery of Christ,” said The Rev. Matthew Salisbury, National Liturgical Advisor for the Church of England.[xiii] Now through the adding of this new festival day, a huge slice of the universal Church will annually thank God for all creation as well as its rescue and restoration through Jesus Christ.[xiv] In our liturgical focus and theological understanding, we will move more fully from Creation to New Creation each year.
Yet let us be clearheaded where others might regrettably not be. Rachel Roberts, Church of England Digital Team, explained, “This is not a celebration of Mother Nature, and it isn’t a Harvest Festival.”[xv] It is not another Earth Day. As pastors or Church, I suggest that we avoid saying, “You must believe and act in such-and-such a specific way…” This isn’t really about simplified answers or new laws to become a weight on others. Instead, we invite. We should ponder together, as Mary pondered, what God has done and is doing right before our eyes and how we should best respond. For all creation was made to magnify the Lord, including our own lives.
As a result, this festival “celebrates one of the foundational mysteries of our Christian faith. In it, we praise the Father, the Maker of Heaven and Earth, Jesus Christ, the Eternal Word through whom all things were made, and the Holy Spirit, the Giver of Life.”[xvi] Equating the eternal, divine Word with God three times in his Gospel, John similarly proclaims that in Jesus is life, and as God, Jesus created and will renew all things. One environmentalist rightly argued, “[Creation] comes from God’s love, and it is sustained by God’s generosity. And it remains the object of God’s delight and care.”[xvii]
And as another said, that first act of creation “lies within the whole sweep of God’s purposes.”[xviii] Creation is used by God, as John Calvin argued in his Institutes of the Christian Religion, to not just meet our needs but call us to belief. It is as Paul says in Acts, God created everything so that we “would search for God and perhaps fumble about for him and find him.” And acting within creation, Jesus, the Evangelist John indicates, created and redeems all.
Thus, it seems that we are not unlike Oliver Wendell Jones after all. With our limited brain capacity and short time on Earth, we wonder what all this means. No, God is not creation, but God is partly revealed in and through creation’s wonder – including you and me and our beloved pets. God is not ever far from us, “For we, too, are his offspring.’”[xix] And through faith in Jesus, and the action of the Holy Spirit, we who believe and are baptized have become his family.
Thus, God wishes to share all good things with us. We are never viewed as a mistake no matter how many mistakes we make. We are never forgotten nor orphaned by God even when we forget or abandon God. We are loved by a God that comes to us in Jesus and shouts his love for us through the plains and mountains, the lakes, streams, rivers and oceans. Every coyote call, bird and whale song shouts of God’s love for us and praises God.
So, “What is the center of it all?” Thanks to God’s self-revelation in and through Jesus Christ, we have begun to finally understand the correct answer. At the center of it all is Love, the Love who is our God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This Love calls us each by name and cares for all that has been created. It loves each of us as if there were only one of us,[xx] and asks us to magnify that love through all we do. For in loving God and loving others as ourselves, we must also consider how to care for the creation God cares about and which we share. Amen.
[i] Visit feastofcreation.com to learn more about this truly historic event.
[viii] See hermeneutics.stackexchange.com/questions/2860/what-does-dominion-mean-in-genesis and facebook.com/airwin.ortiz/posts/dominion-does-not-mean-destruction-it-means-stewardship-we-rule-the-world-the-wa/28720535374199686.
[ix] See hermeneutics.stackexchange.com/questions/2860/what-does-dominion-mean-in-genesis and facebook.com/airwin.ortiz/posts/dominion-does-not-mean-destruction-it-means-stewardship-we-rule-the-world-the-wa/28720535374199686.
[xii] See hermeneutics.stackexchange.com/questions/2860/what-does-dominion-mean-in-genesis and facebook.com/airwin.ortiz/posts/dominion-does-not-mean-destruction-it-means-stewardship-we-rule-the-world-the-wa/28720535374199686.
[xx] This common theological saying reflects the writings of Augustine of Hippo in his Confessions, “You are good and all-powerful, caring for each one of us as though each is the only one in your care, and so for all as if they were but one.”
Below, please find a video of our worship service. The sermon starts at about the 29:55 minute mark.
Those of us old enough might remember the Oprah Winfrey Show while it was on the top of the television talk show pyramid. (That’s back in what might seem like the Dark Ages of television.) The show became particularly noted for the iconic, over the top gift giving segments. For those that don’t remember or maybe never heard of her (this is a possibility today amidst younger generations), Oprah would often give away to the audience products she liked and had profiled one her show.
And if one was really lucky, you might be there when Oprah gave cars to the entire audience. She would say what became almost a tagline and sometimes was made into a joke, “You get a car…And you get a car…and you get a car. You are all getting cars!” And the audience would go wild…Well, at least until the tax bills came.[i]
Well, there is no new car for us in today’s Gospel, but there is a cross. Jesus tries to tell us that in following him, you get a cross…and you get a cross…we are all going to have our crosses to bear. And if that doesn’t excite you, you are not alone. The disciples, too, found this to be a very difficult teaching. And even Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane asked his Father in Heaven to avoid his cup of suffering and sacrifice…a violent, torturous death on a very real cross.
Yet Jesus’ response was ultimately very different than his disciples. In his humanity, Jesus prefers not to carry his cross, but in his divine perfection being without sin, he does not give into temptation. He accepts his cross. In Matthew (26:39), Mark (14:36), and Luke (22:42), Jesus is tempted, but ultimately, he prays, “not my will, but yours be done.”
Here, I find a comforting lesson. Temptation, that urge or attraction toward something, is not in itself a sin but very human. Ruminating on a temptation can be dangerous, can make us weak, and giving into temptation can prove a sin. Yet everyone is tempted at times. As we see here, Jesus was tempted at times to take the easier road away from Calvary. Yet being without sin, he doesn’t let temptation take root in his heart or mind. He does not give into temptation. He casts it out like the demon’s tool that it can become. “Get behind me, Satan!”
Still, Jesus came to share in our lot including temptation. In fact, we see Jesus tempted throughout his ministry at varied points. Satan tempted him in the wilderness as he fasted at the start of his ministry. He felt tempted in the Garden of Gethsemane at the climax. But many people might prefer to forget the story we heard from a time in between. Peter, likely reflecting the angst of all the disciples, rebukes Jesus in Matthew 16…Think about that…He goes from recognizing Jesus as the Messiah, son of the living God a few lines earlier to rebuking…scolding…criticizing Jesus, his Lord. Peter tempts Jesus.
In response, Jesus angrily (but without sin) calls Peter Satan because that’s the role he is playing…the Tempter. Like Satan in the wilderness but without recognizing it (for sin often happens without our noticing it), Peter is enticing Jesus to veer from his divine path. Peter gets in Jesus’ way. In the original Greek, it specifically says Peter became a “stumbling block.”
Elsewhere in Luke (17:1-2), Jesus teaches, “Temptations to sin [specifically, he says “stumbling blocks”] are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin [stumble].”
So, “Woe to Peter!” Peter is playing God saying what should and should not happen. Peter is being like Satan asking Jesus to ignore God’s will. Peter went from hero (proclaiming Jesus as Lord) to zero (not trusting Jesus) pretty quickly. In truth, so can we all when we seek to deny God’s will or encourage others to do so. This is our collective, shared woe as humans, too.
Yet, there is always Good News. Jesus forgives. Jesus takes this moment of great error to teach them all (and us) an important lesson. As with his first disciples, our crosses will come. Indeed, if any wish to continue to walk the way of Jesus, he says, “let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” To fulfill the will of God is not easy. To follow Jesus comes with cost. Yet, in humbly submitting to God’s will…in surrendering to Jesus as Lord and Savior…trusting in him…Jesus teaches that we can find abundant, eternal life even amidst what we might sometimes see as our trail of tears.
My goodness, this is a curious method to recruit followers, isn’t it? As a result, some Christians try to bait and switch in their evangelism efforts rather than accept it. They adopt a Theology of Glory, where there’s an expectation of and an over-focus on triumph denying hardship and denial of self as part of the way of Jesus. There might be a reliance on human reason, power, and moral works rather than God’s grace, the activity of the Holy Spirit, and Christ’s suffering on the cross. Among the worst-case examples, particularly popular in the US, Australia, and South America, you have the all too attractive (but false) prosperity gospel. Like the serpent in the Garden of Eden pointing to fruit, we are told that God will reward us with things of this world (an easy life, money, power, etc.) if we only believe hard enough and (most commonly) give enough.
In short, give money receive a blessing. Pray hard enough, be good enough, and get what we want. (Not necessarily what God wants. We decide.) And sadly, I’ve even seen a very Oprah-like move by some congregations right here in Virginia. As I have driven around along roadsides, I have found signs offering door prizes such as televisions and even once the possibility of a car if people would just come to the congregation’s Easter service. (I am not suggesting this to our Evangelism Team.)
Does this sound like Jesus to you? If we look at the life of Jesus, the first disciples, or the witness of the early Church under persecution, we should understand that God’s gracious will does not work that way. Jesus doesn’t trick his followers. He doesn’t bribe them. He speaks plainly of a Theology of the Cross. Particularly if following Jesus, one must expect a cross.
There is a saying widely attributed as being from Martin Luther, but it is likely an aphorism reflecting his teachings. (At least, I cannot find any citation.) It reads, “A religion that gives nothing, costs nothing, and suffers nothing – is worth nothing.” I saw someone I don’t know ask on social media in response, “Are we giving [God] crumbs?” Luther regularly wrote about how following Jesus would cost our old way of life. This understanding of faithful living connects us to Jesus’ cross and ultimately our salvation.
As Jesus taught, Luther argued for a Theology of the Cross – that we are to surrender everything, never seeking our own crosses, but accepting crosses as called. These crosses don’t save us. It earns us no merit for heaven. Yet, it is the way of our salvation as we follow Jesus and cling to him with all that we are – loving God and loving neighbor as ourselves with mind, body, and soul (or as Lutheran Pietists argued, our hearts).
And so, both the Jewish and Christian scriptures teach us that in facing hardship, we should live in hope. In facing challenges, we need to seek to hear and follow God’s will for God loves us. And today, preparing his friends for what is coming, in light of Peter’s confession of faith, Jesus tells them that not only is life generally hard, but we will also specifically suffer as we follow Jesus. Be ready.
Nonetheless, when facing our personal, internal, secret fears, or our real-world enemies, grave illness, or even the end of life, we might also be tempted to give up, lose hope, or try to save ourselves from unavoidable pain. Life happens, and unfortunately, there is sometimes no way around pain. We must walk through it faithfully. This means that we do what we can to make things better. (We aren’t asked to suffer for the sake of suffering.) And we are asked to try to be like Jesus amidst our challenges – forgiving, patient, kind, trusting in the God’s provision…even seeking to love and forgive those who anger or betray us as Paul writes the Roman community this morning.
Certainly, like Peter and the Apostles, we will fail at this at times. We will be brought to our knees by the weight of our crosses. Yet like Jesus did pressing up Calvery, we are urged to get up and walk. Reflecting upon this teaching, Brother Matthew, the current Prior of the Taizé Community, shared these words with some young pilgrims visiting last year; recognizing both our fragile humanity and our eternal hope:
“This evening,” he said, “we heard Jesus say to us, ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.’ It is not about denying who we are as people, but of fixing our eyes on Jesus and walking with him. That may lead us to encounter the cross, but if we content ourselves with simply holding onto what we have, how can we discover the fullness of life, that life in the resurrection, that he offers to us all? Are we ready to take the risk of following Jesus at each moment of his journey? That is the challenge that lies before us all.”[ii]
My friends, we are sharing in the ministry and path of Jesus. Jesus lives in us. As his body, the Church, we will face unfair things. Stumbling blocks will come. People will betray us. We might even face forms of ridicule or persecution as we seek to follow Jesus. For we are one with Jesus now, through our faith and baptism, even while living in a fallen, unfair world.
Yet when we are at our lowest, remember the treasure of our faith. With the weight of the world seemingly crushing us, we are asked to raise our heads…to expectantly watch and wait. For, we don’t just have a cross. We have a Savior who loves us enough to die for us, and he will pick us up and carry us when we fall. Just as his suffering body, the Church, proclaims and sings, Jesus is always with us, even as he is coming soon and very soon.[iii] Amen.
Today with the din of recent Jewish faith discussions and debates still echoing in his ears, Jesus pauses to asks his friends, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” That term, “Son of Man,” is steeped in Jewish tradition and theology. In both Jewish and Christian scriptures, the term could indicate the humility of a mere mortal in comparison to God’s glory. It could be used as an address by God speaking to some prophets, or it is used be Jesus roughly seventy-eight times when referring to himself.[i] So, we might assume that term is pretty important.
In using the Son of Man title, Jesus echoes an image from a vision first given to the Prophet Daniel. One “like the Son of Man” would be “given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed” (Daniel 7:14). Thus, Jesus is subtly embodying and claiming that role for himself. He’s the savior. He’s the Lord.
Then, Jesus further reveals himself through his authentic teaching and preaching. He speaks as if with authority…as if he is God. Jesus embodies this authority as he heals the sick, exorcises demons, calms seas, feeds multitudes in miraculous ways, and resurrects people. Jesus used this title to affirm his authority to forgive sins (Mark 2:10 for example) and act as Lord of the Sabbath (Mark 2:28). Those with the eyes to see, as empowered by the Spirit, will recognize Jesus as Lord.
Yet, many people misjudge Jesus. Just a few verses before, Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus to challenge him. Normally adversarial factions within Judaism, debating about religious practice, scripture, and authority among the people of Israel, they have now become united in their opposition to Jesus…over their concerns about Jesus.[ii]
And as for the general population, as can happen in our own time under social stress, many people fear the End was near as they look at the state of the world around them. Jerusalem was under Roman rule. The Herodian Dynasty was friendlier to Greek ideals than Jewish ones, and they were vassals to Rome. People longed for freedom and the fulfillment of God’s eschatological, if not apocalyptic, promises.
In such a state, some like the Essenes lived extreme lives in the desert sharing in what we might today label a kind of a cultish, communal life. Other people claimed to be or were wrongly identified as the promised Messiah as they rallied people to fight Rome for liberty. This violence helped lead to the military occupation of Judah and the arrival of Pontius Pilat. And many prophets appeared; not all recorded in scripture. Some of these proved false prophets, much as some are appearing in our own time.
In this mix, John the Baptist served and died. We understand now that he prepared the way for Jesus, but at the time, he was primarily recognized as a great prophet in his own right. Some held out hope that he was the Messiah, so maybe…just maybe…John the Baptist would fulfill God’s past promised and come back to life.
Now, this might sound strange to us, but recall that to this day, a small Gnostic group called the Mandaeans who still view John the Baptist as their greatest and ultimate prophet.[iii] To them, Jesus is a false prophet. And in our own nation, a small sect of Hassidic Jews believes their rabbi who died in 1994 is the Messiah. They await his resurrection to complete their redemption.[iv] They think he is the promised Messiah. Likewise, there was and remains a belief that Elijah or Jeremiah would come back when it came time for God’s promises to Israel to be fulfilled. Throughout time, people have and will wrongly place their hope in figures other than Jesus.
That said, surrounded by Pagan temples to false gods, Jesus asks another important question…perhaps the most important eternally. “But who do you think that I am?” In my mind’s eye, I see the great Apostles hesitate. They might even be visibly hemming and hawing a bit, murmuring among themselves. They have likely been discerning together this very point for a while as they walked or rested, but now? Now, they must uncomfortably declare what they believe in front of Jesus and one another.
And reflecting his bold personality but also his leadership role in the group, Simon blurts out their shared hope. “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16). Here, Simon has spoken the ultimate truth about Jesus. He has named the proverbial key to it all…the foundation of our faith that rests in Jesus. And as is not unusual in tribal based societies, Jesus gives Simon a new name to reflect this momentous action or moment. He is renamed Peter which means Rock.
Yet interestingly, Jesus does not give him full credit. Flesh and blood have not revealed this to Peter – not any computations in his mind, or words of another apostle or any human. God the Father has revealed this through God’s Spirit. As Lutheran Christians, we understand that only through God’s work can we identify Jesus as Lord. If you believe that Jesus is Lord, it is the Holy Spirit at work in you. You have been called and chosen no matter how small, weak, and imperfect you feel.
Yet, some Christians still overly focus on our personal decision to believe in Jesus…as if faith is a moment in time, a declaration we must make, or something under our power. So much so, people can forget that it isn’t fully our decision after all. It is good to stand up and declare Jesus our Lord. (Lutherans do so at baptisms, and every time we say the Creed, and even when we become adults in the Church through the rite of Confirmation.) God comes to us first…decides to love us and set us apart. Yes, we might read scripture and learn about Jesus, hear of Jesus from others and be invited to follow, but a lot of people have read scripture or heard of Jesus and not come to believe. Yet, the Spirit alone acts within these actions and circumstances to help reveal to us the divine identity of Jesus to us. This is when the time is right for us and the community around us.
Then, we have the problem of what exactly is the rock that Jesus will build his Church upon. Popes, Patriarchs, pastors and priests, along with self-proclaimed Apostles, Prophets and charlatans, have at times declared they are the arbiters of faith at times. Sometimes this puts Christians at odds as much or even more so then the Pharisees, Sadducees, Priests, Essenes and other sects existing in Jesus’ time.
Yet Christ is our cornerstone, and that statement of faith in Jesus as Messiah, Son of the Living God, proves our shared foundation…nothing else on this earth…no Pope, no denomination, no dogma, no theology, no worship style, no hymnal, not even ourselves. In scripture, the Letter to the Hebrews simply declares, “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).
If you take the time to review Luther’s writings or even just the ELCA’s website, you will hear that Martin Luther similarly wrote, “Faith is a living, daring confidence in God’s grace,” a grace that comes to us only through the sacrifice, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus, as the Son of God; pointing us in love toward others and the world. Yes, in trying to follow Jesus, Christians can wrongly claim exclusivity. We are right, and others are wrong. We are saved, and they are not. Yet in doing so, as again Luther cautioned, we risk being unbiblical by serving as divine judge and limiting God’s authority to dispense grace as God wills.[v] This echoes the yeast of the Pharisees: hypocrisy, rigid religiosity, and placing obstacles in the way of faith. No, we are not saved by perfect theology or actions…just grace.
Thankfully since the horrors of World War 2 with Christians murdering Christians and many others, there has been a great effort to work towards oneness; remembering that Jesus prayed that his Church may be one as our Triune God is one (John 1722). Even some Roman Catholic resources understand that “In Matthew 16 and [later] Matthew 18, Jesus gives the disciples authority over binding and loosing,” all of them, not just Peter.[vi] The same authority given to Peter in Matthew 16 is given to all the disciples in Matthew 18. It says “you all” have the power to bind and loose. The Pharisees used that specific term, “binding and loosing,” and Jesus and his first disciples knew what it meant. And that phrase inferred that we are to communally “discern authoritative, doctrinal, and disciplinary decisions.”[vii]
In the end, we who believe in Jesus share the keys to the Kingdom, but Jesus remains Lord of his House. Thus, our declarations regarding faith and life, as well as our ecumenical if not interfaith discussions and disagreements, can prove important. Yet we need to humbly remember that we always can err. Our pronouncements can become a wound to others or distraction from biblical truth. We need to remain humble, not triumphant, continuously reforming in light of the revelation of scripture; repenting as necessary. We are to do so in conversation with one another and the teachings of the historic Church, those that came before us. Yet again, Jesus warns us to proceed with caution, not pride, as did Paul in our letter today. For we and our pronouncements can become a stumbling block to another’s fragile faith through our lack of patience, wrongheaded attitudes, blind arguments, lack of compassion, empathy, or love.[viii] Because that is the yeast of the Pharisees.
Echoing the Lutheran theologian (from the late 1800s to early 1900s), Ernst Troeltsch, we discover that we should not confuse sect with Church. To him, a sect is a small, voluntary, and exclusive group that rejects the secular world and demands intense personal devotion from its members and a conscious, adult conversion. Meanwhile, a healthy Church aims to include all of society, even infants through Baptism. It accepts secular authority, reflecting Luther’s own belief in Two Kingdoms. Imperfect as they can be, god can use them. The Church is a place where grace is mediated through sacraments.[ix] We understand that to be Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Still, even then, Jesus says that he came to draw all people to himself through his sacrifice (John 12:32). The Spirit might yet widen our definition and understanding of the eternal “Church” in surprising ways beyond our imagination…but that’s God’s judgement.
Most simply, faith remains trust in Jesus as the Son of the Living God. Faith in him ultimately makes us saints despite our sins, and creates one holy, catholic (meaning universal) Church despite our denominational divisions or blindness. Thus, Christ’s Church is not any building, singular polity or religious practice, but a spiritual, imperfect communion of those in the flesh that trust in Jesus as Lord…sinner-saints all…in need of ongoing repentance and grace. I’ve often said to friends, my faith is in God, not my denomination.
Remember, it was Jesus who established and continues to build his Church for our sake. He is here with us when two or three gathers in his name to heal our wounds, to forgive our sin, to move us toward reconciliation, and through God’s Spirit seeks to draw us closer to God’s self and make us more holy…transforming us as Paul says. It is he who called each of us here today…or drew you to watch online…and asks us to love others as we are loved. We can come without fear with open hearts declaring Jesus as our Lord. For our faith is in Jesus, the Son of the Living God, who has come to love and save us. Our faith will be used to connect us to him and one another under his roof, the Church, forever…because he loves us, and he is our God. Amen.
[i] “Son of Man,” Harper Collins Bible Dictionary and Harper Collins Commentary.
[ii] At least as a whole, this proves true. Some will come to believe in Jesus despite the animosity of the religious groups or classes they belong to.
[iii] See “Mandaeans” on Wikipedia. Numbered from around 60,000 to 100,000 believers today. “They may have been among the earliest religious groups to practice baptism, as well as among the earliest adherents of Gnosticism, a belief system of which they are the last surviving representatives.” Based in Iraq, they have been persecuted and spread out due to the Iraq War.
[iv] See “Menachem Mendel Schneerson” on Wikipedia. “During his lifetime, many of his adherents believed that he was the Messiah, though not all Chabadniks subscribe to this belief. His own attitude to the subject, and whether he proclaimed it, is hotly debated among academics and scholars of Judaism.”
[v] The Augsburg Confession indicates that we wanted to remain in relationship among differences, but as time went on, Lutherans also condemned many, including other Lutherans, sometimes killing or persecuting them. And we were and are condemned in turn by others.
[viii] See, for example, Mathew 18:6 or Matthew 19:14.
[ix] Troeltsch, E. (1931). The social teaching of the Christian churches (O. Wyon, Trans.). Macmillan. (Original work published 1912). The Lutheran Confessions indicate that the Church is made of “congregations of saints [believers] in which the Gospel is purely taught and the Sacraments are correctly administered.” This is from Article VII (Of the Church) in The Augsburg Confession. His argument draws from this basic Lutheran understanding.
Below, please find a video of our worship service. The sermon starts at about the 33:15 minute mark.
There is a dog in the story today, so I am going to use that as an excuse to talk about my beloved Boomer. I know a lot of you don’t know Boomer. Some of you might have seen him on social media, but if there is anything you should know about him…that which motivates him more than anything even being around me…its food. It is food. And I think it is partly because he was abused as a puppy. With his other siblings, they were starved. So, I think he is still hungry. You know, it is that memory of that woundedness that keeps him hungry.
And so, if you were to come to our house, you would see him sit there patiently, but he watches you as your fork goes from plate to mouth, plate to mouth. His head bobbing looks as if he is watching the most spectacular tennis match. He doesn’t want to miss a moment…but really, what he doesn’t want to miss is the smallest crumb dropped. If anything hits that floor, it is gobbled up quick as can be. Yet if I am not messy, and there is nothing to be had…if I don’t show him some grace and give him a bite…he is part beagle. So, when he is at his most desperate, guess what? He is vocal, and Boomer lets out the most plaintiff lament that would make a banshee in the Odyssey jealous. Oh, he puts them to shame.
And I bring this up because it is a similar to the utter desperation that this woman is feeling.[i] , a deep hunger longing to be filled. The hunger that she was experiencing resonates throughout today’s passage. It is not what Jesus said, or the arguments over the ritualistic propriety of food consumed with the Pharisees, nor any obnoxious behaviors of the mother (as at least as Jesus’ disciples experienced her), nor even the girl’s suffering (surprisingly) that holds center stage. No, it is the miracle of faith that begs for our attention. We see God’s most ancient plans and promises being fulfilled in this scene. Salvation would come first to the Jews and through them to the entire world. The gift of faith is on the move thanks to the Holy Spirit. It is a story as old as scripture itself.
When the Bible starts in Genesis with Creation and then Adam and Eve, we see Adam and Eve banished from the Garden of Eden for their sin, ultimately a pride that they felt that they could be like God. Yet, our LORD God in his mercy clothed them on their way (Genesis4:21). He didn’t just cast them out. He clothed them. And as the rest of scripture reveals, God had a plan even then to restore what was lost.
And from there, we quickly move from a more cosmic and global level of story toward a focus on one family, the family of Abraham and Sarah and their descendants. Yes, it is true that God made a covenant with Abraham, but that was ultimately because of God’s will and Abraham’s faith in response. Even as Abraham had much more to learn, faith (trust in God) made Abraham righteous in God’s eyes, as it does his descendants, and as it does us (some of us not genetic descendants but spiritual children of Abraham)…called to trust.
In this all too human story, we see lots of sin, but God remains gracious. Ultimately, the former slave, Joseph, betrayed by his brothers, says to them as all the stories in Genesis come to a conclusion in his life’s experiences, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives” (Genesis 50:20). God proved faithful, blessing people beyond just Joseph or his family, thus inspiring more faith.
And then, we meet Moses. As a new covenant is built upon the one made with Abraham, as the Israelites get to know God better despite many stumbles and sinful bumbles along their way, God names them repeatedly, Qedesh Olam. And this is one of the most important phrases in the Jewish scriptures. Qedesh signifies “holy” or “set apart.” And olam signifies “everlasting” or “eternity.” The Jewish people are being set apart as God’s Holy People…chosen and set apart, forever. It is not because of what they have done or will do. Ultimately, it is because God wills to love them in this way…It is grace. We are saved by grace through faith…through trust.
Yet maybe we should stop here to ask, “Why?” Were the Israelites freed just to escape Egypt in order to form a tiny nation in the Lavant? No, we learn as the story continues through the same dysfunctional family, particularly as it zeroes in on the line of David and the Kingdom of Israel, that there is much more to it. The prophets attest to it many times. Despite imperfections and lack of faithfulness, God wills to remain faithful to them. God loves them with a steadfast love. They are set apart, but it is for a purpose that reaches far beyond them to bless all the peoples of the Earth.
Yes, others will learn of the Lord through this holy, set apart people. Others will come to love and worship God… people God already loves. That’s what Isaiah (56:8) tells us this morning. All along, the flow of God’s mercy, the stream of our salvation history, is catching up surprising figures in its current. It is sweeping humanity along as in a rolling tide, a flood, hoping to draw all people to God’s self…gathering people in…swept up by the Holy Spirit, so to speak.
Even with the Syrophoenician woman this morning, we see God at work. She has a need, a deep hunger, that she cannot satisfy. She’s heard of this Jesus, and she has come to believe in his power and authority. Matthew’s first audience knows Jesus is the Lord of All, but she calls him Lord three times symbolically indicating divine order and wholeness…God’s self is being revealed through Jesus…as Jesus.
Based on the disciples’ response, she was acting a little bit like Boomer at my table…trying with all her might to catch Jesus’ attention…being a little obnoxious. “Lord! Lord! Lord! Help me!” Even in her body language, she takes the form of someone pleading…someone worshipping God on her knees…in supplication if not worship.
As with Matthew’s first audience, we can sense her desperation and be moved toward empathy and compassion for her situation. In one way or another, we likely have all been there…Or we will be there at some point…a place where we hope against hope that things will work out. Or maybe we struggle to have hope at all. Some of us have been in that space, too.
Through the laments found in Psalms, we address God. We share our complaints. We make our request, and then there is an offer an expression of trust (or faith) that God will care for us. Then finally, there’s a vow of praise or thanksgiving. Her behaviors, if we look closely, model the Psalms. Her actions echoed the form of this kind of holy lament.[ii]
This woman who is a Gentile or commonly called a Greek at the time, who is the descendant of the ancient Jewish enemy, the Canaanites, scandalously approaches Jesus. He’s a Jew. He’s a respected member of the community above her station. He is recognized as a Rabbi, or teacher, and miracle worker even among the Gentiles by this point. And at a time and in a culture when no respectable woman would approach a strange man to speak to him in public, she boldly does. She almost makes a fool of herself. Everything seems wrong with this woman.
In Matthew’s telling, this unnamed woman rises out of the crowds[iii] as if she is the only one there.[iv] Boom! We are to look at her and see her as God sees her…in her humility…clothed in her unique needs if not maybe some shame.[v] And then, she will disappear within the flow of history just as fast…unknown to us but remembered by God. Yet before she goes, we are to notice something that might inspire us and change our own lives forever. She has incredible faith!
Despite everything against her, despite the challenges of her possessed daughter, despite her station, she has faith in Jesus. That, my friends, changes everything. Like others who just wanted to touch the hem of Jesus’ garment (Matthew 9:20-22), or catch a glimpse of him (Luke 19:1-10), or have him just say a word (Matthew 8:8)…she just wants a crumb of mercy…not ultimately for herself, but for the one she loves…her daughter.
We recently saw Peter fail at his attempt to walk on the water, and Jesus retorted at that time, “You of little Faith” (Matthew 14:22-33). The Pharisees came from Jerusalem to challenge him over his behaviors, and he reminds them at his peril that faith really isn’t about what we do or don’t do ritually or otherwise. It is about the heart. Just as love can flow from the heart, so can murder and all sin. He sees their hearts and knows that these particular Pharisees, supposed men of faith, are hypocrites.
No, faith is only of the heart. It is not of our worldly station. It is not imagined through our intellect, or does it come to us by what we do or fail to do. And here, this “other,” this “foreigner,” this “enemy,” this “women,” this “dog,” …incredibly walks right up to Jesus in faith. Like a parable shared by Jesus, this woman knocks and knocks trusting all along that Jesus will open the door (Luke 18:1-8). As a result of this incredible trust, Jesus declares, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish” (Matthew 15:28). Miracles happen because of faith.[vi]
Yet before we think that this is all her doing, making faith a saving work of sorts, reliant upon our own abilities or will, let us always remember that faith, too, is a gift from God…a gift of the Holy Spirit. When Peter soon afterwards finally comes around to declare Jesus the Messiah, Son of the Living God, Jesus explains, “this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood [not by his brain or any other human], but by my Father in heaven.” We cannot even recognize Jesus as Lord without the Holy Spirit’s help. Faith is solely a work of God, the Spirit…an invitation to eternal relationship that comes to us as gift and of which we are to grab onto, cling to, and treasure.
God by grace through faith makes us Christ’s saints. Throughout history, the greatest of the recognized, lauded saints are small in number compared to the many anonymous “dogs” and “others” who have looked for scrapes at Jesus’ table and were saved. These knew they didn’t deserve it. They recognized they could not save themselves. Yet, they were saved by grace through faith.
Similarly, if we were to take a poll this morning, I would suggest that for most of us it was not Peter or Paul or any story of a famous saint that drew us to dare to hope that Jesus could save us. It was the Spirit often choosing to work through ordinary, overlooked people in the annals of history: a parent or grandparent…a mentor that witnessed to us of hope…a stranger that helped us discover the true meaning of grace, when the time was right…recognized for the first time or in a new way.
There’s a reason the Church commonly says that some of the greatest saints were the greatest sinners…the most in need of grace…the dogs of the world. A singer, Steven Curtis Chapman, was inspired one day to pen these words (found in his song, “Remember your chains,” on his CD, Heaven in the Real World, 1994)when he saw the hunger in the eyes of a prisoner on a plane he had boarded. It was a sudden Spirit-led realization:
There’s no one more thankful to sit at the table Than the one who best remembers hunger’s pain; And no heart loves greater than the one that is able To recall the time when all it knew was shame.
He was observing an “other,” a “dog” to the world but precious to Jesus…someone that needed Jesus’ love desperately. And this inspired Stephen to actively support prison ministries.
In my own life, while a troubled youth or being a police officer, I remember people who rose from the crowd to speak hope and share a crumb of their faith with me when I was dying inside of hunger. It was a high school friend’s blue-collar father, a humble Sunday school teacher, and a childhood friend who was later a recovering heroin addict. It was a recovering alcoholic man and a woman recovering from food addiction who became spiritual mentors to me. There were many other types of surprising people used by God…I confess with shame…that I previously looked down upon as dogs. When in reality, I proved the dog in need of crumbs, and they responded. I had not even realized my need.
As God loves us one and all as we are, God seeks to meet our need for salvation through the Church. As Dr. Sara Hinlicky Wilson reflected once in a podcast, we, the Church, are “reclaiming faith as the creation of the Holy Spirit through the word [preached] and sacraments, the ministry of the Church, and all that.”[vii] Yet, that’s not good enough for God. God uses it, but that’s not good enough.
We are gathered on Sundays, then sent. Through our daily lives, we are asked to take what little scraps of faith, hope, and love we can muster from that already gifted to us and share it with others. Despite our doubts, darkness, or insecurities…even our sin…no matter how stupid people might make us feel or the “other” we are…by grace through faith, we have been saved in Jesus Christ alone…gathered by God’s Spirit and set aside for a purpose.
It is implausible to many, maybe beyond our own understanding, but we “dogs” and sinners who dare to trust in Jesus have been declared Qedesh Olam. We are part of a much greater story, God’s love for the world. This is no time to wait or waste, for God is calling us. God will use the meager crumbs we offer, those Jesus gifted to us first, to gather still others in…to build up his Church. It is God’s will that our lives and the world be changed forever. It always has been. We have been saved for a purpose. Amen.
[i] No, I am not trying to minimize this woman’s situation. It is not comparable, but I am trying to show that she was loudly begging. Her calling for Jesus caused enough of a racket that the disciples wanted her shooed away.
[ii] Gail R. O’Day, “Surprised by Faith: Jesus and the Canaanite Woman,” in A Feminist Companion to Matthew, ed. Amy-Jill Levine and Marianne Blickenstaff (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2001), 124.
[iii] Keck, L.E., Chief Ed. (1995). The New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary in Twelve Volumes.
[iv] Brother Roger of Taizé often said that we are loved “as if the only one.”
[v] In that ancient honor based society, her behavior would bring shame upon her and her household.
[vi] This does not mean that we always get what we want when we believe, but our prayers and cares are heard and answered somehow by God.
[vii] Hinlicky Wilson, S. (August 23, 2023). Quenn of the Sciences Podcast. “Luther’s Bondage of the Will.”
Below, please find a video of our worship service. The sermon starts at about the 26:15 minute mark.
In the neighborhoods surrounding the Pentagon in Northern Virginia, there is a story that circulates about a Navy Admiral and an Army General who were friends – unlikely friends perhaps – that often enjoyed fishing together. And so, one day, they decided to take a break and go fishing on the nearby Potomac River. They fought their way through traffic to the Columbia Island Marina, just off the GW Parkway, and they excitedly get into their small boat and headed out for a peaceful time fishing together.
Unfortunately, an unexpected, strong storm came upon them very quickly. (These were the days before your handy dandy weather app, and they were taken by surprise.) And sadly, the high winds and waves soon swamped and capsized their small boat tossing both highly decorated, powerful, and respected men into the water.
Then, the storm died down almost as quickly as it came. Both renowned warriors struggled almost helplessly to get back into the boat. They had grown totally exhausted fighting the wind and the waves. It was a literal sink or swim moment, and they feared this might be it.
Yet, the Admiral floundered his way back first, righted the boat, and pulled himself painfully in with great effort. Then he fished out the General, using an oar still floating nearby. Catching his breath, the Admiral puffed: “Please don’t say a word about this to anyone. If the Navy found out I can’t swim well, I’d be disgraced.” In response the Army general panted, “Don’t worry. Your secret is safe. I’d hate to have my men find out I can’t walk on water.”[i]
Ah, if only we could walk on water. This story is totally a joke of course, but sadly, for the General in my joke or anyone else who is human, walking on water is an impossibility. Now, you might stop me and say, “Hey, Pastor Lou, didn’t St. Peter walk on water. I mean we just heard the story. He did take a few steps.” But I would have to correct you. You see, no human being ever could walk on water under their own power. They need God’s help to do so…God’s power…and that’s exactly what Peter was connect to through his trust in Jesus.
You might think I’m being a bit too nuanced here, but the events of Matthew 14 with walking on water are very similar to the Feeding of the 5,000 a few verses earlier. As I mentioned last week, Jesus’ earlier miracles in Matthew had previously been focused on healing and exorcisms as he begins his ministry. Thus, they are sometimes called therapeutic ministries.[ii] Now that things are getting serious and it is time for Jesus to head toward the cross in all earnestness, Jesus is starting to reveal himself more plainly. He is beginning to do even mightier works of power to help people identify who he is.
These will be nontherapeutic miracles that show his power over the cosmos and the established order of the world…even death itself.[iii] What human could multiply food or walk on water on their own? Moses, Elijah, Elisha and any other of God’s prophets needed God’s help. In contrast, Jesus can perform miracles as he wills. He is Imanuel, God with us…Those with the eyes to see will understand such nonverbal messages…revelation through mighty deed…With the help of the Holy Spirit, we can come to trust that Jesus is Lord.
Look at some of the details in today’s account. Jesus appears like a ghost. Was it the Apostles shock or his divine power that made him seem so? We aren’t told. Yet we are told, Peter dared to hope…dared to hope…that against all odds and common sense, despite anything he thought plausible in a very real world…Peter dared to hope this apparition was Jesus. Peter says, “Lord, if it is you [if…emphasis mine], command me to come to you on the water.” Even this great Apostle and beloved friend of Jesus, Peter, knows that he needs Jesus’ help. He cannot manage this on his own.
We see throughout Matthew’s Gospel that Matthew understands that you risk trusting Jesus or you don’t really trust Jesus. The way he weaves his witness, Matthew sees the Kingdom of God against the Kingdom of Satan throughout.[iv] There is a cosmic battle, we have a life-giving or life-ending choice to make. You are either for Jesus or against Jesus. You either trust him or you don’t.
As one commentary suggests, that is a very dualistic presentation for sure, yet it is not meant to say that Satan was ever equal to God or has a chance to win. No, the powers of sin, death, and the Devil do not equal God and are not absolute…They have no real power over us because of Jesus. But the God who has chosen to love us is all powerful…eternally powerful.[v]
Yet as evidenced by Peter’s comment (“if it is you”) as well as his sinking into the sea as he starts to notice the wind and likely the frantic waves pounding against him and around him, and he starts to listen to his doubts instead of the commanding voice of Jesus, Peter is seen struggling with trust. (Trust is another word for faith.) Indeed, when he asks Jesus, “if it is you,” Peter sounds a lot like Satan back in chapter 4 (verse 3) when he says, “If you are the Son of Man…”[vi] Within this great Apostle, beloved by Jesus, we find sinner and saint simultaneously…just like us. And when we doubt like Peter, “we can unwittingly cooperate with sin, death and the devil even [within] our efforts to prove our faith.”[vii]
Yet, there’s Good News, friends. Jesus is always to the rescue. He knows we are messed up…It is Jesus who comes to the Apostles in their need. It is Jesus who reveals his power and steadfast love to them. It is Jesus who forgives Peter’s doubts and shortcomings and commands him to walk on water like Jesus. And when Peter sinks? It is Jesus, the Word of God, who comes to Peter to raise him to new life. Extending his hand down into the sea, Jesus grasps the sputtering Peter and pulls him out to save him.
Even through trauma such as this, the near loss of life, God can help the Apostles grow in faith despite themselves. (Today, we might compare it to what is called post traumatic growth in chaplaincy.) Their faith grows despite their doubts because they made it through this life changing and challenging event with God’s help. And thus, they worship Jesus as this episode ends. They’ve learned more about themselves and their need through this event, but they have also learned more about Jesus, Son of the Living God, a Savior who comes to his children when in need and when the time is right…always will save them. Jesus reveals his divine nature to them, including his love and grace.
In my most recent #TheologicalThursday video, I spoke a bit about what it means to be saved. And we see that today. Elijah was being hunted down by the forces of Queen Jezabel. He had lost hope. He actually previously said that he wanted to die because things were that bad. And yet, he is up in the mountains when God speaks to him within silence like a still, small voice. God came to him.
Similarly in the midst of storm and the noise of the world shouting for us to give up, Jesus comes speaking peace to us. As Paul writes, “The scripture says, ‘No one who believes [who trusts] in [Jesus] will be put to shame.” No one! Even those of us who struggle to have faith, struggle against sin, or like Elijah contemplate our own death in our sense of defeat. The Word, Jesus, is near us…coming to us again and again…never giving up on us…extending to us his hand o grace because Jesus wills to save us.
Sadly, there are some of our brothers and sisters in Christ who focus so much on the Law…accusing us as it tells us to just be better or try harder…they unwittingly give power and worship to the wind and waves of life. Echoing the faith of Paul and martyrs of the earliest Church, the message to focus upon is not ultimately, “If Peter had enough faith, he could have walked on water.” That kind of thinking leads only to a false hope of perfection, works righteousness, and feelings of defeat if not shame. This would be as if I said, ‘If we had enough faith, we could overcome all our problems”…accident, disease, aging, or any other terrible circumstance…”We can beat it.”
That’s magical thinking, my friends, not faith…a kind of hubris and sin, for we cannot will or wish our salvation. In life, bad stuff happens to good people just as it happened to Jesus, Peter, and any of Christ’s martyrs. For some reason, God allows sin, death, and the Devil to have its day…for now…but they shall never, ever win. Indeed, they lost when Jesus said, “It is finished” (John 19:30), from the cross and died.
When Jesus walks on water, he knows that a storm is coming on the Sea of Galilee. And Jeus knows that soon a political if not spiritual storm is coming to Jerusalem when he will die. And he knows that later a storm will come as the Church is sent out in hope but faces infighting, persecution, and death.[viii] Life is filled with storms, but the Word who is Jesus is always near. He alone is the gift that keeps us afloat.
Yes, miracles will ultimately happen when we trust in Jesus. Yet, miracles tend to happen when God needs them to happen. It always remains as in our prayers, “Father, your will be done” (Matthew 6:9-13), and this means sometimes we might need to faithfully risk drowning… to risk death as Peter did to prove the presence and true power of divine reality over the world’s vision and version of reality.[ix]
Still, even then, when we think we or the Church are sunk, we are asked to try to keep our hearts clinging onto Jesus and his promises alone. “For ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved,’” Paul reminds us. We can’t walk on water even one step without Christ’s help.
In trying to be faithful like Peter, we often can stumble, fall, or be afraid as we try to live and serve faithfully…and yet, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” Imperfect or powerless as we might feel…no matter the power or principality of this world threatening us…even facing death itself…we are asked to remember this: Jesus has already reached down to the depths of Hell to ensure that we never drown.[x] “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.”[xi] It is time for us to walk in faith so that others might learn of Jesus and be saved. Amen.
[x] In the story of Jesus walking on water, we are reminded of the Apostles’ Creed. Even as Jesus is one with God the Father and Creator with power over the Earth, even as the gift of faith is implanted in us through the Holy Spirit, Jesus also died and descended into Hell (or Sheol, the place of the dead) for our sake.
[xi] Here is a favorite quote, shared once again, from Julian of Norwich.
Below, please find a video of our worship service. The sermon starts at about the 35 minute mark.
Husband, Pastor, Law Enforcement Chaplain, and member of the Clerical Errors (aka "The Three Priests"), I'm sharing my two cents with anyone who cares...
You can also find me on social media as Loudluthrn (Lou-d-Luthrn or Lou the Lutheran). It is a moniker given me while attending a Presbyterian Seminary, but I'm a loud and proud Lutheran too (just not too loud and proud, mind you).
