10 November 2013
The 25th Sunday after Pentecost
As many of you know, I am not a great fan of Saint Augustine
– the great 5th Century theologian of the Western Church who foisted his own
personal guilt on us all with his concept of Original Sin. However, on
occasion, Augustine had the right idea. One day, he was asked what God was
doing before the creation of the universe. He replied, “creating Hell for those
who ask stupid questions.” Now, most of us Anglicans left Hell in the dust
centuries ago, but I get his point. And Augustine would have had no time whatsoever
for the Sadducees in this morning’s Gospel lesson.
The Sadducees were a very small but powerful sect within
Judaism. They were the Calvinists of their time. They didn’t believe in
resurrection because they had no need to. Sadducees were very rich because, at
least to them, God had blessed them in particular. They had all that heaven
could provide here on earth and they saw the afterlife as rather a moot point.
When you’re dead, you’re dead having had heaven on earth. Those who were not
blessed as they were obviously had not received the blessings of God because
they weren’t good enough. And of all things, that wasn’t the Sadducees’
problem. And, of course, for them the idea of resurrection was just plain
silly.
On the other hand, there have been those throughout the
centuries for whom the needs of the less fortunate were also not their problem.
These folks – among them many 18th and 19th Century Anglican clergymen, had no
problems with the huge divide between the rich and the poor and the conditions
under which the latter worked and survived. These folks believed that such
people would be rewarded in the afterlife so why worry about this one. If the
poor had Jesus in their hearts, they’d be just fine.
We might observe that Our Lord in this morning’s Gospel is
certainly kinder than St. Augustine - though I figure that even Our Lord
himself was a bit exasperated by the Sadducees’ question certainly not asked in
innocent inquiry. Of course, they were trying to pick a theological fight.
Whether we like it or not, and no matter how much the Gospels rail against
them, Our Lord was born and raised in the Pharisaic tradition of Judaism. He
believed in resurrection. His beef with the Pharisees was their hypocritical
insistence on ritual purity. But when it came to the resurrection, they were on
the same page. The Pharisees were of the opinion that when the Messiah came,
the righteous would be resurrected to live in new messianic age.
What no one seemed to know or understand, including Our Lord
himself, was that the resurrection was much more than that for which they had
bargained. The question of what the Resurrection of Jesus even was has stumped
theologians since the day Our Lord peeked out from the tomb. Earliest
scriptural references to the Resurrection are the Risen Christ as bright light
knocking St. Paul off his horse on the way to Damascus, or a very gauzy figure.
It’s not until the end of the First Century and the writing of the Gospel of
John, that Our Lord takes on very human bodily forms. But for our purposes this
morning, that question will need to continue to be a sacred mystery. At the
same time, no one was expecting the Resurrection or else they’ve all been
camped outside the tomb filing their nails, just waiting for the stone to move.
What really happened, we don’t know. No one had a video camera to bear witness
to the events that followed. But what we DO know is that a power stronger than
even death itself brought new and abundant life to a small group of Jewish
women and men that changed the entire course of human history. It was the power
of the Resurrection that gave this little band of people the power and courage
and outrageously intense desire to go into the world with the message of God’s
unrelenting love for the human race. And it was their joy and compassion and
mercy, their refusal to judge and condemn, being God for the world, that
brought new and abundant life to millions. And it is this new and abundant life
of which we have become inheritors.
We come and sit in this Church every Sunday morning to bare
witness that the Resurrection has touched our lives in the most intimate of
ways. It is the knowledge of God’s outrageous love for us and all people that
brings us back each week. It’s knowing that there is a place where the Gospel
of Jesus is lived out: a place where we know that we might be challenged, but
never judged nor condemned because such things are not the Gospel. It is living
with the security that when life happens we have a resurrected community to
hold us in the dark times and lift a glass of Champagne with us in our joy - a
community to be Christ for and with us. It is being part of a cause, the
ultimate cause of Christ himself, that stands up to challenge the wolves in
sheep’s clothing who still preach the purity laws and condemnation of which the
Pharisees were so fond in our own day. It is indeed Christ’s own Resurrection
which lavishly provides a place where we belong a place for us to call home.
I have always refused to talk about fund raising in Church.
I always let someone else do that. That’s what Stewardship committees are for.
But I’ve changed a bit. I’ve come to realize that stewardship isn’t about
raising money though it might be a byproduct. Stewardship is knowing what we
have and who has given it to us and not wanting to keep it just for ourselves.
We are not stewards of just our checkbooks. We are stewards of the Gospel. We
are stewards of the very power that raised Jesus from the dead which has
brought the possibility of new and abundant life to every human being on this
planet. And we are stewards of the power of that Gospel in our own little
corner of the world on First Hill.
When Ron and I have our yearly conversation about what we’re
going to give to the Church, it’s not about the money. Sure, we talk about
dollars and cents. But ultimately, it’s about what those dollar and cents mean
and what they accomplish. Our paltry little contribution to the whole increases
the chances that some poor soul who’s been beaten up by the wolves in sheep’s
clothing might find a place of refuge and new life and home and the knowledge
that the love of God has no strings attached. What we give ensures that what
passes as Christianity in this country is not the only voice that is heard and
the peace and love which God has for us all is available to all – even the
Pharisees of our own day. We give so that others might have what we have. And
it insures that we continue to have a place from which to live out our faith in
Jesus and be supported in living the life and Gospel to which he calls us with
those who have become our community.
And we don’t give because we ought to or because we should.
Guilt is never a good or positive motivator. We give because we want to. We
give out of a sense of deep thanks for what God has given us - what God has
given to everybody whether they know it or not.
With Ron’s Jewish roots, we make an investment in the thing
that we value the most and to the One whose investment in us is our ultimate
joy. And we make that investment because this is home. It’s the place we
belong. It’s the place where we are fed and nurtured and have the privilege of
feeding and nurturing others.
I invite you to invest with us, to invest in our mutual
home: for all that it is and for all that it can be.
Some of us may only spend an hour or so a week here. And
what’s one hour or so out of 168 minus the 56 we are asleep? Some of us may
spend more than that. But even just that one hour is the nitty gitty of what
life is made. This is the place – even for that one hour or so – where we live
into what life is really all about, - the community to whom we turn in life’s
most profound moments, - the place that reminds us that we are indeed loved and
lovable, - the place we can be our true selves at least for that hour and
nobody snickers.
Whether the cash value of your investment is large or small
is somewhat beside the point. What matters is what that investment means. It
means that you value this place and that for which it stands. It means you
value the Gospel which is its bedrock. And it mans you value the One who is its
very bedrock. But ultimately, I invite you to invest in the One through whom
God has invested in us, the One whose love for us and the world knows no
bounds; the One we know in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment