The Lazy and Disruptive

Isaiah 65: 17-25
2 Thess 3: 6-13

There are  many people that make up the body of Christ. Many different personalities and many different ideas and ways of doing things. That is good and that is right. As the Apostle Paul tells us, not everyone can be head or neck of the church and not everyone should be an arm or leg. We need people with different gifts and ideas to make a church whole and healthy. Truth be told, not many churches are whole and healthy, and the one we read about in Thessalonica is no exception.

In the newly formed church of Thessalonica, there were people that were not doing as they should. They were lazy and they were disruptive. There were people that loved to listen to gossip and spread it to everyone who would listen. There were people who were doing too much work and others that were not doing enough. There were people who had forgotten that Jesus Christ is the head of the church, and not them. The author urges the people to remember the example that they had set when they began the church and to settle down.

Paul tells the people it is time to earn the food they eat. With the divisions in American politics being what it is, this has become a huge topic to republicans and democrats. How much should we help the poor? Should we help them at all? Do we help or harm the people when we extend unemployment benefits and food stamps? This is a problem that has been plaguing society for thousands of years.

We are called to help those that need it. We are also called to make sure people can stand on their own two feet. Sometimes, people will take advantage of our generosity and will take what we give whether they need it or not. As a church, as individuals, and as a nation we need to decide how much we're willing to give and when to say no more. Because Paul does tell us that it is okay to look at someone and tell them to get up and work for what they eat. Now, that does not mean there are not circumstances where a person absolutely cannot earn what they eat. However, we are told that sometimes it's okay to be discriminating in who we offer help to. If the person has two good hands and feet and an able mind - by all means urge them to find work.

This week there was a horrible fire that devastated a family's home. They lost almost everything. It is perfectly acceptable to give them help and Paul would be the first to urge us to give whatever we can to get the family back on their feet. If, in a year from now, the family continues to take things when they no longer need it - that is the issue Paul has with the people in Thessalonica. There is no excuse for laziness. He reminds the people they are taking the energy and resources we have away from those that need it when they refuse to contribute to building up the church.

There is another component to this passage. Paul talks about the busybodies. These are the people that can be idle gossip mongers or they can be people who think it is their job to know everything that goes on in the church and so they take on too much work. These people often do not realize the disruption they cause in the church body because they are too busy to notice. In this passage, Paul reminds us that it is not enough to work constantly for the church, but instead we must work together.

He says that although it was his right to do no work at all and eat whatever he wanted, he and his companions did work with the church body to build up the body of Christ and to teach them what is right and proper. Sometimes, we find ourselves getting so caught up in helping that we take on too much and hurt ourselves and others. When we constantly stand up to do a job, it makes others who are more hesitant and unsure of their gifts, recede into the background. They become idle in their work and faith because we have people that are working too hard.

The church is meant to be a working body. Each part has a function. Every person has a place. The church is not a social gathering place. It is not meant to be a place of idle chitchat. We are not to come here and expect everyone else to do all the work. We are not to come here and expect to do all the work. We are not to sit in our pews on Sunday and think that is the only worship and work that is required as a disciple of Christ. Paul tells us that if that is what you think - then you're thinking wrong.

Church is the place we worship God; our creator, savior and redeemer. Church is the place we congregate to make plans to help others. Church is the place where we get prayed over and we pray for others. Church is the place where a group of people with different gifts and abilities all strive to make our community better, healthier, and more in touch with Jesus Christ. It is not the place where idle gossip is exchanged. It is not the place where petty words and actions are committed. It is not the place where people are unable to forgive mistakes.

Because, Paul tells us, if that is what we are - then how are we any different from the outside world? What do we have to offer our community if we cannot get past such things like disagreements and differences in personality? How can we possibly share the love of Christ with strangers when we do not show the love of Christ to those within these walls?

Take a look around this sanctuary. There are people in here you like and respect. There are people you do not like, but you still treat them well. There are people who you have fought with and afterward you have made up with. There are people who you have shared tears of sorrow with at the loss of a friend or spouse. There are people here who you have helped to get back on their feet during a trying time.

If we want to be a healthy church, all of these things are needed and okay. What is not acceptable is when our dislike becomes disrespect. When we have a disagreement and we allow it to fester in our hearts. What is not acceptable is when we create an agenda that hurts the church and hurts our community because we think a certain person or certain group of people or a committee needs punished. That is when our actions and our words show how far we have turned away from the teaching of Christ. Jesus is the one who stood before his accusers and loved them even as they spouted lies and filth at him. The one who as he lay gasping for breath, bleeding and bloody on that cross, he cried out to God to forgive them for they do not understand what they have done.

That is the example we are called to follow. That is the ONLY way we are to treat each other. Anything else is an abomination of Christ's teaching and is a sin against God.

The good news is that there is time to change all of this. The great news is that despite our pettiness and idleness and gossip, Christ has never stopped loving us and believing in us. Each of you are God's beloved child, an heir to the Kingdom of God because Jesus died to make it so. That will never, ever change unless you deny your inheritance. That means no matter how far we stray from Christ's path that there is a way back. Jesus does not leave us alone even when we stop praying and stop acting like a Christian should.

Today we shall take Communion. We shall eat and drink with Jesus Christ, at his Father's table through the gift of the Holy Spirit. That means right now, we can let go of all the sinful thoughts and behaviors we have subjected ourselves and others to and accept forgiveness. We can start fresh; we will be clean and new and beautiful.

Paul's warning to Thessalonica is a warning to us all. Do not become idle in your faith and in your good works. Continually go back to Jesus Christ and accept his forgiveness and love. When we do that, we cannot stray from God's path for very long.

Amen. 

God of the Living

Job 19: 23-27a
Luke 20: 27-38

As Jesus is teaching in the temple, a variety of challenges confronts him. The Sadducees are questioning his authority and attempting to entrap him in a net of his own words. The scribes and chief priests are amazed at all the things he has been teaching such as paying taxes to the emperor and have fallen silent which allow the Sadducees their chance to prove Jesus as a false prophet with improper teachings.

A little background is in order for everyone to understand why this is so important to the Sadducees. The Pharisees and the Sadducees had a huge difference in opinion on what happens after we die. The Pharisees believed in the resurrection, but the Sadducees believed that when a person died that was it; nothing came afterward. Therefore, when they ask Jesus about the resurrection, they deliberately give an absurd example to try to show why the belief in the bodily resurrection is faulty and wrong. What no one expects, Sadducee or Pharisee, is what Jesus ends up telling them!

As the Sadducees lay out their scenario for Jesus, you can almost hear the scorn in their words and the laughter of the nearby listeners. In a levirate marriage, there was a compassionate law that stated if a woman's husband died the husband's brother would be obligated to marry this woman and raise any children that had been left behind. It was a way to provide a home and security for widows and children who had no ability to fend or feed themselves without a man at their side. This was a law that Moses himself had handed down, and now the Sadducees were going to use it against Jesus. Let's see how he gets out of this one, they were thinking!

Jesus responds by teaching the Sadducees what Moses meant and interpreting their scriptures. For the Sadducees, the Scriptures were limited to Torah or the first five books of the Bible. Jesus honors their tradition by also using the Torah in his explanation. This is the wonderful thing about Jesus. Even when he is putting people in their place and teaching all of us something new and wonderful, he makes sure to honor what has come before his teachings.

Jesus tells the Sadducees that Moses himself said that God reveals himself to be the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Why is this significant? All three of those men are dead by the time Moses is confronted with God at the burning bush when those words are spoken. Therefore, if the Sadducees were right that life ends upon our death, then why would God remember and speak of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? Jesus tells everyone there that our God is the God of the living and every person that has come before us and all of us now, and all of us to come are known to God and part of God's plan.

This puts the Sadducees' teachings into complete disarray! Jesus has just announced that there is most certainly life after death and he has used the Torah to prove it! He proves his point by mentioning that God does not say, "At one time I was the God to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but now they are dead and gone though I remember them with great fondness." No. God says, "I AM the God of Abraham. I AM the God of Isaac. I AM the God of Jacob." God uses the present tense to announce that God is and will always be the God of those three men. Jesus drives home his point by saying, "For to God all of them are alive."

God is a God of the living, not of the dead. Why does that matter to us? What does it mean for all of us sitting here today?

There are many times in our lives when we feel that God is distant from us and lacks empathy for our lives. We have been hurt by the world and we have felt alone and scared. We have major questions to bring to God, and we're unsure if we'll ever get a proper answer. Jesus assures us that God understands our questions, understands our pain, and although it may take a long time and it may not be in this life that we have every question answered and every wound soothed - eventually God will help and heal us. God is God of the living, not of the dead.

This is a reminder to us of all those that have passed, they are not truly gone from our lives. We will never lay eyes again on them in this life, but after we pass away we will be able to see them again. Jesus also reminds us that this life is different from the one we will have in the afterlife. He says that it will not matter who's wife the woman was because that is no longer important after death. What is important on earth is not always important in heaven.

Time and again, Jesus reminds us that riches accumulated on earth will bring us nothing in heaven. We are told that the power we have on earth will not give us power in heaven. We are told that the people we know on earth that make us seem important will matter little once we are dead. There will be new things that are important, there will no longer be power struggles or any need to have money to live. In a way, the Sadducees were right that we should live out our lives with joy and the expectancy that there is only this life. We should not let fear stop us from doing what we've always wanted to do and we should not hold fast to our money for a rainy day because tomorrow could be our funeral.

But Jesus also reminds us in this passage that after our death, there is life to be lived even if it is different from anything we've experienced here on earth. And so we are called to live life fully and completely, treasuring what we have but not holding on to it too tightly, while at the same time looking forward to eternal life that will be different and better in so many ways.

Our God is a God of the living, not of the dead. There is more to this journey than what we can see and touch and hear. Jesus promises that every person is alive in God's eyes and that is a reassurance that someday we will experience the greatest of reunions with those that have gone before us and with those yet to be born. What a wonderful promise we have been given!

Amen. 

Redemption for Zacchaeus - and for us

Habakkuk 1: 1-4
Luke 19: 1-10

Zacchaeus is a sinner desiring to be saved. He was a rich man that became a tax collector because it would gain him more riches in the town of Jericho. And he did become very rich and very hated. Tax collectors were known to charge the people more than they needed to and kept the extra for themselves. Rome did not care as long as the taxes were paid. There was corruption throughout the tax profession, not unlike today, and Zacchaeus was a man who had taken advantage of the situation and the people.

However, on that dusty day in that town, Jesus arrived and everything changed like it usually does when Jesus comes to us. Zacchaeus had heard of this prophet man who walked with 12 men he called his disciples, but he'd never seen him before. He'd heard this man performs miracles and some others whispered that he was the Messiah. Zacchaeus wasn't sure about all of that, but he was incredibly curious about this man who was both loved and loathed in equal measure by the people.

You see, Zacchaeus was hated. He was hated with a passion and that meant despite his high position, despite his power and authority, he was not respected and he was not loved by anyone. In the passage we read today it said that Zacchaeus was small of stature and because he climbs a tree everyone assumes they meant he was short. But it's possible the passage can be read that his life was one of sin and he was not looked upon highly by others. In fact, many looked down upon him for his actions.

Zacchaeus had taken the easy road to make his money. He did not try to earn it through hard work and determination. He earned it through other people's hard work and sweat. If he hadn't taken advantage of this chance, then someone else would have. He reasoned away his doubts and insecurities and convinced himself he was not a bad guy; he was just a smart businessman. However, it is hard to reason away the scornful looks and disgust he saw on so many people's faces when he walked by them. And so, when he hears about this man that the Pharisees also look down upon, but the crowds seemed to enjoy so much - he became very curious about him.

Could it be that this man was truly the Messiah- the Anointed One of God? He went out to see for himself what was so special about this man called Jesus. There was a huge crowd that day and everyone was beckoning and clamoring to see Jesus as he walked by. Some in the crowd were singing, others were crying, and still others were muttering hateful words as he walked into town. People that were sick lined the street calling out to him, "Please, heal us!" and others were yelling obscenities at this man who thought he was so powerful and good. Poor Zacchaeus, who only wanted a glimpse of this man, could not get through such a crowd!

He pushed and he shoved, but because of who he was he found that he was on the outside looking in. He was on the fringes of this crowd with no way inside to see this man that intrigued him so much. Instead of giving up, he looks around and notices this big sycamore tree up ahead. "Yes!" he thought, "I will climb that tree and as Jesus passes by I will see this man and decide for myself what is so special about him!"

And so he began to ran, and then he climbed up, heedless of his expensive clothes and the dirt and tears he was putting into his clothes in his eagerness to see. Jesus began to walk by him and suddenly, he stops and looks up. "Zacchaeus" Jesus calls, "Come down here because I am going to your house today."

Jesus knew his name! How did he know who he was?! He had called out to him and invited him into his home! That was a serious breach in etiquette. Not only should he not sit with a tax collector and obvious sinner because to have dinner with one such as him was to say he was equal to Jesus, but a person never invited themselves without a proper invitation first. But Jesus once again forgets about etiquette and rules and laws because he has seen a sinner that needed saving. A sinner who had been so eager to glimpse Jesus that he had forsaken his dignity to climb a tree.

Jesus knows your name just as he knew Zacchaeus' name. He also knows exactly where you are at in your life and he is still calling out to you to come down from whatever sins have kept you from him because today, he wants to be with you. When Jesus calls out to us, like the crowd around him there will be people that will scoff and scorn. They will say things like, "No one could forgive the mistakes you have made!" "You are not good enough to be loved like we are loved!" "Jesus would never pick YOU out of everyone else he could choose!" But Jesus, he looks at us and he does not see the past. He does not see the sins. He sees a lost soul that needs him desperately and like the gentle Savior he is - he reaches out and enfolds us into his loving arms and his heart.

When Jesus did this for Zacchaeus, he came down and kneeled before Jesus and when the crowds began to mutter angrily, he stood up and said loudly for all to hear that he was going to make amends. He would give away half of all he owned and make reparations for all he had cheated not once, but four times as much as he had taken he would give! As Jesus looked on, Zacchaeus repented of his sins and turned back to God, and with a smile Jesus gave Zacchaeus the most precious gift of all, the gift of eternal salvation.

When Jesus calls us, we need to respond the way Zacchaeus did. Zacchaeus saw in Jesus a beauty that went beyond what a human could possess. In Jesus' eyes he saw his own hope of a better life; one where he was no longer hated and feared and disrespected, but instead he was accepted, wanted, and loved. In Jesus' eyes, Zacchaeus was no longer an awful sinner, but a perfect human being. This is what God sees when he looks at each of us because he looks through the eyes of Christ; the one who died to save us all.

When we fully grasp the love Christ has for us, it is hard not to respond in kind. When people love us unconditionally, it is hard to be mean to them or to turn away from them or to not listen when they speak to us. Zacchaeus found pure love in Jesus and he responds with pure love toward him and toward the crowd of people he had hurt for a long time. We never hear what happens to Zacchaeus and if he is ever accepted back into the town as one of them Perhaps because it doesn't need to be said since once we welcome Jesus into our heart, his acceptance is all that matters to us. The focus is instead on the fact that Jesus has come to save the lost no matter their station in life and no matter how evil their crimes against humanity.

But this passage is a reminder to us that no matter where we are at in our life, it is never too late to respond to Jesus' love for us. We don't always do as God demands; we do not always listen to the Holy Spirit's voice. We turn away from Jesus to do what is convenient and easy. Today, we are shown that Jesus does not let our sins stop him from calling out to us.

"Come down from your sinful perch," he calls to us, "because today I want to spend time with you." Jesus is calling you by name. May you respond the way Zacchaeus did and may your life be forever changed because of it!

Amen.