Stumbling Blocks

Deut 34: 1-12
Matthew 22: 34-46

I was speaking with someone the other day and the fact that Moses never made it to the Promised Land really seemed to disturb them. I remember them saying something like, “Well, that doesn’t seem fair!”. It becomes even more disturbing when a person continues to read the rest of the passage and notices that the author says there was never again a prophet like Moses, one that had spoken to God face to face.

The story pretty much moves on from there with Joshua being the new leader and Moses buried outside the Promised Land. The more we ponder this passage, the more irritated we might become. God let’s Moses SEE the Promised Land with his own eyes, but then tells him he will never enter, and sure enough Moses passes away.

This is a man who for forty years, has put up with some serious crap from the people and some serious tests by God. Moses had to deal with the stress of getting the Hebrews together in Egypt, convincing them to leave all they have ever known and once he gets them on board, then he has to face down a pharaoh. This is not just any leader of a nation – this is a man considered a god to his people and telling a god anything is asking to be killed. But Moses does it and God backs him up with the ten plagues.

Then, once he gets the Hebrews free to head out into the wilderness, the Pharaoh sends out soldiers to get them back. Can you imagine the ridicule Moses would have endured when he tells them that his staff is going to part the waters so they can cross? Now they are across, the soldiers are dead and the Hebrews start complaining that without food or water, they will die out here. Moses goes to God and I can just hear him saying, “Look, they have a point. I trust you, I do, but they are scared for their families. Can you throw us a bone? Preferably one with meat on it!”

So God gives them manna and dew to drink in the mornings, and quail to eat at night. Then they get to Mount Sinai and while Moses is up on top of the mountain speaking to God and receiving the Ten Commandments, the Hebrews have begged Aaron to create for them a new god to worship since it was taking too long for this one to come through for them. Moses comes down, lugging these heavy, beautiful stone tablets to see a glittering calf being worshiped. In a fit of anger, he breaks the tablets and throws a huge temper tantrum. Think of this, once he has calmed down, realizing what he has done, he knows he has to go back up the mountain and say to God, “Um.. so.. the tablets got broken, because I broke them when I was angry… and um.. can we have some new ones please?”

Moses was a mediator. He had to constantly mediate between the Hebrews and God. One would do something the other didn’t understand and Moses would have to interpret it to the other. Moses led a hard life, and every now and then his anger got the best of him. The moment where God had had enough of Moses’ temper was with the water and the rock. The Hebrews were very thirsty and once again complaining about God not taking care of them (because apparently 40 years of food and water from heaven just wasn’t enough to convince them).

God told Moses to speak to the rock and water would gush forth. Moses, being angry at the Hebrews’ lack of faith, frustrated with God about how long it was taking to get to the Promised Land, struck the rock twice and water gushed forth. But because of how he disobeyed God, God told Moses that he would never enter the Promised Land. While God appreciated all that Moses had done, God was tired of Moses’ anger and the way he lashed out when his temper was up.

But when you look at all that Moses had done for so very many years – it still seems like if anyone earned the Promised Land- it was Moses! But this character flaw of his continually got the better of him. So are you as disturbed by the way Moses’ life ends as I was? What can we learn from Moses’ story?

This was a man like no other, blessed like no other and yet, even he was not able to please God fully. I was reading a book the other day where the author told a story about her mother asking her who her favorite biblical character was and she refused to tell her. She said that at 8 years old her favorite character was Moses because he always managed to disobey God and not get into trouble. But of course she didn’t want to tell her mother that! The sad truth is that Moses did get into trouble. He was shown the goal he had worked forty long years for, but he was never allowed to fully obtain it. Moses died with regrets even as he would have been proud of all he had accomplished.

Now, I know what we can learn from this story. How many of us let character flaws continually drag us back to our old ways? How often do we say we will never do that again, whatever it is that we know is wrong, but then somehow we find ourselves doing it anyway? Perhaps you are quick to anger like Moses and you do and say things you regret when you’ve calmed down. Perhaps you tend to worry too much about things you cannot fix, and allow that worry to control your life. Perhaps you depend on alcohol or drugs when you should be depending on God. Perhaps you spend too much time working and not enough time with your family. Perhaps you like to overeat when you’re feeling especially emotional. Perhaps you have moments of such sadness that no matter what is happening around you, no one can reach you. Whatever it is, we all have a character flaw, we all have a thorn in our side that continually plagues us throughout our life.

It is our presiding sin, the one that seems to trip us up and prevent us from making it to the Promised Land on our own just like Moses. We wonder how we will overcome it and we worry and stress about how we are not good enough to get to heaven because we cannot seem to get over this lifelong sin.

Moses may not have made it to the earthly Promised Land, but God certainly had a table prepared for him in heaven. Moses was given his heavenly reward by being faithful to God even though he got angry. God does not ask us to be perfect and without sin. That was Jesus’ job description because God knew none of us could do it. If not even Moses, the one person that got to speak to God face to face could do it, God knew no one else could live a life free of sin either.

It doesn’t mean we ever stop trying. As Christians, we are called to spread the good news and be faithful to God through our love of Jesus Christ. Being faithful takes effort – just ask Moses! Sometimes we stumble along the path, but we get through our hardship, we get through those moments of weakness knowing that Jesus is walking this path with us. This journey through the desert is not one made alone – Moses knew that and we know it too.

If we hold on to our faith, if we hold onto our love for Jesus and our love for our fellow human beings, God will be able to forgive us those character flaws. God will be able to forgive us our sins when we continually come back with red cheeks and downcast eyes. The journey we take is not an easy one, and sometimes our deserts last a good, long while and we become disheartened. But the one reassurance I can give to you is that no matter where you are in your journey you are not alone. You have never been alone. Jesus stays close to you and even when you are at your darkest hour, the light of his love will get you to the Promised Land. It may not be on your terms, it may not be on your time schedule, but Jesus will help you get there.

Amen.

Clothed in Christ

Exodus 32: 1-14
Matthew 22: 1-14

Jesus is always telling us what the kingdom of heaven is like to try to show us the way we are to live our lives. The kingdom of heaven is what we aspire for; it is the ultimate goal of a Christian’s life and can only be attained when we live life with the same attitude as Jesus Christ.

Some people think that means we should always be kind and never have a harsh word to say about anyone. They think that Jesus was all rainbows and lollipops and cotton candy sweetness, but a close reading of the scriptures shows us that Jesus was anything but sweet. Jesus was blunt and bold and he cut right to the heart of a matter with his parables about life and the kingdom of heaven.

In today’s passage we learn about a king whom had invited guests to attend his wedding, but the invited guests do not come. Worse, when the king sends more servants to try to cajole the guests to the celebration, they beat and kill the servants which enrages the king. The king retaliates by killing the murderers of his servants. So far, this does not sound like a sweet tale told by a sweet, gentle man. This is a parable meant to awaken us to our wicked ways and our often lazy attitude toward our obligations.

The king is God who throughout the centuries has often invited the Israelites to live better lives through a covenantal relationship with God. First with Abraham and then with Moses and then with David, God continually extends a hand out to Israel, inviting them to partake in a better life than the one they are living filled with envy, pride, and greed. However, the Israelites continue to ignore God and God’s invitation. They worship other gods. They hurt innocent people. They cheat each other and lie to their loved ones. They commit murder and adultery and blaspheme in the temple.

God does not give up on them. God continues to send prophets and invitations, but the people not only turn away, they kill the prophets and as Jesus is aware they will soon kill him too!

Jesus tells us in the parable that God does not give up. Instead, he punishes those who have killed his people and the king then has his servants go out into the streets and find anyone they can, both good and bad, and invite THEM to the wedding instead. There will be a celebration, the king is determined to see it happen.

This part of the parable sounds more like the Jesus we have come to expect! Obviously, the people that the servants are collecting are the gentiles. They’re us. The invitation to eternal life has now been extended not only to the Jews, but because of Jesus we are also given the invitation to come and participate in the wedding celebration. All people, both good and bad, are invited to make an appearance and help celebrate this occasion! This is the Jesus we understand and expect. The loving, kind, generous Jesus that we love to think we know so well. This is the God we’re comfortable with. The one that would do anything for us and even though we sometimes sin, our God loves us and forgives us and welcomes us back with open arms.

Oh.. wait. Jesus isn’t done speaking yet. Jesus isn’t done teaching us yet. As the king is walking through the banquet hall, he sees the many people celebrating and is pleased with them. The good and the bad are mixed together and in their wedding finery, no one would know that any of them were not there by their own merits, but instead are there because of a generous, unearned invitation by a kindly king and his dutiful servants.

The wedding finery that we Christians are supposed to put on is the term we often use called being clothed in Christ. When we are clothed in Christ, God does not see our sinfulness, but rather sees the blood Jesus shed for us and God loves us the way God loves Jesus. That is why it is so important for us to know who Jesus is because if we are going to be like Christ, then we must know Christ fully. We cannot be clothed in the wedding finery if we cannot find it. Or if we only know a part of Jesus, it would be like coming to the wedding with our dress on, but no shoes on our feet or coat on our backs.

Unfortunately, sometimes this is exactly what happens to us. We think we know who Jesus is and we think we know who God is and we’re so sure that we are getting into heaven, into that ultimate wedding feast. In our sureness, we overlook parts of our character and actions that do not match up with Jesus and we get into trouble. This is exactly what happens to the poor man the king sees as he walks through the banquet hall.

There he was, mingling with all the others decked out in their wedding finery, but this man had no such clothes on his body. He walked around as if it was a normal day or a normal party, and then the king noticed and asked him, “How did you get in here without the proper wedding clothes?” The man has no response for the king, he is literally speechless to be caught not wearing what he should be wearing and the king has the man thrown out of the celebration where there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

The ending of this parable is harsh. It even seems a little cruel. Why would Jesus be telling us that THIS is what the Kingdom of Heaven is like?! How could God turn away that poor man for not wearing the proper clothes? Why would Jesus, our good and loving and kind Jesus, allow God to treat a person in such a cold, cruel manner?

Again, this parable is a warning and a wakeup call. Jesus reminds us that it is not enough to just say we are Christians, we must act like Christ. We must not treat others with disrespect and we must try to live up to our obligations such as working hard to spread the gospel and create peace in the world. The man who was thrown out was thrown out because he said he belonged, he said he was the king’s guest but could not even bother to put on nice clothes for the celebration.

We do that sometimes. I’m a Christian! We declare loudly for all to hear, but when our nephew who is constantly annoying us asks for advice, we pretend we’re too busy to listen. We say we love everyone, but that coworker that took the position you wanted is somehow always the butt of every joke you make and you’re the first person to spread the bad gossip about them. We say we’re supporters of the church, but when someone calls to ask us to be on Consistory or a committee, we tell them not this year or I don’t think I’m the right fit for it or I don’t have time.

Here’s the truth about Jesus: he sees us and he knows us. Jesus is kind and loving and generous, but Jesus is no pushover. He knows and understands that sometimes we get lazy and ambivalent about what it means to be a Christian. Jesus tells us these parables not to be cruel or cold, but to give us yet another opportunity to change our ways. To change before we become the man at the banquet, underdressed and about to be thrown out into the darkness. Jesus does not want that for any person. It’s why every person in this world is invited to the wedding, both good and bad. It’s why we get a million second chances because it is never too late to be clothed in Christ. It’s never too late to become the person God knows we can be.

Jesus loves us, and Jesus is our teacher. As every parent raising a child can attest, part of teaching is being strict even when it hurts because it helps us grow and it helps us change into better people who understand there are boundaries and rules to follow. There is no doubt in my mind that Jesus’ heart hurts that that man was thrown out of the wedding celebration. There is also no doubt in my mind that if we do not act the way we should, if we do not follow the commands of God to love one another that we will be the one thrown out for we will not be wearing the clothing of Christ.

That is a risk I’d rather not take.

Amen.

Reaping a Fruitful Harvest

Isaiah 5: 1-7
Phil 3: 4b-14

Planting a garden begins long before a seed is placed in the ground. The gardener envisions the desired harvest and then selects the finest quality seeds. The soil is prepared and enriched so that the garden will return the highest yield. Space, sunlight, and water requirements are all considered when planning the placement of each vegetable and fruit. By the time the ground is tilled and the seeds planted, much hope has been invested in a garden that is yet to grow.

So the gardener waits, watches, and waters, looking for the first sign of growth. With sprouts come stems, then stalks, as leaves begin to spread – an indication of growth but no assurance of a harvest. This is the ongoing risk for a gardener: no assurance of a harvest. So if seeds fail to sprout, or plants grow wildly beyond their row, becoming entangled with other plants, or the fruit that hangs from the vine sours in taste and there is no harvest, the garden is plowed under and a garden for a new season is planted.

Who is at fault for a failed harvest – the gardener or the garden? This is the question we’re left asking after reading the passage in Isaiah today where God is the gardener with a garden filled with wild grapes instead of a yield of healthy grapes. As we know, the grapes that God had so tenderly looked after and grew with such care and attention are a metaphor for humanity. God created us, God shared knowledge and wisdom and promises with us, and instead of growing up strong and wise, filled with righteousness and justice we went our own ways down wicked and wild paths.

Who is at fault for this? Is God not a good enough gardener? Has God not given us enough blessings? Has God somehow failed in attending to our needs and therefore God is at fault for us growing up wild? Or is humanity at fault? God has given us the freedom of choice, the ability to choose our path, but promises that if we follow Jesus’ ways that we will be given the greatest of blessings: that of a life of righteousness and justice that does not end upon our deathbed, but instead we are given eternal life.

In this passage, God is in pain. God wants so much for us to choose God’s ways, but we continually turn away causing God untold grief at our refusal to see the goodness and mercy and grace that makes up our Creator. God has painstakingly tried to make it clear that if we choose to love and follow God that there is something beautiful to be gained in the relationship between creator and creation.

Have you ever painstakingly put together a project and followed all of the rules only to have everything collapse for no real reason? When my cousin was about 10 years old, he received a ten gallon aquarium for Christmas. He eagerly read the book that came with it and began to follow the instructions to create the perfect aquatic environment for his fish. He assembled the filter, washed the gravel, bought the plants and fish. Everything was prepared as well as it possibly could have been and he was so excited to see his aquarium come alive. What he did not know at the time were some snails had smuggled themselves in with the plants. They soon overran the environment. So did a few guppies the girl next door brought over. Worse, no matter how diligently he fed the fish, they seemed to prefer eating each other than the fish food! Within a few months, his excitement and enthusiasm waned and the aquarium was dissembled and placed in the garage.

It’s a hard lesson to learn. That sometimes we can do everything right and still everything goes wrong. We’re the right fit for that new job, but a new hire gets it instead of us. We raise our children to love the Lord and to obey the rules, but sometimes they decide to test the limits society has placed upon them and end up in jail and with a bitter heart that does not believe in God. We invest our money in many different ventures like we’re told to do, and we follow our tax accountants advise to the T and when the market crashes like it has in the past we’re left without a retirement.

Isaiah tells us that God understands. God was a vigilant vinedresser. No effort was too great to expend upon this crop of grapes. A very fertile hill is chosen, the vineyard is dug and cleared of stones, choice vines are planted, and both a watchtower and a wine vat are constructed. All of this careful attention is performed with one hope, that excellent grapes will be produced.

The project fails. The grapes grow wild, just as if the garden had been left alone. The exemplary efforts of the vinedresser have no effect. The environment could not have been more favorably prepared for growth, yet something goes terribly wrong.

In times like this, we are forced to reevaluate our identity, goals, and relationships. It is difficult when we do the right thing yet are forced to live with the consequences of other people’s poor decisions. And sometimes it is our own poor decisions that God is left to deal with. This passage is a warning to us. Yes, God wants many good things for us, but God does not want us to use these blessings only for our own gain and prosperity.

You see, the yield God was hoping for from his vineyard was that we would take the care and love we’ve received and share it with those around us. The fruit we humans are to produce are the fruits of righteousness and justice. The care we receive from God is supposed to be reflected in the care we give to others. The relationships in our lives should be healthy and happy and loving in the same way God’s relationship is supposed to be with us. God is not content until the blessings we receive are shared equally with everyone.  If the fruit of justice and righteousness are not produced, the result according to Isaiah is that God will allow us to run wild and leave us to our own devices.

How scary is that?! If we’re allowed to do as we please, humanity has proven time and again that we will do the wrong things. We will be selfish and hateful and spiteful and arrogant. We will destroy whole villages when we go mining for gold and oil and coal. We will destroy the environment and demolish rain forests in our efforts to gain more land and prosperity. We will pollute our oceans with oil from wrecked ships and with garbage we throw out as if no one else lives on this planet. We will destroy whole countries in an effort to gain power and prestige and we will destroy ourselves with our self-centeredness.

God is calling us away from all of that and calling us back to righteousness; to living in a way that makes God proud to call us God’s children. God is calling us to understand that there is more to this life than the limits we place upon ourselves when we think it’s all about power, wealth, and recognition. When we see Christ in every person we meet we begin to recognize that we’re here for a higher purpose than having the best clothes, haircut, and entertainment devices. We’re here to love one another with the same fierceness and care that God shows us, and that can only happen when we turn back to God and give thanks for what we’ve been given.

When we recognize that all we have is not because we did it on our own, but because God has given us these abilities; we are able to recognize that these blessings are not just for us alone. They’re for every person we encounter. And when we start to look at the things we have as things to be given they stop controlling us, and become a tool to help the world. We become kinder and more generous and the love that shines from our hearts will make those around us take notice. And when they start to ask questions, you’re given the chance to show them a God who is not dispassionate and uncaring, but fiercely loving and attentive toward all of humanity.

If we start producing the fruit of righteousness and justice – we can change the world!

Amen.