Category: Parables Of Jesus

3 AM Train

3/6/2016

First Lesson: Joshua 5: 9-12
Responsive Reading: Psalm 32
Second Lesson: 2 Corinthians 5: 16-21
Gospel Lesson: Luke 15: 1-3, 11b-32

Grace and Peace from Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,

Tullian Tchividjan tells the following story in his book One Way Love[1]. A woman came into his office for counseling in the wake of her divorce. The woman was mad at her ex-husband, her anger was so consuming that it affected every relationship in her life even with her children. In this woman’s defense, she had every reason possible to be mad. Her husband was a real jerk! He had treated her terribly throughout the course of her marriage and then abandoned her when she was particularly vulnerable.
Tchvidjan, as he sits back hearing this, decides to ask whether there was any possibly of forgiveness[2]?

“Forgiveness” the woman sneered, “He would never ask for forgiveness.” “And even if he did ask for it, I would never grant it.” The woman finally gave a tiny softening in her stance as she says “Maybe if he really changed to the point that I believed that he was a totally, different person then and only then could we talk. “We are only supposed to forgive those who are truly sorry. That’s how God works[3].”

Plenty of people think this way about how God works. God can only act after he’s seen the signs of transformation. God can only act once the one-hundred pounds of sin have been lost permantenly from one’s lives. Jesus is speaking to people like this today. You see Jesus is hearing complaints about his ministry. Jesus is hearing that he’s attracting the wrong kind of crowd: tax collectors and prostitutes along with all sorts of other questionable sinners. Jesus is hearing all sorts of doom and gloom scenarios about what might happen if they keep taking over the faith.

Let me suggest something this morning. Perhaps the issue this morning doesn’t lie with the tax collectors and prostitutes perhaps the problem lies with those who believe they can never be a part of the community ever again.

I want to tell you this morning the story of the Peterson Family from Saint Olaf, Minnesota[4]- Papa Peterson, the older brother Ed Peterson, and the younger brother Jacob Peterson. Papa Peterson was a banker and the definition of a prim and proper man. Papa Peterson never had a hair out of place on his head, the top button of his shirt was always buttoned, and he would never dare to show excess enthusiasm. Papa Peterson’s personality was thought to be stiff. Papa Peterson was a kind and loving father who would do anything for his children.

When Jacob Peterson was growing up, his father was his hero. As Jacob grows up he starts wanting to fit in with the kids at school. Their approval soon becomes more important than Papa Peterson’s. Jacob got lousy grades in school. Jacob would never come home on time. Jacob started using substances for recreation. Jacob had even gotten arrested a time or two during his high school years. Papa Peterson never lost his cool with Jacob; Jacob could see the pain in his father’s eyes whenever he faced him. Finally one day Jacob had enough of Saint Olaf and everyone that he knew there. Jacob was going to leave town forever. If only Jacob could be free from Papa Peterson, then he could have some real fun! Jacob marches up to his father shouting “I hate this town, I hate you, and I never want to see you again.” Jacob in arrogant, even hostile fashion demands that his father gives him his share of the estate early. Jacob basically tells his father to drop dead!

Older brother Ed is watching this scene play out before his eyes. Ed Peterson was the model son. A star athlete who was a 4.0 student throughout school, Ed had come back from college to help and eventually take over for Dad at the bank. Ed had a great head of hair and a beautiful and polite blonde haired and blue eyed wife. No one in Saint Olaf could dare say a bad word about salt of the earth like Ed Peterson. Ed was outraged watching Jacob tell his father off. Ed was hoping to see his father snap at his brat of a son. Papa Peterson calmly gets out his checkbook, writes Jacob a check that will take care of him for life and watches Jacob storm out the door.

Jacob Peterson moves to Minneapolis. Jacob rents a fancy apartment, buys a fast car, and parties with his friend’s day and night (drugs, gambling, booze, and girls). Jacob was glad to be away from the boring town of Saint Olaf and his uptight father. Jacob’s good times could not continue. Heroin was the drug of choice. Pretty soon, hundreds of thousands of dollars was wasted. Jacob was broke by the needle. Jacob soon has to give up his apartment. Jacob soon finds himself sleeping on the street on a cold, Minneapolis night. Jacob Peterson spent years thinking how cool he was, now he was hungry, and he was lonely. Might anyone help Jacob Peterson then he began to think about Saint Olaf? Jacob knew that both his dad and brother were big deals there. Papa Peterson had retired, and Ed was now running the local bank. The family pets had more food back in Saint Olaf then Jacob currently had. Jacob believed that his life could never be what it once was. Jacob hoped that maybe his family would take pity on him; perhaps he could help scrub the toilets down at Ed and Papa’s bank. Jacob decides to try to make contact back home in Saint Olaf. Jacob finds phones to call back home. The first two times, Jacob calls he doesn’t get an answer.

The third time, Jacob leaves the following message “Dad, I’m taking a train back to Saint Olaf”. The train will get in at 3 AM tomorrow night. The train will stop for ten minutes after that. It continues to Fargo after that. I can either stop in Saint Olaf or continue along the way. I fully understand if you never wanted to see me again. I just thought that you should know. As Jacob hops aboard the train, he was fully expecting never to see either his father or brother ever again. The towns become increasingly familiar to Jacob at every stop along the way. Jacob soon looks at his watch and sees 2:45 in the morning. The sights that Jacob was seeing kept getting more and more familiar until he sees the Saint Olaf train station out of the corner of his eye. Jacob saw a light inside the station. Jacob was fully expecting to see it dark, he looked and saw familiar faces. He saw the neighbors from down the street; he saw his cousins, and he even saw a few friends from high school. Jacob didn’t see either Papa or Ed. Finally, the train stops in Saint Olaf, the doors begin to open, and standing on the track was Papa Peterson. Papa Peterson though looked different. Papa Peterson’s hair looked frazzled; his shirt was untucked, and his socks didn’t even match. But as soon as Papa Peterson saw Jacob, he threw his hands way up in the air and ran towards him shouting “My Son, My Son.” Everyone inside the train station comes out its doors. Papa Peterson and Jacob begin to embrace. Jacob dares to try to apologize for all that he had ever done and said. Only Papa Peterson kept cutting him off, saying that “the death of our relationship was in the past; now we celebrate its resurrection.” As both men, simetousley shed tears of joy. Ed Peterson could not attend Jacob’s return. Ed was mad. Ed thought that Papa was being a foolish, old man.

Ed had spent years plotting how he would tell Jacob off if he ever saw him again. Jacob didn’t deserve forgiveness! Jacob had told the kindest man that he would ever know to drop dead! Ed wanted nothing to do with this party in Jacob’s honor. He was going to deny that Jacob was his brother if anybody asked. Finally a few days pass, Ed was going to confront his father before facing his brother. At the very least, Jacob needed to help himself before Papa should help him. How could you forgive him Ed asked Papa? To which Papa said, “If we only forgive those who can change their ways according to our standards, then we would live in a world without love, grace, or ultimately salvation. The thing about love is that it will always be reckless, always be generous, and in many cases love will be uncomfortable. What was once lost has now been found[5].”

Ed Peterson was right about his younger brother. His younger brother was a reckless jerk. Jacob Peterson had indeed gotten all the breaks. Ed Peterson had done everything as according to the book as a person could. What Ed Peterson failed to grasp was the ways that Resurrection can change the world. We think the way that the world ultimately works through lecture and achievement. Ed Peterson is the only reasonable thinking person in this whole story, but the thing about Resurrection is that it is never reasonable. Resurrection is about taking what is dead lying in the grave and bringing it back to life.
The Parable of the Prodigal Son brings the whole Christian faith into perspective. The Prodigal Son draws parallels with Infant Baptism in that reminds us that it is when we are at our weakest and most vulnerable do we see the way of the cross[6]. Infant Baptism reminds us that there is nothing that we can do to accept or believe. The thing that stands out so much about the Father’s response to the Son is that there were no steps between forgiveness and resurrection. Our God truly does welcome the infants, the lowly, sinners, losers, the victims, the outcasts and the prodigal sons those who ultimately can not help themselves[7]. Amen

[1] The following comes from an article entitled “Lecturing the Prodigal Son(s) in the NY Times” written by Zahl, David and Will Mcdavid published on Mockingbird (MBIRD.COM) on Feburary 20, 2014.
[2] The story comes from Tchvidijan’s book One Way Love.
[3] The following is a paraphrase of Tchvidijan’s story
[4] The inspiration for this story comes in a few different places. The majority of the story is based on a Phillip Yancey article from Christianity Today found in his book What’s So Amazing About Grace?. The illustration comes from a Tim Zingale sermon entitled “The God of Unmatched Shoes” written in 2007 found on Sermoncentral.com
[5] Luke 15:32
[6] The connection between the Prodigal Son and Infant Baptism comes from Robert Farrar Capon’s Kingdom, Judgment, and Grace found on page 297. Eerdman’s Publishing. Grand Rapids, MI. 2002.
[7] The following quote comes from Pastor Donavon Riley’s Facebook page on March 1st, 2016. It’s based on a quote by Preston Sprinkle “God rescues sinners, losers, and victims those who can’t help themselves.”

Tin Cups

11/16/2014

First Lesson: Judges 4: 1-7
Responsive Reading: Psalm 123
Second Lesson: 1 Thessalonians 5: 1-11

Gospel Lesson: Matthew 25: 14-30

Grace and Peace from Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,

In 1996, a movie called Tin Cup was released. Tin Cup tells the story of Roy “Tin Cup” McAvoy a West Texas driving range Golf pro. Tin Cup had all the golfing ability in the world, yet he could never bring it all together. Tin Cup tried to qualify for the Pro Tour a number of years before, but he fell apart in the end after trying to hit some foolishly risky shots. Tin Cup grows bitter over the years as he watches his biggest rival as a youth rise to the top of Tour by always playing the percentages like a good golfer should do. Tin Cup believes his failure to achieve greatness has nothing to do with himself, but only external forces so as a way to prove this he sets out to the win the US Open. Tin Cup is playing the Golf of his life during US Open week.

There was only one problem the 18th hole; a par-five with a sloped green that trickled balls into the lake that guarded the front of the green. Golfers who played the percentages would lay up, not Tin Cup. He handed landed in the water the previous three days of the tournament. Now Tin Cup comes to the 72nd hole tied for the lead. Tin Cup believes that the previous three days had been a fluke; he believes that he is capable of hitting the most difficult of shots to win the tournament. Final round on the last hole, Tin Cup hits a beautiful ball that looks like it is going to be the shot of a golfer’s dreams. This would be the type of shot that would make Tin Cup’s rags to riches turnaround complete by winning the US Open. The only problem was a slight gust of wind began to blow at the last second causing the ball to roll off the green and down into the water. A different golfer would have taken a drop and played the percentages believing they still had a chance to win, but not Tin Cup.

Tin Cup was going to hit the same shot again from the exact same spot until he got it right. 4th shot, 6th shot, 8th, 10th shot all end up splashing into the water. Tin Cup had been blinded to reality in the emotions of the moment as he was throwing away tens of thousands of dollars with every ball that went into the water. Tin Cup gets down to the final ball in his bag, if he hits one more shot into the water, Tin Cup is disqualified and out thousands of dollars. Tin Cup being as stubborn as ever believes that he is going to get his shot finally right. So being a movie, you can guess what happens next the 12th shot goes into the hole as the crowd goes wild. Tin Cup after the fact realizes that he just blew perhaps the greatest opportunity in his life in spectacular fashion.

What consoles him is that someone points out to him that “No one in five years will remember the winner of this tournament, but people will always remember your “12”. The story of Tin Cup reminds us that the line between success and failure is often very different than we imagine it to be.

Today’s Gospel lesson comes to us from Matthew the 25th Chapter. It’s the second of three parables of judgment from Holy Week. Last week’s parable in the Parable of the Ten Virgins dealt with being ready for the Bride Groom’s arrival at an unexpected hour.

This week’s parable has to do with how one should spend their time while waiting for the Second Coming of Christ. The reason for this parable is the earliest Christians to who Matthew wrote often believed that The End was just around the corner, so, therefore, engaging with the wider world around them wasn’t a priority.

As Jesus tells Today’s parable he reminds people in verse 19 that the Second Coming might not come for a long time, so here is some direction for the short-term.

To illustrate the meaning of the Parable of the Talents, let me begin by providing a brief overview of the story. There will be a Lord/Master going away on a journey (hence it beginnings with a reference to its context being between Christ’s death and Second Coming). On this journey, the man entrusts to three servants his property to take care off and watch over (This would be a reference to the Era of the Church).

One of these three men received five talents, another man received two talents, and the other man received one talent. A talent was the equivalent of three years of a laborer’s wages. Even the man who received one talent would have been given the equivalent of one hundred thousand dollars plus in today’s financial terms to invest.

As people hear the detail of the differing amounts of money given to the three servants, they might wonder why one man receives five times as many talents. I think this detail matters very little to the overall story. In fact, when the first two servants eventually double their initial investments, the Lord gives them precisely the same words of thanks “Well done, good and faithful servant[1]”.

So finally out comes the third servant to whom the Master gave only one talent. The third servant approaches the Master with all sorts of excuses for why he didn’t do anything with his one talent. He expresses his fear of the Master’s judgment so therefore he did nothing but bury his one talent into the ground. The Master is disgusted by his inaction so therefore he banishes him from his presence[2].

It seems the one problem with the conservative investor had nothing to do with his lack of profits, but rather everything to do with how he saw God. The Master was not as unreasonable as it might seem. The Master merely wonder why Mr. One Talent was so afraid of risk that he didn’t invest his money with bankers at low-risk rather than bury it into the ground[3].

The big problem is Mr. One Talent couldn’t understand the nature or the character of the Land Owner. The Land Owner wanted to be gracious, yet Mr. One Talent couldn’t shake the image of an ungracious Lord from his head. “I knew you to be a hard man[4].” The Man with One Talent couldn’t quite understand the nature of his Lord would soon be made known upon the Cross[5].

Last Sunday after church, I traveled to McGrath, Minnesota between McGregor and Mora on Highway 65, a friend of mine named Elliott was moving to a new call in Southeast Minnesota. Elliott’s last day is today, so Elliott will give his last sermon on this parable. McGrath faces the same challenges as plenty of other rural churches: population is declining, membership is again, and it’s becoming a struggle increasingly to keep doors open. People in McGrath or Silver Bay or anywhere could grieve plenty of things about seemingly having one talent before them, when others have two or even five talents. The problem with just mourning your current situation is that it gets you nowhere. We sometimes fail to consider that we can do just as much good for God’s Kingdom with one talent as with five.

Our parable for today doesn’t deal with the profits of the investors, but rather their faithfulness to God’s process. It seems the key question to reflect upon is the following “what if the first two investors had failed spectacularly?”

What if the first two servants had lost everything that the Master gave to them? Would the master’s response to them have been different? So is this parable concerned with process or results? I would say that the money earned has very little to do with the Parable’s meaning. What the first two servants could grasp is that their Master would take them in, even if they failed[6]. How the worst thing in life is not losing, but rather being afraid to win.

Today’s parable has to deal with the risks that we take and the risks that we ultimately fail to take. Tim Zingale tells the following story[7]. There once was a housing developer in Oklahoma who thought of a new feature for his homes. For an extra $2,500, new buyers would be offered the chance to purchase a tornado-safe room within these new homes. As you can imagine, people were extremely fearful of pending tornados, so he sold ten homes and nine wanted the tornado proof room.

The tenth couple thought of things just a bit different. The tenth couple decided that they would rather spend $2,500 hundred dollars on a hot tub than invest in a tornado proof room. Now you probably have an image in your head of the couple who wanted the hot tub. You probably picture them as young, reckless, and foolish. You would be wrong in this assumption; the couple who wanted the hot tub was well into their seventies. This couple figured they would rather embrace risk than safety when it came to planning every day for the rest of their life[8].

Perhaps this couple understood the meaning of grace that it everything went horribly wrong, they would still have a God forgiving and embracing them in the midst of their mistakes.

One of Martin Luther’s most famous works On the Freedom of a Christian this was Luther’s treatise on the Christian’s life. Everything you want to know about Christian living from Luther’s perspective takes place within in its pages. What Luther wrote about is that Christian living is not following a series of rules or regulations trying to appease the taskmaster God that the man with one talent feared. The Christian life instead centers on the reality that God is gracious that God is risky in taking sinners into his presence. The Christian life is defined by not a straight line for all to follow, but a series of callings that invite and embrace risk.

In the words of French Theologian Pierre De Chardin, “God obviously has no need of the products of your busy activity since he could give himself everything without you[9]”. So we are not called to risk for the sake of our salvation, we are rather called to risk to build up the Kingdom of God around us.

What does this odd story have to do with our future as a community of faith? Quite a bit actually, it’s a parable that draws upon what type of Church, God wants us to be. It serves as a reminder that we are not supposed to try to copy another Church as a way of emulating its success. Sychar Lutheran Church rather has its unique calling to the broader community and world. The point of our parable is to find own unique ways to bring our talents forth to every person we shall encounter. Like Tin Cup on the 72nd hole, this involves a whole lot of risk.

My Dad’s best friend in College has a daughter named Allison. Allison went to Concordia where she sang in the Concert Choir, she then went to the University of Minnesota where she earned a Masters in Vocal Performance. Allison is a wonderful singer. Allison set out with the dream of trying to make it as a singer. This is a hard nut to crack. She’s had to spend time waiting tables, when it was far from anything close to her dream. Plenty of people could easily tell her that the time, effort, and energy isn’t worth it. The chance to fail is too high, these people might be right on some level. They will inevitability sound like the Man with One Talent only thinking in terms of potential consequences.

The type of people needed to build the Kingdom of God are risk-takers, the Tin Cups, those who dream big, those who throw caution to the wind. The type of people who invite others to church realizing that nothing ventured ultimately leads to nothing gained. The Parable of the Talents is not a tale about money. The parable is rather a tale about our unique callings, gifts, and abilities being used to reach the world. It’s a parable about how these callings might inevitability bring failure and disappointment. This is OK! Because we have a God who forgives failure! This is the Parable of the Talents. Amen!

[1] Matthew 25:21, 23

[2] Matthew 25:30

[3] Matthew 25:27

[4] Matthew 25:24

[5] The best commentary on this passage that I found comes from Mockingbird over at mbird.com in a post entitled “Hopelessly Devoted: Matthew Chapter Twenty-Five Verses Fourteen through Thirty”. This was published on July 7th, 2014.

[6] Mockingbird. “Hopelessly Devoted: Matthew Chapter Twenty-Five Verses Fourteen through Thirty”.

[7] Zingale, Tim. “Risk?”. Sermon Central.com. November 2005. Web. 10. Nov.2014.

[8] Zingale, Tim. “Risk?”

[9] This quote comes from a sermon written by Father Charless Hoffracker entitled “Trust, Not Fear” that is published on Lectionary.com and linked to by Text Week.

She's a Coming

11/9/2014

First Lesson: Joshua 24: 1-3a, 14-25
Responsive Reading: Psalm 78: 1-7
Second Lesson: 1 Thessalonians 4: 13-18
Gospel Lesson: Matthew 25: 1-13

Grace and Peace from Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,

This morning I want to tell you the story of a wedding. The wedding was the first one that I had ever done. My friend Ben was getting married. Ben and I had grown up by each other in Lindstrom. Ben was marrying a girl named Thelma. The thing worth noting about Thelma is that she came from Liberia. Ben was supposed to get married at 3 PM on Saturday. I arrive at the church at 2:30 PM only to see the Groom and Groomsmen all leaving for a fast-food run. I try to figure out “Where was Thelma to say no?” I soon find out that Thelma wasn’t in the building at 2:30 for a 3:00 PM wedding.

I’m standing around the church about 3:00 PM, when Thelma comes casually walking in the door. Thelma isn’t wearing her wedding dress, nor is she even in makeup.

I go upstairs to survey the sanctuary; this was an interesting wedding because there were two types of people in the crowd that day. You had Ben’s family and friends from Minnesota who wouldn’t have dared to be late to the 3:00 wedding.

Shortly after 3:00, Thelma’s family and friends many from the Liberian community started making their way into the church. 3:50 comes around when the wedding finally starts. What made this so interesting is that no one involved in the planning thought this to be any bit out of the ordinary.

Many of the Minnesotans expected the wedding to take place according to certain time constraints; where as others believed the wedding was ultimately going to happen when it happens.

Ben and Thelma are still happily married seven years later, and Ben works in the lab down at Saint Luke’s.

Today’s Gospel lesson comes to us from Matthew 25. It’s another story about a wedding, and a story about waiting patiently for its arrival in the story of the five Wise and five Foolish Virgins. Ten Virgins are waiting around for the Bride Groom. The Bride Groom doesn’t show up on time. The five Foolish Virgins couldn’t believe this occurrence. They had only stored enough oil for their lamps to get them through a certain hour[1]. By the time, the Bride Groom arrived there was no oil in their lamps. There were no shopkeepers open to give them their oil. The door to their own wedding feast is shut on them because of their impatience[2].

What’s the point of this confounding tale regarding the Foolish Virgins impatience?

Let me tell another story with a little bit of background. My Dad was a freshman at the University of Minnesota in 1967 playing for the marching band. In 1967, the Golden Gopher Football is supposed to win the Big Ten Championship in Football. The whole marching band had already been given itineraries for a January 1st game in Pasadena, California for the Rose Bowl. The only problem was Indiana upsets Purdue; so the Gophers don’t end up going to the Rose Bowl. The Gophers have never made it back since that day.

As a family, we’ve always operated by the unwritten rule that if the Gophers make it to the Rose Bowl we’re all going to Pasadena for the game.

2000, My dad talks to a travel agent after the Gophers beat Ohio State, only to see the dream end the next week with a loss against lowly Indiana. Fast forward to 2014; The Gophers are 3-0 in the Big Ten for the first time since 1990. All the Gophers have to do was beat an Illinois team on the road that had only won once within the conference in the last two years being the Gophers though they fumble the ball and lose in the fourth quarter.

This game upset me more than it should! I got done watching it on tape about 8 PM at night. I stewed around the house until I finally could go to bed two hours later. What upset me more than anything is realizing that I have been watching games every Saturday in the fall for thirty some years, and every year is the same again and again, there is never any payoff to my beliefs that someday it will all be worth it.

Frustration in the midst of road blocks is how it often works with our faith. We read the scriptures, and still can’t discern God’s ways. We pray night after night, yet never get the answer that we seemingly desire. We reach out to friends and family with the Christian faith, only to encounter indifference. These occurrences are going to hurt us on some level.

I imagine that it might be like the hurt that the Foolish Virgins were going through as the Bride Groom kept failing to arrive for the wedding. The Foolish Virgins could not make sense of God’s absence.

The reason that Matthew’s gospel includes this parable has to do with an issue that many of the earliest Christians were experiencing. Many Christians were anticipating the Second Coming to occur within their lifetime, yet as year after year with by with seemingly no resolution, it would have been increasingly easy to wonder if their faith were any good. Waiting is difficult because we are often not content with the present[3]. We continually struggle trying to discern God’s presence within our lives. The thing about waiting is that it can often last until deep within the night.

I remember earlier this spring, Mark Vander Tuig who is the National Service Coordinator for LCMC was speaking with our regional group of pastors down in Duluth. Mark said that he receives calls all the time from pastors complaining about what is wrong with their ministry “They’re lonely and isolated” “Money is tight” and “People aren’t coming to church”.

Mark knew this can beat people down, yet what Mark reminded us never to lose sight of is that we have Jesus; we have a Bride Groom that is promising to come! This Bride Groom will not disappoint.

What we need to remember is that waiting is a reality of living in the not yet of God’s presence. Christianity is ultimately a religion of waiting. We wait guided by the promise that our God will eventually make all things new[4].

What separates the Wise Virgins from the Foolish Virgins? Both groups are sought by the Bride Groom. The judgment does not take place on the basis of their own worthiness or attractiveness[5]. The Wise Virgins have faith that the Bride Groom is indeed coming for them, no matter how long they might have to wait for his arrival.   The Wise Virgins harken back to Matthew 7 when Jesus says

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”-Matthew 7:24-27

Pastor Tim Zingale tells the following story[6]. There was a young man who applied for a job as a farm hand. The Farmer asked this man for his qualifications when he said “I can sleep when the wind blows.”

The Farmer didn’t know quite what this means, but the Young Man seemed like a good potential worker for the farm, so he hired him anyway.

A few days later, the farmer was awakened by one of the nastiest storms to pass through his parts in quite some time. The Farmer feared that everything was not taken care off. The Farmer rolls out of bed frantically. The Farmer checks the shutters only to see they were fastened in the farmhouse. He then sees the implements had been placed in the shed, safe from Mother Nature. The barn had been properly locked; even the animals were as dry as could be.

It was finally then that the Farmer grasped the young man’s words “I can sleep when the winds blows[7]”.

The Farm Hand was like the Wise Virgins, prepared for anything that life might throw at him. So as the wind kicked up that night, as the night grew darker and darker, he had no fear. The Farm Hand was able to sleep with the peace of a newborn.

The Farm Hand didn’t know when the storm was coming, yet the Farm Hand was going to be ready. The thing that ultimately separates the Wise and Foolish Virgins boils down to their faith. The Wise Virgins kept their faith even in the midst of the Bride Groom’s absence, where as the Foolish Virgins would rather dig their own graves[8]. The Wise Virgins understood that they did not know the day or the hour[9]. The Wise Virgins were not going to be dismayed thinking in terms of God’s activity being either a now or never proposition.

The story of the Farm Hand is a tale of promise in the midst of adversity it harkens back to the most famous verse in the Bible in John 3:16 “For this is how God so loved the world, that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

I want to close with a story this morning. When I was working down in Lamberton, I did a funeral for a man named Arlo. I would constantly go visit Arlo during the time I was down there. What I will always remember when I asked Arlo “How he was doing?” Arlo’s response would always be the same “terrible”.

It made sense that Arlo would feel this way. He had all sorts of health problems define the last two decades of his life (Muscular Dystrophy, Strokes, Diabetes, and Toe Infections). Arlo’s ability to speak and to move grew increasingly difficult over time. Arlo’s life seemed to be a never ending journey back and forth from the nursing home to the hospital back to home again and again.

I had no doubt that Arlo was “terrible” every time I saw him. What I will always recall is sitting down to plan the funeral with his widow Shirley. Shirley asked if I could tie in Arlo’s life with the story of Job. Job the great man of faith who had lost everything in his children, his possessions, and eventually his health through no failings of his own. All Job wanted to know from God was “Why did he feel so terrible day after day? “What Job’s story indicates is that God’s presence in this world is often so confusing and so mysterious that we think that it constitutes an absence.   God eventually tells Job that he couldn’t understand how everything might work together in the future especially that which he couldn’t not see.

The main point of the Book of Job is that God will do what is best, even if it doesn’t make sense to us. How there is ultimately no good answer to the problem of evil, other than to point to the Cross. God did eventually come to Job. Job’s fortunes eventually get restored, yet these events happened on a very different time line from what Job would have wished. The Bride Groom is coming. The wait will soon be worth it!

[1] Matthew 25:3

[2] Matthew 25:10

[3] This very wise insight is given by Karoline Lewis at Working Preacher in a commentary entitled “How to Wait” published on Sunday, November 2nd, 2014.

[4] Revelation 21:5

[5] This comes to my go to commentary on the Parables of Jesus in Robert Farar Capon’s Kingdom, Grace, and Judgment: Paradox, Outrage, and Vindication in the Parables of Jesus. Eerdman’s Publishing. Grand Rapids, MI. 2002. Capon’s commentary on this passage occurs on pages 495-501.

[6] Zingale, Tim. “I Can sleep When the wind blows”. sermoncentral.com. November 2002. Web. Nov.3.2014

[7] Zingale, Tim. “I Can sleep When the wind blows”.

[8] Capon. Robert. Kingdom, Grace, and Judgment: Paradox, Outrage, and Vindication in the Parables of Jesus.pg.495-501

[9] Matthew 25:13

The Crazy Old Fool

10/5/2014

First Lesson: Exodus 20: 1-4, 7-9, 12-20
Responsive Reading: Psalm 19
Second Lesson: Philippians 3: 4-14
Gospel Lesson: Matthew 21: 33-46

Grace and Peace from Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,

Pastor Steve Molin tells the tale of a Crazy Old Fool[1]. This man was not crazy for the reasons we often think of people being crazy. The Crazy Old Fool was a very successful businessman. He specialized in building fine homes in an upscale suburb. People would praise his work as a craftsman and businessman far and wide. The reason people thought of this man of as crazy was because of how he treated others.

He had a reputation for paying the most generous wages to his workers of any building employer in the area. The Crazy Old Fool was also charitable to nearly everyone he encountered. He would constantly give his wealth to others who had done nothing to deserve it. He gave away tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars to people even those who seemed out to scheme and con him, yet the Crazy Old Fool just didn’t care. People would snicker behind the Crazy Old Fool’s back but give him the respect he was due when they met him face to face. The Crazy Old Fool had become an old man; he desired to spend his winters down in Florida, so he approached his top building superintendent and told him he was retiring[2].

Before the Crazy Old Fool retired, he had one more request for his Superintendent. The Crazy Old Fool said “I want you to build me a home, let it be the finest home this company has ever built. Do not even think of sparing any expense, any dollars you need are yours, use the finest materials, employ the most gifted tradesmen, and build me a masterpiece before I come in the spring[3]”

The next day, the Superintendent set out to build this home, but not exactly to orders. If the Crazy Old Fool was retiring, this meant that the Superintendent was going to lose his job. The Superintendent knew that he was never going to find another job as good as the one he was about to lose. The Superintendent like many people when faced with an uncertain future had developed a nasty cynicism about it. So in spite of the Crazy Old Fool having been the best boss this Superintendent could ever dream to have, this Superintendent was going to use this home project to pad his savings account. The Superintendent vowed this would be his last opportunity to avoid the poor house[4].

Inferior concrete blocks would set the foundation of the home, but the Superintendent would charge the Crazy Old Fool for premium blocks, and the Superintendent pocketed the difference. When it came to hiring workers, the Superintendent hired the cheapest carpenters, plumbers, landscapers, roofers, and electricians he could find. The Superintendent then charged the Crazy Old Fool wages that would be paid to master craftsman, so he could keep further padding his bank account[5].

The Superintendent then outfitted the house with cheap appliances, and lighting, insufficient isolation, inferior carpet, and drafty windows. When spring came, the home was finally finished. The house looked spectacular; it was the best looking home in the neighborhood. The Superintendent’s scam had worked to perfection; he was now hundreds of thousands of dollars richer. When the Crazy Old Fool returned home, he was thrilled as he saw the house. At this time, the Superintendent handed the Crazy Old Fool the keys to the house that he had built[6].

But what the Crazy Old Fool did next was unthinkable. It was the kind of stunt that you would expect a Crazy Old Fool to do. As soon as the Crazy Old Fool receives the keys, he turns to the Superintendent, the one who had scammed him out of hundreds of thousands of dollars, the one who had blatantly disobeyed him[7].

The Crazy Old Fool proceeds to shock the building superintendent as he says “I want to give you a gift for all that you have done over the years.” It was at this moment that the Superintendent was handed the keys to a brand new home[8].

Today’s Gospel comes to us from the 21st Chapter of Matthew[9]. It’s a Gospel Lesson that picks up right where up last week’s Gospel in the Parable of the Two Sons left off[10]. Our lesson further highlights the conflict between Jesus and the Pharisees that was raging during the last week of Jesus’ life.

This conflict was nothing new; in fact, four whole chapters of the Gospel of Matthew (21-24) contain thirteen straight parables or incidents that deal with conflict between Jesus and the religious Pharisees. These incidents include Jesus flipping tables and money-changers out of the temple as Jesus denounces the religious leaders by declaring “You have made my house a den of robbers[11].” Jesus offends the Pharisees in last week’s Gospel when he proclaims “Tax Collectors and Prostitutes would enter the Kingdom of Heaven before you (the Pharisees)[12]”. Later Jesus denounces the Pharisees as a brood of vipers and hypocrites who would never escape God’s judgment[13].

At the center of all these arguments between Jesus and the Pharisees was the question of “What do you consider the point of the scriptures to be?” The Pharisees thought like plenty of people who sit in American churches Sunday after Sunday. The Pharisees looked at the Old Testament Scriptures where they see “law after law” “rule after rule”, so the Pharisees thought this was the means by which God interacts with his people. So the Pharisees did their best to follow, and they were inevitability disappointed and disassociated with those who failed to do the same.

In Today’s parable, Jesus is seeking to point how the Pharisees need to understand the scriptures in a new way. To do this Jesus tells the story of the Owner of a vineyard. The Owner had outfitted the vineyard with everything it could need a winepress, a fence, and a watchtower[14]. This Vineyard Owner was like the Crazy Old Fool that I was talking about earlier as he was the epitome of generous.

The crazy Vineyard Owner had rented out some land to his tenants. A tale such as this would have made sense to the Pharisees since Palestine was under Roman control in these days, so most landowners lived thousands of miles away. Vineyard owners would only occasionally visit their land because of this.

Here’s where this story gets all crazy, the Vineyard Owner sends a representative to collect the rent[15]. The Renters were annoyed by this request as they figured they were the ones doing all the work, so they deserved to keep money and the land as their own. So as the Owner’s Representatives come to collect the rent, the Tenants beat him up and throw him off the land.

How does the Land Owner respond to such unruly tenants? He does something crazy. He doesn’t do what most normal Land Owners would do in hiring mercenaries or calling upon the Roman Army to drive these hooligans from the land. The Land Owner instead chooses to send another one of his servants to collect the rent[16], only for this servant to be stoned and thrown off the land.

Surely at this point, the Land Owner will lose hope that his tenants will change their ways. The Owner’s patience has to be no more. Nope, he sends a third representative to collect the rent. Only to see his tenants kill this representative. So at this point these tenants had beaten, robbed, and killed every messenger the Land Owner had sent their way. The Land Owner’s patience surely had run out by this point.

But no, the Land Owner attempts his craziest stunt yet as a way of collecting the rent. He sends his own son to do it, yet as the Owner’s Son came to the land to collect the rent[17]. The Tenants could still only think of themselves, so they kill the Owner’s Son[18].

To understand this parable remember that it serves as an allegory. The Land Owner is God; The Vineyard is the people of Israel, the Tenants are the Pharisees and the Jewish Religious Leadership, the Landowner’s Servants are the Prophets of Israel, and the Son is Jesus.

For what the aim of the parable is how the Pharisees missed the point of God’s interaction with his people throughout the Old Testament.

Let me cite a few prominent examples: Noah drank too much[19], yet God saw to it that Noah built an Ark to rescue humanity from death and destruction. Jacob lied and tricked his elderly Father into receiving an inheritance[20] yet God saw to it that Jacob was one of the fathers of his chosen people. Joseph was an annoying little brat with such a big mouth his brothers wished never to see him again[21], yet he saved the people of Israel and Egypt from a great famine. Moses was a murderer[22], yet God saw to it that he set the nation of Israel free from the bondage of Egyptian slavery. Gideon was afraid[23] and doubted God’s promises; God saw to it that he was able to bring down an army of 30,000 men just by blowing a trumpet. Rahab was a prostitute[24]; Samson was a womanizer[25], King David an adulterer[26], Jonah ran from God at every opportunity[27], yet God saw to it that he would not abandon them from his plan of salvation.

Throughout the Old Testament, it is not just great prophets like Elijah who speak to God’s grace, how God’s grace is instead is made known through the lives of normal, flawed people. The point of the Old Testament wasn’t just rules and regulations that people inevitability fail to keep like the Pharisees thought it to be. Instead, the point of the Old Testament was rather how God keeps pursuing the people of Israel in spite of their sin, idol worship, and unbelief. How no one (and I mean no one) is outside the possibility of God’s grace and to prove this God sent his own son.

The parable for today is meant to drive home the point of how necessary God’s Grace is in even the lives of the self-proclaimed pious and good.

My former Preaching Professor David Lose describes this parable best when he says:

“So where does the bright idea come from to send his son, his heir, alone, to treat with these bloodthirsty hooligans? It's absolutely crazy. Who would do such a thing? No one...except maybe a crazy landlord so desperate to be in relationship with these tenants that he will do anything, risk anything, to reach out of them. This landowner acts more like a desperate parent, willing to do or say or try anything to reach out to a beloved and wayward child than he does a businessman. It's crazy, the kind of crazy that comes from being in love.[28]”

What this parable does is showcase to us the desperate, crazy love of God. God does not offer this love merely once, or twice, but God gives his love a million times or more to all who receive it. For like the tale of the Crazy Old Fool there are no limits to God’s generosity even as much as we try to take advantage of it.

We can leave today with a simplistic understanding of this parable that Jesus thought the Pharisees were bad and judgmental; this is a partial point but misses the bigger point. The thing about every other person in the Tenant's situation is they would do what they did. They would blame the messenger as a way to avoid the truth about ourselves.

German theologian Helmut Thicke describes the parables of Jesus best when he said we will never understand the parables until we see ourselves staring in them[29].

We are the Wicked Tenants, We are the failed disciples, we will never pray like we should, we will never study the scriptures like we should; we will never be generous towards the world around us like we should. We give every good reason for the Land Owner to give up on us, yet He doesn’t. He gives us chance after chance. The Land Owner even gave his son’s life to save ours. The reality of Christian living is we will never pay the rent. We will never show the gratitude towards God we should; we fail to embrace the blessings that he gives. Yet our Crazy Old Fool of a God keeps giving us the keys to his kingdom through his own Son.

[1] Molin, Pastor Steven. “Speaking of Us: A Sermon on Matthew 21:33-46”. Lectionary.org. 2008. Web. Oct.3.2014

[2] Molin, Pastor Steven. “Speaking of Us: A Sermon on Matthew 21:33-46”

[3] Molin, Pastor Steven. “Speaking of Us: A Sermon on Matthew 21:33-46”

[4] Molin, Pastor Steven. “Speaking of Us: A Sermon on Matthew 21:33-46”

[5] Molin, Pastor Steven. “Speaking of Us: A Sermon on Matthew 21:33-46”

[6] Molin, Pastor Steven. “Speaking of Us: A Sermon on Matthew 21:33-46”

[7] Molin, Pastor Steven. “Speaking of Us: A Sermon on Matthew 21:33-46”

[8] Molin, Pastor Steven. “Speaking of Us: A Sermon on Matthew 21:33-46”

[9] Matthew 21:33-46

[10] Matthew 21:23-32

[11] Matthew 21:13

[12] Matthew 21:31

[13] Matthew 23:33

[14] Matthew 21:33

[15] Matthew 21:34

[16] Matthew 21:36

[17] Matthew 21:37

[18] Matthew 21:38

[19] Genesis 9

[20] Genesis 27

[21] Genesis 37

[22] Exodus 2:11-15

[23] Judges 6

[24] Joshua 2

[25] Judges 16

[26] 2 Samuel 11

[27] The Book of Jonah

[28] Lose, David. “Crazy Love (a.k.a Preaching Matthew Against Matthew). Working Preacher. Luther Seminary. Saint Paul, MN. 25.Sept.2011. Web. Oct.3.2014

[29] Taken from Molin, Pastor Steven. “Speaking of Us: A Sermon on Matthew 21:33-46”.

The Road to Hell

9/28/2014

First Lesson: Exodus 17: 1-7
Responsive Reading: Psalm 78: 1-4, 12-16
Second Lesson: Philippians 2: 1-13
Gospel Lesson: Matthew 21: 23-32

Grace and Peace from Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,

Immediately after services today, I will drive down to Minneapolis to watch my beloved Vikings play as I have nearly every fall Sunday afternoon for almost thirty years. The thing about the Vikings is they stand a pretty good chance to lose today and a pretty good chance to lose nearly every game for the rest of the season. For the Vikings’ season fell apart a few weeks ago when some troubling news came out about arguably their best player Adrian Peterson. Adrian Peterson had beaten his four-year-old child with a switch, and legal authorities had issued a warrant for his arrest. Reaction to this news was swift. Some commentators called for Peterson to be thrown off the team forever[1]. When the Vikings were going to led Peterson play, sponsors got up in arms about his presence on the football field being damaging to their brand.

What can we say about the downfall about someone who has brought me so much joy for the last several years? What can we say about someone who had previously done all sorts of good in the community who was the biggest sports hero in Minnesota on one Friday afternoon turning into its biggest villain?

It reminds me of a story as told by Pastor Tim Zingale[2]. One time there was a church, not unlike this one in a town, not unlike this one. Within this church, a prominent member was having an affair with a married woman that carried on for a number of years. What made this so interesting is that this man was serving on the Church Council, active in helping to lead the youth group, and helpful in every way. Eventually, this man’s guilt got the best of him. He decided he needed to break off the affair and come clean with those around him. He first went to his wife to confess how he had sinned against her. He then told a few friends in confidence of what he had done only for his friends to be a bit looser with whom they were going to talk. By the time this man went to talk to his pastor, word of his affair had spread around town. This man soon became the center of conversation during coffee in the morning. Pretty soon, this man began to realize that people were starting to treat him quite a bit different. They would always look at him strange when they met him on the street. They would try to keep their conversations with him as short as possible. Supposed friends didn’t seem to return his calls. So as this man finally sat down in his Pastor’s office to confess his sins, he admitted he had no idea “How he could ever come to church again”. He felt too many eyes would be upon him. His secret was out in the open in front of the whole town, and he wasn’t quite sure to respond. There is no lonelier feeling than you against the world, yet when this man looked at his church; all he saw was law, judgment, and condemnation; all he heard was back-biting and gossip. It was for these reasons that this man had lost sight that the church with its promise of the forgiveness of his sins was exactly the place he needed to be.

The Road to Hell is paved with good intentions. Everyone who encountered this adulterer was able to justify their actions by pointing to their disgust at his adultery. They could point towards their disgust over him pretending to be something that he wasn’t. They could articulate their disgust over having someone like him and supposedly unlike them sitting inside their church. We all know people like this adulterer, yet do any of us know what we would say if we saw him on the street?

CS Lewis is one of the most famous authors of the 20th Century. The Chronicles of Narnia being his most famous work, which became a series of movies that has made like a billion dollars. But another famous CS Lewis work is entitled the Screwtape Letters, which deals with the theme of Spiritual Warfare. The battle each of us wages with Satan on a daily basis. The Screwtape Letters is a series of 31 Letters written by a Senior Demon named Screwtape as he seeks to instruct his young nephew a Junior Demon Apprentice named Wormwood. These letters contain a discussion of the most effect ways to destroy the faith of a young believer named The Patient.

But what is so noteworthy about the Screwtape Letters is that it addresses many of the misunderstandings we have about Satan's work in the world.

The Junior Demon named Wormwood only wanted to tempt the Young Believer into dramatic, specular sins such as murder or adultery figuring this would be the most sure-fire way to destroy a believer's faith. Dramatic sins are how many people like to think of Satan working only in spectacular ways like 9-11, the Holocaust, or the Rwandan Genocide. Whereas the Senior Demon Screwtape believed the most effective way to send someone to Hell was through gradual and subtle temptation. Screwtape did this through confusing a person's motives, intentions, and pride like those who sought to condemn the adulterer rather then tempting someone to give into what society considered a great evil.

For put a frog in boiling water, he immediately jumps out. But put a frog in tepid water and slowly turn up the heat then frog will not notice and will surely die.

The Road to Hell is paved with good intentions. When Martin Luther was reflecting upon the question of whether someone could possibly be good enough to help get them into heaven. Luther theorized that all of our actions on some level (even those which seem good) are motivated in some way, shape, or form by the love of self or sin).

If we do good for the sole purpose of not being Adrian Peterson, if we do good for the sole purpose of being able to thumb our nose at our neighbor Reckless Rick then our motivations are not love of God but rather sin. Human pride is why Luther believed that no matter how noble that we convince ourselves that we are that we are unable to contribute anything of benefit to our salvation.

The Road to Hell is paved with good intentions. The theme of good intentions going awry is made evident in today’s Gospel lesson that comes to us from Matthew the 21st Chapter[3]. This lesson occurs during the last week of Jesus’ life. What Jesus says within our lesson is so unpopular that it contributes to him being sentenced to death just a few days later. Jesus is in the midst of a series of discussions with the Pharisees. The Pharisees obsessed about their own good intentions and religious commitment.

In spite of the Pharisees intentions, they were often Jesus’ chief protagonists throughout the Christian Gospels. Jesus knew the Pharisees could look religious. Jesus knew they could talk religious. He knew they could act religious. He knew they could smell religious, yet what was missing is that Pharisees couldn’t see the need for God to change who they were deep down inside. The Pharisees thought of themselves as the embodiment of God’s kingdom and anyone who wasn’t them the Pharisees spit on as they lied in the gutter of life. For the Pharisees in spite of all their good intentions, they could not see their need for God’s Grace.

So Jesus tells a parable today that is intended to serve as a condemnation of the Pharisees attitude and shake up their views about the Kingdom of Heaven.

Jesus tells a tale of two sons. The First Son we will call Charlie Church. Charlie Church looked the part, wore a nice suit to church on Sunday morning, had never been in trouble in his life, Charlie Church could quote the Bible like few other people. Yet, Charlie Church didn’t understand the Kingdom of God.

Whereas the Second Son didn’t look the part. The Second Son was probably intimidated by religion and religious people. The Second son was probably denounced by his neighbors for his vile and disgusting actions no differently than the man caught in adultery or Adrian Peterson.

It was this Second Son who grasped what the Kingdom of God was all about. The key line in Today's Gospel comes as Jesus says to the religious Pharisees “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you[4].”

The ones who society spit out will be the first ones that Christ came to save.

Back to Adrian Peterson, it seems the issue isn’t whether Adrian Peterson is a responsible parent (he isn’t). Nor is the issue whether he has anger management problems (I’m sure he does). The issue isn’t even what type of punishment the Vikings or the NFL should give him.

The issue is how people reacted with such disgust at the possibility that a guilty man might get off from what they perceive to be heinous crimes. What his situation reminds us is that we often have a hard time coming to grips with the most central concepts of the gospel in free grace and dying love. We love forgiveness for ourselves, yet we don’t want it to be too indiscriminate.

As we reflect on Adrian Peterson what the average person thinks should be irrelevant. Adrian Peterson did what he did and in the eyes of many his sins could never be atoned.

We are not Adrian Peterson his crimes unless we are on the jury don’t concern us. Just like the sins of our neighbor only concern us when they ask is there a way forward.

The amazing thing about our gospel is the past does not change because we possess the ability to go back in time, go back to the moment before the Vikings season was over. What makes our Gospel have power is that we have an intervention of grace come down from heaven on our behalf on the cross[5].

As we begin a new year of ministry on this Sunday. We consider a vision for Sychar Lutheran Church, like Adrian Peterson we cannot change the past. The past will reign down whatever consequences that it does. What we can do is begin to seize a vision for our future together. A vision that will define the ministry here at Sychar, The most important question for any church to consider is how it sees it see itself interacting with the wider community. We have a couple different things we can do. We can claim to be like the First Son. We can blame everyone else for the state of the world. We can go on and on about how the weaker members of our flock need to follow the example of the stronger members of our flock. We could even dare to purge the weaker members to make a stronger whole. Plenty of churches are like this. Plenty of religious people think this way.

Or we can embrace who we truly are. We are the Second Son. We are Sychar Lutheran; we are an imperfect church made for imperfect people. We have sinned against God and our neighbor over the years in thought, word, and deed by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We don’t need to hide from this fact. If people want a church where no one has ever done anything wrong, we can feel free to tell them to look elsewhere.

We speak to our failings because it serves as the most powerful of testimonies to the depths of God’s mercy and forgiveness. We do not need to parade anybody’s sin before ourselves, just as they don’t need to parade our own. We come hear to receive the gifts given to us in word and sacrament. Each and everyone comes here today with a common bond; we are all broken people. We’re all in need of a Savior. We are the people who Jesus comes to rescue us from the Road to Hell today by his cross, his death, and his resurrection. Amen

[1] Glover, Ted. “The Vikings Should Release Adrian Peterson”. Daily Norseman.com. Vox Media. 12. Sept.2014. Web. Sept.27.2014.

[2] Zingale, Pastor Tim. “What Kind of Sinner Are You”. Sermoncentral.com. Sept.2005. Web. Sept.25.2011.

2.

[3] Matthew 21:23-32

[4] Matthew 21:31

[5] Reflection on the Adrian Peterson situation was inspired by Todd Brewer over at Mockingbird who wrote an article about a similar situation concerning former Balitmore Raven Ray Rice entitled “Ray Rice and the Perils of Relative Righteousness”. This article was published on September 22nd, 2014.

The Whiners

9/21/2014

First Lesson: Exodus 16: 2-15
Responsive Reading: Psalm 105: 1-6, 37-45
Second Lesson: Philippians 1: 21-30
Gospel Lesson: Matthew 20: 1-16

Grace and Peace from Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,

Let us begin this morning by considering a hypothetical scenario, imagine your first day in heaven. At first everything seems to be going well, weather is nice, food is good, and everybody seems to be nice. This whole heaven thing is setting up to be pretty good. Then out of the corner of your eye much to your surprise, you see Him! Him could be your old high school bully; Him could be your hothead boss; Him could be your neighbor who was always fighting with his wife, and spent more than one night passed out on his lawn. You never expected to see Him here! Seeing Him here is the one thing about the Kingdom of God that you just don’t understand. We’ll get back to your arch-enemy, your worst person in the world in a little bit.

Today’s Gospel lesson comes to us from Matthew the 20th Chapter. Let us reflect on a modern retelling of it as told by Robert Farar Capon[1].

There was a man named Robert, who owned a vineyard. The weather for the past month or so had been perfect for growing grapes, the harvest was setting up beautifully, yet bad news was on the horizon. The weather was about to turn cold in two days times; the grapes needed to harvest fast, or else ruined would be the whole crop.

So Robert goes down to the local hiring hall first thing on Monday morning at 6 AM to be exact.

Now people that tend to be down at the hiring hall at 6 AM are quite ambitious. The workers that gathered at 6 AM were the cream of the crop, the straight A students, the ones with goals and a plan for their life. The 6 AM crowd was full of hard workers who had no problem getting a little dirty in a vineyard.

These workers were in demand as all the other vineyard owners around wanted to hire them. So Robert decided that he was going to be generous in his offer. Whereas the going rate for a day’s work in a vineyard was two-hundred dollars, Robert was going to double it to attract the best workers, and pay four-hundred dollars for a day’s work. The workers were thrilled to receive such a generous offer; they began to daydream how they were going to spend their bounty at the end of the day, and off to Robert’s vineyard they went.

Around 9 AM, Robert receives word that the weather forecast had changed once again. So Robert decides that he needs more workers and fast. Robert makes another trip down to the local hiring hall, only this time he finds good workers, but not great workers looking for a day’s wages. Robert found the B-students, the ones who liked to sleep in a little bit, the ones who would be content with just a nice steady-life. Robert found the workers who preferred a nine to five rather than a six to six pace.

Yet by noon, even more workers were required. So Robert decides to go back to the hiring hall. The type of people there at noon had more of a work to live, rather than a live to work mindset. The type of people that would only work if nothing better came along, yet Robert hired them by promising them top dollar for their time.

3 PM the hours were winding down in the day. Robert was just going to hire anyone that might be standing around. By this point, Robert didn’t care if they were lazy, he didn’t care if they would sneak a grape to eat now and then.

5 PM the hiring hall was empty, but Robert needed still more help. So Robert walked around the streets outside. Robert saw kids whose pants barely hung above their knees, kids who seemed incapable of proper English with every adjective being a cuss word, kids whose clothes were producing a funky smell, and kids who even Robert knew would be of little use in a harvest yet by 5 PM Robert would hire them anyway. The kids went along figuring an hour’s work would give them a little more cash for the evening’s party.

As each new group of workers got to the Vineyard, they did what every human being would do. They asked about the pay. Word quickly spread that Robert was paying four hundred dollars for a day’s work. New workers kept dividing the hours worked figure into 400 and thought that it still sounded pretty good.

As the day ends, Robert is in a good mood. The grape harvest is a great success. Robert is a rich man, so Robert decides that he is going to be exceptionally generous when issuing payments. Robert calls over his manager instructing him to conduct an odd way of paying the workers. Robert commands him to pay the last hired workers first; this was an odd form of payment as managers normally wanted to see the most valuable workers taken care of first.

So the first guy walks up to the Manager, this guy was a real piece of work, ripped jeans, spiked blue hair, and a nose ring that looked like it belonged on a bull.

The manager knew that this guy contributed next to nothing to the project, yet he handed him an envelope with eight crisp fifty dollar bills. Spikey blue hair walks away as fast as he can hoping the manager wouldn’t notice the error, only to afterwards be astonished when his equally unproductive friends received the same reward for one hour of work in eight crisp fifty dollar bills. Word of Robert’s foolish generosity quickly spread, so much so that the when the first workers heard about it they were eager with anticipation. Their brows were filled with sweat, their hands were beaten, their legs were tired from hours upon hours of standing, they wanted nothing more than a shower, yet they felt like they were about to win the lottery. They figure if the worthless workers had been gifted four-hundred dollars then their payment would be in the thousands of dollars. Yet these workers were in for a shock as they approached the manager only to be handed an envelope with eight fifty dollar bills. The hard workers faces at this moment looked like the kid whose Christmas dreams have just been crushed. They were going to give Robert a piece of their mind about the unfairness of his payment plan. Yet as Robert heard them begin to whine, Robert was getting annoyed, he was being exceedingly generous to all his workers. “So what if he made the last first and the first last.”

Robert had been more generous than anyone could have ever imagined. Robert really didn’t care if the angry workers wanted to go to the local watering hole to talk about the unfairness of their boss. Robert was going to do things his way, because it was his business and nobody else’s.

The story of Robert and the vineyard workers is a modern retelling of the Parable of the Vineyard. This parable is a double-edged sword.

It’s a parable that provides grace to some, and judgment unto others. Judgment falls against those who can’t accept Robert’s foolish generosity, whereas grace is given to those who can’t believe Robert’s generosity.

The thing about grace is that it isn’t merely about bettering our situation a little bit here and there, God’s grace centers on bringing the dead back to life. There is no such thing as just a little dead; there is not anybody in need of a little less or little more Resurrection than anybody else. Our evidence of God’s grace never failing us or letting us go was made known on a cross.

A key tenant about Jesus’ parables is that he takes the notions of first and last and turns them right around. Think back to the story of Zacchaeus[2], Zacchaeus was thought to be a complete loser in the ways of God, yet Jesus comes into his life and reverses this outcome[3]. The thing to understand about Jesus’ ministry is that the last are often made first, and the first are often made last. We often can’t grasp that slackers like Spikey McBlueHair could be given such a generous gift.

Our parable for today comes right after Jesus encounters a rich young ruler[4]. This young ruler felt that he deserved eternal life because he had kept the commandments, similar to how the Vineyard workers thought they deserved more money, yet the thing about grace is that we don’t deserve anything, yet God gives it to us anyways. Jesus’ ministry is all about turning the world upside down as he promises that the exalted will be humbled and the humble will be exalted[5].

Today’s parable is a parable about everyday life. It’s a parable for the guys who sit around the bar night after night complaining about how professional baseball players make too much money; it’s a parable that seeks to point us back instead towards a reminder of all the gifts that God gives to us. It’s a parable that reminds us how God’s grace is so great that we don’t know how to respond to it, so we seek to place conditions upon it.

Last weekend, I was in Hawley, Minnesota attending a theological conference put on by a friend of mine named Tom Olson. Tom used to be a missionary in Africa, Tom spent many a day over there drinking and self-loathing. Tom’s mom would worry about him every night turning into nothing more than a lonely, alcoholic pastor. Tom over there meets a woman named Eunice, they get married, yet Tom develops an annoying habit within the marriage. Tom would put himself down at every opportunity till finally his wife snaps as she says “Why won’t you just let me love you without conditions.”

This story and this parable is a reminder of the nature of God’s love for us.

The Parable of the Vineyard is parable about the Kingdom of Heaven it’s a parable that reminds us that on the first day in Heaven there will be all kinds of people there. There will be the seemingly religious success stories: the ministers, the choir boys, the little old ladies who attended every Bible-study for seventy-five years along with those whose presence might shock us, even dare offend us. You might see your neighbor there who ranted whenever you brought up the church, you might see the kids who drove by your house always blaring obnoxious music, and you might even see the worst person in the world.

I remember one time in Seminary talking to John Rasmussen who is a preaching professor at the ILT when we were reflecting upon the age-old question of “If Baptism is so great what about those really despicable people who were baptized?” To which John simply said “I guess if you see them in heaven, then get upset, then YOU could always leave.” This is the Parable of the Vineyard. Amen

[1] Capon tells this story on pages 391-397 of Kingdom, Grace, and Judgment: Paradox, Outrage, and Vindication in the Parables of Jesus. Eerdman’s Publishing. Grand Rapids, MI. 2002. Print. Additional creative license is taken with Capon’s original version.

[2] Luke 19:1-10

[3] Zimmerman, Aaron. “Winners, Losers, Zuccotti Park, and Jesus of Nazareth”. Mockingbird Ministries. Mbird.com Christ Episcopal Church. Charlottesville, VA. 9. Dec.2011. Web. Sept.16.2014.

[4] Matthew 19:16-22

[5] Matthew 23:12, Luke 14:11