Ramblings

Work together for Good – 7/27/2014

Sermon based on Romans 8: 26-39. What do you say to people who are going through a difficult time? This past week I heard a person use a portion of our second lesson from Romans and ever since I have been thinking about it. Imagine a woman --- let's call her Mary --- whose husband has just died after a long, painful illness. A friend --- call her Jennifer --- comes to see her and says, "Mary, I know this has been a hard time for you --- but remember --- all this is for the good! "We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose."

Biblical passages can provide comfort but we can also turn to Biblical passages without much thought. For example in retrospect was Jennifer's words to Mary the right words? Just imagine what Mary might be thinking? Did you see my husband die? Do you know how for the last three months he laid there with tubes coming out of him, helpless? What do you mean, 'all things work together for good?'

And then consider if Jennifer completed her quote from Romans with the rest of Paul's statement to Mary "….for those who love God, who are called according to this purpose…" So Mary if you don't feel like your husband's death is working toward "good" well obviously it is because you do not love God and you are not called to God purpose. So although Jennifer may have been trying to provide words of comfort from the Bible she may have been actually hurting. Yet if not that meaning that opens for us another dilemma, what exactly is Paul intending.

Another way I have heard us use Paul's words is that it is another way for us to say that "things have a way of working out." Say something happens in a person's life and people will pat us on the back and say, "It will turn out all right in the end. Things have a way of working out."

Unfortunately that meaning can also end up doing more damage because it can come from privilege. For example, say this to families living on the garbage dumps in Guatemala, Philippines or in India. "I'm sad you're sick and poor and living under a piece of cardboard and wearing rags. But don't worry! Things have a way of working out!" We then get on a plane and fly home. I don't think Paul intended for us to victimize the victim.

Furthermore, if this is what Paul meant, it doesn't quite fit from where Paul had been in faith. If you remember, Paul had come from growing up in faith where he had been taught that faith was a transaction, "If I do right by God, then God will take care of me." When bad things happen, then it must be somebody's fault and the nearest place to look for blame is probably the one who is suffering.

A third way I have heard us interpret the "good" in verse 28 is to mean that "In everything we are good as long as we remain in Christ!" Suggesting that a life of faith leads us on to different choices. Similar to our opening imaginary conversation, in this case we are taking the verse out of context, because Paul himself teaches that is not what he means. For example, shortly before this Paul has just said, "For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do." If faithful living was that simplistic "I do good when I am in God" than Paul certainly does not see that in his own life because he still in faith makes poor decisions. In other words, if as a Christian we ride a motorcycle without proper head gear and have an accident; it is not God's way of producing good. We made the mistake it is our fault.

For me this leads to the fourth way I have heard many of us quote from this verse in Romans 8; "all things work to good" suggesting that for that reason, we should never have random bad stuff ever happen.

But that also is not accurate because Paul himself later says that actually bad stuff in faith will happen; "Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?" If Paul had meant to tell us we would never have our house burn down or experience a tornado, Paul would certainly have said we then will never experience "hardship or distress." Christians may suffer but it is not directly correlated to God's love. Rather Paul says it is the opposite, faithful living may cause us to experience more than a fair share of "hardship and distress."

The fifth way we may unwittingly abuse this passage is somehow suggest that the evil act of another person or family member not affect us because it is all meant for good. In other words, do you remember the Star Trek television series and the spin offs like, Star Trek: Next Generation and Star Trek: Voyager. When everyone is under attack … up go the energy shields. Then the bad guy's bad stuff bounces off. That's what many of us want, isn't it: a powerful energy shield surrounding us, so that evil acts cannot upset us.

But once again the very context of this verse shows us that this cannot possibly be Paul's meaning. For example, in verse 36, Paul quotes Psalm 44, saying: "As it is written, 'For your sake we are being killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered."

Paul understood that God does not protect us with an energy shield. And, of course, history bears this out, in Paul's own life, in the lives of the other apostles, in the lives of Christians through the centuries.

So to summarize we have at times possibly used this verse to suggest to ourselves and others that --- "Things always work out!" --- Or that it means that "we are free from the consequences of actions." Or we have used these words to suggest that "No bad stuff will ever come our way! Or we have used this verse as a talisman, a form of "protection from evil."

If we have used that verse for our purposes in those ways, how might we learn to understand this verse so that we can see what Paul may have actually meant? Well, I think it is important to remember to whom Paul is writing, the Christians in the center of the known world of that time --- Rome. Paul is reassuring the Roman church that as they live out their callings as disciples of Jesus, when material blessings where going to the powerful and not to them, that in the process of faithful living they are being conformed to the image of Jesus not to the image of an emperor. For most of us, "good" equals things like health, happiness, solid relationships, long life, money, food on the table, meaningful work, and a nice place to live. In general, we think the "good" life means a better set of circumstances, not far I believe from what those Roman Christians struggled to understand.

Rather than those things, Paul is suggesting that the "good" is that we are to be conformed to the likeness of Jesus Christ. Paul believes the promise based on God's solidarity with us, and anticipates a time when even the worst that the powers of sin and death have to offer will be shown to be a "slight momentary affliction" when compared with the "glory about to be revealed to us."

Paul is being similar to the words of Jesus today in the gospel. Jesus is comparing the promise of the good found in the kingdom to be like a tiny mustard seed --- something that begins insignificant rather than extravagant --- it is fragile rather in mighty. This promised good kingdom Jesus says can also be faint, like yeast leavening a batch of dough --- something difficult to detect unless we look carefully, not obvious or apparent, even though we know it must be there somewhere. This good kingdom Jesus says is also like a fishnet containing the good and the bad together, or a field of wheat with weeds. Despite these and other outward obscurities of appearances, the ultimate reality of this good kingdom is that God's love is unconditional and inseparable and it is growing.

Earlier in this chapter the apostle Paul said, "To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace" (v. 6). This is the choice we face today and every day: to set our mind on the flesh, or on the Spirit. One path leads us to Sin, Death and Chaos, while the other leads us to life and peace. The good is that Jesus Christ has already won the war and given us the victory. What do we say to people who are going through a difficult time? We will certainly continue to have struggles every day, but the final outcome the "good," has already been determined. Amen.

People of Wheat – 7-20-2014

Sermon based on Matthew 13: 24-30; 36-43. When I worked at a fish factory many years ago in Iceland, part of my duties included grading fish. Under a strong light at a table, I would separate the Atlantic cod coming from the processors down a belt according to its qualities as determined by both the rules of the Icelandic Fish Board and common sense. In other words, I was separating good fish from bad fish. Sometimes it was easy to tell what fish needed to be pulled from the conveyer belt --- worms in the body --- and sent on a separate chute but other times it was not an easy task and I am sure that although my intentions were good, I made mistakes. The hardest moments where when the trawlers were emptying their loads one after another, and we were under pressure to make a quick decision.

The parable of the weeds and the wheat is a similar situation. According to the parable, Jesus asks us to imagine the Kingdom of God to be a field with weeds and wheat growing up together from seed planted by both a landowner and a nighttime enemy of the landowner. The parable relays how as time passed, the field hands come to the landowner offering to pull the weeds. Instead of accepting the offer, the landowner tells the field hands to wait, until both wheat and weeds are fully grown and ready for harvest. There are several reasons mentioned besides the reality that we can't always separate based on appearance. Also, because the roots of the weeds and wheat are intertwined, pulling up weeds would also mean pulling up wheat. Although not mentioned in the parable, Jesus may also subtly be hinting at a biblical passage for according to Leviticus 19:19, weeds also made a field unclean and thus unfit for human consumption.

Rather it is at harvest time, based on the parable, when there will be clarity and the process will be easier to separate the weeds and wheat. It is then that the weeds can be bundled together, used for fuel, while the wheat can be ground into flour.

Jesus however unlike other parables mentioned in the Bible, also provides an interpretation for his confused disciples. Jesus says the "wheat" are the children of God; the "weeds" are the fake ones pretending to be wheat, as though by growing up smack in the middle of a wheat field they'll be mistaken for wheat. Actually Jesus says they are the "children of the evil one" (v. 38).

Nevertheless in the meantime before the harvest, Jesus is suggesting, the listeners to the parable are going to have to put up with the weeds among the wheat, put up with the phonies among the pious, the false among the true, and the fake among the genuine.

So what do you think? I see two lessons for my own life. What I find interesting in the parable is that Jesus describes this field, which is the "world," primarily as a field of wheat, not as a field of weeds. That is to say, when Jesus sees the world, he looks out across not a field of weeds in which there is a few stalks of wheat growing, but a field of wheat in which there are a few weeds growing.

I thought about this lesson this past Wednesday, when I was visiting two sites managed by Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest that is providing quality care for unaccompanied minors from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador who have been captured or turned themselves in at the border. For example, I had the opportunity to sit down with a dozen girls between the ages of 12 to 14 and hear their stories. One young girl of 12, shared how her journey began when for her safety because of the violence and the threat of rape from gangs, her mother in El Salvador sent her to try to reach her working father here in the United States.

Remarkably, she described the 16 days that it took walking and riding buses, alone, looking for food and avoiding the Mexican police and roving groups of men. She made it to the Rio Grande and with others came across the border where she was detained. Now she was waiting for her father to complete to paperwork so she could be released into her father's care. As she described her incredible, brave and heroic journey, I thought about what I had been reading and hearing about her and the other thousands of other children.

What I mean by that, is I don't know about you but it is easy to be discouraged, easy to believe that evil, if not evil then "weeds" are all around us, about to overwhelm us. In fact, Jesus reminds us in the parable that is not the case. Yes, the "children of evil" exist and they do damage to the crop, but they exist in a field that is predominantly a field of wheat, not weeds. As I sat around the table and heard the stories of these girls, I was reminded that I was in a field of wheat, young and tender, looking for a place to grow, to be fruitful. These unaccompanied minors are not disease carrying invaders, but a symptom of poverty, violence and drugs.

And that leads to something else I noticed about today's parable in that although Jesus does indicate that weeds will be addressed at harvest time, remarkably, Jesus points out that it is not our responsibility as the wheat; it is up to as Jesus said, "angels" to make that appropriate decision. Meaning, not only do we not have that responsibility but also that means that Jesus does not offer an insight into the grand plan to get rid of the weeds that plague the field of wheat. We are not the ones who understand what it means to wage war on weeds. And since we do not have rules of engagement about marching into a field of wheat to root out the weeds and no clear book on what makes weeds different than wheat --- it is impossible to make that judgment.

In fact, Jesus seems to be saying that we should go about our business growing and being fruitful as wheat. Our task is to be who we are, children of God. We're not called to be the landowners or angels. Rooting up weeds or even decided what a weed is, is not part of our job description.

However, how do I reconcile those words todays parable, with others that suggest we are to contest what is evil; "And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." What do I do when I perceive evil? When I perceive weeds?

In the parable we hear that in a wheat field, the root systems of wheat and weeds become so intertwined that to uproot the weeds involves uprooting and destroying the wheat.  Good and evil are so bound up with each other in our ordinary human existence that we cannot eradicate the one without destroying the other.

This is a far cry from saying that there is no black and white, that all is grey.  Instead, it's a clear acknowledgement that each and every one of us is a mix of wheat and weeds.

As followers of Jesus Christ, we are to resist and challenge evil. And yet we do so not as God, not as angels, not as people who have achieved righteousness, and we do so with the further complexion that we can't always tell the difference.  In fact, each of us struggles with some sort of evil within us.

Rather as we work against evil as wheat it is under the larger umbrella, the life lesson and example of Jesus Christ, that in our task we humbly practice forgiveness and patience as we live out our lives as children of God. Something that is further complicated because judgment and criticism is something we like to do. For instance, many of you might remember the children's TV show called "The Muppets." Two of the characters were the two old men who sat up in the balcony every week and heckled and criticized the jokes and performances … but did you ever notice that they always returned for the next show. Unfortunately, there are many of us who act the same way. We see flaws. We point out the failings, and keep returning for more. We don't know when as wheat to let God take over. We not know when to practice forgiveness and patience. It is like those who complain about TV shows they don't like, but keep watching the same shows!

Thankfully, the Cross of Christ redeems us and we have the model of Jesus in life and death.  God shows us mercy, forgiveness and patience every day. That means our struggle with evil, when we are under pressure is not as all knowing warriors with license to wreak havoc but as redeemed and forgiven children of God every single one of us, leaning on the power of God's forgiveness and patience, thankfully with a lot more wheat around us then we may think, humbly practicing the same forgiveness and patience, praying for help in our cycle of judgment and criticism. Let us grow fruitful as wheat where we are planted. Amen.