Here what the spirit is saying to the church. Congregation replies: Thanks be to God.

Transcription

1 Feb. 28, 2016 Fiddler: God s Economy Rev. Dr. John Ross Bible Reference: Matthew As we turn to scripture, I want to give some context to what you re going to hear both in the scripture reading and then immediately following in the song for this week, from the show Fiddler on the Roof. The song this week is If I Were a Rich Man. It ll be performed for us, sung to us by Rick Treece, who s playing the part of Tevye in the production that so many others are participating in. The full show, as we ve told you, will be shown over 4 days, 5 shows, March 17-20, right at the end of the season of Lent, but we re spending this whole season of Lent picking out one song at a time, and really taking a deep dive on the themes and the meaning of each song. The show is so much more meaningful and it is so full of wonderful messages that I hadn t even imagined going into it. And it s been such a joy. I hope you are enjoying it as well along the way. We ve been to Tradition, we started with Tradition a couple weeks ago. Last week Alan preached about Anatevka and the home that we find in God s love wherever we go. Down the road we re going to get to the depth and meaning of love between us, Sabbath Prayer, the homes that we have to leave, much more. Today, as I say, we hear from Tevye, asking and answering the question, If I Were a Rich Man. Now, to go with that song, I ve chosen a passage from Matthew and it s one that you might be familiar with but keeping in mind that at this point in his ministry, Jesus is pretty far along the road. He s getting close to that point where he s going to be headed to Jerusalem. But before that he s really trying to be clear with people about what it means to follow him. One of the most effective ways for him, throughout the Gospel, is to tell stories with a point. We call them parables. This is a parable. It s not a direct exchange; it s a story that Jesus tells to make a point. So I m going to invite you now to listen to the Word of God as it comes to us from the Gospel according to Matthew. Reading by Katherine Poindexter: Then Jesus said to his disciples but many who are first will be last and the last will be first. The kingdom of heaven is like a land owner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. When he went out about 9 o clock, he saw others standing idle in the market place and he said to them, You also go to the vineyard and I will pay you whatever s right. So they went. When he went out again about noon and about 3 o clock, he did the same. And about 5 o clock, he went out and found others standing around and he said to them, Why are you standing here idly all day? They said to him, Because no one has hired us. He said to them, You also go into this vineyard. When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his managers, Call the laborers and give them their pay beginning with the last and then going to the first. When those hired about 5 o clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage. Now when the first came, they thought they d receive more, but each of them also received the usual daily wage. And when they received it, they grumbled against the land owner saying, these last worked only one hour and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day in the scorching heat. But he replied to one of them, Friend I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree to me for the usual daily wage? Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give this last the same as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do as I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous? So the last will be first and the first will be last. Here what the spirit is saying to the church. Congregation replies: Thanks be to God. At this time, Rick Treece, who plays Tevye in the Fiddler on the Roof, enters the sanctuary carrying a wheelbarrow full of milk cans. He places one down and says, Dear God, I m not really complaining, I know you made many many poor people. I realize of course, it s no shame to be poor, but it s no great honor either. So would it have been so terrible if I just had a small fortune?

2 He begins to sing, If I Were a Rich Man Lyrics: If I were a rich man, Yubby dibby dibby dibby dibby dibby dibby dum. All day long I'd biddy biddy bum. I wouldn't have to work hard. Ya ha deedle deedle, bubba bubba deedle deedle dum. If I were a biddy biddy rich, Idle-diddle-daidle-daidle man. I'd build a big tall house with rooms by the dozen, Right in the middle of the town. A fine tin roof with real wooden floors below. There would be one long staircase just going up, And one even longer coming down, And one more leading nowhere, just for show. The most important men in town would come to fawn on me! They would ask me to advise them, Like a Solomon the Wise. "If you please, Reb Tevye..." "Pardon me, Reb Tevye..." Posing problems that would cross a rabbi's eyes! And it won't make one bit of difference if I answer right or wrong. When you're rich, they think you really know! If I were rich, I'd have the time that I lack To sit in the synagogue and pray. And maybe have a seat by the Eastern wall. And I'd discuss the holy books with the learned men, several hours every day. That would be the sweetest thing of all. If I were a rich man, Yubby dibby dibby dibby dibby dibby dibby dum. All day long I'd biddy biddy bum. I wouldn't have to work hard. Idle-diddle-daidle-daidle man. Lord who mad the lion and the lamb, You decreed I should be what I am. Would it spoil some vast eternal plan? Tevye exits.

3 Rev. Dr. John Ross continues: Would it spoil some vast eternal plan? I think so, but let s see about that. I m going to go out on a limb a little bit this morning. I m going to ask you to help me with the sermon prayer by singing it with. I know it might be hard to follow someone as talented as Rick, in singing, but they ll be a point to this eventually. OK? So all you have to do is sing back to me what I sing to you first. OK? Are you ready for this? Is everybody listening? This is a test all morning long to see if you re staying with me. Alright? It goes like this. You sing right back to me, OK? It goes like this. Seek first God s economy and God s justice..all these things will flow to you no need to worry..seek first God s economy..and God s justice..all these things will flow to you no need to worry. Matthew 6:33. Familiar verse. New tune. That s kind of the whole goal of going to scripture I think. Familiar words but with a new tune and a new message. Knowing that we were going into this particular theme today If I Were a Rich Man it was a rich week to do that. I spent 5 days down in Nicaragua, which has a way of reframing how we look at everything. I was down there I sort of a due diligence trip with some other members of the Board of Mission and Outreach. And I think it s also a perfect Sunday to meet and greet, inspire and challenge our seminary students to think about these big picture things. And it reminded me that almost everytime I end my Sunday morning conversation with my Dad, almost everytime, he says the same thing at the end, just as I m about to hang up he says, Now remember you have the best job in the whole world! Arthur, do you agree? (laughter) I agree, too! But sometimes I need my Dad to remind me of that. You know cause why do we do this, why are you pursuing what your pursuing and Kai, Kristen, Lindy, Allen and others, so many others. Do we do it for the money? (laughter) That got a better laugh at the early service! No we don t do it for the money, we could probably do a little better elsewhere. Do we do it cause we only have to work one day a week? (laughter) That s awesome! Do we do it because from time to time we get to travel to unique and amazing places to meet remarkable people? That s part of it but that s not it, that s not all. Do we do it because every single week we get a chance to stand up and do what some people fear more than death itself? Speak in public? That s not it either. At least for me, the reason might surprise you but I know that I share this in common with my clergy colleagues, one of the main reasons we think we have one of the best jobs in the whole world, is because on a very regular basis, we get to lead and attend funerals. Just in the past 10 days and after tomorrow, we will have hosted 4 funerals here in this church. That doesn t count the ones that are on the fringe of our community like Leslie Nugent who s father in-law passed away last week, and others. And the reason why that s a benefit, a blessing, a reason to celebrate this work that we do is because you can not do that with out reflecting on the true meaning and purpose of life. You can neither write nor listen to a eulogy without asking the most important questions of life! Meaning and purpose are infused in those times of reflection and remembering. And it s one of the reasons why this is the greatest job in the world. This idea of being blessed and deepened by eulogy, by hearing them and writing them is picked up by David Brooks and a book that he recently released called The Road to Character. He talks about eulogy virtues and puts them over against resume virtues. Just right on the surface that will probably make sense to you the difference between eulogy virtues and resume virtues. Resume virtues, are those things in life that appear on our resume. These are skills or the gifts that we have that we bring to bear on the marketplace. Eulogy virtues are the things that are mentioned in our eulogy. The things that people say about us after we re gone. The impressions that we made on people s lives in our living days. Resume virtues are going to be about advancement and be on the surface of life. Eulogy virtues are going to go deep. Who are we? What s our relationship with one another? Most people would agree that eulogy virtues are much more important that resume virtues. But is there evidence of that in our lives? Are eulogy virtues the ones we think about most? Cause I promise you the culture is pressing us constantly towards the resume virtues even though we confess a desire and a preference for eulogy virtues. If I were a rich man. That song and the lyrics of it dances the divide between resume and eulogy virtues. And in part because I m playing the rabbi in the show and in part because the whole show is set in the context of a Jewish community and in part because David Brooks pointed me to a rabbi who speaks in the same way, I want to tell you about Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik. A rabbi who wrote a book in 1965 called, The Lonely Man of Faith who speaks to these ideas of eulogy virtues and resume virtues but uses some different language, another way to frame this.

4 Soloveitchik talks about Adam 1. This would be the resume virtues. Adam 1 is an external part of who we are. These are the 2 sides of human nature. Adam 1 is worldly, ambitious, external, want to build and create innovation, build and create companies. Adam 2, on the other hand, is an internal side of ourselves more aligned with the eulogy virtues. Humility. Not just doing good, but truly being good. Living internally in ways that honor God, creation and possibility. Adam 1 savors accomplishment, Adam 2 savors inner consistency and strength. Adam 1 asks how do things work? And Adam 2 asks why are we here? Adam 1 wants to conquer the world and Adam 2 wants to hear a calling and obey the world. The motto of Adam 1 over here on the resume side, is success. The motto of Adam 2 on the eulogy side of ourselves is love, redemption and return. Sodloveitchik argues that these two sides of ourselves are constantly at odds with one another. They are perpetually fighting against one another for prominence in our lives, for expression in our living. And the lines of logic behind each of these are equally different. Adam 1 has this external line of logic that's economic in nature. Adam 2 has a moral logic that results in an inverse and upside down ways of thinking like to give is to receive. Or to fulfill self we must forget self. To find self we must loose self. Or to be first you must be last. Those who are first shall be last and the last shall be first eternal. Does that sound familiar to you? It was on either side of the parable this morning. Right before the parable Jesus speaks those words and right after he speaks them again. Straight in line from 19 into 20. The first shall be last and the last shall be first. Jesus was all the way an Adam 2 kind of guy. Eulogy virtues all over his ministry, all over his life. Think about that song we sang, Seek first God s economy, seek first the kingdom of God and all these things shall come to you. That s a eulogy virtue, that s an Adam 2 all the way and that s Jesus. The same Jesus who tells the story about the Prodigal Son. The Prodigal Son who goes off with his resume. Adam 1 all the way until he realizes the dead end that it is and he turns around and comes home to a loving father who embraces him with eulogy virtues. The same Jesus who in the chapter immediately prior to the one that Katherine read, tells the story, tells the account, not the parable, tells the account of the rich young man who comes to him, remember this story? The rich young man comes to Jesus and says, Master, what must I do to inherit the Kingdom of God? Jesus says, Well, you have to follow this commandment, that commandment, you have to do this, you have to do that And the guy is psyched and he s like, Yes, I ve done all those things-what else must I do? And Jesus says, Well you got all that rich stuff. You gotta sell it all, you gotta give it to the poor and you gotta come follow me. What s the rich young guy do? He sells all his stuff. He gives it to the poor and he goes and follows Jesus! No, he doesn t! That was a test! (laughter) That s not at all what he does! The rich young guy walks away, his head is down, he s heartbroken, he s crest fallen, cause he can t possibly imagine letting go of his resume and his riches to go and follow Jesus. The laborers in the vineyard turn everything upside down. Redefines everything. This whole idea of eulogy virtues Adam 2 kind of living is told in that parable that everybody who worked all day long got the same pay. It makes no sense what so ever, and it doesn t, because it s not our economy it s God s economy. Now I want to be clear, Jesus is not saying, don t seek a prosperous life. Jesus invites people into live abundant, into lives of prosperity, into prosperities living. He just says, don t do that first. It s a matter or order and priority and purpose. He says don t do this stuff first, do this stuff first, seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will come to you. Seek first God s economy and God s justice and all these things will flow to you. At the heart of this parable, that we heard, is the challenge and the dangerous of comparing ourselves to other people. If you get right to it, at the end of that parable, the people who were hired early in the day who worked all day long, watched other people get paid for a full day even though they only worked a couple of hours. They immediately think we re going to get more but they don t so they re comparing themselves to other people. Huge risk. Huge danger in that. As we ponder our own lives, our resume virtues and our eulogy virtures, and our Adam 1 evidence and our Adam 2 evidence, we go so quickly to comparing ourselves to others and there s a huge risk in that. We know the psychological, psychiatric and social risks involved with comparing to other people. We know it does damage to our true sense of self. We know that comparing ourselves to others just sucks the joy right out of our lives. Mark Twain said that comparison is the death of joy. Because comparing ourselves to others just breeds a low self-esteem. It

5 leads to depression and it diminishes trust. Comparing ourselves to others leads to one word, Envy. Remember a few years ago we did the 7 deadly sins? One of those vices was envy. We remembered and we recognized that envy is the only one of those vices that is just no fun what so ever. But comparing ourselves to others is also often done in a completely false environment. Comparing ourselves against false information. Now I apologize to anybody who is not on Facebook or who doesn t regularly use Facebook, but this realty is most clearly illustrate with Facebook that we compare ourselves to other people and it s against totally false information. No one s lives could possibly be as good as it appears to be on Facebook. No chance. There is no way, because Facebook is an edited version of every single person s life that puts something up there. It s edited. It s scrubbed. Get rid of all the bad stuff and just put the great stuff. And yet we look at that we think wow! We compare our lives to those things and they re totally false. You never see the Mom posting the picture of their kid missing the lay-up at to win the game. You never see that. You never see the fight that breaks out between siblings in the basement that results in a split lip and lots of vulgar language. You don t see that on Facebook. You don t see the precious vase in the dining room that gets knocked off the table, gets shattered all over and leaving Mom into a meltdown. You don t see those things on Facebook. But we know that they re out there, we know that it s true, we know that s reality, we re only comparing to a false reality. Now Facebook has caught on to this. Did you read last week in the newspaper that Facebook is adding more options for out response. Up until this point in time, you can read a post and if you liked it, you can like it. You can click the button with the thumbs up symbol. You like it. That was the only option. They have now officially added 5 new options that much better represent the whole reality of life. You can now respond by pressing the emoticons that are represented by love, ha-ha, sad, angry or wow. A much better representation of true life. There s one other danger in comparing ourselves to others after we know it damages our sense of self, after we know we re comparing to false information in the first place, we are know that at the end of the day, it just doesn t help! Has anyone ever been served by comparing themselves to someone else? And going down in the dumps about that? I mean just from the song that you heard Tevye sing, in that song Tevye compares himself economically, socially, intellectually, theologically, romantically and professionally to people around him. Does it do one bit good in his life? No, not one bit. But I can promise you that chasing life out here in the western suburbs of the Twin Cities, comparing ourselves to others, it doesn t help. It doesn t help one bit. I had a memorable conversation just last night with another parent. We had our end of the season hockey banquet for our PeeWee B-1 hockey team out in Orono. Lovely home out west of here, just reflecting with a friend of mine, a very wealthy guy, powerful guy, very successful in his career, and he confessed to me how hard it has been for him in the last 10 years or so to live out here because he feels like he s comparing with other people, he s trying to keep up and it s like he s on a treadmill and the treadmill at any minute is just going to throw him off. Now isn t that so true? Comparing ourselves to others just doesn t help. All it does is turn us into the kind of people that Jesus warned us about in the end of the parable. Grumpy, stingy, unhappy people. That s all that can come of it. Unfulfilled. Ungrateful people who can t see the blessings in life that are right before them. Comparing ourselves to other people is dangerous work but there is one person that we need to be intentional about comparing ourselves to and that is ourselves. We have to regularly, daily, prayerfully, compare ourselves. Our resume selves, our eulogy selves. Our Adam 1 selves and our Adam 2 selves. So we can make the intentional choice of building up one or the other every single day because both possibilities exist in each and every one of us. We re not born this way or born that way we have great capacity for both. But they come by choosing the right tasks, asking the right questions, and ordering our lives in ways that please God. In the final word, I don t think it matters much what we do or how rich we are, we can all seek first the kingdom of God and that is the best job in the whole world. Sing: Seek first God s economy.and God s justice.all these things will flow to you no need to worry.. You sound beautiful. Amen. Let s stand, let s sing our closing song together.