Sermon 14 August 2016 pub Isaiah 5:1-7; Hebrews 11:29-12:2; Luke 12:49-56 The Bible is filled with truly inspired, captivating images. The writers, inspired by the Holy Spirit, understood that dry, imageless declarations rarely move people to significant change. Our minds may be changed by skillfully crafted arguments, but it takes more to change the heart. Jesus was an incomparably gifted communicator, and time and again he turned to the ancient images of Judaism to capture the imaginations of the people. Isaiah has been called the silver-tongued prophet for his eloquence. Read the book of Isaiah, sometime read it out loud, and let the brilliance of word and image carry you to a place of wisdom and inspiration. Even in translation, Isaiah is a master of language and image. Today s reading is a top-tier example of Isaiah at his best. The prophet sings a song of warning and judgment a love song concerning [God s] vineyard. God is the vintner. The vineyard is the people of God. Isaiah writes, My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; he expected it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes. What follows is God s lament and God s judgment. There is no bolt of lightning, no plague, no famine God simply removes the hedge protecting the vineyard and stops cultivating the vines. What was a beautifully tended vineyard becomes a wild and desolate place. And then the rain stops. God the vintner steps away from his vineyard, the nation God had planted and tended with loving care. Since the first settlers set foot on America s shore, writers and speakers have turned to the images of abundance and God s faithful care to describe the prosperity of our nation. Many preachers have celebrated the goodness of God with a cornucopia of images of vineyards and fields filled with grapes and grain provided by God. The truth, however, is very mixed. Many of the religious who came to America to escape religious persecution became persecutors on 1
their own. Many who preached the universal, unconditional love of God, judged Native Americans to be less than human. Many who preached freedom owned slaves. There were exceptions. Roger Williams came to America as a Puritan. In time he was bothered by the religious rigidity and exclusivity of the community and was exiled when he criticized the harsh, unyielding, self-righteous judgment of the elders. He became a Baptist and eventually founded what became Rhode Island as a haven for the conscience-guided dissidents of other faith groups. His colony was known as a refuge of tolerance and openness. Politicians have spoken of American exceptionalism, and credited our faith and faithfulness as reasons for our growth, prosperity and stability. In the minds of many, America has been God s vineyard, we have been the favored people of God, and because we have remained faithful God has blessed us. We ve heard the saying America is great because America is good. It has a nice ring to it, and time and again we can point to a goodness that emerges from the American soul. Our deep roots in religion have shaped our minds and values, but too often we don t define our greatness by goodness. Too many of us think of greatness in terms of wealth or power or other measures of superiority. God s good vineyard is not defined by wealth or power, but by the good fruit it produces and the fruit of God s desire is justice and righteousness. [God] expected justice but saw bloodshed; righteousness but heard a cry! I don t believe America is great because America is good. I believe America is great when America is good. In every generation the challenge of faith is to be faithful to love, serve and enjoy God by serving and valuing others with justice and mercy. The problem with justice and mercy is that they are not achieved by simply adhering to a list of principles or a catalogue of values. Principles and proven values are treasured gifts from God, and we need more principled and valued-guided men and women. We need people who think and live principled, valued-guided lives. It is one of the fundamental obligations of the church, one of my inescapable 2
obligations as your pastor to search for, to seek to understand, and to live by the values that guided Jesus. We must not be sloppy with our thinking or unthinking with our living. Many of the good people Jesus met in Palestine were people who tried to follow the rules religious leaders and common men and women who tried to obey the law of God. Jesus affirmed their good desire, but he frequently criticized or condemned what they did. He told them God s law was good and righteous, but that the law could only be lived truly with love. He told them that the letter of the law was deadly, but the spirit of the law breathed life. The Letter of the Law kills, but the Spirit of the Law gives life. Jesus affirmed their good desire, but he frequently criticized or condemned what they did especially when they judged or condemned others when they pushed people outside. In story after story we see Jesus make a choice that violated the conventional wisdom and practice of the religious authorities. One day Jesus turned a corner and ran into a crowd of people with rocks in their hands. They encircled a woman with taunts and threats, preparing to execute her with a storm of stones. The woman had been caught having sex with a man who was not her husband and the law required that she be killed. Jesus interrupted them. Things got quiet as Jesus traced a simple message in the dirt of the street. He rose to face the crowd and said, The one among you who has never sinned, that one can cast the first stone. Slowly, one by one, the people dropped the stones and walked away, until Jesus and the woman stood alone in the street. Is there no one left to condemn you? Neither do I condemn you. Go on, go home, and don t sin any more. Jesus was a principled man, he was guided by godly values, and he always obeyed the spirit of his Father s law. He knew that the deepest, eternally vibrating chord of the law was love. Read the gospels and see that it is true. When faced with a choice between principle and people Jesus always chose to stand with people. The only people he opposed were those who put principle above people. Jesus rested in peace with God because he knew the heart of God was the law of love. 3
Of course there was judgment for sin, but Jesus judgment was always meant to break the grip of sin and to set the sinner free. Of course there is judgment for sin, but Jesus judgment is always meant to break the grip of sin and to set the sinner free. God doesn t have an arbitrary list of commandments to fence in the wandering soul. There is nothing arbitrary about God s hatred of sin. God hates sin because sin scars and mars the beauty of God s creation. God hates sin because sin kills the soul. I encourage you to take time to reread today s selection from Hebrews. It is about faith and faithfulness and the consequences of being faithful. There are two lists of those who are counted as faithful. The first list is of those whose faith brought them success through faith they conquered kingdoms, administered justice, attained promises, and shut the mouths of lions, quenched raging fire and escaped the edge of the sword. The second list is not so pleasant. In that list the faithful suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned to death, they were sawn in half... they wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. The two lists could not be more different, except in their trajectory. All the faithful, whether successful or suffering, look beyond the comfort and convenience of the present to the possibilities of God s future. They are not trapped in the past; they lean into the future trusting in God. They are a great cloud of witnesses who call us to a life of courage risking everything in faith. The writer of Hebrews brings the focus to Jesus. Let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame. The truly faithful of God live in spiritual tents, not spiritual houses build of stone. They are ready to pull up stakes and travel at a moment s notice. They know this life is a journey of understanding and when our minds become calcified and rigid, we are sheltering ourselves from the 4
wild winds of the Spirit who always blows into the future moving on to a new country where justice rolls on like a river and righteousness like a never-ending stream. (Amos 5:24) The third reading for this morning is one of the most difficult passages in the Bible. Pick any of it and try to reconcile it with what you ve heard in other parts of the gospels. What kind of fire is Jesus talking about? Is it a scorching fire of destruction or a purifying fire of soul? Is it some of both judgment and purification? How disturbing is Jesus talk of peace and division! Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell, you, but rather division. The question of peace is disconcerting enough. We thought you were the Prince of Peace, and that you came to give us a peace that surpasses understanding. The idea that you didn t come to bring peace is unsettling enough but what division you talk about! They will be divided; father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother. What does that mean? We thought you came to heal the nations and join the hearts of all people into one family. I really should save my thoughts on this for another day, but let me try to offer a few words of perspective. We know that families go through strife and experience division. We know the church goes through times of strife and division. We know that the family of humanity lives with strive and division. But how can we think that Jesus is the source of any of the strife and division we know? There are many reasons for the brokenness we see and know. Most of it is the result of selfishness the consequences of sin and bitterness the absence of forgiveness, justice and mercy the fruit of hatred, bigotry and fear. Jesus is not responsible for any of that. But when we choose to walk with Jesus in the strength of the Holy Spirit, when we choose to follow a path that opposes the forces of selfishness, sin, bitterness, hatred, bigotry and fear when we choose forgiveness, justice and mercy we will walk into another category of strife and division. 5
Even good people, even members of our own families, will unwittingly oppose us as we look to the future and are willing to cut the mooring lines that hold us to the past. Those who question or break with the status quo will always pay a price. As Jesus spoke of fire and division, he knew conflict was coming to him. He knew even the most gentle truth he spoke would meet resistance from those who were tied to the past and unwilling to embrace the new creation. In the starkest, most brutal of ways, he knew that no good deed goes unpunished. Some truth will always be conflictual. The truth we don t want to hear is always divisive. There is no simple formula for life. I wish we always knew when it is time to hold on to something and when to let go, but life simply is not like that. We walk by faith and not by sight. Our only certainty in life is God s love and the steadfast companionship and friendship of Jesus. For the rest of it, we do the best we can we work out our salvation with fear and trembling, always committed to care for the people we meet, and always putting our trust in God to guide us and to forgive us when we get it wrong. 6