Enter into the Joy of Jesus

Matthew 25: 14-30 is traditionally interpreted as a stewardship story inviting us to invest our financial gifts generously in offering ministries to the world in Jesus' name. But as our sermon series on the "Here and Now Kingdom of Heaven" draws to a close next week, the setting of this parable is informative. The three servants are given huge/gigantic/mind-blowing talents/possessions/gifts/abilities/skills/resources (any of these translations can be valid) as their Master prepares to go on a long trip. In other words the Master will be gone from them for a long time. But the story quickly jumps to the Master's return - evoking the good news/bad news of the end of time and the accounting and judgment that will accompany our Master's return.

Here's where the story gets interesting. If we depart from the traditional stewardship interpretation, let's imagine this great mind-boggling gift from our Master as the gift of Jesus Christ who comes into our lives bearing the good news of salvation, the challenges of serving the world in his name, and the joy of living in relationship to him. The question for the three servants - and for us - is: "What do we do with this gift of Jesus Christ?"

The third servant's response of fear and distrust of his Master leads him to bury this gift in the ground where it is safe and secure - hidden from the world. For those of us who play it safe by retreating from the challenges of sharing our faith with others so that they never get to know the joy of Jesus - we are rightly castigated by Jesus and cast into the outer darkness apart from his presence.

How might we instead risk ourselves, our hearts, our involvement, our vulnerabilities by shouting (or whispering at least) our joy in knowing Jesus?

Do not fear!

When I was a youth, I remember one Saturday afternoon out on a lake in TN working as a crew to my parents in a regatta. My mother, the skipper, was an intense competitor. She, Dad, and I were so focused on the race and the positions of the other boats that we didn't anticipate the sudden storm envelope us. Seemingly out of the blue, we were being pounded by heavy rain and high winds threatening to sink our 17 foot Thistle sailboat. We became disoriented as we lost all sight of shore. My dad and I alternated bailing out the boat and hiking out on the rail to keep from sinking or capsizing. My fears were swallowing me as I worked alongside them. But I was with my strong parents and trusted them.

Simon Peter is out on his fishing boat with Jesus and when he casts his nets deep and wide, a crisis strikes. As Eugene Peterson paraphrases in The Message, "It was no sooner said than done - a huge haul of fish, straining the nets past capacity. They waved to their partners in the other boat to come help them. They filled both boats, nearly swamping them with the catch." (Luke 5: 6-7).

To catch the context and the whole story, read Luke 5: 1-11.

Have you experienced similar crises? Has your boat been so swamped with demands, you felt as if you're sinking? Have you been pressured to lie (even a little white lie) or cheat or skimp or evade the truth so that you were filled with guilt or shame? Have you lost your way so that you felt as if you were out in the middle of the ocean with no sign of the shore or another person to come on board and help? Have you ever been so tired or discouraged or filled with despair that everything looks as black as the deepest waters?

Jesus' response is: Fear not. I am with you.

Sometimes Jesus' presence is other people who will walk with us through our crises. Sometimes Jesus' presence is the calm or peace we need to breathe through our struggles. Sometimes Jesus' presence is the strength and energy we need to tackle our battles. Sometimes Jesus' presence comes in trusting that the fish we need to quench our hungers will become available if we but open our eyes and heart to see.

What Jesus does NOT say is, "Settle in and close your eyes and deny your struggles." Partnering with Jesus to bring in the kingdom here on earth is costly discipleship demanding long nights and hard labor. For as Jesus draws us closer to him, he also draws us into deeper waters where fruitfulness, blessings, and an abundance of grace await us. This is where we are freed from the nets that bind us to meaninglessness are broken. This is where life abundant resides.

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Shelley

Fishing in the deep deep waters

When you come home from school or work after a long day of slogging through your tasks, how often do you encounter hungry kids or a grouchy spouse or bills that add up to more than your paycheck? Well, Simon Peter has stayed out all night on his boat fishing in waters he knows well and his nets are empty. So he's wearily washing and cleaning his empty nets, probably with his stomach growling for a hot meal back at the house.

This is just when Jesus asks to borrow his boat. For the crowds are pushing in on Jesus eager to hear more of his preaching and teaching. Such a simple request, but it leads to so much more.

Read Luke 5: 1-11 to hear the story of this tired fisherman and the miracle Jesus hands him.

There is lots of drama in this story. I can envision Simon Peter sitting quietly as Jesus continues to teach. Simon may think this is all that Jesus wants from him. But oh no!

When the teaching is done, Jesus directs Simon to pull out into the deep water. It's only natural for Simon Peter to protest: "Master, (notice he acknowledges Jesus as a learned one) we've been fishing hard all night and haven't caught even a minnow." Can't you just hear the tiredness, sense of defeat, such despair in Peter's voice? But this is Jesus after all and Simon proceeds to let out his nets into the deep water. Immediately the nets are full to straining with such a huge haul of fish that Peter has to call for help from his fishing buddies so the boats won't swamp. Realizing that Jesus is more than just Master, Simon falls to his knees. Simon realizes that he's in the company of his Lord. The other disciples, James and John are also in awe with fear and trembling. And as Jesus so often does, he calms them with his words: "Do not fear."

And it's at the end of this drama that we see the REAL MIRACLE: All three men leave their most successful catch behind. On the night of their most abundant fishing, they walk away. They choose to walk with Jesus.

Questions for us are, "Are we ready or willing to see Jesus when we're at our most tired or our most despairing? What is the cost of our discipleship? What are we willing to give up or leave behind in order to walk with Jesus when Jesus calls? What has been the miracle in your life with Jesus?"

Do This and You Shall Live

The two greatest commandments: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. Love your neighbor as yourself. Read these two commandments upon which hang all the law and all the prophets in Matthew 22: 34-40.

Just as the lawyer tests Jesus about his orthodoxy, so Jesus tests us about our commitment to being a part of the kingdom of heaven here on earth. Using Eugene Peterson's paraphrase from "The Message," Jesus is telling us to love God and love others with all our passion, our prayer and our intelligence. Or as Presbyterian Teaching Elders, Ruling Elders, and Deacons vow in their ordinations, we shall serve Jesus with all our energy, intelligence, imagination, and love.

No small feat - all this unconditional loving. And the phrase Jesus uses, "You shall" leaves no wiggle room - no room for for maybe, might, or "it's all just suggestions." The force and power behind these two commandments presses down on us with the impossibility of it all. Yet God loves us so much that God would send His only Son into the world that we might have eternal life - life both in the here-and-now kingdom of heaven, but also life forever with God.

What can God do with our love if we live by these two commandments? Love in action is a risk - a stepping out in faith. But oh.....the rewards. Psalm 90 paints a picture of what this life looks like: God, satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Make us glad as many days as you have afflicted us, and as many years as we have seen evil. Let your work be manifest to your servants, and your glorious power to their children. Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and prosper for us the work of our hands— O prosper the work of our hands!

Thanks be to God for God's steadfast love that we might endeavor to share with the world.

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Shelley

Show Me the Money!

This week, the Topeka City Council voted to remove the ordinance banning domestic violence. This was the latest move in a game of politics between the city and the county, a game of chicken back and forth with the pawns being victims of domestic violence – and it’s all over money.

The Gospel reading this week also speaks to money: Matthew 22:15-22, read with 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10 in mind.

Money and politics not only dominate the headlines – they also seem to affect and dominate every move we make. As Christians, are we expected to behave differently? Are we expected to simply fall in line? Is that what "give to Caesar’s what is Caesar’s" means?

Jesus turns the political question that the Pharisees ask him into a theological challenge. The secret lies in the actual coin of the denarius. On it was not “In God We Trust”; rather, there was an inscription that asserted that the Caesar was divine – that Caesar was equal to God. The coin was literally a false idol that the Pharisees themselves were carrying around, essentially breaking the first and second commandments!

Contrast them to the Thessalonians – whose lives were proclaiming the Gospel, the Good News, the Message so loudly that people were talking about it. Their lives had turned away from dead idols – turned away from worshiping money and politics to worshiping Jesus Christ. They didn’t just mouth the words, but with their whole hearts, minds, and souls.

Jesus tells us to give the false idol what belongs to the false idol, and give to God what belongs to God – the same God who is the Creator of the universe, the Redeemer of our lives, and the Sustainer of our every breath.

The same God is God of the city and the county, money and politics, abusers and victims. All belongs to God – so how can we work to protect the weak, the oppressed, the suffering, so that everyone will know just whose we are? How can we bring the kingdom of heaven to the here and now, just like the Thessalonians?

Love, 

Pastor Kate