Good Morning Covenant Presbyterian Church …
Covenant on the Corner …
Strong in the things of God.
Faithful to Christ.
Our text this morning is loaded …
Let’s get right to it and see what we have.
Jesus says to his disciples, Be on your guard.
For what?
The ways we hurt one another.
Sins of omission and sins of commission …
The good we’ve failed to do.
The evil we have done.
We have to read today’s lesson in the light of the story from last week, the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus.
The rich man failed to do anything good for Lazarus at the gate …
Because he was rich?
Heaven’s no.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with wealth …
Wealth is a gift from God.
Pure, plain and simple.
It’s all from God.
But it’s easy for us to love the gifts of God even as we forget the LORD our God who gives them to us.
Moses says to the people of Israel:
When the LORD your God has brought you into the land promised to your ancestors … a land with fine, large cities that you did not build, houses filled with all sorts of goods that you did not fill, hewn cisterns that you did not hew, vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant – and when you have eaten your fill, take care that you do not forget the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery [Deuteronomy 6:10-12].
The problem isn’t money, but our vulnerability to love the wrong things …
And when we love the wrongs things, everything else goes wrong, too.
There is great gain in godliness combined with contentment;
For we brought nothing into the world,
So that we can take nothing out of it.
But if we have food and clothing,
We will be content with these.
But those who want to be rich
Fall into temptation and are trapped
By many senseless and harmful desires
That plunge people into ruin and destruction.
For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil,
And in their eagerness to be rich some have
Wandered away from the faith and pierced
Themselves with many pains [1 Timothy 6:6-10]
The Rich Man hurt Lazarus, because the Rich Man ignored him.
The sin of omission: the good we fail to do.
Jesus gets real serious about all of this: It would be better for a millstone to be hung around your neck, and for you to be thrown into the sea, than for you to hurt one of the little ones.
And who are the little ones?
Folks like Lazarus.
The widow, the orphan and the alien.
Anyone who’s vulnerable.
In the Gospel of Luke:
The lost sheep …
The lost coin …
The lost boy …
The poor and the crippled …
The blind and the lame …
Sinners and tax collectors …
Jesus says, It would be better for you to never live at all than to live without compassion, to live without regard for the little ones.
Be on your guard, says Jesus.
Jesus then teaches about forgiveness.
If something is wrong, say so.
Of course!
Speak up.
Speak out.
But if there’s repentance, then forgive.
And if the same person sins against you seven times a day, and turns back to you seven times, and repents, you must forgive.
Because forgiveness is freedom.
Freedom from the power of the other.
Whatever they’re done, whatever they’ve said.
Forgiveness is the declaration of freedom.
That we’re not tied to the behavior of others.
That whatever Susie said to us twenty years ago, or what Sam did to us last week, our lives are not determined by any of it.
So we forgive, and pretty soon we find that we’ve also mostly forgotten.
And if you say to Jesus, But what if they don’t repent?
What if they don’t say, ‘I’m sorry!” Then what!
Jesus turns to us and says:
Dear friend,
Listen to how I died on the cross.
Listen to my words as I die!
Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.
If Jesus had died with bitterness and resentment in his spirit, it would have just been another death.
Period.
If Jesus had died full of anger about the nails in his flesh and the crown of thorns on his head, his death would have been without merit.
In order for his death to have meaning,
Jesus had to unshackle himself from the darkness.
Jesus had to free himself from anger and ill-will.
And he did it by giving it all to God!
Forgiveness, even when no one asks for it, is our ticket to freedom.
Freedom from an embittered soul.
Freedom to find peace with our lot in life.
To trust God in all things.
To live and die in grace.
Well, by now, we’re probably all thinking what the disciples were thinking:
Good God, this is a tall order.
You’re asking us to be on guard.
To be mindful of the little ones.
To pay attention.
To do good.
And on top of that, to forgive.
And forgive a lot.
Good God, that’s a lot to ask.
Increase our faith!
If only we had more faith.
If only our faith were stronger.
But hear the word of the LORD, dear friends!
You already have more than enough faith.
Doesn’t take much at all.
Mustard seed faith.
The tiniest amount of faith can uproot and replant trees.
What is Jesus doing?
He’s reminding us of a great spiritual danger.
Excusing ourselves because “OUR faith isn’t big enough.”
And then we turn around and blame God, because God didn’t answer our prayer and make our faith bigger and stronger.
Jesus says to us, Baloney!
Don’t do that to yourselves.
Don’t do that to God.
And don’t do that to the little ones.
The little ones who are waiting for you.
Waiting for you to act.
Don’t let yourself off the hook so easily.
Don’t excuse yourselves for want of “big” faith.
And, for heaven’s sake, don’t blame God.
Because God has already given you what’s needed.
You already have what it takes, and then some.
You’re strong enough.
You’re good enough.
You know enough.
You can do it.
You see, this isn’t about faith.
It’s about self-confidence.
Confidence in who we are, and how God made us.
God can do a lot of things, and God does a lot of things, but God can’t do everything … and God can’t, and won’t, do anything about our self-confidence.
What should God do?
Say a few magic words?
Then what?
It wouldn’t be our self-confidence any longer.
There’s no greater gift than our freedom to think, to weigh alternatives, to learn from experience and learn from others, and then decide, to act!
I think sometimes we’d like God to take us off the hook of our own humanity, and decide and act for us.
But were God to do that, our humanity would disappear.
Our humanity is bound up in our freedoms to think, choose and act … and often we have to act with courage.
You see, self-confidence is up to us.
We already have the necessary faith.
God has done God’s part.
The rest is up to us!
God says:
Take a chance now and then.
You’ll be surprised at your capacities.
Your gifts and abilities are more than enough.
You certainly don’t need MORE faith.
Put to use what you have.
As our text moves along, Jesus changes course again.
Like a meandering river.
All over the place … with many thoughts.
Jesus ends this teaching moment with an illustration about good attitude.
Jesus uses the image of a servant, coming in from the fields, hot and tired.
But there’s no rest for the weary.
There’s more to be done.
And when it’s done, and done well, don’t break your arm patting yourself on the back.
Jesus knows full well that self-congratulations is the bane of the soul.
The Little Jack Horner syndrome:
Little Jack Horner sat in the corner
Eating his Christmas pie,
He put in his thumb and pulled out a plum
And said "What a good boy am I!"
A good attitude is often heard from people who’ve done heroic deeds: “I was only doing my job,” they say.
That’s the attitude.
Were we kind today? “Just doin’ m’ job!”
Did we stop for the panhandler on the corner and give him a smile and buck? “Just doin’ m’ job!”
Did we join a justice campaign? “Just doin’ m’ job?”
Did we talk to a friend about faith and hope? “Just doin’ my job!”
Did we pray today?
Did we read our Bibles?
Did we help someone?
Did we raise good questions at work?
“Just doin’ m’ job!”
Whatever needs to be done, it’s our job.
That’s why we’re here.
Not for glory or recognition.
Rewards or prizes.
Great stuff to be sure!
Who doesn’t like to be recognized?
And if recognition comes, God be praised.
But keep it all in balance.
Keep it in check.
We have only done what was needed.
We have only done our job.
And that’s the curious freedom Jesus offers to us:
Freedom to live wisely and compassionately.
Freedom to forgive, and forgive a lot.
Freedom to have self-confidence.
Freedom to live and work, and do the job well.
A curious kind of freedom.
Amen and Amen!
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