11.10.24 "Tale of Two Cities" - Westminster Presbyterian Church, Pasadena, CA

 Ruth 3.1-5, 4.13-17; Mark 12.38-44

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times …

So writes Charles Dickens in the opening lines of his famous novel, A Tale of Two Cities … for Dickens, it was Paris, it was London … the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror … Madame Defarge with her knitting needles and Dr. Manette in prison …

For us today, it’s Jerusalem, it’s Bethlehem … in both stories, the central figure, a widow … a widow with two small coins … a widow with her widowed daughter-in-law.

A tale of two cities … 

We begin in the Holy City … the fabled city of David … where the Temple is center … the First Temple, built by Solomon, David’s son … destroyed by the Babylonians 6 centuries before Jesus … partially rebuilt 50 years later … and centuries later, when Jesus is born, lavishly restored and completed, under Herod the Great, a friend of Caesar and a violent man who orders the death of all the children in Bethlehem, when he learns of a “royal birth” from the Wise Men of the East.

Judeans from around the world dream of Jerusalem … as long as the Temple stands, God is with us … we’re a people with a purpose, we have a story to tell to the nations, we have the promises on which we stand, and the Commandments by which we live.

You shall have no other gods before me … honor your heritage, your mothers and fathers … don’t misuse my name for unholy deeds … keep the Sabbath … take time to worship and pray … don’t take life away from others … don’t tell lies … and beware of envy … it destroys the soul.

On any given day, and on High Holy Days, especially … 

Judeans make the trek to Jerusalem… from the steppes of Russia to the sands of the Sahara, from Spain to India and North Africa …

Gentile believers, too, who affiliate with local synagogues, who follow the teachings of Moses and the prophets … 

The local trades - the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker … shepherds with their flocks, cattle dealers, doves in their cages … money changers to exchange foreign currency for the local coin …  

The financial and religious center of the city …  

Accountants and attorneys, 

musicians and priests, 

teachers and tool makers, 

carpenters and sculptors, 

the high and the mighty, 

the rich and the powerful, 

working hand-in-glove with the mighty Roman Empire.

Jesus grows up with the Temple …

In the Gospel of Luke, Mary and Joseph take Jesus to Jerusalem - he’s their firstborn, so he’s dedicated with a small sacrifice … as stipulated in the Law: a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.

Mary and Joseph go to Jerusalem for Passover, their 12-year-old son with them … with a hometown group … on their return, they assume Jesus to be with some friends, but at the end of the first day’s journey, Jesus is nowhere to be found. 

Mary and Joseph rush back to the city, and what do they find?

Jesus sitting with the teachers, listening to them, asking them questions. 

Mary and Joseph scold him for frightening them.

Jesus replies: What do you expect of me? I must be in my Father’s house.

Years later, Jesus and the disciples are back in the city … 

One of the disciples exclaims, Look Teacher, what large stones, what large buildings … 

Wealth and power are intoxicating, are they not?

Donna and I took an exchange student to New York City, to Manhattan, to Wall Street … taxies and subways, sidewalks jammed, everyone in a hurry, skyscraper next to skyscraper, mountains of stone and steel … I said to him, Here in these buildings, decisions are made that affect the whole world.

Think of any great city: London, Rome, Sao Paulo … Amsterdam, Cape Town, Cairo … Tokyo, Seoul, New Delhi … Washington, Moscow, Beijing.

Jesus watches the treasury … the parade of wealth …

And then, comes a widow … she gives two copper coins, a penny’s worth …

I wonder: did anyone else see her that day? … her two little coins … her simple clothing … meager possessions … yet in some corner of her heart, a great love … it isn’t much what she gives, but what she gives is all she has.

God sees the heart.

This woman, says Jesus, has given more than all the rest … what they’ve given, costs them nothing … she has given everything.

It’s a heartwarming story, isn't it … a poor widow gives her all for the things of God … isn’t that precious!

But there’s more to the story:

Jesus moves from sentiment to society … from religion to politics … Jesus is no one’s fool … he understands the flow of money … and how it works.

Beware of the scribes, says Jesus, who like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets! 

Marketplaces, religious gatherings, big-deal banquets … sound familiar?

Jesus goes on:

They take widows’ houses  … and for the sake of appearance say long prayers.

“Long prayers” … to cover up ill deeds and malicious intent!

It’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, says Jesus, than for the rich to enter the kingdom of God.

A tale of two cities …

Jerusalem and Bethlehem …

And three widows …

The widow and her two little coins.

Naomi and her daughter-in-law, Ruth.

A famine in the land drove Naomi and the family to Moab in the first place … within ten years, Naomi’s husband is dead, and her sons die, as well … leaving two more widows … you know some of the story … Naomi decides to return home, to Bethlehem … of her daughters-in-law, Orpah decides to remain in Moab … Ruth vows to go with Naomi, with some of the most famous words ever spoken:

Where you go, I will go;

where you lodge, I will lodge;

your people shall be my people, 

and your God my God.

To an uncertain future … who will provide for us? … Naomi’s been gone 10 years … things change.

What’s Naomi to do?

She tells Ruth … catch the eye of Boaz, a man of wealth, and a kinsman on my husband’s side … 

It’s a whimsical story, for sure … we smile and we wink … let’s have some fun, says the story teller - clever women and a kindly man … with a little perfume to work the magic.

In the end of our story,

Boaz welcomes Ruth, a Moabite stranger, and the widow Naomi … 

he provides for their needs, 

he offers his protection, 

he honors the kinship laws of the land … 

he gives them a future … 

and unknown to all of them, 

they give a future to Israel.

Boaz marries Ruth … they have a son named Obed … and Obed has a son named Jesse … and Jesse has eight sons, one of whom is named … David! 

David? you say!

How about King David … 

Many centuries later, Jesus is born … where? … in David’s town, Bethlehem … Jesus is called …  The Son of David …  

A tale of two cities … Jerusalem and Bethlehem … it was the best of times; it was the worst of times …  

The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.

Amen and Amen!

September 9, 2012, "Close Your Eyes Now and Then"

James 2.1-7

It’s been a quiet week for Calvary on the Boulevard.

Labor Day is done, and the dadgum calendar flips its pages at us with careless abandon.

Kids are back in school.

Days are getting shorter, and so are some of us.

Deciduous trees are losing their leaves, and some of us are losing our hair … which we don’t like … and what we’d like to lose is some weight, and that’s really tough.

Our choir had its first rehearsal this week, and here they are today, the first Sunday of a new season of song.

Our Designated Pastor Nominating Committee is awaiting its first list of candidates.

Soon we’ll be electing new elders and deacons, and filling out pledge cards for another year of mission and ministry at Calvary on the Boulevard.

We’ve welcomed new members in the last six months, and we’ve said farewell to others … some have moved to faraway places, and some are with the LORD, waiting under the alter, waiting for the Great Gettin’ Up Morning … time marches on.

If time teaches us anything, time teaches us humility.

Don’t take yourself so seriously.

Which reminds me, do you know why angeles can fly?

They take themselves lightly!

Time reminds us that time is valuable … we have but one life to live, and we hope and pray to live it well.

Friend of mine wrote: “If we approach life always trying to carefully avoid mistakes we will make the biggest one of all. God made each of us to cultivate a spirit of adventure. When that is squelched we die a slow death and miss out on the rarefied air of God’s provision and grace. Faith is a verb…”

Faith rolls up its sleeves and goes to work.

Faith isn’t afraid of long days and hard nights.

Faith tackles the big questions and the big issues of life.

And nothing bigger these days than money.

Money seems to be the talk of the town - and does anyone ever seem to have enough of it?

We dream of money … winning the lottery … we live in a world where everything has a price, and anything can be bought with enough money.

In politics these days, we hear a lot about the wealthy - Wall Street brokers, bankers, investment managers - the Koch Brothers and Sheldon Adelson - massive donations to their candidates.

The influence of wealth is a big question in America right now.

And it’s is a big deal for James.

For the Apostle Paul.

For the prophets, and for Jesus.

It’s Jesus who tells us that that a person of wealth has a hard time entering the kingdom of God.

God knows how easily we fool ourselves with our eyes.

If it glitters, it has to be gold.

When I began my interim work here, Al Richards told me he’s a rock hound - a collector of rocks - he gave me a piece of fool’s gold - it sits on my desk.

A reminder - don’t be fooled by appearances.

Don’t be dazzled by glitter.

God knows that sometimes we just need to close our eyes.

Garrison Keillor tells a cute story of two friends, Bud and Bob, putting in a dock in early spring … Bud is in the ice-cold water, with hip waders; Bob is holding the other end of the dock on land.

Wouldn’t ya’ know it - an enormous fish swims right through Bud’s legs; scared the daylights outta him - he slipped and fell into the cold water, filling his waders … and with waders filled with cold water, we’re talking a serious situation.

His friend Bob asked, “Are you all right?”

Which is a dumb question to ask when your good friend is head over hells in an ice-cold Minnesota lake, flopping around with waders full of water.

Bob runs to get a branch, but by this time, Bud’s too cold to even grab on.

Bob runs into the house to call 911.

Meanwhile, the next door neighbor, Roy, who Bud has had run-ins with, again and again, over the years, comes out, walks into the water, grabs hold of him, gets him into the house, gets his clothes off and puts him to bed.

Bud is recuperating and thinking … when you almost die at the hands of your best friend, and it’s your life-long enemy who saves your life, maybe, when you’re selecting friends, competence ought to be a factor … maybe you ought to think about that a little bit, says Garrison Keillor.

There’s more to life than meets the eye … and that’s what James is getting at.

To look at people as God see us!

James writes to his community:

When a person of wealth comes your way, you fall down and make a fool of yourself … you invite them to sit in the best seat of the house.

When a poor man comes your way, you get snotty and uppity and tell the poor man he can stand by the wall, or sit on the steps by the feet of the wealthy.

And, then, just to drive home the point, James says, It’s the wealthy who make life difficult for you. They drag you into court. They have no regard for the name spoken over you in your baptism.

Remember the parable of the Rich Fool?

The rich fool surveys his fields and builds mighty barns, and says to himself, I built it.

I did it myself; it’s all mine.

No one helped me.

I owe nothing to anyone.

I’m in no one’s debt.

And I’m just going to keep on building bigger barns.

No humility.

No realization that God is the great decider on wealth.

The simple truth, the embarrassing truth:

The wealthy don’t work any harder than a man picking strawberries in the fields around Oxnard, or the woman waiting on our table at Denny’s … 

The wealthy are not any smarter than anyone else.

The wealthy play a lot, too … expensive toys, expensive hobbies, and lots of travel to expensive places designed just for them and their expensive tastes.

In the language of the world, The wealthy are just damn lucky.

In the language of faith: 

We give Thee but Thine own,

Whate’er the gift may be;

All that we have is Thine alone,

A trust, O Lord, from Thee.

The wealthy have a hard time telling the truth their wealth - that’s why Jesus says they have a hard time getting into the kingdom of God.

If the wealthy tell the truth about their wealth, there is only one thing to say: God built it, not me!

If the wealthy tell the truth about their wealth, they have to admit: God gave every bit of it to me - God gave me my family, my values, my strength, my health, my opportunities, people who believed in me, teachers who taught me, bankers who loaned me money when I needed it, friends who stood by me, and a whole world around me.

If the wealthy tell the truth about their wealth, the wealthy have to say: I owe all my wealth to God … I’m not smarter than anyone else … I don’t worker harder than the guy mowing my law, the woman cleaning my bathrooms, the young lady walking my dogs, or the guy parking my Ferrari at the hotel. All of these people work just as hard as I do, and are just as smart as I am, and I owe them everything, because they work for me, and I am called by God to work for them.

I have known people of wealth … many of them grow hard and cruel toward others; sure, they love their families and treat their children well - great family people, they may be, but they expect the best seat in the house … often use religion and god-talk to mask their greed and pride ... like the Pharisee in the Temple, praying lovely prayers, eloquent prayers, beautiful prayers, but with a stone-cold heart - proud of himself and contemptuous of others.

I’ve known people of wealth who dare to be Christian … tender toward others; a deep sense of humility, gratitude … they use their power to change the world, to level the playing field, give everyone a fair chance; they respect the people who work for them, honor them with good wages, fair benefits; willing to enjoy a little less so that folks can enjoy a little more … they fly like the angels, because they take themselves lightly and take God seriously!

Wealth is a big deal for James … a big deal for the Bible … because the love of money is the root of all evil

 … these days, the world needs to hear the Christian gospel, loud and clear:

When it comes to people, close our eyes now and then - consider people from God’s perspective … a man wearing jeans and a stained t-shirt is just as glorious in the sight of God, and maybe even more, then a man dressed in the rags of the world, Armani suits and Gucci shoes.

Live the kingdom of God, says James.

Whatever the price.

Live for Christ.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Amen and Amen!