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!

April 29, 2012- "The Good Shepherd"

John 10.11-18

This is the day the LORD has made … let us rejoice in it, and be glad.

Let us pray:

O LORD our God, great is your name.

And greatly to be praised.

Lift our hearts, we pray, to Jesus.

Inspire us with your Holy Spirit.

Transform us that we might serve you with all that we are.

And all that we hope to be.

Now and forever more.

Amen and Amen!

I am the Good Shepherd, says Jesus.

And what he says is central to everything we know and believe about Jesus.

But where something is said is just as important as what is said.

Where is Jesus when he claims the title, Good Shpeherd?

He’s in Jerusalem.

A city full of shepherds.

And sheep.

Teachers and students.

This and that.

Here and there.

A lot of noise.

Hustle and bustle.

The Temple - in all of its glory.

Gold and silver.

Gleaming stone.

Cedar of Lebanon.

Bleating sheep.

Bawling cows.

Mewling lambs.

Goats and doves and buyers and sellers and the money changers … and pilgrims … always the pilgrims ... from near and far, all around the Empire … to see the fabled city … Jerusalem the Golden … where God is present unto Israel in the Holy of Holies … and present, through Israel, unto the whole wide world.

Jerusalem.

Mt. Zion.

The City of David.

A place of hopes and dreams.

Here in the center of things, a city filled with shepherds, Jesus says, I am the good shepherd … I’m not the hired hand who runs away at the first sign of trouble … I’m loyal to the sheep, and I’d lay down my life for their safety.

Everyone hearing Jesus knows the larger story … Ezekiel 34 … a withering attack on Israel’s spiritual and political leaders … they take care of themselves, and fail to care for the flock … 

And a flock without a shepherd becomes unruly … fat ones shoulder out of the way the weaker sheep … “Every sheep for itself” … the heart and soul of the flock dies, for want of good leadership … Israel’s shepherds have failed, and failed badly.

Ezekiel 34 is also a promise, a promise that God will provide a new shepherd, a shepherd who won’t fail, who will do it right … who find the lost sheep, feed them, tend them, keep them safe.

Jesus is the Good Shepherd … Jesus doesn’t fail, nor Jesus run away … Jesus provides protection for the flock and leads the flock to good pasture and clean water.

With a Good Shepherd to lead, the flock is no longer unruly … no longer do the strong shove aside the weak … all the sheep are well-fed and well-tended … everyone pays attention to everyone else … no one left behind; no one excluded; all are welcomed!

The classic story … Special Olympics … the starter’s gun fires and a group of children take off for the finish line … as they run the race, one of the children stumbles and falls … all the rest of the racers stop and turn around, to pick up their fallen friend, to help him across the finish line, and they all cross the finish line together - everyone wins; no one loses … the victory belongs to all.

Such is the flock of God … under the care of the Good Shepherd.

We learn from Jesus.

As we care for one another.

Our flock may be large … our flock may be small … but all of us are shepherds.

Parents to children … 

Wealthy to workers … 

Workers to fellow-workers … 

Friends to friends …

We are responsible for one another.

To live a gracious life.

To be the salt of the earth and the light of the world.

We forgive, because God forgives us … 

We forget the wrongs done unto us, because God forgets the wrongs we do unto God ...

We seek the redemption of others, because Jesus redeems us from the powers of death … 

We help others find new life, because God gives new life to us.

What we receive from God, we give unto others.

There are so many stories in the Bible about this … giving to others what we receive from God …

The parable of the man forgiven a huge debt, who turns around and refuses to forgive a fellow-worker’s small debt [Matthew 18.23-34] … Jesus makes it clear, the man’s failure to forgive the debt of his co-worker revokes the forgiveness of the master. 

The wealthy employer who refuses to pay a fair wage to the worker [James 5.1-6] … like the Psalmist says: the wicked borrow and never pay back, but the righteous are generous and keep on giving.

With regard to children … Jesus says it would be better to be thrown into the sea with a heavy millstone tied around our neck then to cause a child to trip and fall.

We’re all shepherds to somebody.

Of course, none of us are perfect.

We drop the ball.

We fail to live up to our own expectations.

Sometimes I feel like David who writes, My sin is ever before me.

I sometimes end the day displeased with myself and frustrated by my lack of progress, Let me count the ways I flub and fail … stumble and fall … 

It’s not that we need to dwell obsessively on our faults and failings, but our faults and failings are used by God to keep us humble before God … and kindly toward one another.

God allows us to fall … to fail … to sin … as a means of keeping our pride in check … lest we think of ourselves too highly.

Like Paul’s thorn in the flesh, our foibles and failings are a means whereby we learn of God’s grace … that life is grace, and grace is life. 

We’re always the sinner, saved by grace.

Always the lost, found by God.

Always the blind, given miraculous sight.

Always the sheep of God’s pasture.

Always the Good Shepherd who leads us and shows us the way.

Let us, then, follow him, with heart and soul … abide in his word … take seriously his word to Peter, Feed my sheep.

Dear friends in Christ, there is much work to be done in our world … let us not tarry in the sheepfold … the Good Shepherd leads us into the mountains and valleys of the world … to serve the LORD with gladness, to lift up one another, to make this a better world … to be sure that all are fed, clothed and housed … that the voice of peace rings loud and clear in a world filled with the noise of war … that everyone has a good chance at the fulness of life, especially the children of the world … that the sheep who have much won’t have too much, and the sheep who have little, won’t have too little [2 Corinthians 8.15] … that the mountains might be brought low, and the valleys filled in … that justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream [Amos 5.24].

Amen and Amen.

April 1, 2012 - "Jesus Enters Jerusalem"

Mark 11.1-11

Jesus goes up to Jerusalem.

A smarter man might have stayed in Galilee.

Played his cards a little closer to the vest.

Move with more caution.

Pay attention to his critics.

But Jesus goes up to Jerusalem.

The Holy City.

The City on a Hill.

David’s Royal City.

Jesus makes it clear to his disciples.

He will go there and suffer.

He will go there and die.

Because the Holy City isn’t so holy after all.

Big Boys and Girls run the city, manage the Temple, hold hands with Rome - they have their own version of God’s work and God’s purpose.

And why not?

The Temple was huge … beautiful … it made money … hand over fist, it made money … 

And, besides, it was all so religious … so holy … so right and good - the music was grand, the preaching uplifting, huge crowds all the time; pilgrims dreamed of walking the courtyard and buying a lamb for Passover … but Jesus sees it for what it is …

No longer a house of prayer, but a den of thieves.

A sham.

A charade.

Like a movie lot …

A grave shiny and white, but full of old bones and rottenness.

We see the clash coming.

Jesus and Jerusalem on a collision course.

Jesus already had plenty of enemies.

It only took a week for the enemies to get their act together … 

Only took a week for the crowds to realize that what they wanted, Jesus couldn’t give, and what he gave, they didn’t want!

By the end of the week, it came to a crashing halt … a hasty trial … a cross … a cry of agony.

Why would Jesus go up to Jerusalem?

Well, the easy answer first, “He went there to die for our sins.”

And like most easy answers, it’s neither helpful nor accurate.

He didn’t go to Jerusalem to die FOR our sins.

He died BECAUSE of our sins.

He went to Jerusalem to proclaim the Kingdom of God, the return of God to Israel, the end of the Exile, the promise of a new glory to fill and cleanse the temple … a new day for God’s People   .

Jesus chooses the moment carefully.

And chooses to use dramatic imagery … the ancient imagery of the king coming to Jerusalem for Passover.

From the Prophet Zechariah:

Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion.

Sing aloud, Daughter Jerusalem.

Look, your king will come to you.

He is righteous and victorious.

He is humble and riding on an ass.

On a colt.

The offspring of a donkey [Zechariah 9.9].

It’s all been arranged.

The animal tied and waiting.

The password: The LORD needs it.

Why does Jesus go up to Jerusalem?

He could have remained in Galilee, taught for another 30 or 40 years … healed hundreds … anointed his successor like Elijah anointed Elisha … written a scroll like Jeremiah did.

He might have gotten married.

Had children.

Settled down as a revered teacher.

Lived a productive life.

Why go up to Jerusalem?

Jesus goes to Jerusalem because Jerusalem has lost its way.

Bad politics, bad business, bad theology and self-serving values.

The light has gone out … the salt has lost its saltiness.

But old ideas do not yield ground easily … the powers that be would have none of it … they conspired with one another to find a way to kill Jesus.

And they did!

When Jesus died, some thought he was a failure … two of his disciples, on their way home to Emmaus, said to the Stranger beside them, We had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.

Jesus sat down at their table and broke bread with them, and their eyes were opened.

If Jesus were here today, where might he go? Where would he meet us? And what would see when he opens our eyes?

Maybe Jesus would pay a visit to Sanford, Florida … where 17-year Trayvon Martin died.

We may never know all the details of what happened that night, but this much I know - I see in Trayvon’s story an American story that has played itself out too many times since the days of Emancipation - the death of a black man - lynching, burning, beating and shooting … perpetrators rarely found, and if they are, they’re let off with a slap on the wrist.

I feel for Trayvon’s family … I feel for all the unanswered cries for justice … God said to Cain, Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground.

Maybe Jesus would pay a visit to El Cajon, just east of San Diego … Shaima Alawadi, a 32-year old mother of five, recently moved to El Cajon, from Michigan, died of a severe beating … a week earlier, a note had been left at the home, telling her, “This is our country not yours you terrorist.”

She thought it was a prank.

A week later, she was beaten to death, and a similar note was left in the home, telling her “go back to your country.”

Where would Jesus go today? Where would he meet us? What would we see when he opens our eyes?

Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

To teach us the better way.

To die the death we all will die.

And when the Father raised from the dead, it was confirmation of God’s Word: This is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him!

The story of Lent!

To God be the glory.

Amen and Amen!