Jesus Said the "D" Word!

Matthew 15:10-28

Then Jesus called the crowd to him and said to them, “Listen and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.” Then the disciples approached and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?” He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit.” But Peter said to him, “Explain this parable to us.” Then he said, “Are you also still without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach, and goes out into the sewer? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile.”

Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.” But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, “Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.” He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” He answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed instantly.

Did you hear what Jesus just called that poor woman?  

He called her the “D” word.  

In the U.S. that would be like calling someone a…  well… I can’t say THAT word in church!  In Ireland, from what I’ve learned, it would be like calling someone a… well, I can’t say that word in church either!  

Let’s just say that what Jesus called that poor woman was one of the most vile, nasty slurs you could call another person in that culture.  So what was Jesus thinking?  

Maybe what he was thinking, was that if he wanted even a chance to get through to these hard headed Pharisees, he was going to need to change tactics.  

He was going to need to get clever… get tricksy… get cute.  

Maybe what he was doing was baiting a hook with a nice, juicy slur that the Pharisees’ just couldn’t resist.  

You see, at the beginning of this reading, Jesus had argued with those same Pharisees about hand washing… 

and he had gotten nowhere.

 

The argument hadn’t really been about soap and water.  It had been about who is drawn inside God’s circle and who is left out.  

The Pharisees were certain that only people born to good Jewish parents and who followed their version of the faith could be drawn inside God’s circle.  For the Pharisees, this Canaanite woman had the wrong parents.  She had NO chance of EVER being drawn inside God’s circle.  

Jesus had tried to talk reason,  “It’s what comes out of you that God really cares about”, he told them.  

“It's how you love God and love your neighbors that really matters.”  

But it was like talking to a brick wall.  That’s when I think maybe Jesus changed tactics and went for shock value!  

“Woman, you're a dog”!

Well, that’s what the Pharisees would have called her and when Jesus said it, it had to have gotten the Pharisee’s attention.  “Oh, look” they would have said, “Jesus has FINALLY come to his senses!  He’s finally coming around to our way of thinking.”  

But then…when every last one of them was finally paying close attention…Jesus set the hook, 

"Woman great is your faith!”  

Jesus had baited and hooked the Pharisees!   

Can you imagine their shock?  Jesus had challenged them to go from seeing God’s circle of love drawn only around a few who looked, sounded, behaved, and believed just like them, to seeing God’s circle of love being drawn around ALL OF HUMANITY!  

That must have hit them like a ton of bricks!  The sort of dramatic change Jesus was suggesting is HARD!  

It’s hard, because when we think about drawing a circle that big… which includes SO many… it is easy to give into the fear that if we go and include all of THEM… there won’t be enough for all of US!  

Can there really be enough of God’s love for so many?  Will I still have enough… if all of THEM are included too?  

The fear of scarcity is a powerful fear.    

But as Christians we believe there IS enough of God’s love for ALL, even to overflowing… abundantly far more than we could ever ask or imagine!  

And personally, I like it when the circles of God’s love include ALL, because those kinds of enormously large circles end up including everyone… 

even bald Americans looking for a bargain holiday in Ireland!  

It’s a lot of change to swallow though.  Many people continue to struggle with including ALL.  The Pharisees continued to have trouble including ALL and around the world, people continue to have terrible trouble with the idea that God includes ALL and that God has made enough for ALL.  

Wherever people struggle to include ALL, at the root of it all… 

IS FEAR.  

Fear that there won’t be enough if we draw the sort of circle that include all of THEM?  

We’ve all seen what happens when people are afraid.  Fear-filled people end up doing horribly hate-filled things.  The fear lights the fire, the lies stir the anger, the hatred raises the heat, and then the violence boils over the top.  

All of that in a vain attempt to keep those they would label as “dogs” out of a circle which Jesus insists includes no fewer than ALL.

But here’s the thing.  All those fear-fueled, hate-filled attempts to keep people out?  They’re all already too late!  

In Christ’s death and resurrection, Jesus drew the circle of God's love so it already includes ALL!  On that first Easter morning, Jesus let every single one of us dogs in!  

Every single one!  

His death and resurrection cut a hole in the fence so big that even the biggest and mangiest of us dogs who are missing almost all of our hair, now all have a place at God's Table!  

ALL of US and ALL of THEM have been drawn inside God's circle.  ALL are included in the grace, love, healing and wholeness that God intends for all of creation.  

The truth of this lesson is that ALL are welcome in God’s Kingdom.  God sent his Son, not just to suggest it or to argue for it, but to make it happen with his life, death and resurrection.  

Now, you and I, as followers of the One who has drawn a circle so large it includes all of creation... WE are called to do the same… to draw our circles ever larger… 

until God’s Kingdom comes and God's will is done, on Earth as it is in Heaven. Amen.

Get Up! Get Out! Get Walking!

Matthew 14:22-33

Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them. And early in the morning he came walking toward them on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.” Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus. But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

When people hear this story, they remember the part about Jesus walking on water.  They remember the part about Peter’s brave, arrogant, bold, stupid, whatever-you-want-to-call-it move… asking Jesus to have him come out and meet him on the water.  They remember Peter getting out of the boat and they remember Peter sinking like the Rock he’s named after!  The part I think that people DON’T remember is that just after Peter got out of the boat, but before he sank, Peter WALKED ON WATER.  

People hardly ever remember that part.  Yes, he did eventually end up with the sea in his sandals, but between his boat and his bath… there was a distance, maybe it was only a step or two… and there was a time… maybe it was only a second or two… but there was a moment… when Peter WALKED ON WATER!  Sure it wasn’t that long but how many of you have ever walked on water for even ONE step?  For even ONE second?  That’s what I thought!  

That’s why I think that when Jesus reached down and pulled Peter up out of the water, he didn’t say to Peter, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” with a disgusted, derisive, disappointment.  I think when Jesus reached down and pulled him up Jesus said “you of little faith, why did you doubt” with a chuckle that said, “Peter!  You had “Little Faith!”… and… as we all know… “Little Faith” is enough to MOVE MOUNTAINS and YOUR “Little Faith” was letting you LITERALLY WALK ON THE WATER!  That was SO cool!  You were DOING it!  The evidence of your success was right there at your feet my guy!  You were literally watching it with your own two eyes… that’s why for the life of me, I can’t imagine how you could doubt?”

You see, Peter had come by his faith, NOT through his own reason or strength, but by way of a gift from the Holy Spirit (Peter was very Lutheran in that way) AND while the faith he had been given was indeed “Little”… it was still not an amount of faith to be sneezed at!

So I think Peter deserves a lot more credit than he typically gets in this story because Peter CALLED out from the boat… He GOT out of the boat… and he WALKED out in faith from that boat to Jesus.  Yes, it’s true, he only made it one or two steps.  YES, it’s true, the next step he took was particularly moist, but Peter didn’t just sit in the boat, resting on his big, fat, faith!  He got up!  He got out!  He got walking!  

Jesus wasn’t upset with Peter.  We know that because Jesus didn’t kick Peter off the team after he sank.  He didn’t even send Peter home after having to tell him “Get behind me Satan.”  Even after Peter denied him three times, Jesus didn’t kick him to the curb.  That’s because what Jesus valued most in Peter was that He got up!  He got out!  He got walking!  And he kept doing it no matter how many times he fumbled and ended up all wet along the way.  

 

Those who have told us that Peter was a failure have done us a great disservice.  Those who have told us NOT to be like Peter have led us astray.  I think it is actually time for us as individuals to be MORE like Peter!  To fearlessly embrace the gift of “Little Faith” that we’ve been given… a faith which has the power to move mountains… and I think it is time for each of us as individuals to, like Peter… to Get up!  Get out!  Get walking! 

In fact… Peter, the Rock on whom Jesus built his WHOLE Church, should really be the WHOLE Church’s model for these stormy times!  In these days when the world looks SO dark, when we feel alone and far from land… when we’re being battered by waves and have the with the wind against us, the Church does NOT need to be spending additional time sitting inside our boats, sitting on our cushions… NO!  It is in these dark, lonely, wave battered and wind blown times that we need to, more than ever, follow Peter’s lead and as a WHOLE Church, GET UP!  GET OUT! and GET WALKING together toward doing justice, loving kindness, and walking humbly with God.  And that gift of “Little Faith” that we’ve been given by the Holy Spirit has given us all we need to walk out into the chaos of this world, loving God and loving neighbor all along the way.  In fact we have been given abundantly far more than we could ever ask or imagine to do just that.  

Peter GOT UP!  GOT OUT!  and GOT WALKING!  And even in his sinking, he’s shown us that when WE choose to get up, get out, and get walking, the darkness, the storms, the waves and the winds of this world will not overpower us… because Jesus is there to make sure we don’t drown!  

It is time for us as individuals and for us as the Church to embrace the little faith we’ve been given and get up, get out, and get walking and as we get walking we might just end up surprised to look back and find that the good we have been doing along the Way is no less miraculous than walking on water.  Amen.    

Thinking, Voting, and Legislating Anti Christ

Matthew 14:13-21

Now when Jesus heard about the beheading of John the Baptist, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself.  But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns.  When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion on them and cured their sick.  When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”  Jesus said to them, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.”  They replied, “We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.”  And he said, “Bring them here to me.”  Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass.  Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.  And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full.  And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

It was a “James Taylor at Tanglewood” sized crowd and they were getting hungry.  JT wouldn't start playing for another 2000 years, so that wasn't going to help, and now the sun was going down.  I am certain the disciples felt the crowd getting… restless.  They came to Jesus with a proposal, “send the crowd away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”   

Their thinking was common sense... logical.  If all those people needed something essential for life… be that food, water, healthcare, housing, education, or safety, the best way to deal with that kind of need, on that kind of scale, was to “Send them away so they could get it for themselves”.

 

Scores of people in our day and age advocate, vote, and legislate for this precise way of dealing with our neighbors.  The RIGHT way to deal with people, they say, is to force them to “pull themselves up by their bootstraps.”  The RIGHT way, they say, to care for our neighbors is to “tough love” them into becoming “rugged individuals” who GO out and find what they need to live ON THEIR OWN! 

There's just one problem the original disciples ran into with that kind of common sense... logical proposal.  It’s the same problem modern disciples run into when voting for and legislating that people should go out and find what they need on their own.  The problem is… Jesus rejected it.  Calmly, but clearly and completely, Jesus rejected it.  Sending people off to fend for themselves is NOT the Way Jesus wanted his disciples to care for the people.  Jesus told them, “They need NOT go away.  YOU give them something to eat.”

Jesus didn’t mumble.  If those disciples wanted to keep being disciples, then “YOU give them something to eat” was to be their Way.  Likewise, if modern day people want to claim the name “Disciple of Jesus” then “YOU give them something to eat” must be the Way they live, the Way they write policy, and the Way they vote.  Jesus’ directive for his disciples was, and is, crystal clear:  “THEY need not go away; YOU give them something to eat.” Telling your neighbor to go it alone is the OPPOSITE of what Jesus told his disciples to do… it is literally anti-Christ!  Your hungry neighbors are to be given what they need and the only thing we are to require of them is that they be hungry!  

In today's political climate many would call that Socialism!  But you know what?  I don’t care what politicians call it… because Jesus told me to do it!  In today's political climate the newest trend would be to call that Communism.  Which, I mean, come on, Joe McCarthy is calling on his black rotary phone (from a location in eternity I will not speculate about) and he wants his 1950’s era witch hunt back!  But again, I really don’t care what demagogues call it… because Jesus told his disciples... “YOU give them something to eat!”  So if you’re going to claim for yourself the badge of “Disciple of Jesus”… then giving the hungry something to eat, regardless of what some boogeyman in a $5000 suit might call it… is unambiguously what a Disciple of Jesus MUST be about!

And yet, those who claim the title “Disciple of Jesus” most loudly have dismantled USAID, resulting in humanitarian aid reaching 25 million fewer people this year.  They have cut off an estimated 14 million people from severe, acute, malnutrition treatments including 2.5 million children.  And here at home they have taken away SNAP benefits from some 4.5 million people and cut over a billion dollars from the programs that food banks and pantries use to buy food.  These are NOT the actions of a Disciple of Jesus who has been clearly told their calling is:  “YOU give them something to eat!”  This is a great evil.  This is anti-Christ.  

The numbers are soul crushing.  So what do we do?  I think we lean on what we learned from the Weeds and the Wheat.  We first point out this evil as clearly and as loudly as we can.  What they have done IS EVIL!  What they have done IS…ANTI-CHRIST!  

Then, once we’ve called it out for what it is, we need to pivot and do what those original Disciples did by the Sea.  We need to look around and gather what we have on hand.  We need to bring what we have to Jesus for a blessing, and then we need to keep on feeding anyone who is hungry.  

Now, in this place and in this time, what WE have on hand is more likely to be buns and barbecue, than loaves and fish.  But that's okay because we’re still giving people something to eat. In this place and in this time our talents lean more toward creative fundraising than direct service.  But that's okay too, because the money we raise supports those who have incredible gifts for multiplying food.  So with matching funds, bulk purchasing, and food industry partnerships, they can feed ten with the same dollars we could only feed one.  

I know, the hour feels late and our national landscape feels desolate.  I look out at our nation the way I imagine the disciples looked out at that crowd, and I say "how Jesus, how?"  But my hope for this lesson is that we can help one another remember... not only does Jesus say "you give them something to eat" but he also says "bring what you have to me" and what we've seen, over and over again in the nine years we've been together, is that when we do those two things together, Jesus takes the small amounts we gather and somehow... time and time again... he has multiplied them in unexpected ways into an overwhelming abundance.  

May we continue to do the good work we've been doing until the day comes when the leftovers have all been collected and all of our neighbors have enough.  Amen. 

Stretch

Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52

Jesus put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.” 

He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.”

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. 

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it. 

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind; when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. “Have you understood all this?” They answered, “Yes.” And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.”

Parables are meant to put folks at ease.  A nice farming story.  A fishing tale with an enormous catch.  A story about buried treasure or about baking bread.  Nice stories.  Easy stories.  Comfortable stories.  But then, somewhere along the way, right in the midst of the telling, parables end up challenging people to… stretch.     

Parables all start easy:  The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed, sown in a farmer’s field.  The Kingdom of Heaven is like yeast, kneaded into three measures of flour. The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure, buried and forgotten in a field, the map lost long ago.  The Kingdom of heaven is like a pearl still tucked inside it’s oyster at the bottom of the bay.  The Kingdom of Heaven is like a net, sent deep beneath the ocean depths.  

Then, from that easy start, Jesus begins to slowly reveal the unexpected… the challenging… the difficult.  The Kingdom of Heaven does start out small, just like a seed or like yeast.  It starts out hidden, like buried treasure or that pearl in the oyster or like the fish under the sea.  Then he gently leads us to understand that it is God who has been doing all the planting and all the hiding of the Kingdom.  The Sower, the Baker, the Treasure burier, the pearl-growing oyster and the creator of fish… all are God.  (As a side note, you might notice that in this set of parables, Jesus casts God as male in the role of the sower, makes God female in the role of the baker, and then makes God gender fluid in the role of the oyster. But that’s a different sermon.)  But here Jesus is stretching us to begin to understand that it has been God, and God alone, who has been tucking the Kingdom of Heaven, in, with, and under every single part of all of creation.  Into the parts we agree it should go and into places we’ve likely never thought the Kingdom of Heaven should ever go.   

Then Jesus stretches us further… not only has all this been planted and hidden by God, and God alone, but all of it also grows all on it’s own as well.  Like the treasure and the fish, the Kingdom of Heaven rises up to the surface… going from hidden to fully seen.  We didn’t put the treasure in the ground nor the fish in the sea, yet there they are!  The seed grows all on it’s own.  No human help needed.  Same with the yeast.  The yeast does the work.  We just watch the dough rise.  The oyster as well adds layer after layer to the Pearl without asking once for us to human-splain the process to them.  Slowly Jesus leads us to the realization of what this all means… The Kingdom of Heaven is completely and totally out of our control.  It is a God thing… and a God thing alone.  We neither decide where the Kingdom GOES, NOR do we control where the Kingdom GROWS.  God does it all… without consulting us. 

For many, this is where the parable becomes a real stretch.  The idea that the Kingdom of Heaven is planted everywhere… in everything... in EVERYONE!?… that’s a stretch for many.  The idea that the Kingdom grows… even THERE?  Even in THOSE PEOPLE!?  That too, for many, is a stretch.  

On the other hand, for those of us who “cannot by our own reason or strength” get all the laundry folded let alone come to believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to him… this very same parable is the most welcome kind of Good News.  Neither the planting nor the growing of the Kingdom of Heaven is reliant on me!  Thanks be to God!  

But if we’re not in charge of the planting of God’s Kingdom and we’re not responsible for the growing of God’s Kingdom, then what is our part in the Kingdom of Heaven?  

Well, maybe our part in the Kingdom of Heaven is to help one another SEE the full breadth and depth of where the Kingdom has been sown.  Maybe our part in the Kingdom of Heaven is to help one another TRUST that God really does grow the Kingdom even in the most unlikely places and in the most unlikely people… people who look remarkably… like us.  Maybe our part in the Kingdom of Heaven is telling those who feel buried by life that the Kingdom of Heaven has been planted deep within us… and it is growing in us like a mustard seed which also begins it’s life buried.  Maybe our part in the Kingdom of Heaven is pointing out to those can’t seem to see the Kingdom of Heaven anywhere, the places where we can see it poking out and slowly coming the surface like a treasure chest or a net full of fish.  Maybe our part in the Kingdom of Heaven is telling those for whom life feels closed and the future seems shut, that God is at work behind the closed and inside the shut and even down in the muck, and even there, the Kingdom of Heaven is growing in us like a pearl in an oyster, and in time, God will place a treasure of great value right in the palm of our hand.   

God has planted The Kingdom of Heaven here in this place.  Here in these people!  God has planted the Kingdom of Heaven… in you… and it is growing.  

If you are anything like me The Kingdom of Heaven is something that is very hard to see in yourself.  But if you are anything like me it's easier to see the Kingdom of Heaven growing in the person sitting next to you.  So let’s stretch as Jesus is calling us to stretch… and tell one another what the Kingdom of Heaven looks like to us growing in them!  We do not plant it.  We do not make it grow.  We can however see it in one another… and once we see it, we can lift it up and turn it over and over… admire it in the light, and marvel at the gift of the Kingdom of Heaven which God has planted and God is growing… right there… in you.   Amen.