20th Sunday after Pentecost

Jesus is questioned about his actions in the temple the day after he knocked down the tables and let loose the animals that were set aside for sacrifices. Jesus quotes two prophets, Isaiah and Jeremiah. "My house should be a house of prayer and you have made it a robbers cave." The priests questioned his authority and in true Rabbinical form answers their questions with another question; "Did the baptism of John come from heaven or was it of human origin?" The Bible is ambiguous concerning animal sacrifices. Meat in all Biblical times, unlike today, was expensive, rare and extraordinary. Animal sacrifices were for the wealthy, regular workers could not afford the extravagance. Torah speaks of animal sacrifices in both Leviticus and Deuteronomy. Leviticus gives details on what kind of animals to sacrifice and for the specific reasons. Yet, in other places such as Ps. 50. Jeremiah, Isaiah, and Micah it is clear that God does not want animal sacrifices but wants righteousness, which is caring for the poor. Jesus walks into a sacrificial system and ceases all sacrifices, thereby, siding with the prophets and showing the sacrificial laws to be false. He references John the Baptist who taught that we should take care of everyone. Jesus puts Tax Collectors and prostitutes in the same room and at the same table. Tax Collectors took what they wanted from the people; they were traitors to Israel and destroyers of Israel. They overtaxed the people and kept the profit. They would grab whatever they wanted, possessions, food, land, children and women. They created prostitutes by operating under their own rules. In short, they were loan sharks and pimps. The problem and solution are at the same table, by bringing the victimizers and the victims together and creating reconciliation. The Tax Collectors and Prostitutes will enter the Kingdom of Heaven together. They will be changes economically and spiritually at the same time. The question is then, sacrifice or sharing? What will happen in Washington this week? Will someone proverbially get it in the neck, or will there be sharing and healing of a very large economic problem. Jesus preaches and teaches sharing, even sharing himself as he did on the cross and as he does in communion. Few congregations spend outside their own four walls. Every congregation must ask as we also must ask, "are we keeping finances for ourselves or are we sharing by giving it away?"

Workers in the Field

Pentecost 19--Last Day of Summer There is a lot of anger toward God in today’s readings as well as in daily in life. Jonah was angry enough to die. The workers in the field in the Gospel lesson were angry that they got paid as much those who hadn’t worked as long. Even the well-dressed, well-behaved church-going Christians get angry with God. The workers are angry because they are expecting to get rich. If those who only worked one hour got the daily wage then they should receive even more in their eyes. This parable comes as a response to Jesus’ encounter with the rich lawyer who claimed to have followed the law to the letter and wanted eternal life. Jesus tells him, as the Greek states, to start selling all you have give to the poor and take up your cross and follow me. This is the one area where Jesus’ ministry failed. He then tells the parable of the workers in the field to show us how generosity is supposed to work. In today’s society we are not clear whether everyone has a place at the table. Everyone needs to belong. We have Welfare, Food Stamps, Aid to Dependent Children, WIC, and Social Security to help people belong to society and to show them that they have a place a the table. For the past twenty years the attitude has been to let those who can run full out and see how much money they can accumulate. The person with the most toys wins. This behavior co-exists with neglecting the needy. This past week in Washington a 700 billion dollar plan to give away taxpayers money was formulated. This is a paradigm shit from thinking we should get what we can to being responsible. Jesus proclaimed, “Release Now” to being the work of righteousness, which is taking care of the poor and needy. The workers in the parable are standing in the market place as unemployed day laborers that work for a day to get money for one meal. They have lost their farms, the same farm that had been in their family for 1000 years, because the burdens the Roman Empire placed on them. Now they work from 6 am to 6 pm to get their one coin to pay for their one meal. The owner of the vineyard, God, hires workers at the 11th hour, 5pm. These workers won’t get much work done in an hour. Yet, he pays everyone the same and those who worked 12 hours get paid last and see that everyone got the same amount. God reminds them of the contract they made, and challenges them with these words, “Is your eye so evil?” We have to remember that everything belongs to God and God is generous with his possessions. Everyone is supposed to be employed. God pays everyone the same. We see this at our own communion table. Everyone gets the same amount. Everyone is included, and we get an equal portion. “I chose to give to this last the same I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me?” All we have is a gift. There are those who went to the right business schools and made the right connections, they would complain, “we all get the same?” Yes! Everything is a gift from God. Carl shouldn’t be living today. His pancreas is damaged that the doctors are amazed that he is still living. Everyday that Carl is alive is a gift. The difference between Carl and the rest of us is that Carl is keenly aware of this fact. He knows it. The rest of us tend to take it for granted. Should we be generous as God is generous or should we look at the world with the evil because we want more than everyone else? We should be generous.