The Kingdom of God is/is not (sermon for 15 Oct 2023)
In our world as we find it today, there is so much to be said, and prayer to be offered. I shall confine my pulpit words to this morning’s two shocking Bible stories of a murderously enraged Lord God. Sermon first, then prayer
In Exodus, God is so angry with the Israelite people that he tells Moses, “This people of yours have made a golden calf and are worshipping it instead of me. I’m going to incinerate them.”
Moses says, “MY people? You told me they were YOUR people. And now you’re going to kill them all? Aren’t you the one! Won’t the Egyptians be laughing. You should be ashamed of yourself.” And the Bible says, “The Lord repented of the evil that he thought to do to his people.” (RSV)
In the Gospel according to Matthew, the story of murderous anger is outrageous, appalling.
The kingdom of God is NOT like an enraged and vengeful king killing his subjects and burning their city. The kingdom of God is NOT like an offended Lord who throws a bewildered beggar out of a dinner party because he's not properly dressed.
For me it was a long Time ago, but at theological seminary, professors urged us to not waste our years of study, but to share with our congregations, what we’d learned, our discoveries and realizations, share the things we studied and discussed at seminary, where Bible scholarship was confrontational, and revealing, and could be most unsettling.
We were told never to underestimate the intelligence of parishioners, but also never to OVERestimate people’s knowledge, what people actually know about the Bible. That what many people assume and hold dear is naive innocence: kindergarten Sunday school Christianity - - milk, as St Paul says, not solid food!
On the other hand, we were cautioned that disillusionment is hard to bear, and that pastors have been fired for startling parishioners with things that scholars commonly discuss, but that others may not be willing to hear because they challenge religious certainties.
In my Time as an Episcopal priest, I’ve tried to be mindful of all that. I’ve generally limited the startling things I’ve shared, to Sunday school classes and Bible study groups. And even there I’ve tried to be careful, because people, especially religious people, can be easily offended, or even looking to TAKE offense, if anyone, including their clergy, says things that cast doubt on what they revere.
But this gospel text is appalling, outrageous. And religion that must be believed but cannot be questioned and doubted and examined is worthless, dangerous. And so, instead of trying to rationalize what the author of this gospel writes that Jesus said, I invite you to hear what you may not expect or want to face. You may find it interesting! Maybe it'll even ignite your desire for deeper study!
Jesus never said this about the kingdom of God: ?the Lord enraged with vengeful fury, killing everyone and burning their city? - - ?the Lord seizing a confused beggar who picks his supper from garbage scraps, who’s never been to a fancy feast, and throws him into the outer darkness where there’s weeping and gnashing of teeth, because he’s not properly dressed, this is our God, are you kidding me? God forbid!
Let me tell you some things! Like other gospels, the Gospel according to Matthew is anonymous. It was not written by the apostle Matthew, Matthew's name was only added by the church fathers later, in the second or third century AD. The gospel was written fifty or sixty years after Jesus’ death and resurrection. The author was writing to an audience that scholars describe as a church of Jewish Christians - - that’s who the first Christians were, you know - - devout Jews who were willing to hear that the long-awaited Jewish messiah had finally come in Jesus - - but Jews who now, for various reasons, were becoming disenchanted with the direction the developing church was taking, and so had started leaving and returning to their traditional Jewish roots.
This gospel writer's purpose was to show those who are considering leaving, that Jesus WAS/IS indeed the Jewish messiah, and also, which is this particular story’s purpose, to caution them into staying in the church, because whoever refuses to come in, whoever leaves, whoever does not follow the rules, is damned.
So the author takes a parable of Jesus (that we have in two other sources, so we can check this author), and the writer converts it from a simple parable into a threatening allegory, a fiery nightmare with a vengeful, murderous king. This is not the kingdom of our gracious God.
Fortunately, we can double-check the Gospel according to Matthew, because we also have this same parable in the Gospel according to Luke (14:15-24), and we have the same parable in the early Gospel of Thomas (GThos64).
The Gospel of Thomas is not in the New Testament because it was not even discovered until centuries later, but it is available to us now, and is commonly used by New Testament scholars, and Sunday school teachers like me, for study and comparison.
In that regard, maybe you did not know, but besides Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John that did make it into the New Testament, we have twenty or twenty-five other gospels that, for various reasons, did NOT make it into the New Testament. The Gospel of Thomas is one.
Listen as Jesus tells this parable in the Gospel of Thomas
(GThos64) Jesus said, A person was receiving guests. When he had prepared the dinner, he sent his slave to invite the guests. The slave went to the first and said, "My master invites you." That one said, "Some merchants owe me money; they are coming to me tonight. I have to go and give them instructions. Please excuse me from dinner." The slave went to another and said, "My master has invited you." That one said, "I have bought a house, and I have been called away for a day. I shall have no time." The slave went to another and said, "My master invites you." That one said, "My friend is to be married, and I am to arrange the banquet. I shall not be able to come. Please excuse me from dinner." The slave went to another and said, "My master invites you." That one said, "I have bought an estate, and I am going to collect the rent. I shall not be able to come. Please excuse me." The slave returned and said to his master, "Those whom you invited to dinner have asked to be excused." The master said to his slave, "Go out on the streets and bring back whomever you find to have dinner.” *
There is no anger, no raging violence in the parable.
This parable is also in The Gospel according to Luke, and the way Jesus tells it in Luke reminds me of a lively song we sang in chapel twenty years ago when I was Chaplain at Holy Nativity Episcopal School:
Come and go with me, to my father’s house.
It’s a big big house with lots and lots of room,
a big big table with lots and lots of food,
a big big yard where we can play football TOUCHDOWN,
Come and go with me, to my father’s house.
As Jesus tells this parable in Luke, the master is upset that nobody wants to come to his dinner, so in frustration, he cancels their invitation and rounds up every disreputable character from the other side of the tracks; there’s no raging, no violence, no killing, no threat of hellfire and damnation.
In the parable, Jesus is pointing out that people consider earthly concerns more pressing than things of God. The man’s friends and neighbors decline his invitation, so strangers are invited instead. But even strangers do not fill up the place, so more and more are invited, everyone is invited. It’s a big, big house, with lots and lots of room. A big, big table, with lots and lots of food.
Jesus’ parable is not Matthew’s threatening allegory in which every character and every act and every object is meant to be understood ominously as real persons and real events and real things in real life. Jesus’ parable is a short story with a single point.
Again, the point of Jesus’ Parable of the Feast is that friends and neighbors are invited into the kingdom of God first: most who are invited do not come because material things are more important to them than things of God. But the kingdom is God’s safe place for us, there’s lots and lots of room, and YOU, yes even YOU, are invited and welcome.
Perhaps you would like to reconsider, and reorder your priorities, to put God first in your life?
THIS is the gospel of the Lord.
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The Prayers*#
My friends, our world is engulfed in violence and hatred. In this Time, it could be profane, even blasphemy, to go about our usual work of worship, not prayerfully mindful of war and suffering around us. Please lay aside your worship bulletin as we turn our hearts to others. We will pick it up again in a moment to confess our sins.
Let us pray.
O God of peace, whose will it is that all Your children live in harmony, hear our prayer for peace among the people and nations of Europe and the Middle East.
We pray for Israel, we pray for the Palestinian people, we pray for Ukraine, we pray for the Russian people. Empower us through our prayers to be instruments of peace and justice, that Your light may burn brightly even in the midst of conflict and war.
We pray for the leaders of the nations, that their priority may be the welfare of all people, putting hatred aside,
We pray for all whose lives and livelihood are imperiled by violence, that they may not be destroyed by the agony and terror of war. Lead us to change every heart to the heart of Jesus.
We pray for all who are caught in the path of warfare and are powerless to defend themselves and their families; we pray they find shelter from harm and fear.
We pray for armed forces who are deployed in the mission to establish peace and safety, that You will sustain them in their peril.
We pray for aid workers and medical people who serve those suffering the casualties of war, that they may minister with skill and compassion.
We pray for the wounded, and for captives and hostages; for all who grieve the loss of loved ones, for those who lose contact with family members through the horrors of war.
We pray for a spirit of compassion even in war.
We pray for the earth, that we may not destroy it in war and carelessness.
We pray for ourselves as we watch and wait and pray, that You will show us your love and strengthen our trust in You.
Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is hatred, let us sow love; ——- where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy.
Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Lord our God, accept the fervent prayers of Your people; in the multitude of your mercies, look with compassion upon us and all who turn to You for help; for You are gracious, O lover of souls, and to You we give glory, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now and forever. Amen.
As we return to our worship bulletin, let us confess our sins unto Almighty God.
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Homiletic endeavor by the Rev Tom Weller, Episcopal priest (retired) in Holy Nativity Episcopal Church, Panama City, Florida on Sunday, October 15, 2023. Proper 23A
https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/
https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/thomas.html
https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/thomas-scholars.html
Matthew 22:1-14
Once more Jesus spoke to the people in parables, saying: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come. Again he sent other slaves, saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready; come to the wedding banquet.’ But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his slaves, mistreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.’ Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad; so the wedding hall was filled with guests.
“But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe, and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.”
Luke 14:15-24
15 One of the dinner guests, on hearing this, said to him, “Blessed is anyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!” 16 Then Jesus[a] said to him, “Someone gave a great dinner and invited many. 17 At the time for the dinner he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is ready now.’ 18 But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of land, and I must go out and see it; please accept my regrets.’ 19 Another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please accept my regrets.’ 20 Another said, ‘I have just been married, and therefore I cannot come.’ 21 So the slave returned and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and said to his slave, ‘Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’ 22 And the slave said, ‘Sir, what you ordered has been done, and there is still room.’ 23 Then the master said to the slave, ‘Go out into the roads and lanes, and compel people to come in, so that my house may be filled. 24 For I tell you, none of those who were invited will taste my dinner.’ ”
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*# adapted by TW from the BCP and from a Litany for Peace in the Middle East published online for the Diocese of Alabama.
https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/
https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/thomas.html
https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/thomas-scholars.html