The Parable of the Two Sons

Well, I certainly did not intend for it to be this way, but it kind of ended up like it. So I must apologize. I have to begin this sermon with one more pop quiz. It really is fitting though in light of the text. OK. Ready here we go.  1). Why do noses run and feet smell? 2).If the little black box on airplanes always survives the crash, why don’t they just make the entire plane out of it? 3). Can you name another word for Thesaurus?

Our sermon series on parables concludes today with the parable of the two sons. Our parable today comes to us as part of an answer to some tough questions. Even though we are reading this at the end of September and we can already find Christmas decorations in the stores, the text this week takes place during holy week. That is Jesus is literally days away from the cross.

Do you remember how Holy Week began? Yes. Palm Sunday. Jesus rides a donkey triumphantly into Jerusalem. The people call out “hosanna to the son of David.” It is a pretty powerful event and experience. Jesus enters the temple and drives out the money changers. He overturns the tables. The next morning he sees a fig tree with no fruit, and he curses the tree. Then he enters into the temple again.

This is where our text picks up. So the chief priests and the elders of the people come up to Jesus while he is teaching. These are the religious leaders and politicians of the day. And it would be a bit of an understatement to say that they were upset by the previous day’s activities and all that happened on Palm Sunday. So now they ask Jesus a question. “By what authority are you doing these things?”

Well, there are only three answers that could be answered here. The authority comes from God, Satan or Jesus is just doing it all by himself. No matter what he answers they will not be happy with it. Although he is doing this by God’s authority. They wouldn’t believe him.

They are not asking because they want to know the answer to the question. They are asking because they are trying to trap Jesus. They are trying to get him in trouble. But Jesus doesn’t fall for it. Instead he asks them a question in response. “The baptism of John, from where did it come? From heaven or from man?”

Now Jesus is talking here about John the Baptist. The people had gone out to him to be baptized by him. And not all these people were good, decent upright citizens. Some of them were sinners. They were tax collectors and prostitutes. Jesus poses this question to the religious leaders, not to get out of answering their question, but in order to answer it. Implicit in this is that what John did was from heaven. It was from God. In the same way too, then the authority by which Jesus is doing what he is doing is from heaven. But notice that even though Jesus is in the right, he is still respectful of the religious leaders.

But the religious leaders are stuck. If they acknowledge that the authority of both is from heaven, it will expose their unbelief. If they deny it, the people will get upset and they could have some real problems on their hands. After all, this is the week of the Passover. It was a very contentious time as it was, and they don’t want to make anything worse.  So they simply answer that they do not know. Jesus says, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

And then he tells this parable. And talk about a scandal. I mean wow. A man had two sons. He goes to one and in the time-honored tradition of parents, he sends the kid off to go do work in his vineyard.  This is really no different than, “clean your room,” or “mow the lawn,” or “do the dishes.” And the first son refuses. What?  Really? What is wrong with him? That is absolutely a terrible thing to say. You don’t talk to your father that way.

After this, something happened. We don’t know what. But the kid had a change of heart. This isn’t just that he changed his mind because his plans fell through, the TV show was a re-run and wasn’t worth watching again. The word that is used here in one that carries with it remorse. This isn’t simply changing his mind this is repentance. This is changing the way he thinks and acts.  And so he ends up going out into the field.

The first one refused. So the dad goes to the second son. He asks his second son to go work for him in the vineyard and the son says, “I go, sir.”  Now there is a good boy. He is respectful. He honors his father. He doesn’t argue. He doesn’t say, “in a minute.”  Or “Hold on, let me save my video game first.” He says, “yes.”

There is just one problem. He doesn’t go. He said he would, and that was certainly a good thing. But he doesn’t go. Well that is even worse than saying “no.” At least the first son was honest. So then Jesus asks them, “Which of the two did the will of his father?”

And the religious leaders correctly answer that it was the first. Even though he originally said that he would not go, he had a change of heart. He ended up being the one who did the will of his father. It was not what you would have expected to find out based on the answers that they gave to the father’s request. But at the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter if you say you will do something, if you don’t follow through and actually do it. 

The point of this parable is that the religious leaders are like the son who said that he would go and do what his father asked, and then doesn’t. The sinners, the prostitutes and the tax collectors that the religious leaders so easily condemned and left out, well they are the ones who end up honoring the father. Because they were the ones who changed their minds, they were the ones who turned and ended up doing what the father asked. 

In this parable, Jesus is really calling out the religious leaders. Not because they are his enemies and he is out to get them. It is not like Jesus is superman and these guys are Lex Luthor. Or that he is Batman and these guys are the Joker. Because what Jesus wants is for them to know the life and salvation that can only come from him. After all, that is why he came in the first place. That is why he is making that journey to the cross. 

Generally speaking, I think it is a good idea if we are careful not to come down too hard on the religious leaders of the day. We can certainly learn from when they are wrong, and indeed we need to do so. But we should be careful that we don’t look down our noses at them too hard.  I believe, I can’t prove it, but I believe that the reason why there are so many stories about the religious leaders in the gospels, is because God knew in his wisdom, that they are the people that, if we are not careful, we will become.

You see, the whole point of this conversation and interaction is that the one who should have been the first to see God at work, the ones who should have led the people to see and understand, missed it. They had God’s word. They knew the prophecies. They had the temple and the services of the temple. And yet, the missed it. God was in their midst and they missed it.

That is a danger that faces the church today too. We have this awesome and powerful presence of God in our midst. We have the ability to see God at work in our lives and in our world. We know that God works through word and sacrament. We know what he does as we are gathered together for worship in pouring out his forgiveness and giving and strengthening faith. We know that he hears our prayers and answers them in accordance with his gracious will. We know this.

We know that God loves us. That his love for us, and for the people of our world, was so great that he would become a human being in order to save us; to redeem us from the powers of sin, death and the devil. Jesus did this. He accomplished it. The price has been paid in full. What we were unable to do by our own power or strength has been accomplished on our behalf, by our God who loves us so very much.

And yet it can be easy for us to lose sight of it. We have all this, we see all this, and it can become for us common, ordinary and no big deal. After all, this is just the way that it is supposed to be. This is just what God does. And we think that we understand God so well, that we can lose sight of the awesome ways that he works in our lives. We think that we understand God so well; that we make life lived with him all about us, and what we want, and what we do. We think that we understand God so well that we make life lived with him all about a building or an institution.

Church becomes more about budgets, buildings and membership numbers. Not that these things don’t have a role, but they are all too easily placed much more prominently than what they should be. And when we focus on those things we lose sight of the awesome ways that God works in our midst and our world. We lose our zeal for making the love of God in Jesus known to the world around us. And when we get caught up in this, it’s kind of like workers going to work in a vineyard, but instead of harvesting grapes, they spend all their time fussing over stones along the path. ^[1]

It’s a good time to be a part of life here at Faith. I am very excited. God has placed lots of exciting opportunities in front of us. There are a lot of things going on. There is a lot of ministry that we get to do and be a part of. From Bible studies, to service events, to worship services, to things like Oktoberfest. Next week we start a new series. And we will roll out the vision for the congregation, a guide in helping us to understand who we are in Christ and living life as his people. I am very excited about it, and I pray that it will energize you and get you excited about life and ministry in this place.

We have a wonderful gift in being able to live life with our God. I pray that that life would be a blessing to you, now and always.  Amen.

---

^[1] Hare, D. R. A. (1993). Matthew. Interpretation, a Bible commentary for teaching and preaching (248). Louisville: John Knox Press.

The Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard

Last week’s pop quiz worked out so well, that I thought I would try another here this week. I hope you are ready for this. Today we are doing fill in the blank here we go.  1.)Good morning, welcome to Faith Lutheran __________.  2.) Can you believe it? The Lions ______ their game last week. 3). Life is not  ___.

That’s right. Life is not fair. Poor Emily, whenever she feels like her brothers get more than she does, and it doesn’t matter what it is, she will often protest, “That’s not fair.” To which my response is, “Repeat after me. Life – is – not – fair.” There is something deep down inside of us that wants things, that wants life to be fair. You work hard, you don’t bother anyone else, and are nice to them, so it is not unreasonable to expect that your work pays off, no one else bothers you, and that they would be nice to you in return. If your brother gets a candy bar at the store, you should get one too. Otherwise, it is not fair.

Our parable for this week is the parable of the laborers in the vineyard. It comes right on the heels of another well known story, only this story has not been part of our readings the last few weeks, so allow me to bring it to mind. This will help us to set the stage and allow us to correctly understand what is going on in this parable.

You are familiar with the story of the rich young man. He approaches Jesus and asks him what he must do to be saved. Jesus tells him to keep the commandments. The man replies by saying that he has done all of this since his youth. Jesus then tells him to go and sell everything that he has, give it to the poor and come and follow him.

The man walks away very sad because he was quite wealthy, and was not quite ready to part with it. And Jesus says how it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. And if you could have been there and looked around, you would have noticed that the jaws of the disciples are on the ground. They are astonished.

Why? Because in those days it was thought that rich people were rich because God wanted them to be rich. God was blessing them and showing them favor, and so they prospered. But now Jesus says this thing about camels and the question comes up, “well then who can be saved?”  Jesus says, “this is impossible for people, but with God all things are possible.”

Peter then says, “We have left everything to follow you. What then will we have?”  They want to know what their reward will be. And that is certainly a very human response. I am working hard, I want to know that I will get what is rightfully mine as a result of my work. I want to know that fair is fair. Right?  Jesus promises that they will sit in a position of honor and that everyone who has left home and family will receive a hundredfold, but many who are first will be last, and the last first.”

What Jesus does by saying that many who are first will be last, and the last first, is he begins to shift the focus here from the disciples getting rewarded for their hard works and good deeds to something else. That something else is the generosity of our God. He is shifting the focus from us and what we do, to God and what God does. The very next thing that Jesus says is the parable that we have for our lesson today. This is the parable of the laborers in the vineyard.  And Jesus tells this parable in order to answer a question for the disciples. 

A man owns a vineyard. Early in the morning he goes out and he hires workers to work in his vineyard. Now this is not like going and working in an air conditioned office building all day.  This is hard, grueling and exhausting work. This is also a very long day of work. It is basically from sun up to sun down. The agreement that the man makes is for one day worth of wages. The workers agree and they go.

The man goes out again three more times. He goes out at the third, sixth and ninth hours. Each time he goes he brings back more workers to work in the vineyard. He makes one more trip out to recruit workers. This time it is the eleventh hour, and once again he hires more workers. This is not quite the last minute, but it is the last sixty minutes.

When the work day is over, the man has the workers line up to receive their pay. He begins with those who were the last to come and work and they get the full amount of one day worth of wages for working one hour.  Now those who are at the end of the line, who were the first to come and work in the vineyard, they do the math in their heads.

One hour worth of work equals one day worth of wages. They had been working very long and very hard, all the way through the heat of the day, for twelve hours they have been working, so now they are expecting to get twelve days of wages. This is great.  I mean they won’t have to go back to work for almost two weeks. Or maybe they come back for a while and before long they will have enough money to buy their own vineyard. And if they can manage to get a good deal on that vineyard they may even have enough left over to buy an ipad2. How cool would that be?

And their math here is not unreasonable. Right? After all if the owner pays based on the number of hours worked then they have just lucked out in finding this guy to work for. This is wonderful. Now, who knows, but perhaps with all this day-dreaming they were doing they did not notice how much the others in front of them had received. If they had they would have noticed that they too got the same amount. By the time they got to the front of the line they get one day’s worth of wages.

Wait a minute. What?  That can’t be right. There has got to be an accounting error here. But there is no error.  That was the agreement. They agreed to work one day for one day worth of wages. And that is what they are receiving. But now they are kind of upset. Why? Because these other guys, hung around and did nothing, they wasted the day, while we were out here working and sweating and we could have been hanging out on the beach, and they come here at the last minute and they get the same as we get. Well that’s just not right. That is just not just. That is just not FAIR!!!!

But is their perspective correct? No. Not really. No. Because they got what they agreed to. They did not have to accept the offer. They did. And now the owner is keeping his end of the bargain. But that is not really the point. The point here is not how much you get, the point is that the owner of the vineyard is generous. He is generous beyond our ability to understand.

Now I have told you before that parables teach about God, or God’s kingdom of life lived in God’s kingdom. So what does this parable teach us? It teaches us that our God is generous. He is generous beyond our ability to understand or comprehend.

Is God just? Yes he is absolutely just. And this parable upholds that view. Is God right? Yes he is absolutely right. And this parable upholds that too. Is God fair? No.  He is absolutely not fair. And that is absolutely wonderful for us. 

You see, if God is fair, than that means we have to get, have to receive what we deserve. Now before you get too excited about that, let me remind you that unless you have managed to perfectly keep all the requirements of God’s law, then what we deserve is separation from God. And that is not a good thing.

But what do we have instead? We have been reconciled and restored to our God, but not because of anything that we have done to earn it or deserve it. We have these things because of and for the sake of Jesus. He gives them to us, because of his great love for us. Jesus kept all the requirements of that law. Jesus paid the price for our sins. Jesus rose victoriously from the dead. Jesus ascended to the right hand of God where he rules and reigns on our behalf.

Jesus gives to us forgiveness, life and salvation. And it is not because we earn it or deserve it. He gives it to us because he loves us so very much. That no price was too high for him to pay in order to make you his own. Is that just? Yes. Justice has been served, the price has been paid. Is that right? Yes. Because God wants to live in relationship with us, it needed to be done. Is that fair? No.

It is not fair. Because Jesus was sinless. He had no reason to die. But out of his love for us, out of his love for you and me and did this. He takes our punishment upon himself. He pays the price and instead gives us life and salvation, even though we certainly don’t deserve it. That is not fair. But it is wonderful. Thanks be to God for this awesome gift.

You see, as we live life together in God’s kingdom, as workers in his vineyard, as part of this wonderful thing called the church, it is not about who does what. It is not about how good or wonderful we are. It is not about whom the all star is, or who has the most power or influence. But rather it is in living life in God’s kingdom that we receive the grace, forgiveness and love from our God that we need. Life in his kingdom is ultimately life giving. That is why being in it is such a blessing. God does not need anyone of us. However, God wants us. And we see how much he wants us as we see the cross. That was the price he was willing to pay.

We have a God who is generous beyond our ability to understand. He constantly and in many wonderful ways shows his generosity in our own lives. And invites us to share that generosity with others. Even with those who are different from us, or who haven’t been here as long, or who live differently than we do, or who haven’t sacrificed as much as we have. Why? Because at the end of the day it is not about what we do for God. It is about what our generous God has done for us in Jesus. When we understand that, then serving God and one another, while it can be hard at times, is not a burden, but instead a blessing. It is not life-taking, but life giving. This is the wonderful gift that our God gives so generously to us, may it be a source of life, joy, peace and hope for you. Now and always. Amen.

The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant

Today our sermon series on the parables of Jesus continues with a look at the parable of the unforgiving servant. As we often have to do in working our way through these texts, we need to adjust for the passage of time. You see, today’s verses pick up right where last week’s left off. So even though a week has passed for us, very little time has passed in the text.

This helps us to understand and establish the context, which ultimately helps us to understand what is going on. Remember, last week we heard the parable of the lost sheep. Last week we heard Jesus talk about the love that God has for his people.  God loves all of us, not one is more important than the other.  There are differences, but different does not equal better. Therefore if your brother or sister sin against you, go to them to be reconciled.

After Jesus says these words, Peter comes up to him. “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Now, what Peter is doing here is being a normal human being. You want me to forgive? Really, Jesus? I mean what happened to an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth?

We begin to think about the implications of this and what it all means, and it can make us uncomfortable and require that we find ourselves in uncomfortable situations. I mean it is just much easier to go and complain to some else about the person who sinned against me, than it is for me to go to them. But people like to know the limits. We want to know how far we can go before something is no longer binding on us.

So Peter asks about the number of times that we should forgive. Is it seven times? Now that number may seem kind of random to us. But in those days, the rabbis taught that you should forgive someone for the same sin three times. Peter has more than doubled that here. On top of that, seven is the number of wholeness and completeness. On the whole, this is pretty generous.

What is Jesus’ response? “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.” Hold on. Wait a minute. Time out. Seventy times seven? I mean that is a lot. It’s hard enough that when our brother or sister sins against us we have to go to them in order to be reconciled to them. We don’t go to them in order to condemn them or seek revenge on them, but to be reconciled. That is hard enough.

If we were only held to that obligation for the first seven offenses, that would be difficult enough, but what Jesus is doing here, is well, removing any kind of limit. You forgive as often as you need to forgive. Wow. That’s tough. I mean that is really hard. Why? What are you doing to us here Jesus?

The answer is simple. Jesus wants us to suffer and be miserable all the time. Right? The answer is really and truly, “No.” That is not right. In fact, if anything, in forgiving others there is freedom. Think about the people you know who hold grudges.  Would the word “happy” be an adjective that you use to describe them? Probably not.  When we understand that God is the ultimate judge, that he is the one who rights all the wrongs, and we allow him to do his job, we can enjoy the freedom of letting go of our grudges and offering forgiveness. Does that mean this is an easy thing to do? Not at all. It is difficult.   

Now let me clarify something here. When we talk about sin and forgiveness, it is important to make a distinction between sin and consequences. When we talk about sin from a theological perspective we are talking about that which separates us from God. Sin is an old archery term the means you missed the mark. If you aim for the bull’s-eye, whether you miss it by a little or by lot, you still miss it. So we say there is no difference in sin. One sin is not any worse than another.

But maybe you are thinking, OK, pastor, how can you possible suggest that stealing a candy bar is no different than murder? From a theological perspective, there is no difference. Sin is sin. However, there is a difference in consequences. While one sin may be no different than another, the consequences are where we see the differences. There are obviously different consequences for stealing a candy bar than there are for murder.

When we forgive someone for a sin; that doesn’t necessarily mean that the consequences are removed. So this is where the difference lies. Now, the reality of the situation is that most of the sins that we will deal with among ourselves are things that are not going to have long lasting consequences. However, sometimes, like in the case of an abusive relationship, we need to take action to ensure that we are safe. We may not be able to be around the person (that is the consequence) but we can forgive them. Does this make sense? Are you tracking with me? Forgiveness, forgives the sin, but it does not necessarily erase the consequences.

If forgiveness is something that is so difficult for us to do, and we know that Jesus doesn’t want us to just be miserable all the time, then why is this something to spend time on or worry about? Because forgiveness allows for healing, reconciliation and restoration. You see the effects of sin is separation. Sin separates us from God. It separates us from one another. It ultimately results in the separation of body and soul, which is death.

Sin breaks apart and destroys the creation that God loves so dearly and deeply. Forgiveness, on the other hand allows for reconciliation and restoration to come in and bring back together that which sin destroys. Forgiveness is very, very powerful. And, one day, when Jesus comes back, we will see the entire creation renewed, restored and it will be the way that God had intended it to be. There will be no sin or sickness or suffering or injustice. On that great and glorious day, then we will finally and fully see even the consequences of sin removed. And beginning with that day, we will live forever with our God on a new earth under a new heaven.

Sounds wonderful, doesn’t it? So how is all this possible? If forgiveness is so difficult, where do we find the ability to forgive? That comes from our God. Because our God has forgiven us of so much, that anything we would possibly need to forgive one another for pales in comparison. That is kind of the point of this parable.

Two servants. One who owes a great debt. I mean this is a lot of money. This is more than anyone could pay off in a single lifetime. The amount is so great that he is at risk of losing everything short of his life. He goes to the king to ask for mercy.  And the king forgives his debt. Can you imagine the relief, the joy? What would you do if the banks called and said, don’t worry about your mortgage, car payment, student loans, or credit cards anymore, all is forgiven. You don’t owe us anything.

How would you respond? How would you react? What would you do? On his way home, the servant encounters another servant who owed him a much smaller amount of money. He demanded it. And when the servant ask for mercy, the first one refused to show it. He had been forgiven much. But refused to show mercy to another.

Remember, Jesus is answering Peter’s question about the number of times we should forgive. The answer is that we forgive as much as we are asked to forgive. Why? Because God has forgiven us. Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, came into this world in order to restore us to God. He took our punishment on himself on the cross. And rose victoriously from the grave. This means that we have forgiveness. This means that we have life. This means that we have salvation. This means that we have victory over sin, death and the devil.

We have these wonderful things, because of and for the sake of Jesus. And not only do we have them, but we are able to live in them too. We are to experience them now. We forgive because God forgives us. Now this is not a guilt thing. I better forgive you if I want God to forgive me. It doesn’t work that way. Instead it is that I can forgive you, I can find everything I need to forgive you, because God has forgiven me. And when I live in that forgiveness, I can live in freedom and have a sample of the reconciliation that awaits us on that day that Jesus comes back. This is not a we have to kind of a thing. This is a we get to.

When we live life together, in relationship with one another, in lives that are marked by forgiveness, when we live together in this way, we are giving a powerful witness to the love of God in Jesus. We are giving a powerful witness to the difference that it makes to have God in our lives. We are giving witness to the hope that we have in Jesus and Easter. That is why this is important. Because it is part of the witness that we give to the world around us. We live as God’s forgiven people, and as God’s forgiving people.

Isn’t it interesting that these series of verses would be on the calendar for today, as we remember the attacks from ten years ago. Having these verses read today was not done intentionally. It just kind of happened. But these words ask us to do a hard thing in that context too, forgive. Now, as I said before, that does not remove the consequences. But we can live lives marked with forgiveness. 

You see, if we have the attitude that we are going to treat people with love and respect, no matter what they say and do to us, if we determine that we are going to do this, because we believe that God loves these people; if we determine to do this, we will be living out these things in our lives as well. Don’t misunderstand me here. I am not suggesting that we throw common sense out the window. I am not implying that we should put ourselves in situations that can bring about harm or danger. I am simply saying that in general, in the ways that we talk to and about other people, especially those who are different from us, those who offend us, or scare us or hurt us, that we can and should talk with love and respect. Don’t stop talking, but talk with love and respect. 

I believe that in doing this we will show that we live lives that are marked by the forgiveness of our God. And in so doing, we will give a powerful witness to love that he shows us in Jesus and the difference that that makes.   Amen.

The Parable of the Lost Sheep

A Sunday school teacher was teaching the ten commandments to her class of five and six year olds. After talking with them about the fourth commandment, and honoring our fathers and mothers, the teacher asked, “Is there a commandment that teaches us how to treat our brothers and sisters?” Without missing a beat, a little boy speaks up. “Thou shall not kill.”       Jesus said, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Today we begin a new sermon series. Although we still find ourselves looking at, and focusing on the gospels, we are now going to spend some time with some of the parables that Jesus tells in his teaching.

Parables are wonderful things. And what they teach is even more wonderful. A parable will often tell us something specifically about God or God’s kingdom. And this something is usually something that should have an impact in the way that we live our lives.

Today’s parable is one that we know well. If a man has one hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one? And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray.

If you have ever had the experience of losing something precious, then you can relate to the shepherd in this parable. There is that moment of dread when you realize that you are missing something. Then you begin the search. You look everywhere you can possibly think of. By now you have become consumed with the hunt. At this point you are no longer aware of the passage of time. You may even find yourself returning to the same places again and again. As if you would not have noticed it there the last twelve times you looked. But when you finally find it, there is that great relief and maybe even a little celebration.

This is a parable that ultimately describes the great love that God has for his people. Regardless of whether or not we find ourselves among the 99, or as the one who is off wandering around, God’s love for us is such that as Jesus says, “It is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.”  

You see, the context here has to deal with the people of the church and the way that they live life together. The way that we live our lives together is important. We are not simply here as individual members of the same club. We are not here together in the same way that you might go to a movie or a sporting event with other fans. In those locations and situations your connection with the others goes little beyond the particular event that you are participating in.

It is not the way in the church. In the church we are members of the body of Christ. We are sisters and brothers in the faith. We are united to each other in a way that is absent in other organizations.

Thus the way that we live life together comes out of the relationship that we have with our God, and it also gives witness to what it means to live life in relationship with our God. We spend some time talking about this, learning about it, and thinking about it, because the witness that we give is important. It is not that living this way makes God love us more, or earns us forgiveness, life and salvation. We already have those for the sake of Jesus. But living this ways says something about our God, and that is why it is important. Because the world needs what God offers in Jesus. And we get to show that to the world.

So these verses are about life lived together. And they begin with the disciples approaching Jesus. Can you imagine, of all the things that you could possible ask Jesus when he is right there in front of you like that, and they ask him about who is the greatest? Here is the one who truly does know all the answers to all of those life questions, and instead they ask him about which one is best.

Of course they probably didn’t like the answer he gave very much. Whoever humbles themselves like this child is the greatest. What? Did he really just say that? I mean come on, Jesus. That can’t be right. What about the ones that walked with you this whole time? What about the ones whom you called first?  What about the ones who gave up the most to follow you? What about the ones who went to Seminary and have an education? What about the ones who put money in the offering and pay the bills? What about the ones who volunteer and work hard to make ministry happen? Aren’t we the greatest? Shouldn’t we be considered the greatest?

Now, to be sure, these things are not bad. Not in the least. The point of this is not to say that there is no value in these things, or that we should all begin to behave like children. Rather the point is to have the humility of children. Children are dependent on their parents to provide them food, clothing and shelter. They trust in the love and care of their parents to provide them with those things. Because the parents give these things to all their children, there is no room for one child to claim that they are better than the others (although that doesn’t necessarily stop them from trying).

Then, in response to the disciples’ question, the same is true for the church. Even though we may find ourselves with different gifts, skill, abilities and positions there really is no room for one to claim that they are any better than the other. Every single one of us is dearly loved by our God. So much so that it is kind of like a shepherd who left his 99 sheep to go looking for one who had wandered away.

Only our God did not just go looking for us, but he became a human being. He became one of us in Jesus. Jesus is God with us. He is our Immanuel. He completely fulfilled the requirements of God’s law on our behalf. He paid the price for our sins on the cross. He rose victoriously from the grave, forever defeating the power of sin and death and the devil. This is ours and we have it. You have this not because of your gifts and skills and abilities. It is not because of what you bring to the table. But you have this because God loves you so very much.

So if God loves you this much, if God loves us this much, then which of us is the greatest? It is a question that really need not be asked, because it doesn’t matter which is the greatest. We are all dearly loved by our God, regardless of what we bring to the table, or how much we do, or how good we are. God loves us all. The one who comes every single Sunday is not more important in the eyes of God than the one who comes at Christmas or Easter. God does not favor one over the other. The one who gives is not more important than the one who does not. God does not favor one over the other.

Again, these are not bad things. There is great blessing in worship and participating in worship. There is great blessing in giving tithes and offerings. But these things do not make God love us or favor us. There is great blessing in striving to live our lives in accordance with God’s will, as much as we are able to as imperfect people. That striving does not make God prefer us over those who don’t strive that much. You see, when we understand the love that God has for us, and we understand the love that God has for our brothers and sisters in the faith, then that changes the way we see ourselves and one another. It changes the way we treat ourselves and one another. And when we live this way, we are living differently from the rest of the world around us. This different life is a life that comes from and is rooted in the love of God.

A love so great that not only is he like a shepherd that goes after one lost sheep, but he goes to the cross, and then to an empty tomb in order to redeem us and make us his own dearly loved sons and daughters.

Understanding this love that God has for us and our sisters and brothers that will motivate us to then be reconciled to one another when we tend to stray from each other. This is what Jesus is getting at in the verses following the parable. It’s not that we ignore sin. Jesus makes that pretty clear with the graphic and hyperbolic amputation verses. But instead, when one of us sins against the other, we go in love and humility, not to bring about justice and wrath and punishment, but to bring about reconciliation and restoration.

This is not always an easy thing to do. But this is what it means to love one another. When we live life this way we don’t have to worry about being perfect or pretending to be perfect. We can truly be ourselves. And if we do have something against someone, we know that they are not going to harbor a grudge, but we will come together and work together in order to be reconciled to one another. Life lived in this way is life that is rooted in the love of the God who goes through great lengths in order to reconcile us to himself.

Is this easy? No. It is much easier to take our complaints to other people. The wheels of the rumor mill are much easier to turn. But I promise you, nothing will choke the life out of a congregation like a rumor mill. How much better is it to have the trust of one another? Again, not easy, but easier than letting the rumor mill run wild and get out of control. Because remember, this too is to be rooted in the love that God has for us and for one another.

The call to follow Jesus is not always an easy call to answer. But it is really and truly life. It is life as it was meant to be lived, and life better than anything we could ask or imagine for ourselves. May this life be abundant among us as we live life together as sisters and brothers in Christ, bearing witness to the great love that God has for us. And may this be a blessing to you, now and always.  Amen.