24th Sunday After Pentecost – Pastor Will Bevins
We are trying a new format this Sunday. Video format!! I have also included the lessons and sermon in written form if you would like to read it.
Lessons for November 15, 2020
First Reading: Zephaniah 1:7, 12-18
7 Be silent before the Lord God! For the day of the Lord is at hand; the Lord has prepared a sacrifice, he has consecrated his guests.
12 At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the people who rest complacently on their dregs, those who say in their hearts, “The Lord will not do good, nor will he do harm.” 13 Their wealth shall be plundered, and their houses laid waste. Though they build houses, they shall not inhabit them; though they plant vineyards, they shall not drink wine from them.
14 The great day of the Lord is near, near and hastening fast; the sound of the day of the Lord is bitter, the warrior cries aloud there. 15 That day will be a day of wrath, a day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness, 16 a day of trumpet blast and battle cry against the fortified cities and against the lofty battlements. 17 I will bring such distress upon people that they shall walk like the blind; because they have sinned against the Lord, their blood shall be poured out like dust, and their flesh like dung. 18 Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to save them on the day of the Lord’s wrath; in the fire of his passion the whole earth shall be consumed; for a full, a terrible end he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth.
Psalm: Psalm 90:1-8, 12
1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. 2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
3 You turn us back to dust and say, “Turn back, you mortals.” 4 For a thousand years in your sight are like yesterday when it is past, or like a watch in the night.
5 You sweep them away; they are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning; 6 in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers.
7 For we are consumed by your anger; by your wrath we are overwhelmed. 8 You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your countenance.
12 So teach us to count our days that we may gain a wise heart.
Second Reading: 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11
1 Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers and sisters, you do not need to have anything written to you. 2 For you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 When they say, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them, as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and there will be no escape! 4 But you, beloved, are not in darkness, for that day to surprise you like a thief; 5 for you are all children of light and children of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness.
6 So then let us not fall asleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober; 7 for those who sleep sleep at night, and those who are drunk get drunk at night. 8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, and put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. 9 For God has destined us not for wrath but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep we may live with him.
11 Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing.
Gospel Reading: Matthew 25:14-30
14 “For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; 15 to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. 16 The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. 17 In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents. 18 But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.
19 After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. 20 Then the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more talents, saying, “Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made five more talents.’ 21 His master said to him, “Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ 22 And the one with the two talents also came forward, saying, “Master, you handed over to me two talents; see, I have made two more talents.’ 23 His master said to him, “Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’
24 Then the one who had received the one talent also came forward, saying, “Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’ 26 But his master replied, “You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? 27 Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten talents. 29 For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. 30 As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
24th Sunday After Pentecost – Pastor Will Bevins
Next Sunday is the last day of the year – the liturgical year, that is. It’s the feast day called Christ the King, and when it arrives, I’ll stop saying, “the xth Sunday after Pentecost” at the beginning of service, because Advent will be around the corner.
Our scripture readings for the past several weeks have been consistently apocalyptic, meaning that they uncover or reveal something about the nature of God. We also use that word – apocalyptic – to discuss end-times, of course. As we reach the end of the church year, our readings refocus on the end of the world, and the judgement that will be part of it.
Have you ever heard anyone express the thought that there’s no such thing as “right and wrong”? There’s a sense that some people have that right and wrong are relative concepts. They might say, “good or bad, it doesn’t matter.” Another phrase one hears is, “it’s all the same.” And this isn’t in response to simple choices, like what do you want for dinner or what kind of shampoo, but life’s big questions, such as how we care for the world God shaped and gave to us as stewards, or whether we view and strive to treat all other human beings as people God created and loves.
Sometimes, we’re tempted to view this attitude as a modern phenomenon, or even post-modern. We even have a fancy label for it, to put it in a box: moral relativism.
Today’s readings remind us that there is a judge, and only one judge. And this judge has an eye on everyone, including you and me. Because it’s not only moral relativism that blinds people to God’s truth; the rationalizations we use to justify unfaithful behaviours and decisions for ourselves and for others, rationalizations that cause us to be equally blind to the truth of God.
Zephaniah 1:12-13, “At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the people who rest complacently on their dregs, those who say in their hearts, “The Lord will not do good, nor will he do harm.” Their wealth shall be plundered, and their houses laid waste. Though they build houses, they shall not inhabit them; though they plant vineyards, they shall not drink wine from them.”
Much like last week’s reading from Amos, this passage describes what will happen on the Day of the Lord. Doesn’t that sound like it should be a nice day? In Hebrew society, the ancient people who first heard these scriptures would have been reminded of the Jubilee Year.
The Jubilee was part of the law established in Leviticus, chapter 25, establishing a time every 49 or 50 years when: debts would be forgiven, prisoners and slaves would be freed, agricultural land returned to anyone who sold it due to financial desperation, and other aspects of God’s divine mercy would pour out onto the chosen people of God. The Jubilee year was supposed to begin with a trumpet blast of joy, Leviticus chapter 25 verse 9, trumpets sounding throughout the land. Imagine that – what a celebration!
Where did it go wrong? What happened that the Day of the Lord would transform from a celebration – from liberation – into a time of judgement?
Well, in case you couldn’t have guessed, the scripture makes it clear: it’s sin. The people had stopped following the law, and even turned to other gods. Prophecy came to Zephaniah during the reign of King Josiah. You might recognize Josiah from earlier in Matthew, chapter 1, verses 10 and 11: when Jesus genealogy is given, Josiah is listed. Who was this king, that Zephaniah would prophecy so outrageously to him of destruction, yet the author of Matthew saw fit to include him in the genealogy of our lord and savior?
Josiah had taken on the mantle of kingship at age 8, after his father was assassinated. His great-grandfather had been a reforming king, who tried to turn the Hebrew people away from the false gods of other nations such as Ba’al, and return them to worship of Yahweh, the true God. People weren’t always happy about this, because worshipping Yahweh meant reflecting God’s kindness on their neighbors, on people who owed them money, on foreigners who lived among them. The Jubilee was the ultimate expression of God’s mercy, but not all examples were so dramatic – in essence, being faithful to God’s Covenant meant loving God and loving their neighbors as themselves. Sound familiar?
As I mentioned in a sermon a few weeks ago, when Jesus speaks the Great Commandment to the crowds in Matthew 22, he is echoing Leviticus and Deuteronomy when he says that the greatest commandment is to “‘love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind,’” and continues, that the “second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” Says Jesus, “On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”
The Hebrew people of the kingdom Josiah inherited had strayed. They wanted to worship the gods of other nations, who didn’t require the same level of commitment to their neighbors. In their extremes, other nations offered human sacrifices to their deities, but it would be absurd to think that sin always takes us to such extremes.
Jesus says in Matthew that he is here to fulfill the law. The essence of the law, our litmus test for understanding right and wrong, is the Great Commandment.
In our country today, we don’t practice a Jubilee year. We don’t associate any of that with the Day of the Lord. But that doesn’t mean that there’s no law. Indeed, Christ tells us that he came to earth to fulfill the law. I mentioned earlier that Jesus is here to fulfill the law: here’s what he says in Matthew chapter 5 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished.”
He could add, “I came to fulfill it because you still don’t seem to get it.”
We still read the Old Testament. Allow me to draw together Zephaniah and Matthew: that we still read and find meaning in the scriptures of our ancestors in faith doesn’t mean that we’re supposed to hold a Jubilee year. It means that the commandments to “‘love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind,’” and to “‘love your neighbor as yourself’” are to undergird what we do. When we stray from the Great Commandment, sin creeps in. And so, the Day of the Lord comes with judgment, and the trumpet blast will fill our hearts with the fear of the Lord.
And if that’s where our story ended, what hope would there be? Thank God for Jesus. As the world kneels, convicted for our sinful ways, Jesus begins his walk toward the cross. When we encounter Jesus today in the Gospel of Matthew, he is preaching the final sermon of his life. It’s a difficult parable, as if the first reading weren’t convicting enough.
The third servant describes his master as “harsh,” and as being unjust in his dealings with others. What a misunderstanding of the nature of God. The person telling this parable is Jesus, God’s only son, who far from being harsh or unjust is mercy embodied. It is Jesus who restores us to God, through his sacrifice, and through his faith.
We’re called to take up the cross and follow Christ (Matthew 16:24-26). Let’s not be like the people Zephaniah describes, resting complacently on what we have, feeling that “it’s all the same,” that the Great Commandment isn’t sufficient guidance for our lives. Let’s take to heart the example of King Josiah, who inherited a kingdom that had fallen to sinful ways. His reign is described in 2 King chapters 22 and 23 and 2 Chronicles chapters 34 and 35. When he learns about God’s law, he tears his clothes and weeps, because he is convicted, finally understanding that his own efforts are nothing without God’s Word. He repents, transforms his own life, and spends the rest of his life turning his kingdom into what God’s law requires.
Jesus is here to fulfill that law. And to echo John the Baptizer, as we look toward Advent, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” Let us be transformed to faithfully use the gifts God gives us for the sake of the world God created and loves.
Amen.