God messes with our binaries: 23rd after pentecost a

The other reading I reference is 1 Corinthians 1:18-31.

El santo evangelio según San Mateo (25:1-13)

[Jesus said to the disciples:]

¹“Then the dominion of heaven will be likened to this:

      Ten bridesmaids took their lamps

      and went to meet the bridegroom.

            ²Five of them were foolish,

            and five were wise.

                  ³When the foolish took their lamps,

                        they took no oil with them;

                              ⁴but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps.

            ⁵As the bridegroom was delayed,

                  all of them became drowsy and slept.

                        ⁶But at midnight there was a shout,

                              ‘Look! Here is the bridegroom!

                              Come out to meet him.’

                  ⁷Then all those bridesmaids got up

                  and trimmed their lamps.

                        ⁸The foolish said to the wise,

                              ‘Give us some of your oil,

                                    for our lamps are going out.’

                        ⁹But the wise replied,

                              ‘No! there will not be enough for you and for us;

                                    you had better go to the dealers

                                    and buy some for yourselves.’

                  ¹⁰And while they went to buy it,

                        the bridegroom came,

                        and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet;

                        and the door was shut.

                              ¹¹Later the other bridesmaids came also, saying,

                                    ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’

                              ¹²But he replied,

                                    ‘Truly I tell you, I do not know you.’

                                          ¹³Keep awake therefore,

                                                for you know neither the day nor the hour.”

El evangelio del Señor.

-----

As I was rereading the gospel throughout this week, 1 Corinthians 1 kept popping into my head.  What does it mean for us to call some bridesmaids wise and others foolish when God messes with our understandings of what is wise and what is foolish?

Is it wise to hoard the oil?  Is it foolish to not bring extra just in case?  Is it wise or foolish to leave to buy more?  To leave the lamps lit while they wait?  To show up late to your own wedding celebration?  To arrive so much earlier than the bridegroom?  To go inside and lock people out?  To pretend not to know someone?

Paul writes, “But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.”

God comes to mess with the good/bad binaries that we create.

We are so disposed to sorting the world into categories, especially binaries.  Good or bad, dark or light, women or men.  But the reality is that, as Sirius tells Harry Potter in the Order of the Phoenix, “The world is not split into good people and death eaters.”  It’s just not that simple.

Throughout the bible and throughout our lives of faith, God calls us deeper into the complexities of the world.  As our faith deepens and we come to understand that "when we recognize that noteverything is black and white, the next step is recognizing that it's not justshades of gray either, but instead that life is a rainbow of shades,highlights, colors, and tones."

The binaries we create do not serve God.  Instead they limit our understanding of God and the world around us.  If everyone has to be either wise or foolish, then what about those who are funny or sad or joyful?

Perhaps today’s parable is really about being prepared or receiving permission not to share, but as likely as not, it’s about wondering how else the story could play out.

What secret option c’s are out there that dance between and beyond the categories of wise and foolish?

Today is an easy day for us to find ourselves in the midst of binaries—good-byes and not hellos, endings, and yet beginnings.  Yesterday was Veteran’s Day and who better knows the value of peace, the danger and pain of war, and the ways it is not nearly that simple than veterans?  We’re even approaching the end of the church year and preparing for Advent, which itself breaks the binary as we live in the space of yearning for God’s reign on earth even as it has already begun in Jesus’ death and resurrection.

This Sunday is my last Sunday with you all and as we say good-bye, we are ending this pastoral relationship that we’ve had.  I won’t keep in touch, so that as you discern your leadership and pastoral needs, you can more fully embrace whoever comes to serve as pastoral leadership.  This is very much an ending.  

But it is also a beginning.  It’s a beginning for me as I move to Des Moines and it’s a beginning for you all as you begin to identify essentials for your community of faith—what is at the heart of your mission and ministry, the heart of your worship.

But even that is work we have already been doing together.  It is the ongoing work that we are always doing as people of faith in an ever-changing world.

You as a community embody a resistance to the binaries we humans like to create.  You are both ELCA and PCUSA in your worship together.  You have a building and yet next Sunday you will worship in a different building and for Thanksgiving you will worship in yet another building.  You care for each other and you also care for the community and the world.

The way you all engage in ministry is creative and visionary.  Investing your time and energy in relationships resists either being patronizing charity givers who keep others at an arms’ length or ignoring those who are different from you.

You are loved by God and you extend that love outward to care about this community and to care about this world instead of holding it in and keeping it just within yourselves.  You are witnesses to God’s transforming love and grace in your commitment to even what is not always popular or comfortable.  You are capable of wrestling with the hard questions of faith.

You wrestle with immigration policies that don’t honor the holiness of humans who immigrate to this country.  You can wrestle with what it means when thoughts and prayers aren’t stopping gun violence.  You can wrestle with what it means to live beyond and between the gender binary.  You wrestle with racism and white privilege and your place in it all.

You have enormous capacity as a community of faith to dwell in the in between.  You can question the text without losing your faith.  To ask if Jesus might not be the bridegroom, but instead a foolish bridesmaid, locked out of our religious celebrations.  You can ask what would have happened if the foolish bridesmaids didn’t leave or if the wise ones insisted on waiting just a little while longer until they returned before they went inside.

You, dear people of God, are vital to the body of Christ throughout the world.  The ministry God does through you in and with this community is vibrant and in whatever form it may take in the coming months and years, I trust that God will continue to work through you.

And even at this ending, I will continue to carry you in my heart.

Thanks be to God.

Jesus honors the dishonored: all saints a

El santo evangelio según San Mateo (5:1-12)

¹When Jesus saw the crowds,

      he went up the mountain;

            and after he sat down,

                  his disciples came to him.

      ²Then Jesus began to speak,

            and taught them, saying:

                  ³“Honored are the poor in spirit,

                        for theirs is the dominion of heaven.
                 ⁴“Honored are those who mourn,

                        for they will be comforted.
                 ⁵“Honored are the meek,

                        for they will inherit the earth.
                 ⁶“Honored are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

                        for they will be filled.
                 ⁷“Honored are the merciful,

                        for they will receive mercy.
                 ⁸“Honored are the pure in heart,

                        for they will see God.
                 ⁹“Honored are the peacemakers,

                        for they will be called children of God.
                 ¹⁰“Honored are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake,

                        for theirs is the dominion of heaven.
                 ¹¹“Honored are you when people revile you

                  and persecute you

                  and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.

                        ¹²Rejoice and be glad,

                              for your reward is great in heaven,

                              for in the same way they persecuted the prophets

                                    who were before you.”

El evangelio del Señor.

-----

Honor is a word that carries a different weight for me than the word blessed—maybe it just feels more serious.  We honor those who risk and sacrifice their lives for others, we honor people for their service to others, and judges who make decisions about justice that impact people’s lives and futures are called “Honorable.”  There is a sense of life or death, deep commitment and deep willingness to risk connected to the word “honor.”  So it makes a different kind of sense to me than “blessed” does.

When Jesus says, “Honored are the poor in spirit, ⁴“Honored are those who mourn, ⁵“Honored are the meek, ⁶“Honored are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, ⁷“Honored are the merciful, ⁸“Honored are the pure in heart, ⁹“Honored are the peacemakers, ¹⁰“Honored are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, ¹¹“Honored are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account,” I am struck by how much we not only don’t honor, but even actively dishonor those same groups of people.

We live in a culture that scorns those who have the spirit of the poor,

that diagnoses grief that lasts “too long” as a psychological disorder,

that rants and raves, throwing power around to intimidate the meek into losing their land, possessions, and rights,

that dismisses right relationships in favor of prestige, access, or sexual advantage,

that seeks harsher punishment and mandatory minimums instead of mercy,

that dismisses hopeful visionaries as naïve,

that increases military spending and threat around the world instead of finding nonviolent ways to create and nurture peace,

that persecutes and dismisses cries of pain by claiming all lives matter instead of being in solidarity with the persecuted, affirming that Black Lives do Matter,

that lies and spews hatred, reviling, persecuting, and uttering evil falsely against those who seek to live with integrity, following God.

We live in a culture that doesn’t honor the characteristics and people that Jesus honors.  This is easiest to see at both ends of our baptismal journeys, which we lift up especially today for All Saints Sunday.

You only need to look as far as television commercials for beauty products or plastic surgeons promising to make you look years younger in order to know that our culture doesn’t honor death.  Instead of honoring it, our culture denies it and tries to avoid it no matter the cost financially or in terms of quality of life.

That is not God’s way, though.  God’s way honors death and those who mourn.  We carry the names of loved ones who have died close to our hearts with the great cloud of witnesses that surrounds us, especially in the thin place that is communion. 

We hold memorial services and funerals, creating space to honor those who have died and those who love them.  And as we honor people’s lives and deaths in these ways, we honor the God of death and resurrection—the one who joined us in death on the cross so that we might join Christ also in the Resurrection.  Mourners receive Jesus’ special honor.

And so do the pure in heart.  And who is more pure in heart than those just beginning their baptismal journey, many of whom are babies, those who are most vulnerable—unable even to care for themselves.  Yet we, as followers of Christ and as a community of faith, surround them with love and claim them as family in the body of Christ.  We honor them.  We make promises with them and on their behalf.  We call them to ministries of peacemaking, we lift up a hunger and thirst for righteousness, we call them to mercy.

Jesus honors those who are not at the places of honor and in so doing invites us to honor those who would otherwise receive scorn, or even be ignored or dismisses altogether.

Jesus honors them.  Just before today’s sermon on the mount, Jesus sits with them.  Jesus heals all those in need of healing.  And then Jesus calls us to follow him, to seek out the meek, the peacemakers, the poor in spirit, those who mourn, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, and those about whom all kinds of lies are told.  Jesus calls us, in fact, to seek out the ones who truly deserve—and in fact receive—honor from God.

Today during communion, we’ll have the opportunity to light a candle to honor those who have died, completing their baptismal journeys, and those who are just beginning them.  In these ways we honor those who mourn and we honor the pure in heart.

And, as you feel moved by the Spirit, I invite you also to take a piece of origami paper on the back table and write the name of one of those Jesus proclaims as honored: the peacemakers, the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the persecuted.  They can be dead or alive.  Then leave the paper there and throughout this week, we will honor them in prayer, folding them into origami cranes as prayers also for peace throughout the world. 

As we do this, we join with God in honoring those whom God honors, we join in solidarity with those who are marginalized and whom the world derides, trusting that God’s honor is not earned, but freely given in baptism and in communion. 

We follow Jesus, who showers honor on the unexpected and dismissed.  The Holy Spirit then sends us out to locate ourselves with those most marginalized and to honor the ones whom God honors.

The dominion of heaven is manifest when God’s standards for honor and blessing are enacted here on earth.  As Jesus proclaims who is honored, Jesus also invites all of us into relationship and solidarity with them.

Thanks be to God.

The Holy Spirit Entangles us with Jesus: reformation 500

The other reading referenced is Romans 3:19-28.

El santo evangelio según San Juan (8:31-36)

³¹Then Jesus said to the Judeans who had believed in him,

      "If you abide in my word,

            you are truly my disciples;

                  ³²and you will know the truth,

                        and the truth will make you free."

³³They answered Jesus,

      "We are descendants of Abraham

      and have never been slaves to anyone.

            What do you mean by saying, 'You will be made free'?"

³⁴Jesus answered them,

      "Very truly, I tell you,

            everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.

                  ³⁵The slave does not have a permanent place in the household;

                        the son has a place there forever.

                              ³⁶So if the Son makes you free,

                                    you will be free indeed.

El evangelio del Señor.

-----

As we celebrate the 500^th Anniversary of the beginning of the Protestant Reformation, there has been a lot of reflection throughout our denominations on identity and meaning as people of faith.  Where is our identity rooted?  What does it mean to be Christian, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Protestant?  Throughout the country and the world, Lutherans and Catholics especially, as well as a variety of people from different Christian denominations, have been gathering for ecumenical worship services.  Well, that’s old hat for us—we worship ecumenically every single week!

But as Jesus talks to those who believe in him—that is, us—in today’s gospel, the source of identity comes into play.  Jesus is talking to his community—his followers.  They believe in him, and yet when he questions their identity, they respond with the identity they’ve always had, “We are descendants of Abraham.”

They may believe in Jesus, and even want to follow him, to be his disciples, but their identity is not rooted in him.  It’s rooted in their ancestor, Abraham.  So then we are left to ask the question: what does it mean to believe in Jesus if it doesn’t reshape—or re-form—your identity?

In Paul’s letter to the Romans, he focuses on the power of faith, using a phrase in the Greek that can mean both a faith in Jesus Christ and the faith of Jesus Christ.  Because the original Greek can be both, it lets us explore the potential meanings.  A faith in Jesus Christ is our trust in the Word made flesh who has come to abide with us.  And the faith of Jesus Christ is Jesus’ faith in and for us, a love for all of creation and a faithfulness to all of creation, even when we are unfaithful.

And as a Lutheran who cherishes the theology that affirms a both/and God who can hold paradox in tension together, even in the midst of our either/or world; and as a queer person for whom binaries, especially around gender and attraction, don’t fit, what I find most compelling is that Paul can mean both senses of the word.  It is not only our “faith in Jesus Christ,” but also and especially the “faith of Jesus Christ” in and for us that manifests God’s righteousness.

This divine entanglement of faith, where the two are entwined into informing each other, makes the difference between believing or trusting in Jesus and being entangled with Jesus so that our identity cannot be separated out, but must necessarily be rooted in Jesus, who makes us free.

As we are entangled with Jesus, we change.  Throughout this month we have been learning about different reformers throughout history and even into today.

One of the common characteristics of these reformers and others that we’ll name today during our communion liturgy is that their faith in and of Christ re-formed their identity.  As they took to heart Jesus’ invitation to “abide in my word,” Jesus also re-formed their identity, rooting it so deeply in Christ that they could live out of it, reforming the world and the church, Christ’s own body.  This divine entanglement re-forms not only individuals, but the whole body of Christ as well.

Argula von Grumbach, Catharina von Bora Luther, Katharina Schutz Zell, Marie Dentière (Dahn-tee-air), and Olympia Morata all challenged the common identities their cultures held for what it meant to be a woman as their identities reformed around faith in Christ and the liberating theology that the Protestant Reformation brought about.

Theologians and pastors like Jehu Jones, Vine Deloria Jr., Soren Kierkegaard, Mama Leo, and Darnell Moore were all informed by their faith to a deeper call and identity in Christ, which entangled them with others and the world in such a way that Jesus had to make change through the power of the Holy Spirit.

The list is endless.  And it raises our question again today.  Where is your identity rooted?  A great upheaval,      or reformation, takes place in the Church about every 500 years.  It is a time for us to dig deep and wonder about what our faith means, where our identity is grounded, and what needs to change.

This is the time to ask as individuals, as a community of faith, and as a whole body of Christ, who believes in the resurrection: what needs to die for resurrection to break in?  What parts of our identity are we trying to keep separate?  How is faith with Jesus entangled in our past, present, and future?

The Holy Spirit is alive and active in this community of faith.  I have seen her at work throughout these last two years as we have struggled together to make sense of where she is leading us.  The Holy Spirit calls us all to new things—to death and resurrection.

This 500^th anniversary of the beginning of the Protestant Reformation is the perfect time to take seriously our identities in Christ—identities entangled in the cycles of life, death, and resurrection.   

Identities not rooted in false ideas of the past or what could have been, but instead rooted in the liberating work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  

Identities grounded not in a specific building or location, but instead grounded in the way this community lives out God’s love for the world.   

Identities not held back by fear or anxiety about what the future might hold, but instead willing to risk for the sake of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

There is no guarantee of comfort or ease in our walks of faith, but there is a guarantee of Christ’s presence and faithfulness.  The Holy Spirit is calling us all into the death and resurrection of a life of faith.   She entangles us forever with Jesus, the One who makes us free.

Thanks be to God.

Who belongs to God: 20th after pentecost a

I also reference the first reading: Isaiah 45:1-7.

El santo evangelio según San Mateo (22:15-22)

¹⁵Then the Pharisees went

and plotted to entrap Jesus in what he said.

      ¹⁶So they sent their disciples to him,

            along with the Herodians, saying,

                  “Teacher,

                        we know that you are sincere,

                        and teach the way of God

                              in accordance with truth,

                        and show deference to no one;

                              for you do not regard people with partiality.

                        ¹⁷Tell us, then, what you think.

                              Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor,

                                    or not?”

¹⁸But Jesus,

      aware of their malice, said,

            “Why are you putting me to the test,

                  you hypocrites?

            ¹⁹Show me the coin used for the tax.”

And they brought him a denarius.

²⁰Then Jesus said to them,

      “Whose image is this, and whose title?”

²¹They answered,

      “The emperor’s.”

Then Jesus said to them,

      “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s,

            and to God the things that are God’s.”

      ²²When they heard this,

            they were amazed;

            and they left Jesus

            and went away.

El evangelio del Señor.

-----

you

see your face.

you

see a flaw.

how.  if you are the

only one who has

this face.

–     the beauty

construct

(Nayyirah Waheed)

There are images all around us every day.  Images of violence, of pain, of joy, of anger.  Images of jobs and vocations, service, relationships, and estrangement.  Images of power and privilege, of isolation and marginalization.

These diverse images are on our money, too.  An image of a man of power: Washington, Hamilton, Franklin—soon Harriet Tubman, an image of freedom and resistance to oppression.  An eagle – an image for this country, with a head pointing toward the olive branch of peace and away from the arrows of war. 

A pyramid image of endurance, withstanding the test of time, with the Eye of Providence, or is it the eye of God? Claiming God’s presence and blessing, perhaps, though other countries also make that claim.  A new order, this great seal declares.  At the top, the united states of america.  Below that, on the back, the phrase “in god we trust.”  And those are just a few, easily spotted on this one, old bill. 

Images are all around us and even on us.  Images that seem perfect and images so full of what we call flaws: lines of wrinkles from laughter, worry, and surprise trace across our faces; scars from illness or injury; marks we try to cover up or choose to create as art; marks from violence that we hide from others, struggling to seek help or a way out.  All over our bodies, we carry images.

But there is one image more precious and more powerful than the rest.  An image that challenges our assumptions when seen on others whom we might call “interesting” or “different.”  An image that brings comfort when we cannot find the good in our own selves.

Jesus asks, “whose image…whose title?”  and it is “the emperor’s.”  When the image is marked “for the Empire,” then it is for the Empire.  When the image is marked for God, then for God.

But “in the beginning when God went about creating the heavens and the earth andthe earth was a formless void…God created humanity in the divine image.  In the image of God humanity wascreated”—in all our diversity.

Certain images may be marked on money and things, but the everlasting image of the Divine is marked on all of creation and on all of us created beings.  And that makes a difference.  We are made in the image of God.  Together with all of the ways we are unique, we belong to God—the God who calls us by our name and surnames us.

And if we belong to God, it is not just us, but all of humanity.  Every soldier killed fighting for this government, every soldier killed fighting for other governments, even every soldier killed fighting for ISIS bears the image of God and so belongs to God.  Every family that goes hungry on the weekends or in the summer bears the image of God and so belongs to God.  Every billionaire CEO and every family on welfare and everyone just trying to stay in the middle class bears the image of God and so belongs to God. 

Every baby born and every person who dies bears the image of God and so belongs to God.  Every victim of violence—sexual harassment and domestic violence, economic violence, gun violence, terror attacks and mass killings—and every perpetrator of violence bears the image of God and so belongs to God.  Every janitor, firefighter, sex worker, pastor, administrative assistant, nurse, teacher, elected representative, telemarketer, and community organizer bears the image of God and so belongs to God. 

Every person with documentation to live and work in a country, every person without documentation, and every person awaiting deportation bears the image of God and so belongs to God.  Every lawyer, every government employee, every person in prison bears the image of God and so belongs to God.   

Every woman, every man, every transgender person, every person for whom the gender binary doesn’t fit; every bisexual, heterosexual, asexual, lesbian, gay, and queer person bears the image of God and so belongs to God.  Every one who is single, divorced, widowed, struggling with their marriage, and happily married bears the image of God and so belongs to God.

And if all of humanity bears the image of God and so belongs to God, then all of Creation bears the image of God and so belongs to God.  Every tree, river, bush, and lake bears the image of God and so belongs to God.  Every bluff, mountain, valley, desert, sea, and glacier bears the image of God and so belongs to God.  Every creeping thing upon the earth, every swimming thing every flying thing bears the image of God and so belongs to God.  Every planet, moon, star, galaxy, black hole, asteroid, and supernova bears the image of God and so belongs to God.

And if all of creation bears the image of God and so belongs to God, then even “the things that are the emperor’s” are really “the things that are God’s.”  The things we think we can separate out from our faith are a part of our faith.  They belong to God just as we belong to God. 

So in all that we do and use we find divine belonging.  When we spend our money, we are using God’s resources and God’s creation.  When we are spiteful or cruel, we are doing so to God.  When we are honest about pain, oppression, and conflict, we are being honest with God and all that belongs to God.  When we care for another and for ourselves, we care for God.

Nayyirah Waheed’s poem, which I began with holds the truth about this image of God:

you

see your face.

you

see a flaw.

how.  if you are the

only one who has

this face.

–     the beauty

construct

(Nayyirah Waheed)

In all you see as a flaw, God recognizes the beauty that is your truest self.  And the same holds true for the flaws we see in others.

As a reminder, please turn to a neighbor, ask their name (just to make sure—if everybody does it the person whose mind goes blank will have an excuse), ask if you can bless them, and if they give permission, mark their forehead or their hands with the sign of the cross and say, “You are a beloved child of God.  You belong to God. And that will never ever change.”

…

Amen.

Jesus calls us to resurrection life: 19th after pentecost a

The first reading is Philippians 4:1-9.

El santo evangelio según San Mateo (22:1-14)

Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying:

      ²“The kingdom of heaven has been likened to a man, a king,

            who gave a wedding banquet for his son.

            ³He sent his slaves to call those who had been called

                  to the wedding banquet,

                  but they would not come.

            ⁴Again he sent other slaves, saying,

                  ‘Tell those who have been called:

                        Look, I have prepared my dinner,

                              my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered,

                              and everything is ready;

                                    come to the wedding banquet.’

                  ⁵But they made light of it and went away,

                        one to his farm,

                        another to his business,

                        ⁶while the rest seized his slaves,

                        mistreated them,

                        and killed them.

            ⁷The king was enraged.

                  He sent his troops,

                        destroyed those murderers,

                              and burned their city.

            ⁸Then he said to his slaves,

                  ‘The wedding is ready,

                        but those called were not worthy.

                              ⁹Go therefore into the main streets,

                              and call everyone you find to the wedding banquet.’

                  ¹⁰Those slaves went out into the streets

                  and gathered all whom they found,

                        evil as well as good;

                              so the wedding hall was filled with guests.

¹¹“But when the king came in to see the guests,

      he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe,

      ¹²and he said to him,

            ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?’

      And he was speechless.

      ¹³Then 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.’

                        ¹⁴For many are called, but few are chosen.”

El evangelio del Señor.

-----

“Rejoice in the Lord always.”

No matter what.

That is a tall order coming from Paul to the church in Philippi.  And much like our gospel reading today, this passage has frequently been interpreted, without sufficient context, in ways that are harmful. 

The number of people with mental illness, especially depression, who have been told “⁴Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.” when their chemical, emotional, and mental contexts make their situation way more complicated than that easy exhortation is, perhaps, only rivaled by the number of people who have been told that today’s parable—or riddle—from Jesus means that God enacts harm and even kills some people or casually sends others to hell.

Neither of these interpretations are Gospel, or Good News, for God’s people.  They also don’t take into account the full context.  Take Paul, for example.  He’s neither telling depressed people to just try to be happier, nor is he prescribing the life of faith to be one of ignoring any suffering or injustice in the world.  God still calls us to weep with those who weep.  Instead, Paul speaks out of his own context, of suffering and faith, because Paul is writing to the church of Philippi from jail.  He has been imprisoned for his commitment to the Gospel in the face of an Empire that wants to keep a tight hold on its power.

So when Paul encourages us, with the church of Philippi, to “⁴Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice,” it’s not about ignoring reality or “fake it ‘til ya make it.” It’s the same commitment that landed him in jail in the first place.  God is bigger than the persecution of the Roman Empire and even the death that Paul will face.

So, in the face of injustice and even death, Paul exhorts followers of Christ to … continue following Christ, saying, “⁸Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence        and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. ⁹Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.”

Last week, Jesus told the religious authorities a riddle and they responded to it with a call for vengeance.            Wrong answer.            They didn’t get Jesus.  The religious authorities are operating from an understanding of God that is rooted in the way the world works, so Jesus brings them back to the cornerstone, saying, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is amazing in our eyes.” (Matthew 21:42)  The religious authorities’ understanding of God as a God of vengeance will be upended.  The ones rejected—the Crucified One—will become a resurrected people—and the Resurrected One.

This is the God who is Good News and to whom Paul is so committed that he will exhort us all to “⁴Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.”

Jesus furthers his point to the religious authorities with today’s parable.  While many try to allegorize today’s riddle and make God, or Jesus, the king, there’s more to the text—much more.

In the original Greek, it’s not that the kingdom of heaven is like a king, but instead it’s that “The kingdom of heaven has been likened to a man, a king.”  Jesus is calling out the religious authorities on their vengeful theology.

There are some who say God’s reign is like a powerful political leader—the powerfullest—throwing a big party.  This political leader invites all the most “important” people, but when the slaves go out to gather these important political and cultural people—the ones with influence and definitely money, these ones who have been invited decide they don’t want to come.  They snub the political leader—in a culture so heavily steeped in honor and shame, they shame this political ruler, diminishing his power and calling his authority into question.  After all, this was never just a wedding feast; it was always also a political gathering.

The political leader tries again, but the politicians and business owners, the celebrities and religious authorities, dismiss the slaves, or even kill them, taking away even more power from this ruler.

The king’s response?

Enraged, he throws a grown-up tantrum, as only one used to getting anything and everything he wants, can do.  The political leader kills those who refused to give in to his power—destroying entire cities in the process!  Cities filled with innocent people, completely unaware of the politics at play.

Then he tells his slaves—the ones with so little power that they really have no hope of doing anything but listening obediently.  He tells them that the ones who deemed him unworthy, rejecting his invitation, are the real “unworthy ones.”

It is reminiscent of childhood arguments where one kid calls the other a name, eliciting the well-known taunt, “I know you are, but what am I?”  But this king has all the power, so, to save face, calling the original guests unworthy, he “calls”—but what peasant could say no to a request from the king—you heard what he did to the powerful folks!—plus, there’s free food.  The political ruler calls everyone in town—“evil as well as good.”  The political leader gets his filled feast, the peasants get a bit of food, and maybe this won’t be a complete failure after all.

But when we think that it’s at last settled, this political leader notices the one person who has not completely followed his rule of law.  Tapping into the irony, the king calls this stranger “friend” and challenges his presence at the feast.  Then the political ruler throws him out and we are left to wonder about this outer darkness and the weeping and gnashing of teeth.

If “The kingdom of heaven has been likened to” this, I don’t want a part of their kingdom of heaven—and perhaps that’s Jesus’ point.  No one wins in this parable.  It is filled with violence and vengeance.  If God is the king, then God cannot be the source of all love, because love wouldn’t wipe out all of those towns or wield power in such harmful ways. 

And if Jesus can be found anywhere, it is in the man at the end, bound “hand and foot, and [thrown] into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Jesus knows weeping and gnashing of teeth—it is the deep pits of suffering and imprisonment, it is the pit of depression, and it is from there that Paul writes.  It is from there that resurrection comes—true hope.  It is precisely because Jesus, our Cornerstone, knows pain, violence, oppression, and hell that our path of faith can challenge theologies of vengeance and can insist on rejoicing in the one who is more powerful than any fear or even death. 

It is not an ignorant rejoicing.  It is not a rejoicing that tries to “fix” those of us living with depression or mental illness.  It is a rejoicing that takes each moment as a moment, that lives out of the Love that grounds all life.  That is the God whom we follow in Christ Jesus.  That is the God to whom Paul is committed, even in prison.  That is the God who calls us to new life, to rejoice in a power greater than death.  To live into our resurrection life of hope.

Thanks be to God.