16 Pentecost/Year A
September 20, 2020
Philippians 1:21-30; Psalm 145:1-8; Matthew 20:1-16
Another Sunday, another parable…
Parables seem to be Jesus’ favorite way of sharing the good news of God’s generosity…whether it be about God’s love, God’s compassion, God’s grace, God’s justice, or God’s mercy….
No matter how many ways Jesus strives to help his listeners understand God’s generous ways, though… as human beings, our ability to grasp this, often falls miserably short, and is so limited by the confines of our human understanding, and our constant desire, to force it to make logical sense in our minds…before we could believe such a thing…
We get so easily entangled and anxious about earthly things, while Jesus is striving to teach us about heavenly things…striving to encourage us to hold fast to those things that endure: the generosity of God’s Holy love…that keeps coming to us…moment by moment…day after day….
There is so much more for us to learn and grasp about the power of God’s generous love to transform and heal our divisions and our broken lives…
Whether we were alive 2,000 years ago to hear Jesus’ parables or if Jesus was sitting in front of you and I right now…Jesus’ words are meant to invite us to envision something more…. more to the story of our own lives, and those around us, and more to the story about God’s love and God’s love for his people, than what the human eye, and mind, and experience tells us, about what love really is and what love does….what is true and just…what is right, and what is wrong, what is fair, what is not fair….
Jesus’ parables invite us to open our eyes and ears…to listen for the ways we are being called to align our hearts and minds with this generous love of God, to envision a whole new world that is possible…when God’s people work together, as a people who love and honor and respect the dignity of every human being…
In an introduction to today’s gospel reading from Lesson Plans that Work, the writer has this to say, about today’s parable:
Today’s parable appears in the section of Matthew where those around Jesus are questioning him about everything. As Jesus continues his ministry and the disciples are witnessing his great works, they keep coming to him with questions about taxes, who is the greatest in Heaven, forgiveness, divorce, and how to inherit eternal life. The disciples are trying to figure out this new world that they are experiencing through Jesus’ miracles, parables, and teachings.
Just prior to our gospel lesson today, the disciples have heard Jesus tell the rich young man that he must sell everything and give the money to the poor. They begin to wonder, “We have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?” Meaning, we have left our homes and our families, we have left behind what we know and love to follow you…what will we get in return?
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What will we get in return, if we follow Jesus?
Something tells me, that Jesus’ answer won’t only be about what we will get in return for following him….but better yet…it will be more about what we will give to others, as a result of following him….
Therein, lies an invitation for each one of us to consider…
What would happen if we dared to leave everything behind like the disciples did…to follow Jesus…to learn and discover anew, how it could be that the last will be first, and the first will be last…what it would mean to walk and live our lives in the Way of Love, that Jesus has been teaching us and pointing us to in the parables….
What would happen, if we set aside time for a daily walk with Jesus, through spending time in prayer, with the scriptures, in silence, and reaching out to others who are hungry, afraid, or alone, or advocating for justice and equity for those whose voices are not being heard…
Would it lead us to new understandings about the impact of God’s love and presence in our lives, and in the lives of people among us, and in all of creation, entrusted to our care?
Would it inspire us to continue to learn more about each other, our neighbors and our enemies, so we could discover ways together, to envision a world, where loving one another, begins with respecting the dignity of every human being?
The only way to find out…is to take that first step, one day at a time, to be drenched in the generosity of God’s love, that keeps coming to us, moment by moment and day after day…
Let’s take a moment to listen to a few words from Stephanie Spellers, Canon to the Presiding Bishop for Evangelism, Reconciliation and Stewardship of Creation, who speaks about the generosity of God’s Holy love…
*Show the video of Transforming Through Love: More to the Story
(Stephanie Spellers) From The Work of the People
https://www.theworkofthepeople.com/more-to-the-story (free to view this one)
What does God say?
I think God says..
There’s more to the story, than the earthly narrative which often fills us with fear, anxiety, sorrow, and hopelessness… there’s more for us, yet to discover about God’s Holy love, and generous ways, that never cease…and how it is, that when we believe in and trust in this good news, it can help keep us grounded in hope, and in the love of God, and more focused on the heavenly things that endure, even as we ae placed among things that are passing away…
Let us pray, that we may walk in the light of this Love, and learn to love others, and serve others, in a way that reveals the generosity of God’s love, God’s compassion, God’s grace, God’s vision of justice and God’s mercy…and let us pray, that it will show up, in every interaction we have with one another…whether its early in the morning, at 9am in the morning, at noon, at 3 in the afternoon, or at 5pm, when the evening comes, and the busy world is hushed, and the fever of life is over, and our work is done. Then, in God’s mercy, grant us a safe lodging, and a holy rest, and peace at the last. (BCP 833)
Rest in peace, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg….Thank you for living your life in a way that gave us glimpses of how the generosity of God’s love and God’s vision of justice can make an impact, and make a difference in the lives of so many people. May she rest now, in the arms of the God who is love and the author of true justice. Shalom (The Presiding Bishop Michael B Curry)
“May her memory be for blessing”
After sermon hymn: O Master, let me walk with thee – Hymn 660
O Master, let me walk with thee
in lowly paths of service free;
tell me thy secret; help me bear
the strain of toil, the fret of care.
Help me the slow of heart to move
by some clear, winning word of love;
teach me the wayward feet to stay,
and guide them in the homeward way.
Teach me thy patience; still with thee
in closer, dearer company,
in work that keeps faith sweet and strong,
in trust that triumphs over wrong,
in hope that sends a shining ray
far down the future’s broadening way,
in peace that only thou canst give,
with thee, O Master, let me live.
Rev Julie Platson
St Peter’s by the Sea Episcopal Church
Sitka, Alaska