Third Sermon - Worthy Recipient 11/23/2008

Worthy Recipient – Jonathan Jones

Matthew 25:31-46 <- This is a link to the text of this sermon.
Often when people talk about this scripture, they interpret it as a description of a final judgment where the good are sent to heaven and the bad are sent into eternal punishment. The good are judged as worthy by their charitable acts and the bad are judged as unworthy because of the lack thereof.

There is more here, there is a deeper truth.

For all have sinned and fallen short, and none are righteous, no not one. And we are saved by grace through faith, not by works… so no one can boast. So who’s a sheep and who’s a goat and how’s that pertain to salvation?

There is a deeper meaning, There is a deeper truth.

Every so often, my Aunt will forward an email to me with a story about a child that could make you cry or some dire warning about rights that the government was planning on taking away. One that she sent was a story about a woman who found a mysterious letter in her mailbox. It was a letter from Jesus letting her know that he was going to be visiting her that afternoon.
The story continued that she was very poor and had nothing to serve him. She takes what little money she has and goes to the store where she buys a loaf of bread, some sliced turkey, and some milk. On the way home she encounters a couple who are in great need. At first she tells them she can’t help them but then, takes pity on them and gives them the groceries and additionally her coat for the shivering wife.

Worried that she’ll have nothing to offer Jesus when he arrives, she heads on home where she finds another letter in her mailbox from Jesus… thanking her for the food and the coat. (and yes, I did get choked up at this point… I’m a sucker for these things)

This story is kind of cheesy but it describes the kind of charity described as sheep-like in our Scripture reading. However, from a reader’s standpoint, we are left with the idea that we will never know when a disguised Jesus or an angel will be wandering around trying to test us and make us spend our last dime. Are we visited by angels? I would say Yes, but are our encounters tests? No. Should we wonder if that pan-handler was Jesus? No! That’s not the point. We aren’t mortals caught up in some Greek myth where the gods are posing as humans.
We are humans who are charged with loving other humans… even the wretched refuse of the teeming shores.

In the scripture reading, the sheep and the goats are divided not because of how they acted toward God, but because of how they acted toward other people. If they were serving God, if they knew it was Jesus, both the goats and the sheep would have given him drink when he was thirsty, food when he was hungry, and care and counsel if he was sick or in prison. Both would see Christ as a worthy recipient. The story is not so much about how worthy the goats or sheep are based upon their charity. It is about who is judging worth. We see Christ enthroned as king and judge, determining who is a sheep and who is a goat; Christ is judging the worth as only Christ can.

On a side note, I was told by the daughter of a goat farmer that goats are actually very wonderful creatures and I shouldn’t be so hard on them in my sermon… so please note that this is a metaphor and there is nothing inherently uncharitable about goats.

But as I said before, the goats would have quickly come to Jesus’ aid if they had seen him. Why? Because they would have judged him as worthy of their help. What about the “least of these”? No, they are judged unworthy because they are living off the system, because they are Muslims, because they are a different race, because they have AIDS, because they are prostitutes, because they are sinful, because they are drug addicts, because they don’t want to learn about Jesus. The goats will give aid to those who they believe are worth their charity.

Have you seen yourself act like this? I know I have. When encountering a man on the street asking for money, I question whether he will use it for food or for drugs and alcohol. Are there entire organizations who have done this? Yes, numerous charities require the recipients be worthy of their help. I know of a soup kitchen that requires the hungry to listen to a sermon before they are allowed to eat. I know of an international children’s charity that only gives education, food, and support to impoverished children if they and their families agree to become Christian. They require the recipients of their charity to be worthy. They need to see Jesus in them.

The Goats need to see worth in the recipient of their good works. However, the sheep give even to the least of these (the unworthy). In order to help, the Goats need to see Jesus, but the sheep are blind… stupidly giving their aid and charity to even unworthy no-good abusers of the system. The goats ask Jesus to step down from the judgment seat so they can determine who is worthy of their magnanimous graciousness. The sheep don’t put themselves in the role of judge; they just give as they see a need. How should we act?

In guiding our steps, there are a some things to keep in mind. When we put conditions on our charitable acts, we are taking Christ off the throne… and by implication we are stating that we are worthy to make such judgments. However the scriptures tell us that none are worthy, no not one. We need to step down from the throne of judgment and remember that Christ is the King, Christ is the judge, and Christ gave to us in a very un-Goat-like manner. For while we were enemies with God, we were reconciled to God. Through grace, not worth, we are saved.


The Jewish understanding is described in the teaching of Tzedakah, the Hebrew word for what we call “charity”. There are significant differences between Tzedakah and what many consider charity or mission. The website, "Judaism 101" gives us a good description of what Tzedakah means. Often when people think about charity, they consider it an act of a benevolent person who has money, time, or goods are be given to those who have need. The act is one of empathy, sympathy, or… at even, pity. "Tzedakah, [however, comes from] the Hebrew three letter root Tzadei-Dalet-Qof, meaning righteousness, justice or fairness." Tzedakah is not good people giving to people in need, it is people doing the right thing, being fair, and living out God’s justice. The people of Beulah often reflect this in so much of the mission that goes on here. Time and again when a need is presented, that need is taken care of and when praised, the response is one of surprise… well, of course. That’s no big deal, it’s just what is done. It’s who we are… You don’t need to see Jesus or debate the worth of the recipient; you just take care of the need. One interesting thing about the concept of Tzedakah is that there are eight levels of charity. All are good, but some are closer to the vision that God has for us, closer to the way God wants to bless us. The list below is taken directly from Judaism 101: Tzedakah: Charity.

1. Giving begrudgingly
2. Giving less that you should, but giving it cheerfully.
3. Giving after being asked
4. Giving before being asked
5. Giving when you do not know the recipient's identity, but the recipient knows your identity
6. Giving when you know the recipient's identity, but the recipient doesn't know your identity
7. Giving when neither party knows the other's identity
8. Enabling the recipient to become self-reliant

If you know and are friends with any of our Jewish sisters and brothers, you know how important charity is in their daily lives and activities. Contrary to the prejudicial stereotypes, my Jewish friends reflect a desire to help those in need to a great degree.

You might notice that all levels of Tzedakah are sheep behaviors. Even giving begrudgingly is giving not based upon an assessment of worth or placing conditions upon the recipient. Charity with strings attached demands our right to judge and control who gets our help. Charity with no strings attached takes judgment and control out of our hands and leaves it up to God…. Takes it out of our hands and leaves it up to God. The root of all sin is when we try to take control away from God. So, let go, let God be in control.

We are called to give… and trust God to do the rest. This is difficult, so difficult. When I was living in Cincinnati recently out of college, I was going to a restaurant downtown and a man approached me trying to sell food stamps because he couldn’t buy diapers with food stamps. Whether this is true or not, I did not know but I also knew you couldn’t buy alcohol or drugs with food stamps… you can see where my mind was going… I was making an assessment, I was being a goat. He asked me to buy his $5 in food stamps so he could buy diapers for his baby that desperately needed them. In that moment I had a choice, I could tell him no, I could tell him yes and buy his food stamps, or I could do something else. I prayed. For some reason, and not to my credit at all, I prayed. I gave him $5, told him to use the food stamps for food, and prayed that God would take control of the situation and let his will be done.

Was I “taken advantage of”? No. Will you be taken advantage of if you just give without judgment? By no means, you have done what God has called you to do, you have taken a risk and given to someone who had a need. Letting go of control is always a risk, but John Wimber, the founder of the Vineyard Church once said, “Faith is spelled R I S K.” Now I’m not saying that you should toss money out the window and let anyone who walks by pick it up. But I am saying that when we consider how we will decide to give, that we should do so with God’s intentions in mind… to not seek worthy recipients (because surely we were not worthy when God gave to us) but rather to seek recipients who are in need. This is the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. St. Francis of Assisi once said, “Preach the gospel at all times. If necessary, use words.”

Go, step out of the judgment seat, take some risks, give, love, and love foolishly and recklessly… as Jesus loves us.

AMEN

Second Sermon - Laborers In the Vineyard 9/21/2008

There are some parables of Jesus that might seem… well, offensive to us. Of course we are fine with the parables about seeds sown on different types of ground… confident that we are in the good soil. We love the parable of the “Good Samaritan” as it puts those self righteous hypocrites in their place. But what about this parable, the parable of the “crazy farmer” who hires people, honest hard working folk, at different times during the morning… then at the last hour, he hires the slackers who are just hanging around trying to avoid being chosen.

Well, if that was all there was to it, and he paid the slackers for their one hour, we’d think he was fair and fairly charitable in hiring those slackers for that last hour of clean up work. Nice of him to give them an hour of work, given that they probably had families to feed. But then the farmer tells his manager to pay the workers, beginning with the most recently hired. And as the one-hour slackers are getting paid, the full day workers are getting pretty excited. They see that these guys got a full days pay and so, of course, they are surely going to get much more than they were originally promised. When they are paid the same as the others, they are furious. This is unfair! We bore the weight of the load! We toiled away through the noonday sun! We worked our fingers to the bone! And now he gives us no more than those slackers who were hanging out in the market, probably up to no good all day!? This is offensive, we should get what we worked for.

Then the landowner reminds the workers that they received what they were promised. Why begrudge the others of his generosity? This is one of the many times that we read in the bible about God’s justice being different from humanity’s justice. Why does the sun shine on the good and the evil? Why does hardship affect mean people as well as charity workers? The pressing question I have at the moment is why does the Baptist Seminary have power and my campus still doesn’t… We should not seek to compare ourselves or think we deserve better from God because of our length of service or our personal sacrifice. This brings to mind a story in my dad’s church as I was growing up. The church was gearing up for a major building campaign because our numbers were growing and we did not have a proper sanctuary yet. But there were some disagreements on certain issues, some questions about design and costs. One member of the church, very intent on making his voice heard, demanded that because he and his family had been members of the church since the time that they met in a schoolhouse, that he should have more say in the direction the church was taking. But that’s not the way things work in the Presbyterian church… and it’s not the way it worked in the vineyard described in the parable. Jesus is making it clear that we “are made equal” in his eyes. Remember the early bird workers said, “You have made them equal to us.”
Some may ask, “So what is my motivation to work harder or to serve more in church?” Let me turn the tables a bit and suggest that maybe it is not that the hard workers are getting what they need… but that the late workers were given money for their work and additional money to support their needs for that day. They received blessing. I know a story about two brothers, let’s call them Billy and Jonny Jones… er… Smith, yeah Billy and Jonny Smith. OK, well Billy always did his chores and worked very hard to get his assignments done. Jonny, on the other hand, was a bit of a day dreamer and sometimes would just head out on a beautiful Saturday afternoon to play in the woods or run in the fields around their house. Billy resented Jonny for this greatly… still does. What Billy resented more was the amount of love and positive regard Jonny got from their parents. Eventually Jonny would get his chores done but how could his parents love him as much as they loved Billy? Was that fair?

The parents of course, didn’t love their children based upon who finished chores nor based upon who had the greater merit. They loved their sons period. Jonny probably needed more attention and care because he was so wild and undisciplined. So the attention the parents gave was not because of a greater love, it was in proportion to the needs of the child. If we compare this with the workers in the vineyard, we can see that the landowner gave the workers pay as they had need, not as they had merited. One denarius is said to have been enough to feed one large peasant family for one day. The landowner extended that generosity to touch the lives of even the workers’ children. And so is the generosity of our Holy God. Remember in our Exodus reading that “The Israelites did so, some gathering more, some less. But when they measured it with an omer, those who gathered much had nothing over, and those who gathered little had no shortage; they gathered as much as each of them needed.” God provided to each family as they had need regardless of how much they actually gathered. Isn’t that amazing! I had never considered that connection before preparing for this sermon and yet there it is… right in front of us.

God’s economy of justice is clearly not the same as ours. If it were, given the same metaphor in this parable, no one would get paid and we’d all be kicked out of the vineyard for sleeping on the job. But, again, I believe focusing on the works and merit of the laborers (maybe even the needs of the laborers) is not the point.
I don’t think the need of the workers is the entire purpose of this story. Remember that Jesus begins the story with the phrase, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like…” The essence of the story rests in God’s abundant generosity. The focus being on the landowner’s charity rather than on the merit or works of the laborers. Consider how the landowner paid the workers. The full day workers were made to wait and watch as the landowner was being generous with the last hired. Why would Jesus set up the story like this? If the last hired were paid last then no one would be the wiser; the full day workers would have never known and there would have been no conflict or complaint.

I think there are two reasons Jesus presented the situation so that the landowner actions were clearly seen by all the workers. The first is so we would see how God is glorified by showing great generosity to all. The second is so that when we do question and complain, God reminds us to take the focus off ourselves and our efforts; and put it back on God. So again, in this parable, God is glorified by giving love and grace freely, fully unmerited by us regardless of our best efforts; AND we are taught to remove the focus from our own deeds and merit or the deeds/merit of our brothers and sisters, but rather to recognize that this grace that has been poured out on us by an overly generous and loving God.

Some might say, “Well, that’s nice but it’s still not fair.” Well, thank God that he’s not fair. I was thinking about how I would fare in this vineyard; about what time of day I would have been hired. Well, I’m not that much of a morning person so I definitely wouldn’t have been there too early. But I did wonder if my labor and merit were key to my salvation or key to God loving me, where would I stand. I think most of us would agree that we don’t do all that we ought and we do do a few things we oughtn’t. So thank God for not being fair.

As I was preparing this sermon, I was reminded of a time when one of my favorite singers, Derek Webb, was giving a performance in Lexington. He had just heard about a new mission effort to build wells in Africa called “The Blood:Water Mission.” He was very excited about this effort and told us all about how they only had one paid staff person so all the money was going to Africa to dig wells for these impoverished families; families who otherwise would spend half the day walking to get water and the other half walking back home… and we think we have it bad with no electricity. What struck me deeply and what makes me remember his words was that after he got done passionately telling everyone about how important this was (you could tell he felt very strongly about this), and how there was a bucket in the back of the church if you wanted to put a buck or five in… well, after all that, he said, “I want to be clear. Whether you put money in that bucket or not, God still loves you the same. Whether you show your love for your neighbor in Africa or don’t, you can’t cause God to love you more or to love you less. Because before you were born and before those people even existed or had any need, Jesus loved them perfectly for you… and He did so on your behalf.”

You see, the vineyard is getting harvested, with or without your effort. We put so much effort on ourselves but do we think that God cannot accomplish mission without us? Someone will be found to complete God’s purposes… and what a blessing it would be if that were you or I. If you join in the effort in the morning you will be loved and loved fully by the landowner. If you show up at the last hour, you will still be loved and loved fully by the landowner. It all comes from the generosity of the landowner, God… it’s not about us. Those laborers who work all day would be more blessed to rejoice for the blessing that the landowner has bestowed upon the latecomers. Those who arrive late are brothers and sisters, joining us in the great blessing of working as laborers in the vineyard.

I think this parable encourages us to take the focus off ourselves and others; to not compare ourselves with one another; but rather to put the focus on God and how we are called to live rejoicing in one another’s blessings. God loves generously, go and do likewise.