September 22, 2002
"I [know] that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing." (Jonah 4:2)
The man with fire in his eyes didn't say "Go to hell;" the kind of thing you might say to someone when you're angry. No. He held my attention and he said quite calmly and clearly "You are going to hell." He was clearly convinced of the truth of his statement to me. There was no more talking after that. That kind of statement is pretty much a conversation stopper.
We'll come back to this important moment in my life, I promise. Against the backdrop of the parable we've just heard, a parable about our Father and about the kingdom of heaven, we need to dust off some other stories, we need to look again at the amazing grace which is so much a part of our lives.
The proper attitude for this exploration is wonder. Come with your eyes and ears and hearts open to the Word of God. Max Lucado said it well: "I've never been surprised by God's judgment, but I'm still stunned by his grace."1 Let yourself be open to the possibility of being stunned (again) by God's grace.
Long before Max was writing, our ancestors in the faith heard powerful sermons by a preacher named John. Honored now with the title of Saint, St. John Chrysostom (c. 347-407) was preaching one day on this parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard. In his booming voice he asked "Why is it that the householder seemed to give the workers, regardless of their labors, all exactly the same reward?" He then proceeded to answer his own question: "It is because God has only one reward to give, a reward that has no measure in money or hours or days or years, and that reward is God himself."2
Stunning, isn't it? Everyone of us in this room today, everyone of our family and friends not able to be here today, everyone near and dear to us, everyone banished to the dog house of our affections, everyone who wishes us well, and everyone who wishes us ill, everyone receives the full measure of God's love and grace. God holds nothing back. That is what the kingdom of heaven is like.
To wrap this truth around us a little more, come with me and dust off the first chapter of Matthew's gospel. Imagine the first chapter to be a lens. As we dust it off, clean it, and look through it we'll see the kingdom of heaven a little more clearly and, I hope we will see ourselves a little more clearly.
Chapter One of Matthew's Gospel is the genealogy of Jesus. Stay with me here, there is something to be gained. It was widely held in the time of Jesus that the Messiah would trace his ancestry back to Abraham, and of course would be in the line of the great king, David. Beginning with Abraham then, Matthew sets out the family tree, or should I say he hangs out the dirty laundry.3
Abraham, it is recorded, lied on a grand scale to save his own skin. In order to save himself in Egypt he told everyone that Sarah, his wife, was really his sister. The pharaoh promptly married her and quite a mess followed for him. (Gen 12:10-20)
Abraham's grandson Jacob was a real gem. He lied to his father, cheated his brother out of his birthright, was on the receiving end of a swindle and swindled his own uncle. (Gen 27, 29) And there he is, making a point in the genealogy of Jesus. Next in line we have Jacob's son, Judah.
Judah, in a moment of indiscretion and apparent blindness slept with his daughter-in-law, Tamar, making her pregnant. It's a long story (you can find it in Genesis 38). And there he is, along with the twin sons he fathered, listed by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in the first chapter of Matthew's gospel account.
Ruth is mentioned in this genealogy. She was a foreigner, and yet here she is kin to Jesus among a people fiercely exclusive in the time of Jesus. (Ruth 1:4) Rahab, another woman listed in this genealogy, was a harlot. (Josh 2:1)
We get to David, the great king. He fathered Solomon, the wisest of the kings of Israel. And you know that story, don't you? David, the peeping tom, wanted to have Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, the Hittite. David indulged himself. Worse, when Bathsheba announced her pregnancy, David was sure he could fix things by calling her husband home from the war. Surprised by Uriah's restraint (he didn't share the bed with Bathsheba while his men were camped in harm's way), David eventually arranged for his death. (2 Samuel 11)
Manasseh is in the list of ancestors. He built altars to other gods, he worshipped both the Lord and Baal, he made his own son walk through fire, and consulted widely in the psychic friends network of his day. (2 Kings 21) His son, Amon appears in the lineage of Jesus, and Amon didn't even believe in God. (2 Kings 21:22).
The genealogy of Jesus is filled with frail, flawed, humans. From one generation to the next the only common thread is the promise made to Abraham. It is an amazing thing. Through 42 generations from Abraham, through broken promises, slavery in Egypt, wanderings in the desert, pursuit of false gods, pursuit of worldly power, denial, destruction by every invading army traveling north and south, exile, and occupation by the Romans, God continued to work in and through less-than-perfect sons and daughters like you and me. His purpose was always being achieved, even in the worst of the line.
The last in the line, Jesus, completes the promise. God can say no more. God can give no more. In Jesus, God has said it all. God has given all. How amazing is that? What I love about the bible is that it presents our ancestors in all their nobility and in all their sin. What I love about this lineage, is that Matthew (inspired by the Holy Spirit) is making a point: God's work of salvation
At the time I fell in love with Carol, at the time we decided God was leading us to marriage,
always uses flawed humans, people like you and me (and some of them worse than you and me).
In the parable Matthew says the same thing in a new way: the reward of God's love is the same whether you have been traveling with Jesus a long time, a short time, or not at all until now. God does not give us what we deserve, he gives us what we need.
I am—by God's grace—a part of the history of salvation. I have been given what I need, and so have you. In a world that measures out its rewards based on beauty, strength, intelligence, age, political correctness, power, and so on, our God stands in marked contrast. We need God's love more than anything, and if we fall into his embrace (and his arms are open wide to receive us) he gives us all of his love.
At the time I fell in love with Carol, at the time we decided God was leading us to marriage, not only was I a priest in the Roman Catholic church but I was part of a priest support group. The group met monthly to encourage each other to grow in grace and remain strong in ministry. Perhaps I was cowardly, but at the time it seemed prudent, to explore my hopes and fears and doubts and decisions about love and marriage outside of the priest support group. So I did. Having reached a decision it came time to share it with the group. The day I announced to them that I was in love, that I was leaving to get married, I really (and perhaps unfairly) surprised them.
It was a brother priest, in my support group, who told me calmly, coldly, and with as much hatred as I have ever heard in another human voice, "You are going to hell." You don't forget something like that. The hurt is less these days, but not gone entirely. I pray for this man and for his ministry. I have forgiven him, but I haven't (in my weakness) pursued this brother priest to see if he has been able to forgive me.
If he was right in his judgment and his condemnation I find solace in the knowledge of the genealogy of Jesus, in the parable of Jesus heard today, and in the grace of God I have experienced since that moment in the support group. I am comforted in the knowledge that I have received from God in the same measure as this man in his righteous indignation. We both have received all of God's love in Jesus Christ. We are both embraced in the arms of our loving Father, that is just how God is. We have both received what we needed, God's love. We both continue to receive that love, no matter what. That is the truth of the parable Jesus shared.
I appeal to all of you who have experienced this Good News for yourselves: bring your brother, your sister, your mother, your father, your neighbor, your co-worker, your friend, your enemy, to worship here. Let them renew their friendship with the God who is so generous. Let them begin a friendship with the God who is so lavish with love. Let them join the fellowship of flawed individuals who are family to Jesus. Let them find joy and grace in a relationship with Jesus and with our Father who sent him. And let us never fail to encourage each other to deepen our own relationship with the God who loves us more than can be imagined. Amen.
1 Max Lucado When God Whispers Your Name quoted in The Newsletter Newsletter, July 1996
2 Quoted in Synthesis "Postscript," September 22, 1996.
3 This section is inspired by "Late-Night Good News" in Max Lucado, When God Whispers Your Name, pp. 129-133
The Rev. Daniel Rondeau
drondeau@stmargarets.org
September 22, 2002