God's word

1 Thessalonians 2:9-13

⁹You remember our labor and toil, brothers and sisters; we worked night and day, so that we might not burden any of you while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. ¹⁰You are witnesses, and God also, how pure, upright, and blameless our conduct was toward you believers. ¹¹As you know, we dealt with each one of you like a father with his children, ¹²urging and encouraging you and pleading that you lead a life worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.

¹³We also constantly give thanks to God for this, that when you received the word of God that you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word but as what it really is, God’s word, which is also at work in you believers.

 Matthew 23:1-12

¹Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, ²“The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat; ³therefore, do whatever they teach you and follow it; but do not do as they do, for they do not practice what they teach. ⁴They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others; but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them. ⁵They do all their deeds to be seen by others; for they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long. ⁶They love to have the place of honor at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues, ⁷and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have people call them rabbi.

⁸But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all students. ⁹And call no one your father on earth, for you have one Father — the one in heaven. ¹⁰Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Messiah.¹¹The greatest among you will be your servant. ¹²All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.

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My grandmother got me a Bible when I was 12. She says I told her I was going to read the wholething. Then I read two or three verses and said that was enough for the night. She said, in her lovely southern accent, “Sam, it’s going to take an awful long time to read the Bible like that.”

I don’t remember exactly when or how it happened, but soon I fell in love with the Bible. I read it on my own, which made me more interested in the sermons I heard on Sundays. I was captivated by the world of the Bible, so different than the world we live in today but still connected. I loved the stories of Moses, Israel, and King David.

More than anything I was captivated by the story of Jesus. His teaching was so powerful. He had a way of cutting through all the subtle deception and political posturing of the religious leaders. His words hit me and stuck. His life also inspired me. His love for us and his courage blew me away as did the courage and conviction of the early church.

In seventh grade I went to Catholic school and I found out that I was truly a protestant, or as my English teacher would say a protest-ant. As we studied the teachings of the Catholic church, much of it made perfect sense to me since the Christian faith is one faith no matter what church you go to.

But other things didn’t make sense to me at all. I distinctly remember learning some teaching that didn’t make sense to me and didn’t fit what I understood about scripture. I asked the teacher: “Where does that come from in the Bible?” The teacher didn’t have a good answer.

Part of my opposition was run of the mill teenage defiance; I was a pretty smart-allecky kid, after all. But part of my resistance was my reformation heritage coming through. I’ve come to value that heritage more and more. We celebrate the reformation today not to disrespect our Catholic brothers and sisters, but to stir up the spirit of the reformers in our church and in our lives.

Whenever we take scripture seriously, reformation naturally follows. That’s because scripture is God’s word, and God’s word is powerful to challenge, encourage, empower and change us. God has blessed the church with a huge variety of interpretation. Some Christians read the Bible literally; others with a more critical view. We can be faithful either way.

The stone the builders rejected (4.17.11; Palm Sunday)

Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29

¹   O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his steadfast love endures for ever!

²     Let Israel say,  “His steadfast love endures for ever.”

¹⁹  Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the LORD.

²⁰  This is the gate of the LORD; the righteous shall enter through it.

²¹  I thank you that you have answered me  and have become my salvation.
²²  The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.
²³  This is the LORD’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.
²⁴  This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
²⁵  Save us, we beseech you, O LORD! O LORD, we beseech you, give us success!

²⁶  Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the LORD.  We bless you from the house of the LORD.
²⁷  The LORD is God, and he has given us light.
     Bind the festal procession with branches, up to the horns of the altar.
²⁸  You are my God, and I will give thanks to you; you are my God, I will extol you.

²⁹  O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.

Matthew 21:1-11

¹When they had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, ²saying to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. ³If anyone says anything to you, just say this, ‘The Lord needs them.’ And he will send them immediately.” ⁴This took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet, saying,
⁵   “Tell the daughter of Zion,
     Look, your king is coming to you,
          humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”
⁶The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them; ⁷they brought the donkey and the colt, and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them. ⁸A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. ⁹The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting,
     “Hosanna to the Son of David!
          Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
     Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
¹⁰When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, “Who is this?” ¹¹The crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.”

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            Who can tell us what this Palm Sunday parade is all about?

            Tell us a little more about that.

Part of me really hates Palm Sunday. We sing praises and celebrate Christ’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem. We play the role of the crowd and joyfully welcome him with palm branches held high. But even as we shout with joy we know the crowd’s love for Jesus is fickle. We know that not even a week later the crowd will be calling out for his blood.

            On Palm Sunday I feel like we’re celebrating hypocrisy: “Hosanna to the son of David,” then “Crucify! Crucify!” Maybe if we can’t quite give all our enthusiasm to the singing and palm-waving this morning it’s because we don’t really want to be this crowd. We know their love for Jesus is unsteady, untrustworthy. We know that even the inner circle of disciples won’t be able to hold their ground when the time comes, despite their passionate words and their best intentions.

            What would the crowd say in their defense? How would they respond to the charge of hypocrisy and betrayal? I think they would point the finger at the religious leaders who led them astray. They are right to do that, too, that’s where all the Gospels put the blame for Jesus’ condemnation.

            After all, the crowds were accustomed to trusting their leaders; they were trained to think the religious leaders knew best. The Pharisees and chief priests were all the crowd had left of the once glorious kingdom of David. It made sense that they longed for a king to fill that void. But maybe it also made sense that when the initial excitement wore off they second-guessed themselves. Sure Jesus looked like a king at first, but as the excitement faded, the leaders’ arguments started to make sense.

            Why didn’t this king take action against the pagan Romans? Why didn’t this king start recruiting an army? Why didn’t this king team up with the priests and other leaders? Maybe the religious leaders were right. Maybe the leaders knew better. If Jesus really was the Messiah the teachers would believe in him, right?

            We know now that Christ’s kingdom is different from the kingdoms we’re used to. The Psalm Al read a little earlier gets at some important truths about that kingdom. For one thing, the Psalm begins with praise to God for God’s steadfast love. God’s love shows up in many different ways, including providing kings for Israel in the past and now sending Jesus to show the new kingdom of God. No matter how we wander away from God, God’s love for us is constant and persistent.

            The Psalm also says “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” The builders, the leaders entrusted with power, the leaders who were counted on to guide Israel with wisdom rejected the cornerstone. Psalm 118 doesn’t tell us why the builders rejected that stone, only that God sometimes makes the rejected stone the most important.

            God builds differently than we do; especially, God builds differently than people in power do. People in power usually build society to increase their power, but God’s kingdom is about sharing and justice for everyone. Even the kings of Israel, who were chosen to be God’s leaders for God’s people, built walls to protect their power. So it’s with a long sense of history and human sin that the psalmist knows that God often chooses the rejected to be the cornerstone.