| First
Reading | Epistle | Gospel |
| Haggai
1:15b, 2-9 | 2
Thessalonians
2:1-5, 13-7 | Luke
18:1-8 |
Some
of the disputes and confrontations attributed to Jesus more likely reflected fierce
controversies of later Christians that unfortunately were read back into the Gospels.
The distance between Jesus and his critics was often not nearly as wide as later
perspectives made it out to be. Jesus and the early disciples were welcomed as
fellow Jews in most, if not all, of the synagogues around the lake of Galilee.
There
were many varieties of thoughts and customs within the Judaism of Jesus' time
and while Jesus undoubtedly disagreed with some, he also tended to be well within
the broad traditions of his culture. Faith in the resurrection was not new or
unique with Jesus, rather it was a widely accepted view within Judaism. Jesus
affirmed and expanded on what many rabbis believed.
There
is an old traditional Jewish toast which translated exclaims, "To Life!"
It is an affirmation of the Biblical view that God created life out of the dry,
dust of clay or out of the chaos of the waters. To toast to life is to offer a
toast to God, an acknowledgment that God continually creates and gives the gift
of birth to new things. God is a giver, who is always giving the earth a new start.
The resurrection. Is a sign God will create life out of death. The helpful point
for us from the passage read this morning is Jesus' affirmation to look for the
signs of life in the graveyard of the world, not a lesson showing how Jesus got
around a contrived story and bested some pesky critics.
Jesus
reminds us in today's lesson that the God of Abraham and Sara, of Isaac and Rebekah,
Leah and Rachel, is the God of the living. If there was ever a cast of characters
who seemed doomed to hapless oblivion, it was there folks. As a young couple,
Abraham and Sara set out to be pioneers, alone, in a distant, unknown land, a
land God had promised would become a land of their own, populated with their descendants
as many as the stars and to initiate a mission of conveying a blessing to the
peoples of the earth. Yet they had difficulty conceiving even one child, and when
Isaac finally arrived, the child's future was soon threatened. It seemed as if
God was contradicting what had been promised. Abraham though internally distressed,
trusted God. Isaac lived. As the years went by, Sara still continued to believe
that their son was destined to be a person of blessing, although in the process,
his half brother Ishmael was banished. Rebekah, like Sara before her, readily
accepted the call to leave her home and marry Isaac, and Isaac and Rebekah seemed
to fall in love at first sight, but it was not a happily married ever after story.
Now frankly, hapless wasn't the description for these guys. Their family could
have been invited as guests on the Jerry Springer show. Their twins sons, Esau
and Jacob were always in conflict with each other, and the parents were sucked
into choosing sides. Rebekah favored Jacob and together they tricked Isaac into
giving Jacob, Esau's blessing. Isaac died knowing he gave his blessing to a deceitful
scoundrel of a son, leaving little consolation to his favorite son, Esau. In fear
for his life, Jacob fled from his home, never to see his mother again. Yet the
story does not break the promise of a mission of blessing. God takes the dust
and clay of scoundrels, betrayals, and long years of disappointments and brings
forth life again. Through all the seemingly contradictions, and frustrating and
fractured relationships, God's gift and promise of blessing continues. The Bible
provides those wonderful glimpses of God's gift of life. It is similar to a cold
and cloudy day in Schelkopf Stadium. It stops sleeting; the wind calms down; the
sun comes out from behind the gray clouds; the crescent is bathed in light; people
feel the warmth of the sun; and Cornell intercepts a pass and runs for a touchdown
and wins the game! It's totally beyond belief and beyond expectation, but it happens.
It
is not our belief in God, it is God's belief in us that call us into being people
of blessing. It is not our nature, but God's nature that we are given the gift
of new birth out of death. That is what Jesus is saying to us today, and why a
toast of Thanksgiving to God is always the way "to life" for the people
of faith.
And
I offer this to you in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen
