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Each week I try to find a thread connecting the assigned lessons; this week was tough.  Perhaps the underlying message is the observation that humanity has an ongoing obsession with pushing the ethical & moral envelope.  As often happens, the last two or three verses in each reading contain the thrust of God’s direction–but don’t ignore the rest, there’s good advice in there!

Ezekiel’s bottom line is that those who have “committed iniquity” still have opportunity to turn away:  “Because they considered and turned away from all the transgressions that they had committed, they shall surely live; they shall not die.” (18:28)  Is this about judgement or grace?  Yes.  No “sinners in the hands of an angry God” here:  Ezekiel continues to speak for the Lord, “I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, says the Lord God.  Turn, then, and live.” (v.32)

We’re not privy to the problems happening at Philippi which Paul addressed (2:1-13). He urges his readers to be “in full accord and of one mind.  Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves.”  So there was evidently uncomfortable dissension, which happens when a bunch of humans rub elbows.  Can we co-exist?  Not without divine help: “for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for [God’s] good pleasure.”

Matthew’s account (21:23-32) is a matter of giving Jesus credentials.  Somewhat like Mayor Shinn in THE MUSIC MAN, the Temple keepers ask Jesus by whose authority he taught.  And this produced a give ‘n’ take about the authority of John the Baptizer, which Jesus used to deflect the officials.  Then comes an oblique parable about two sons:  one promised to work in the vineyard, but never showed; the other adamantly refused, but had second thoughts and went anyway.  Jesus accused the Temple folks of talkin’ the talk, but not walkin’ the walk…

These aren’t feel-good passages:  God’s messengers confront those who consider ourselves Holy People with the reminder that there’re still plenty of things in our lives that are broken.  BUT these things can be repaired; and it’s God’s good pleasure to turn these things around!  Makes my day a good bit brighter:  yours too?

God Bless Us, Every One                   Horace Brown King

My hopes & fears brought on by scripture passages assigned for the upcoming weekend can be found each Tuesday at this spot on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com

“NO FAIR!” complained the pint-sized guy trailing his big brother and me in our neighborhood games.  Seems that we older fellas weren’t playing by his rules–and I admit that we often pushed the envelope to discourage his participation.  Human- kind dotes on The Rules:  every culture and society has ’em.  What can we feel when God chooses to love us even when The Rules consign us to the flames?  Two great stories and an introspection give us a look beyond our own meager codes…

Jonah’s story is full of Grace:  most of us know well the tale of Jonah’s running from his missionary assignment, and how God provided a “great fish” to pluck him from a watery grave and give him a second chance.  But wait, there’s more!  Forgiven Jonah DID get to Ninevah and announced its imminent destruction, then waited at a safe distance for the fireworks.  But the citizens of Ninevah repented their blasphemous living, and God removed his threat.  Happy ending?  Not for Jonah, who pouted that his mission was in vain:  “I KNEW you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing.” (4:2)  So he built a hut to sit in (while waiting to die), and it was HOT!  God’s mercy caused a plant to grow up around the hut and bring a welcome shade.  Now a happy ending?  ‘Course not!  A cutworm came at night and destroyed the plant, and Jonah was angry again.  God said, “Look, you’re upset about the plant; don’t you think I should be upset about losing a city of 120,000?  I mean, Fair is Fair.”

Paul dares to be personal in his Letter to the Philippians (1:21-30).  Imprisoned—at Rome?–he feels that his life is done and worthless: “living is Christ and dying is gain”.  Jonah-like, Paul wishes to die and get out of his misery.  These are extreme feelings for an extreme situation.  Yet like the earth-worm that fell in love with a rubber band, he snapped out of it.  Remembering God’s works of steadfast love in life so far, he abandoned his own discomfort in the hopes of aiding others in theirs.  Fairness in God’s terms graciously exceeds human rules, thank heaven.

The second story is Jesus’ parable of the day-laborers in the vineyard (Matthew 20:1-16).   You recall that the grower went to the labor-exchange square at various times of the day, even as the sun got lower.   The late-comers got paid the daily rate, so the all-day crew expected more.  But EVERYONE got the same daily rate, which was the original offer.  “Hey, that’s not fair!”  And the owner replied, “Friend, I am doing you no wrong;  did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage?….I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you.”  Omigosh!  Does that mean that we’ll all be equal in Heaven?  Fairness in God’s terms graciously exceeds human rules…                                                                                                                                                             Many will tell you that I’m quite compulsive about playing by The Rules.  I’m uncom-fortable when plans change.  But our exploration of these passages encourages me (maybe you?) to make room in my constricted life for Grace to bend my perimeters to include the newly repentant and even those considering Life in the Kingdom.

God Bless Us, Every One                          Horace Brown King

My thoughts about Scripture passages assigned to the upcoming weekend can be found every Tuesday at this space on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com

My father-in-law, Carroll Neal, was the world’s most intense SORRY! player.  Most people try to get their tokens to the goal as quickly as possible; Dad would count his moves in order to land on someone else’s token–and gleefully shout “Sorry!” as he sent them home…  He wasn’t sorry a bit!  Scriptures for this weekend will look at God’s absolution when human patience is strained to the limit.

The lesson from Genesis remembers how Joseph–sold out by his brothers, but now the Viceroy of Egypt–met with these brothers to absolve them from their betrayal of long ago (Genesis 50:15-21).  “What if Joseph still bears a grudge against us…?  (And why wouldn’t he?)   I beg you, forgive the crime of your brothers…”  But pragmatic Joseph turned their former guilt into what God has done with it:  to save the Hebrews from famine “as [God] is doing today”.  After all these years, the family has been restored through this magnanimous gesture!  And they were genuinely sorry?

Paul exhorts his brothers and sisters in Rome not to condemn each other, especially about trivialities of custom and observance  (Romans 14:1-12).  “Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister?  Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister?  For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.”  Paul didn’t want to see the Christian community broken by insignificant differences, and taught that God alone would be the restorer, absolving “those people” when I myself have run out of pity.  “We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves.”  And so our liturgy affirms:  “In life, in death, in life beyond death, we are not alone.  Thanks be to God.”

Matthew’s Gospel (18:21-35) recalls Jesus’ parable about gracious absolution.  Seems that there  was a slave heavily in debt to the king, to the tune of ten thousand talents!  (I’m told that the budget to maintain the Greek Navy of antiquity was TWO talents!)  “So the slave fell on his knees before [the king], saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’  (Which of course he couldn’t)  And out of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the [huge] debt.”  Happy ending?  Community restored?  Not quite…  The forgiven slave found another slave who owed him some, not a lot of, money…and put the hammer on him until he could repay the little bit.  The king heard about it and gave over the Big Debtor to be tortured “until he would pay his entire debt.  So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

So how much can we take God’s mercy for granted?  God has given me much, despite my callous and habitual disrespect for Creation and Creature alike.  Can I continue to act up, trusting that Steadfast Love to absolve me?  I mean, if God loves to forgive, should I not give God lots to do?  Are there limits to Grace?  and if so, where are they?  As the song says, “Who’s Sorry Now?”

God Bless Us, Every One                       Horace Brown King

My musings upon Scripture readings for the upcoming weekend can be found every Tuesday at this spot on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com

When we lived in Scranton, years ago, the zoo at Nay Aug Park received a new elephant to replace old Tillie, who passed to wherever faithful elephants go.  The zoo and newspapers immediately started a campaign to “Name the Elephant”.  This would have been a better story if I could remember  the winning name!   Scriptures for this coming weekend deal with restoring breaks in relationships, whether one-on -one or in the greater community.  We’ve been taught to be proper, non-offensive and polite–with the consequence that we’re unwilling to recognize the elephant in the room.

Ezekiel follows the rules for prophetic preaching:  he identifies a break with God AND then offers a positive alternative.  The oracle which we call Chapter 33:7-11 could be seen as a “turn or burn” ranting…or it can find use in the disciple’s daily intersection with others.  Many of us feel uncomfortable with being a “sentinel” for the community: “Who am I to instruct others?”  But Yahweh takes no delight in the death of the wicked, “but [hopes] that the wicked turn from their ways and live”.   Further, Ezekiel claims that this actually MATTERS to Yahweh!  Who will name the elephant?

Paul exhorts the Roman Church to the responsibilities of community:  “The commandments…are summed up in this word, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.'” (Romans 13:9)  Wake up!  Put aside the works of darkness!  And first we have to admit to what these are.  As transformed and growing toward Perfection,  the faithful friends are to encourage society to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” (13:14)  Elephants near here?

The worshiping Church to which Matthew wrote may well have had unpleasant arguments within.  This unique portion of the Gospel (18:15-20)  gives guidelines to resolving inner conflicts:  point out the fault when alone, one on one;  if conflict endures, take two or three friends to help negotiate a settlement; if the friction persists, bring it to the floor of the congregation.  And if the problem continues, ONLY THEN put the offender out of the community.  But it’s better to Name the Elephant than to pretend to be nice, all the time backbiting and whispering!  Now THOSE are things that destroy health in the church!

Pointing out problems needn’t be anger driven; level headed persons can talk it through and name the elephant in the room before anger and spite develop.  None of us will ever see eye to eye with everyone–but if concerns can be named and addressed speedily, less friction and pouting will occur….  This is part of putting on the Lord Jesus Christ.

God Bless Us, Every One                          Horace Brown King

My thoughts about scripture readings assigned to the upcoming weekend can be found every Tuesday at this space on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com