Mar 17

Wise or Foolish?

Matthew 25:1-13

We presume that we have all the time in the world to tend to certain matters. So, we put off dealing with broken relationships, offering a needed word of gratitude or encouragement, learning a skill, replacing a bad habit with a good one, changing careers, deepening our relationship with God, spending time with a child, or faithfully following Christ. There seems to be so many other things that crowd into our time and push out what we say is important to us.

In our parable from Matthew 25, we have some young women who want to be part of a joyous celebration, yet they don’t make it because they were not prepared or ready. Disappointment and shame were their experience. All because the young women did not bring extra oil.

In this allegorical parable Jesus categorizes the women waiting for the celebration to begin as either wise or foolish. We often think that it is sin that keeps us from the celebration of God, but here it is not being wise.

This entire section of Matthew is driving home the point for us to be ready. The day or the hour we do not know when, but we need to be prepared. We will be startled by the shout, but we need to be watchful. This parable also reminds us of what are the consequences of not being ready for the great celebration. Simply put, will the Lord’s appearing find you wise or unwise, prepared or scrambling to get things together?

Mar 10

Social Event of All Eternity

Matthew 22:1-14

Human society is consumed with the “Who’s Who” of entertainment, wealth, trend setters, even our social clique, and the most coveted thing is the invite to the party. In our parable this Sunday, there is the Social Event of the decade, the Royal Wedding. The invitations are sent out, but when the time comes for the R.S.V.P. there is nothing but regrets or even ignoring of the invitation.

The invited become the disinvited. Yet, the King wants his banquet filled! So the unpopular, the losers, the outcast, and the undeserving are brought into the banquet hall to the joy of the King.

Yes, as you read the text, this is a complicated parable (the simpler version is in Luke 14.) But the surprising event in the parable is that people ignore the great invitation. This is the response that we often see to the Good News God is offering. People’s lives are filled with property, careers, entertainment that they just ignore God’s gracious invitation. The challenge of this parable, and especially Matthew 22’s record of it is: “Do we take the invitation of God seriously?” Not only the invitation to experience the forgiveness and grace through Christ, but even the daily invitation to walk with God, to be in the presence of God, and to have God in our lives. We often ignore that invitation.

That is what Lent is for, the putting aside, at least for a short period of time, the things that crowd our lives and take up the room for God. The honor it is to be invited to the Royal Wedding should signify to us the desire that God has to be in fellowship with us, to be at a party with us.

Feb 09

God is Still Speaking


We come now to the parable of the Wheat and Weeds. In the context Matthew sets for us there are several parables in Matthew 13. He also included a quote from the Psalms that told why Jesus talked in Parables.

“The more your story requires the hearers to think, the better your story is.” Considering this quote from a recent book on story-theory, Jesus’ stories have been occupying people’s minds for a couple thousand years. We often think that the meaning of a parable is set and often easy to understand. Yet, looking back over the history of this parable, it has said many different things in many different contexts. From the church’s experience in the world, the Rabbis used it to tell of Israel among the gentiles, St. Augustine used it to restrain church discipline, to the question of how do we know who in our church are true believers are just some of the ideations of this parable throughout the years.

That is why parables are so fascinating, God is still speaking to us through them after all these years. And even with Jesus’ interpretation of this parable that follows, there is still much that we are required to think about and allow God to speak to us.

Pastor Greg

Feb 05

Hope for the Authentic


Matthew 7:13-29

This is the last sermon from the Sermon on the Mount in our series.  In the end of his Sermon, Jesus is talking about genuine and false, authentic and fake, truth and lies, success and ruin.  In the picture of the Judgement, Jesus talks to some people that thought their words were all that were needed.  Words alone do not make for authentic living. 
Are our words out of sync with our actions?  Someone caught up in an addiction may say they love their family, they want to do better, they are so sorry and will never do it again; yet return to their addictive substance.  Words alone do not make us righteous.  In the end, the King of the Kingdom will not be fooled by words alone, he is able to discern the authenticity of our hearts, our self-portrayal to others.

The fact is, our words need to reflect what is actually taking place in our inner lives and unless the words are translated into concrete actions, they are meaningless.  We may be those that call for justice for the oppressed but are we kind to them.  We may do impressive deeds, signs and wonders, but are we manifesting the heart of our Heavenly Father that is redeeming humankind through the sacrifice of his son?  Are we truly doing the will of the one we call Father in Heaven?

Pastor Greg

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