This is a special musical presentation of Hear, Oh Israel, performed today by the Faith Lutheran Chancel Choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan

Another incident of gun violence in Maine. Israel has begun stage 2 their ground attack. We have a new Speaker of the House. People have all different ways of viewing these things. Christians have different ways of viewing these things. Thus, what is the churches’ role in all of these things.

Some would say stay out of it. Can we do that if we are commanded to love our neighbor when our neighbor includes everyone? Our neighbors are affected by gun violence, whatever decisions the House now makes, and innocent people are being killed and dying in the Israel/Hamas conflict.

I would not tell you how to act on these things, but I will suggest through what lens to view them. Feelings are involved in all of these things and as much as they can give energy, they can also skew our lens in which to view them. So, what role does the church play in these things? I do not believe that the church should tell us what to believe about these things, but rather who to believe in, in order to see what our role and view of them is.

In the gospel of John, Jesus tells us that the way to God is through Him. First of all, we are told that Jesus was from the beginning, in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God and the Word was God and became flesh and stayed with us for a while. Jesus goes on to say that he is the way, the truth and the life and he is the only way to God. In today’s Gospel lesson we are told that if we abide in the Word, we will truly be Jesus’ disciples and we will know the truth and the truth will set us free.

There is a great deal packed into these two verses. Jesus is the Word, and we are called to abide in Jesus. When I think of abide I think of embracing. We can embrace in different amounts of strength and energy.

So today I would like us to think about embracing Jesus the Word with as much strength and energy as we can. Jesus has also told us that he is the way, the truth, and the life. With what kind of strength and energy do we embrace Jesus. It will be different in different times of our life and can be different every day and hour.

With the amount of strength and energy that we embrace Jesus, will be how clearly we are able to see what Jesus wants us to see and then act. This is an individual journey that then intersects with others in the body of Christ. As we share what we learn through embracing the word with each other, Jesus’ vision for us as individuals and as a community of faith can become clearer.

It is in this relationship with Jesus, embracing the word, Jesus, that we can discover the truth and experience freedom to love our neighbor. We still may not view all things in the same way, but we will be at a better place to listen and see Jesus in our neighbors. Martin Luther taught this. This is what I believe allows us to love our neighbor better as we have been commanded to do.

For me embracing the Word is about a relationship with Jesus, both personal and corporate. Each one of us are in relationship with a number of people. We gauge how much we embrace these relationships. Those closet to us get more strength and energy in our embrace.

We all have experience embracing people. What does that look like for us? It has to do with amount of time and the quality of it. There is only so much time in each day, thus we do have to make choices. When it comes to family and close friends it also has to do with the time that we are not physically present with them. Are we thinking about them, does our behavior represent them well, let alone ourselves?

It is difficult to embrace someone fully without seeing them, but that is what God in Jesus Christ is asking us to do. God’s history with God’s creation says that we can trust this relationship. God has given us the tools we need to live with each other. Unfortunately, we need reminders of this all the time. We as human beings do not learn very well from history.

Since it is Reformation Sunday, it is always good to hear what Luther has to say about the Word. Martin Luther felt that the Word was the fundamental reality from which everything follows. For Luther this included tangible, material reality. As I mentioned earlier, he also said that we should see Christ in our neighbor.

This does not mean only our Christian neighbors. Thus, when we look at gun violence, world conflicts and work of our government, do we see Christ at work? To God in Jesus Christ, the shooters in gun violence, the new speaker of the house and people on both sides of the Israel/Hamas conflict are important to God in Jesus Christ. No matter what party you identify with, we are asked to see Christ in the new speaker of the house. Some will say yes of course, others may say not with his history on some issues, but God calls us to look for Christ in him. The conflict between Hamas and Israel includes many other people. We are asked to see Christ in all of them.

Through our human eyes we can’t see Christ in everyone, but through Jesus’ eyes and trying to see Jesus in our neighbor it is possible. I believe this is what will reduce the hate in this world, the insecurity in this world, the desire to always have power and control. We are called to embrace the Word, Jesus.

When we embrace the Word, Jesus, it will give us more of the ability to see the truth. The truth can empower us and show love to our neighbor. The ability to see more clearly also means then that we will be able to see what does not line up with Jesus through what we can see. When actions and words do not line up with loving our neighbor, it is sin.

This is where we need to be careful. We do not determine someone’s salvation. We are not the judge either. God in Jesus Christ has already done this. We are, however, called to speak out about what we see, but in love.

I am asking you to view people and issues through Jesus’ eyes. He is the Word. When we embrace Him through the study of the written Word and then ask and listen we can see more clearly what is right for us. It is important to remember it is still about living in community and what is best for it. We have been commanded to love our neighbor

This community of faith has, through Jesus’ eyes, has seen, chosen and has stated that all people are to be loved and accepted. You have seen through Jesus’ eyes as individuals and then as a community that this is what we are called to do. We have embraced the Word, Jesus, to come to this belief.

In looking at what is going on in our country and world, this then informs our role and view. When we look at our neighbor through the eyes of retribution, and taking away power and control and viewing others as less than, which puts  our neighbor in a negative, non-loving light. As human beings we are capable of this.

I cannot fully tell you what to see in your view, but what I am asking you to do is to embrace the Word, Jesus. Spend time with Jesus the person and written word as it is all Jesus. This is what gives us more of the ability to see more clearly what our role is and the role of the church as we navigate such issues as gun violence, the government and the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

I believe that we do have a choice of how we view our neighbor. It is not easy as our neighbors often say or do things that is not what we are seeing. Remember that we are someone’s neighbor also.

Today I am challenging us to embrace the Word, Jesus Christ with great strength and energy and then we will be free to love our neighbor as we have been commanded to do by God in Jesus Christ.

Join Bishop Craig A. Satterlee as he shares the sermon on October 22 at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos. Michigan.

When I can read for fun, I enjoy reading mysteries. I remember reading the Happy Hollisters when I was in late elementary school. It was about a family who figured things out. When I go on vacation I have read a number of books by James Patterson and Tess Gerritson. I like to figure things out. Some of these stories leave you until the very end before everything falls into place.

Jesus likes to tell stories that leave us scratching our heads, such as the parable of the wedding banquet which is our Gospel lesson for today. Over the years we have often tried to equate God in some way with one of the characters. That doesn’t work this time. 

When we try to compare God to the king, at first it seems to fit as the king was inviting everyone to the wedding banquet. The wedding banquet sometimes has been thought of as the final banquet where we all sit down with Christ. But people don’t seem to be interested in coming.

This celebration and how it went reflected on the king. Thus, when people started refusing to come, needless to say, the king was not happy. He sent his slaves or servants out to entice them with what he was offering at the banquet. They made light of it and some even took his slaves, mistreated them and even killed them.

Now the king was enraged. He then sent his troops to destroy the murderers and burn their city. Now this is where it is difficult to compare the king to the God that we know. God’s invitation to the eternal banquet is not shrouded in violence. God freely invites all people.

Then he sent his slaves out to the streets to gather all the people, good and bad. It was important for him to look good and thus he needed to fill the banquet hall. When the king came out to greet his guests, he noticed that one did not have the appropriate attire.

Now I am not sure what the king expected as the people that were there, were from the streets. I’m surprised that more were not appropriately attired, but then maybe the story only needed one to make the point. The king had expectations for this banquet, even though he had to basically have his staff go out and find people.

The point that we can take from this parable is that God invites everyone to the banquet. Everyone is part of God’s family. This is why we cannot compare the king to God. God invites all and does not throw anyone out. God accepts us where we are at. Now that makes sense, but we had to dig through the parable to get there.

Jesus doesn’t always make it easy. Jesus wanted to make sure that the people were listening, the chief priests and Pharisees and I’m sure others were paying attention too. He knew that culture may have said that the king had the power to do what he did. It was his party, and he was the ruler and there were expectations for the proper attire.

The chief priests and Pharisees were placing expectations on the people in regard to the law. Once again Jesus was trying to point out that they were not modeling it nor had the correct interpretation of the law. Could Jesus then be related to the rejected man as they were both not people’s expectations?

What would have happened if the man who was not dressed appropriately would have stayed? Who was he going to hurt? It was really about the king’s expectations and how the king would be looked upon by others. If he didn’t make a scene, I guess people would have thought less of the king.

Remember last week Jesus quoted Psalm 118 and said that the very stone that the builders rejected was now going to be the cornerstone. Jesus was referring to himself. Jesus was upsetting the applecart. Jesus had a new interpretation of the law. One that saw the law out of the eyes of love.

Jesus saw the law as a way to give structure to the kingdom, the community. It seems that this is what God intended when he gave the law. It was now being used for the gain of individuals and not the community. Has it changed?

Last week I mentioned the black race and the horrific things that we as the white race did and continue to do to them. This is the same as with the Indigenous People. The true history for both of these races and our treatment of them need to be told truthfully. 

As we learn the true history, we will be able to see more and more of the rejection of people because they were different than we are. Different does not mean less than. Unfortunately, this seems to be part of our human nature. 

What I also see in history is that the world revolves around land and control. As history went on money was also included. History continues to repeat itself right up to today. 

          Could part of what we see in the Middle East be history repeating itself? Unfortunately, we cannot change what is going on in the Middle East. I believe what we can do is to learn the true history and to work on not repeating the rejection. Our anxiety gets in the way of listening to the stories of our brothers and sisters of other races. Most of them are not easy stories to hear, but they are all important.

As Christians, it is not our call to go and tell them what to do let alone that they must believe in Christ. So many people of other races have a distrust of the white race, they may not even trust us even  if we choose to share our faith. Recently, I have been having conversations with my trainer, who is white, and he wonders about the church’s rejection of races and minority groups in general.

I believe one thing that we are doing honors what we have learned from our Indigenous people and that is the work of our Green Team. The Indigenous People have known how to care for the land and so many in the past would not listen to their wisdom. We are being respectful of the land and using the natural resources that God has given us and this is honoring the wisdom of the Indigenous People.

As we continue to move through this time of transition, I challenge us to really listen first to each other. When we get to looking at the needs of the community, to try and find ways to welcome and affirm other cultures and races in our community.

In the kingdom of heaven which Faith Lutheran church is part of we are called to view and treat all races and cultures equally and affirm them and not reject them. God’s love through Jesus is for all equally.

This is a special musical presentation of My Shepherd Will Supply My Need, performed today by the Faith Lutheran Chancel Choir with Gwynne Kadrofske on flute and Ian Morgan on oboe at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

In today’s Gospel lesson, Jesus is telling yet another parable. I wonder if Jesus doesn’t think that his crowd, which included church leaders, chief priests and Pharisees, were not getting his point. Or maybe Jesus knew they understood what he was saying but they were not willing to admit it. Here Jesus was telling another story that was really about his audience, especially the church leaders.

I can’t directly recall anyone or myself fully using this approach to get a point across. But what does come to mind is an Old Testament character that listened to a story told by a prophet, and he recognized himself in the story. That character being David.

So the Lord sent Nathan the prophet to tell David this story: “There were two men in a certain town. One was rich, and one was poor. The rich man owned a great many sheep and cattle. The poor man owned nothing but one little lamb he had bought. He raised that little lamb, and it grew up with his children. It ate from the man’s own plate and drank from his cup. He cuddled it in his arms like a baby daughter.  One day a guest arrived at the home of the rich man. But instead of killing an animal from his own flock or herd, he took the poor man’s lamb and killed it and prepared it for his guest.”

David was furious. “As surely as the Lord lives,” he vowed, “any man who would do such a thing deserves to die!  He must repay four lambs to the poor man for the one he stole and for having no pity.”

Then Nathan said to David, “You are that man! The Lord, the God of Israel, says: I anointed you king of Israel and saved you from the power of Saul.  I gave you your master’s house and his wives and the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. And if that had not been enough, I would have given you much, much more.  Why, then, have you despised the word of the Lord and done this horrible deed? For you have murdered Uriah the Hittite with the sword of the Ammonites and stolen his wife. From this time on, your family will live by the sword because you have despised me by taking Uriah’s wife to be your own.

David Confesses His Guilt

Then David confessed to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.“ Nathan replied, “Yes, but the Lord has forgiven you, and you won’t die for this sin. Nevertheless, because you have shown utter contempt for the word of the Lord^[a] by doing this, your child will die.”

David fasted and wept while the child was alive, as he thought that Perhaps the Lord will be gracious to him and let the child live. But why should I fast when he is dead? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him one day, but he cannot return to me.”

Then David comforted Bathsheba, his wife, and slept with her. She became pregnant and gave birth to a son, and David^[c] named him Solomon.

David recognized that he was the person in the story and confessed his separation from God, his sin. What he realized is that he had misused the power that he had been given. He used his power to take advantage of many people. This is the issue here as well as in our Gospel lesson.

God have given the chief priests and Pharisees a great deal of power and control which they used for their gain and not the gain of others. Does this sound like last week’s sermon? Jesus is still making the same point.

In our Gospel lesson we have a landowner, which we can relate to God. The landowner gave his tenants, which can be related to the chief priests and Pharisees, responsibility over the land and the agreement was that they would pay the landowner for the use of the land. The tenants thought that they would exert power and control over the landowner and not pay him and keep the land.

When it came time to collect, the landowner sent first his slaves to collect the payment. The tenants killed one and stoned the other. More slaves were sent with the same treatment. The landowner sent his son thinking the tenants would respect his son, but no they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

The tenants felt that since they were on the land they were in control. Of course, when Jesus asked what would happen when the landowner came, the chief priests and Pharisees said that he would put those wretches to a miserable death and lease the land to other tenants. But wait a minute, who was Jesus really talking about?

Jesus reminded them of the scripture, Psalm 118:22 that the stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. The cornerstone was and is Jesus, which they were rejecting. Jesus tells them that since they are not producing fruit in the kingdom that the kingdom will be taken away from them.

Once again they wanted to arrest Jesus, but he had the backing of the crowds as they looked at Jesus as a prophet. Thus, they were scared to arrest him. Jesus was questioning their teaching of the law. 

We would like to say that we are not like the tenants or the chief priests and Pharisees. In reality we may not be as violent as they were. My hope is that we might be able to see how we do reject Jesus and along with the tenants can be blind. They somehow thought that once they took care of the son, they had it made.

The tenants focus was not on producing fruit for others. This is what Jesus was saying that kingdom living is about. We are called to show love to our neighbors. Here at Faith, we do show love to our neighbors in many ways, but what might we be missing?

In listening to the YouTube videos for our Christ’s Kaleidoscope study, I am reminded over and over again of the history that we are not teaching in our schools. We don’t want people to feel uncomfortable. If we don’t feel uncomfortable then we are not learning the truth of what white people have put races other than our own through.

On Friday night I went to see To Kill a Mocking Bird at the Wharton. Even though written in 1960, the issues with racism are still with us. They seem to be camouflaged in our systems today. This creates a blindness for us to see our racism.

We often think racism is whether we like someone or not, but it is about words and ideas and how they affect others. At the heartbeat of racism is denial. Anti-racism is about confession. Before we can try and say that we are not racist, we are called to study the history of races and our role as white people in it. 

You see it’s not only what is happening today, but it is the history of races that brings us to where we are today. Many white people are scared of not being the ruling race. I don’t believe that that is the way God set it up. All races are equal in God’s eyes.

Jesus tries to tell us again today that it is about a God’s beloved community working together for the betterment and support of each other. I continue to discover my blindness to my racism and white privilege. It is an ongoing process as we have been indoctrinated to think that the white race is the superior race.

I believe loving our neighbor is about learning about other races’, in general other people’s histories that are different than we are. It will help us to see that we are all equal in God’s eyes.  This will reduce our blindness in being able to love our neighbor.

Let us pray, Gracious God, you call us to love our neighbors, but sometimes it makes us feel uncomfortable. We have been taught throughout history that the white race is superior even though we don’t believe that is what you have tught us and continue to try and teach us. Even your son, our savior, Jesus was Jewish.

We ask that your Holy Spirit would shine on our blindness and help us to begin to see that you love all people and not just one person or race is superior.

In Jesus, name, Amen.

This is a special musical presentation of Jubilate Deo, performed today by the Faith Lutheran Singing Sinners Choir at Faith Lutheran Church in Okemos, Michigan.

What comes to mind when you hear the word ‘authority’? Who has authority? How do we get it? Do we want it? Sometimes the older you get the less you want, other than over your own life.

The way our world is set up there are levels of authority. The way our church is set up there are levels of authority. The way our lives are set up there is authority.

We are surrounded by authority. In some respect we have a choice whether we want to recognize it or not. Often there is a price to pay if we don’t recognize authority.

We first learn about authority in our homes growing up. Our parents or guardians are the first authority figures that we meet. Parents set healthy expectations to help children learn how to set healthy boundary lines for their own lives. As we are growing up we desire autonomy over our lives and once we have it we find out that it takes work to maintain it.

          Throughout history we have seen healthy uses of authority and unhealthy. We have seen this in the church and in homes. Unhealthy authority occurs when we think we have all the answers. Healthy authority happens when we are willing to listen and work with others.

Unhealthy authority often causes us to want to keep things the same, as that is when we think we will have the most control. Jesus challenges the authority of the chief priests and elders of the people in our Gospel lesson for today. To put this scene in context in our Gospel lesson, let us first look at what came before this in chapter 21 of Matthew.

At the beginning of the chapter, we hear the familiar Palm Sunday story. Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey with the people shouting Hosanna to the Son of David, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. The crowd was saying that he was the prophet, Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.

Then he entered the temple and began tipping tables and driving out those who were buying and selling. This is one of the only times that we see Jesus exerting this kind of physical energy toward people. He said to them that they had made his house a den of thieves but it was supposed to be a house of prayer. 

This is the backdrop for today’s Gospel lesson. I’m sure when Jesus walked into the temple again, the chief priests and the scribes did not know what Jesus would say or do. Jesus wasn’t what their expectations for a Messiah were, but when he came into the temple earlier he sure took authority. 

They wanted to keep their authority or maybe take back their authority.  For the chief priests and scribes, their identity was wrapped up in the work they did in the temple. Their approach was to go right up to Jesus and ask him who said you could be teaching here as this is our territory.

Typical Jesus, who very seldom gave a straight answer, asked them a question, who gave the authority to John the Baptist to be baptizing, was it divine or human? Can you picture them huddling trying to give an answer that would help them keep their authority? Well, “If we say, ‘From divine,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe John?’ ²⁶But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ we are afraid of the crowd; for all regard John as a prophet.” ²⁷So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.

Jesus then told a parable to drive home the point that he was really trying to make.  A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ ²⁹He answered, ‘I will not’; but later he changed his mind and went. ³⁰The father went to the second and said the same; and he answered, ‘I’m on my way; but he did not go. ³¹Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, Of course “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God before you. ³²For John came walking on the road of justice and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him; and even after you saw it, you did not change your minds and believe him.”

Jesus is not looking for people to just tell others what to do and not do it themselves. My husband’s mother used to say, “you have to walk your talk”. Authority is not about power and control. It is about living out what we say is true. If we have rules or guidelines, I believe we need to follow them until we change them.

Paul reminds us today about the model of Christ. In our 2^nd lesson for today we have the same lesson often read on Palm Sunday as it points out that Jesus wielded a different type of authority. It was not one that people were used to, as the authority that were used to was one about taking advantage of others. Jesus authority was about loving others. Jesus modeled obedience to what God expected.

God came down to earth to be human. Most people at that time did not recognize God in human form as it wasn’t what they expected as the Messiah. John the Baptist had rocked the boat and people were beginning to listen to him. He was not trying to exert power and control over people but letting them know what he believed to be the truth. That was to repent and believe.

Jesus was rocking the boat as he was challenging everyone to actually live the law out of love for God and neighbor. In reality, this was following the law. Jesus was pointing out that the chief priests and scribes were not trying to follow the law, what they were teaching.

This is what Jesus continues to challenge us to do, to walk our talk, to follow the law out of love for God and neighbor. Laws are meant to be in place to protect the community and individuals, not so others gain power and control over others for their own gain. This kind of living, following the law that God in Jesus Christ gave us out of love for God and neighbor, is what tells others who our ultimate authority is.

This kind of living, which is the kingdom living that we continue to talk about is not easy. Walking our talk holds us accountable for saying that we are a Christian and loving God and our neighbor. We are taught authority and then we usually test it out.

So as Christians when we walk our talk we are challenged to model our love for God and others. This then tells people who our ultimate authority is. This type of authority is not about power and control, but about love for God and each other.  This surpasses politics and corporations, educational institutions, etc. At one point in our life most of us have some level of authority, Jesus challenges us to use that authority out of love.