Surprise!

The Rev. Kathi Johnson

A Christ the King – 26 November 2017

Text: Matthew 25:31-46

Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Grand Prairie, Texas

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There’s a tv show called “Undercover Boss,” in which the CEOs of some very big companies go undercover to see how things are managed by the employees of his or her company. So, the CEO of a delivery company goes on a bunch of deliveries, or the CEO of a waste management company goes out to pick up trash. The employees (supposedly) have no idea that they’re taking their boss out on the job.

As you might expect, the bosses learn some things while they’re out doing the jobs that their employees do every day. They see how hard it is to accomplish tasks that should be easy; one boss even saw how hard it is for his employees to find time (or a place) to go to the bathroom when needed. In the episodes that I’ve seen, the boss is usually surprised by their discoveries.

The employees themselves are surprised, too, to find out that this “new guy” is really their boss – and not just their supervisor, but their boss. I’m absolutely positive that when they find out who they’ve spent the day training, they go over and over in their brains: “Oh my – what did I say to her? What did I do? How did I treat him?”

Today is Christ the King Sunday, a day that marks the ending of our church year. Christ the King Sunday is a rather recent addition to the church calendar  – it was added in 1925, so less than 100 years ago. Taking one Sunday each year to focus on Christ as King was meant to remind the Christian faithful that it is Christ who is our head, our sovereign, and our king.

Today, we are also ending another year of gospel readings drawn from the Gospel of Matthew. So on this Christ the King Sunday, today’s lesson from Matthew shows us what kind of king Jesus is, just as other parts of Matthew also show us. In Matthew 1, Jesus is “Emmanuel” – or God with us. At the end of this gospel, Jesus says he will be with us, to the very end of the age. So, Jesus is a king who is with us, but as today’s reading shows us, he is with us in some ways that might be surprising to some.

As I said last week, the end of the church year brings us again and again to stories about the end of time, and the lesson I just read is no exception. Jesus says that when he comes again, much will be revealed about how we have cared for the hungry and thirsty, the naked, the sick, and the imprisoned.

The surprise for some is who Jesus identifies with in this story he tells. He aligns himself not with the well-fed, not with those who wear the best clothes, not with the healthy and strong, or those who live with the privilege of freedom. “I was hungry,” Jesus says, “and you gave me food. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was naked, and you gave me clothes. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was imprisoned, and you took time to visit me.”

Jesus then tries to head off any confusion by reiterating his point: “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these, you did it to me.” And so, in this story, we find that Jesus is God with us, but also, that God is with us in some very surprising ways.

God is with us in the ones who need food. God is with us in the ones who need clean water. God is with us in the ones who will receive the clothes we’ve collected this month. God is with us in the loved ones and the strangers who are sick. God is with us in the ones imprisoned by addiction, or the ones who are bound by oppression. God surprises us by showing up in the unlikeliest of places, present in those whom society loves to hate.

Take an early look at the Christmas story. We will, of course, spend time on this at the end of December, but the very circumstances of Jesus’ birth and early childhood show us the surprises of God. Jesus, born to a young and probably poor woman, someone not settled into married life. Jesus, a child refugee with his family, on the run from a dangerous government hell-bent on ending his life.

Surprise!

And how about the surprises found in Jesus’ death and resurrection? We’ll get to those stories next Spring, but the circumstances of Jesus’ crucifixion, death, and rising again also show us the surprises of God. Jesus, executed by the state as a criminal. Jesus, dead in the tomb – and then, three days later – Jesus is risen! (He is risen indeed!)

Surprise!

What kind of king is Jesus? A king who loves us so much, that he has come to us, to live as one of us, to die, and to be raised to new life. What kind of king is Jesus? A king who surprises us with grace and mercy, and this grace and mercy also show us the surprises of God.

For maybe we are the ones in the story who are hungry or thirsty, maybe we need care or company. Maybe we are hungry for peace. Maybe we are thirsty for justice. Maybe we feel vulnerable, or unsure, or we are just plain worn out. Surely, then, Jesus is the one who steps into our world of need.

Surprise!

Amen.

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Generosity Shows Love and Grace

The Rev. Kathi Johnson

Lectionary 25, Year A – 24 September 2017

Text: Matthew 20:1-16

Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Grand Prairie, Texas

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If you are familiar with the old classic, “Charlie Brown Christmas Special” – which was a staple of my childhood – you might remember a scene with Charlie Brown’s little sister, Sally. I had forgotten all about this scene until a blog post I read this week reminded me. Sally writes a huge list for Santa of all her requested gifts, and, then – just to cover all the bases – at the end of her letter, she says, “But if that is too much to carry, just send cash.”

Charlie Brown calls out his sister for her greed, and she says, “All I want is my fair share. All I want is what I have coming to me!”[1]

If you ever want a true sense of what is fair and what is not, become a teacher, or do anything that involves spending lots of time with children, and you will learn. You might even find yourself surrounded with Sallys – surrounded by little people all saying what is fair and what isn’t.

At first glance, the parable in today’s gospel lesson seems to take what is fair and throw it out the window. A vineyard owner hires different groups of workers throughout the course of the day, starting at about 9am, going out to hire the last workers at 5pm, or about an hour before quitting time. At the end of the day, he pays everyone what they’re due – he pays everyone the daily wage that they’ve agreed to.

I have a feeling that those first workers hired by the vineyard owner might commiserate with Sally. After all, they worked the longest amount of time – presumably from about 9am till about 6pm. Of course they would expect to get paid more than the people who were hired at 5pm. In their minds, that’s only what is fair.

Except the vineyard owner in Jesus’ parable isn’t interested in what they think is fair. He’s interested in getting work done in his vineyard, and paying people what they agreed to, and that’s exactly what he does. And Jesus, in using this parable, doesn’t seem to be interested in the fairness aspect either.

So maybe the point of this parable isn’t what’s fair and what’s not. It sure does get our hackles up a little, and maybe that is the goal because at least that means we are paying attention.

We like to get all wrapped up in the question of fairness in this story, but – quite frankly – that’s the low-hanging fruit. That’s the easy reaction. The more difficult response is to pay more attention to the generosity of the vineyard owner to those who don’t necessarily deserve his generosity. The more difficult response to this story, too, is to recognize that we are like those workers who are hired last, getting what we don’t deserve, receiving an outpouring for which we haven’t worked.

This is, of course, the heart of the gospel message: that “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us….” Given to us! the Apostle Paul says in Romans 5 – not earned, but given. He goes on to say that “… while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.”  The heart of the good news is that even though humanity has been weakened by sin, God in Jesus steps into our weakness and gives us new life.

In his explanation to the Second Article of the Apostle’s Creed – that’s the part of the creed where we talk about Jesus – Luther says this:

“I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father in eternity, and also a true human being, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord. He has redeemed me, a lost and condemned human being. He has purchased and freed me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil, not with gold or silver, but with his holy, precious blood and with his innocent suffering and death.”

This parable describes the generosity of God to us – to all of us, equally. And when Luther was asked why on earth God would be so generous, his answer was this: “God has done all this in order that I may belong to him, live under him in his kingdom, and serve him in eternal righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, just as he is risen from the dead and lives and rules eternally. This is most certainly true.” This difficult parable helps us see that God’s generosity may not make any sense to us, but it doesn’t have to.

Generosity often doesn’t make sense on the surface, whether it’s generosity of spirit, or generosity of forgiveness (as we’ve talked about the last two weeks), or financial generosity. If we feel called to be generous, and we answer that call, some of our actions won’t seem right to others. Some of our generous actions will be called into question, just like those workers hired early in the day, who questioned the vineyard owner’s actions.

Often when I travel by plane, I make sure that whatever I carry onto the plane fits under the seat in front of me. I do this for several reasons, one of which is so I don’t have to worry about finding space in an overhead bin for a larger bag. When we all line up to board, I don’t have to worry about fighting my way to the front of the line. After all, as long as I get on the plane, I will end up at the same destination as everyone else on that plane. Why does it matter if I am first or last?

The point of generosity is to show love and grace. And so God reaches to humanity in our weakness and says, “The last will be first and the first will be last,” so – to God, anyway – all our shuffling around for the best position makes no difference. God is generous to the first and to the last, and to everyone in between. Thanks be to God. Amen.

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[1] Thanks to Scott Hoezee for reminding me of this story. Found at http://cep.calvinseminary.edu/sermon-starters/proper-20a/?type=the_lectionary_gospel.

When Do We See Jesus In Our Midst?

The Rev. Kathi Johnson

A Lectionary 23 – 10 September 2017

Text: Matthew 18:15-20

Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Grand Prairie, Texas

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Jesus said to those who were following him:

If someone in your community sins against you, don’t blab about it to everyone around you. Go and talk with that person directly. If the person listens to your concerns - great. Your relationship with them is reconciled.

But if the person ignores you, do this: take a couple of people with you the next time you go to them, that way you’ll have others who can see and hear the conversation. Maybe the person will continue to ignore you. If that happens, talk with the larger community so they can address the issue with the person. Throughout all these conversations, the concern should be for reconciliation.

Realize that the person might still refuse to listen to your concerns, even after all this, and if that’s the case, your relationship with them may seem like it’s been wounded beyond healing.

But look - reconciliation matters, in heaven as on earth, and there is tremendous power in forgiveness between people. And when you’re face-to-face with someone with whom you’ve had a disagreement – even when you’re in the thick of trying to work that out – I am there with you.

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This week and next, there is a thread of forgiveness and reconciliation running through our gospel texts. In our church year, we’re more than halfway through what we sometimes call the “Green Season” – the season that includes many teachings by Jesus. These teachings have been put together into this season so that we can learn from Jesus, and – hopefully – grow in our calling to live as his disciples.

Today’s teaching from Matthew 18 could just as well be called “Conflict Management 101,” and it goes against what feels most comfortable for us. After all, when someone has hurt us in some way, the easiest thing in the world is not to go and talk with that person about how much we’re hurting. The easiest thing in the world is to go and talk with someone else about how much we’re hurting, avoiding the topic altogether with the person who has hurt us.

Of course, when we do this, it brings no reconciliation with the person who has wronged us. Often, it has the side effect of entangling someone else into what began as a simple conflict between two people. How many times have you seen this happen, whether in a church or in your family or between friends? What starts out as an issue between two people can turn into a tangled mess of conflicted relationships.

Jesus’ teaching here is also counter-cultural. Our culture encourages indirect communication in our personal conflicts – like when we fill out an anonymous comment card with nothing but complaints. We now also live in a world that goes online to grumble about other people. Yet what Jesus is trying to get us to see is that when we are hurt, direct communication with the one who has caused offense is normally the best course of action.

The heart of this teaching is reconciliation, and Jesus is trying to help us see a pathway through our pain to reconciliation. Yet even as he teaches us, Jesus recognizes an important reality: that sometimes the person who has hurt us will ignore us, even when we are trying to make amends. Sometimes, we are not listened to, and this makes the pain of the broken relationship last even longer because being ignored doesn’t feel good at all.

When I was a little kid – maybe six years old – my mom and I were staying with my grandparents in their RV. I was apparently going through a phase where I would ignore my mother and the other adults in my life. So, there we were, the four of us in this small space, and I chose that time and place to ignore my mom.

So, Mom cooked up a little plan. She asked my grandparents to join her in an evening of ignoring me. I remember they were sitting at the table, the three of them, and I came up to say something, and they ignored me, just like I wasn’t even there. It was awful. And I learned a powerful lesson that evening: ignoring others causes pain.

As I said, Jesus acknowledges that sometimes, in our attempts to be reconciled to someone, they are going to ignore us. But, he says to keep trying. Grab some trusted friends or others in the community – people that you know are trustworthy – and see if they can help you communicate with this person. All attempts at reconciliation might fail – and sometimes letting go of unhealthy relationships is the best way forward - but Jesus here is underscoring the importance of the work that we put into our relationships with others.

With today’s teaching about reconciliation, there are certainly lessons to be learned all around – as the one who has been wronged and also as the one who has hurt someone. When we’ve been hurt ourselves, direct communication with the one who has hurt us is best, if not easiest. Likewise, when we’ve hurt someone else, listening to them – not ignoring them – but listening to them is best, if not easiest.

Now, I moved right past a very important part of Jesus’ teaching. I moved right past the part in verse 15 when Jesus says that sometimes, our attempts at reconciliation actually do work. Sometimes, forgiveness between people is exactly what happens, and when forgiveness occurs, both people benefit. Both people benefit when forgiveness is bound to our relationships, and both people benefit when the hurt of sin is loosed – or let go - from our relationships.

In the very last verse of today’s gospel text, Jesus says, “…where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” This verse reminds us that Jesus is present with us in all things, even in the sometimes uncomfortable work of being in relationship with others. This verse is commonly used to describe Christian gatherings: And that’s a nice thought, the idea of Jesus gathering with us in our Bible studies or in our service projects like we’ll have after worship here at Our Redeemer today.

But what about in the context that Jesus puts it in here? What about Jesus being with us when we need to have these difficult, uncomfortable conversations with others? In my office, next to my phone, I keep this set of prayer beads for times when I have to make a difficult phone call. The cross reminds me that in every conversation I have with people, whether it’s a challenging conversation or not, Jesus is there, with me.

Can we imagine that? Do we see Jesus in our midst when we are telling someone else, “You know, this thing you did really hurt me…” Do we see Jesus in our midst when we have someone saying those words to us? And, even when we are hurt, can we imagine Jesus giving us the heart and the will to be reconciled with someone?

Right there, even in those difficult moments, is where Jesus promises us he will be. Find comfort in his presence with you. Find strength, if that is what you need. Know that God’s love has found you in God’s forgiveness, and that Jesus abides with you always. Amen.

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Hurricanes and God's Vision for God's World

The Rev. Kathi Johnson

Lectionary 22, Year A – 3 September 2017

Text: Matthew 16:21-28

Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Grand Prairie, Texas

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I begin with a brief re-telling of part of our Gospel story:

After Peter made his great profession of faith – that Jesus was the Messiah – Jesus started to show his disciples what was going to happen to him: that he was going to have to suffer, and die, but that he would also be raised to life on the third day. Peter took Jesus aside then, and said to him sternly, “Jesus – this isn’t the plan. This can’t happen to you – it just can’t!”

Jesus was equally stern with Peter: “Be quiet, you tempter! You’re trying to trip me up. You’re only seeing your view of things – what about God’s vision for God’s world?”

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This story shows us just how confused the disciples still are about just why Jesus is there, with them. By this point of the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus and his disciples have been very busy. They’ve traveled all around Galilee, and Jesus has healed many people, he’s fed thousands, and, throughout the activity of his ministry, he’s been teaching.

One of the first examples that Matthew records of Jesus teaching is called the Beatitudes – or the Blessings. Jesus says that the poor in spirit are blessed, and those who are mourning, and the meek, and hungry and thirsty, and the merciful, and the pure in heart, and the peacemakers, and those who are persecuted or reviled for his sake. These are the ones who are blessed, Jesus says, and he has spent his ministry showing that to the disciples – well, really, to anyone who is paying attention. Jesus reaches out to the very ones whom society has ignored or cast aside.

So in this encounter between Jesus and Peter, it can seem a little like Peter hasn’t been paying much attention to Jesus' ministry or teachings. Does he really think that Jesus will set aside his ministry to the most vulnerable ones of society in order to become a powerful ruler? Does he really think that Jesus is just going to fall in line with his plan?  In this moment of Jesus talking about suffering and death, Peter just can’t see how suffering and death fit into his idea of what the future for Jesus looks like.

Jesus – this isn’t the plan.

We can understand Peter’s confusion. And at the outset, Jesus’ response to him seems a little harsh – calling Peter “Satan” or “the tempter” - except maybe that stark response is what Peter needs. Peter’s known as the impulsive disciple. He charges into situations and says words before he thinks about them. Jesus knows this about Peter, and speaks directly to him just so Peter can hear what he’s saying: “Be quiet, you tempter! You’re trying to trip me up. You’re only seeing your view of things – what about God’s vision for God’s world?”

So, what about God’s vision for God’s world?

As I have looked at scenes from the Gulf Coast over the past ten days, I have seen glimpses of God’s vision for God’s world. Of course, I in no way believe that Harvey or any other disaster is God’s judgment visited upon us. The devastation wrought by wind and water has been horrific to see, the loss of life and property is overwhelming, and the upheaval of daily life for so many people is difficult to fathom.

I came across a news story about the school where I taught in southeast Houston. This is a K-12 Lutheran school with about 800 kids enrolled, and all five buildings on the campus had a foot or more of water in them. In the story, a reporter was walking around with my former colleague, Sheila, who is now the Head of Schools. They walked the hallways, and all around them were people working. They went into the gym - newly renovated this past summer - and the wood floor is completely ruined. Scores of people were ripping out the hardwoods.

The reporter asked Sheila what her emotions were upon arriving at the school that morning to find so much devastation. And I think she was expecting Sheila to fall apart – to talk about the great losses that the school has suffered. But Sheila instead started with how truly grateful she was for so many volunteers showing up to rip out drywall and flooring, and scrub down furnishings, and clean. 

And I have seen many pictures and heard many stories of this kind of work going on, all up and down the coast. People carrying others through floodwaters, picking up animals in boats, feeding crowds of first responders and flood victims, and, now that the waters have begun to recede, neighbors are helping others clean out their homes, their houses of worship, their schools, and their businesses. God’s vision for God’s world.

And here, as evacuees have begun to arrive in the Metroplex, communities all over are collecting items to help. We did a quick collection here, for two days this past week, and collected the following: seventeen bags of new clothing; five bags of toiletries; seven containers of baby formula; three boxes and one bag of baby wipes; two bags of bottles/sippy cups; five boxes plus one bag of diapers. Plus, for pets, we collected a huge bag of towels, one fuzzy blanket, and four bags of toys and treats. God’s vision for God’s world.

It is as though many communities are living out the words of Paul in today’s lesson from Romans 12: “Let love be genuine;…hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers…Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.”

It can be very confusing to figure out just where suffering fits in. We are like Peter, at times, telling Jesus that this isn’t the plan. Yet, even in times of suffering, we catch glimpses of God’s vision for God’s world, as we see the love of God shown in action.

Thanks be to God. Amen.

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Collection for Harvey evacuees.

Do We Have the Schedule to be Merciful?

The Rev. Kathi Johnson

20 August 2017

Text: Matthew 15:21-28

Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Grand Prairie, Texas

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This story is not my favorite portrayal of Jesus. I struggle with it because of Jesus’ attitude toward this Canaanite woman, at least initially. She is shouting at Jesus and his disciples, the text says. She is shouting – not being a quiet, submissive woman, as women were expected to be. Her yelling shows her desperation on behalf of her daughter, and her determination in getting Jesus to help. She’s shouting the ancient shout of God’s people: “Have mercy on me, Lord!”

The disciples and Jesus aren’t having it, and that’s what makes me uneasy in this story. Can they not see the woman’s worry? Can they not hear her shouts as desperate cries for help? Why do they have to be so…mean? Jesus doesn’t even answer her right away, and then the disciples want her sent away. Where’s the love? Where’s the mercy?

The woman keeps at it. “Lord, help me,” she says, now at the feet of Jesus. It’s another ancient plea – whispered on sickbeds and battlefields and in classrooms: “Lord, help me.”

So this is Jesus’ opportunity to help, but instead he answers her plea with a rebuttal: “It’s not fair,” he says, “to take the children’s food and give it to the dogs.” Here, at least, there is no love, there is no mercy.

Nevertheless, she persists. She persists out of her desperation and we begin to see her great faith emerge. She knows Jesus can help her, so she presses on: “Lord, even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the table.”

She is an incarnational (in-the-flesh) reminder to Jesus that God has enough mercy to go around.

And as so often happens in Scripture, there’s a sudden shift. Jesus sees the woman’s humanity and her faith, and her daughter is healed. Finally – there is love, and there is mercy.

For reasons that still escape me, when I began middle school in sixth grade, I was placed into advanced everything for my classes – including math. Now, I’m a pretty smart person, but there’s no way I needed to be in advanced math class, even in sixth grade.

I began struggling pretty early in the year. Our teacher – I’ll call her Mrs. L – was short and stout and loud. She was not a nurturer. She was more like some sort of middle school mathematics drill sergeant. She would give us these packets of worksheets – one each week – and it was up to us to keep up with the work, on our own. She’d check our packets from time to time, but if you fell behind, you really fell behind.

So – I fell really behind. And when progress reports came out – this was in the age when paper progress reports were given to students to take home to parents – I was failing math. Big time failing. It was a terrible feeling – so terrible that I made myself sick with worry about what my mom would say and do.

One evening, I realized I couldn’t take it anymore. I took my progress report into my mom, crying. She wasn’t mad; she was disappointed. She was also determined that we would meet with Mrs. L and figure out a way forward. I was mortified. There was no way Mrs. L would do anything to help me, I figured. She was a short, stout, mathematics drill sergeant, remember?

So, in we went, to meet with Mrs. L. I don’t remember the conversation much. I do remember that Mrs. L gave me time to catch up on my work, even letting me come in to her classroom so I could ask questions if I needed to outside of class. She had mercy on me.

To ask for mercy is a humbling experience, and I think that’s part of my discomfort with watching the scene play out between the Canaanite woman and Jesus. In this story, the woman is already starting from a humble place. As a Canaanite woman, she’s an outsider – she is The Other - and as a woman, she’s “just a humble woman.” Her shouts for mercy take her humility to an even lower place – in this story, we watch her descend from a humble outsider to a humble outsider supplicant. She is someone on the outside – she is An Other - who needs help.

And mercy isn’t always easily given, whether it’s by a middle school teacher or a disciple of Jesus or Jesus himself. Mercy sometimes takes some time and conversation. Maybe that’s partly why our world is so short of mercy – because it takes time and conversation. Do we have the schedule to be merciful? Do we have the time or the energy?

And yet, what the world needs now is mercy. Last weekend at our WELCA retreat, I asked the ladies what parts of our worship services are the most meaningful to each of them. Many answered with Communion, or the prayers, or the hymns. One person quietly answered, the “Kyrie” – the part of the service where, at certain times of year, we sing “Lord, have mercy” – the same words that the Canaanite woman shouted at Jesus.

What the world needs now is mercy, and we not only need it from one another, but from God. It is a good practice for us to say (or sing, or shout) the words asking God for mercy because it helps us remember not only that God is merciful, but that we are in need of mercy from God.

At times it seems as though God’s mercy will be stretched too thin by the world’s need. Every day, the news brings more need to the table. As people of faith, how do we respond? One response is a whisper - or a shout - of “Lord, have mercy!”

But mercy is also seen in how we live out the love of God. Just a few days after white supremacists marched through the University of Virginia bearing torches, the Charlottesville community took the campus back over with a candlelight vigil. There is still plenty of work to do in dismantling racism in our country, and it will take time, and conversation, and it is work that can only be done with love…and mercy.

There have been massive mudslides in Sierra Leone that have killed hundreds of people. This nation which has just begun to recover from the ebola outbreak has been devastated yet again. Our own Northern Texas-Northern Louisiana Synod has already sent funds to Lutherans there to help this nation recover. Recovery is – and it will be - the work of love…and mercy.

Mercy isn’t stylish, and it won’t get us elected to public office, but as followers of a merciful Savior, we are also called to be merciful. Like so many other things, mercy begins in our hearts. Mercy begins with seeing the person in front of us, and in taking the time to see their humanity.

And through God’s steadfast love for us, God’s mercies are new every morning. So there is always enough mercy to go around.

Thanks be to God. Amen.

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