SUNDAY, JULY 9, 2023 | AFTER PENTECOST - Proper 9 (A)

Notes

Zechariah: Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey…however, people probably expected for him to be a mighty warrior king....

Romans: Paul seems to be struggling with his desires, so he processes them theologically - It can help people, but it can also make them more anxious and nervous - we all have passions and desires.

Again, continues with his theme of slavery.

Matthew:

First section: people will always complain, no matter what.

English teacher in college: Women in Shakespeare’s plays had it hard - either they were portrayed as cold, inaccessible women or as prostitutes. The intent was sexist and misogynist, so they couldn’t really do anything to not get criticized.

In between part: a lot of historical and political stuff - some of it is understandable, but not all of it.

Second section: Intellect alone cannot reveal mysteries of faith - relationship and honest curiosity matters as well. And also honest willingness to release hold of all things.

Surrounding context:

Prophetic preface for John the Baptist being the messenger announcing Jesus.

Jesus plucks grain on the Sabbath - Pharisees are going by the book, to the letter, whereas Jesus - it is contextual…and I am the context. Is it lawful to cure on Sabbath? You would pull out a sheep - it is right to do go, again: they are against Jesus, so it matters not he does good by breaking the law.

Good morning,

It’s very hot outside, so let’s have two hour sermon....just kidding that is way too much work! Let’s aim for the usual amount. So I hope you had a good holiday week and had some time off! I got burnt on Boardwalk in Asbury yesterday among other things! But we keep rolling, so let’s dive into the sermon texts.

Paul is still working with his slavery analogy, so let’s take a break from him. Zechariah seems to be foretelling the coming of the Messiah, riding into Jerusalem on a donkey. Which fits well for Jesus, but we can also see that based on the text, some might expect more from their Messiah, to take more direct action after coming to Jerusalem than Jesus did with his visible teaching and sacrifice on the cross - some were expecting more of a warrior-king, a conqueror of the Roman empire, which didn’t happen. And then we have our Matthew reading, which is set between Jesus’ exaltation of John the Baptist as the messenger foretelling His coming and then Jesus and his disciples being hungry on the shabbat and deciding to pluck grain to the chagrin of Pharisee, who are pretty prejudiced towards his whole entourage at this point.

The section itself is cut up and probably for the best as the middle part they left out is requiring a political and historical context that we don’t have time for! The first part reminds me of what my English prof. told us in the Introduction to English Literature:

Women in Shakespeare’s times had it hard - either they were portrayed as cold, inaccessible women or as willing prostitutes.

The intent was sexist and misogynist, so they couldn’t really do anything to not get criticized. Just like if you accuse someone of being a witch or a heretic - if you made up your mind about them, confirmation bias will help you find evidence. Jesus points to the hypocrisy of those that refused both him and John the Baptist - no matter what they did and who they were, people would find reasons to condemn them.

And in the second part, he seems to suggest that intellect alone cannot reveal mysteries of faith - honest curiosity also matters as one that can be found in children. The text ends with exhortation to trust Jesus and lay your heavy burdens on him by taking up a yoke with him - sharing the weight of the burden.

So there is quite a bit. It goes to say that Jesus is really not this mighty warrior-king - instead he displays gracious and loving aspects of God…of one that wants to unburden us. But also one that is real with us - I think we have all seen that type of judgmental criticism that finds something to nitpick no matter what and it is a terrible one to be on the receiving end of, even Jesus has had enough. Just a few sections down he literally heals someone’s withered hand and the religious leaders are all scandalized by it, just because it happened on shabbat! He could eradicate the plague and they would still find something to criticize.

And I think that is the world we live in today as well - no matter what, certain things and people will never be good enough, because someone decided so. Like if you are not on the list of legacy families, you might never get to Harvard! Or how more and more states are trying to limit who can receive gender-affirming care, who gets to be protected against discrimination or even who is allowed to vote. So much in our world seems to be pre-decided about us and it is getting worse.

It is not so in the Kingdom of God - instead of suspicion, Jesus tells us about how welcome we are; instead of requirements for entry, we are told more often than not how it is given to us without merit; instead of rejection, we learn about inclusion and so on. Beloveds, let us look at the world around us with our baptismal eyes - let us not see just who we must avoid, who to judge, and deciding who will never be good enough. Instead, let us adopt the openness and curiosity towards the world that Jesus exemplified towards us. He could make up his mind about us quite easily, wouldn’t be hard and it wouldn’t be very favorable for us, it would be rather easy to write us off. But a loving and curious attitude means to keep one’s mind open for possibilities - something that I believe children can do much better than adults. Let us be more like children, who are willing to learn, absorb, and be open to what might come next. Amen.