Untitled Sermon

Pie in the sky? I prefer Twinkies

As a child, I had heard of heaven, and I had my own ideas about what heaven was like. One thing that did not make my list was pie-in-the-sky. I didn’t like pie all that much. To me, it was only good with ice cream. No no no; if you wanted to impress me with heaven, I wnated there to be TWINKIES! They are soft and fluffy - great for using as pillows. They are sweet - what kid doesn’t like sweet? Best of all, they are good all by themselves!

That’s why you don’t ask children to be theologians!

Blessed Lord, You have caused all Holy Scriptures to be written for our learning. Grant that we may so hear them, read, mark, learn, and take them to heart that, by the patience and comfort of Your holy Word, we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life. … through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Luke 19:47–48 ESV

And he was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people were seeking to destroy him, but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were hanging on his words.

We are coming to the end of Cycle “C” of the Three-Year Lectionary. The Gospel According to Luke has shown us Jesus as the Son of Adam, the One who came to reconcile His brothers and sisters to God the Father who created them in Adam, and to redeem them from the curse and penalty of sin that their father had brought to them through His disobedience, according to . Matthew shows Jesus to us as the One who fulfills the prophecies concerning the Son of David; Mark reveals Jesus as the True Son of God, the true Face of God, as opposed to Caesar. Luke reveals Jesus as the Man who represents all humanity, to teach them about the relationship that God wills to have with them through their faith in His Son.

Because Jesus proclaimed the true and complete will of God, and exposed the false teachings of those who set themselves up as protectors of Israel’s purity even as they sullied it with their own selfish sinful ways, they hated Him. they wanted to eliminate Him, but they were stymied by the admiration, respect and support that Jesus had with the people. More importantly, though, they were stymied because God’s will would not permit Jesus to die until it was His time, in fulfillment of the prophecies given to the Fathers, to David, and to Israel through the Prophets.

God had spoken to Israel and Judah through His servants the prophets, but God’s people refused to take heed, so He chastened them, bringing destruction and bondage back upon them. Now Israel was divided, Jerusalem suffered under Roman occupation, and David’s throne was occupied by a Herod.

People responded to this in different ways. Some, like the Zealots, sought to end the Roman occupation by making it costly in Roman blood and treasure. Others, the Sadducees and their allies, sought either to demean Jesus or destroy His popularity. Finally, the Pharisees viewed his teachings as an existential threat.

Each of these groups had a reason to hate Jesus, for HIS message, the Kingdom of God, judged each of them in one way or another. In this section of Luke, we see Jesus enemies seeking a way to disparage His ministry and message. One group after another takes their best shot and misses. First the Chief Priests, scribes and elders came against