When the Truth Confronts You

No one likes to be told or shown that they are wrong. No one. Most of us are quite happy to grasp onto our beliefs despite argument to the contrary. Even if we are confronted with strong evidence that our stated positions are lacking, we will end any sort of debate or conversation with the be all and end all phrase, "Well, we are just going to have to agree to disagree." Such a statement is fine if you are simply disagreeing about an opinion. I mean we can agree to disagree that chocolate ice cream is better than vanilla ice cream or that pepperoni pizza is better than cheese pizza, but when it comes to matters of deep substance, when it comes to matters of truth, we can’t simply agree to disagree. We must have the courage to argue; to debate; to wrestle; and to even change our minds when presented with evidence that we are wrong.

As Christians, this is particularly so because it follows the nature and teaching of our founder, Jesus. Jesus was not an "agree to disagree" kind of guy. Nowhere in the Gospels do you see Him acquiescing to a point of view that is different by simply agreeing and letting that viewpoint go unchecked. Jesus entered into the dialogue, defined His position–which was God’s position, and then pointed out the error of the other view. It cost Him to be less likeable among certain groups, but it also won Him the admiration of many who saw that He was both impartial and consistent as He taught and proclaimed God’s Kingdom. Today’s Gospel lesson is a perfect piece of evidence showing Jesus’ confrontational nature when it comes to matters of Truth.

Let’s set the context once again as we turn to this encounter between Jesus and the Sadducees. Remember, Jesus had entered into Jerusalem with all the markings of the coming Messiah. He cleansed the Temple pointing out how the Sanhedrin or Jewish Religious High Court had used the Temple for their own selfish purposes instead of using it as a place where all the people of the world were intended to worship. The Sanhedrin took objection to Jesus’ actions and wanted to arrest Him and kill Him, but they could not because Jesus had endeared Himself to the crowds. Arresting Jesus without pretense would have caused a riot amongst the people causing the Romans to intervene thereby causing the Sanhedrin to lose their standing both in the crowd’s eye and in the Romans’ eye. Therefore, they had to discredit Jesus and turn the crowd against Him or show that Jesus was a threat to Rome. Last week, the Herodians and Pharisees took their shot with a question about taxes. This week, the Sadducees throw Jesus a religious curve ball.

Now, unlike the Pharisees and Herodians, the question the Sadducees throw at Jesus is not a life or death question. No one is going to kill Jesus or arrest Jesus based upon Jesus’ teaching on the resurrection. The Sadducees are trying to discredit Jesus by making Him look stupid. Little do they know the consequences that will befall them.

Mark tells us the Sadducees–who do not believe in the resurrection come to Jesus. Now, let me take just a moment to explain why this detail is important. You see, Judaism during the time of Jesus was not a united religion. There were many different groups vying for the heart of the populace. There were Pharisees, there were Sadducees, there were Zealots, there were Esseens, there were Herodians, and so on and so forth. Each of these groups practiced the Jewish faith a little different from the others. Each had various authorities they cited to bolster their positions. All of them agreed on the basic tenets of Judaism, but there were other things they disagreed about vehemently. The resurrection was one of them. Most Jews at the time believed that in the future, God would indeed resurrect those who had died as part of establishing the Messianic kingdom. They gleaned their beliefs from portions of the Psalms, Ezekiel, and the book of Daniel. However, the Sadducees did not buy these arguments. The Sadducees were convinced only by the authority of the Torah–the first five books of the Old Testament. If it could not be found in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, or Deuteronomy, then it was human ideal and not to be trusted.

The Sadducees were convinced there were no referents to the resurrection in the Torah despite many arguments from the Pharisees to the contrary. The Sadducees were convinced that all of the Pharisaical arguments fell short, and they felt confident that they could show how stupid the belief in the resurrection was. They attempted to use that argument on Jesus.

"Teacher," they said, "Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no child, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. 20There were seven brothers; the first married and, when he died, left no children; 21and the second married her and died, leaving no children; and the third likewise; 22none of the seven left children. Last of all the woman herself died. 23In the resurrection whose wife will she be? For the seven had married her."

Now, my initial answer to this line of thought would be, "What in the world was that woman putting into her cooking?" I mean, honestly, if I were like the fourth or fifth brother in line, I would have been like, "Uh, no thank you. I would rather take the chance of enduring God’s wrath than marrying her!!" But, perhaps this is beside the point.

The point the Sadducees are trying to get across is a point based in the Torah which God was offering both protection for a woman and protection for the blood line of a family. There are certain stipulations that surround this law in the Old Testament, and should you like to delve into it further, you can read about it in Deuteronomy 25:5-10. We will not do that now. What we will do now is follow the train of thought of the Sadducees. They are basically trying to show the absurdity of this scenario. If the resurrection is real, and if we are married to our spouse in the resurrection, then this woman will have seven husbands. There is no allowance in the Torah for a woman to have seven husbands, therefore the resurrection will not happen.

Jesus responds rather harshly and with a great deal of confrontation, "Is not this the reason you are wrong, that you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God?" I want you to stop right there for just a moment and contemplate Jesus’ words. I mean, really just let that sentence sink in for just a moment. How in the world would you feel if someone asked you that question? Don’t you know you are wrong because you neither know the scriptures or the power of God? Jesus cuts the Sadducees to the heart because they prided themselves in knowing the Scriptures. They prided themselves in knowing about the power of God, but Jesus says they are ignorant of both, and He does so in two ways.

First, Jesus challenges their premise about being married in the resurrection: "25For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven." Now, some of you might be looking at your spouse right now and thinking, "What? I won’t be married to her in heaven? That’s not what I want!" I am sorry to break the news to you. In the resurrection, there will be no need for marriage. We will indeed recognize one another. We will be overjoyed to see one another, but we are entering into a totally different reality. Angels don’t need to marry because they are totally and completely satisfied by the love of God. We will be like that, Jesus says thus nullifying the Sadducees premise and their logic.

But Jesus doesn’t stop there; He continues on with point number two: and as to the resurrection–whether or not it will take place. Jesus points out a critical text in the Torah. It is when God reveals Himself to Moses in the burning bush. God tells Moses, "I AM the God of Abraham. I AM the God of Isaac. I AM the God of Jacob." God does not say, "I was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." No, God IS the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And then Jesus makes another appeal to a belief held by every religious group, "God is the God of the living and not of the dead." If Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were not to be raised; if they had ceased to exist, then God would not have spoken as if He were still their God! Jesus points this out to the Sadducees, I am sure, much to their dismay.
And then Jesus drives the final nail, "You are quite wrong." "You are way off base." "You do not know what you are talking about."

Oh, imagine Jesus saying that in our cultural milieu today. Imagine Jesus confronting the various religious groups today and saying, "You’ve missed the mark. You are wrong. You don’t understand scripture or the power of God."

You know what most folks would say to Jesus? You know how they would respond?
It’s not hard. We hear the arguments all the time:
"What gives you the right to say that I am wrong?"
"What is the Truth?"
"How do you know the Truth?"
"How do you know your read of Scripture is the right one?"
"We will just have to agree to disagree.
And, of course, Jesus isn’t exactly here to defend Himself. We are. And it is we who bear the brunt of these questions. They deserve some sort of answer as well–particularly if we want to establish Jesus as our authority.

First, we must establish that there is some sort of Absolute Truth. There are some who wish to say that truth is relative or that truth does not exist, but that is an absolutely illogical position to take. How so, you might ask. First off, you cannot start with a self-refuting statement. If you say, "Truth is relative," then the statement "Truth is relative" must be absolutely true. How can that be? Or, if you say, "Truth does not exist," well, then how can the statement "Truth does not exist" be true? It can’t. There must be some sort of Objective Truth giving meaning and, well, truth to our statements.

But now comes the hard part. We can know that there is objective Truth, but we cannot know it objectively. Think about that for a minute. There is objective Truth, but we cannot know it objectively. We are dependent upon that Truth being revealed to us. This is important especially when we get into arguments of a religious nature.

For instance, in the above argument between Jesus and the Sadducees, there are two positions: the resurrection will happen or there is no resurrection. Which of these is True? We have no evidence of resurrection (at least we didn’t at the time)? The two positions are mutually exclusive. They both can be wrong. One can be right, but they cannot both be right. How does one decide? They appeal to the evidence. They appeal to what God has revealed.

As Christians, this is exactly what we do when we enter into arguments of a religious nature. We do not appeal to our own authority. We do not appeal to ourselves. We appeal to Jesus. For if Jesus is who He says He is and did what He said He did, then to use the famous catch phrase of C.S. Lewis: He is either Lord, a lunatic, or a liar.

Jesus, of course, claimed to be the Son of God. He claimed that He was laying His life down for the world. He claimed to be the ransom for many who would reconcile the world unto God. He claimed to be the I AM, God incarnate. He claimed to be the resurrection and the life. He claimed to be Lord of the world. He claimed that God sent Him into the world because God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that all those who believe in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.

Folks may say, "Well, that’s not good enough. Just because He said these things about Himself doesn’t prove that He wasn’t a liar or that His followers turned him into something that He was not." Fair enough criticism. But let’s look at the facts because there have been a lot of people who have claimed to be a Messiah. There have been a lot of people who came along in the history including the recent history of humanity who claimed to be God. What happened to their followings? What happened to their followers after these folks died?

Historically, whenever such folks came about, they would raise a following, but when the leader died, all the followers left. No one stuck around. Not so with Jesus. Everyone thought His followers would disband. Everyone thought the things that He taught would go away. But something happened that changed all that. Something happened that showed that Jesus was who He said He was and did what He said He did. That was the resurrection. Jesus was raised from the dead. Oh, sure, there are those who scoff at the notion and say that such a thing is impossible. Might I remind you that even science cannot say that such an event is impossible–they can only say that it is highly unlikely. If you add up all of the cumulative evidence, you must admit that something happened that unexpectedly changed the fortune of the world–that transformed a movement that should have died–that initiated a movement that has now spread throughout the globe. You can’t escape it. You must wrestle with it.

And when you do; when you delve into the resurrection you come face to face with Jesus. You come face to face with the God who died for you. You come face to face with the Truth who will confront you and love you with a love too deep for words. He will tell you you are wrong; that you are a failure; that you have misread scripture and gone astray, but He will also take you into His loving arms and transform you and your life like nothing else can do. Amen.

Jesus the Politician?

In a very real way, I wanted to title my sermon this morning, "Jesus the Politician." Perhaps I have been influenced a little too much by this year’s already tiresome presidential primaries and caucuses and debates. Perhaps my perception is a bit jaded, but as I look at today’s Gospel lesson, I cannot help but think that if Jesus were debating any of today’s political candidates, He would absolutely wipe the floor with them. They would not be able to hold a candle to His wit, candor, and wisdom. Of course, this text isn’t totally about politics; in fact, the lesson to be learned runs much deeper, but let’s look at how "Jesus the Politician" gets us there.

We know that the chief priests, scribes and elders–the Sanhedrin–want to kill Jesus. We also know that they cannot simply kill him because the crowd will revolt and riot. Jesus has endeared Himself to them by His teaching, preaching, and cleansing of the Temple. By arresting Jesus without pretense, the Sanhedrin risk losing their power and prestige, not only in the eyes of the Jews but also in the eyes of the Roman occupiers. Therefore, the Sanhedrin need to somehow discredit Jesus. They need to make Him lose favor with the crowds. They need to somehow paint Him either as a false teacher, a blasphemer, or an enemy of Rome. If they can manage any of these things, then they can have Him arrested without fear. And so, they cook up a series of questions that they hope to use to trap Jesus. The first one we will deal with today, and it concerns taxes.

Now, Mark begins this segment with a line that would have made many of the ancient Jews scratch their heads. Mark tells us that the Sanhedrin sent some Pharisees and some Herodians to trap Jesus. You see, Pharisees and Herodians were at the exact opposite of the religious spectrum. The Pharisees believed that God would come and free the Jewish people IF the Jewish people purified themselves and followed the Torah–the Law. This meant, the Pharisees tried to be uber-Jews. They tried to follow all the rituals and all the rules for purity. This meant that they even tried to avoid anything Gentile–anything Roman. The Herodians, on the other hand, had tied themselves to the Romans. They were nowhere near as religious as the Pharisees. In fact, they were pretty lax when it came to following the Torah–preferring to adapt to Gentile ways and practices to make themselves liked by Rome. Pharisees and Herodians did not normally work together. In fact, they generally disliked each other greatly.

So, it would cause no shortage of eyebrows being raised to see these two groups coming together to confront Jesus. The average Jew would know that something unholy was indeed afoot. In fact, seeing Pharisees and Herodians together gives some credence to the saying, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend." The Pharisees and Herodians certainly look that part as they come to Jesus.

And they confront Jesus in a most interesting manner. They first address Jesus with these words, "Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality, but teach the way of God in accordance with truth." Now, we know that these words are absolutely true. Indeed, Jesus is a Rabbi or teacher. We know that Jesus is sincere and that He shows no deference to anyone. Jesus does not regard anyone with partiality because Jesus is not swayed by human conceptions of the truth. Jesus is wholly and totally consumed with the Word and Truth of God. Nothing else will sway Him. We know this. We believe this, but the Pharisees and Herodians don’t believe this. They don’t believe the words that are coming out of their mouths. They are simply using flattery and trying to build Jesus up so that He will not try to weasel out of the question they are going to ask.

You may wonder how I know the Pharisees and Herodians don’t believe a word they are saying. Remember just a few verses before this exchange? Remember when the contingent from the Sanhedrin confronted Jesus? Remember when they asked, "By what authority or by whose authority are you doing these things?" Remember when they confronted Jesus with this question? Remember that they didn’t want to admit that Jesus’ authority came from God? They were not going to admit such a thing because they knew it would damage them. Yet, here they are saying almost the exact opposite. Why? Because it is expedient for them to do so. They believe that by painting this portrait of Jesus not only to Him but before the crowds that are gathered, that Jesus will be forced into their trap.

And what is their trap? The question they then pose, "Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar?" The Pharisees and Herodians already believed they knew how Jesus would answer. They believed they had walked Him straight into a snare. You see, no good Jew would say that it was lawful to pay taxes to Caesar. Every good Jew, deep within their hearts knew that they were to give their allegiance to God and to God alone. Every good Jew believed that by paying taxes to Caesar, they were being forced to submit to someone that was not God. And they hated this. In just a moment, we will understand why. The crowds resented Roman authority, and if Jesus were truly the Messiah, they believed He would throw off the Roman oppression. Jesus had to say no. There was no other option for Him if He were to continue to command the respect of the crowds. However, if He said no, then the Herodians–who were in league with Rome–would immediately tell the soldiers that Jesus was seditious; Jesus was preaching treason. They would arrest Him, and then Jesus would once again lose all respect of the crowd. The Messiah was not supposed to be arrested. He was supposed to triumph. It looked like no matter what Jesus said, His words would make Him lose all support from the crowds.

But, the Sanhedrin, the Pharisees, and the Herodians underestimate Jesus. They clearly do not realize they are dealing with a Master of debate. First off, Jesus knows their insincerity. He knows their words of flattery are just that. Those words were meaningless, and Jesus lets them know that He knows. "Why are you putting me to the test?" Jesus asks. I am sure that raised a few eyebrows. I am sure the Pharisees and Herodians thought to themselves, "Uh oh. He knows something is up. Now what is He going to do?"

Strangely enough, Jesus asks for a denarius. This was the coin that was used to pay the taxes to Rome. It was a coin that was very, very offensive to the Jews. Why? Let me read to you N.T. Wright’s description of this coin:


But the coin itself went further. Jews were forbidden to make carved images. They debated whether this included images of plants and flowers, but images of human beings were out of the question; and here is Tiberius, staring coldly out at the world from every small Roman coin. And the writing! Around the head the words say in Latin: ‘Augustus Tiberius, son of the divine Augustus’. On the other side, it says: ‘High Priest’‘ (the Emperors were routinely high priests of the main Roman cult). ‘Son of a god’; ‘high priest’–if the Romans had gone out of their way to be offensive to Jews, they could hardly have done it better.

So, let’s put this in perspective. The Roman tax was given to an emperor who thought himself divine. The coins used to pay the tax were considered idolatrous to the Jews not only because they contained an image of the emperor but because they called the emperor the son of a god and a high priest. No good Jew would accept such a thing. No good Jew would approve of such a thing, and it is extremely ironic, to say the least, that when Jesus asks to see such a coin, that someone nearby–probably there in the temple itself, actually has this idolatrous coin. Jesus wouldn’t carry one, but one of the Herodians probably did. Jesus is slowly turning the tables on His accusers.

Looking at the coin, Jesus then utters these words. "Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and give to God the things that are God’s."

This statement is so fascinating because if Jesus were a politician, He had just won every vote in the debate. He won over the Roman faction. He won over the Jewish faction. He won over the independent faction. The only faction He didn’t win was His rivals who were seeking to discredit Him.

For you see, the answer is an acceptable answer to just about every party. No matter what party you are a part of, you will hear the answer you want to hear. If you believe you should pay taxes to Rome and that the emperor is a god, you will hear Jesus saying, "Give to Caesar who is god, what belongs to him."

If you are a Jew who believes you should pay taxes to Rome but not honor Caesar as god, you will hear, "Give to Rome the Roman tax but do not worship Caesar. Worship the true God."

If you are a Jew that believes that you should not pay taxes to Rome, you will hear, "Caesar doesn’t deserve to be given anything, give everything to God." It is a masterful answer that leaves everyone convinced Jesus is on their side and agrees with them!

And so often, this is what most of us do with Jesus anyway. So often we think Jesus blesses our particular perspective. So often we see Jesus as a politician who is trying to get our vote, and so when we read through Scripture or listen to preaching, we find the Bible verses or the Sunday morning preachers who agree with our particular perspectives. We hear what we want to hear and leave convinced that we are fine just the way we are.

But the real Jesus doesn’t let you get away with that. The real Jesus is actually going to confront you because, as I have said for several weeks now–Jesus isn’t interested in ruling over the nation of Israel, and He doesn’t want to govern the building called the temple: He is interested in ruling over the temple called your heart. He wants to be Lord of your life, and He is making no bones about this in His answer to the Pharisees and Herodians.

Let me again quote N.T. Wright, "First, ‘give Caesar what belongs to Caesar’ can be taken, of course, as a way of saying ‘yes, pay the tax’, but without the sting of ‘yes, submit to the Romans as your masters.’ The fact that Jesus has drawn attention to the blasphemous image and writing gives his command the flavor of ‘send this filthy stuff back where it came from!" So, if N.T. Wright is correct, and I think he is, Jesus is looking at that coin, seeing the image of Caesar, seeing the writing, and having nothing but contempt for it–nothing but contempt for the idolatrous message that is on it. For Jesus hates idolatry!

And then Jesus makes the rubber hit the road. "Give to God the things that are God’s!" Let me start getting at this one by telling you a quick story and then asking you a couple of questions.
When I was talking about this snippet in staff meeting this week, Janice told me that one day her mom tested her brother. Her mom gave her brother some money to put into the offering plate. After worship, Janice’s mom asked her brother whether or not he had put it into the offering. The answer was no. "Why didn’t you put it in the offering plate?" The response was priceless, "If the streets of heaven are paved in gold, then God doesn’t need this dollar!"

You know what, Janice’s brother was right. He was absolutely right. I mean–now here are the questions–given that God holds this world in the palm of His hand, do you really think that God needs your money? No. He doesn’t. Given that God lives in eternity, beyond space and time, do you think that God needs your time or your worship? No. Again, God doesn’t need it at all. So, why give to the church? Why give to charity? Why worship at all?

Here is why. Perhaps you have gone into a restaurant or business and noticed hanging on the wall the very first dollar earned in that restaurant. Maybe you have even seen the very first check written to that business or restaurant proudly displayed. Why keep such a thing? Why put it on the wall? You know the answer. You know the reason. That check; that dollar represents the purpose and desire of the restaurant or business. That check or dollar represents the first fruit of the work put into that business, and it is something to be treasured. Why is it treasured so? Because it is the thing most coveted by the business owners. It is an idol.

Compare that with what God asks us to do with the first fruits of our labor. For God is very clear in the Jewish Law what He wants. In Exodus 23:19 and in other places, God commands this, "The choicest of the first fruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of the Lord your God." The first fruits are not to be kept for ourselves. They are not to be displayed on the wall, they are to be brought to God. Why? To show where our allegiance lies. To show that these things don’t capture our hearts. To show that we are not making an idol out of them.

Oh, but here is the difficulty. Our hearts do not naturally do this. In fact our hearts resist this to no end. Our hearts cling to our idols desperately, and it is nearly impossible for us to overcome those idols. Don’t believe me? I guarantee you that even most of us here this morning can’t walk away from our idols. Here’s a challenge for you that I am sure you will fail, and then I will offer up a challenge for myself that I know I will fail.

For those of you who do not tithe, here’s the challenge. Begin immediately to give 10% of your income to the church. If you know in your head that this is the right thing to do, that God commands it, and that it is keeping you from making your money an idol, try and do it. I would almost bet you that you can’t bring yourself to write that check. It’s too hard.

For those of you that time is a precious commodity and are governed by your calendars, I challenge you to make it a point to be at every worship service during the season of Lent. Even though you know that God wants you to worship Him; even though you know this time prevents you from turning something else into an idol, I would be that you cannot and will not be able to do this.

For myself, the challenge is to stop spending time and money to improve my property out in Rocksprings. Even though I know I can make better use of my time and resources; even though I can find other places to retreat to that would cost me less; even though I know I should think about how I can use that time and money to more wisely serve God, I know I won’t be able to do it.

You see, our hearts are not fully captured by God. Our hearts are not fully captured by the Gospel. And no amount of trying on our parts are going to change that. We will not be able to write that check. We will not be able to rearrange our calendars. I will not give up my property.

And Jesus still says, "Give to God the things of God."

If we are honest, we dejectedly will say, "I want to, but I cannot. My heart cannot let go."

And Jesus replies, "I know. I know the status of your heart. I know you cannot let go of your idols. They have a hold on you, but I can change that. I can lessen their grips on your heart, and I am not going to beat them off of you. I am not going to punish you. I am going to capture your heart and your life. I am going to do this by stretching out my arms and dying for you. I will pour out my love for you and pour myself into you so that your heart will begin to change."

This is the Gospel. That God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that all those who believe in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world not to condemn the world but that the world might be saved through Him. He did this because you belong to Him. He does not want your money. He does not want your time. He wants you. And He is willing to die so that He can have you. Amen.

The Purpose of the Church

This morning, I am going to shift gears a little bit. Many of my sermons recently have been geared to invite people who are outside of the faith to consider having Jesus as the Lord and Savior of their lives. I have tried to show how and why He is worthy of such a position and how the Gospel offers insight and answers to a lot of the problems we all face in this world. I have done very little recently to talk about the role of the people of God in living out our calling to be children of God. Today’s text from the Gospel of Mark leads us directly there, so if you are not a part of the church or if you are considering Christianity, please know that this sermon is not directly intended for you. Hopefully, however, you will appreciate the information included within.

Let me begin by asking you: what is the church’s main purpose? What is the reason for the church on earth? At first, this might seem like the answer is obvious, at least to each and every one of us individually. But as you dig into this question and reflect upon it deeply, I think you will see that it is actually a very complicated question. I mean, if you really want to see just how complicated it is, those of you with computers, go home and Google the question, "What is the purpose of the church?" You will get a whole lot of responses. Some of them similar. Quite a few of them different. And as each author of each article begins to delve into the question, you will see a whole lot of non-negotiables:

The purpose of the church is to worship.
The purpose of the church is to care for those in need.
The purpose of the church is to make and train disciples.
The purpose of the church is to be the earthly representation of Jesus.
The purpose of the church is to be a place of prayer.
The purpose of the church it to provide a place where all are welcome.
The purpose of the church is to enact the kingdom of God on earth.

All of these are good, solid answers. They are theologically and biblically based. One can easily provide all kinds of support for these answers, and I certainly don’t want to demean any of them. They are all correct, but there is a danger that lurks behind all of them. There is a danger that creeps in and lures us away from the true purpose of the church on earth. That danger is our own selfish nature–a nature that emphasizes survival and security over everything else. What am I talking about?

For the last several weeks, we have traveled through the book of Mark, and every lesson that we have had before us has either been in or been about the temple. Jesus triumphally entered into the city of Jerusalem and then entered the temple. Because it was late, He went camping. The next day, Jesus cleansed the temple with a parallel encounter with a fig tree that was rotten from the inside out. The next day, the chief priests, the scribes and the elders asked Jesus by what authority He was doing these things. They asked Jesus that question while Jesus was teaching–in the temple. In each of these circumstances, lurking in the background was the Sanhedrin’s decision to turn the courtyard of the Gentiles into a marketplace thereby excluding the vast majority of the world’s population from worshiping the One, True, God. Jesus exposure of this travesty angered the Sanhedrin, and they wanted to put Jesus to death, and instead of trying to soothe hurt and damaged feelings, Jesus doubles down. He tells everyone a parable. A parable that riles the chief priests, scribes, and the elders even more.

Jesus begins, " ‘A man planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a pit for the wine press, and built a watch-tower; then he leased it to tenants and went to another country. 2When the season came, he sent a slave to the tenants to collect from them his share of the produce of the vineyard. 3But they seized him, and beat him, and sent him away empty-handed. 4And again he sent another slave to them; this one they beat over the head and insulted. 5Then he sent another, and that one they killed. And so it was with many others; some they beat, and others they killed."

Now, this situation was not uncommon in the ancient world. We have discovered a great stash of legal papers in which landlords leased their lands to tenants and agreed upon receiving parts of the harvest as payment. We have also discovered many instances where tenants refused to pay their landlord, and they indeed mistreated the servants that landlords sent to retrieve their payments. Jesus is using real world situations to illustrate His point.

And the point has to do with the nature of the landlord–which we are pretty sure is a reference to God the Father; and the nature of the tenants–which are the Sanhedrin and other Jewish leaders. Mind you, this is not a parable directed at all the Jewish people. It is directed squarely at the Jewish religious authorities who have abandoned the purpose of the temple.

So, what does this parable say first about the nature of the landlord? Think about this for a moment: what would you do if you had leased a property to some renters and they refused to pay the rent? What would you do if you knew that they were reaping the benefits of living on your property without just repayment? What would you do if you sent someone on your behalf to collect the payment and your renters drove them off? How long would you wait before getting the authorities involved? How long would you wait before calling the police? How long would you wait before evicting your tenants? If you are like most people, you would have almost zero tolerance for such behavior. You would act quickly to prevent such abuse, but does this landlord do that? No. Not in the least. In fact, the landlord’s actions almost bespeak of major weakness. He is literally letting the tenants get away with murder. He does nothing except send more representatives. One might come to the conclusion that this landlord is daft.

And the tenants take advantage of this. The tenants are selfish and not only want all the proceeds of the vineyard. They want ownership of the vineyard themselves. According to the New Interpreter’s Bible commentary, "Villagers could take over land from an absentee landlord, if the villagers felt the landlord was too weak to enforce the claims." Think about that for a moment as you think about the fact that Jesus is comparing God the Father to this landlord. Think about that as you compare the actions of these tenants to the actions of the Sanhedrin in the temple. Think about the injustice being perpetrated by these tenants and the Sanhedrin. It should begin to make you angry.

We return now to the landlord. Again, we might think this landlord to be absolutely daft because even after all of His servants were beaten and killed, the landlord decides to send His only, beloved son. What Father in His right mind would do such a thing?!! I mean, if you were that landlord, would this thought ever cross your mind? Of course it wouldn’t. People would think you crazy. You would send a swat team, not your only, beloved child. But that is the difference between you and this landlord. The true Landlord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. The True Landlord will go to great lengths to give the tenants a chance to pay–to honor their agreement. The True Landlord will take the chance that His only Son might meet with death because He is a Landlord unlike any other Landlord.

And the unthinkable happens. The tenants reject the Son; kill him; leave his body unburied and disgraced thinking they will now inherit the vineyard. Their thoughts aren’t totally unfounded. It is highly likely they thought the landlord dead when they recognized the son coming. They believed that, according to the laws of the land, if they killed the son and retained possession of the land, they would indeed inherit. Their plan was perfect.

But the Landlord was still around, and Jesus makes no bones about what will happen next. The tenants will be driven out and the vineyard given to others. It’s not a surprising outcome. Again, according to the New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary, "Since the Law permits the son to act on behalf of his father, the legal definition of agency implies that dishonor and insult to the son would be equivalent to dishonoring the one who sends him." Think about that in light of the Sanhedrin’s questioning of Jesus’ authority last week. If Jesus’ authority indeed comes from God, then to reject Jesus’ authority is to reject the One who sent Him. This is the strongest condemnation possible for the religious leaders.

But here is the interesting part: in the parable, the Son is dead. The Father is still coming to enact judgement, so why does Jesus include the rest of His teaching? For Jesus quotes a portion of Psalm 118 directly, "22 The stone that the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. 23 This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes."

Now, there are couple of things here that are of note. The first is the translation of the words "cornerstone" from the Greek. When we hear this word, we think of a stone at the corner of a foundation–the foundational stone, so to speak; however, the Greek doesn’t really fit that kind of a stone. The Greek, according to Craig Evans, is better translated as, "‘head of the corner’, which probably refers to either a capstone that completes an arch or a capital that sits atop a column or pinnacle of the building." Therefore, it is a stone above all other stones. It is the stone to which most attention is drawn. It is the stone that everyone looks at. This is an important point in light of the last statement, "That this is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes." What is so significant about this verse?

Again, Evans says, "Thaumastae, ‘marvelous’ suggests that God is accomplishing something against all odds, something completely unexpected, something that mortals cannot achieve apart from dvine assistance." Reflect upon that for just a moment as you think about Jesus who is the Son sent by the Father. Reflect upon that for just a moment as you think about the Son who is rejected and killed by the Jewish authorities–who is disgraced. What happens to Him? What happens to Jesus? He is lifted up; resurrected for all to see. Jesus becomes the chief stone, the cap stone, the stone above every other stone that all are to gaze upon.

Which takes us squarely to the purpose of the church today. I mean, I don’t think it’s that hard to figure out now, do you. The purpose of the church today is to point to Jesus. The purpose of the church today is to proclaim Jesus. The purpose of the church today is to lift up the name that is above all other names and tell the world what God has done through Jesus.

I hope that those of you who are sitting here this morning are saying to yourself right now, "Well, that’s obvious. Tell us something that we don’t know." I hope that you believe this is a no-brainer observation. I hope so, because the reality in most of our congregations is quite the opposite. The reality in our congregations is that we focus most of our attention and most of our arguing on things without even referencing Jesus.

Now, I want to be very clear here. I am not trying to get us away from doing things. As James writes in his letter, "Faith without works is dead." And there are those who are quick to point out a very important truth. It is worthless to go up to a hungry person and tell them, "Jesus loves you," while they are dying of hunger. They will immediately think that Jesus has no concern for their hunger–which simply is not true. However, let me ask you a couple of questions: without raising your hands, how many of you have given to some sort of charitable organization in the past month or so? My guess is that many of you have. Second question: how many of you have proclaimed the gospel and told someone about Jesus in the past month or so? I’d bet a good chunk of change that the number of hands would be far, far fewer. In fact, I’d say we have been trained to let our actions speak louder than words. In fact, you may have also heard that wonderful saying, "Preach the gospel at all times, if necessary, use words."

I’ve used that saying numerous times in the past. I no longer use it. Why? There was a brilliant illustration that the late preacher Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones used when talking about the Gospel. He said: Imagine a king went off to war against an enemy that is threatening your country. If that king loses the battle, what does he send back? He sends back military advisors who say, "Archers over here, calvary over here, infantry over here. Get ready to fight for your lives." In other words, get ready to do everything you can. However, if the king wins the battle, he sends back heralds. They proclaim! They tell the good news, "The battle is done. The king has won. Live into the freedom!" The Gospel is literally translated "Good news." News is told. It is not lived. History is told. It is not lived.

What Jesus has done in bringing reconciliation with God is news. It cannot be lived. It must be told. Therefore, all we do must in some way, shape or form point to Jesus. Everything about our congregation, about our lives should lead people to look at the capstone, the head of the column, the stone that the builders rejected that became the chief cap stone. We must proclaim that the Lord has done this. We didn’t. We didn’t do anything. We have been saved by sheer grace. Humankind could never accomplish the salvation that was given through the cross of Jesus: For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that all those who believe in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the Son into the world not to condemn the world but that the world might be saved through Him."

This is the ultimate focus of the church and the reason it exists. Jesus is trying to convey just this to the religious leaders of His day. They reasoned that they were helping others by putting sacrificial animals on sale in the market place, but they were only truly helping themselves. Likewise, when we focus on being kind to visitors, having a lot of programming, keeping our grounds looking nice, giving through our community care fund, having perfect worship music, and all other sorts of things–FOR THE PURPOSE OF GETTING MEMBERS, then we too are working for and pointing to ourselves. Christianity is not about that. The church is not about that. We are not to be about that. We are called to point to and tell others about Jesus, and when we are pointing to Jesus; well, then we will be nice to visitors, have a lot of programming, keep our grounds looking nice, help others, worship well, and all sorts of things not for our own benefit, but for His. Amen.