A bonus podcast audio of one verse from "I Need Thee Every Hour"

Parables of Wisdom and Surprise

In this last section of Jesus' teaching, Matthew records a series of parables, one of Jesus' most characteristic ways of teaching. Parables are tricky. They range widely from a few words to a substantial story. Jesus often liked to take an easily recognizable situation, even a cliché, but give it an unexpected turn to plant an idea in our minds that we have to keep thinking about.

Here Jesus is responding to the disciples' questions about the destruction of the temple and his presence (parousia) as king, and the end of one age and beginning of the next (Mt 24:1-3).

As we've seen, it's hard for us to stay with them in that moment when we know so much of later history. They know nothing of Jesus' resurrection, inclusion of Gentiles, war with Rome; and certainly nothing of a "second coming." They expect a kingdom, age to come, and judgment.

Jesus assures them that earthshaking, astonishing events are unfolding quickly that they will experience, but also stresses what they don't know, what no one knows. But they'll take part in that future and need to be open to surprising events that will change the world they know.

The three parables here on one level are very simple: "Be wise. Be prepared." But Jesus gives that wisdom in parables to plant a sticky image in our imagination to push us to think about what it means to live into a future that is moving toward God's purpose, but open-ended on our scale.

Thinking about the Heart of Life

The first two take us into a cliché story situation: the servant whose master is away. The first is the good servant: "faithful" and "prudent/wise/thinking" (phronimos from a verb to think). His lord has given him responsibilities over other household servants, to serve them by giving them nourishment. He doesn't know when the lord's coming home. He doesn't spend his time watching, preparing for the moment of return. He thinks. Who am I? I'm a servant with a job. What's my job? I'll do that right now. Nothing spectacular. Just faithfulness in serving others. The master comes home. It doesn't matter when. The servant looks up and sees him gladly.

The contrasting bad/corrupt (kakos) servant, thinks he knows when the master will return and evaluate his work. He surely wants to make a good showing, but thinks he has time. What matters is only the moment of evaluation, the show. He has not internalized any of the responsibility the master has given him. Absence mean irresponsibility, authority means intimidation, self-serving rather than serving others. The lord puts him with the "externalists."

Thinking Clearly when You Don't Know

The thoughtless and thinking maidens are part of the bride's party who would await the groom. A wedding was the groom getting the bride from her family home taking her to his home and having a party. Again, Jesus emphasizes prudence/thinking. Being ready to do the task they're committed to do. The groom's scheduled to come in early evening but doesn't till midnight.

The foolish are prepared if all goes according to expectation, but can't deal with the unexpected. The thinking ones keep their lamps burning through whatever happens. Again, Jesus doesn't praise heroic action (all take a nap!) but everyday care and faithfulness. Jesus makes the strange end of the parable parallel his teaching at the end of the Sermon on the mount. It is not those with spectacular religious power that Jesus knows, but those doing the challenging work of that sermon, internalizing the Kingdom and then living it externally. These he knows and welcomes.

Looking into the Future with Certainty and Fog

People have always wanted to know about the future. Jesus started this discourse by astonishing his disciples: The temple will be destroyed! They want to know more. That's cataclysmic! For Jesus it's a judgment on a broken temple and misguided leaders -- divided between sell-out to Romans or violence against outsiders. He mourned over Jerusalem. No clear vision of God's promise to the whole world. No path to peace and inclusion. No recognition of God's Messiah.

Here, Jesus talks to his disciples before his crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, etc. The disciples know nothing of a "second coming" yet. They want to know when Jesus' presence as king will be manifest. When the temple will fall and the ages will change. Jesus draws on well-known words of prophets: Daniel, Isaiah. He points to his vindication in the near future, but in a way meaningful and open-ended for them. "When you see all these things..." Abomination, sun dark.... Matthew records this in the light of events that have changed the reader's perspective.

Jesus also uses his own distinctive way of teaching in parables: images and stories that catch the imagination and shape the disciples for the future rather than predicting events. The future is partly shaped by our own choices. Jesus wants the disciples to learn to live expectantly and open to surprises they can't yet imagine. A wisdom down to earth but radically open to God.

Jesus Shapes Disciples for Wisdom in an Unfolding Future

Our text is a series of parables. The fig tree says there will be signs: "all these things." But Jesus asserts by his own authority that his presence and judgment are very near -- this generation. Matthew shows us his resurrection and knows of the fall of Jerusalem as fulfillment.

As in prophets like Amos, Jesus points to God's intervention as dark and fearsome. The flood becomes a parable of the wholly unexpected event that sweeps things away before it. Even the most radical Jewish groups (Zealots, Essenes) wanted Temple and Law to continue and Gentiles to be excluded. This coming cataclysm would change everything. Only the Pharisees survived. But the cataclysm would be complex with more elements than the disciples could imagine.

Wakefulness and the Value of Each Moment

Jesus tells three parables of a Master of a House and his servants. The disciples are to learn both from the master and servants. Basic wisdom: Stay awake. Be prepared! (vv 42-44).

The uncertainty of the future is important. The Master doesn't know when the break-in will come. The servants don't know when the Master/Lord will come home. They show prudence or evil by the way they deal with the uncertainties of the future. Choices must be made that matter.

We live between certainty and uncertainty. We need to live with the end in mind. We know God is doing something great. We don't know exactly what and certainly not when! We live each moment into a future we help shape. The only wise way to live is following the way Jesus has shown us. Living fully in God's presence every moment. The end belongs to God. Stay awake!

Listening to Jesus with the Disciples

A dramatic moment when Jesus leaves the Temple after prophetic confrontation with all that it stood for in that day from the sell-out of the Sadducees to the violence of the Zealots to the law focus of the Pharisees. The disciples see marvelous buildings; Jesus sees impending destruction.

The disciples ask three questions: (1) When will that destruction come? (2) What sign will show Jesus' parousia -- presence as king -- and (3) the completion of the age (start of a new age)?

It's hard for us to put ourselves in the place of the disciples listening to Jesus. They hadn't seen the crucifixion, didn't know about the resurrection or ascension, had no idea of a second coming or centuries of church history. They knew the temple and were hoping for Jesus as king of Israel. Jesus speaks to them in a way that is meaningful to them. Matthew records this after the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in a.d. 70. We hear it from our much later perspective.

Parousia doesn't mean second coming but Jesus' presence as King and messianic vindication. Tribulation is not an "end-time" period but the sufferings of God's people. The "end" (telos) is not the end of the universe but the world-changing end of one age and beginning of another.

Deception and Thinking You Know More than You Do

The first thing Jesus says is to watch out for deception. People want answers and are often willing to believe anyone who speaks with confidence. Jesus repeats the warning (vv 4-5, 11, 23-26, 36). Most emphatically at the end of this text: not even Jesus knows, only the Father. Anyone who believes they have figured out the timetable is fooling themselves. (Harold Camping 5/21/2011).

Jesus talks to his disciples in their concern about the destruction of the Temple. That's a very old historical fact for us. For them it was a sign of the collapse of everything they cared about. If Jesus doesn't show himself as Messiah by renewing the Temple, how can he do it?

Jesus' prediction is not comforting. The coming of the new age will be painful like childbirth. All the old evils of war and famine. New ones of persecution, alienation, betrayal. Endurance is needed.

But Jesus' Kingdom will be proclaimed in all nations as good news for all -- that's the end-goal.

Looking Back to Look Forward

When Jesus turns to the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem more specifically, he reaches back to symbols from Daniel: an "abomination of desolation" set up in the temple. Matthew believes his readers will know what this means. Jesus tells his disciples not to join in the violence but to get away from the city. This will be the vindication of his prophetic condemnation of the leaders of the temple and Jerusalem. They did not know the way of peace. Don't look for special appearances or signs; just the sign of the events themselves -- eagles circling a dead body.

Jesus uses classic prophetic words of cosmic signs in sun and moon: these will be truly earth- changing events. The word that the disciples take out to the world will be the work of God's messengers/angels calling and gathering people from the four winds (not rapture). They themselves will see it. But the story is open-ended. Only the Father knows the absolute climax.

Larry Mudd delivers a sermon on the importance of small groups.

Jesus' Woes, Pharisees, and Hypocrisy

This passage often feels uncomfortable. Were all Pharisees hypocrites? Why is Jesus so hard? Two things: "Woe" transliterates a Hebrew word expressing grief more than anger: "Alas."

Second, "hypocrisy" in English means insincere pretense, when a person covers known problems with play-acting piety. For Jesus, it's not pretense, rather an emphasis on external obedience to God that blinds people to the fact that no inner change or devotion is present. It's self-deception that sincerely misses the point of really loving God and loving neighbor, of justice, mercy, faithfulness. They are "externalists." That's the tragedy ('Alas'): their chosen approach to the law brings correct external practice, not inner transformation. This is their built-in blindness (like the log in the eye, Mt 7:3) -- even to God's real purposes.

Jesus rebukes them like a prophet. He is not out to destroy them. Rather he instructs the crowds to learn from their teaching of scripture but critique the way they implement it.

What Really Matters to God

The practical human tension between external obedience (ordinary complying with a law) and inner transformation is basic for Jesus and reflects a different understanding of God. See the Sermon on the Mount. They can go together, but focus on the heart, makes legal enforcement nearly impossible. Jesus says it's the relationship with God that matters.

Jesus uses the everyday cup and plate as examples. God cares more about the inside of the human cup that we can't see. Jesus' way focuses on the inside, while welcoming sinners.

Jesus then moves to the more loaded image of the beautiful tomb. These teachers define a righteousness that fits them and looks good, but is a misapplication of God's law.

God's Work and the History of Violence

Jesus uses the image of a beautiful tomb to move to a deeper indictment. The Pharisees see themselves on the side of the ancient prophets, caring for their tombs. But their stress on a community that presupposes rigorous keeping of the Torah's regulations excluded all Gentiles and many in Israel as enemies, not fellow human sinners. It laid the theological basis for the coming war that would destroy Jerusalem. Like snakes it was a hidden danger. It literally demonized Jesus (Mt 12:24) and his prophetic actions to bring God's kingdom.

Jesus speaks like a prophet with the voice of God or God's wisdom. It is the old story of God sending prophets to call his people to a change of mind and heart and being refused. It's a human story from the beginning -- Abel. The last book in the Hebrew Bible told the story of Zechariah. That pattern had not been broken. The focus on religious and ethnic purity would bring the crisis down on this generation just as destruction had come long ago.

Jerusalem, Protected or Desolate

The sense of grief rather than anger becomes especially apparent when Jesus turns from the Pharisees to Jerusalem as a whole. Yes, its history had plenty of blood spilled in it, but that did not change God's love for his people, including the Pharisees, Sadducees, chief priests, but also the tax collectors, fishermen, women, slaves, even lepers and prostitutes.

Jesus uses the image of a hen covering her brood from danger like a fire. Jesus would willingly give himself for the people, but many, like the kings of old, had no use for such a prophet offering protection. Thus they create the violence that leaves Jerusalem desolate. They will not really see Jesus until they can see in him God's name, God's presence, God's work.

Seek First the Kingdom of God

At the beginning of the year, we started with Jesus' fundamental guidance: "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness." [Mt 6:33] A way of seeing everything with God at the center of reality. Seeking that reality amid all claims for other gods like Mammon.

Prayer for Jesus is a profound expression of that seeking. Prayer is engagement / connection with the God of the universe. Jesus, himself, often had refreshing, renewing times of prayer.

"When You Pray" -- Taking God Seriously

Even truly good things are vulnerable to corruption/distortion from little gods. When prayer is for public display it becomes work for pay, fully paid. A closed circle, no God involved.

Jesus urges a core of private prayer. The "Father in heaven" is not far away but very close. Trust God as knowing and caring. He is intimately acquainted with us and loves us.

"Our Father" -- Intimacy and Awe

We approach "Abba" with the intimate connection of a young child with a powerful parent -- boldness, assurance of acceptance. And also with an adult perception of holiness and glory.

God is always God. He welcomes and adopts us by his grace. The nature of our whole relationship to God and his creation is shaped by his welcoming love. We get God.

Your Kingdom, Your Will -- "On Earth as in Heaven"

Jesus calls us to a commitment of direction in life -- God's reality/love/will/rule -- even long before we understand it. Trust. This world is the realm where God has withheld his control to give space for human freedom/growth/maturity, but also sin/corruption.

Seek God's way on a large scale -- kingdom -- and intimate scale. Jesus in Gethsemane.

"Give us this day..." -- All is a Gift from God

Aren't we "breadwinners" who "earn" our daily bread? Thus we "worry" about it. Jesus models prayer that sees even the most basic needs as gifts from God. Every luxury, every necessity, every breath/heartbeat is a gift we could not create. We live in daily, growing gratitude.

At the same time we participate in God giving that gift to others: "I was hungry, you fed me." "Forgive us...As we Forgive" -- God's ways inside us

Here God's heart becomes our heart. We expect God's forgiveness but have trouble with our forgiving. Jesus speaks of forgiving debts/offenses -- just claims against someone, where revenge or punishment would be justified.

Here, our engagement with God reaches deepest. We let go our fair demands in favor of grace, as God has with us. Here Jesus is most insistent. We want God's grace, but that grace is transforming. We pray with a commitment to change.

"Lead us not..." -- Vulnerability and Deliverance

Jesus knows that tests, trials, troubles, temptations come. He urges us to pray knowing our vulnerability and never thinking we stand by our own strength. It is never a weakness to depend on God. We are always creatures/God's children and our greatest maturity is there.

We learn to pray for and desire his strength and deliverance from temptations. Real victory.

Carl Garrison, our Associate Minister of Outreach, delivers a powerful sermon on the Incarnation through the lens of the people at the Community of Hope.

Jesus' Profile in Contrast

Since coming to Jerusalem, Jesus has challenged the whole range of leaders in the Temple by actions and teaching: Chief priests (authority, God's work in John); Pharisees (taxes to Caesar); Sadducees (resurrection); serious questions (great command, Messiah/David).

Matthew begins the last of five collection of Jesus' teaching: Mt 5-7, 10, 13, 18, now 23-25. He focuses many things said before and anticipates the future beyond Jesus' ministry.

Jesus had a sharp profile among the many teachers, viewpoints, and parties among Jews of his day: Pharisees, Sadducees/chief priests, Essenes, Zealots, individual prophets like John. Each pointed a direction for a people in waiting, after exile, subjugation, longing for a future. Many envisioned a rigorous, purified community and violent opposition to Rome (Pharisees, Essenes, Zealots in different ways). Temple leaders/Sadducees compromised with Rome.

Jesus announced God's kingdom breaking in, but not with the popular revolution many wanted. Something more, hard to see yet. Love for enemies? Tax collectors and sinners? Really?

The Pharisees offered a real challenge to Jesus in understanding God and God's will. They used oral law developed by scribes to call all Jews to rigorous purity and obedience to Torah as if priests. You show your identity as a Jew by carefully keeping the literal wording of laws.

Jesus sees the problem as fundamental. Their ideal of rigorous purity blinds them to the God who loves even sinners and Gentiles and want his promise to Abraham opened to all.

Artificial Weight and Real Weight

Jesus warns listeners about Scribes and Pharisees and then challenges both directly. In their teaching roles, listen to the scriptures but not the way they put them into practice. Jesus sees their practice as literal/surface obedience but not transformation of the heart. Jesus challenges their pattern of scripture interpretation, understanding of what God wants, not condemning every Pharisee. Their interpretation led them astray -- they are blind guides.

That was serious! They were doing the opposite of what God wanted: Closing the doors of the Kingdom to others, not broadening it to bless the world. By rigorous right actions (tithing, phylacteries, exact oaths) they created artificial weight that excluded many Jews, all others. They created standards that exalted their authority, blinding them to God's lowly Messiah.

They use their authority to specify exact boundaries for oaths about the temple, but their process blinds them to the God who makes the temple holy. Tithing requirements separate them from fellowship with non-tithers and creates exclusion, not mercy and justice. They miss the heart of God to whom they tithe. The strain out the gnat and gulp down the camel.

Jesus prophetically challenges the Pharisees in order to open eyes to a different vision: a self- giving servant who humbles himself not to exclude but to welcome the broken and lost.

Living in the Present with the Past and Future

We begin 2016 with Jesus' call: "Seek first God's kingdom...." Most of us consider ourselves either committed followers of Jesus or seekers, interested in his teaching. He is clearly giving a challenge, but what does it mean? How do I seek that kingdom? What if I can't find it? Why does he talk about not being anxious? Isn't he asking the impossible? I'm worried!

A striking thing about Jesus is how focused he is on the present moment, the person in front of him, the present need/opportunity, living now! He lived in a nation with a long, difficult past. The future holds conflict, persecution, death for himself and many of his followers. We haven't done well in the past, we face a fearful tomorrow. No anxiety? How can I seek?

We studied the unfolding vision of Isaiah (7, 9, 11, 40, 52-53): The birth of a child, a branch on a destroyed stump, a small sign, a world-filling glory, the LORD'S return, his arm: a suffering servant. Jesus lives that vision. Trusting the God who works in past and future frees the present for creative participation in that work. Ahaz couldn't trust. Jesus calls us to seek.

God's Kingdom on the Scale of My Life

Think about the scene of Jesus' sermon. Very ordinary working farmers, fishermen, spinning women, people with someone sick, coming to Jesus in time of trouble. To listen, to be helped.

Jesus calls them to seek God's kingdom, justice. Something grand, cosmic. Too big? Not at all! From the start Jesus proclaimed the news of God's rule breaking in. "Change your thinking!" God challenges on every scale, world-wide (nations, structures of oppression); also one blind beggar, one Pharisee, one woman at a well. The big paralyzes us. The small: does God care?

Jesus focuses on the small to see the big. Only a God of unimaginable power can make one lily, feed one bird, give the spin to an up quark, use a supernova to make gold. He loves all levels.

Jesus is talking to people of small power. You matter! Your life is something more! Can you see it?

Seeing the Gift, Trusting the Giver

Well of course our lives matter to us! That's why we're anxious, worried. Everything is in our hands; if we drop it...who knows? We've messed up in the past. Every new day, new trouble! Our only security is the wall of stuff we can build. From basic food/clothes, to power, wealth.

Jesus says look! Birds. Lilies. What do you see? Do you see God giving gifts? Food, beauty, life! The stuff you serve and trust -- Mammon -- every bit is a gift from God, including your life. From God's kingdom to daily bread, it's gift! Only a vast God loves your body enough to make it. God cares for things that last only a day. In you, he has made something more!

We live in a world that confirms our natural tendency to see only stuff, even ourselves as stuff, and nothing beyond. We compete to get stuff, control life, on every level. We blind ourselves to anything more. We prefer not to see more. Stuff demands only selfishness and success.

We're not at all sure we want a loving Giver who creates us for self-giving love, who calls us to seek his kingdom, real righteousness. Better a human-size Mammon we can worry about.

Jesus calls us to open eyes. Our life and world on every scale is God's gift, created beauty. It is not just in my hands. All real, lasting security comes from the Giver. I learn to trust Him!

One Day, Each Day

Don't worry about tomorrow. Live this day aware of who you are. You are the beloved creature of that great physicist, artist, savior, lover, Giver of grace. Be like that yourself. Give grace and justice at every opportunity. That's God's kingdom on the scale of my life. Seek for it!

Tomorrow will have enough trouble for you to make an impact for good. Don't worry about it!