Preaching among the Palms

Today's brief parable in the Gospel of Matthew stages a collision between two themes that have been important to Matthew from the beginning: authority and hypocrisy. Fr. Jeff provides some background on both of these ideas. The Gospels emphasize that people respond to the teaching of Jesus because they recognize his authority. This is especially evidenced in Matthew chapter 8's account of the Roman centurion who expresses confidence that Jesus can heal his ailing servant just by the authority of his speaking; a person with authority commands, and what they command comes to be. The Gospels also report Jesus frequently criticizing the scribes and Pharisees for their hypocrisy, a failing that is much deeper than the way we tend to think of it today. The parable of the landowner and his two sons, one of whom respects his authority and the other of whom is a hypocrite in the biblical sense, demonstrates that these two postures are mutually exclusive.

On this Sunday the lectionary pairs the end of the book of Jonah and a parable of Christ from Matthew about a householder who hires laborers multiple times in one day. It's not clear at first what the connection might be, but Fr. Jeff has a theory: Jonah's story ends with him spitefully begrudging God's mercy and love being shown to the repentant citizens of Nineveh; the laborers in the parable spitefully begrudge the householder's generous sharing of his money with all the laborers, including those who have only worked the last part of the day. Spite is a dangerous and petty sin that we must eradicate from our spiritual lives so we can truly rejoice in the grace of God—no matter to whom it is shown—and learn to share love and generosity ourselves.

Fr. Grady connects today's Gospel to the teaching of Jesus about the church community in this chapter. Peter has already suggested that sinners should be forgiven far more than they deserve, but Jesus responds that in effect forgiveness should be infinite in scope. The parable that follows illustrates this boundless grace of God and the unforgiving heart of human beings.

Today's Gospel reading contains some tough teachings on church discipline. Fr. Jeff points out that Jesus gives his disciples authority to teach and lead the nascent church he founds on the rock of faith. That's a weighty responsibility, and while the whole witness of Scripture is clear that we should do everything we can to bring home the lost and forgive the sins of others, in some situations the lost persist in unrepentance. In such instances Jesus teaches a form of conscientious discipline that models quite precisely Jewish practice. As difficult as such efforts at admonition can be, it is worse when the church ignores this obligation.

Last week we heard about how Peter rightly confessed Jesus to be the Christ, the Messiah. No sooner does he make this breakthrough realization, which Jesus says comes from God and is the rock on which he will build his church, than Jesus is condemning him as a hindrance to his further mission. What changed so fast? Fr. Jeff opines that between Peter's confession and his objection to Jesus's eventual suffering and death there is a gap that opens up between knowing that Jesus is the Messiah and knowing what being the Messiah means. After this turning point in Matthew's Gospel, nothing will be the same...

At the center of today's Gospel reading is a crucial question that everyone must answer for themselves. Jesus asks his disciples: "Who do you say I am?" The answer matters a great deal. Throughout human history many people of great spiritual insight and depth have made all kinds of claims about their identities and accomplishments. Peter answers the question of Jesus in a way that he approves: "You are the Christ, the Son of God." Fr. Jeff explains how this breakthrough on Peter's part changes everything in human history from here on out.

In today's Gospel reading Jesus ventures among outsiders, where he meets a woman in desperate need. Fr. Grady speculates that this Canaanite woman may have even heard about Jesus and is anticipating her encounter with him. She may have heard the stories of God's saving actions in history and hoped that meeting Jesus was the next opportunity she had for a blessing in her own life. The disciples try to make her go away, but Jesus, despite seeming at first unfeeling as well, is prevailed upon by this stranger of great faith. All people are thus welcome in the kingdom of God, the inheritors of the Jewish tradition and outsiders. From here on out Jesus is even more welcoming than before, and his disciples take his message of unearned grace around the world.

In today's Gospel reading the disciples are being buffeted by winds and waves, an episode that is hard to see in any other way than as a parable for our own lives, which are beset by difficulties. Fr. Jeff decodes three uses of the word "immediately" in this passage to signal what Jesus is trying to teach to his disciples and to us when he walks on water to be with them in the midst of their difficulties. Peter also realizes he can walk on water, which he can, through faith in Christ. Only when his faith is overwhelmed by the difficulties of his life does he start to sink. In whatever difficulty we may be facing, the point of the story is that Jesus is with us no matter what, and that with faith in him we too can walk on water. Every Sunday we too worship Christ as his disciples did on the boat. Historically the church has always thought of itself as a kind of boat for the safety and hope of Christians navigating a harsh world. There are both liturgical and eschatological aspects of this reality, both of which are established by this incident of Jesus's walking on the water and Peter with him.

All four Gospels report the miraculous feeding of the five thousand. Matthew's account particularly emphasizes the festal dimensions of this miracle, in which Fr. Jeff argues that we glimpse an anticipation of the Eucharistic meal. Matthew underscores the actions of taking, blessing, breaking, and giving away the bread of the banquet in the lonely place where Jesus feeds the crowds. These same actions are at the heart of our Eucharistic prayer. In this story we see some fundamental realities of God's actions in our world: God takes what we already have and turns it into a miracle. The miracle is almost unnoticeable, but we see that because everyone is satisfied at this meal and that twelve baskets of leftovers are retained by the crowds this incident is a rebuke of wasteful pagan feasting and an indicator of the bountiful feast that Jesus commands us to observe in church.

Matthew's Gospel continues to furnish parable after parable for our consideration. Fr. Jeff interprets four parables at the end of chapter 13 in light of Matthew's own commentary on Jesus's use of parables. Matthew connects Jesus's use of parables to the prophetic content of Psalm 78. Psalm 78 it turns out is a psalm of Asaph that recounts the history of God's interaction with his people Israel. Matthew connects this inner meaning of salvation history recounted in Psalm 78 with the work of Jesus, who brings salvation history to a final consummation in his own life and work. The kingdom of God it would seem comes to awareness almost imperceptibly but unmistakably a continuation of God's saving work in history.