25th Sunday after Pentecost

November 18, 2007



When I read today’s passages, I noticed that there were two people in these passages. There were those that are spoken to, the righteous, and those that are spoken about, the unrighteous.

To the righteous, these three passages offer a message of hope; if the righteous persevere, they will prevail and be rewarded.

Notice in Malachi how the wicked will be punished but the righteous will be healed. I am sure that there are people in this room that have experienced the horrors of war and famine and can relate to the desperate desire to see the oppressor punished.

In Luke we see a similar image of hope. Though our families might hate us for our faith, Jesus promises that we will gain our lives eternally. Then Christ assures us that there is nothing to fear; even our words will be provided in times of trial.

And then there is Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians. Paul really breaks it down and deals with the various conflicts that can arise within the church. Paul reminds us of what types of people pull the church down. Paul encourages those that are righteous to persevere.

Of course, most of us identify with the writer - I know that I do.

I certainly know of folks that are evil in this world; from the archetype Nazi to the recent horrors of Rwanda and terrorism. We also can identify those that are ungodly. We can identify folks we know that reject us because of our faith. And how many of us have met a person, even a Christian, who is a deceiver. And of course, there are many that we can point out who are not busy, but merely busybodies.

We all know them. Or at least I know that I do.

All three of these passages offer hope to those that are feeling discouraged by the negative of this world.

And the hope offered in these passages is the message of the Gospel; for God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that who ever believes in him shall have eternal life. Eternal life!

Yet, there is still this other element in these passages. There are those that are written to and those that are written about. There are those that these messages are written to, the righteous. And there are those that these messages are written about, the unrighteous.

It is the easy one, the one that is written to, that I gravitate toward; to read the condemnation of the other and stand with the condemner; God, the apostle, the disciple.

How many of us can read these passages as passages about us.

Can we read Malachi and wonder why we are so arrogant?

And yet, even the “we” is a trap. As soon as I stated that the passage is about us, I am off the hook. I can sort of slide over to the “better” side and point to those that are more arrogant then me. “We” allows me wriggle room. I need to read this passage as Jim, and I need to read this passage and wonder not if I am arrogant, but rather know that I am arrogant.

Can I read the words of Christ and seriously consider that I am the deceiver that He speaks of.

Can I read Paul and find that I am not the busy one but the busy body.

Can I lose the scales of self righteousness from my eyes and face the fact that I may be the one in these passages that is being written about, not to.

And I am being written about here. Not because I stand up here and speculate on the sinful nature of all of us and sort of objectify the idea - but because I am confronted, daily, by my nature - in a memory I have of a conversation. There is an encounter that I had that has always haunted me and reminded to try to think first and speak later – not that I succeed at this very much.

I have a friend from my childhood whom I had lost contact with until several years ago. While we were catching up on each other’s lives, wives and kids, he asked where I had received my vocational training. I stated “in the Army and at SJCC, not at one of those private technical colleges because those places were all about taking your money and not teaching you. “And then we moved onto other topics. Later ask him where he worked and he proceeded to tell me, with no ranker I might mention, that he was an instructor at one of those private technical colleges. What could I say to recover from my gaff?

Later on we did some work together and I was having trouble remembering and electronic equation for a repair and he asked what I was looking up. I told him, where upon he whipped the equation out for me from his memory! And again, never said anything about my slight to not only his school but also his professional career. Obviously, that has haunted me and as he has died, it is a conversation that I can never correct.

Again, do I have the courage to face the fact that I am the one that these passages are being written about; the arrogant one, the deceiver, the busy body.

These passages must first be read personally or the power of their message is lost. We cannot be transformed unless we acknowledge that the passages are both to and about us – as individuals.

These passages are written about me because I am not faithful, I am not honest, I am not busy with Gods work.

These passages are written about us because we are not faithful, we are not honest, we are not busy with Gods work.

These passages are also written to me because I know that I have sinned and fallen short of the Grace of God and that God sent His only Son so that whom ever believes in him will have salvation.

These passages are also written to us because we have sinned and fallen short of the Grace of God and God sent His only Son to and for us so that whom ever believes in him will have salvation.

While I am the one written about in these passages, I am also the one written to; if I revere God’s name, God will heal me. If I do not grow weary doing what is right, if I endure, I will gain my soul.

While we are the ones written about in these passages, we are also the ones written to; if we revere God’s name, God will heal us, If we do not grow weary doing what is right, if we endure, we will gain our soul.

Though I am sinful, I am saved by grace; Though we are sinful, we are saved by grace and how sweet that is.

Amen.