The Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time (A), November 5, 2017 - Matthew 23:1-12 and Joshua 3:7-17

Frans Francken II (1581-1642): The Israelites Crossing the River Jordan

Cornell University

"Teacher," "Rabbi" and the Like

We Presbyterians now name

Our ministers for tasks reclaimed:

We're "teaching elders," for our role

That all may learn, in mind and soul,

God's grace. And Catholics still refer

To priests as "Father," which confers

A status that implies their love

To those below from God above.

Thus, Jesus' words now give me pause

In hope that he laid down no laws

Prohibiting what we are called!

But rather, pray he's still appalled

By any flouting ordination

As meaning character inflation.

Scott L. Barton

Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat; therefore, do whatever they teach you and follow it; but do not do as they do, for they do not practice what they teach. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others; but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them. They do all their deeds to be seen by others; for they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long. They love to have the place of honor at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have people call them rabbi. But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all students. And call no one your father on earth, for you have one Father—the one in heaven. Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Messiah. The greatest among you will be your servant. All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.

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Joshua 3:7-17

(I took this picture of the painting shown first, above, when I saw it three years ago at the Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell. I wonder why Francken painted the water on the left of the people as they crossed, since presumably the story has them crossing from east to west, which would put the Dead Sea to the south - and thus, "the heap" on their right. Anybody know?)

A Nation Where All Are Saved

The text progresses, as it must;

not Moses, out alone, or just

this Joshua, either, at this river,

this new, dividing sea the Giver

parts; but now, instead of one,

it looks like twelve ensure undone

the chaos that would interfere

with what the LORD would engineer.

They venture out into the deep,

which is no more, but just a heap

on their right hand, while on their left,

no waters stand; and they are blessed

to be a nation now, where all are saved -

Let us, just like those Jordan priests, behave.

Scott L. Barton

The Lord said to Joshua, “This day I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, so that they may know that I will be with you as I was with Moses. You are the one who shall command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, ‘When you come to the edge of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan.’” Joshua then said to the Israelites, “Draw near and hear the words of the Lord your God.” Joshua said, “By this you shall know that among you is the living God who without fail will drive out from before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites: the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is going to pass before you into the Jordan. So now select twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one from each tribe. When the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan flowing from above shall be cut off; they shall stand in a single heap.”

When the people set out from their tents to cross over the Jordan, the priests bearing the ark of the covenant were in front of the people. Now the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the time of harvest. So when those who bore the ark had come to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests bearing the ark were dipped in the edge of the water, the waters flowing from above stood still, rising up in a single heap far off at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan, while those flowing toward the sea of the Arabah, the Dead Sea, were wholly cut off. Then the people crossed over opposite Jericho. While all Israel were crossing over on dry ground, the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan, until the entire nation finished crossing over the Jordan.

The Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time (A), October 29, 2017 - Matthew 22:34-46 and 1 Thessalonians 2:1-8

Matthew 22:34-46

from First United Methodist Church, Bristol, Tennessee 

fumcbristol.org

The Fundamentalist

Though Jesus knows the point of metaphor,

Which is, unto the heart, an open door,

And knows you cannot parse how David's Lord

And son, Messiah, both are in accord,

He is a fundamentalist, it's clear,

On whether we should love our neighbor, dear,

For otherwise, one's faith is undercut.

Go, love, he says; no ifs, or ands, or buts.

Scott L. Barton

When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “’You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them this question: “What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.” He said to them, “How is it then that David by the Spirit calls him Lord, saying, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet”’? If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?” No one was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.

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1 Thessalonians 2:1-8

 Julia Margaret Cameron (1815-1879): The Kiss of Peace (1869)

Item: A doctor goes from Worcester, Massachusetts to Liberia, learns how to put on and take off the protective gear, and, when caring for a pastor with Ebola, finds himself prayed for before the pastor dies: http://nyti.ms/1rh6o07

The Doctor Who's a Nurse

The pastor prayed for Dr. Hatch

Who'd known he could not stay detached

From human need, and thus has dared

To give, to those he might, God's care.

I know not if he calls it such;

I know not, if he prays, how much,

Or if he thinks that he's been called;

But this I know: that writer Paul,

When speaking of the tender nurse

Whose gentle care for children mercy

Shows, cares more for deeds than words,

And giving self is grace conferred.

Scott L. Barton

You yourselves know, brothers and sisters, that our coming to you was not in vain, but though we had already suffered and been shamefully mistreated at Philippi, as you know, we had courage in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in spite of great opposition. For our appeal does not spring from deceit or impure motives or trickery, but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the message of the gospel, even so we speak, not to please mortals, but to please God who tests our hearts. As you know and as God is our witness, we never came with words of flattery or with a pretext for greed; nor did we seek praise from mortals, whether from you or from others, though we might have made demands as apostles of Christ. But we were gentle among you, like a nurse tenderly caring for her own children. So deeply do we care for you that we are determined to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you have become very dear to us.

The Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time (A), October 22, 2017 - Matthew 22:15-22 and Exodus 33:12-23

(Matthew 22:15-22)

USA Today Sports / Reuters

Coin of the Realm

Some say that players should not take the knee

When others rise for "Oh, say can you see?"

They say that it's a mark of disrespect,

And verbally abuse those they'd correct.

It's something like when Jesus' enemies

Pulled out a coin for everyone to see,

And asked if he might choose to pay the tax

And thus the Law on idols he'd relax.

Instead, it was a broader truth he chose,

Which was that Caesar's head is juxtaposed

Against a faith God's sovereign over all,

Therefore, to Caesar, none should be in thrall.

These players don't forsake the waving flag,

But state a truth about which none should brag,

Which is that in this land made of the free,

Some cops give blacks more than the third degree.

They kneel in sorrow so opinions change,

So all for justice might now be engaged.

Not flag, but what it stands for is what saves:

Say kneelers who act out "home of the brave."

We are not free because arms make it so,

The Declaration's clear that we're bestowed

With rights by God, however you perceive;

So stand and kneel for all that you believe.

Scott L. Barton

Then the Pharisees went and plotted to entrap [Jesus] in what he said. So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?” But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin used for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. Then he said to them, “Whose head is this, and whose title?” They answered, “The emperor’s.” Then he said to them, “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”When they heard this, they were amazed; and they left him and went away.

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(Exodus 33:12-23)

Rembrandt: Moses and the Burning Bush (ca. 1655)

The Conversation

Moses keeps upping the ante,

He asks the LORD for more and more.

Though it seems this LORD knows his name -

What are your ways? How keep favor?

(Besides they're YOUR baby, not mine)

And really, who will go with me?

The LORD says, I'll go.

                                         Moses: Mean it?

The LORD says, Yes, yes; as you'll see.

       We'll really stand out, that's for sure.

The LORD says, Yes, yes; you I bless.

        But where is the proof positive?

The LORD says, My glory's my goodness,

Which means, I choose you, not you, me;

Mercy and graciousness are mine.

Such giving's what my goodness means;

The back you see, will be your sign.

A couple on a recent flight

Told me the Lord they also seek,

This text, however makes me think,

When Moses sees the LORD, oblique,

It's not that Moses just was mooned,

But it's the other way around -

The Lord's the one who seeks you out,

Let not your search such truth confound.

Scott L. Barton 

(Dedicated to that delightful couple, Steve and Caroline.)

Moses said to the Lord, “See, you have said to me, ‘Bring up this people’; but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.’ Now if I have found favor in your sight, show me your ways, so that I may know you and find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.” He said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” And he said to him, “If your presence will not go, do not carry us up from here. For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people, unless you go with us? In this way, we shall be distinct, I and your people, from every people on the face of the earth.” The Lord said to Moses, “I will do the very thing that you have asked; for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.” Moses said, “Show me your glory, I pray.” And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim before you the name, ‘The Lord’; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But,” he said, “you cannot see my face; for no one shall see me and live.” And the Lord continued, “See, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock; and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by; then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back; but my face shall not be seen.”

The Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time (A), October 15, 2017 - Matthew 22:1-14 and Exodus 32:1-14 [15-20]

Looking Like a Million Dollars

I'm not sure how the punishment

Described by Jesus fits the crime -

The killing and the burning here

Should not be told in children's time!

But those who will not recognize

The lavish gift of every day

Are doomed to miss the best of life,

And find themselves, in time, dismayed. 

It's not so much the underdressed

Wore shorts, say, but that they were short

On caring for why they'd been called,

And thus, God's purposes would thwart;

In Christ's an invitation to 

A life that's clothed by love, transformed,

So that your heart is made anew,

And garbed for grace for all, your norm.

Scott L. Barton

Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come. Again he sent other slaves, saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready; come to the wedding banquet.’ But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his slaves, mistreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.’ Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad; so the wedding hall was filled with guests. “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe, and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?’ And he was speechless.Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.”

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Matthew 22:1-14

 Emile Nolde: Dance Around the Golden Calf (1910)

[Note: This poem highlights how important it is for the reader of the text in worship to speak with conviction, with surprise at the news proclaimed, and most of all, a palpable sense that the reader believes this stuff he or she is proclaiming. The reader in the poem was one of my daughters, Lindsay Barton Cassidy - who, by the way, is getting married in the first picture above!]

Unforgettable Reading

She must have been just eight years-old,

I asked her if she'd read that day;

Her voice, so strong and so controlled,

I hear it in my mind's replay

(An octave higher than 'tis now)

It woke the people up, so clear!

With bold expression, furrowed brow,

Her Moses pleads the LORD might hear,

And change his mind! But grace not cheap,

Her rising voice described the scene

Of reveling and dancers' leaps,

And Moses, hot - not church serene! -

With tablets smashed - and calf all burned -

To powder, ground - and then in rage -

The most bizarre - how Israel learned

No idol can our thirst assuage!

I love the passion of that day;

No age can take such faith away.

Scott L. Barton

When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered around Aaron, and said to him, “Come, make gods for us, who shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” Aaron said to them, “Take off the gold rings that are on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” So all the people took off the gold rings from their ears, and brought them to Aaron. He took the gold from them, formed it in a mold, and cast an image of a calf; and they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a festival to the Lord.” They rose early the next day, and offered burnt offerings and brought sacrifices of well-being; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to revel.

The Lord said to Moses, “Go down at once! Your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have acted perversely; they have been quick to turn aside from the way that I commanded them; they have cast for themselves an image of a calf, and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt! The Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, how stiff-necked they are. Now let me alone, so that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them; and of you I will make a great nation.” But Moses implored the Lord his God, and said, “O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce wrath; change your mind and do not bring disaster on your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, how you swore to them by your own self, saying to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants like the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’“ And the Lord changed his mind about the disaster that he planned to bring on his people.

[Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain, carrying the two tablets of the covenant in his hands, tablets that were written on both sides, written on the front and on the back. The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved upon the tablets. When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is a noise of war in the camp.” But he said, “It is not the sound made by victors, or the sound made by losers; it is the sound of revelers that I hear.” As soon as he came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses’ anger burned hot, and he threw the tablets from his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain. He took the calf that they had made, burned it with fire, ground it to powder, scattered it on the water, and made the Israelites drink it.]