"The Reasons Behind", Sept 25,2011

Judges 9:1-26
Matthew 21:23-46
Last week, following the Worship Service a Coffee Clutch were looking for a place to meet, and asked if it is permissible to drink coffee in the Sanctuary? We are adults, there is no carpeting to be stained, I knew of one church that the walls of the Sanctuary were lined with mugs in order that listening to the sermon you could have a cup of coffee to hold and sip while listening. All of which refers, as do our Scripture lessons for this day, to the question of : “By Whose Authority and By What Evidence do we make important decisions?” What are the REASONS BEHIND OUR CHOICES?
How do you know, if the decisions of this day will be pleasing to God, or evil, benefiting you alone, or benefiting your family, our community, history, and does it matter which you try to please?

In the Book of Judges, the chorus that is repeated after every story is that at that time there was no legitimate monarch in Israel and each one judged what seemed right in their own mind. After Moses, Joshua, among the lineage of Judges was Gideon, who fought against the Midianites to claim the land. As a warrior leader, Gideon lived a long time, fathering over 70 children! But after Gideon died who would rule, who would make decisions, how do we know whom to trust? One of Gideon's illegitimate sons Abimelech, poses the question in the negative: “So which is less offensive, to be ruled over by one king or by 70?” Would you fear being ruled by Abimelech alone, or all 70 of his brothers squabbling?

In addition to having Gideon as a Father, Abimelech's mother was from the people of Shechem. Abimelech appealed to them out of a sense of race and culture, shared history, that we are bone of bone and flesh of flesh. Therefore, do not trust the other 70 brothers, instead trust the one who is like you. And the people of Shechem followed Abimelech in murder of all 70 of the Sons of Gideon, Abimelech's brothers

There are two rules given ministers in Seminary. That when you come into a new Call, do not make any changes for the first two years. And, while you could change anything in the church, do not change where people sit on Sunday morning. When we came to Skaneateles, Capital Campaign I was in debt, the architects were ready with Capital Campaign II, the Organ Task Force had been working for ten years, and past abuses of a pastor had recently been prosecuted. Not doing anything, was not an option. At the end of our second year together, we moved all the pews, maintaining roughly where seats had been before, but now with different aisles and clear focus on what we are doing in worship. However, among the first things we did, was to reread our history of this Church, coming to know each other, and claim that heritage as bone of Adam and Eve as bone and flesh of flesh, claiming that this was not the first or only time there had been controversy, and partnering to claim a shared identity in using the church's resources for mission in the community and world.

We sing the songs and wave the palms of Jesus' entry on Palm Sunday, but when Jesus entered Jerusalem, entered the Temple, the Temple Priests and Scribes and Pharisees asked: “By What Authority do you do these things?” To which Jesus replied, did John the Baptizer, whom you rejected, baptize on the authority of God, or not? It is easy enough to reply “History will Judge” but what do we do in the meantime? And how can we rebuild trust when we make a wrong decisions?

At times it seems as though the Bible is OBTUSE. Why, when a straight forward question is asked, does the Bible not give a straight forward answer, but instead parables. There are direct answers that we refuse to listen to. By addressing answers in metaphor, allegory and parable, we are required to mull over the answer, remembering the story and questioning if it applies to us.

There are great tragedies in Jotham's Parable, not only that the Thorny bramble represents Abimelech, but that among potential Kings of the Forest, the Olive Tree did not see itself as being governed by the Olive Branch of Peace, but only by having to give up the fatness that honors Gods and Men. The Fig Tree saw having to give up sweet pleasures and good fruit. The Vine is not the New Testament Vine that all branches are part of, where nutrients are pushed up from the roots, but only that it would need to give up wine and celebration, in order to govern. In short, according to Jotham's Parable because no one else was willing to risk giving up what they had, in order to make hard decisions, to lead, the Authority of the Forest was the least satisfied member. And in poetic twist, Jotham's Parable that if they truly trust the Bramble inviting all the other trees to gather in its shade, wherein they are consumed by fire, in the end, Abimelech leads his army to siege a city, burning their crops, pouring salt on their fields, which in the battle causes them all to die. Abimelech has his neck broken by a woman in the tower dropping a millstone upon him, and wanting to not be remembered as having been beaten by a woman, Abimelech begs one of his own to kill him. Questions of Authority are terrible awful stories.

A few weeks ago, when hurricanes showered the East Coast, and Earthquakes shook Washington DC, some of the Political candidates claimed authority for the destruction was from God. Then backed away from the rhetoric by claiming they were only joking. The point of such devastation is not that these were ACTS OF GOD, or even CHAOS being unleashed. But rather to claim and accept that LIFE IS FRAGILE, and far too short, therefore to wonder whether the business we have been about is pleasing to God, or inviting chaos. As we re-build DESTINY in Syracuse, are we only constructing a shopping mall, or creating buildings that not only leave no carbon footprint, but actually benefit the Earth?

Jesus replies to the Authorities of the Temple with a series of Parables. Among these is the Parable of the Vineyard, which has often been misconstrued by Anti-Semitism and Hate, that earlier authorities in the Church directly equated those who killed the Prophets and Killed the Son and Heir, as being the Jews. This is one of the passages that was used by Naziism to justify what they called the “Final Conclusion” the Gas Chambers of the Holocaust. The difficulty in imposing our perspectives on a parable as being a one dimensional Analogy, is that the interpreters ignored the reality that all the Prophets and the Son were also Jewish. To which, Albert Einstein made the claim that the only Social Organization that could stand up to Naziism was the Religious Community. The point of this parable is not Anti-Semitism, but that any time the Community of Faith rejects the authority of God, rejects the call of the Holy Spirit, ignores faith, we risk being like those tenants.

The parable of the Sons is not that the one was Judaism and the other Gentiles, but that real authority is not that which we immediately respond to, but rather that which rules our lives and decision making. What are our authorities? Do we act in response to God, or out of our own desires, or motivated by our lusts, our greed, evil? What are the reasons behind our choices and when questioned do we have authorities to believe in? Part of the beauty of the Parable of the Sons, is that we could always turn again and do what is right...