18 Pentecost (Year A)
Matthew 21:23-32
St. John’s, West Seneca
September 27, 2026
Grace to you and Peace from God our Father and the LORD Jesus Christ. Amen.
Today’s gospel has two parts and then a “yes” parable. Jesus is interrupted by the chief priests and elders as he is teaching. They wanted to know, really, whether he had a license to teach, and if so, who gave him permission. Jesus responds in typical rabbinical fashion. Answer with a question. “Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?” The priests and scribes didn’t want to say John’s baptism was from heaven, because Jesus — they presumed— would then ask why they didn’t believe in a baptism from heaven. But they didn’t want to say that his baptism was from men, or of human origin, because this would antagonize the public, because they believed that John was a great prophet. So, they said, “We do not know.” Basically, Jesus calls their bluff. “You lose. I am not going to tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”
A group of military leaders builds an AI-powered super computer able to solve any problem, large or small, strategic or tactical. The decorated generals with a galaxy of stars pinned to their lapels gather in front of the new machine for a demonstration. The engineer conducting the demonstration instructs the officers to feed a difficult tactical problem into it. The military leaders proceed to describe a hypothetical situation to the computer and then ask the pivotal question: “attack or retreat?” The enormous super-computer hums and then delivers its one-word answer: “Yes.”
The generals look at each other, stupefied. One of them submits a second request to the computer: “YES, WHAT?” The computer instantly responds: “YES, SIR.”
Jesus then continues with the parable of the two sons, a parable found only in Matthew. One son says that he will not do what his father has asked him to do, but later changes his mind and does what his father asked. The second son says that he will do what his father has asked him to do, but then doesn’t do it. Jesus’s question is: “Which of the two did the will of his father?”
And so they answered: The first. Now, as the learned scholars of the day, those priests and scribes knew the answer to Jesus’s questions. They were well acquainted with the Scriptures and the law, as well as tradition. They taught it. But as is the problem with so many; they did not live it.
It all comes down to Rhetoric vs. Reality.
“The sinners," Jesus says, "are entering ‘the kingdom of God ahead of you.’” The sinners are those who say “No” to God, but then believe and obey. The others are those who say “Yes” to God, but then do not obey.
As the early Christians told and retold this story, they realized that this was more than commentary on the leaders of the synagogue. This parable speaks to our lives and the way we live, what we say and what we do. We know that there’s lots of talk; that there are many who “talk the talk,” but seldom “walk the talk.” Jesus reminds us that not all who say “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven. And we know all too well that it is just not that easy to do what God asks. But in this parable and in the end, it’s not what the sons say that matters eternally. It is not their words. It’s what they do.
It’s the behavior of the sons that Jesus emphasizes. The one son looks and sounds good. He’s quick, talks a good game. But he is disobedient. He is not to be trusted. He lies to his father, as if dear old dad will never find out what really happened. As if his father isn’t going to see past his charade.
Now, as to the other son, he speaks his mind, and tells his dad what the Father doesn’t what to hear. Dad asks for help. “No sir, not me.”
He speaks rashly. Maybe he isn’t as quick or slick as his brother, but eventually, he comes to his senses and does what his father asks him to do. He does not sneak off. He rolls the idea around in his head, makes up his mind, and goes to do the right thing.
That is where we are today. Time and time again, Christians contend with confusing and contradictory issues concerning how someone appears vs. how he or she behaves. They say one thing, then do another. It’s time to get our spiritual values straight – because what is on the inside matters.
“The Dalai Lama said it well: ‘Every change of mind is first of all a change of heart.’" I think the opposite is true as well, that every change of heart is a change of mind.
The faith of a Christian shows. Christianity is a DOING religion. Are we the faithful or the unfaithful son? Both lied to the Father. But one changed his mind, and in so doing, does the will of the father.
Faithful Christians do, not because they have to, but because they want to, out of the thankfulness of a grateful heart. Deceitful Christians may fool themselves, but they can’t fool God. Before God, all of us are transparent. We can’t hide anything, not our actions, our intentions, our thoughts.
Too many people put too much stock in what appears to be, rather than what is. Certain people may appear to be good Christians. They attend the right church, to be seen with the right people and to give to the right charities. They wear the right clothes, speak the right words, read the right books, but often, they are like the son who lies to his father, expecting never to get caught. They are like the Pharisees.
On the other hand, in this parable, Jesus points to the prostitutes and the tax collectors, whose appearance is definitely not right, but whose hearts are. They are like that second son. They’re not synagogue people. They are scorned. They are outcasts, barely tolerated and despised.
Jesus says the prostitutes and tax men are going to get into heaven before the holier-than-thou Pharisees. They may not know the law, they may say “no,” but they know enough to recognize the truth when they hear it. Once they hear it, their hearts change. And once their hearts change, they live out their faith.
Who among us has been like either son? We all know how hard it is keep the promises we have made. They just slip away. And so, when it comes to this parable, we tend to direct it toward others. Lord knows we have plenty of targets: TV evangelists with the success gospels, the megachurches, politicians.
Because of all this bad press, the world has learned to turn away from our empty words. But what stops them in their tracks every time are those who really do “walk the talk.”
That is transformation. We come here to be transformed, to be clay in the potter’s hands. Isn’t one of our favorite songs: Change my heart, O God? Are you ready to do it? To be changed?
The chief priests and the elders were “in a rut’ and could not see beyond it. They could no longer understand how God could and would transform them. But for those on the outside, who may have said “no,” Jesus’s words turn them around.
Words do have power, but so do actions. Transformation is putting them together and changing the world, or at least our little corner of it.
“Do we find it easy to say ‘Yes’ when God confronts us with a possibility for service, but difficult to follow the ‘Yes’ with corresponding obedience?
"Perhaps the lesson is don’t be afraid to say, ‘No.’ No, God, I can’t do that.
"Then, let’s be willing to have a change of heart. Hasn’t God always asked us to change, to have a change of heart, even a new heart and a right spirit?”
"What will be your answer to: “Go, and work in the vineyard today.” ?
Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria.
17 Pentecost (Year A)
Matthew
St. John’s, West Seneca
September 20, 2026
Grace to you and Peace from God our Father and the LORD Jesus Christ. Amen.
We come to Jonah today, and while the story is mostly known for its sea creature that swallows Jonah whole, there is so much more. And one of the points we miss is the comedy of it all.
Jonah is the reluctant, recalcitrant prophet. He doesn’t want to go to Nineveh and is defiant about it. Now, to give him his due, he did understand how difficult it is to speak for God, so his lack of enthusiasm is understandable. God gives him this mission: “Go at once to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before me.” When Jonah heard that, he was even more upset. These people are foreigners and off his beat, thank you. And besides that, it sounds like an impossible mission. Jonah is asked to go to the capital of Assyria, a powerful enemy of Israel, then preach against them.
So Jonah bolts in the opposite direction, in and of itself funny, almost like a sitcom. (Remember that Seinfeld episode, where George decided to do the opposite, because his luck is so bad?) Does Jonah believe God won’t notice the direction he’s taking? In any event he leaves for Tarshish in an effort to escape, hops on a boat, encounters a storm, is thrown overboard, and is swallowed by the famous fish. Jonah is such a bellyful that even that great creature cannot tolerate him and finally he is spewed out on dry land, and the word of the Lord comes to him again: “Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you.”
This time Jonah goes to Nineveh. I imagine it was quite the site, as he made his way through that great and wicked city. “Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”
To Jonah’s surprise, the Ninevites take his warning to heart, and repent of their sins. They proclaim a fast and put on sackcloth, young and old alike. Even the king of Nineveh rises from his throne, removes his robe, covers himself in sackcloth, and sits in ashes. He calls everyone in the city to turn from their evil ways.
When God sees what they do, he changes his mind. They don’t die; they live. That is the good news and should be the end of the story.
That’s where it becomes somewhat humorous. What does Jonah do? He sulks; he goes outside the city walls and pouts. What does God do with this ornery prophet? God provides a bush to give shade for Jonah. And it is a relief. God then causes the bush to wither, leaving Jonah angry and moping once again. That is where we find Jonah today.
God speaks to his wayward prophet: “You are concerned about the bush, for which you did not labor and which you did not grow; it came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should I not be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not know their right hand from their left…”
What God is saying is this: ‘here you are, (Jonah), upset for one plant that you did not grow and has now shriveled up, so what’s wrong with having pity for this whole place that’s headed for hell in a handbasket?”
Jonah is a humorous story because it speaks to human behavior, and the difference between what we want, and what God wants. I understand that the entire book of Jonah is read on Yom Kippur because it reminds our brothers and sisters – and us -that:
It reminds us that no one can hide from God or run away. God’s presence is everywhere. God accepts sincere repentance, showing that anyone can change and receive God’s mercy.
And most importantly, we are reminded that the Creator of the Universe cares for all humanity, not just one group.
Paired with this Jonah text is the parable of the workers in the field. The message is similar. This is what Frederick Buechner says about parables,
“A parable is a small story with a large point. Most of the ones Jesus told have a kind of sad fun about them. The parables of the Crooked Judge, the Sleepy Friend, and the Distraught Father are really jokes in their way, at least part of whose point seems to be that a silly question deserves a silly answer. In the Prodigal Son, the elder brother's pious pique when the returning prodigal gets the red-carpet treatment is worthy of Moliere's Tartuffe, as is the outraged legalism of the Laborers in the Vineyard when Johnny-Come-Lately gets as big a slice of the worm as the Early Bird. The point of the Unjust Steward is that it's better to be a resourceful rascal than a saintly schlemiel, and of the Talents that, spiritually speaking, playing the market will get you further than playing it safe. ... With parables and jokes both, if you have to have it explained, don't bother.” --Frederick Buechner, Wishful Thinking: A Theological ABC (New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1973), 66-67.
There is a message for us in these readings, this Scripture, humor aside, but it has nothing to do with how fair the world may be, but instead with how interesting it can be when in the service of God, especially if we have our own ideas about how God is supposed to function and operate within our own world.
If we volunteer to serve God with our own agenda, job description, outcome statements in hand — we’re setting ourselves up for disappointment. Jonah was disappointed, as were those early workers, but that’s not the point. Here is.
God’s ways are not our ways, as Jonah and those laborers learned. God enters into an agreement with each of those workers and each group agreed to the terms. Jonah was part of God’s covenant, one of His chosen people. And yet God chooses to save Nineveh.
Did it turn out to be equal? No. Does God destroy Nineveh? No. By our standards, something is off. But our standards are not God’s standards. This parable, along with Jonah, reminds us that God’s way may shock and even offend the accepted standards. It’s unsettling and it challenges our belief in how we measure.
One of the “God Pause” writers this week spoke about this:
“We understand fairness as equal pay for equal work. But Jesus is not giving a lesson in payroll practices; he is revealing key insights about the kingdom of heaven, where grace is not a paycheck but a gift. This is good news at the heart of the gospel: God does not love us because we have earned it. Our hours, achievements, or spiritual résumés do not measure God's mercy. God's generosity can feel threatening when we are busy comparing ourselves to others. Yet the Lord's kindness to another person does not diminish the Lord's kindness to us. Grace is not scarce. Forgiveness is not divided into smaller portions when more sinners are welcomed home. God's abundance is large enough for all.”
Think of it this way. God loves each one of us, individually, and unconditionally, warts and all. Does God love you? The answer is yes. Did Jesus die for your sins, so that you can have forgiveness and eternal life? Yes. Is the Holy Spirit promised to act in our lives? Yes. When you come to this table, you hear: “The body of Christ, given for you. For you. We are not supposed to be comparing ourselves with anyone. “Comparison is the thief of joy.”
This is God’s to give, and so what if those other laborers came after you. It does not negate God’s love for you. And so what if those people are evil and they repented and God decides to be merciful? It is God’s to give, and no matter how much God gives, there is still enough left over for you and for me. I’m reminded of the Dennis the Menace cartoon where Dennis says to his friend. “Mrs. Wilson doesn’t give us cookies because we’re nice. She gives us cookies because she’s nice.” As is God. Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria.
16 Pentecost (Year A)
Genesis 50
St. John’s, West Seneca
September 13, 2026
Grace to you and Peace from God our Father and the LORD Jesus Christ. Amen.
The story of Joseph is well-known, immortalized as it is in Andrew Lloyd Weber’s JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT. You know the story. Father has a son with most favored wife; other sons are jealous, sons find way to get even; most favored ends up most favored in a foreign land; years later, as favored one had predicted, sons need food; find that most favored son now in power.
Joseph, the first son of his father Jacob's favored wife, takes center stage late in Genesis. A precocious, no-expense-spared child, he incurs the wrath of his 10 older brothers with dreams, or rather, his interpretation of them. He dreams that in various ways his brothers will one day bow before him, and being the gifted person that he is, goes and tells his brothers as they are out working. Those brothers did not have long fuses, and one day, after Joseph received a special coat, they plan to rid themselves of this annoyance. One day they throw him into a pit, and seeing a caravan in the distance, sell him into slavery. Then, in order to persuade their father, they make up a story about Joseph being wounded and killed by a wild animal, going so far as to dip his coat in blood as evidence.
They meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. Joseph lands in Egypt, is situated in the house of Potiphar until Potiphar’s wife accuses him of sexual assault, whereupon, once again, he’s a prisoner. Here is where his life takes a turn. Two of his fellow captives are former employees of the Pharaoh, and each has disturbing dreams. Joseph, whose dreams got him into trouble at home, and having the gift of dream interpretation, decodes their dreams accurately; one is executed and the other is returned to Pharaoh’s favor. Joseph begs the latter to remember him.
Like any good story, the servant forgets, until some time in the future. It is now Pharaoh’s turn to be harassed by dreams, and Joseph is recalled from prison to interpret and give counsel. His forecast that there will be seven years of plenty and seven years of scarcity strikes the Pharoah as true, and Joseph is soon promoted to watch over the granaries that will soon be filled.
And it comes to pass. Scarcity comes not only to Egypt, but also to Canaan. Joseph’s brothers have to travel to Egypt for grain. Joseph recognizes them instantly, while the brothers remain unaware. Is this where the forgiveness happens?
No. He accuses them of being spies, and when they explain their situation, Joseph demands that one must stay – Simeon – and the others can go, but they must return with the youngest brother…Benjamin. And he does give them grain, but after receiving their payment, places it in the bags. And by the way, Joseph overhears all this discussion as his brothers don’t know that he can understand them. He hears regret about what they did. He also weeps.
And so they return to Jacob, who is bereaved and refuses to send Benjamin, until the grain runs low. This time, he allows Benjamin to go, and sends the money from before and new payment, plus a gift honey and pistachios.
Joseph invites them to his house, and the brothers get nervous again. Joseph inquires about the “old man,” is he well? When he sees Benjamin, he is overcome and must leave the room to weep.
They dine and Benjamin receives five times the amount. Once again, they leave, with sacks of grain and once again with their payment. This time Joseph has his silver cup placed in Benjamin’s bag. Of course, they are followed and Joseph demands that Benjamin stay, as he is the one who has the cup. Judah begs Joseph, telling him that if they return without Benjamin, they fear their father will die.
“Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all those who stood by him, and he cried out, “Send everyone away from me.” So no one stayed with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. 2 And he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it. 3 Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him, so dismayed were they at his presence.
4 Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come closer to me.” And they came closer. He said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. 5 And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. 6 For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are five more years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. 7 God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to keep alive for you many survivors. 8 So it was not you who sent me here but God; he has made me a father to Pharaoh and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt. 9 Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me; do not delay. 10 You shall settle in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children’s children, as well as your flocks, your herds, and all that you have. 11 I will provide for you there, since there are five more years of famine to come, so that you and your household and all that you have will not come to poverty.’ 12 And now your eyes and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see that it is my own mouth that speaks to you. 13 You must tell my father how greatly I am honored in Egypt and all that you have seen. Hurry and bring my father down here.” 14 Then he fell upon his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, while Benjamin wept upon his neck. 15 And he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them, and after that his brothers talked with him.”
Jacob comes to Egypt to live out his days, and after his death, his ten sons are once again wary that Joseph will punish them, and so present themselves as his slaves. Joseph – in a remarkable act of forgiveness - says this: “Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good, in order to preserve a numerous people, as he is doing today.”
But what is this thing called forgiveness? As we see in the Genesis text, it is a spiritual struggle, a process which is done sometimes quickly, other times, slowly, gradually, taking years. But there is a common theme.
- "To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you." — Maya Angelou (often attributed to Lewis B. Smedes)
- "Not forgiving is like drinking rat poison and then waiting for the rat to die." — Anne Lamott (or Maya Angelou)
- "Forgiveness is the key that unlocks the door of resentment and the handcuffs of hatred." — Corrie ten Boom
- "The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong." — Mahatma Gandhi
- "Anger makes you smaller, while forgiveness forces you to grow beyond what you were." — Cherie Carter-Scott
- "When you forgive, you in no way change the past - but you sure do change the future." — Bernard Meltzer
- "Forgiveness says you are given another chance to make a new beginning." — Desmond Tutu
You will have noticed that with these sayings you are the one set free. That is what needs to be learned. Joseph’s road to forgiveness is not immediate. He needs time. Even though he has a high position in Egypt, and has it all, that youth who was sold into slavery still has a voice. But…
- He finds that he is the prisoner who is now set free.
- He finds that the key to unlock what came before is to forgive.
- And he is strong, so Joseph forgives. And in that moment, he becomes larger.
- He changes his future and makes a new beginning
This whole world is in need of forgiveness for one thing or another. Today Jesus goes even farther, telling us to forgive 77 times, and reminding us that it is non=negotiable. It is part and parcel of the Lord’s Prayer. No matter what we think, forgiveness is about the present and the future. We want to live our lives with God, not with those who hurt us in the past. Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria.
14 Pentecost (Year A)
Romans
St. John’s, West Seneca
August 30, 2026
Grace to you and Peace from God our Father and the LORD Jesus Christ. Amen.
Each morning, one of the tasks of the chaplains is to offer a prayer to the hospital on the overhead system. In order to make this a bit easier on those crazy mornings, I pulled together 31 prayers, one for each day, and put them in a binder. That way, if crunched for time, there will be less stress.
It works well. I have prayers from Julian of Norwich, St. Benedict, Luther, a Native American prayer. On Friday, as I turned to the prayer for the 28th of the month, I once again pondered: where does the time go? And so, going back into my archives of illustrations that I want you to recall, I found this.
“I want you to imagine this. Your bank, beginning tomorrow, will credit your account each morning with $86,400. There is a catch. It will carry no balance from day to day, and each night whatever you fail to us will be deleted. Gone, wiped clean. What would you do? You would spend every cent!
"Each of us has this bank, and its name is TIME. Every morning, it credits you with 86,400 seconds. Every night it writes off, as lost, whatever of this you have failed to invest to a good purpose. It carries over no balance. It allows no overdraft. Each day there is a new account opened. Each night the remains of that day are burned. If you fail to make the most of the day’s deposits, the loss is yours. There is no going back. There is not drawing against “tomorrow.” You are to live in the present on today’s deposits. How will you use it? How much sleep? How much laughter? How much worrying? When Robert Fulghum wrote ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW I LEARNED IN KINDERGARTEN, with its famous “to do” list, I think he was on to something. Warm cookies and milk are good for you. You should live a balanced life. Taking a nap isn’t always a bad idea either. And so you must make choices. Invest your time so as to get from it the utmost in health, joy and success! The clock is running.
"Now, you might well ask yourself, what is a day? There are those days and weeks we would like to forget. What’s a minute here or there, or an hour? What is the big deal?
"Consider these.
- If you want to realize the value of ONE YEAR, ask a student who failed a grade.
- To realize the value of ONE MONTH, ask a mother who gave birth to a premature baby.
- To realize the value of ONE WEEK, as your pastor about the progress of his or her sermon.
- To realize the value of ONE HOUR, ask someone in any hospital waiting room, whether it be an ER, or a surgical waiting area.
- To realize the value of ONE MINUTE, ask a person who just missed a flight.
- To realize the value of ONE SECOND, ask a person who just avoided an accident.
- To realize the value of ONE MILLISECOND, just ask any of the Silver Medalist that we have seen during the Olympics...”
Time does indeed fly. We who with such care record events and birthdays with parties and festivities, do we every really think about what it is we celebrate? Do we indeed celebrate the day? Another year? Or do we celebrate life? A great theologian once said “there is only one miracle. It is life.” Or as Rabbi Abraham Heschel says: “Just to be is a blessing. Just to live is holy.”
That is what Paul is saying today. As Christians, with a great gift to share, use your time well.
“Let love be genuine; hate what is evil; hold fast to what is good; love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. Do not lag in zeal; be ardent in spirit; serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction; persevere in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints; pursue hospitality to strangers.
14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with one another; do not be arrogant, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay, says the Lord.” Instead, “if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink, for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
This is a how-to guide for us. And what is most important to remember is that we do not fight fire with fire. We do not use the weapons or tactics of our enemies. We do not give as good as we get, responding with equal or greater force when attacked. We do not overcome evil with evil. Instead, we “overcome evil with good.”
This is not easy. Or is it? If we turn our thoughts and actions to the author of time, God, we can do more. We’ve all heard the saying: Time’s a wastin'. So look for a reset in your life, or an adjustment to how you spend your time. That is what the difficult times call for.
Have an inner conversation with God, with the One who has our time in his hands?
If we can acknowledge that our lives and our times are in the hands of God, that God’s love flows through us, then Paul’s words become easier.
Let love be genuine.
Love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor.
Serve the Lord.
Rejoice in hope; be patient in affliction;
Persevere in prayer.
Contribute to the needs of the saints;
Pursue hospitality to strangers.
That balance of 86,400 seconds begins each day. Let’s use them for living, not just existing. Live life to the fullest, filling our days with a bit of everything, work and worship, play and relaxation, study and rest, always with God at the very center...
The great hymn writer Isaac Watts wrote that “time, like an ever flowing stream, soon bears us all away…”
Treasure every moment you have, because in the end, time waits for no one. Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria.
*Homiletics, August 30, 2026
11 Pentecost (Year A)
I Kings 19:9-18
St. John’s, West Seneca
August 9, 2026
Grace to you and Peace from God our Father and the LORD Jesus Christ. Amen.
In today’s First Reading, we see Elijah, disheartened, ready to give up. So what happened to bring him to this place? Frederick Buechner wrote an essay on Elijah, one that I have enjoyed for years and he sums it up perfectly.
“In the contest between Elijah and the prophets of Baal to see whose God was the real article, Elijah won the first round hands down. Starting out early in the morning on Mt. Carmel, the prophets of Baal pulled out all the stops to get their candidate to set fire to the sacrificial offering. They danced around the altar till their feet were sore. They made themselves hoarse shouting instructions and encouragement at the sky. They jabbed at themselves with knives thinking that the sight of blood would start things moving if anything would, but they might as well have saved themselves the trouble.
"Although it was like beating a dead horse, Elijah couldn't resist getting in a few digs. "Maybe Baal's flown to Bermuda for the weekend," he said. "Maybe he's taking a nap." The prophets whipped themselves into greater and greater frenzies under his goading, but by mid-afternoon the sacrificial offering had begun to smell a little high, and there was still no sign of fire from above.
"Then it was Elijah's turn to show what Yahweh could do.
"He was like a magician getting ready to pull a rabbit out of a hat. First he had a trench dug around the altar and filled with water. Then he got a bucket brigade going to give the offering a good dousing too. Then as soon as they'd finished, he got them to do it again for good measure. By the time they'd finished a third go-round, the whole place was awash, and Elijah looked as if he'd just finished swimming the Channel. He then gave Yahweh the word to show his stuff and jumped back just in time.
"Lightning flashed. The water in the trench fizzed like fat on a hot griddle. Nothing was left of the offering but a pile of ashes and a smell like the Fourth of July. The onlookers were beside themselves with enthusiasm and, at a signal from Elijah, demolished the losing team down to the last prophet. Nobody could say whose victory had been greater, Yahweh's or Elijah's.”
Yes, Elijah is riding high off his duel with the prophets of Baal. But Queen Jezebel was now an avowed enemy and she was determined to get even with Elijah for what he had done to her priests. A woman scorned, a queen no less, with an army at her disposal. What is Elijah to do?
He ran and hid out on Mt. Horeb. Again, as before the priests of Baal, he awaits a word from God. While Elijah had certainly won the first round, so to speak, he allows his ego to take over. After all, it had been quite the sight, and as we all know, a great victory makes it difficult to come back down to earth. And so he vents his anxiety to God. He is outraged that he has now been chased out and is on the run, seemingly with no one to defend him. Feeling alone, forsaken by God, he finds a cave. And then God finds him, and asks what he thinks he’s doing. Elijah answers: “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.”
In other words, Elijah reminds God what a faithful prophet he's been and yet here he is: overworked and underpaid, underappreciated, undervalued.
God listens and instructs Elijah to watch and wait, because He is going to pass by. What happens next is a series of events: a wind so great that rocks are split apart, then an earthquake, then fire. Just like with the prophets of Baal. But not the presence of God. All this is a prelude to the power of the presence.
Buechner concludes with this: “Again the lightning flashed, and after that a wind came up that almost blew Elijah off his feet, and after that the earth gave such a shake that it almost knocked him silly. But there wasn't so much as a peep out of Yahweh, and Elijah stood there like a ringmaster when the lion won't jump through the hoop.
"Only when the fireworks were finished and a terrible hush fell over the mountain did Elijah hear something, and what he heard was so much like silence that it was only through the ear of faith that he knew it was Yahweh. Nonetheless, the message came through loud and clear: that there was no longer any question who had been the star at Mt. Carmel and that not even Elijah could make the Lord God of Hosts jump through a hoop like a lion or pop out like a rabbit from a hat.”* 1 Kings 18-19
Believe it or not, this is the story of our lives. Frank Sinatra sings in "That’s Life": “You’re ridin’ high in April, shot down in May.” No one wins all the time. Not even the great Elijah who needs to be reminded of who God is and what God promises.
It’s a matter of listening for the voice of God. The question for the day is this. What do we listen for? What do we seek? How do we persevere, remain resilient when it all goes awry?
The gift of God’s presence and word are enough to transform all of us, no matter how scared we are, no matter our own social standing. God can take the worst of circumstances and change it completely, making it upside down, holy work.
The gift of God’s presence and word, the call and equipping of the divine, sends prophets back to stand up to the ones who wish them dead and gives the newly-freed from whatever ailed them back into the very place that had left them for dead. It is what God does
“God asks us: What are you doing here? Wherever we have fled, from whatever we are hiding, God wants to know: What are you doing here? We are free to pour out our hearts to the Lord who loves us and knows everything regardless. Go ahead: give a litany of lament, sing a psalm of suffering, shout a cry of utter dismay. The work is hard. The results abysmal. The people you sent us to are stiff-necked and stubborn. The powers we face cruel and strong. The weak are trampled upon and the rich get richer. Every day the news seems grim. We are outnumbered and afraid. Why not just end things right here, in the wilderness, under a bush or on this mountain, in the dark, damp, desolate cave?
"God responds to us: Get up. I am here. I am with you. Always. Go.”
Can you listen? Can you tune your ear to make God’s voice familiar?
Let me illustrate.
A Midwesterner from the farm was visiting his college roommate in New York City. Walking near Times Square one day, the farm boy suddenly remarked, "I hear a cricket."
"You're crazy," his city friend replied. "It's the noon rush hour, and in all of this traffic noise you heard a cricket? C'mon, man!"
"No, I did hear a cricket," the visitor insisted. Focusing more intently, he walked to the corner, crossed the busy avenue and looked all around. Finally he approached a shrub in a large cement planter. Digging beneath the cover mulch, he found his cricket.
His friend couldn't believe what he had seen. But the friend from the farm said, "My ears are no different from yours. It simply depends on what you have learned to listen for. Here, let me show you."
He then reached into his pants pocket, pulled out a handful of change, and dropped the coins on the sidewalk. At the sound of the money hitting the pavement, every head along the crowded block turned.
"You see what I mean?" the visitor said, as he began picking up what was left of his coins. "It all depends on what you are listening for."***
Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria.
*Buechner, commenting on I Kings 19
**—Jill Duffield, reflecting on the desperate circumstances of the fleeing Elijah in 1 Kings 19, in “Looking into the Lectionary for June 23, 2019,” email from the Presbyterian Outlook.
***Homiletics, -As told by Donald J. Shelby, Santa Monica, California, "Hear Here!"
8 September 1991, 1-2.
9 Pentecost (Year A)
Matthew 13:31-33, 44-50
St. John’s, West Seneca
July 26, 2026
Grace to you and Peace from God our Father and the LORD Jesus Christ. Amen.
“The parables at the end of Matthew 13 are brief, evocative snapshots, presented in a staccato, rapid-fire fashion.” That is true.
The question for the day is “What is the kingdom of heaven?” Note: not, what is heaven? What is the kingdom of heaven? Jesus is speaking about the heavenly rule over all things. Each example provides an answer to that question, in its own way.
So, what is the definition of “kingdom of heaven?” “The kingdom of heaven is not so much a spiritual reality beyond this world, as a spiritual reality that’s breaking into this world.” In other words, bringing heaven to earth. You have heard me speak of “thin space,” the boundary between heaven and earth. For Jesus, this was thin, meaning that God was always near. Matthew begins with Jesus proclaiming that “The kingdom of heaven is at hand!” Which means that Jesus wants us to wake up and be aware of this reality and that God is near in our daily, ordinary lives. Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote:
Earth’s crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God,
But only he who sees, takes off his shoes,
The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries,
And daub their natural faces unaware.
Jesus understood the power of everyday image. And in today’s gospel, we see it over and over, with not just one or two examples, but five. What are we to learn about God and the kingdom of heaven, so much so that Jesus uses example after example?
“The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come an make nest in it branches.”
God’s truth is an overwhelming concept, one that theologians have talked and argued about for centuries, hammering out their views into volume upon volume of books. But what Jesus did is what I call the “Reader’s Digest” version, taking that immensity of God and his ways, and making it far more easy to remember. Jesus was using his “like” stories to soften the truth about the kingdom, because Jesus knew the enormity of divine will and the infinity of God was far beyond the comprehension of the average Galilean …or us, the people of a postmodern, 21st century world.
Listen to the first “like” Jesus uses in this week's Gospel lesson. The kingdom of heaven is ... "like a mustard seed." The kingdom compared to a tiny mustard seed. That image turns our own ideas of ourselves upside-down. We like to think that we are a strong tree, unwavering. Yet Jesus takes this small mustard seed and how it becomes “the greatest of shrubs” where birds can make a nest.
“Some biblical scholars think Jesus’s mustard plant is what the botanists call 'black mustard' — more of a shrub, really, than a plant. Occasionally, it grows as large as 6 feet tall.2 Black mustard is essentially a weed — the sort of plant gardeners with a sense of humor refer to as a 'volunteer.' No self-respecting farmers would let it grow up in their fields. Once established, it’s difficult to root out.
"But here’s what’s different in Jesus’s parable. In his telling, the farmer intentionally sows the mustard seeds! 'The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field …' Go figure! It’s like Jesus is saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is like a bunch of dandelion seeds that someone sowed on the front lawn.'
"Why would anyone go and do a crazy thing like that — sowing dandelion seeds? Anyone who’s ever knelt on a lawn with gardening gloves and one of those little rooting-out tools knows how rapidly they spread, and how persistent they are. But maybe that’s exactly what Jesus is trying to tell us about God’s heavenly realm! The seeds of heaven may seem tiny and insignificant, but once they take root in the ground, there’s no stopping them.”
“The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed it with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.”
First a small mustard seed, now the kingdom is from the domain of women’s work. The kingdom compared to something as mundane and menial as making the dough for the daily bread. Bread baking was not only woman's work, it was servant's work - a daily burden necessary to keep the most basic dietary staple on the table.
Like the mustard seed, this tiny spore of yeast added to flour shows the power of the kingdom. Again, a tiny thing shows how the kingdom can be made great.
When we struggle to understand these theological truths, we tend to look to the unusual, the outstanding, something that gets people’s attention and serves as a wake-up call to God’s presence. We want to hear stories about miracles, first-century as well as modern-day miracles. We want bells and whistles, a grand production. But Jesus does something else; his method was to soften God’s power and presence by wrapping it in the everyday. The kingdom of heaven, Jesus says over and over, is far more intimate and at hand than any once-in-a-lifetime act of divine intervention.
It’s the same with the next examples, the treasure in the field, and the pearl of great price. The kingdom of heaven, Jesus is saying, is already present in our world. It may be hiding in plain sight, but in such a way that not everyone can see it. Having glimpsed its presence, we have only to reach out and claim it for our own.
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind; when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad.”
Here, too, the gifts of God — the signs of the inbreaking kingdom of heaven — are present among us in great abundance. In Jesus’s time, a net was used rather than a fishing line. The catch was great, but had to be sorted out. Jesus explains this much as he did with the wheat and the weeds. God invites all together, but still, the good will be separated from the evil.
There you have it, the kingdom of heaven found in the ordinary mustard seed and yeast. Or treasure hidden in the field, or a net. Our task is to look at our own lives and discover how many "kingdom-likes" there are in it.
Is the kingdom of heaven like one of my mom’s circle group, women who had been together for so long that not only do they know each other, but the children as well. And they always found something new to talk about.
Is the kingdom of heaven like the one who always volunteers and shows up?
Is it like the security guard who greets everyone with a “Good morning” and a smile?
“Earth is crammed with heaven” and we can learn to recognize it. The kingdom of heaven is breaking in on us every day, and not in a grand production, but in the ordinary and the mundane, or in what only we can see. Jesus’s words come rapid fire, but with images we understand. My hope is that His words wake us up so that we can bring heaven to earth. Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria.
Homiletics, What’s Heaven Like? Sunday, July 30, 2023
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