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Sermon by Pastor Kinsey, "Mighty Shrubberies"

6/17/2018

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Semi-continuous Readings for Pentecost 4B, June 17, 2018
1 Samuel 15:34 - 16:13 and Psalm 20 
  • 2 Corinthians 5:6-10, (11-13), 14-17  
  • Mark 4:26-34

"Mighty Shrubberies," Rev Fred Kinsey​
For this Father’s Day, George Goehl traveled to South McAllen, Texas, as part of a protest action just outside the Ursula Border Patrol Processing Center.  George, a father himself, is motivated by the compassion he has for all parents and their young children, because he knows how it feels to be separated from his own daughter.  It was nothing on the magnitude of what’s going on at the border, but having gone through divorce when she was young, he knows the tears and helpless feeling, just a little, that fathers and mothers are feeling, as daughters and sons are forcibly taken from them. 
 
George is Chair of People’s Action, one of the many national organizations coming together from community organizations around the country this weekend, to do something for migrant families at our Mexican border. 
 
They will not be armed, but they may link arms.  They may be citizens already, but they are concerned for how migrants, knocking at our doors, can be so brutally treated.  We’ve all seen it on the news, or heard about what’s been happening this week.  And, despite what some have claimed, there is no law that directs the Attorney General to do this.  It hasn’t been done before, but has just been instituted newly in the past couple months.  And it’s amazing and heartening to see that people from every religious stripe are equally upset and voicing their objection to the White House. 
 
Ever since this failed rule has been created, the administration has been in search of a justification for it.  The latest, and most outrageous being, Jeff Sessions’ text-proofing, one passage, from St Paul’s letter to the Romans, out of context, a scripture notoriously used to justify slavery and Jim Crow in this country.  Let us not go back there! 
 
The policy for decades at the border has been to accept those from Mexico and Central America fleeing violence.  How could we even think of adding to their pain and shame and fear, by needlessly and traumatically separating children and parents. 
 
So today, clergy and concerned citizens, from a coalition of community organizations from around the country, including ONE Northside, who we are member of, are now standing up for those being mistreated, in what they’re calling – the Father’s Day Vigil.  Today is the beginning of ending the administration’s brutal practice.  It may be starting small, but it will be mighty.
 
Our First Reading today continues the story of Israel, trying to be mighty, by choosing to have a human king, for the first time.  You may recall last week in 1st Samuel, that God tried to persuade the people not to go in that direction, to no avial.  And sure enough, the first king, King Saul, turned out badly.  He should have been great, by all accounts.  Saul was part of a leading Israelite family. “Tall, handsome, the son of a wealthy family, Saul seemed to have everything,” says Alphonetta Wines,  “ -- everything that is, except confidence in God and himself.”  And he fell like a tall and mighty cedar tree. (
 
“And the LORD was sorry that he had made Saul king over Israel,” says First Samuel.  So the LORD sets Samuel out a second time to seek a new king, this time from a little known family of sheep herders in Bethlehem.  God knows who it is, and will guide Samuel in picking Jesse’s son, that God has in mind. 
 
And, as soon as Samuel entered Jesse’s house, he was sure it must be Eliab, the best looking of all his sons.  But the LORD said, “looks aren’t everything.  You see the face, but I look into the heart,” – the inner character.  (cf. Saul)
 
So Jesse called up Abinadab, but Samuel said, nope, not God’s choice either! 
Next Jesse presented Shammah.  Samuel said, not this one either. 
 
Jesse made 7 of his sons pass by before Samuel – but he said, “the LORD has not chosen any of these.”
 
And he asked Jesse, ‘Is this it? Are there no more sons?’  Well yes, says Jesse, there’s the runt – the youngest – but he’s out tending the sheep.  ‘Well, go get him, says Samuel!  We’re not leaving until we can get a look at him.  Jesse sent and brought him in.’ “Now, he was ruddy, and had beautiful eyes, and was handsome.”  And God said, “Up on your feet! Anoint him [Samuel]! This is the one.” 
 
And finally we learn his name, when First Samuel records that, ‘the spirit of the LORD came mightily upon David from that day forward.’ 
 
God chose the runt of the litter, and David proved to be the successful king the people were yearning for.  Under David, the kingdom expanded greatly, and made Israel respectable on the world map – though, David was far from perfect, and it turned out to be a brief time, in the life of the nation.  Beginning with his own son, King Solomon, the experiment of king-ship came crumbling down, never to fully recover in that form, again. 
 
Jesus, who also was hailed as king – as you might remember, for we enact it on Palm Sunday every year – will indeed become a new and pleasing king, as far as God is concerned.  But not a military ruler.  Though like David, God saw that his heart was good. 
 
In our parable today, Jesus says the kingdom of God can be compared to “a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth…”   Parables are images, metaphors, aphorisms, that help us digest and understand who God is and provide a glimpse of God’s realm, or kingdom.  Jesus “did not speak to the people except in parables,” says Mark.  “But he explained everything in private to his disciples.”  It’s hard to nail down that which we cannot see.  But one thing we know is that parables are not just about ‘pie in the sky, bye and bye,’ but that Jesus taught us to pray that the kingdom of God will come to us here and now, as it is in heaven. 
 
So what comes when you plant the tiny mustard seed?  We might expect that it grows into the largest of trees, like a mighty cedar, or oak tree.  But Jesus says, when the mustard seed is sown, it grows up and becomes the greatest of all … wait for it… shrubs!  That’s right!  The mustard plant is a good size shrubbery or bush.  Maybe some sparrows could nest in it.  That’s kind-of impressive, in its own way.  But oak tree?  Not so much! 
 
The mustard shrub was more of an invasive species, in Palestine.  And those little nesting birds carried its seeds far and wide, and you never knew where the next mustard bush would be sprouting up.  It tended to multiply and take over – that’s what the kingdom is like! 
 
You have to admit, Jesus has a good sense of humor, and his listeners probably chuckled at this parable! 
 
“In any case, the reign of God apparently isn’t much of a cash crop,” says Matt Skinner of Luther Seminary. “Yet it grows. It is not easily eradicated. Good luck keeping it out of your well-manicured garden, or your farmland.  It can grow dense, but it is hardly magnificent.  …It shows up, to take over inch by inch, and eventually to transform a whole landscape… [in this parable] Jesus is not aiming to impart insights about the relative worth of shrubberies, but to shock people into a new way of perceiving greatness,” Skinner says.  (Matt Skinner on workingpreacher)
 
God chose a small band of people to go to Texas on Father’s Day to take on the highest office in the land.  God chose David, the runt of the family to become Israel’s mightiest king.  And Jesus took the tiniest of seeds to show, in a parable, how the mighty mustard shrubbery was like God’s realm and kingdom growing among us. 
 
The kingdom and realm of God are not like the brutality and ego-mania of the deal-maker’s of this world.  God stands in vigil with the poor and the excluded, the
widow and the migrant, and urges us to take on this mission too. 
 
We may only feel small, like un-noticed shrubberies.  But even mustard plants spread, here and there, one at a time, unexpectedly – and that’s how we grow and become mighty, as the chosen people, says Jesus.  That’s how with God, we can grow the kingdom!  

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Sermon by The Reverend Fred Kinsey, "Binding the Strong Man"

6/12/2018

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Readings for the Third Sunday after Pentecost, June 10, 2018​
  • 1 Samuel 8:4-11, (12-15), 16-20, (11:14-15) and Psalm 138 
  • 2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1  
  • Mark 3:20-35

​Binding the Strong Man*

“…no one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man; then indeed the house can be plundered,” said Jesus.
 
Who is the Strong Man, in this parable?  *Ched Myers wrote a whole commentary on the Gospel of Mark, that refers to this very passage, which he entitled, “Binding the Strong Man.” 
 
Is the strong man Satan?  Or the Son of God?
 
Jesus says he is speaking in parables.  In fact it’s the first parable in Mark’s gospel, which is the first and earliest Gospel of the four we have – so it’s possibly the first parable Jesus taught.  And, as a parable, he doesn’t come right out and say it, but yes, he, Jesus, is the strong man.  Though he understands the leaders from Jerusalem see him as a demonic strong man.  But Jesus turns that around to say he has come to bind up the One who has been plundering the property, the house of Israel, and indeed whole world, the One who is in the process of taking everything he wants – robbing us.  Jesus calls him Satan.  The scribes like the term Beelzebul.  But Jesus makes it clear, he is the One who has come to bind him up, to liberate and save the house.  Therefore he cannot be Satan, because “how can Satan cast out Satan?”! 
 
And, John the Baptist has already tipped us off in the very first chapter, that One who is more powerful than any other One, is coming, the one who John baptized, and whom God anointed with the Holy Spirit, who appeared as a descending dove on Jesus.  Jesus, is the stronger One.
 
Who is the strong man, in your life?  Who is the one you turn to, the one you offer your ultimate trust to, offer your life, your worship and praise?  Is your strong man, the man from Nazareth?  The man of peace?  The healer of the nations?  The giver of grace and love?  The king of crucified glory? 
 
Or do we worship a different strong man?  One who can protect our income and wealth?  One who can protect us with a more powerful rifle, explosive, or army?  One who can protect our house, our family, our country, by building a higher wall, by turning our backs on refugees and the persecuted? 
 
The story of Israel takes a momentous turn in our First Reading, as the story of Samuel story winds down.  Samuel’s leadership has been weak, and has left a vacuum, begging to be filled.  But instead of digging deeper into their heritage and faith, the people of God are overcome by their jealousy of other nations.  And they beg for the simpler, the autocratic, answer.  “…we are determined to have a king over us,” they say, “so that we also may be like other nations, and that our king may govern us and go out before us and fight our battles.” 
 
They forgot who their strong One was.  They had forgotten their, God of the covenant, the God who brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of slavery, to the Promised Land.  Now, that relationship wasn’t good enough.  They look to a human strong man.
 
They saw how they were different from other nations, but forgot why that was.  For it was difficult being in relationship with God – being, the chosen people.  Submitting to the authority of a higher power is demanding; covenanting with the Creator God means your life is not your own, and that you have a responsibility to your neighbor.  It means you must love your God, and your neighbor as yourself, and even your enemy.  But Samuel’s own family had not even done that.  His sons were repeat offenders.  And so the leadership of their religion and their nation, Samuel and his family, were a poor example of Israel’s life to be lived in covenant with their God. 
 
So why not at least have a king like all the other nations did, they thought?  Maybe then they could defend themselves, have a little pride, and feel better! 
 
Samuel was distraught when he heard this.  Yes, he was partly to blame.  But really, he thought – has it really come to this? 
 
So, Samuel goes to God for counsel:  LORD, they want a king to govern us, Samuel prayed to God.  And God answered:  “Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. From the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this very day, they’ve been behaving like this, leaving me for other gods. …but, you can warn them of what they’re in for.  Tell them the way kings operate, just what they’re likely to get from a king.”
 
So Samuel tried.  ‘Guess what? God said he will consider giving you a king, but you have to understand a few things first: your sons will have to serve as soldiers, others will be forced into labor farms, or make weapons for war.  Your daughters will have to become cooks and waitresses for the king.  Your best fields and vineyards will be conscripted and given over to the rich, and they’ll tax them to support the king’s bureaucracy.  Oh ya, and he’ll take your prize workers and best animals for his own use, and tax them too, and you’ll end up no better than slaves.’
 
But the people would hear none of it.  “No!” they said.  “We will have a king to rule us! Then we’ll be just like all the other nations.”  (Exactly!)
 
Who is the strong man for us?  Is it, Christ Jesus who is our God?  Or is there another one we desire? 
 
In this parable in Mark, Jesus offers himself as an alternative king, with a kingdom and realm even more powerful than the dominions and powers of Rome’s imperial kingdom, and the scribal leaders in Jerusalem who have been mesmerized and overcome by Caesar and Herod. 
 
The conflict of kingdoms is a reality that must be dealt with, and Jesus comes as the one who is able to overwhelm Satan’s reign by binding up the strong man, and taking back the things he had confiscated – us!  Here in chapter 3, this is Mark’s mission statement, says Matt Skinner.  “The whole Gospel is a story about the reign of God coming to displace another reign, and that other one will not relinquish its power without a fight.” 
 
Who is our strong man?  The one we trust, in this fight? 
 
If it’s the God and holy parent of Christ Jesus, then she is a covenant God.  In baptism God covenants with us, and agrees to wash us clean from our old life, and desires for a false power, by drowning us and raising us up to new life, a life of forgiveness in the love and grace of God, joining us to the death and resurrection of Christ, that we may never fear death again.  Now, we are named and claimed by the One who comes to us as ‘the forgiving servant.’  We are called to be leaders and representatives, shining lights, of this new way, the way of love, which alone can heal the world. 
 
On the cross, Jesus gave his life away for the sake of this new world, binding up the power of Satan, so that we may follow in Jesus’ path, and walk in his ways. 
 
Living in this covenant, the power of Satan’s house will crumble, and the “king of kings” will reign forever in the community of the faithful. 
 
Let us rejoice in the new realm that the Strong One has inaugurated: for us, in us, and through us.  And let us live our lives powerfully. 
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