The First Penguin

 The scriptures referred to are Romans 3:19-28 and 1 Thessalonians 2:1-8.

We've all probably seen documentaries on penguins and how after the female lays her egg she at last makes the long trek to the sea to eat. And how this means the male sits on the egg for two months without eating. When the female returns, the male goes on the long journey to the sea. But even though they are all starving, the penguins do not just jump into the water. Their enemy the sea lion might be beneath the surface, waiting to gobble them up. So the penguins crowd along the edge of the ice floe until one falls in. If he isn't eaten, then the others jump into the water, in a wave of bodies that reminded me of an old Esther Williams water ballet number.

People aren't really that different. As a group we rarely do anything until one person does it first. You see it in videos on You Tube, showing psychological experiments, where an actor falls to the pavement and lies still. The crowd tends to walk around him, especially if he looks like a homeless person. Only when one person stops to help, do other people do likewise. Recognizing that as a problem to getting someone first aid, in Red Cross CPR training, they tell you it's vital to immediately go to the aid of someone you see in distress. Once others see you do it, they will jump in and help.

But it takes a lot of courage to be the first person to step out of the crowd and do something out of the ordinary, even if it is the right thing. We wouldn't be celebrating Reformation Sunday if it weren't for one man, Martin Luther, doing just that. And he was an unlikely person to do so.

He didn't seem very brave when, frightened by a nearby lightning strike, he made a hasty vow to become a monk. And his early years as a monastic were spent fearing and hating God because he felt there was no way to please him and save himself from going to hell. Fortunately, his mentor saw him to be an intelligent scholar and set him to teaching the books of Romans and Galatians at the University of Wittenberg. And as he immersed himself into these key writings of Paul, Luther discovered that his idea of our relationship with God was distorted, and that a lot of this was due to the way the church approached matters like sin and salvation.

What he found was that God loved us and rather than demanding we save ourselves through perfect observance of the law, God saves us by the free gift of his grace. What we must do is accept his grace through faith, trust in his loving, forgiving nature revealed in Christ, especially through what he did on the cross. Which in turn led Luther to question the whole system of penance and absolution the church of his day had set up.

And what brought things to a head was a money-making scheme dreamed up by his archbishop and the Pope. His archbishop had debts to pay for obtaining additional bishoprics and Pope Leo X wanted to rebuild St. Peter's Basilica. Their solution was to sell special indulgences that would let people off from the punishment of their sins in purgatory. They selected a Dominican friar, John Tetzel, to spearhead the effort. Tetzel was a great salesman but a poor theologian. His catchy slogan, “As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, another soul from purgatory into heaven springs,” really grated on Luther's ears. So Luther wrote to his archbishop, protesting the whole enterprise and listing 95 objections and questions he had about it. He also supposedly posted the 95 theses on the church door which served as a university bulletin board. Luther sincerely wanted to debate them. But after the original Latin version was translated by his friends into German and copies spread throughout the country, Luther's private qualms became a very public matter. He got pushed off the ice floe and into the ocean tide of history.

Luther did more than not get eaten by Leo the sea lion; he proved to be a very pugnacious penguin indeed. He continued to study and teach and publish criticisms of the corruption of the church and its doctrines. Eventually he got called to a Diet before the Holy Roman Emperor. He was not given a chance to debate his assertions but simply to disavow the positions he took in his writings. Luther took a day to pray and talk to his friends about the matter. The next day he declared that he stood by what he had said unless someone could show him from scripture that he was wrong. He was declared a heretic, an outlaw and not only was it a crime to give him food and shelter, it would not be considered a crime if someone killed him. Now Luther was really in the deep end.

On the way home from the Diet of Worms he was kidnapped by masked horsemen. This had been arranged by Luther's prince, Frederick III. During his absence from public life, he grew a beard, as we guys do when isolated for long periods of time, and he translated the New Testament into German, so that everyone could read the gospel for themselves.

We know the rest but I want us to consider the courage it took Luther to stand up to those in power and to keep speaking up. It wasn't like he didn't know how much trouble he could be in. Just a century earlier a Czech theologian, Jan Hus, objected to many of the same things in the Catholic church, including the selling of indulgences. Not only was Hus excommunicated and told to recant, he was burned at the stake as a heretic. And at the Diet of Worms, Catholic theologian Johann Eck mentioned Hus. I think that was a not very subtle hint of where Luther's actions could lead him.

What enables a person to step out of the mainstream, single themselves out of the crowd, go against the flow of society and risk death? Two things: being convinced of the rightness of your cause and being convinced that it is vitally important. Galileo was sure he was right about his scientific discoveries about the earth revolving around the sun but he was willing to recant publicly to avoid severe penalties at the hand of the Inquisition. Luther was not. The way the solar system operates does not generally affect the average person but the good news that God's love and grace and forgiveness is available to all if they put their trust in Christ does. The fact that this was obscured by the church was something Luther could not keep silent about.

In this Luther was in the same company as the apostles and saints. They could not contain themselves when it came to the word of God despite the consequences. As it says in Hebrews, “There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword.” (Hebrews 11: 35b-37a) Luther did not suffer most of these things but the threat of imprisonment and death hung over him the rest of his life.

C.S. Lewis said, “Courage is not simply one of the virtues but the form of every virtue at the testing point, at the point of highest reality.” In other words, you may say you stand for the truth but if you let yourself be cowed into silence, then you don't really stand for it. You may say you stand for justice but if you don't go to bat for those suffering injustice, you don't really value justice. You may say you are compassionate but if you don't show compassion for despised people for fear of being attached to an unpopular cause, you aren't really that compassionate. A true virtue must be backed by courage when the virtue is threatened or it is false virtue. In John's gospel Jesus says, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13) In 1 John it says, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.” (1 John 3:16) We would not know God's love if Jesus did not have the courage to speak out, defy convention and be willing to go to the cross for us. We in turn must take up our cross for him if we are truly his followers.

Love is a strong motivation to act in the face of danger. I saw a mother hen launch herself 11 feet in the air to attack a hawk that had grabbed one of her chicks. I didn't know that chickens could fly that high. But she saved her chick from the talons of the predator. I just saw a video of another hen, who grabs a hawk trying the same thing and fights it on the ground and backs it into a corner before turning and walking back to her chicks triumphant. And we see mothers and fathers do incredibly brave things to save their children. And not just parents. I read several years ago of an elderly man on oxygen who went into his burning house and carried out his invalid wife to safety, before dying himself. Love fuels courage.

The same thing goes for faith. If we really trust God, we will heed the words we find in the Bible 365 times: “Do not be afraid.” Fear is the opposite of faith. If we truly believe that God almighty, the God who is love and life, is with us, we will not fear opposition. Jan Hus not only went to his death for his faith, he was heard singing psalms as they burned him at the stake. To try to end a crusade, St. Francis of Assisi went to see and try to convert the Sultan of Egypt, risking martyrdom. The sultan heard him and sent him back unharmed. That was practically a miracle. Luther risked the wrath of the church and the Holy Roman Empire. His namesake Martin Luther King Jr. did die in his efforts to free people. Dietrich Bonhoffer left the US where he was safe to go back to Germany and refute the marriage of Nazism and Christianity and was hanged in a death camp. They had the courage of their convictions and their convictions were that they were on the side of the God of truth and peace and grace and liberty and goodness.

21 years ago the Roman Catholic Church and the Lutheran World Federation signed the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, which essentially resolved the issue that caused the Reformation. They affirmed that we are justified by God's grace through faith in Christ, as it says in the Bible and as Luther asserted. The World Methodist Council and the World Communion of Reformed Churches both adopted the declaration at later dates. Since the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission had agreed on the matter in 1986, the Anglican Consultative Council welcomed and affirmed the declaration. The initial issue that could have gotten Luther killed has been settled.

But that doesn't mean there is no need to display courageous faith anymore. There are still evils and corruption and injustices that need reforming in our world. There are, sadly, people distorting the gospel and misusing the power of the church for personal ends. The powerful still don't like to hear the truth or want it published and there are still people who react to unpleasant truths with violence. And the majority of people, like penguins, are afraid to take the first step for fear of what might happen to them.

But as Paul reminds us, “For God did not give us a Spirit of fear but of power and love and self-control.” (2 Timothy 1:7) And unlike the early Christians, or our brothers and sisters in Christ living in some countries today, we do not generally have to worry about death. We are primarily in danger of being ridiculed as hypocrites or of being looked down upon as fools. Again a lot of this is due to self-proclaimed Christians who have visibly and loudly proved themselves to be either or both. But showing ourselves to be neither is simply a matter of being real followers of Jesus, who practice what we preach and who know what we are talking about.

And it takes courage. It means stepping out of the crowd and taking a stand, no matter how unpopular that makes you with society as a whole, or your family and friends. And we can't resort to violence, not even to defend ourselves, because Jesus told us to put up the sword, lest we die by the sword. (Matthew 26:52) In the armor of God, our only weapon is the “sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.” (Ephesians 6:17) In an age with much more efficient weapons than they had in Jesus' or Luther's day, that may not seem like much. But, as we've seen, armed with God's word alone, one person can change the world.

Render Unto Caesar

 The scriptures referred to are Matthew 22:15-22.

The kids were small, it was a weekend and we were broke. We were between paychecks and some big bills had come out. But the kids wanted to do something. When I explained that we didn't have the money for that, my son said, “Just go to the bank and get some from that machine.” After having a hearty laugh, my wife and I explained that the ATM is neither magical, nor an instrument of charity run by the bank. It's our own money we get from it. That money in turn comes from our jobs and is given in exchange for our work.

Kids can be forgiven for thinking the world gives you things for free. What's really hard to understand is why some adults think that way. Taxes are the price you pay for civilization. The roads you drive, the schools your children or grandchildren attend, the military, the Post Office, Medicare and Social Security are all paid for by taxes. Nobody likes paying taxes but only a child or a fool thinks you can have a high-functioning society without them.

The Bible mandates taxes. Israelities paid a tithe of everything, including produce, to support the priests, the Levites, who had no land, and the temple, as commanded in Numbers 18:20-32. In addition, every third year the tithe also went to the support of widows, the fatherless and foreigners. According to Malachi 3:8, not giving your tithe is robbing God. And under David and Solomon, there were also taxes to support the army, the monarchy and the running of the kingdom.

But the issue was a bit different in Jesus' day. Judea and Galilee were Roman-occupied territory and the empire maintained itself by imposing a land tax, a sales tax, a poll tax, an income tax and a personal property tax. Yes, they helped support the aqueducts, the roads, the safety to travel and other public goods. But they also supported the Roman army. This felt to the average Jew like they were paying for the boots pressing on their own throats. Worse, it doesn't look like the Romans put any limits on the additional fees that the tax collectors could add on. Tax collectors were getting rich taking their fellow Jews' money which was then used to oppress them.

That's why the question that the Pharisees and Herodians ask Jesus is so explosive. “Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor or not?” By lawful, they mean is it right according to God's law. If Jesus says, “Yes,” then he will lose the support of the crowds. Just a quarter of a century earlier, these taxes caused a revolt. But if he says, “No,” the religious leaders can turn Jesus over to the Romans as a rebel. There was no freedom of speech in the Roman Empire.

Jesus isn't stupid. He knows this is a trap. But he refused to be put in a corner. “Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin used for the tax.” Technically, no Jew on the temple grounds should have a Roman coin on them. The denarius had a picture of the emperor, which Jews saw as idolatrous. And the inscription just made it worse. It said, “Tiberius Caesar, son of the divine Augustus.” The Roman emperors hadn't yet declared themselves living gods during their reigns, but dead emperors were deified. So Tiberius was claiming to be the son of a god. This is why, upon entering the temple district, you went to a money-changer and exchanged your Roman coins for specially minted temple coins to buy things and make offerings. (And, of course, the money-changers controlled the exchange rate and profited.)

So nobody listening to Jesus teach in the temple should have been able to produce a Roman coin. But they did, providing further evidence of their hypocrisy. Jesus looks at it and says, “Whose head is this and whose title?” And they, of course, say “Caesar's.” And Jesus makes his now famous statement, “Give back, therefore, the things of Caesar to Caesar and the things of God to God.” (my translation)

And most commentaries I consulted pretty much ignore the first part of Jesus' statement and go right to the part about giving God what is his. And indeed that is the more important point Jesus is making. The emperor's coin was minted by him and had his image. We were created by God and bear his image. Possessions may come from this world and ultimately belong to it but we come from God and belong to him.

But Jesus is also pointing out the paradox that believers must deal with. Even if we are citizens of the kingdom of God, we live at present on this earth and are part of one of its nations. And we do have obligations to the country in which we live. You won't find any support for evading or cheating on or not paying your fair share of taxes from Jesus. Or from Paul for that matter. (Romans 13:6-7) Taxes are the price we pay for a safe and well-run nation.

But more than that, Jesus says we are to give back to Caesar the things of Caesar's. In other words, he is talking about things the government provides. In Jesus' day, that did not include the right to vote. But our government does give us that right. And yet at the time it was first given, that right was rare and limited.

Initially, most people living in the US couldn't vote. For the most part the right to vote was limited to free white males aged 21 or older who owned land, about 6% of the population. Property qualifications didn't get completely abolished until 1856. And it wasn't until 1870 that the Constitution prevented states from excluding blacks from voting with the 15^th Amendment. But states figured out ways to get around that and the Supreme Court usually let them get away with it. White women didn't get the vote till 1920. Women of color had to wait decades longer. In the 1960s the Supreme Court finally established the one person, one vote electoral system. Even so, requirements for paying taxes, having a certain amount of wealth, or residing somewhere for an extended period of time had to be prohibited at a later date. And it was only in 1986 that the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act extended the right to those who were overseas, living on bases or on ships. Voting is a right provided by the government, which we take for granted at our peril.

As Christians we are to give back by voting. But though we are citizens of 2 countries, our earthly one and the kingdom of God, that doesn't mean that we can completely compartmentalize the two. We are ambassadors of Christ and so we must do what he commands and stand for the principles he stands for. When it came to tithing Jesus said, “Woe to you, experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You give a tenth of mint, dill and cumin, yet you neglect what is more important in the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness! You should have done these things without neglecting the others.” (Matthew 23:23) Which echoes the words in Micah 6:8—“He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God?” (my translation) And a big part of showing justice and mercy is serving those who get little or none of either. Thus Jesus said, “When you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.” (Luke 14:13-14) Generosity, not miserliness, is the quality the followers of Jesus should display, giving to all who ask, trusting in God's abundance to supply our needs. (Matthew 5:42; Philippians 4:19)

Nor is this limited to personal charity. God makes justice for the disadvantaged his policy. In Jeremiah it says, “Thus says the Lord: Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the oppressor him who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place.” (Jeremiah 22:3) In Isaiah God says, “Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression, bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause.” (Isaiah 1:17) And again in the Psalms, it says, “Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.” (Psalm 82:3-4) And in Proverbs, we are told, “Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.” (Proverbs 31:8-9) We are to be the voice of the voiceless, and to use our power to help those who are powerless.

Again this is not just expected of private citizens but from those in power. Psalms 72 was dedicated to David's son and successor, Solomon. It says, “O God, grant the king the ability to make just decisions! Grant the king's son the ability to make fair decisions! Then he will judge your people fairly, and your oppressed ones equitably. The mountains will bring news of peace to the people, and the hills will announce justice. He will defend the oppressed among the people; he will deliver the children of the poor and crush the oppressor....for he will rescue the needy when they cry out for help, and the oppressed who have no defender. He will take pity on the poor and needy; the lives of the needy he will save. From harm and violence he will defend them; he will value their lives.” (Psalm 72:1-4, 12-14)

Notice that that's a prayer that the king act that way. A king or emperor doesn't have to answer to anyone. The average Israelite or Judean or Galilean or Roman or Christian had no real say in who was in charge of the kingdom or the empire or the nation in which they lived until the 18^th century. All they could do was to raise their voices to call for justice, freedom and rights. They couldn't actually direct the people in power to do anything. Until they got the vote. And as we saw, they didn't all get it at once. On this day 100 years ago, white women had the vote for exactly 2 months.

And how do we use this unprecedented right? In Europe 77% of eligible voters come out to vote. In Australia, where it's compulsory, 91% vote. In the US around 58% of eligible voters actually vote. A fairly consistent 40% don't turn out to vote. It's one thing to not care what you have for dinner and let your spouse or family or roommates decide. It's quite another for 2 out of 5 Americans who can vote to be indifferent when it comes to who makes the laws and decides the policies that will affect them.

We have always been able to answer God's call to speak up for the disadvantaged. Occasionally we have been able to rally people and reach the ears of the powerful and trigger reform. Bartolome de las Casas was a Dominican priest who became the Bishop of Chiapas and worked to end slavery. His writings contributed to Spanish legislation in 1542 which led to the abolition of native slavery for the first time in European colonial history. Christians like William Wilberforce in England and Quakers in the US kicked off the abolitionist movement that eventually led to the end of slavery in our respective countries. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference were instrumental in the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 60s. And thanks to them more Americans have the tool denied earlier reformers: the vote, the right of every person to have a say in who governs their county, city, state and nation.

In the Lord's Prayer, we say, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” We don't add “somewhere down the line.” Or “when it's more convenient.” Jesus wants us to do God's will now, to prepare for the coming kingdom now. That means not neglecting the weightier matters of God's law like justice and mercy. As Martin Luther King pointed out, “Justice too long delayed is justice denied.” Wrongs should be righted as soon as possible. A posthumous pardon is a gesture, not real justice.

To the weightier matters of the law mentioned in Matthew, Luke adds “the love of God.” (Luke 11:42) As Christians everything we do should be an expression of the love of God. And it should be an expression of both senses of the phrase: our love for God and God's love to all people. Love naturally begets justice, or treating all people fairly, and mercy, treating all people with compassion. And since everything we do should show God's love, that goes for the act that Christians for millennia hadn't been able to do but that we can perform now: vote. When we vote we also should be expressing the justice, mercy and love of God for all. In this way we can use the things of Caesar, the power he has given us, to serve the God who has always been on the side of the powerless.

Let us conclude with a prayer from the ELW. Let us pray.

“Almighty God, we lift before you all who govern this nation. May those who hold power understand that it is a trust from you to be used, not for personal glory or profit, but the service of the people. Drive from us cynicism, selfishness, and corruption; grant in your mercy just and honest government; and give us grace to live together in unity and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”

Why Not Give Up?

The scriptures referred to are Philippians 1:21 and John 16:33.

I began writing this on the fourth night in row of sleeplessness I had this week. Actually I did get a little bit of sleep on the previous three nights, between the bone-rattling chills and the inexplicable feeling of being too hot. I say inexplicable because the whole time my temperature never reached 100. So you couldn't even call it a true fever. I also suffered whole body muscle cramps and headaches. My neck hurt as it did before I had surgery on it at least a decade ago. The last two days upon awakening for good, everything hurt. Literally. Everything I had ever broken or had surgery on hurt badly all at once. Usually my joints are polite, taking numbers and waiting in line for their turn to cause me pain in their particular part of the body. Well, they finally coordinated their efforts. But after taking my Excedrin and morning meds, things simmered down, although the lack of good sleep joined with my usual lack of energy from Chronic Fatigue to render me useless. The next morning however, along with everything hurting, my GERD decided to join in, feeling like a hot poker was going through my chest. So I broke down and went to urgent care as everyone told me to. And as I in turn told them would happen, blood was taken and an EKG done and everything was normal. Except it didn't feel that way. But science had spoken and I was released to go home to continue a life lived in medical ambiguity and suffer from things that unfortunately don't do well on tests. That night the GERD and a persistent ache in my shattered shin, the one being held together by a dozen plates and screws, kept me up. I resisted taking Excedrin (opiates don't work on me) because it has caffeine and caffeine doesn't give you energy so much as it blocks sleep. But by 4 am it was obvious I wasn't going to sleep anyway and so I took the Excedrin and the pain lessened and I ended typing the first 3 pages of my sermon.

To sleep your mind has to shut down conscious thought. But I couldn't sleep so my thoughts were swirling in my brain until they coalesced around a single question: “Why not give up?” Why not, when everything is going wrong, and foreseeably could get worse, just give up? A lot of people do. Along with rates of depression, anxiety, insomnia, and substance abuse, suicide rates are rising during the pandemic. The factors contributing to all this are economic stress, social isolation, decreased access to the community, barriers to mental health treatment, and illness. It doesn't help that our news is relentlessly downbeat, what with undeniable global warming, the extinction of 150 species of animals a day, racial tensions, and politics so toxic that our democracy, which has survived so long because of our tradition of peaceful transition from one administration to the next, is now threatened. In the face of so much that is bad, what can one person do? Why not give up? Isn't that logical?

The problem with logic is that people think it is a method of discerning truth. It isn't. It is a method of staying self-consistent. All logic is supposed to begin with unproven but self-evident truths. But if someone begins with a false premise, they can be perfectly logical as well as perfectly wrong. When I was working with psychiatric patients some had the most elaborate delusional systems, worked out in exquisite detail. Some of them were breathtaking in their self-consistency. The problem wasn't that their delusions contradicted themselves, it was that they contradicted reality. The great enemy of logic is reality. It just is, whether you think it's logical or not.

To give up is to assume certain things that are not self-evident. A big one is that we can predict the future. That's one area of magic condemned in the Bible and yet we continually make plans that are dependent on certain things happening over which we have no control. Or, as we have seen, certain things not happening, like a pandemic. I bet none of the business plans of the major companies now struggling had a Plan B entitled “What to do in case of a worldwide plague.” I once was required to do a 5 year plan for my church. By year 3 it began to feel like science fiction. After all, the reason I was required to do it was that the Great Recession hit, our income had dropped and we were asking for a reduction in our assessment to the diocese because nobody had factored an economic disaster into our previous plans. I finished up my 5 year plan with a final entry that read, “Warren Buffett joins the church and all our problems are solved.” I submitted that to the Diocesan Assessment Committee and when I spoke to them, not one person said, “Ha! Ha! Father Todd.” Nor did they say, “You're not taking this seriously.” Obviously they hadn't read the whole thing. Because who knows what will happen in 5 years?

A disaster could take place. But so could a good result. The US entered World War 2 at the very end of 1941 after Japan had destroyed or damaged 19 US Navy ships, including 8 battleships, and more that 300 aircraft. The Nazis and their allies occupied almost all of Europe and much of North Africa. Japan occupied the Philippines, Korea, many parts of southeast Asia and lots of islands in the South Pacific. Hitler had some of the best generals. Japanese soldiers were willing to die rather than surrender. And yet within 5 years of our entering the war, Germany, Italy and Japan had all been defeated. But at the time that was not a sure thing.

Yet when we give up it is because we think we can see the future and it is all bad. At the turn of the last century, juvenile diabetes was a death sentence. Not anymore. Heck, when I entered nursing 40 years ago, stage 4 lung cancer was a death sentence. Today, not necessarily. Things change and not all changes are for the worse.

We don't know the future for certain. It is true that you can often rely on probability. This can tell you what is likely to happen, provided you take into account all possible factors. If you smoke your odds of getting lung cancer are 15 to 30 times higher than someone who doesn't smoke. If you quit you can reduce the chances of dying of certain cancers by up to 40%. You may not be able to control the future but you can improve or worsen the odds by your behavior.

But again, probability only tells you what is likely or unlikely to happen; it can't tell you what definitely will or won't happen. The odds of getting struck by lightning are 1 in 280 million. Though it can heat the surrounding air to 5 times the temperature of the sun, the odds of surviving being struck by lightning are a surprising 90%. But park ranger Roy Sullivan got struck by lightning not once or twice or 3 times but 7 times in 35 years. The odds of that happening are 4.15 in 100 followed by 30 zeroes. And he survived every time. Reality tends to go along with probability but it's not married to it.

Why not give up? For one thing, the future is not determined. There are probabilities but they are not absolute certainties. Things not only can change but are likely to and not necessarily for the worse. And while you can't control the future, you can improve the odds. And sometimes you have to take the advise of Anthony Greenbank, who prefaced his 1968 tome of worst case scenarios, The Book of Survival, with this sentence: “All the following advice presupposes that whoever faces catastrophe takes a deep breath and makes up his mind to have a really determined go at beating the odds.”

This is not the same as being a cockeyed optimist. It's not positive thinking or saying everything will turn out just as you wish. It's simply not forgetting that a favorable result is always a possibility.

But what about when there's a very strong probability that this life isn't going to provide you with a happy ending? In his letter to the church at Philippi Paul is in prison and facing martyrdom. He had survived being whipped, stoned and beaten but now the Emperor Nero would decide his fate, and he could either be acquitted or condemned to death. And he confesses to being torn between the two alternatives. To live for him is to work for Christ but to die is to be with Christ. He sees his predicament in a way few would: as a win-win proposition. “For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain.” (Philippians 1:21)

He's not talking suicide. He's saying he is willing to go along with whatever God gives him. 1600 years before a French theologian, mathematician and physicist articulated it, Paul anticipated Blaise Pascal's wager.

In his posthumously published notes, Pensees, Pascal points out that God either exists or he doesn't. And refusing to wager on which is true is not really an option because the outcomes are so radically different in their ultimate impact on us. If you base the way you live your life on the belief that God does exist, when you die you have everything to gain and nothing to lose. If you are right, you have eternal life; if you are wrong, you will never know that. Whereas the atheist will never get any vindication if he is right. He will be as ignorant of being right as a believer would be if he were wrong. But if you bet that there is no God and you are wrong, you lose everything.

But what do you gain living for God? Those who don't wish to believe in God say that all it gets you are rules that make your life less fun. And, yes, if you mean those rules will not allow you to get more stuff by cheating or stealing from others. They will not allow you to lie and deceive others to cover up your wrongs. They will not allow you to injure others to get back at injuries or perceived injuries done to you, nor if you simply want to hurt people. They will not let you do whatever you want to get whatever you want. If you are the kind of person who only lives for yourself, and doesn't care what that costs others, then, yes, they will not let you be that person. That person doesn't sound like much fun though. Nor are people going to stay friends for long with someone that dishonest, disloyal and sadistic.

Instead you gain a set of guidelines that will help you navigate the world for the good of all. You gain a community of like-minded people who care for you and will help you. You gain a set of beliefs that will help you interpret a confusing world. But that's true of any religion. Pascal's wager can only get you to see the importance of believing in God.

But there are gods who are so nonhuman as to have no emotions at all and are indifferent to us and our emotions and pain. And there are gods who are so absolutely just that their primary emotion towards us is anger over our sins. But there is one God who is Love, who created us out of love, whose justice derives from love and from whose love also comes mercy and grace. There is a God who loves us enough to become one of us and show us how to live and even when we gave him death does not hate us but turned his death into the ultimate gift of love and showed us that love is stronger than death and outlasts death. I choose that God.

Why? Because in Jesus I see hope. In Jesus I see a God who is not removed from pain and suffering and betrayal and injustice and death, but who has experienced it all firsthand...and overcome it all. And Jesus says if I follow him, though I may experience all those things, I too will overcome them.

But does it make sense to decide on the basis of hope? Yes. Because hope is essential to life and everything that is essential to life exists. We need food to live. Food exists. We need water to live. Water exists. We need air to live. Air exists. We need love to live a healthy life. Love exists. We need trust to live in healthy relationships. Trust exists. We need hope to continue to live. I have seen patients die when they lose hope. Why do people commit suicide? They lose hope. Hope is essential to life. Hope must exist.

But like food and love and trust, it has to be sought out and found.

Doctors have been able to diagnose diabetes since the time of ancient Greece. But they couldn't cure it. It was a death sentence. Yet doctors never gave up hope that a treatment must exist. And just under a century ago, in 1921, 3 scientists at the University of Toronto discovered insulin, and another purified it and on January 11, 1922 insulin was first used to treat diabetes. What they hoped for existed. It just had to be discovered.

Ebola, a disease that liquefies your insides, has a 75% death rate. It used to kill 3 quarters of the people who got it. It was incurable. Not anymore. Doctors never gave up hope on finding a treatment. Using drugs tested in 2014, scientists have been able to cut the death rate by 2/3s, down to 29%. Those treated as soon as they get sick have a death rate of as low as 6%. The cure they hoped for existed. It just had to be sought and found.

Why not give up? Because it is arrogant to believe I can predict the future and that it is all bad. Because it is a safe bet that God exists. And because hope is essential to life and therefore hope exists. And the God who gives me hope is the God of love I find in Jesus, who loves us enough to live and die for us and who rose again to demonstrate that love can overcome even death. I'm betting my life on Jesus. If I am wrong, I lose nothing I would not have lost anyway. If I am right, I gain him for eternity. And with him, everything else.

Citizens

 The scriptures referred to are Matthew 21:33-46.

Game of Thrones was set in a medieval world where magic exists but unlike The Lord of the Rings, this was a grittier world with people who were not all good or all bad, but where it was understood that rulers were almost always brutal. And part of that was due to the fact that, except for the dragons and ice zombies, author George R.R. Martin based a lot of the events on actual history. The War of the Five Kings in the books is inspired by the War of the Roses, where 2 noble families fought for 30 years to secure their claim to the English throne. In addition there are parallels to the Roman Empire, especially the struggle between rivals for emperor, as happened in 69 AD, and later when Constantine fought his way to the imperial throne. The great wall that protected Westeros from the scary people in the north was an exaggerated version of Hadrian's Wall, constructed by the Romans to protect them from the savage Picts. As for the infamous Red Wedding, where a noble family is murdered by their host at a feast, there are precedents for such a horrible betrayal of hospitality in both Scottish and Japanese history. Martin did not have to make up a lot of the cruel and homicidal people or events in his books. The real world provided plenty of material.

Even people who don't read history come to understand that leaders can be ruthless. And often they approve of it. This made sense when the world was populated by warring tribes, nations and empires. “Yeah,” people thought, “our king is a bastard but at least he is our bastard.” The idea is that in a hostile world you need a belligerent ruler to fight for you. And you keep him happy by giving him what he wants. He'd probably just take it anyway.

You even see this in the Bible. The “judges” in the book bearing that name were mostly military leaders who would arise periodically when the Israelites were being oppressed by one of the surrounding nations. Eventually the 12 tribes wanted a king like the other nations. And what they mostly wanted was a person to lead their armies against the Philistines. God allows this but warns them through Samuel that giving that much power to one person will lead to abuses of power. (1 Samuel 8:10-17) “When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.” (1 Samuel 8:18) And indeed parts of the historical books of the Old Testament read like Game of Thrones.

God sees Israel's demand for a king as a rejection of God as king. Even David, who in some ways was a model king of Israel, was undone by his sexual sins that led to intrigue, murder and a rebellion led by one of his sons. And God will not let David build him a temple because he is a man of blood. His son Solomon, for all his wisdom, ended up with 700 wives and 300 concubines, many of whom were pagan and whom he allowed to worship idols. And soon after Solomon's death his united kingdom splits into two kingdoms, Israel to the north and Judah to the south. Each is conquered in turn and taken into exile. The Jews return from Babylon and try to rebuild their kingdom. There is a brief period under the Maccabees where they regain independence but then the Roman Empire takes over. By Jesus' day, people are yearning for another leader like David to deliver them from oppression and set up the kingdom of God.

So when Jesus, a descendant of David, arrives, healing people, working wonders, speaking like a prophet and talking about the kingdom of God, people take notice. They want him to set up that kingdom. The problem is the popular idea of the kingdom of God was an earthly, political entity, ruled by a holy warrior king like David, with a strict observance of the Jewish law. And that wasn't what Jesus meant by kingdom of God.

So Jesus is continually putting forth a different version of the kingdom of God and usually he does this in a parable. Of the 40 recorded parables we get in the gospels, at least 16 are about the kingdom. They emphasize things like how it starts small and grows like a mustard seed, how it is valuable like a hidden treasure, how it is joyous and inclusive like a king's wedding feast, how people are to serve it by using their talents to the best of their ability and how it is about forgiveness and grace, not might. The Beatitudes list the qualities of those who are part of God's kingdom and the whole Sermon on the Mount can be seen as a charter of how its citizens should behave.

Today we are looking at another parable of the kingdom. This one is different and the reaction it gets shows that people still do not get the essential quality of the kingdom of God. Jesus tells a story about a landowner who plants a vineyard with care and leases to some tenants while he goes out of the country. When he sends slaves to collect his portion of the produce, they get mistreated and in some cases killed. Eventually he sends his son, whom he expects his tenants to respect. But they kill him, too. Then Jesus asks his audience, “Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” His audience says, “He will horribly destroy those horrible men! Then he will lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him its fruits at the harvest time.” I retranslated that verse to reflect that in the Greek there is a double use of the word for bad. The evil men will come to an evil end at the hands of the vineyard's owner.

Given that Hebrew Bible often uses the image of God as the vintner and Israel as the vine, it's a fairly transparent critique of the treacherous way the caretakers of the nation have acted towards God. And notice it is the audience, not Jesus, who says the vineyard owner will take bloody revenge on his murderous tenants. In fact, they would have expected him to do it sooner, after the way his slaves were treated. You do not kill an unarmed messenger, not even during war. Jesus' audience would not only have seen the vineyard owner as amazingly tolerant but incredibly naive when he decided to send his son. Killing was too good for such wretched men; they deserved a wretched death.

Jesus does agree that the owner will take away the vineyard and give it to others but he doesn't say that the owner will do anything else to the tenants. He does speak of the Lord as a builder who does something remarkable when he takes a rejected stone and uses it as the cornerstone. He is quoting Psalm 118 and the reference seems to be the temple or house of the Lord and “the gate of the Lord through which the righteous may enter.” (Psalm 118:20-23) His only reference to violence is what happens to those who fall on the stone or on whom it falls. The cause of their destruction is not taking into account the laws of God's creation—in this case, gravity.

In fact Jesus drops the allegory and says to his critics, the chief priests and Pharisees, “Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom.” There's no point in having a vineyard if it doesn't produce grapes, and not just any grapes but good grapes. And there's no point to the kingdom of God if it doesn't produce good fruit.

Jesus often talked about fruit in his parables and proverbs. 41 times in the 4 gospels he refers to fruit and most of the time he is not talking about literal fruit. He said that just as an easy way to identify a tree is by its fruit, you could judge people by the moral acts and spiritual qualities they produce. Nor when talking about bad fruit was he merely referring to unripened or rotten fruit. In Matthew 7:17 he talks of how a evil tree can actually produce evil fruit. Some trees produce fruit that is toxic.

Yellow star fruit can be bad for you if you have any kidney problems or take certain medications with which it interacts. Eat too much and it can lead to kidney damage, seizures and even death! Jamaica's national fruit, ackee fruit, if not properly prepared, can cause vomiting, coma, hypoglycemia and, yes, even, death. Here in Florida the fruit of the manchineel tree were called the “little apples of death” by the conquistadors. One bite can kill you. In fact, the whole tree is toxic. Its sap causes blisters and the smoke of burning its branches and leaves can blind you. And if you go to the website Wildflowers of Israel they have an extensive list of toxic plants, some of which Jesus might be referring to.

Good fruit is nourishing. It makes you healthier. So what is the fruit Jesus is talking about? Jesus never actually defines it but Paul does in his letter to the Galatians: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22-23) Indeed in the kingdom of God the law is to love God above everything else and to love one another as Jesus loves us. And all of the qualities of the fruit of the Spirit come out of love.

Imagine a kingdom or nation where all its citizens loved one another rather than hated certain other citizens. Imagine a kingdom or nation where joy was the predominant mood rather than gloom. Imagine a kingdom or nation where peace prevailed rather than conflict. Imagine a kingdom or nation where patience was pervasive rather than impatience with one another. Imagine a kingdom or nation where kindness was the keynote rather than cruelty. Imagine a kingdom or nation where generosity was displayed by everyone rather than greed. Imagine a kingdom or nation where faithfulness to one's word was the norm rather than the exception. Imagine a kingdom or nation where gentleness was the go-to response to situations rather than harshness. Imagine a kingdom or nation where self-control was admired rather than just doing and saying whatever popped into your head. Such a kingdom or nation would be heavenly. Such a kingdom or nation could truly be called Christian.

You won't find such a nation on earth. Because mere human efforts and even human laws cannot change human nature so radically. Only the Spirit of God in Christ can. Speaking to the very brutal Pilate, Jesus said that his kingdom was not from this world. If it were, his followers would be fighting to free him. (John 18:36) When one of his followers, Peter, did fight to prevent Jesus' arrest and cut off a man's ear with his sword, Jesus rebukes Peter telling him, “Put your sword back in its place for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.” (Matthew 26:52) And then Jesus healed the man's ear.(Luke 22:51) The kingdom of God is about healing, not harming.

The people listening to Jesus' parable about the rebellious tenants of the vineyard were responding with the logic of human nature: treat other people exactly as they treat you. Or worse. If they slap you on the right cheek, punch them in the face. If someone insults you, come up with a bigger insult for them. Never back down; always double down. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But as Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof points out, “That way the whole world will be blind and toothless.”

But that is not how it is in the kingdom of God. Its citizens realize their spiritual poverty, feel it deeply, are humble, hunger and thirst to be made right with God, are merciful, seek to purify their hearts, are peacemakers and are not dismayed when persecuted for doing the right thing. (Matthew 5:3-12) Citizens tend to imitate their leaders and we are to be like Jesus. And since Jesus is God (John 10:30) and God is love (1 John 4:8), then Paul's description of love in 1 Corinthians should apply not just to God but to godly people. Which means a Christ-like person is not only patient and kind but is not envious. A person following Jesus does not brag and is not puffed up with pride. A real Christian is not rude, is not self-serving, is not easily angered or resentful. A person in Christ is not glad about injustice but rejoices in the truth. A person in whom the Spirit of God lives knows no limit to their endurance, no end to their trust, no fading of their hope and can outlast anything. (1 Corinthians 13: 4-7, with a nod to the J.B. Phillips translation)

And those are not the only ways in which the kingdom of God is unlike the nations of the world. As I said, the expectation in Jesus' day was that the Messiah would establish a physical, political kingdom of God. But Jesus says, “The kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17:21) Or, because the “you” is plural in Greek, “The kingdom of God is in you as a group.” Which is why he says, “For where two or three of you are assembled in my name, I am there among them.” (Matthew 18:20) Again, God is love and 2 or more people acting together in love better display the image of God than a person trying to do so alone.

So naturally the kingdom of God doesn't have borders or boundaries or limits but exists wherever we go. We are ambassadors for Christ. (2 Corinthians 5:20) We represent him and his kingdom wherever we are. So our thoughts, words and behavior reflect on Jesus. As it says in 1 John, “The one who says he resides in God ought himself to walk just as Jesus walked.” (1 John 2:6) If we walk the walk, we cannot practice or endorse hateful or unethical behavior, because that is not what citizens of the kingdom of God do. We do not harm but help, feeding the hungry, giving water to the thirsty, clothing the naked, taking care of the sick, visiting those in prison and welcoming the resident immigrant. Because not only do we represent Jesus, we are to see Jesus in the despised and disadvantaged. (Matthew 25:31-46)

The kingdoms of this world rule and expand through use of force. The kingdom of God is ruled and expands through love. It doesn't conquer people; it attracts them. They leave the things that rule their lives for what they see in Jesus, the God who is love incarnate. And our duty is not to repel but welcome those who wish to enter the kingdom. We are not to fight our enemies but love them and pray for them. (Matthew 5:44) The kingdoms of this world tries to rid themselves of enemies by harming them. This usually just makes more enemies. Jesus' method is to win hearts and minds. The best way to get rid of an enemy is make them your friend. It worked for Zacchaeus, Matthew, Nathanael, the murderer on the cross, Saul, who became Paul, and a guy named Francis. All were sinners who became friends of God through Christ and exemplary citizens of his kingdom. In fact, today is the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi and were times normal, we would be blessing animals and doing a service filled with songs he wrote. What we can do is say a prayer, not written by him but which reflects his insights into how a person following Jesus and acting as his ambassador should behave. Let us pray.

“Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.”