Judgments Final and Otherwise

If the content of the service did not challenge the way things are with a vision of the way things will be when God brings creation to a close, then it is a false good feeling.

If the content of the service placed the blame for imperfections on someone else without accepting any responsibility for it oneself, then it is a false good feeling.

But if the content of the service stresses that the free gifts of the body and blood of Christ are available to all who know that they are forgiven sinners, then it can be a truly good feeling. a feeling based upon the truth of the situation.

If the content of the service offers the opportunity for amendment of life, the trust and confident hope that things really can change inside of us and among us as well, that too is a truly good feeling.

The false good feelings come cheaply, without much thought or discomfort along the way.

On the other hand, the truly good feelings may be accompanied by great difficulties.

A college chaplain was assigned the job of talking with a sophomore after a misdeed for which he was being disciplined.

“What were you thinking when you did this?” asked the chaplain.

The young man replied, “How long have you worked here?”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

Surely you have been here long enough to know that if I had been thinking, I wouldn't have gotten into this mess in the first place. I wasn't thinking, I was drinking.”

The good feelings that accompany thoughtlessness are often short-lived, as that student painfully discovered.

Maybe you remember that guy in school of whom you were just a bit jealous, the one who always had the prettiest dates and the fastest action,

the one who never really grew up, who raced into multiple marriages and too much booze, or other problems.

One person said sadly, “Yes, I went to his funeral. He was broke, alone, and dead of liver disease at age 50.”

He thought he was accountable to no one, and especially not to God.

In contrast with these two examples, there is a man by the name of Washington Duke.

Yes, he is of the family for whom the university in North Carolina is named.

Every Friday he tallied up the salaries, income and expenses of his business and deducted 10% of the profit.

It was his tithe.

It was deducted mechanically, one of the Methodist rules.

And as a Methodist, he understood himself to be accountable to that rule, and he simply did it.

He didn't try to wriggle out of it, to find ways around it, or to claim that the rule didn't apply to him for some reason...he simply did it.

And great things resulted.

What have we done with what has been entrusted to us?

It is a very uncomfortable question, but a necessary one.

In fact, we might even characterize the Bible as the “book of accountability.”

From the very first stories we hear it:

--Adam and Eve are held accountable for their disobedience.

--Cain offers the pathetic excuse “Am I my brother's keeper?”

And the answer is YES!

--Aaron is held accountable for leading the people into idolatry with the golden calf.

--Pick a prophet, any prophet.

They are always calling the people to account for what God has given them.

--Paul urges his readers to ...”always be ready to account for the hope that is in you in Christ Jesus.”

--John the Seer calls forth an accounting of the deeds of the seven churches in the book of Revelation.

--And then there is today's gospel parable about the wicked tenants of the vineyard ...who are called to account, ...who try to avoid accountability, ...who resort even to murder to further their ends, ...who are finally destroyed because of their actions.

Those first hearers of the story realized that Jesus was speaking about them, among others.

They denied their accountability, and planned to murder Jesus to solve their problem.

From beginning to end, the Bible is all about us needing to make an account for everything.

Is this bad news?

That would be a very juvenile view, like the classroom of students who steadfastly deny that anyone has done an evil deed while the teacher turned her back.

It is easy for a committee to blame the pastor when something is amiss in the congregation;

and equally easy for the pastor to lash out at someone else.

The truth is that blame-shifting gets us nowhere.

What is needed is confession, forgiveness, and amendment of life on the part of everyone.

Here is the profoundly serious reason:

God loves us enough to not only give us good gifts,

but also loves us enough to hold us to account for what we have been given.

God loves us enough to love us even in our sinfulness...

...but God loves us more than enough so as not to leave us wallowing self-satisfied and smug in our sin.

Sooner or later, parents usually discover that they are not doing their children any favors by refraining from holding them accountable for their behavior.

We have lots of very frustrated teachers these days because the kids come to them after running roughshod over their parents, and demanding to indulge every whim.

The teachers are just worn out trying to cope with the discussions which should properly be happening at home.

Parents simply must make judgments, every day with the kids.

Bit by bit, the youth must learn to make these judgments for themselves each day, if they are going to have disciplined and successful lives.

Some have said that all of this is simply too difficult, that we should leave it to the professional thinkers, and all the rest of us just muddle along without too much thought about accountability.

Foolishness! We are just like the Hebrews of old who, even though they received ten very clear directions from the Lord, decided that they applied only to someone else.

They have escaped from Pharaoh, by the hand of God, and are out in the wilderness.

So, what next?

God says to Moses: Write this down.

First, you will have no other gods.

I bought you, I own you, you're mine.

Second, don't make idols.

You are not free to give yourself to anything – your spouse, your job, your nation – but me.

Then don't lie, don't steal, don't have sex with other people's spouses, don't envy what others have.

Moss says, “I've never heard of worship such as this.”

God says, “I'm a funny sort of God.

There are other gods who want to be worshiped through fertility rites, sex, loud music, or some sort of payoff.

From you I desire thankfulness, righteous thought, and actions that are just.

You're not free from me; you are free for me.

You are to be a light to the nations, an example to others of the relationship I desire with everyone that breathes.”

Worship without thought and action is mere play-acting.

Thought without worship and action is a waste of time.

Action without thought and worship is lame do-good-ism.

We are accountable for all three elements, and those old Ten Commandments are the enduring guide for shaping our lives.

We haven't outgrown them; we're fooling only ourselves when we think that.

So what is the Good News here?

We have a God who loves us enough to die for us on the cross at our own hand...and keep on loving us anyway.

There is more to the story of the wicked tenants after the parable ends.

There is hate and murder and death...and then there is forgiveness and life.

This is why we sing our next hymn today, a hymn that rehearses the whole story of salvation, the story of forgiveness and life.

When we sing the Kyrie, it is with several different moods at the same time.

Kyrie eleison...Lord, have mercy... is both a prayer for the Lord to have mercy on us who have messed up and done evil yet again,

and it is also a confident acclamation that the Lord has in fact had mercy.

Do we leave today with a good feeling?

Let's see...what is happening here?

--confession and forgiveness

--grace, mercy, and peace to you...

--intercession and thanksgiving

--word and sacrament

--law and gospel

--the love of Jesus, in spite of our sin.

Yes, that's a powerfully good list. Amen.

Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.