Jesus finds us in the questions…
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[00:00:00] This is one of those weeks when my conversations with all of you have had a significant role in how this sermon has come together. And I'm grateful because these readings, these readings are kind of spicy. And I'm grateful that you have helped me in our conversations to tie the threads together and what it really comes down to is this really beautiful tension we get to enjoy.
And I use that verb on purpose. We get to enjoy the beautiful tension between two gifts that God gave us in our humanity. And one is the nature of, of wonder and mystery and poetry. And the other is the gift of knowledge. The other place where wonder takes us is scientific inquiry, right? where we, we seek answers. And we [00:01:00] learn things.
And God gave us both of those gifts that, that emerge out of wonder. And it's been fun. A number of you have, have really used the gift of wonder that leads to academic inquiry and scientific inquiry, to, to delve more fully into your faith and your faith tradition.
And so some of you have studied archaeology, some of you have studied scripture and theology, and it's been fun because the stories we've had the last several weeks have inspired you to tell me, you know, that Moses thing crossing the Red Sea, that didn't happen. There's no archaeological support for this story, Paige.
I know, I know, there isn't. It's one of the things that first year seminarians have to struggle with, is these stories that have become sort of the foundation of our, of our Sunday school learning and, and, and whatnot. They're not always borne out [00:02:00] in the science. And finding a place where we're okay with that, I think it's one of the most exciting things we do on that part of our spiritual journey.
And that's where wonder doesn't necessarily lead us to knowledge and science, but leads us to mystery and poetry and art. And truth can be found on both branches of that decision tree. That's why God gave us these gifts.
That's why people are as complex as we are. It's a complex world we live in. Full of complex truths. And some of those truths are easier to understand through science and that kind of knowledge. And other truths are more easily graspable through poetry and art and mystery. And the comfort with both is one of the gifts we have in our particular tradition.
We in the Anglican tradition in general don't demand that we let go of [00:03:00] that part of ourselves that is intellectual and seeks knowledge, and loves science. We don't have to abandon that for our faith. It's one of the reasons I became an Episcopalian.
One of you asked me that this week. Was it, was it she said, a bit of a scientist herself, was it the fact that we don't have to give up science that made the Episcopal Church your home? I said, well, funny, yes, because I was 20 and I was in college. Right? And I had been raised in a tradition where that part of me was not welcome. Um, and I said, but it wasn't just, it wasn't just that I didn't have to, as we said in the late 90s, check our brain at the door, but that I could also enjoy the mystery.
I could also enjoy those things I don't have scientific proof for and realize that, that there is truth in art. [00:04:00] And there is truth in science. And they're both gifts. And we get to enjoy them both. God gave them to us. To be fully human, I think, is to find God in, in, like I said, both sides of that decision tree.
And so, so, we come to a set of readings where there are so many questions. And not always a lot of answers. In fact, Jesus asks more questions than he ever answers in the Gospels. And that's certainly the truth in the reading we heard this morning. Indeed, our readings are full of questions. But we'll get, we'll get to the Gospel. Let's start with Exodus.
This story of the Pentateuch is full of truth. Whether or not archaeology bears things out as historic [00:05:00] fact. Was there a Cain? Was there an Abel? Does it really matter? The truth about sibling rivalry is something a lot of us have lived! Maybe not to its most fatal conclusion, but, but, right?
There's truth there! You know, farmers and herders, right? All of those things, right? Just look at the old Wild West back in the day and the battles that took place between-- right? Right? There's a lot of truth there. There's a lot of truth there. So, so, we gotta, we gotta give it to the Israelites here.
They are asking questions, but they are not unreasonable. They have put their whole trust in leaving behind a horrible and oppressive situation. They've put their whole trust in God, and frankly in God's servant Moses. And so far so good, they got through the parting of the Red Sea. They were a little worried there for a minute.
Got a little hungry, we read that story last week. [00:06:00] Quail and manna, yay! Chicken and biscuits. So, so far so good, right? No, they're in the wilderness of Sin. Sin is the Hebrew word. It is not S- I- N, the downfall of humanity and the source of all of our brokenness. It is just the place's name. Okay? Doesn't mean that in Hebrew.
They're in the Wilderness of Sin, and they get thirsty. And that, and fair enough. We are made about 60 percent water. We don't have water, we die. It's a fair question. All right, Moses, come on, man. And Moses goes to God, what would you have me do? God says, strike the rock. They get water, everybody's happy for now.
Tune in, stay tuned, give us a couple weeks. But the funniest, this is a funny story. It does not read like a funny story in English, but it's a funny story. When we get to those last verses where Moses calls the place Masah and [00:07:00] Meribah, that's funny in Hebrew. Because what they're saying is that he called the place Testingville and Complainingburg.
I owe that to a scholar named Victor Hamilton. Testingville and Complainingburg. It's funny. The author is, is amused and delighted about this part of humanity that is part of who we are. They asked the right question, they got an answer. Water from a rock. Is the Lord among us or not? Decidedly, yes. These mysteries continue to unfold and, we hear in Philippians of this mystery of the salvific nature of Jesus' obedience and surrender.
We've had a lot of talk in the last five or six years about privilege. And I know that word triggers some [00:08:00] people and inspires others. I'm just gonna name that out loud. So, stay with me. If you're one of those people who hear privilege and you shut down, don't! Stay with me. Stay with me. I know that can happen.
I once said "occupy" in a sermon and I heard about it for three weeks. So I get it, that there are trigger words that can come up in a sermon. We've been talking a lot about privilege. This is a song, predates the Gospels, predates Paul's letters, that he is quoting about how Jesus surrendered his privilege to become human, and the salvific nature of that surrender, of giving up all of his power for the sake of us.
What would the world be like if the powerful surrendered some of their power for the sake of the powerless? [00:09:00] It'd be transformative. The world would be a different place. That's some of the truth we find in this passage.
And if you've struggled in the past with that theology of the cross that some call sacrificial atonement or substitutionary atonement, where, where an angry God demands a blood sacrifice and Jesus offers himself up on behalf of the rest of us. If you find the idea of a father demanding a son die a horrible, torturous death, if you find that problematic, set it aside.
That's an idea that only came about, I don't know, about a thousand years ago. It's young in the history of the church. And, and, and this is a different theology. There are lots of ideas around what is salvific about Jesus. And if that one is problematic for you, it's okay. It's fine. Because this passage here actually tells us that it is Jesus' surrender, [00:10:00] his self surrender. Not demanded by an angry other, but God's self surrendering in Jesus that brings salvation.
That's a big difference between somebody else demanding a blood sacrifice. Jesus gave up all of his power. Now the result was he died on the cross. But he gave up all of his power to live our life; to be human; to live our life; to understand us; to understand our joy; to understand our sorrow; to know what it means to inhabit these bodies, and live our lives; and love our loves, and have our struggles. That God understands that reality intimately, that is salvation in itself. And so this hymn, through [00:11:00] poetry, through art, tries to seek and understand this great mystery.
Which brings us to the gospel. Now, It's helpful to know we have, we have shifted gears significantly from where we were last week. We are now in Jerusalem. Did you catch that? We're in the temple. What have we missed? We've missed Palm Sunday. That's a lot to miss. The triumphal entry. We've missed the cleansing of the temple.
The turning over the tables in the temple. Or have you seen that meme on Facebook of Jesus flipping over the tables and he's like doing this great gymnastics backflip over the tables with his robes flying? It's very silly, but he's just totally cleansed the temple. You need to know that before you hear these temple authorities say, "Who do you think you are?"
"And who gave you the authority to say these things"? [00:12:00] That's everything that's happened that is leading them to ask this question. It's not just that he's teaching. He had a parade. Hosanna, laud hosanna. People waving palms and throwing their cloaks on the ground and the cleansing of the temple. People just don't behave that way.
And these people, have some authority issues themselves. It's some baggage they carry. Some would call these folks collaborators. They were put in place and allowed to do their job because Rome gave them the authority. Their authority comes because they have agreed to do Rome's bidding. Now we might automatically put them in the bad guy category for collaborating with Rome.
It might be a little unfair. The fact that they were willing to do this meant the temple was available for the [00:13:00] sake of their religious practice. And if no one had been willing to do that, the temple would not have been available for that. And we saw what happened in 70 CE. The temples destroyed and the streets of Jerusalem ran with blood.
So Jesus, in this story, Matthew's gospel is all about who's in and who's out, who's doing God's will and who's not. And clearly Jesus is cross about some of this, but we need to sort of, I wouldn't say give them a pass, but have a little bit of sympathy. That they are trying their best to try to make it possible for people to worship God in the way they understand they're supposed to.
And that's the price they pay, was to work with Rome. So they come asking Jesus this question, and instead of answering, he asks them more questions. And what it comes down to, and the answer he ultimately gives [00:14:00] in this story is: it's not about the things we're saying, it's about how we're living. One son says, "Sure dad, I'll go work in the vineyard today." And instead he gets caught up in scrolling through Facebook, and the hours pass by, and he looks up and all of a sudden it's dinner time, and he blew it.
Or the equivalent. The other one says, "No, I've got things to do, man." But in the end, he obeys, and he does his father's will.
And then, Jesus really lays it out and says, "You know, those losers, the tax collectors, the prostitutes, who followed John the Baptist, they got it right. You religious folk, oops. Y'all. Think you're insiders? Got another thing coming. [00:15:00] You need to change how you're living."
So many questions. So many questions. Sometimes there are answers. Sometimes there's only mystery. But even when there's mystery, what we hear in the readings today is that God is still there. Some questions are meant to be answered with knowledge and science and clarity. And we can think the enlightenment, that we got pretty good at that.
But there are other questions. Questions that are best answered by art and poetry. Time spent in the mystery. In the unknowing, but [00:16:00] still experiencing the grace, mercy, and love of God.
