Luke 17:5-10

In 2017 and author called Melody Briggs published a book called “How Children Read the Biblical Narrative: An Investigation of Children's Readings of the Gospel of Luke”. To put it in non-academic language, she read the gospel of Luke to a group of children and then recorded their responses to it. It sounds like a fascinating experiment.

In that book, she describes the reactions of a little boy called Fishy when this parable was read to him. According to Melody Briggs, Fishy declared that this story was a part of Luke that he “didn’t think was right” and protested, “I think the servants should be treated well”.

Fishy’s reaction reveals the difficulty of the parable for modern readers. It also reveals just how vastly different the socio-political context of Luke’s Gospel is from our own today.

The social world of the parable reflects a very different world from the world of a modern human rights based western democracy. It reflects a stratified, hierarchical social world that many westerners would find not just alien but also unjust and reprehensible just as wee Fishy did in Melody Briggs’s book.

By the same token, it would have to be admitted too that not so long ago that some of our own ancestors would have interpreted the social world described in this parable as being quite socially acceptable.

It is quite a shock to consider that slavery was still legal according to UK law until 1833. That is really not so long ago.

This parable would almost certainly would have been used by many a Christian slave owners to justify slavery. It would have been seen as justification not only in their owning of slaves, but also in justifying a stratified and hierarchical society where they believed that God had ordained that some were born into a life of privilege and other human beings were born simply to be servants and slaves.

In reading this parable we therefore need to be sure not to gloss over too quickly the real dangers and difficulties this parable poses in reinforcing some of our unhealthy and unjust social systems.

But it also poses some real theological difficulties. If one takes the parable as a description of how God relates to human beings, then it certainly paints a pretty stark and grim picture of God as a domineering, uncaring, authoritarian slave owner. In the NIV version, the Greek word Doulos is softened to mean: “servant”. But the word actually means a bond-slave, someone who belongs to another; without any ownership rights of their own. Is God really like a slave owner? Does God really regard us as worthless and unprofitable slaves?

The image of the slave-owner in this passage stands in stark contrast with the image of God that Jesus paints in the parable of the prodigal son, where God is pictured as a loving father who takes great joy in us as his children and even gives us freedom to make wrong choices.

The parable is also in fact quite contrary to the image of Jesus himself. Christians call Jesus Lord and Master, and yet in John’s Gospel, Jesus, the Master takes off his outer garment, wraps a towel around his waist and takes on the role of a common servant in washing his disciples feet before a meal.

This parable even stands in stark contrast to another of Jesus parables earlier in Luke’s Gospel chapter 12:35-37 where Jesus speaks of a master who returns and finds his servants watching for when he comes. Truly I tell you, says Jesus, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them.

Luke 12:35-37 describes an almost polar opposite scene to our own parable today.

In Paul’s letter to the Galatians Paul writes that We are no longer slaves, but God’s children, and since we are God’s children, God has made us God’s heir. We are heir’s to God’s throne! In other word’s, God does not treat us like an authoritarian slave owner would treat worthless and unprofitable slaves.

In almost every way, the life and example and teaching of Jesus and the witness of Paul challenges the social structure and values of this parable. Modern industrial psychology would also suggest that the best way to get the most out of labour force is do do so with praise and encouragement, making people feel valued and valuable, as indeed we are.

Probably for all these reasons, there are some Biblical scholars who would dispute whether this parable really was a parable of Jesus.

Having been critical of the social values reflected in the parable, I would like reflect on the core message of the parable itself. In the end the real point of the parable is not about reinforcing unjust social relations. Whether the parable came from Jesus or whether it came from the writer of Luke’s Gospel himself, heart of the parable is about fulfilling one’s duty as a follower of Jesus.

We live in a culture that highly exalts freedom, breaking free from whatever restricts our freedom. While the concept of fulfilling ones duties might have been an important one in previous generations, today the word has largely fallen out of favour. Is there still value for us today in this concept of fulfilling our duties and obligations in life. Or should our absolute freedom in life trump all other values?

As I wrestled with the question, it struck me that there is strangely also a freedom that can come to us when we fulfill our obligations and when we do our duties without expecting thanks and praise in return. There is a reward that comes to the parent who does his or her duty towards their children when on the inside it might sometimes feel like a burden. There is a reward that comes in life when the piano student fulfills her duty and obligation to practice. There is a reward that comes in life when we fulfill our obligations and duties towards our employer by showing up at work day after day and putting in an honest days work.

There is a reward that comes in life, even strangely one might say from paying our taxes. We receive the benefits of living in a well functioning country.

While duties and obligations may sometimes feel like they are a hindrance to our freedom - family duties and obligations... social duties and obligations... duties towards friends and our communities, our countries and even our world, even towards the environment – and while at times these duties and obligations may even make us feel like worthless slaves, there is also a strange freedom that can come from fulfilling our duties.

I have an uncle who was oozing with talent. He had been blessed with an amazing sharp mind and amazing musical abilities. If he had applied himself and led a life of even moderate discipline, he could have achieved great things in his life and would have been in quite a stable position in his life right now. But unfortunately in his own words, he saw himself as a free spirit and as such, he lived a life without much of duty or obligation except to his own freedom. My uncle is in his 70’s now. He doesn’t have great relationships with any of his children because he was never really there for them when they were growing up. By contrast, my parents, like many parents in this congregation sought to take seriously their duties and responsibilities in life. Duties and obligations to their parents, to their children to their church communities and to their jobs. I can imagine that many times it must have felt like they were living their lives a little like the slaves in this passage. But when compared with my uncle who sought to live his life as a free spirit without any duties and responsibilities, I would suggest that paradoxically they have found a much greater freedom in their lives than my uncle has ever experienced.

Getting back to this parable... I don’t believe that God regards us a worthless slaves. The Christian message is meant to communicate to us the good news that we are God’s beloved children. And yet, at the same time, being a Christian, a follower of Christ means that we have freely taken on extra duties and responsibilities... in a strange and paradoxical way, even though we are God’s children, beloved sons and daughters, as the apostle Paul suggests, we have also freely made ourselves into slaves of Christ. We have of our own free choice agreed to take on the duties and responsibilities of being followers of Christ, which is perhaps what this parable is trying to express. And somehow, paradoxically in the end, that is where true freedom will lie. When we allow ourselves to become seemingly, (in the eyes of many others), worthless slaves for Christ, we discover the joy and the freedom of being the precious sons and daughters of God.

Maybe, one day, when the Master welcomes us home with the words “Well done good and faithful servant” it will be we who respond with the words: But we have only done our duty.

 Luke 17:11-19 HARVEST SERMON

I preparing for today’s sermon I came across the story of a person who described how a colleague, when ever she was greeted and asked how she was doing, she would respond with the words: “I’m grateful.”

It was her standard response. Where some people might answer: I’m fine, or I’m doing great, or It doesn’t help complaining, her response was always: “I’m grateful!”

It is an interesting response because while it is a positive response, a choosing to focus on what is positive in life, it is not a denial that there may be difficulties in life, because even when things in life are difficult, there is always something that one can be grateful for.

The person who related the story suggests that we should all give it a try: Imagine that someone asks you how you are, and then imagine yourself replying with the words: “I’m grateful!”

What does it feel like to say those words?

In reflecting on his colleague who always responded to a greeting with the word: “I’m grateful”, it taught him that gratitude is a choice. It is easy to forget to be grateful, especially when things don’t feel like they’re going so well. To be grateful is a choice.

And that takes us to our gospel passage today.

Luke tells the story of ten lepers who ask Jesus for mercy, keeping their distance, as the law dictated they must because as lepers they are objects of fear and loathing.

Asking Jesus for mercy, Jesus simply says to them, “Go and show yourselves to a priest”, because it was the priests who had the power to pronounce them clean. In the story, they start walking and as they walk, they realize they are healed. But only one turns back to give praise and say thanks. The others keep on going.

Jesus asks the question: Why do nine rush away without giving thanks. Why is this foreigner the only one who does? And, to that one who came back, he says: “Your faith has made you well”.

And so interestingly, Jesus makes a distinction between being healed and being well. Or another way of putting it, it could be said that in this story there are two moments of healing.

Firstly, there is a physical healing when they follow Jesus instructions to go to Jerusalem.

Secondly, Jesus pronounces what seems to be a second healing on the one leper who returns “Rise, your faith has made you well.”

Archbishop Desmond Tutu in commenting on this parable suggests that maybe there are two kinds of leprosy: Leprosy of the skin, an external leprosy that affects the physical body, and secondly, a leprosy of the spirit. All 10 of the lepers were healed physically, but only one of the lepers who returned to Jesus to express gratitude was healed internally.

Looking a bit more closely at the story, we see that it invites us to make a few insights into the nature of gratitude:

Firstly, as has already been said expressing gratitude is a choice. And it seems that it is the road less travelled. In the story, all 10 lepers were healed. Only one of the lepers made the choice to return to express gratitude to Jesus, the other 9 lepers, for whatever reason chose not to return. Gratitude is a choice we must make.

Secondly, showing gratitude takes effort. It is costly. It requires a change of direction. It requires making a return to the one we are thanking. It requires we retrace our steps. In the passage, the one who expresses his gratitude takes the time and the effort to return to Jesus.

How much easier would it have been for him to simply continue on his way like the others. It takes effort to return, to find Jesus and to express his thanks.

I remember as a child, when it was birthday time or Christmas time, it was always exciting to receive gifts from others. But it took great effort to sit down and write thank you notes to all those family members who had given me a gift. If it wasn’t for my Mom and Dad insisting that I sit down and write those notes, I hate to admit that it probably wouldn’t have happened.

Showing gratitude takes effort. It is costly. But it is also worth it. I have no regrets that my parents forced me to sit down and write those thank you letters.

Thirdly, it seems from the story that gratitude and humility go together. This is illustrated in this passage in the way the man throws himself down at Jesus feet. It is an act of humility. What more profound way of expressing gratitude than throwing yourself down at someone else’s feet.

Interestingly, the word humility itself comes form the word humus, referring to the rich layer of soil on the earth. It is as though he takes this word humility quite literally as he throws himself down on the ground at Jesus feet. His gratitude expresses itself in humility before Jesus.

Grateful people are humble people and humble people are grateful people. Gratitude makes us humble, because it turns our thoughts away from ourselves towards others. The arrogant don’t express gratitude, because they take everything as a right, as an expectation. It is the humble who are grateful.

Fourthly, this passage suggests that gratitude is the true expression of faith. When the man falls on the ground at Jesus feet, Jesus says: “Rise, your faith has made you well.” For Jesus, the man’s gratitude is an expression of his faith. It suggests that the heart of what it means to be a person of faith, is to be a person of gratitude. Meister Eckhart, the great German mystic of the middle ages once wrote: “If the only prayer you ever pray is thank you. It will be enough”.

Lastly, as we have already seen, gratitude is healing. It brings wellness and wholeness to the soul. At the end of the story, after the man has thrown himself down at the feet of Jesus, Jesus says to him: “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.” All ten lepers were healed physically, but only one displayed wellness in his soul.

When we say the words “I am grateful” an inner healing begins to take place. A healing of the heart. A healing of the spirit. A healing of the soul. Gratitude brings healing, not just to ourselves and to those around us. How difficult it is to deal with people who do not show gratitude. When gratitude is missing, something of our true humanity is missing. But when it is present it brings wellness and wholeness to the soul.

On this Harvest Sunday, we have gathered as a community to collectively express our gratitude. Gratitude for the gift of the earth and our connectedness to it. Gratitude for all that sustains our lives here on earth. Gratitude for farmers, for animals, for sunshine and rain, for insects and microbes that sustain healthy soil, for transporters for shop assistants and for the whole invisible chain of beings and people upon whose lives we depend, and without whom we would not be able to live. And finally, we have come to return out thanks to God, the foundation and source of life.

I would like to close with a short story:

Once there was a happy, satisfied old woman whom many people envied because of her artistry with life. She never left her house without a handful of dried beans. She did not intend to eat the beans, but rather would keep them in the right pocket of her jacket. Every time she experienced something beautiful – a sunrise, a child’s laughter, a brief encounter, a good meal, some shade in midday heat – she soaked it up, let it delight her heart, and moved a bean from her right pocket to her left one. When an experience was especially nice and even surprising, she would move two or three beans.

In the evening, the old woman sat at home, counting the beans she had moved. As she celebrated the number of left-pocket beans, she brought reminded herself how much beauty had crossed her path on that day and how much she was grateful for. And on evenings when she could count only one bean, that was still a good day – it had been worth living.

I would invite you to practice with me again: How are you today? “I’m grateful”.

And Jesus said to him: “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”

Luke 16:19-31

Many Christians would read this parable as proof that there is a literal eternal hell of suffering and punishment. But is that really true?

An initial answer to that question is that this is a strange conclusion to come to, especially when we consider the true nature of what a parable is. Parables, by their very nature are metaphorical stories. They are not meant to be interpreted as literal descriptions of something, but rather as a kind of a parallel story, an allegory, a story used to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson.

Before getting back to a discussion on hell, I would like to make a few interesting observations of the parable.

Firstly, isn't it interesting that in this parable, Lazarus the poor beggar is given a name. But the Rich Man is not.

There is something quite unusual about that in the world of ancient literature. In the ancient world, reading and writing were the preserve of the rich and the well-to-do. And so almost all literature tended to be written by the rich, for the rich and about the rich. Because of this , in ancient literature, the rich were named, but in contrast, the poor masses were simply part of the expendable unnamed masses and their lives were regarded as being of less value than those of the rich.

Some would argue that things haven't changed all that much. In our world today, it is still largely true the more money you have, generally speaking the more value is put on your life. And in our world, generally speaking, the less money you have, the less value is put on your life.

But in this parable, this whole order of things is turned upside down. In this parable, the poor beggar is given a name. And by contrast, the Rich Man is left nameless. Very unusual in the ancient world of literature.

It seems to me a deliberate story-telling device to communicate the sense that the values of this world are not the values of God. In God’s scheme of things, lonely beggars on the street are named and valued. The way of Jesus turns upside down the ways and the values of this world. This is a major theme in Luke’s Gospel. In the Song of Mary when she praises God when she finds herself pregnant with Jesus, she speaks of how God will raise up the lowly and bring down the mighty from their thrones. In God’s scheme of things, lonely beggars on the street are named and valued.

Secondly, isn't it interesting that the dogs in this parable seem to care more for Lazarus than the Rich Man. The Rich Man seems oblivious to the Presence of Lazarus. It is like Lazarus doesn't even exist to him.

Have you ever had the experience when it felt like someone was looking right through you, as though you didn't even exist. Like you were just a non-person. In highly patriarchal cultures, woman often speak of this experience of being treated by men as thought they were not real persons.

That is the sense you get from this parable. How difficult would it have been for the Rich Man to let Lazarus eat from the scraps under his table.

What does this parable say about the state of the Rich Man’s soul that he could so easily and so thoroughly block out the need of a fellow human being and even pretend that he doesn't not exist at all. The Rich Man has cut himself off.
But look by contrast at the dogs. In his deplorable state, the dogs come and lick his wounds. When I first heard this parable, I interpreted this as simply pointing to the fact that dogs are disgusting, but when I allowed the image to sit in my mind for a while the thought struck me: Isn't this the way a mother dog would treat her little pups? Licking them to clean them, as an act of care. Isn't this how dogs would lick themselves if they were wounded?

What if that is the point of the imagery in this parable, that even the dogs show more love and care to Lazarus than the Rich Man? An animal, who we regard as sub-human shows more care for Lazarus than his fellow human being. Has the Rich man begun to lose his humanity?

Thirdly, isn't it interesting in the parable that when the Rich Man dies and is on the other side, that he is still primarily motivated by self-concern. The only reason he calls out is because he is now suffering. But even in the state of his suffering, his attitude towards Lazarus has changed very little. At least now he acknowledges the presence of Lazarus. This is progress. But even in his state of suffering he is still caught up in his old way of looking at things. Although he has finally acknowledged Lazarus’s existence and even calls him now by name, he still wants to use Lazarus as a servant for his own ends. He wishes to treat Lazarus as a servant to run an errand for him, bringing him a drink of water from across the great divide. Lazarus is not yet being treated by the Rich Man as a full human being of equal value and equal dignity .

It raises a question: What if hell is not a physical place at all, but rather a metaphorical description of the state of the soul? Is it a description of a human soul that has turned in on itself, self-obsessed, self-absorbed with a distorted view of the world and others and as a result cut off from others and as a result also from God, the source of all love and true joy. What if hell is a heart whose door is closed and locked from the inside. What if release from this hell can happen, the moment we awaken out of our own self-absorbed-ness.

There are signs of hope in this parable. Sometimes suffering can have its benefits. (Not all suffering). It would seem in this parable the Rich Man’s suffering has some impact upon him. At least now he sees Lazarus as a human being with a name. In his suffering we also see a glimpse of hope that there is still a glimmer of love and care in his heart... he is concerned about his brothers. He doesn't want to see them suffering. That is a glimmer of hope. Still there is a degree of self-concern in him. In some ways our families are like extensions of ourselves. Loving our families still has a large degree of self in it. I care for them because they are my family, because they are close to me. But still it is a movement in the direction of love. Loving our families is at least a start in teaching us the way of Jesus, the way of love, that will eventually embrace all things and all people... even our enemies.

Even in Stalin, the faintest glimmer of of the image of God remained in him. Despite all his murderous human rights abuses, Stalin still showed a love for his mother. And there lies the hope for all humanity, that ultimately, no matter how much it is covered up and covered over, there is nothing that can ultimately destroy the image of God within us.

And though the door of the heart is locked from the inside, a little further on in Luke’s Gospel (18:27) , we will read that what is impossible for human beings is possible for God.

And at the end of John’s Gospel, we hear of the ability of the Risen Jesus to appear behind locked doors, perhaps an image of the Risen Christ’s ability to appear behind the locked door of our hearts and souls to help liberate us from the hells of our own making.

In the end, as I have said before, I would have to label myself a universalist in the sense that in the end I believe all will be saved.

I personally don’t believe there is such a thing as an eternal hell. In the Bible, where in English we read about eternal suffering, the English word eternal is a very poor and misleading translation of the Greek word Ainos which speaks of a finite period of time that will come to an end. In this parable, there is no indication that the Rich Man’s suffering would last forever and ever and ever. In the Bible there are many scholars who will say that is no such thing as eternal suffering that will go on and on forever.

George MacDonald, the 19th Century Scottish Presbyterian who was a universalist, believed that those passages in the Bible that speak of the kind of suffering in this parable are referring to the suffering of purification. The fire in this passage that makes the Rich Man suffer is in fact the fire of God’s love that we experience as painful when God is purifying us from all that is not love within us.

There are strong arguments that the Apostle Paul was a universalist. When Paul speaks of suffering for the unrighteous, these are a provisional suffering. They are what George MacDonald would have called the suffering of purification. Like someone suffering from an ingrown toe-nail, we will all need to suffer the pain of the great physician as he operates on our ingrown hearts and souls. But in the end, what is often missed by many Christians, is that Paul has a very clear theology that God’s salvation offered in Christ will encompass and include all.

In 1 Cor 5:22 “For as in Adam, all die, so, in Christ, all will be made alive.” Not some... all.

In Colossians 1:20. “Through Christ God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven”. Not some things, but all things.

In Timothy 2:4-6 we read: “God desires everyone to be saved” And in Ephesians 1:11 we read that God accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will. If God’s desires all to be saved, then in God’s time God will accomplish all things according to his will.

And finally in 1 Cor 15:28 Paul speaks of the day when God will be all in all.This is the final end of Paul’s Theology: That God will be all and in all.

How can God one day be all and in all, if some are burning in hell for all eternity? God will only one day be all and in all, if in the end all without exception are saved and brought into the wide embrace of God’s love and mercy.

Luke 16:1-15 The Parable of the Shrewd Manager

When I was preparing for today's sermon, I went onto a preaching website to explore commentaries and perspectives on our text for today.  The opening line of the article went something as follows:
 
Dear Preacher, it is ok to tell your congregation that you don't have a clue what this text is about!
 
And to be quite honest, it is one of the strangest of the parables in all of the Gospels.  if I am quite honest it is a parable that has always left me a little confused and probably with more questions than answers.
 
Looking at the story itself, it starts out with a Master who is unhappy with his manager. He arranges a meeting with the manager and it becomes evident that the Master is in fact preparing to give the manager the sack. 
 
But before the meeting happens, the manager senses that he is about to be fired. And so he is in an initial panic. What is he going to do when he has no job? And so he devises a plan to make friends for himself for when he finds himself out on the street. Before his master knows what he is up to he meets with a number of his masters debtors and he agrees to reduce each of their debts by  substantial margins.  He acts with great generosity to these debtors, with his masters money so that when he is out on the streets and without a job, these people will potentially be generous back to him and welcome them into their homes.
 
Perhaps the most confusing part of the parable is when the master finally meets with his manager before he fires him, he sees what the manager has done and in effect congratulates him.  He says to the manager, well, played. Probably saying: Well if I was in your position, I would probably have done the same.
 
But the question remains: What on earth does it all mean?
 
The commentary that comes after the parable is probably the first place to start when trying to assess the meaning of the parable.   The commentary after the parable is all about money and so the parable is meant to give us food for thought on how we use money as Christians.
 
The bottom line of the parable seems to be is that in the way of Jesus, the best use of money is that it should be used to build friendships and relationships. 
 
An important punchline for the parable come in verse 9 where Jesus says:  “...Use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves.”  For Jesus purpose of money is not to build little financial empires for oneself. Rather, the best use of money is to build for yourself a network of relationships, a community, on which you can depend, when you find yourself in financial difficulty.  In other words, the best use of money in the end, is to use it in the service of love.
 
But one might object that it in the parable, it is easy for the wily manager to be generous with his masters money. What if it was his own money. Would he have been as generous then?
 
And maybe that is partly the point of the parable... that just maybe, none of the money we have is ultimately ours. Ultimately it does indeed belong to the Master. Ultimately it belongs to God, and in the meantime, we are simply managers of the money in our possession on God’s behalf.
 
And maybe that explains the twist in the tail of the story where the Master in the parable praises him for using the Masters money to build friendships, because Ultimately, God, our Master, wishes us to do like-wise.
 
Money is meant to be in the service of building friendships, relationships, and communities. Which is another way of saying, money is meant to be used in the service of love.
 
That is a very different approach to money than the current general approach in the world. I think of the example of Jeff Bezos, the founder and CEO of Amazon. He is currently the richest man in the world, which in its own way is quite an achievement. And yet, when you do a simply search on the internet, you will find numerous new articles alleging that the labour practices used by Amazon are at best questionable.
 
Allegations include the following: People are treated like robots. In any given task, an employee is made to work to a count down. If they do not keep up with the countdown, they will lose their job. Because they are working under such time pressure, in a 10 hour work shift, it is alleged that an employee only has 18 minutes to go to the toilet or get a drink of water. And yet, if a work place injury occurs, allegations are that Amazon have proved themselves to be evasive to pay out and compensate their workers. 
 
In the USA, last year in April, the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health’s lists Amazon within the “dirty dozen” list of most dangerous places to work in the United States due to the company’s pattern of unsafe working conditions.”
 
Some would allege that Jeff Bezos and Amazon are becoming outrageously wealthy, built on the deteriorating health and well-being of Amazon’s employees.  He has built for himself the biggest financial empire in the world, but how many friends has he made?
 
When Jeff Bezos dies, how many of his workers in Amazon will celebrate him as a great human being, or will they be like the people of Zimbabwe who failed to turn up in great numbers as Robert Mugabe’s funeral?
 
The parable asks us: Are we using our influence and the resources at our disposal to build relationships and friendships, or are we simply wanting to become little emperors over our own little empires taking from others and the world and not giving back in return to those who have made us great.
 
I am always inspired by the story-line of Les Miserable, where the main character, Jean Val Jean starts out as a common criminal, thinking only of himself, and of only satisfying his own needs, desires and wants. He is imprisoned for stealing. He serves his sentence and is released. Upon release he finds himself homeless and no-one will give him a job or even a piece of bread to eat. He is bitter and angry with the world. A kind bishop invitesd him to eat with him at his table and takes him in for the night.  But while the bishop is sleeping, he makes off with all the valuable silver that he can get his hands on. The next morning he is caught by the police and brought back to the bishop’s house. The bishop in act act of extraordinary kindness and forgiveness, tells the police that he had in fact given the silver to Jean Val Jean as a gift to build a new life for himself, and as a result, Jean Val Jean begrudgingly the police set him free.
 
This act of generous forgiveness and kindness transforms his view of himself as he begins to seek to live his life no longer simply for the benefit of himself but rather for the benefit of others. In the process, as he becomes a wealthy businessman because all his energies have begun to be directed in positive and constructive ways, he uses his new-found wealth as a blessing to those around him.  He uses his money to build up his community and in the process creates a community or friends. So much so that at one point he is even elected as mayor of the town where he has settled.

Our parable in Luke’s Gospel suggests that if a wily, shrewd, worldly businessman knows how to make friends using worldly wealth, then how much more should those who call themselves followers of Christ

In 2011 when Wendy and I were visiting my parents in Manchester, we took a trip into the centre of the city and walked around. There in the centre of the city was a lone preacher perched up on some kind of a box to elevate himself a little. And from this soap-box he was calling sinners to repentance. But if truth be told, no sinners were drawn to him from what we could tell, and no crowd gathered around him to hear what he had to say. If anything most pedestrians either ignored him as though he was not even present, or took a wide birth around him in order to avoid him altogether.

As we enter our Bible passage today, strangely, the exact opposite seems to be happening. In the opening scene, we find tax collectors and sinners gathering around to hear Jesus speak. In fact, in the original Greek text, the word that is used suggests that they were drawn to Jesus. There was something in Jesus that drew them to him. His presence was like a magnet They actually wanted to hear what he had to say. What was it about Jesus that drew them and attracted them? A warmth? A friendliness? A welcome? An acceptance?

The scene suggests that there was something quite compelling about the person of Jesus. They are not afraid or intimidated to be in his presence. He must have made them feel at ease in his presence otherwise they would not have been drawn to them.

And in response to this scene of sinners and tax-collectors being drawn to Jesus we find the Pharisees and teachers of the law, grumbling and muttering to themselves, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

These are words of disapproval. Look who this man Jesus is hanging out with. Look who he is spending time with. Look who he is sharing meals with.

“This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” The word that is used for welcome is an interesting one: It is suggestive of an openness and an acceptance. Jesus opens himself to these sinners. He provides a place of hospitality, friendship and acceptance. In his presence, these sinners and tax-collectors feel an acceptance from Jesus.

What an amazing gift it is to feel accepted and welcomed by another human being, where you can feel yourself relax and be at ease and to let your guard down because you feel safe and have been received with warmth and acceptance. There are very few gifts in life as precious as that.

But in response, the Pharisees can only mutter words of disapproval. “Tut, tut, tut! Look who he or is hanging out with.”

These opening verses of Luke 15 ask challenging questions of us:

Is it possible that we are the Pharisees in this story? Are we the one’s who grumble and utter words of disapproval when we see others associating with people we regard as unacceptable, those we regard as disreputable, and as sinners? Is it possible that we are the Pharisees in this story? Have there been times when we may have looked down our nose disapprovingly at someone else?

Or is it possible that we are Jesus in this story? Do we provide a place of warm acceptance and hospitality for the sinners of this world, a place where the unacceptable can feel at ease and let their guard down.

It is a strange thing to say, but if we are followers of Jesus, then it seems to me that if from time to time we are not accused of hanging around with the wrong people then in this regard, we have perhaps not yet being faithful followers of Jesus. Do we only hang out with the respectable people of this world... and if so, why?

Is there only room in our hearts for the reputable or is it possible that like Jesus, we can begin to make room for those that others consider disreputable?

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “ This man welcomes sinners and eats with them”.

When last did we welcome sinners and eat with them?

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “ This man welcomes sinners and eats with them”.

In response to the muttering of the Pharisees and the Teachers of the Law Jesus gives three parables for them to think on:


The parable of the lost sheep...


The parableof the lost coin...


The parable of the lost son...


I would like to make three brief observations about these parables:


Firstly, In each of the stories, the person seeking does not give up, until that which is lost is found. The shepherd doesn’t stop looking until the sheep is found. The woman in her home does not stop looking until her precious coin is found. The waiting father, doesnt stop scanning the horizon waiting, andwatching, looking for his son, until he finally returns home.


There is a lot of Christianity around that will tell you that if you are not careful, God is going to give up on you. If you are not careful, God is going to lose patience and sever ties with you forever. Those Christians will tell you that God has given you a limited time to come to him, and if you dont respond to him in that time, he will give up on you for all eternity. Forever and ever... your chance will be lost.


But these three stories give a different picture... these stories suggest that God will never give up on us. The shepherd does not give up until the lost sheep is found. The woman does not give up until her silver coin is found. The waiting father does not give up watching and scanning the horizon until his wayward and lost son comes home.


The message is clear that God never gives up on his lost children no matter how far they stray.


Secondly, the parables suggests that lost sinners are of great value in God’s eyes. To rural peasants in Jesus day a sheep was of enormous value. Looking online, I see that sheep in the UK sell for anything between 65 and 300 pounds depending on the kind of sheep. In the bigger scheme of things for someone with a half decent job, that is not an impossible sum of money. But for a peasant with very little income living in first century palestine a sheep was of enormous value, not just for wool to make clothes and for bedding, but also for milk and cheese. Most peasants would only have eaten meat a few times a year and only on very special occasions. To eat meat on a daily basis was the preserve of kings and nobility. And so to lose a sheep was an enormous loss for a first century Jew. In the parable of the prodigal son, the father reveals how valued his lost son is when he places a ring on his finger, the finest of robes over his shoulders, and then slaughters the fattened calf. All three parables are intended to communicate the sense of value that a lost sinner would have in the eyes of God. Whereas the Pharisees saw the sinners and tax-collectors as expendable, of little worth and of little value, the parables of Jesus suggest that they are of great value in the eyes of God.


Lastly, Each of these parables ends with and expression of joy. When the shepherd finds his lost sheep, he returns rejoicing. When the woman finds her lost coin, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ And when the son returns home, the father orders that a party or a celebration should be arranged and that the people should eat and be merry. Not only that, but in verse 25 we are told that there was the sound of music and dancing. A picture of joy. This is in contrast with the grumbling and muttering of the Pharisees. there’s is a sour faced, judgemental and disapproving religion. By contrast the way of Jesus is meant to lead us towards joy. . One of the invitations of the Christian life is meant to be the invitation to find joy. Does our religion bring us joy? Or does it leave us sour-faced, grumbling and muttering?

Family Service Message - The Story of Philemon

The story today is about three people: a runaway slave called Onesimus; the slave master or owner called Philemon. And lastly - Paul.

In our story, Onesimus the slave ran away from Philemon, the slave owner. Onesimus the slave ran a long distance away, all the way to the city of Rome, where Paul was living. And so there in Rome, Paul met this runaway slave called Onesimus.

In those days, rich Romans would keep slaves to help with jobs around the house, or to work in their fields. If they ran away, they could be punished very seriously. (Sometimes they were even killed).
So in our story, Onesimus ran away from Philemon the slave owner. And he met Paul in Rome. Paul kept Onesimus with him for a little while. Paul taught him all about Jesus, and soon, Onesimus became a Christian.

Onisiumus had been living with Paul for a little while and had become like a son to Paul. But at some pointboth Paul and Onesimus knew he needed to go back to Philemon who still legally his slave master. It so happened that Paul knew Philemon. Philemon had also become a Christian after having met Paul. And so Paul wrote a letter to Philemon that Onesimus could take with him and give to Philemon. It went something like this...

Dear Philemon

I have recently met someone. He happens to be your slave Onesimus. You might have thought of him as a useless slave, but I assure you he is not. I ask that you welcome him back to your house and to receive him back, as though you were welcoming me. Though I would like to keep him I will wait for your answer. Please receive him as though he were your brother and not like a slave anymore, because he is now your brother in Christ, he is a Christian.

Now I want you to look at the piece of paper in front of you... (See picture above)

Is it a duck or is it a rabbit? Some people think it is a duck. Some people think it is a rabbit. It all depends on where you focus. If you focus on the one end it looks like a duck and if you focus on the other end it looks like a rabbit.

It shows that sometimes in life two people can see the same thing and have different ideas about what it is. To one person the picture looks like a duck. To another it looks like a rabbit.

In the Bible story we see the same thing. Philemon thought of Onesimus as a useless slave. But Paul thought of him as a child of God. We don't know why Onesimus ran away, but he wouldn't have run away if Philemon had been treating him well. To Philemon, Onesimus was just a useless slave. But to Paul, Onesimus was a beloved child of God.

When we look at another human being, what do we see? Do we see a beloved child of God or do we see someone who is useless to us and irritating to us?

Just a few closing comments for the adults on our reading:

The book of Philemon is Paul’s shortest book. In fact it is one of the shortest books in the bible. But it is one of the most explosive books. In this short letter, Paul in effect undermines the whole Roman institution of slavery. Outwardly, he sends Onesimus back to his master Phiilemon. But in truth, what Paul writes to Philemon makes it impossible for him to receive Onesimus back as a slave. By asking Philemon to receive him back like a brother and even as though he were receiving Paul himself, Paul in effect is asking Philemon to reject the whole system of slavery and to set Philemon free.

It is a reminder just how socially radical Christianity was. I believe that the whole notion of human rights finds its roots in this small letter of Paul to a slave master. It is a reminder to us that in God’s eyes every human being is infinitely valuable.

Luke 14:7-14

I have shared before that one of my favourite books is a little book of Chinese wisdom called the Tao Te Ching. I first came across it when my father bought me a cheap paper back copy in 2000 the year that I was in seminary. It is hard to think that it was almost 20 years ago.

The Tao Te Ching is a little book with only 81 very short little chapters that are no more than a few short paragraphs each. The title of the book Tao Te Ching simply means ‘The Way and it’s power’. Interestingly, the Tao Te Ching is the most translated book in the world after the Bible.

What intrigued me about the title is that the earliest Christians were originally called followers of the Way.

In Mark’s Gospel, one section of the Gospel Mark 8:22-10:52 is often referred to as ‘the Way’. ‘The Way’ section in Mark is where Jesus teaches his disciples that if they want to be great in the Kingdom of God, they need to be willing to become the least of all. That if they wish to enter the Kingdom of God, they need to become like little children. And that in his own life, he is heading to Jerusalem where he will be put to death, and somehow that death paradoxically will bring life to others. It will be like a ransom that will set other people free. The Way of Jesus... the Way of the cross.

Getting back to the Way of the Tao Te Ching, in the Tao Te Ching, the Tao, or ‘The Way’ is a difficult concept to pin down. The opening chapter of the Tao Te Ching suggests that the Tao is unnamable. If you try to name the Tao you have already lost sight of it. And yet, the booklet tells us that the Tao has been around from all eternity. In one place, it says that the Tao is older than God... in other words, it is older than any human conception of God. It is a clue that the Tao is in fact the very mystery of God, but a mystery that is beyond thinking.

Even C.S. Lewis once wrote that every persons attempt to define and name and describe God is ultimately a blaspheme, because God, being infinite cannot be defined, or named, or described.

And so, the Tao is eternal and yet unnamable, and indescribable. When the booklet begins to describe the working of the Tao, it tells us that the Tao is the source and the origin of all things. And as you read through the little booklet you get the sense that the Tao is something like an Infinite and inconceivable Wisdom that is woven through all created things and which can be discerned by anyone who takes the time to watch and to contemplate deeply on the world around us.

Now when you read through the book of Proverbs, interestingly, you get a similar image of the wisdom of God in Jewish thinking where it is personified as a woman, Sophia in Greek, meaning wisdom, who was present with God at the beginning of time and which is woven through the whole of the created order. The book of proverbs, like the Tao Te Ching, also suggests that carefully observing the natural world will put one in touch with this eternal Wisdom.

One of the reasons I think that the Tao Te Ching really gripped my attention when I first read it is that on almost every page I was seeing something of the way and the wisdom of Jesus that turns upside down our conventional wisdom of living in this world.

The wisdom of the world tells us that if you want to get ahead in life you need power and strength. If you want to overcome your enemies, you need to show them that you are stronger than them, you need to dominate them and bring them into submission with brute force and power. If you want to rise to the top, you need to do so by pushing and forcing your way ahead. If faced with opposition, don’t show your vulnerability, but stand straight and firm and do not give in or give way.

But the wisdom of the Tao Te Ching suggests a different way...

It is the kind of wisdom you see at work in the BBC mini-series called Victoria where Queen Victoria is struggling with her sister who has come to live with her from Prussia. Out of jealousy the sister begins to undermine not just her authority, but also her relationship with her husband Prince Albert. When Queen Victoria asks Lord Palmerston for advice on how to deal with her sister, who had become her enemy, he suggests that the best way to do so would be to make this enemy into a friend.

I dont remember the details of how she does it, but Queen Victoria acts on this word of advice and ends up neutralising the undermining effect of her sister, not by force or power, as she was first tempted to do, but rather by acting in a way that would turn her into a friend.

This is the kind of Wisdom that is put forward in the Tao Te Ching. It is the kind of Wisdom that I believe we see in Jesus...

Probably the favourite image that is used in the Tao Te Ching is the image of water. There is nothing softer and more gentle than water and yet under the right circumstances it can also be one of the most powerful things in the world. Given time, water can cut a path through some of the hardest rock. Anyone who has been to the grand canyon can attest to the power of water to cut through a mountain. And so the Tao Te Ching tells us that the gentlest thing in the world overcomes the hardest thing in the world.

The Tao Te Ching tells us that water is malleable. It can take the shape of any container. And in the same way a person who is in tune with the Tao can adjust themselves to what is appropriate for each situation in life.

Water is life-giving. It brings nourishment to all of life. Without it, nothing would exist. And yet it gathers in the lowest and most humble of places. In the same way, a person who lives in tune with the Tao gives life and nourishment to everyone they meet, and yet is not afraid of occupying the lowest place in life.

This unconventional wisdom, the unconventional Way I believe is expressed in the teachings of Jesus in our passage in Luke’s Gospel today where Jesus tells a parable.

Jesus finds himself invited to a meal at an important Pharisees house. In verse 7 we read that Jesus noticed how the guests were carefully trying to pick the places of honour at the table. All wanting an important place. And in response Jesus tells this parable:

When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may be invited. If so, the host who invited both of you will come over and say to you, “please could you give up your seat for this important person”. Then humiliated or disgraced, you will have to take the least important place. But instead, when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you “Friend, move up to a better place”. Then you will be honoured in the presence of all the other guests. And Jesus ends the parable with that famous one-liner: For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

For those who were at last weeks sermon (see last weeks blog), it is a little like the holy man in the sufi wisdom story that I told. Thinking of himself as superior to the poor misguided hermit who couldn't even say his prayers properly and who he felt he needed to offer a word of correction, it turned out that the hermit who humbly accepted his counsel and correction actually turned out to be the real holy man as he walked back unself-consciously across the waves back to his little cave.

The Way of Jesus, like the Way of the Tao Te Ching is unconventional. One has the sense that whoever the wise sage was who wrote the Tao Te Ching had somehow tapped into the same Spirit and Wisdom which Jesus lived in and expressed when he said things like:

• If you want to be great in the Kingdom of God, you need to become the servant of all.
• If you want to be first, you must allow yourself to be the last.
• If you wish to save your life you need to be willing to lose it.
• For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.