Prop: red scarves or pieces of red material to pass out during the altar call
Some stories just tug at our hearts and warm our toes. Stories about animals seem to do that a bit more than not. In a particular story written in 1859 by Elizabeth Gaskell, two brothers venture out together along with their loyal and beautiful collie dog. Soon, they are lost as a vicious snowstorm whips up around them. Cold and dying, they struggle to survive. Knowing all is lost and desperate to save his younger brother, the older brother ties his handkerchief around the dog’s neck and sends her to battle through the heart of the storm to find home and to bring help. The dog survives, reaches the homestead, gets the attention of the family, and bravely leads a search party to find the two brothers just in the nick of time to save the younger of the two.
It’s a story of loyalty, perseverance, and the love of one for another.
In 1940, based on the book, called “The Half Brothers,” the character of Lassie emerged onto the big screen in a movie called “Lassie, Come Home!” Highly successful, a television series was launched in 1954 called simply “Lassie.” The show ran for 18 years. The stories were of a loyal collie dog named Lassie, the best friend of her young master Timmy. Loyal to the bone, always saving someone from life-threatening disasters, Lassie always seemed to instinctively know the right things to do, the right ways to go, and always knew how to get home again no matter how far away their adventures would take her. She loved her master with a fierce passion and devotion. And the dog seemed to have a heart of gold toward every living thing.
These were the television shows that pulled on our heart-strings and brought forth tears each and every time the loyal dog put herself into a threatening situation in order to save her master.
The world loved Lassie.
Was it because she brought out the best in us? Or personified the kind of person we wish we could all be? Or was it that “something” authentic and true in her, innocent and pure that saw her role in the world not as complicated, but as simply “to love and honor”?
Who knows what truly drew us (still draws us) to the brave and regal dog. But we can safely say that for most of us who grew up watching Lassie, none of us missed an episode! She was our hero.
If humankind’s BFF is the dog, our admired and intelligent hero, then our least revered furry friend by rights ought to be the “lemming” --that strange rodent-like creature that runs in herds to the point of taking “suicide” leaps off of cliffs and into traps. In fact, the “lemming” is known in pop culture as a kind of mindless creature that doesn’t think for itself, but simply follows along, even unto sure death.
We may not admire the lemming. But sometimes, we sure do imitate them.
And this is exactly Jesus’ thought as he directs his attention to his most ardent disciples sitting among the thousands there to hear him just before his journey to Jerusalem sometime in his third year of ministry.
He had just come from a large banquet at the invitation of some Pharisees and had antagonized them regarding their haughty attitudes toward people they considered “lesser.” He knew he was on shaky ground. They were angry. Many were. He was threatening their authority, not only in rabbinical debate, but publicly in front of the very people they sought to control with their many rules and exclusions.
They were beginning to consider him dangerous. And Jesus knew his time would now be limited.
He needed his disciples to understand the difference between the hidden motives of the Pharisees (disguised as excessive halakah) and God’s true halakah (the way of love and compassion). Jesus told them, God’s kingdom would soon be revealed, and the “harvest time” of judgment was at hand.
He knew his own life would not be long. And that it was vital for his disciples to be able to resist the urge to be “good Jews” and be obedient to the Temple authorities. He needed them to be “authentic human beings” in the eyes of God, obedient to the Truth of God’s coming glory and the reality of who Jesus was as God’s Messiah.
And they were having a hard time.
Jesus’ talk is one of warning and also of reassurance. As his disciples who ran the path less worn, they would undergo ridicule, persecution, they would have disrupted lives, less security in this world. But the reward would be worth it. For they would be God’s true shepherds.
Jesus also sternly cautioned them –the most responsibility for carrying on Jesus’ ministry of God’s truth lay in their hands. THEY as disciples already knew better, unlike many who had not yet been taught. For them to turn away from God would be oh so much worse an offense!
He needed them to listen, to appreciate the severity of the situation to come. To be wise. To be ready.
No doubt he instilled a bit of fear into them that day. Confusion. Maybe a bit of shock. But also a sense of mission. It was up to them to save the day. Up to them to lead people into the ways that were right, teach them God’s true will, not the ways of the Pharisees. Only they could do this.
So, in a sense, the disciples are Jesus’ Lassies in a lemming world that knew no better than to follow everything the Pharisees told them to do. And with this talk, Jesus lays his “yoke” upon them and bids them to get ready to go, proclaim, correct, save.
He wouldn’t be around much longer. It would be up to them.
They were his disciples. They knew which way was right. Knew the reality of the One True God. From them more than anyone else, much would be expected. Much would be asked.
Being a disciple is a huge responsibility. Jesus wants us to know that. It’s not for the faint of heart. You are the “Lassies” of the world –going out into the midst of danger, into the storms of the world, the avalanches, the pain, the loss—all to save those who know no better. Jesus knew all too well that the world is made of more Lemmings than Lassies.
More sheep than shepherds.
All the more reason that the Shepherds must be ready to take on every wolf and every jackal. Their job would be to preserve, to teach, to protect, to guide God’s people into the arms of their Creator when their Master would no longer be with them in the flesh.
Jesus is firm but gentle. He is asking much of his disciples. And yet, he is doing so with great trust, great expectation that they will be everything he believed they could be.
Jesus believed in this unusual group of men more than anyone else would have. He entrusted them with God’s mission. Fishermen, a tax collector, a contract killer, a couple of others from odd and unusual backgrounds –not your usual rabbi’s disciples. Jesus entrusted these with the keys to God’s kingdom.
He knew that their hearts were loyal, true, devoted, and trustworthy to carry out the task.
Jesus asks you too, all of you loyal and true disciples, to carry on the message of God’s love and redemption to a lemming world that follows anything and everything that moves and breathes, to guide them back onto the right roads that lead to God, blessings, and peace.
You have been chosen. You have been taught. Of you much will be expected. Of you much will be asked.
Come now to the altar. Receive a scrap of material. You can keep it somewhere safe. You can tie it around your neck. You can do with it whatever you wish. But this scarf is to remind you that when you leave this place, you are on a mission for Jesus in the world, to gather, to proclaim, to serve, to save.
Of you much will be expected. Of you much will be asked. But the reward will be oh so great!
Amen.
Based on the Story Lectionary
Major Text
Jesus’ Parable of the Rich Fool and Warnings to His Disciples and Others as Told by Luke (12)
Minor Text
Abraham and God Discuss Sodom and Gomorrah’s Lack of Loyal People (Genesis 18)
Stay Loyal and True to the Lord Your God (Deuteronomy 8)
Psalm 24: Receive the Blessings of the Lord
Psalm 62: Those Who Set Their Hearts on God Will Be Rewarded
Proverbs 23: The Deceptiveness of Wealth and Sin
The Lord of Abundance Will Judge Those Who Have Turned Away and Bless Those Who are Loyal (Malachi 3)
God’s Warning to Jerusalem Sister of Sodom Who Does Not Care for Its Poor (Ezekiel 16)
The Warning of Material Corruption and the Bid to Save Many for God (James 5)
Paul Calls Disciples to Live in the Spirit and Not of the Law (Galatians 5)
The Bid to Focus on God and Not on Material Wealth (1 Timothy 6)
Jesus’ Parable of the Rich Fool and Warnings to His Disciples and Others as Told by Luke
Meanwhile, when a crowd of many thousands had gathered, so that they were trampling on one another, Jesus began to speak first to his disciples, saying: “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs. “I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after your body has been killed, has authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.
Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
“I tell you, whoever publicly acknowledges me before others, the Son of Man will also acknowledge before the angels of God. But whoever disowns me before others will be disowned before the angels of God. And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.
“When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.”
Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”
Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?”
Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”
And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’ “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’
“This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”
Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life?
Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest? “Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith!
And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.
“Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
“Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the middle of the night or toward daybreak.
But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”
Peter asked, “Lord, are you telling this parable to us, or to everyone?”
The Lord answered, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their food allowance at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns. Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. But suppose the servant says to himself, ‘My master is taking a long time in coming,’ and he then begins to beat the other servants, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk. The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers.
“The servant who knows the master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what the master wants will be beaten with many blows. But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.
“I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to undergo, and what constraint I am under until it is completed! Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”
He said to the crowd: “When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, ‘It’s going to rain,’ and it does. And when the south wind blows, you say, ‘It’s going to be hot,’ and it is. Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky. How is it that you don’t know how to interpret this present time?
“Why don’t you judge for yourselves what is right? As you are going with your adversary to the magistrate, try hard to be reconciled on the way, or your adversary may drag you off to the judge, and the judge turn you over to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison. I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.”
Image Exegesis: What Kind of Yeast Are You?
The scripture for today follows Jesus’ dinner at the home of a Pharisee in which he gets into heated debates with his colleagues on their teaching of the law vs God’s will. He tells his famous parable of the Great Dinner, and he knows, he has made enemies of some of the Pharisees present.
The tension is growing between Jesus and many of these Pharisees (most likely from the school of Shammai). Jesus provokes them continually, accusing them of hypocrisy and incorrect teachings of God’s will for people. He accuses them of focusing on laws that benefit only them or that address empty legalisms instead of showing love and compassion to others, humility and service. He accuses them of not practicing what they preach. And he accuses them of pomposity and arrogance. It doesn’t go over well.
After the dinner is over, Jesus leaves and a large crowd soon gathers. Many thousands we are told by Luke. Some of what Jesus will say will be addressed to the crowd. But he begins by speaking expressly to his inner circle of disciples. Later those from the crowd would ask him questions, and we know that from his response to the man who asks him about adjudicating his inheritance and by those commenting on Pilate’s sacrifices in Luke’s chapter 13 that Jesus is engaging the crowd in real-time discussions on current issues in their lives and culture and that he teaches them “off the cuff” so to speak, on an “on call, by need” basis.
But the scripture for today reveal warnings that Jesus gives to his disciples. He senses the end growing close. He knows the extent to which he has provoked the Pharisees who are challenging him. He knows the danger his disciples will be in not only now but later after his death. And perhaps he also knows that they may be confused by what the leaders of their synagogues and the Temple are telling them, as opposed to what Jesus is telling them. Jesus wants to set the record straight, and to be sure they understand that the mission they are about to embark on…is not going to be easy. It’s going to demand a totally different way of thinking about things, of doing things, of living. And in the process, they will be persecuted for it.
Jesus knows he has limited time to get his messages across, and to set his disciples up truly to understand his theology and God’s mission in the world.
He needs them to be ready, loyal, unyielding, sure. And he calls upon their own ability to see the truth for themselves: “Judge for yourselves what is right with God. Don’t look to the Pharisees to tell you. You know what is right!” “Use your head and your heart. Let the Spirit guide you. Be alert. Be ready.”
The metaphor Jesus calls upon is “yeast” meaning the hidden motives of the teachings of the Pharisees. Earlier Jesus used this same metaphor to describe the hidden motives of what it means to be part of God’s “kingdom” on earth.
Yeast spreads, expands, multiplies quickly. But it also can puff up, distort, and desecrate (in the case of the bread of the Passover feast…that is unleavened bread). Bread with yeast in it, when stored, will easily mold.
The leaven is sometimes not immediately detectable, but the end result can be very different. In this case, the “yeast” of the Pharisees are the hidden laws and rules created that the Pharisees and Sadducees and Priests were imposing upon people during Jesus’ time. Their teachings he felt were based on puffed up human-made versions of God’s will, not God’s will in fact.
Taken with themselves, their arrogance, attire, penchant for riches, and legalistic theology angered Jesus. They had “hidden” motives, and Jesus felt they were selfish and self-serving.
On the other hand, the “yeast” of God’s kingdom also had hidden motives –but what has been hidden will soon be revealed, said Jesus. God’s kingdom will burst forth and continue to spread. This is not a set of legalistic rules made by authorities. The kingdom yeast is the very stuff of the Bread of Life –Jesus Himself. The Emanuel.
The yeast of the Pharisees is based in “materialism” and “legalisms.” These are not “rich toward God.”
Those who demonstrate love, loyalty, and dedication to God and to Jesus (the Son) will be richly fed, cared for, rewarded.
Jesus sets up a dichotomy between the “things of this world” and “a relationship with God.” And he wants to make sure his disciples understand that as they have been taught by Jesus, they will be expected to serve as those who help others find the way. “Those who have been given much, much will be demanded; of those entrusted with much, more will be asked.”
Jesus is hard on his disciples in this passage, but also gentle in warning them of the perils to come. He needs them to be sharp, focused, smart, and wise in discerning right teaching from wrong –kingdom yeast from the yeast of the Pharisees.
Jesus seems to see the contemporary Jerusalem of his day as another Sodom and Gomorrah –rich in means; poor in heart and spirit and Godliness.
Yeast can be something that corrupts, or something that enhances. Kingdom yeast enhances and creates the Bread of Life from which all of God’s people can feast eternally.
The Yeast of the Pharisees is corrupt doctrines made to enslave people to materialism and senseless rules, rather than to encourage them in loving relationship with God the Sovereign.
One of the best examples of the senselessness and out-of-touch-ness of the current state of affairs is when Jesus is speaking with his disciples about the importance of staying rooted in God, and someone from the crowd interrupts wanting Jesus to referee a petty fight for money between him and his brother.
This “pettiness” is exactly what Jesus is describing when he refers to the theology of the Pharisees and their hundreds of “oral” laws they have created to keep people under their control, and to keep extracting money from them.
They have missed the most important thing –a relationship with God.
You can’t “store up” being rich in a relationship. Relationships are lived day to day. You can only store up material things….which in the end will mean nothing when life ends.
Jesus focuses his disciples upon the providence of God and needs them to be “dressed and ready” for what is to come. They are the ones who have been prepared by Jesus. They are the ones in the “know.” There may be others who do the wrong thing or listen to wrong ways of doing things…and don’t know better. It will be easier for them, Jesus says. But for those who have been taught the right ways, and then still follow the ways of the world, it won’t go well.
Much will be expected. Much asked of those who are true disciples of Jesus.
One could ask the question then, “what kind of yeast are you?”
Will you be a lemming, following the senseless, rote legalisms of the Pharisees that you know are wrong, just to be safe and be part of the crowd?
Or will you dare to be different, to follow Jesus, even when it means, you can be sure of nothing, including what will happen to you in the next hour, or the next day?
You know what’s right. You know which way holds the lasting reward. Choose wisely.
Be wise.
