“First Things, First: In Jesus’ Name”

One of the classic films of our time (right up there with Arthur Miller’s play, Death of a Salesman) that really nails our human condition – in all of its angst and superficities of self-centeredness – is Woody Allen’s Hannah and Her Sisters (1986). A subplot in the story surrounds a stressed-out, Rolaids-popping, high-powered TV producer, who lives in Manhattan. His name is “Mickey.” As a big-time hypochondriac, Mickey has convinced himself that: “I’ve got this brain tumor the size of a basketball!” When his bluff is called by his doctors in ordering a brain CAT scan, Mickey tries to calm himself by saying: “Hey, everything’s going to be OK. I mean, you’re in the middle of New York City for heaven’s sake. This is your town. You’re surrounded by people and traffic and restaurants.” But the dark humor here is that these things are not all that reassuring. Mickey then embarks on a crazed quest to find true and lasting meaning in life. His job and the big bucks and all kinds of stuff just aren’t cutting it.

For the person watching the film, there’s the realization that the need for meaning is not a biological need. Neither is it a psychological need. It’s a religious need; a matter of ultimate concern in our lives; of what finally and truly matters most; where our first priorities ought to be. It’s a thirsting of the soul. The poignancy and dark humor (much like something out of a Flannery O’Connor novel) reach their climax in Mickey’s New York apartment – where he’s just returned from shopping …

The camera lens closes-in … on a darkened kitchen area … where Mickey slowly begins to unpack a brown paper bag – setting each item gently on a small table. The first thing he unpacks is a crucifix, looks at it and then sets it down. Next, he reaches in the brown grocery bag and pulls out a Bible. But before one can even ask the question: “Maybe Mickey has found the answer to his search for lasting and true meaning …” He pulls out a huge jar of Hellman’s mayonnaise from the bag, and then quickly tops-off-the-pile with a loaf of Wonder Bread (cf. John 6:35). As you can well imagine, at this point in the film, the audience is rolling in the aisles with laughter. However, in spite of all the humor, this is a very serious and telling commentary about us modern folk. Right?

Now … the voices that challenge Jesus in our Gospel text for this coming weekend, from Matthew 22:15-22, are the same kind of angsty, nervous voices that seek to entrap and entangle us; voices of 21st century Pharisees and Sadducees. Voices of legalism and authoritarianism recouched in terms of conditions and success. “You must do this, first. No! You must do that, first!” Jesus silences such voices by pointing-out all the Wonder Bread and Mayonnaise of worldly things that we’ve piled on top of what is most important – that which is most needful (cf. Luke 10:42), namely, God’s Word for us. Come and hear this Word anew, for you, this coming weekend at worship.

j.r. christopherson
Senior Pastor

Jesus’ Parable of the Wicked Tenants

Read Matthew 21:33-46

Old city wall in Jerusalem

In the Gospel text for this week, Jesus continues to address the question asked by the chief priests and the elders of the Temple, “By what authority…..” He offers yet another lesson based on the allegorical vision of God and his kingdom as a vineyard, but now shifting the focus away from inspecting the fruit of the vineyard, but focusing on the tension that arises between the owner of the vineyard and the tenants/workers that tend to the vineyard. It is very easy to understand whom the characters represent in this parable, even so much that the text ends by saying, “When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them.”  However, this parable reaches right into our lives and our relationship with God, and it names us as well.

When we read that after the owner has sent multiple servants to deal with the tenants, only to have them beaten and killed, he sends his own son, “because they will respect him.” We find that absurd! Why would the owner do that? It does not make sense. It is completely unexpected. They reject the son, take him, and kill him, expecting to receive the son’s inheritance.

This is exactly what God did in sending His only Son into the world. Jesus Christ brought the fruits of the kingdom with him, which is God’s amazing grace and mercy, so that God’s people would know his goodness, and what do we do? We kill him, we push Christ out of our own lives, rejecting him again and again, rather than repenting and turning to him.

Is Jesus Christ the cornerstone of your faith? Without Christ, the wall of faith tumbles. Though we reject him time and time again, God gives us the Son’s and His inheritance just the same. Though it is absurd, we get more than we expect or can even imagine.

Come to worship this Sunday and receive the fruits of the kingdom which Christ gives of himself.

Jeff Backer, Intern Pastor

Jesus' Parable of the Wedding Banquet

Read Matthew 22:1-14

Jesus compares the kingdom of God to a wedding banquet that a king throws for his son. Think of the food! Imaging how lavish and wonderful the celebration will be. Dancing, music, dessert will flow like water in a flood. It will likely be the party of the decade, perhaps the century. Who wouldn’t want to be there?

Well, according to Jesus’ parable many have been invited but they refuse to come. Maybe they are too busy with other things. Maybe they just don’t like the king. Perhaps they have nothing to wear to such and event and keep their distance because they feel inadequate. Whatever the reason, those invited reject the king’s invitation. Jesus concludes the parable with this haunting phrase, “Many are invited, but few are chosen.” What could he mean? What is the difference between being invited and being chosen?

In the midst of these questions, along with the anger and irritation they cause, it is easy to forget that Jesus sees the kingdom as a grand party and a place of rejoicing with the Son who has finally chosen a bride to give his life to. Come and hear more this weekend in worship and Bible classes!

Pastor Lars Olson

By what authority …?

“And when [Jesus] entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching, and said, ‘By what authority are you doing these things and who gave you this authority?” [It’s important to note the context for this question which is prompted in the previous verses, 12-17 – when Jesus had, the day prior, overturned the tables of the money changers in the temple and healed the blind and lame.] (Matthew 21:23) 

To a large degree, deep inside, the question of the chief priests and elders is ours as well … is it not? It’s the question of all humanity at bottom – especially in our age marked by increasing ambiguity and plurality, with its seeming cultural answer of relativism (You know, “Whatever!”) or even disingenuous indifference (You’ve heard it: “It is what it is.”) There is a longing in the human spirit for ultimate authority. To be in touch with, or know that which we can finally trust.

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Now hang-in there with me on some brief but key historical highlights of this quest, for understanding the matter of authority. … The ancient Greeks sought for it in eudaimonia (e.g. Aristotle’s “happiness” or “well-being”). The Medievalists’ thought of auctoritas or “authority” in terms of power (e.g. Duns Scotus’ potestas absoluta). Or later, philosophers like Immanuel Kant, during the Enlightenment (1685-1815), thought of authority in terms of reason – with their battle cry: “Dare to think [for yourself]” (sapere aude). And in our own time, authority has become invested in Science and Technology (where techne or Scientia, in terms of “technique,” has replaced sapientia or “wisdom.”)

From infancy we’re raised on various authorities. Authority permeates our lives. We accept it. We reformulate it. We reject it. And still, even in our rejection, we presuppose it. It’s vital for our lives, because authority marks where we place our trust. But where, in whom or what do we place this trust of ultimate authority? We ask the question of authority because, if we’re honest with ourselves, we’re so unsure of our own – or our constant disappointment by the authorities around us. Just consider the political authorities in America in 2017.

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Between now and this weekend, I’d like for you to read the Gospel text from Matthew 21:23-32, and ponder these two questions: (1) “What is the meaning of Jesus’ distinction between an authority “from heaven or from men” (see v.25a)? Is this reference to “heaven” just some easy cop-out to some pie-in-the-sky? … And (2) “Is either brother in the parable that Jesus tells, in vv. 28-31 our Gospel text, really obedient to the father’s request? Is there another son, somewhere in this Gospel text who is, and how so?” Perhaps the matter of authority, real and lasting authority, comes down to a matter of obedience. What thinkest thou?

In the meantime, God’s grace and peace …

j.r. christopherson
Senior Pastor

A Funny Thing Happened in Bible Study…

I write this blog post on Wednesday afternoon. Today in Bible Study*, sixteen participants and I had a great discussion of the Gospel text appointed for this Sunday, Jesus’ “Parable of the Generous Landowner.” In this story, a landowner goes out early in the morning to hire day-laborers to work in his vineyard. After agreeing with them on the usual daily wage, he puts them to work. Then the landowner goes out again at 9:00 and hires on another group, agreeing to pay them “whatever is right.” Again at noon and 3:00, he goes out and does the same. Finally, at 5:00, he goes out and tells those who have not yet been hired to also go into the vineyard. At the end of the day, in a surprising turn of events, all of these laborers are paid the same wage. Of course those who were chosen the earliest and worked the longest have a complaint against the landowner, to which he responds: “Are you envious because I am generous?” So it is with the kingdom of heaven, Jesus teaches us. “The last will be first, and the first will be last.”

In Bible study, the participants and I began envisioning that scene of day laborers, gathered together in one spot early in the morning, each hoping to engage in a day’s work for a day’s wage.  It’s a scene that plays out all over the world, of course, including Sioux Falls. We imagined the relief and satisfaction that the early hires must have felt – knowing so early in the day that they would get the very thing they had hoped for – a day’s work, and a day’s wage.  In this moment, the work that awaited them was received as a blessing! We imagined the tension building for the others who were idle as the day wore on. “This is not a fun kind of idle,” we realized, as the feeling of hopelessness and desperation would certainly set in for those who weren’t hired. They were preparing to go back to their homes, to their families, with…nothing. How very sad! What a tough day it must have been for those fellows, only to have it turned around by the surprising invitation and astonishing generosity of the landowner. Of course, those who found their joy early in the day realized that the others had received equal pay, and that’s when their work (which had once been a privilege) quickly turned into a burden. Has that ever happened to us in daily life, not to mention Christian life?  You bet… and that’s what the sermon will be focusing on this Sunday as we hear once again of a God who is generous, and always gives us more than we deserve.

But I have to tell you, a funny thing happened today in Bible Study. One of the participants, Gene, couldn’t stop thinking about those day laborers. He wondered if day laborers in Sioux Falls began each day with enough to eat, to keep them going through a big day of work. “Wouldn’t it be nice,” he said, “if the church could show up with doughnuts for these workers?” “Well, yes,” I replied to Gene. “That is a very fine idea!” Heads around the room nodded in agreement. At the end of the study, Gene and four others – Betty, Doris, Barney, and Gloria – began making phone calls and plans, and as I write this, three cases of “First Lutheran water” (supplied by our Intern Pastor Jeff Backer) and dozens of doughnuts (funded by the pockets of these enthusiastic Bible study participants) are being delivered to People Ready on 37th and Main, where workers on Thursday and Friday morning will be treated to a surprise breakfast hosted by these friends of First Lutheran Church.

Will this become “a thing” in weeks to come? Who knows! Maybe it will become “a ministry,” or maybe it’s just a beautiful act of love and generosity that emerged from a really great Bible study.  Either way, witnessing a group of Christians make surprising, unusual plans to bless others in the name of Jesus fills me with hope and joy – and reminds me of the surprising, amazing, generous God we serve.

And, if this idea sparks something generous in you, send me an email, and I’ll put you in touch with someone named Gene, Betty, Doris, Barney or Gloria. 

Blessings,
Pastor Katherine

*Did you know that we have an open Bible study that meets every Wednesday at 10 am? It’s held in the Gathering Room of our church, and the pastor who’s preaching on Sunday leads a discussion among a lively, diverse group of participants on the coming weekend’s assigned text. It’s a really great opportunity that some call our congregation’s “best kept secret.” Since no Bible study should be a SECRET, I thought I’d take this opportunity to promote it now.  Anyone is welcome to attend anytime.