{"id":324,"date":"2019-09-01T15:16:28","date_gmt":"2019-09-01T15:16:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/?p=324"},"modified":"2019-09-03T15:18:18","modified_gmt":"2019-09-03T15:18:18","slug":"twelfth-sunday-after-pentecost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/2019\/09\/01\/twelfth-sunday-after-pentecost\/","title":{"rendered":"Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Psalm 112, Luke 14:1, 7-14<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grace to you and peace\nfrom God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If\nyou were to ask me to describe, how we must live so that we are right<\/strong> with\nGod, I have to admit I would stumble-about for the best answer. Scripture itself\nis not consistent, though some theologians would tell us that the inconsistencies\nare due to contextual differences; but when we read the Bible, we find that\nthere are times when the laws or rules don\u2019t apply in the same way, and maybe times\nwhen the laws do not apply at all. That\u2019s hard for us! It\u2019s hard for everyone!\nLife is easier when the laws and rules are consistent! Our Psalm clearly states\nthat those who obey the Law and care for those who are suffering, will be\nexalted before the Lord and yet the interpretation of the Sabbath Law has led\nmany to ignore the needs of others on the Sabbath and Israel as a nation saw no\nconflict with breaking the Commandments \nagainst killing and stealing, engaging liberally in war, killing and\ntaking from the defeated all of their worldly goods and subjecting the defeated\nto slavery; Israel in-fact attempted to clear all the indigenous people off the\nlands of their ancestors, by killing them. You begin to wonder whether the Law\nof God was just an in-house law, meant to provide peace only within the faith community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From\ntoday\u2019s readings you might get the impression that the rich are rich only\nbecause they have been good before God and so have been rewarded, but in the\nreal world there are many who are rich who gain their riches by evil actions\nand there are many who are rich who seek only their own glorification; if it is\nGod who gives riches, it appears God\u2019s blessing falls upon the good and the bad.\nThere is no doubt that God imposes responsibility upon those blessed with riches,\ncalling them to be merciful and care for the poor; God wants us to be agents of\ngrace; Psalm 112 as well as Luke 14 say as much, but we all know that, that does\nnot always happen. The logic, the orderliness of things, it seems, does not\nwork out the way God wants. So, in our world we find that the good are not\nnecessarily rich and those who are evil are not necessarily among the down and\nout. So how do those of us, who wish to live godly lives figure out what we\nmust do? Is it okay for us to maintain the riches that we may earn? How do we, who\nhave more than we need, and yet do not see ourselves as rich, live in this\nworld?  A short answer: there are ways,\nboth, to invest in things that help society as a whole and help the poor and we\ncan give as we are able to help those who most need it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus\ntalks about humility in today\u2019s Gospel, much as did the author of Proverbs 25,\nbut in both readings, humility seems simply to be a just, wise or prudent approach\nto things, not necessarily a good and loving thing, but something to do to\nassure that we may be honored for our humility; at the very least something\nthat will protect us from the possibility of embarrassment. But in the real\nworld, at least today, we all know that the humble person may not be honored\nand that often the seat chosen among those of lower status, will find you hob-knobbing\nwith those of lesser status, rather than being rewarded and led to a place of honor;\nyou may have more fun there, but you are not given the great honor of being led\nup to a better seat. It seems that the realities of this world do not abide by\nGod\u2019s wisdom, just as they do not abide by God\u2019s Law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\nchanges things a lot, or does it? At least we know that we cannot expect to be\nrewarded in this life for our good acts and so our expressions of humility and\nour good acts are more likely to come from the heart and to be honest and truly\nloving. We then do good for the sake of good and humble ourselves because it is\nthe right way to feel. But should we do good and act humble for the sake of\nsalvation? Jesus taught us to love our neighbor, to love our enemy; Jesus\ntaught us that sacrifice was a part of following him and though not a certainty,\nsurely a real possibility, but salvation comes from a different place. As the\nrich become rich for many reasons, some because they or an ancestor worked hard\nfor what they have, while others came by their wealth in dishonest or hurtful\nways, we cannot expect to become rich because we are good and we cannot assume that\nthe poor are bad because they are poor, salvation is not earned. So, why does a\ngood and humble life really matter? It matters only in that we want to show our\nappreciation to our Lord for our very being and for our forgiveness and for the\nsalvation we have been promised. What matters most in this life and beyond, is\nour relationship with the Lord our Savior. Jesus taught us in subsequent passages\nthat we will not be saved because of the things that we do or don\u2019t do, or\nthink or don\u2019t think, or say or don\u2019t say. That means, contrary to all of today\u2019s\nreadings, we cannot earn our salvations by being good and loving and generous\nand humble. And that is a good thing. The truth is, if we had to depend on our own\nactions, thoughts or words we would earn only our damnation. Salvation is\nearned for us by Jesus on the cross. It is his sacrifice that earns our place\nin his kingdom and that makes us right<\/strong> with God. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nothing\nthat we do, can make our place in that kingdom better or worse, but everything\nthat we do, reflects upon the Lord who gives us so much. So, it is still important\nfor us to be good and humble, to reflect the loving and giving heart of the\nLord that we represent to those around us. You may not feel so important, but\nevery act, thought and word that you project to others, witnesses well or not\nwell to Jesus. God will forgive our failings, but our failings may keep others\nfrom following the Lord.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nimportance of your life and mine, as insignificant as we may think they are,\nmay help or impede others, in seeing the love of Jesus, and following Jesus. Each\nof us is important; each of us may be the key to opening another\u2019s heart to God,\nto Jesus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Psalm 112, Luke 14:1, 7-14 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ If you were to ask me to describe, how we must live so that we are right with God, I have to admit I would stumble-about for the best answer. Scripture Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons-and-services"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=324"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":325,"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324\/revisions\/325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}