Sermon Tone Analysis

Lord, may the words of my mouth and the mediation of all our hearts and our actions be acceptable to you, our strength and our redeemer.

Amen

 

When I was I kid we played a lot of sports after school.

Not organized sports like the way it is done now, and really it might be more appropriate to say that we played a lot of games

                        We played a little bit of baseball

                                    A lot of touch football

                                                But mostly we played a lot of road hockey

When we played road hockey, would often pretended we were our favorite NHL stars

            I was generally one of three people

                        I was Borja Salming if I was on defense

                                    Darrel Sittler on offense

                                                And if I came up with a last minute dramatic goal saving glove save

                                                            I was Mike Palmater in net

                                                                        Once a Leaf fan always a Leaf fan…

As a kid dreaming of playing in the NHL (the road hockey - NHL) we knew that we were just pretending

            But there were some times when all the right moves came together and for a moment - just a         moment - you could actually feel like you were that star

 

That notion of pretending or dressing up, in some ways never really leaves you

            We all have costumes or clothing that we wear that presents a certain persona

When I was a teenager I went through a couple of years where I dressed like a punk rocker

            I wore army fatigues and t-shirts with punk rock bands on them

                        I didn’t share the message and lifestyle of the music

but I liked the energy of the music and I think I liked the rebellious nature of it as well – I was a teenager after all -  so I dressed the part

 

In my first job in sales, when *all* I had behind me was school, I dressed up in a suit

            I didn’t really know what I was doing, but I looked the part

                       

While understanding this notion that the outward appearance sets the perspective, imagine yourself in this situation

 

Consider yourself part of a religious group -/ might not be that hard to do/

You are part of a group that even though there are people all around that have different beliefs and different gods - you believe that your God is one true God

                        You consider yourselves part of deep rooted group

                                    In fact you hold a great deal of pride and honour to connect your group to the                                           original founders of your religion

                                                You were part of politically shaping revolt based on religious beliefs

Most importantly, you believe that you are following the teachings of your sacred books

            In fact you are known for your zeal for them and the way you follow all ceremonial instructions

You teach a message that believers in your God are called to be separate from the rest of the world - To be a visible representatives

Your zeal for things done right is transparent in what you wear and what you eat, in all aspects of your life – you stand apart, because of your beliefs

There are other divisions of your religion that worship the same God

- there are those that have long influential connections, and money, and to you they seem a little too worldly

                        - Yet others are fanatical and want to bring *the* reign of your superior God             by any                                                 means possible, including force in opposing other religious groups

                                    You see yourselves as a corrective alternative for the destiny of your people

Since you are not born into the temple roles - you have developed places of worship and teaching through-out the land

           

I am speaking of the Pharisees of 2000 years ago

            But I think you can see the parallels *to us* possibly as well

                        We have the one true God

                                    Believe that our independence as stepping out, to represent our faith

We are also historically connected to many other churches – seeing our roots connected all the way back through the Roman Catholic Church, all the way to the first apostles

                                                            Yet also part of the corrective movement - of Protestism

                                                                        We hold the Bible as the Revelation of God

                                                                                    Have formal worship practices - liturgies

And, possibly, we have reasons to think that other denominations each got it slightly wrong

 

I think that many mainline traditional churches, such as Farringdon and Pharisees have a lot in common.

We both certainly like to maintain, support and encourage the traditions

 

So do you think - as I do - and in some way see yourself as a Pharisee on some level?

One view of the Pharisees is from scriptures and generally it is a pretty negative view.

We see them as the main opponents that were after Jesus

                        And we see Jesus responding by challenging them verbally *more* then any other group

We have it today in our Gospel passage where Jesus tells the parable of the Tenants in the Vineyard,

Which is a continuation from Gospel reading of last week of ‘the parable of the two brothers’ – and the religious leaders are revealed to be those they make a good show of saying ‘yes’ but in the end get nothing done

 

Generally speaking - We love parables.

They are such wonderful stories.

We teach them to our children in Sunday school, create stained-glass windows and other artwork based on the parables, and sing hymns and songs about them.

But the truth is—and in their original setting—parables, and the telling thereof—could actually prove to be fatal.

That certainly was the case for Jesus.

Tell enough parables, it seems, and you can wind up dead!

This parable in Matthew 21 is not the last parable Jesus tells in Matthew,

But it was sufficiently inflammatory to those who heard it that it was surely the beginning of the end for Jesus in that final week of his life.

Eugene Peterson, writer of the Bible paraphrase ‘The Message’, has famously said that parables are narrative time bombs.

These are stealthy stories that steal into people's hearts, confusing them initially, throwing them off balance for a while.

But at some later point the "Ah-ha!" moment may arrive as the real meaning of the story suddenly explodes in people's minds like a time-bomb.

The parables were meant to blast people into new awareness, new understandings, new ideas.

In this case, it did not take very long at all before this parable blew up in the faces of those listening to Jesus.

In the end we are told that the Pharisees and other religious leaders in Jerusalem that day knew at once that "Jesus was speaking against them."

It made them furious and they were ready, right then and there, to arrest him and be done with this Jesus once and for all.

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The Pharisees, maybe the most threatened of all the Hebrew religious leaders, by the teachings of Jesus

There are, however, positive perspectives - other sources, like Josephus, a significant historical writer – who presents them in the most positive light

And the after the destruction of the temple in 70 AD - *it* was the Pharisaic movement - that alone survived - when all other Jewish sects died out

                                    They are the religious forerunners for our modern day Jewish brothers and sisters

 

The view you have of the Pharisees is connected to how much you relate to them

 

The Pharisees were known and respected as the most zealous keepers of the law

            And in fact their zealousness took a step beyond and were zealous for the “tradition of the elders”

                        - Which was the teachings that ‘built on’ or ‘added to’ the law.

They had become so focused on the teaching of traditions apart from the scriptures that they lost sight of their true role that God had called them for

 

And that is the point in which we connect with the Pharisees today in our Gospel passage from Matthew

 

/42Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the scriptures: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is amazing in our eyes’?

43Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom.

44The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.”

(Matthew 21:42-44)/

            broken to pieces… crush anyone - these are indeed threatening words for the Pharisees

Elsewhere in the Gospels Jesus calls them /hypocrites/

                                    Its meaning from the Greek is something like “actors” or “pretenders”

Jesus is saying that they are dressing up for the role - looking the part

                        Doing the things that on the outside look righteous

                                    They are teaching the traditionally right things

                                                But they are not owning *the part* in their hearts

 

I think that this can be a challenge for us too at times - we who might identify with the Pharisees – and we might need to be *confronted* by this

            I think we need to think about what we *say* we do - with *what we actually do*

                        We need to question *why* we do things

                                    As much as *what* we do

 

I remember a time when I was interning at The Meeting House, a church that meets in a movie theatres, when we were to serve communion

            And I was explaining some of the Holy Hardware that is used in more traditional churches

                        I was very aware of feeling like the “teacher of traditions” - /the right way/

                                    Feeling like a Pharisee