Understanding the Jesus of the Gospels

Sermons from the Gospels

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  • Thomas was the First

    John 20: 19-31

    Offered to the congregation of the Long Valley Presbyterian Church, Long Valley, NJ

    April 12, 2026, by Mel Prestamo, Ruling Elder PCUSA

    This passage from John begins the story of the culmination of Jesus’ first day being resurrected as the Christ [the Chosen One] of God. Previously, his body has been taken by Joseph of Arimathea and placed in a tomb carved out of rock and then a large stone was rolled across the entrance.

    The disciples are locked in a room hiding in fear, no doubt huddled in their dismay and grief over what has happened. Their leader, their Rabbi was violently taken from them. They ran away deserting him. Now, they feel that they have been left adrift unprotected – are they next to be crucified? Will the authorities be coming for them next?

    Then Mary comes knocking, no pounding on the door. “They have taken his body. The tomb is empty. We don’t know where they have taken him.”

    Peter and John break out of the locked room and run to inspect the tomb. They get there. And, that bull in a China shop Peter brashly rushes in and inspects the linens. He looks around. The tomb was empty just as Mary had said. What does this mean? Was his body stolen? Who would do such a thing?

    They did not understand. They only had questions, no answers. They returned to that room. And once there, they relocked the doors.

    But Mary who had run after them, remains crying at the tomb. It is then she encounters a gardener – or so she thinks. She is still weeping. Her eyes blurred with grief. But then she hears that voice say her name, “Mary.” It was the voice of the Good Shepherd, and his sheep recognized the shepherd’s voice. She turns and she sees the Risen Lord. Is it him? He looks different, but that voice. She speaks, “Rabboni”. Jesus reveals himself to her. They speak to one another, and Jesus tells her to go and tell his disciples to meet him in Galilee.

    This news that Mary brings is no doubt received with bewilderment. The disciples knew with certainty that Jesus was crucified, that he was dead, that he was buried behind that huge stone. But his body was missing.

    Then this news that Mary brings, what does this mean? They didn’t know if she was crazy or if …if…what? They did not know. So, their fear and grief kept them locked in that room.

    Now grief is a very strong emotion. It is one that is very real and cannot be dismissed if we are to understand the motivations and actions of the disciples. Grief can take control of us and push us down a rabbit hole where it can be difficult to see the light of day much less the light of the risen Christ.

    So here in probably the same upper room that they had celebrated Jesus’ Last Supper, they are locked away in their fear, and sorrow, and grief. But there is one thing that I would call your attention to. For the most part, the disciples were together and that they shared their grief and fear in community. This is a very human thing, a very Jewish thing, a very Christian way of dealing with the loss that death brings. Not to be trite but misery really does prefer company. Most of the time.

    Most of the time but not for Thomas. Thomas chose to deal with his grief, his sorrow and pain, his own loss in private. John doesn’t account for where Thomas was or why he wasn’t with the others. So that gives us the opportunity for conjecture.

    Perhaps, Thomas could have been at the Garden of Gethsemane praying for the strength and guidance that Jesus had received there from the Father. He could have been standing at Golgotha looking at the empty cross wondering what had happened, what had gone so terribly wrong, retracing the events of that day. He had said to the others, “Let’s us go so that we may die with him, also.” He might have been asking himself, Why wasn’t he there, too, and why didn’t he die with Jesus as he had imagined it would happen? We don’t know. John doesn’t tell us.

    But more than the other three Gospels, John focuses on Thomas and makes him the center of attention in this part of the resurrection story. John tells us more about Thomas in these few verses than we can learn anywhere else in the other three Gospels. So, I would like us to take a look at Thomas and why John focuses so narrowly on him here in the aftermath of Jesus’ resurrection.

    What do we know about Thomas?

    In John 11, at the time when Jesus decides to go back to Jerusalem, to go to Martha and Mary to grieve with them over the passing of their brother Lazarus. At that moment, the disciples try to talk Jesus out of returning there. The last time he was there, the authorities tried to stone him. In their opinion it was a bad idea and just plain crazy to return there. No! Don’t go there!

    But John tells us it was Thomas who said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” Thomas was the one whose courage was the strength that the others needed.

    What does this tell us about Thomas?

    First, it is that he has a firm grip on reality. He is perceptive and realizes the dangers of going to Jerusalem. But he also knows that there is no talking Jesus out of what he has planned. He knows the man Jesus is head strong and cannot be swayed. He knows that Jesus has a plan. He doesn’t understand it, but he knows there is no derailing Jesus from his path he has chosen.

    We learn here that Thomas is totally devoted and loyal to Jesus – that is, to the real man that he can see in front of him – and that is an important detail to know of Thomas’ character in John’s story. But we also learn from this brief verse that Thomas has the courage to follow Jesus even to his death, or so he thought.

    “Let us go so that we may die with him.”

    If this was as far as it was going to go; if this was how Jesus wants it to be, then without hesitation, we must support him and go with him, no matter the consequences. Thomas’ devotion and loyalty are a total commitment – as close to the point of death as his humanity could take him. Thomas wanted to be loyal to the man Jesus that he could feel and touch in front of him.

    Maybe Jesus had Thomas in mind when he said to them, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” Maybe, he saw that love and devotion in Thomas.

    Here, I am going to take a brief detour from John. Thomas was called the twin. There is conjecture that it was because Thomas looked so much like Jesus. There is in Christian legend that Thomas was also a carpenter like Jesus. I don’t know if that is true, but it is interesting if it is true.

    In my experience, I have come to learn that there are carpenters and then there are carpenters. I have a brother who has a ministry out on Long Island. He, like Paul, is a tent maker with a secular job to support his ministry and his family. He, for a time, was a Cabinet Maker. In conversation, I once told him that I mentioned to a friend that my brother was a carpenter. He was visibly insulted. “I am not a carpenter”, he told me. To which I responded, “Oh really? What are you?”

    “A Cabinet Maker!”

    I chuckled and asked what was the difference? “About 3/16s of an inch” (with all seriousness) was his answer. In other words, his work needed to be exacting to a fine line. His work demanded no margin for error, no guess work, no eyeballing, none of the broad strokes carpenters use, just fine lines.

    If Thomas was a carpenter, I think, this was the kind of carpenter Thomas was. You can tell from what we learn about him that he will believe what he sees in front of him if it is presented in fine and exacting detail.

    For instance, at that final supper, Jesus tried to reassure the disciples that he is going to the Father to prepare a place for them. That he will return for them and that they know the way.

    But it is Thomas who says to Jesus, “How can we know the way?” In other words, I need details. I need to have more information. Be specific, tells us where you are going and how we can know the way.

    John builds for us a character in Thomas that is devoted and loyal to Jesus but at the same time is demanding of details. In other words, don’t tell me the cut is about ¼ of an inch. Tell me precisely the measurement to 1/16 of an inch.

    Jesus tries to tell Thomas, If you know me, you know the Father. If you have seen me, you have seen the Father. Jesus tried to reveal to Thomas what he needed when he said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.”

    When I read this passage, I get the visual image in my head of Thomas’ reaction. Like any of us, I can imagine Thomas listening and nodding his head saying,

    “O-K, I guess. Wait! What?”.

    All of this gives us some insight to how Thomas decided to deal with his grief over the loss of this man that he loved and was devoted to.

    Thomas couldn’t find his solace in a community locked in fear behind closed doors. Whether he was isolating himself in his own pain or retracing his steps – Jesus’ steps hunting for answers, Thomas was searching for the real hard details that this real man Jesus had spoken of. Jesus spoke of “The Way. Where is this way and how do I find it? Jesus said, I would know it. How can I know it? Where is the way so that I can follow him?

    So, when Jesus first appears to the disciples in that closed room, Thomas is not there. Thomas is searching for answers but because he has isolated himself in his own grief, he missed the opportunity to find the way he was looking for.

    So, when the other disciples tell Thomas, “We have seen the Lord,” he responds to them with his characteristic demand for exacting details and for some hard visual evidence that he can see and understand.

    “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

    Can you hear him saying, I am a master carpenter. I know exactly what size nails were used to crucify him and exactly how large a hole it would make in his hands. I need to see them and measure them for myself so that I know to the 1/16 of an inch it is really him.

    So now in John’s story, a week passes and here we have the disciples locked away in that room again, but this time Thomas is with them.

    The doors are shut. John is clear about that. This time Thomas is with them. And Jesus enters into their midst and greets them, “Peace be with you.” Then, he turns to Thomas and invites him to put his fingers into the wounds in his hands and his hand into Jesus’ side. Come, do the holes fit your notion of what the size of the nails had to be? You doubt that it is really me, the real man who you loved with complete devotion and loyalty. Come and touch the physical evidence that you need to overcome your doubts.

    Now, my friends, we have a moment. It is the critical moment for all humankind. This is the moment when humankind witnesses and affirms for the first time who the Christ really is. Thomas is the first to recognize it when he utters the words, “My Lord and my God!” Thomas is the first one recorded by John or any of the Gospel writers to acknowledge that right there in front of him was his God. God the Creator, God the Word, and the God whose Spirit would show him the way.  Thomas is the first to bear witness that it is his God standing before him.

    That is a moment for us to take pause. In that moment, Thomas recognizes that not only is this the man Jesus – his teacher, his leader, his friend, his RISEN Lord – but standing before him was his God.

    John closes this story by having Jesus say to Thomas, “ Because you have seen me, you have believed.” In this moment, I perceive grace. I feel that Jesus understands the difficulty that Thomas has in understanding and in believing. And he is accepting of Thomas’ weaknesses. So, in this gracious moment, I believe that Jesus forgives Thomas his doubts.

    And I think in his closing words, Jesus is speaking to us. “Blessed are you who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” For those of us who’s faith is rock solid based upon the witness of the Gospels and the Saints that have gone before us, Jesus blesses us.

    But like for Thomas, I think Jesus also understands when we have difficulty, when we question, when we need something more, when we need encouragement, when we need bolstering up.  He doesn’t come to provide physical evidence as he did for Thomas. For us he has given his Spirit and his church, his community of believers that repeat of the story of those first witnesses. He has given us not only the example of his Faith in the Father by going to the Cross; but also, he has given us a community of saints [real people in our lives] in whom we can also see his Spirit at work through their love and devotion to Father God. Look to them. Those are the hands that share with you and bless you with the Peace of Christ. Find in them Jesus’ love and his caring reaching out to you. Those hands are scarred with the holes of the nails that Thomas inspected and verified that there in our midst is our Lord and our God.

  • Jesus On The Edge

    Luke 17: 11-19

    Mel Prestamo, Ruling Elder, PCUSA

    Offered to the Wharton Hungarian Church on October 9, 2022.

    Recently as we have been going through the Gospel of Luke, as we follow along the Lectionary for this year, we have been treated to some of Jesus’ most well know parables and stories. However, today’s text is not about one of Jesus’ parables but of an event that took place on this road between Samaria and Galilee.

    The circumstances are that Jesus is on his final approach to Jerusalem. And on this path, this road, he is walking between the borderlines of Galilee [that’s Jewish Galilee] and Samaria [that detested foreign land of blasphemers]. On this route, he enters into a town. Now we don’t know if this town is in Samaria or Galilee. We assume that it is in Galilee because of what comes later, but we really don’t know for sure.

    But what is most interesting about this day is that Jesus is walking on the borderline – on the edge, if you will. Now this is important for a couple of reasons. First, it gives us a clear visualization that Jesus is always where people on the edge are, where people are on the fringes of society. Now why do I think that is important to be aware of? It is because Jesus’ entire ministry is spent dealing and ministering to people who are on the margins of society – the lepers, the Samaritan woman at the well, the woman who reaches out to touch his robe to be healed, the tax collectors, the sinners, the neglected, those people who society has lost sight of. The story of the rich man and Lazarus that we read a couple of weeks ago makes it clear to us who [what kind of people] Jesus believes are important.

    Now, I know that we often see him dealing with lawyers and Pharisees and other teachers of the law who often try to trip him up in the law setting traps for him, but his ministry was always to people on the edge of society, people who are often not seen by those in power. By those who are blinded by their power.

    Second, from this vantage point, of Jesus on the borderline, we get a view of someone willing to love us when we are hidden within our own borderlines, that place where we hide our inner most weaknesses. That place where we go to hide when we, like Adam and Eve, are ashamed of our sin. There Jesus is walking on the borderlines seeking us out to minister to our needs.  

    That is where Luke tells us Jesus is while on his final journey to Jerusalem. While he is making his way to the Cross, He is on the borderline between our best and worst selves and reaching out to provide healing. Now this might be a great place to end a message but there is something more in this passage today that I want to look at.

    In the story today Jesus is approached by a group of ten lepers, they were standing far off away from the crowd that is following Jesus for that was the law and they call out to him, “Master, have pity on us.” Jesus’ response was to tell them to, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” Why would he tell them that. It was because lepers were outcasts from society. They are literally living on the borders of society. They were not permitted to be close to anyone for fear that their disease might be spread. But also, the mere fact that they were stricken meant, in Jewish society, that they were sinners being punished by God. And to be permitted back into society, they would have to present themselves to the priests to be certified that they had been cleansed. Therefore, Jesus, sent them off to the priests to be certified as clean. And the story tells us, they left to do just that and found that as they went off, they had been cleansed.

    But one of them, seeing that he had been cleansed, turned back to glorify God. “He fell on his face at Jesus’ feet and thanked him.” This was exceptional!

    So, let’s look at this leper’s reaction to being healed for just a bit. First, now we find out that one of the ten is a Samaritan, meaning the other nine were Jews. It was highly unusual for Jews and Samaritans to mix but for the reason of their common affliction, these ten did. In other words, in the face of their common misfortune they broke down their cultural, national, and religious barriers and came together to minister jointly to their common needs. But at the moment that they were cleansed, they separated again. The Jews went off to the temple and the Samaritan stayed behind. Why? Because quite simply, he was not welcomed at the Jewish temple. Once their common bound was broken, they reverted to reveal the things that separated them.

    Now, let’s look at what happens when this one man returns to Jesus. He returns giving glory to God in a loud voice and then he prostrates himself at Jesus’ feet to give thanks. This is WOW!. The Theologian William Barclay calls it the proper way of giving thanks to God. It is why, I try to focus on our giving thanks first during our Joys and Concerns each morning. We need to be grateful and give thanks for the gifts, the well-being, the healing that God gives us. Only one of the ten did just this. The other nine did as Jesus had instructed them and went off to the priests to be certified as clean so that they could reenter society. Now, I am finding it difficult to criticize too harshly that they left because it is what Jesus had told them to do. But Luke preserves the next part of this story for us for a reason.

    Jesus asks those around him who are witnessing this outpouring of thanksgiving, “Were there not ten? Where are the nine? Did none of them turn back to give glory to God, except this foreigner?”

    This is where we get the clarification that the foreigner was a Samaritan and the other nine were from Galilee. All were willingly given healing by Jesus. Only one was willing to give thanks to God.

    Luke lays out a pattern for us here. First there is healing; then, there needs to be glorifying of God, and finally there is giving Thanksgiving, prostrate at Jesus’ feet.

    Each of these steps is interpreted for us by Jesus. First, Jesus heals indiscriminately. All ten were healed. Then there is giving glory to God for that healing. Where are the others? Is there only this foreigner, the Samaritan here to glorify God? Where are the others who were healed.

    Then there is the final step that Luke shows us, it is to give thanks. But not just, “Hey, you did me a solid. Thanks, Bud. I owe you one.” Not that kind of thanks. But the kind of thanks that displays total awe of the one who heals. It is a thanks that bows down in praise.

    It is at this point that Jesus says to the one, Samaritan, “Rise and go. Your faith has made you well.” But the word that Jesus uses here is not to say that you are cured of leprosy. It is to indicate that his faith has saved him. Jesus uses the same phrase to the woman who had anointed his feet with oil (7:50), the hemorrhaging woman who touched his robe (8:48), and the blind beggar on the edge of the road (18:42). Jesus receives the one who returned giving glory to God and then who gives thanksgiving and then tells him he was “saved” by his faith. The other nine …? They were healed, yeah, they now have something that makes them happy in this world and they go running off to the priests but look at what they missed out on. They missed out on entering into the Father’s embrace and the joy of being with the Father. That is the saving that Jesus is speaking of.

    No story in all the Gospels more poignantly displays human ingratitude. Ten came asking for something that they wanted. All were healed. One returned to give glory to God and thanks to the One, and through that expression of faith, only one was saved.

    This tells so much about our relationship with God and how one-sided it can be sometimes.

    God created us and set us up in paradise. Our response was to sin and walk away. God loves us so much that God sent God’s only son to die for our sins so that we can be restored to a right relationship with God, so that we can once again enter into God’s eternal presence in God’s kingdom. God heals all our wounds, all our inequities. But are we grateful? Are we the one who returns to give glory to God and thanksgiving at the feet of the One who has saved us?

    I don’t like asking these questions because I don’t know if I have been grateful in my giving glory to God and thanksgiving at the feet of the One who has saved me. How much of my praise, my prayers, my worship – our praise, prayers and worship are just so much lip service and how much of it is heartfelt and sincere?

    Father God, we give glory and praise to your holy name for the grace and mercy that you have showered upon us, and we give Thanksgiving to the One who has saved us and brought us home to your house.

    CHARGE: My friends, today we see Jesus walking on the edges of society, ministering to those on the boundaries who are forgotten. My charge to you is this, if we are disciples of the Lord, then we have to also walk on the edges and look for and help those living on the edges who are neglected and forgotten.

  • The Law Upon Our Hearts

    Luke 14: 1, 7-14 / Psalm 112

    Mel Prestamo, Ruling Elder, PCUSA

    Offered to the Wharton Hungarian Church, Wharton, NJ on June 19, 2022

    I have a concern about being in fear of the Lord. Psalm 111 tells us that Fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom. In other words, I am uncomfortable with the notion that Fear is how we are to approach God. That’s not what I want for you today.

    So, I want you to know that Fear of the Lord is not a slavish, subservient fear. We should not come before God in expectation of being reprimanded or condemn. Having fear of the Lord is more like a child coming to a parent with a desire to be obedient and loved. At least that is the lesson that Jesus would have us learn. Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; that is, it is the start of a journey on which we will grow to know the very nature and character of the God Jesus knows.

    On that journey we have two guides. One is the example and the teachings of the Christ. Jesus’ teachings open up the meaning of Scripture for us allowing us to see the very heart of God. So that we can begin to know the nature of God and what God desires for us. Our second guide is God’s Spirit. The Spirit lives within believers. It stirs a yearning within us to move ahead on our faith journey and discover more each day about the God that loves us. The Spirit helps us to hear that wee, small voice of God when God speaks to us.

    As we begin to read this Psalm, it is helpful to think of it as a response to the ending of Psalm 111.

    Psalm 111 ends with,

    “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom.

    All those who practice it gain sound understanding.

    His praises endure forever.”

    Psalm 112 picks up:

    “Praise the Lord!

    Happy are those who fear the Lord,

    who are ardently devoted to his commandments.”

    Let’s put these two phrases together:

    “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom…

    Happy are those who fear the Lord.”

    Does this mean that happiness in our lives is born out of a cowering fear? No. I don’t think that is what the Psalmist is telling us. I read a commentary on this Psalm and specifically on the word translated as “Happy” in the verse. The original word connotes a life journey that leads to an experience of wholeness, both physical and spiritual – a life that has integrity and is filled with joy. I don’t believe that a life that brings us wholeness, integrity and joy is born out of cowering in fear. *

    I don’t think the God that Jesus is telling us about is one that we should bow before in fear like a slave that is expecting harsh judgement from its master. Remember John 3:16:

    God so LOVED the world that he gave his only Son,

    so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

    Then John 3:17 continues:

    God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world,

    but in order that the world might be save through him.”

    So, this fear that we should have for God is more of obedient reverence and not servitude. We should approach God with a desire to praise God by doing the things that will please the heart of God. When we grow to know that, that obedient reverence is the beginning of Wisdom.

    Now this begs the question, what will please the heart of God?

    The Psalmist tells us it begins with having a delight in God’s commandments; that is wanting to be obedient to God’s commandments because that will praise God not because we are fearful of eternal damnation. Sometimes, it might be easier in life not to do things – not to commit murder or not have an adulterous affair – than it is to do what is right because it will please God. I mean it is easier to fall in line with the negative than to do the positive.

    This is, I think, the prism that Jesus provides for us when he opens up Scripture to us. I will take as an example the Ten Commandments. On our own, we might look at them as burdensome as the ancient Israelites did and perhaps editorialize them and refer to them as the DON’Ts.

    • DON’T have other Gods
    • DON’T worship idols
    • DON’T make a wrongful use of the Lord God’s name
    • On the Sabbath, DON’T do any work
    • DON’T murder
    • DON’T commit adultery
    • DON’T steal
    • DON’T bear false witness
    • DON’T covet your neighbor’s house or wife

    This is what I refer to as a very Old Testament characterization of God and God’s Commandments. God’s image has a harsh, demanding, and judgmental side to it. For the orthodox Jew, the Law and the Jewish religion was a thing of burdens. Jesus said of the Scribes and Pharisees, “…they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the people’s shoulders.” For the Jew in Jesus’ time, religion had become a thing of endless rules. The Jew was always listening to that voice that said, “Thou shalt not…”

    In other words, if you DON’T fall in line with the don’ts, then something bad will happen to you. God’s judgment will be upon you. And indeed, we do see that playout in Scripture. Whenever the Israelites wandered and forgot their relationship with God, they were punished with captivity and exile. The promised land was taken away from them. But those punishments were not so much for rule breaking as they were for covenant breaking and relationship breaking.

    Because of this one-sided version of God, this notion that if you break the rules, you will be punished, it’s hard for our minds to depart from this image of a harsh God with rules to follow and punishments for failures. It’s been engrained into our Christian physique, as well. And that would be the message we hear if Old Testament Scripture was all we had to go on. What I mean is, if we did not have the Christ to reveal more about God to us.

    I guess what I am saying is that the ancient Israelites were a primitive, stiff-necked, and superstitious people and they required strict guidelines to keep them in a righteous relationship with God.

    But we have Jesus who gives a new, wider, and more full vision of who God is. Jesus, tells us in Matthew, “Take up my yoke and follow me … for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

    What Jesus is saying to us here, is that his view of how to approach God is far easier than what the leaders of the Jewish religion had placed upon the people. Jesus wasn’t approaching a judgmental God that we should be fearful of, a God who keeps a leger of our worst sins. Jesus was taking us to a God that loves us and who is ready to be merciful and forgiving regardless of the severity of our sins. And that yoke, that burden is far easier to bear under than what was being laid upon the people.

    Jesus gave us a new commandment that provided for us a new relationship with God – one that is based upon Love, not fear. Jesus tells us in John 13: 34

    “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another.

    Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.

    By this everyone will know that you are my disciples,

    if you have love for one another.”

    This is the prism though which we are to interpret Scripture. That is Love. And if we look back at Scripture, the Ten Commandments and reinterpret them through the Christ, things might sound differently. Let’s try this.

    • I am your God who loves you. My love will fulfill you.
    • If you love me, I will live within you, and you will have no need of idols.
    • My name is sacred. Love and praise it always.
    • I have created the Sabbath for your rest. Let me restore and refresh you on that day.
    • I gave you life through your parents. Honor them always.
    • Love the world and all the life in it that I have created.
    • My relationship with you is a blessed one and so are the relationships that I have given you. Honor them with love always.
    • My eye is even on the sparrow and more so on the least of you. I will provide for your every need.
    • In my love you will find truth.
    • I have given you all that you will need. Trust me and rely on my love.

    I want to be clear. I am not saying that Jesus has changed the Commandments given down to us by God to Moses on Mount Saini. Remember, Jesus has said that he had not come to change the Law but to fulfill it. Perhaps Jesus wouldn’t have said them differently, but I think he interprets them differently. He teaches them differently. He certainly wouldn’t interpret them as the Israelite scholarship of the time did. Would he have created 660 Mitzvahs? I don’t think so. Rather, I am saying that Jesus wants us to see a fuller vision of the God not before revealed in Scripture. He wants us to see the Creator God that loves all that was created. And if we respond to that loving God with the love that Jesus exemplifies for us and calls us to exhibit, we will want to be obedient and do things that will please the heart of God.

    So, where do we go from here?

    My friends, I want us all to begin a journey to grow in wisdom not in fear but in reverent obedience to the Lord. I would like us to grow in wisdom so that we can come to know how and what to do that can be pleasing the Lord, our God.

    Remember that God so loved the world that God sent the Son into the world not to condemn the world but to save it through the Son.

    • So, as your response to the first Commandment, come to the Lord, your God and praise God’s holy name because God loves you and has sacrificed all for your salvation.
    • Realize that there is nothing on this earth, there is nothing of higher value that can replace that love and that we have no need for us to seek idols in our lives that would replace God.
    • Always hold the name of the God who loves you in high and sacred reverence.
    • Take advantage of the Sabbath Day to rest with God and to let God refresh you because God’s love and God’s Spirit will fill you with a vigor that will help you to soar like eagles.
    • Honor your parents because God uses them to guide you and light your path.
    • Love all life that God has created. Respect and love all your neighbors as Jesus has taught us.
    • Love the covenant promises that God has made with us by honoring the covenants that we have made with each other.
    • Realize that in love God has and will fulfill all your needs. There is nothing you will need that your loving Father in heaven is not willing to give to you.
    • God is all truth. Being right with God means displaying that truth for all to witness.
    • God wants you to live in a right relationship with God. There is never a need to look elsewhere to fulfill your needs.

    This is the path I wish for you. May your journey to wisdom be blessed and the God of love be with you always.

    *Credit to Bob Naylor, These Days, August 24, 2022

    CHARGE: My friends, Jesus has called us to take up his yoke, not because it is a heavy burden difficult and arduous, but because his burden is easy and light. Take up the Christ’s yoke for within him you will find rest for your soul.

  • Lazarus and the Rich Man

    Luke 16: 19-31

    Mel Prestamo, Ruling Elder, PCUSA

    Offered to the Wharton Hungarian Church of Wharton, NJ on September 25, 2022

    I want to start my message today by commenting that Luke’s retelling of Jesus’ parables is unique in its richness. We have here today the parable of The Rich Man and Lazarus. This parable appears in no other Gospel. Luke also gave us the three parables of the Lost sheep, the Lost Coin and the Lost Sons. He also gives us the story of the Unjust Judge. None of those appear in other Gospels either. So, it is worthy of note that Luke is the Storyteller that has preserved the Jesus’ stories most fully for us. And in so doing, Luke has preserved many of Jesus’ most salient lessons, as well.

    So today, we have the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus. Now, most interesting, the poor man who Jesus calls Lazarus is the only character in any of Jesus’ parables that is given a name. Sometimes, the Rich man is referred to as Dives. But “Dives” is simply a Latin word for “rich.” It probably was assigned to this man as translations of the Bible were made into Latin so as to give the listeners a better understanding of who and what he was. But Lazarus is a Jesus given name.

    I find that curious so I thought I would do a little digging. I thought perhaps the name Lazarus had some specific meaning that would help us understand why Jesus used it.

    It turns out, Lazarus is a Greek name – born of another translation. It turns out Lazarus is a translation of a real Hebrew name. The name Jesus probably used was Eleazar. And while Lazarus doesn’t give us any clear understanding about the poor man, Eleazar does. Eleazar, translated from Hebrew means, “God is my help.” Now this helps us to understand something of Jesus meaning in this parable.

    The name may well have been used to emphasize the underlying truth in this parable that the poor man had no other hope or helper other than God. As we go through this parable lesson, we should realize that this poor person had no one other than God that would show him pity or bring him hope or help.

    So, let’s look more deeply into the two main characters of this parable. The first person described is the rich man. In the first line of the parable, the rich man is described as wearing “Purple and fine linen and as one who feasted sumptuously every day.” Right there is a big Red Stop sign for us to take note of. This is an off the chart description of excessive luxury. First, typically, only the high priests wore robes of Purple and linen. The cost of such garments by today’s standards would be approximately $550.00 US. While you or I might be able to afford a suit of clothes at that price tag today, back in Jesus’ Palestine it was an enormous sum of money. It is also worthy of note that Jesus dresses the rich man in the finery that the upper echelons of chief priests and Pharisees might have been wearing.

    The second part of Jesus’ description was that the rich man feasted sumptuously every day. The words Jesus used would give the impression to his listeners that the rich man lived life as a glutton.

    Now some Biblical scholars have pointed out Jesus’ use of the words of “every day”. They raise a question as to how this gluttonous behavior relates to the commandment concerning the Sabbath.

    If you recall, the commandment reads, “Remember the Sabbath Day and to keep it holy; on it you shall do no work.” We all know that part of the commandment. But God continues, “Six days shall you labor.”

    The second part of the Sabbath commandment is just as valid as the first and Jews of the day took it very seriously. The Jews held work in high esteem. Rabbis of the day were not compensated for their teachings. They were expected to have trades of their own to support themselves and their families. The Jews of the day had a saying, “A father that did not teach his son to work, taught him to steal.”

    For Jews, the commandment to work six days was just as valid as the commandment not to work on the seventh day. So, Jesus’ description that the rich man lived life feasting sumptuously every day branded him as utterly useless individual and a breaker of God’s commandment to work.

    That’s a lot packed into one sentence.

    Now let’s look into Jesus’ description of Eleazar. We are told that sores covered his body and that he was so weak that he was unable to ward of the dogs that licked at those wounds. That’s a pretty gross image. But I don’t want to gloss over that. I want it to hang out there for you to visualize, so that the image stays with you. No person gave him mercy. Only the dogs were there to administer to his wounds.

    Verse 21 says that he longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table. Now what does that mean? What was it that would fall from the table. In Palestine at the time, people did not use utensils to eat with or napkins to wipe their hands. They used their hands to eat and bread to wipe up and dry their hands. When they did that, they would toss the bread to the floor. That bread is what Eleazar hoped would be passed out to him to eat. Jesus does not indicate that any of that waste was ever shared.

    Jesus uses these two verses to set the stage of his lesson. On the one hand, we have a man living in opulent luxury beyond all excesses. It was a lifestyle that was foul of God’s commandment and Jewish law. And the other in total abject poverty and desperation. But note this. The circumstances weren’t that the rich man didn’t know of Eleazar. He wasn’t living under some bridge in a far-off part of the city. We know of some homeless people that live under the Route 46 overpass right here in Dover. We know they are there, but we don’t see them as we step over our threshold. NO, this creature was living on his doorstep. The rich man would have had to step over Eleazar in order to leave and then to reenter his home every day.

    This, of itself alone, is an aberration of Jewish law. It would have been considered a breaking of the law for someone not only to step over or around poverty without offering aid of some sort but to ignore it but not even seeing the pain of the needy around him, that was an abomination. Jewish law was clear in that it required that the poor be dealt with fairly and provided for. That is why during harvest, workers were not permitted to clean up the remains of the harvest that had fallen to the ground after the reaping was done. What had fallen to the ground was to be left for the poor to glean and collect. So, there was an element of social consciousness in Jewish law that this rich man was ignoring to the point of blindness. It is one thing to decide not to care when you see need. It is another to decide not to see it at all.

    What happens next is that both men die. The poor man dies and is carried away by Angels to be with Abraham. Remember his name means “God is my help.” The rich man dies and is buried. Eleazar is carried by Angels. The rich man dies, is buried in the ground and we next find him in Hades.

    Now in Hades we hear of some classic descriptions of hell: torment, fire, and thirst. Of paradise, we have an image of Elazar sitting on the knee of Abraham being comforted for eternity. And between the two, there is a great chasm. It is one that separates the two sides. On one side there are the blessings of being in the house of the Lord and  on the other there is the pain of separation for life eternal. A classic Jewish view of the afterlife was that the damned would live out eternity in view of the glory of God’s kingdom with no hope of crossing the chasm between the two. That was the fiery torment. Their thirst was that they could wish and desire and long to be with Abraham in God’s kingdom, but that thirst would never be quenched.

    The rich man begs for mercy, the mercy that he never once afforded to Eleazar. “Father Abraham, send him to dip his finger into the water and place a drop on my tongue to ease my thirst.” Abraham’s response, “Sorry. No can do. It’s this chasm thing. It’s fixed. We can’t cross it.” But remember, in your lifetime, you received all good things and Eleazar got the evil in life that you created. [My editing] But now, here, he is comforted, and you are in agony – also of your making. [My editing, again].

    At this point, the rich man makes a second request. It is that Abraham send Eleazar to his father’s house to warn his five brothers.

    Another thought strikes me about this line in Jesus’ story. This rich man was not even head of his house. He was living in his father’s house. He, himself had never produced anything in his life of value. He had not worked for his riches. He did not earn them by his labors. All his riches were showered upon him by his father, and he rolled in that excess like a pig in a mud filled sty. He had all the advantages of his father’s love and grace and gifts, and he squandered it all on his gluttonous and lavish living. He never once thought that those gifts should be shared. He kept all that the father had given him to himself. He died never having stored up any of the right kind of riches that would help him gain entry into God’s kingdom for the afterlife. He never tried to build a relationship with God. There must be a message in there somewhere for the Pharisees and Jewish leaders within earshot of his lesson. And maybe for us as well.

    So, the rich man asks that a messenger be sent to his brothers so that they might be warned to avoid the same fate. But Abraham’s response is that they have Moses and the Prophets as their messengers. They should listen to them. Yes they already have the Law of Moses and all the Prophets who were constantly admonishing Israel and Judah to stop their evil ways, repent and return to God. They already had all the teaching that they needed.

    But wait, says the rich man. If you send someone to them that comes from the dead, they will surely listen and repent. And now comes Jesus makes a closing swipe at the Jewish leaders prophesying his own resurrection. “If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.”

    What is it that the Prophets have told them? What is it that God has told you? “O mortal, what is good? Do justice, and love kindness, and walk humbly with your God. (Micah 6:8)

    And who is that is raised from the dead? It is, of course, Jesus. He is foretelling his own rising and their continued rejection of his kingship. The day will come when evidence and proof of his resurrection will be made plain to them through the witness of his disciples and the empty tomb, but their response will be to squelch and blot it out.

    There are only 12 verses in Luke for the retelling of this parable. But it is jammed pack with intentional meaning and lessons. I have unpacked some of them for you but there remains one more.

    It is the whole thing about living within the Father’s house and being showered with all of the blessings and grace that the Father lavishly and recklessly pours out upon us and then doing nothing with it. That is the core unforgivable sin of the Jewish leadership, the scribes, the pharisees, the chief priests. They had been given it all, but they held it tightly within their own grasp never letting others have a glimpse of it. That is what Jesus told them they had gotten wrong. They had misinterpreted their role as God’s chosen people. The lavish gifts poured on them by God, the righteous relationship that God wishes for all of humanity, were meant to be shared.

    And we have to be careful because we are similarly warned not to make the same mistakes.  We have this story to tell, this Good News and we have the burden of being called to share it. But we are also called to share all the other gifts that God has given to us. We are to share our wealth and resources. These are the gifts you have been given. Don’t let them blind you. We are to share God’s saving grace, God’s compassion, God’s love, and God’s justice. We can be rich. We can have wealth. What we cannot do is to use them to build a chasm between us and the need in this world around us.

    Charge: My friends, Jesus’ message has been sent. It has been announced by Moses and the Prophets and now one has died and has come back to life to repeat it for us. My charge to you is to listen and hear it.

  • What can we learn from the Unscrupulous Steward?

    Luke 16: 1-13

    Mel Prestamo, Ruling Elder, PCUSA

    Offered to the First Presbyterian Church of Franklin, NJ on September 9, 2022

    This is a difficult parable to understand. I think more than just a few of us scratch our heads and wonder, “What is Jesus telling us here? What does he mean by the “children of this generation are more shrewd than the children of light?” What is Jesus asking us to do?” I can envision Peter going up to Jesus and saying, “Hey, J. What does this story mean? Are you telling us that we should be as unscrupulous as the steward in your story? Are you telling us that we should cheat and lie to make friends and get ahead? I don’t get it. J man, help me out here.”

    I see Peter going to Jesus with these questions because that’s exactly my reaction when I read this passage and I suspect, you’re scratching your heads with similar questions.

    And what might Jesus’ response to Peter and us be? I can see Jesus looking at Peter with a wry smile saying, “Well no, but kind of, yeah.” Then Jesus smiles at Peter and tells him, “Peter, if you are focusing only on the Steward in my story, you are looking in the wrong place.”

    OK. That’s a start. So, let’s go there so that we can understand what about the Steward is and is not the point of the story. At the beginning of his story Jesus says the Steward is accused by the Master of “squandering his property”. He is not accused of fraud or some illegal action. He is accused only of allowing some of the master’s wealth to slip through the cracks. Someone has alerted the Master that this Steward may be squandering his property through mismanagement and perhaps the master is not earning as much as he should be. For that reason, the Master tells the Steward that he is being dismissed. Now the wheels go into motion.

    The Steward frets, what am I to do? Then he comes up with a plan to protect and provide for his future prospects after he is dismissed. Now remember this. This is important.

    The Steward calls his master’s debtors and begins to negotiate with them a “rebalancing”, if you will, of their accounts. Now, it would be advantageous for us to understand that the master was probably an absentee landowner, and the Steward was his manager. The debtors were probably people who worked that land, and their rent was to pay the Landowner a portion of their harvest. What do you owe, the Steward asks them? Change the records of what your harvest was and reduce what you owe. The debtors being as unscrupulous as the Steward go along with the scheme. They are as wicked as the Steward. Now, someone spills the beans and the Master finds out about what is happening. Perhaps, the person who originally alerted the Master in the first place or one of the debtors had a pang of conscience and told him what was going on. But now comes the curve ball.

    Instead of reprimanding the Steward, the Master congratulates him on his shrewd handling of the accounts and his circumstances. You see, the Master, being as unscrupulous as any of the characters in Jesus’ story, appreciates that the Steward may finally be coming around to doing business the way the Master wanted and expected of him in the first place. And here, the message Jesus intends in his parable starts to become clearer.

    Jesus isn’t applauding the lying and the cheating that the Master in the story appreciates. Jesus is pointing out to the disciples the shrewdness of how the Steward uses the tools at his disposal to provide for his future prospects.

    In verse 8, Jesus points out that the “children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of the light.” What does Jesus mean by this? It is that  “the children of this world” are wiser and more astute in setting up their accounts in this world, their business opportunities, their bank balances, their IRAs and 401ks, their retirement security than we, “the children of the light”, are storing up our riches in heaven. That is why Jesus would have us take an example from the Steward. He doesn’t want us to lie and cheat. But He does want us to be as committed to storing up and securing a place in God’s kingdom as they are committed to storing up the riches of this world.

    The Steward has reached out to his master’s debtors and made for himself friends that will help him on the day he is turned out. He has secured this in part by their gratitude for his reducing their debt but more so by the fact that he can blackmail them for their complicity in his illegal actions if they are not welcoming to him when he is ultimately turned out by his Master. What Jesus is holding up for us to see is the Steward’s commitment, his arduous determination to store up for himself a safe haven for after his service is terminated and he is kicked out on the street.

    In the next verse, Jesus says, “And I tell you, make for yourselves FRIENDS by means of your material possessions… so that when your money is gone, they will receive you into a dwelling that lasts forever.”

    The first word that we need to focus on from this verse is “And”. “And” isn’t just a word to suggest something will follow when we think of it. You know we do it all the time. We might be telling a story and we pause and say … “And…” while we’re trying to figure out what to say next. That is not what is happening here. “And” is a connector linking the commitment Jesus is describing in the previous verse: how the Steward deals shrewdly with his resources and the act of making Friends who will support him when the time comes. These two verses are linked with one another. Jesus tells us that we need to be as committed as the shrewd Steward in using the resources at our disposal AND to make the kinds of friends that will secure for us a dwelling place in God’s eternal kingdom.

    What are the resources that Jesus is telling his disciples to use. Use wealth if you have it at your disposal, yes. But also, there are other gifts that God has given us that are also at our disposal. They are but are not limited to healing, hospitality, compassion and justice.

    Now, the second important thing to be aware of is that Jesus is not talking about the types of friends the Steward is storing up.

    The Steward is making friends with likeminded reprobates who are as dishonest as he is that will provide for him a sanctuary and comfort of sorts when he is turned out on the street in this earthly realm.

    Who are the friends Jesus is talking about? The friends that Jesus is talking about are not the rich and powerful people that the Steward goes to. No. Jesus would not have us go there. That is not where Jesus would have us commit our resources. Rather it is to those who would benefit most by our faith in the Christ, that is the poor and needy. The greedy businessman hordes up his riches on this world only for it to come to naught because he dies before he has a chance to enjoy them. That is another of Jesus’ parables that you all have heard. You all know that parable. No, those kinds of friends are of no use to us as Christians because they can do nothing for us if our goal is eternal life in God’s kingdom. No, Jesus is looking at the poor and needy, those people who, if we use our resources wisely and aid them in this world, will help prepare a place for us and welcome us to that eternal dwelling place in God’s kingdom.

    Jesus uses the example of how the shrewd Steward acts to show us how much he wants us to be committed to his kingdom, that safe haven of eternal life and how to use our resources to attain it.

    Jesus tells us something about how we should use our gifts in this world. If we are faithful in little, then it follows that we will be faithful with larger gifts. If we squander the little gifts we have here in this world, how can we be trusted with the greater gifts of the kingdom. The greater gifts are referring to stewardship and responsibility in God’s kingdom. In other words, Jesus is telling us how we manage our wealth, and the gifts God has given us in this world is a proving ground for what will be given us in the kingdom.

    Jesus closes by telling us, “We cannot serve two masters.” We cannot be dedicated to hoarding up riches in this world for our own wellbeing and ignore the need of those around us. Now, I am not going to suggest to you that being rich, well-off, or comfortable in this life is a negative that saddens the heart of God. I’m not going there, because if nothing else, that would be hanging myself out to dry. I am telling you, that how you use those riches, your wealth, your healing love, the hospitality that you can offer, your compassion and your sense of fairness and justice; how you steward those resources (that are solely gifts from God) will either put a smile or a frown on God’s face.

    So, we have to first determine which master we will dedicate our lives to. Will we store up riches in this world for our sole pleasure and enjoyment? Or will we allow God to guide our actions? Will we be good stewards of God’s kingdom riches being faithful with the little things Jesus speaks of and sharing them along with the Good News or will we be unscrupulous and lookout for what will only benefit us in this realm?

    My friends, this is a difficult place to end a message. But that is the question Jesus presents us with. We have been given “little things” by God. Some of that may be material wealth. We may have some wealth. But we have also been given compassion, a sense of justice, we have the ability to be hospitable, we have the opportunity to bring healing to Franklin, to New Jersey and to the world. How we use all of those little things will determine what we will be entrusted with in God’s Kingdom. So, use all those gifts shrewdly.

    CHARGE: My friends, my charge to you this week is a simple one, be shrewd. Use the gifts and resources that God has blessed you with wisely. Use them to bless those in need around you as if you were action on behalf of the God that loves and blesses you and them. BY your actions make friends who will receive and bless you into God’s eternal Kingdom.

  • How Should We Do This Welcoming Thing?

    Genesis 18: 1-8 / Luke 10: 38-42

    Mel Prestamo, Ruling Elder, PCUSA

    Offered to the First Church of Hanover, NJ on July 17, 2022

    The two passages from the Old and New Testaments this morning make a curious juxtaposition of ways of being “Welcoming”.

    We see Abraham in this story from Genesis observes three travelers approaching his tent. And once he goes out to greet them, they immediately become honored guests. Initially, Abraham suggests first that he is their servant.  And that they might be weary and that they should stop for a brief respite, that water should be drawn to wash their feet while they rest under a tree and that a bit of bread be brought to refresh them. Nothing outlandish, just the bare necessities. They agree.

    Abraham, however, goes in a completely different direction. He goes into his tent and tells Sarah to use the finest flour to bake loaves of bread. Then he runs to his herd and selects a tender and good calf and gives it to a servant telling him to prepare it. Nothing outlandish, only the bare necessities? It sounds a lot like my Italian grandmother’s house when a visitor came a knocking on a Sunday morning. “Sit. Manga. You looka so skinny.”

    All is prepared and served to these travelers, Abraham’s guests. Then he stands attentively nearby watching so that he would be able to not only respond to but anticipate their needs.

    This passage from Genesis is often selected as a Bible verse to study when congregations want to look inward on themselves and to plan how they can be truly welcoming. We have used it and it has become the template of: How to be a welcoming congregation. Get out front, smile, greet, say hello, invite the stranger in, lay out the most impressive spread possible. These are all things we have learned from Abraham. From the beginning, we have been taught by the Father of our Judeo-Christian heritage how to be welcoming. And this is all good.

    Now in the second passage this morning from Luke, we see Martha emulating Abraham in every way possible. She is doing what was expected of a host in the Jewish culture. She is doing everything that is expected of a household when a guest arrives. She is consumed preparing and serving the type of feast an honored quest like Jesus should be accorded. She is hustling. She is bustling, scurrying here and there trying to get everything in order, to get everything just right. Have his feet been washed? Does he need a drink? He must be thirsty. Most assuredly, he must be fed. What can we serve our honored guest? Start work, get it done.

    While all of this is going on around her, Mary is just lying there at his feet and not helping. Martha, while running around exhausting herself becomes annoyed that her sister is not helping. After all, it is just as much her sister’s burden to welcome the guest as it is hers. Why is she not helping? So, Martha goes to Jesus to complain. “Excuse me ‘J’, could you tell my good for nothing, lazy sister to get up off her duff and help. I’m knocking myself out here.”

    What happens next? It is Martha that is chastised. “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. Only one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the better part, and it is not going to be taken away from her.”

    OOO! Burn, Martha.

    Unfair? Perhaps. Martha is doing her best to do what is expected of her. This is how any Jewish household would be expected to welcome a visitor or a guest. To put out a lavish spread so as to display the importance of this guest. Father Abraham taught us that. And for Martha, Jesus was as important a guest she could receive. So why is it Martha that gets the talking down?

    There are a couple of things going on here; so, let’s look at each of them.

    First what we see in the passage is a clash of temperaments. We have the dynamo and the quiet, laid-back person. We know in our experiences of committee work as Presbyterians that some of us are dynamos and some of us are not. We charge into projects and rush on ahead of everyone else finishing half of the work before anyone else has a chance to get into the project at all. And, then we complain that no one is helping. We’re doing all the work ourselves. While others are quiet, reserved and patient workers. They will volunteer to help. It won’t be as showy as the dynamos; because perhaps they are listening first before making decisions on what should be done.

    Martha is caught up in going through the ritual, the work of doing what was expected. The first thing she didn’t do was to stop to consider the guest and his needs. What was it this guest needed?

    Now this is part of what is happening between Martha and Mary. Martha is assuming everything about the occasion of Jesus’ visit. This is a big deal. It calls for a lavish feast. She charges ahead to make him comfortable and to serve his every need before he even utters it, even before she knows that he really needs any of it at all. Martha is over-doing and over the top. Now, let’s not be too critical of Martha. We’ve all have done it, charged into a committee meeting convinced that we had all the answers and a complete plan of how to proceed. All anyone else has to do is listen and follow directions.

    Mary, on the other hand, reads the room. She is quiet and observant. She has a sense of where Jesus is going, to Jerusalem, that it will be the death of him. She sensed his inner turmoil and that what Jesus needed that day was quiet, a place of comfort, yes, but a refuge as well. So, she quietly sat at his feet wanting to give him just that.

    Now, Jesus, is not demeaning or ridiculing Martha’s work. He loves Martha equally to Mary. And, he is not saying that there would never be a point when it would be appropriate for Mary to help. Just, not now. Jesus needed both Mary and Martha that day. Both the work of the dynamo and the reserved quiet one are always both necessary for the success of the kingdom.

    Mary’s approach also says something to us about how to approach our good works. It is that we need to listen to what the people we are trying to help truly need. We need to read the room. Mary at a glance could see that Jesus was tired and struggling with that inner turmoil. Mary could see that he was most in need of quiet rest to ease his mind. That is what she was able to give Jesus because she observed and reacted to the need before her. She didn’t assume like Martha did. She didn’t go off halfcocked.

    That is the balance of our good work, isn’t it?

    Let me tell you this story. At LVPC, we participate in a Food Pantry program that is called the Long Valley Community Assistance Program. It is co-sponsored by 7 different churches and is now its own 503[3] [c] charity. Now here’s the interesting tidbit. All of us well-healed Presbyterians, Roman Catholics, Lutherans and Methodists had assumed what types of food stuffs the people would need. And one of the items we would purchase a lot of was pasta. Every time Shoprite ran a sale on Ronzoni or Barilla pasta, the storeroom would be filled to the roof. But this is what we discovered after numerous of the clients turned down the offer of pastas. The clients didn’t use pasta as a staple food item. They used Rice and Beans. So, after a couple of years of head scratching, all of us dynamos finally figured out the problem and switched the suggestion for donations from pastas to other items and then the issue was resolved.

    Now this doesn’t mean that the pasta years were wasted or didn’t get the job done. What it means is that quite listening made the program better. Read the room. That I think should be the first rule of Christian mission and ministry. Once you’ve listened and understand what the need is, then build and execute a dynamic plan.

    So, let’s not be too hard on the Marthas in our congregation. We need them. But we can remind them to cool their jets at the beginning and make sure we are reading the room and understand the need. So too, we need the Marys, the insightful good listeners. But let’s not allow them to sit in the background and allow a hardy few do all the work, either.

    There is another thing that Martha is missing out on. She has busied herself so fully that she is missing out on a gentle time with Jesus. In these short verses we see Martha [or even ourselves doing any church work] worried to distraction. The Greek word used here to describe Martha’s work is Di-a-ko-ni-a. It can mean serving; but it can also mean ministry. You know if Martha was a Presbyterian, her time would be fully booked with committee meetings, leading Bible studies and hosting church events.

    For Martha, worry was ingrained. Her work is valuable, she knows that, but completing one task doesn’t calm her. She checks items off her To-Do- list but it doesn’t give her peace. Her anxiety just rolls over to the next task. Her time with Jesus is spent complaining about Mary and not being comforted or replenished by Jesus. When Jesus tells Martha that only “one thing is necessary” and that Mary has chosen the right thing, he is not only denying Martha that he should tell Mary to help; he is inviting Martha to come to him and rest as well. Martha, lay down your worries and rest with me.

    Years ago, I was listening to a radio preacher talking about those evenings when we are tossing and turning worried about this or that issue. You know the times when we are tired and want to sleep but our minds just start racing with all the things we have to deal with. We tell ourselves that we will deal with it tomorrow but as the night drags on, we lie there in fear that tomorrow will come and we will never get any sleep at all.

    This radio preacher said at those times she says this simple prayer, “Father God, here are my worries and concerns. I am laying them at your feet to deal with. I’m going to sleep. What the heck, you are up all night anyway. I expect all will be resolved when I awake in the morning.”

    Now this may seem a comical way of characterizing and dealing with our cares and concerns. But there is a real element of truth about how we need to deal with our jobs and the worries that seem to keep us awake all night. There is a time to dive into and deal with thorny issues and there is a time to lay them at Jesus’ feet and just lie there to rest and be restored. And we have to recognize when to stop working and just rest. The next evening that you are tossing and turning in bed, try it out. But really do it whole-heartedly. Take your Bible and read your favorite verse, a Psalm, or a Gospel parable. Let God’s Spirit calm you. Then dump everything at God’s feet, roll over and go to sleep.

    At the beginning of the service today, I greeted you and congratulated you on being here. I told you that this is the day the Lord God made for your rest and restoration. And I am serious about that. When you come here on a Sunday morning, you need to leave all your anxieties at the door and just lie here at Jesus’ feet and rest and be restored. Your To-Do lists will be there tomorrow morning. But today is a time for you to be with God, to hear God’s word, to be restored and refreshed by it so that you can go out and deal with the To-Do list tomorrow.

    So how do we do this welcoming thing? Read the room. Make sure you are serving the right need. Prepare your plans and execute them to the benefit of those you are serving. But don’t forget to lay at the feet of Jesus and rest.

    CHARGE: My Friends, my charge to you this week is to be “welcoming”, yes. But you must also read the room. Learn about the people whom you serve and fill their needs and not yours.

  • Go and Do Likewise

    Mel Prestamo, Ruling Elder PCUSA

    Offered to the Community Presbyterian Church of Chester, NJ on July 10, 2022

    The last time I visited with you was back in February of this year and the lectionary that Sunday was from Luke 6 about the Golden Rule – “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you.” “As you would like people to act towards you, so should you act towards them.”

    I find it most curious that today’s lectionary is almost a direct follow up to that message from Jesus. Today, we hear Jesus referring to passages from two books from the Torah. First from Deuteronomy 6: “Love the Lord your God.” And then from Leviticus 19: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

    Now in the previous passage, Jesus is speaking with the 70 disciples that he had sent out two by two to the villages to tell the people the good news of God’s saving love. And the disciples are recounting to him all the amazing things that they were able to do when empowered by him and the Holy Spirit. They cast out demons and cured the sick and ill. And they are floating on a euphoric high. And Jesus says to them in their conversation, “… do not rejoice that you have done these things … but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

    Now, listening to all this, is a lawyer, a scribe and he is listening to Jesus telling these disciples that they have a place in heaven, that they will attain eternal life. In earnest, he asks Jesus, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life.” Now, I stress here the words “in earnest”. This was not one of those traps that the Pharisees often tried to set upon Jesus. This lawyer was a follower and hearing a promise of eternal life being extended to specific disciples and he is asking, “Hey what about me? I don’t want to be left out. I want that, too.”

    Yes, this lawyer asks Jesus the question that would be on all our minds. “Hey, how do I get my name written in heaven? How do I attain eternal life?”

    Now what happens next is quite curious because Jesus first response is to tell him, you already have the answer. Jesus asks him, “What is written in the Law?” Now two things, first we are told this man is a lawyer, someone well versed in the Law, so he should know the answer. But also, devout Jews carried on their wrist a small pouch and in it were excerpts of passages from the Law specifically Deuteronomy 6:4 and Leviticus 19:18 and these passages are: “Love the Lord your God.” and “Love your neighbor as yourself.” So, Jesus says to the man, read to me what you carry on your wrist, you know the law, what does it tell you? And we know, it reads, love God, love your neighbor. And that is the short answer to the man’s question. The man responds by quoting both of the passages correctly and Jesus tells him that he has it right.

    But that is not enough of an answer for the man. Remember, he is a lawyer. And at the time of Jesus, the whole notion of loving your neighbor was the subject of a sort of legal debate. The Rabbis of the era had a passion for defining things. You know that the chosen people had been given the 10 Commandments, but the Rabbis and Teachers of the Law had created over 600 Mitzvahs to further delineate how to implement those commandments. And a part of those Mitzvahs, they defined who a neighbor was. And their definition was quite narrow, even harsh. They had decided, a neighbor was limited and defined only as fellow Jews. So narrow was their definition that they went further to say that it would be illegal to assist a Gentile woman in childbirth because it would bring one more Gentile into the world. Yeah, harsh might not be quite a harsh enough word to describe the Rabbis thinking about who a neighbor was. I think, this is yet another example of how the Jewish leaders of the time just didn’t understand their God and what God expect of them. So, this lawyer’s question is legitimate. Perhaps, he didn’t like the answers he was getting from the other Rabbis, and he sought out another teacher for the answers he was looking for.

    Who is my Neighbor? Now I was going to pause in my message today to ask you all that question, but then I thought that would be putting you on the spot. So, instead, I sent a couple of texts and emails to friends and Presbytery associates and here are a couple of the answers I got:

    A neighbor becomes part of your family

    The person next to you

    Someone willing to help when not asked

    Someone who is considerate of you

    Everyone, no exclusions

    Anyone you interact with

    Your neighbor is all of humanity

    Now, I am not going to judge any of these as right or wrong. They all can be right in some way. But let’s see how Jesus answers the question.

    Jesus tells the lawyer and anyone close by a parable. It is the parable we know as the Good Samaritan. Now you know the basics of the story. A traveler is on the road from Jericho to Jerusalem; he is attacked by bandits on the road and is beaten and left for dead on the side of the road; two passersby observe his plight but offer no help; a third traveler on the road stops to help. Jesus then asks the lawyer who was it that showed mercy on the fallen traveler? But before we get to his answer and Jesus’ final instruction, let’s look more deeply into the story.

    The road from Jericho to Jerusalem was extremely dangerous. It was a road of narrow, rocky passages and of sudden blind turns which made it an opportunistic area where travelers fell victim to bandits. Any travelers of the time would have known that. In the fifth century the historian Jerome refers to this road as the “Bloody Way.” As late as the nineteenth century, you would still have to pay local sheiks for safe passage.

    Now let me tell you this. Years ago, my wife and I and our two girls had an opportunity to vacation on St Martin Island in the Caribbean. A friend of mine who traveled there often told me, “Never travel on the road between the French and Dutch sides at night.” Why, I asked? He told me because bandits would stop a car and take whatever valuables you had and leave you stranded on the road. Now that was enough to convince me never to travel that road at night and we didn’t. But this traveler in Jesus’ story was perhaps bolder than we were or maybe just plain stupid. But there he was on this dangerous road, traveling alone where he fell victim to the plight any reasonable traveler would be aware of.

     OK. So now the worst happens. He is attacked, beaten, and left to die on the road. And now we have a sequence of fellow travelers coming along. First is a Temple Priest. What does this priest do? He sees the man lying ahead of him on the road, he suspects that he is possibly dead and crosses to the opposite side of the road and continues on his way. We are quick to condemn this priest for not helping. By virtue of his title in the story, we expect more from him. But let’s examine why he did this. In Numbers 19, the Jews were told that anyone that touches a dead man would be considered unclean for seven days. Now if this priest was on his way to the Temple in line for his turn for duty in the Temple, if the man was dead and he touched him, he would lose his turn to serve at the Temple. Now, he couldn’t know from a distance if the man was dead, but he wasn’t going to take that chance. The priest makes a choice to put the claims of ceremony above those of charity. In short, liturgical rules held more meaning for him than human suffering. So, he crossed to the opposite side of the road.

    Now we have Levite come along on the road. It appears in the story, the Levite came closer to the man, checked him out but then kept going. Now Levites were also of the Priestly caste but perhaps on this day he did not have a turn at Temple duty. But he is wary and doesn’t risk being suckered into a trap. After all, this could just be a setup, the man a ruse to draw a sympathetic traveler in so that other bandits could attack. Not to chance, the Levite crosses to the other side and keeps on his way. This man choses safety first over helping the fallen man.

    Next, we have the Samaritan. Jewish listeners would have heard the word “Samaritan” and assumed that now, AHA, the villain in the story had finally arrived. So hated were the Samaritans. Because Samaritans didn’t keep orthodox Jewish ceremonial law, they were considered heretics and despised by the Jews.

    So, upon his arrival, what does this third traveler do? First, we are told, he is moved to have pity on the fallen man. He bends to him, binds his wounds using wine and oils, then puts the man up on his horse and takes him to an Inn on the road. At that Inn, he pays in advance for the innkeeper to care for the man with the promise that he will pay any excess expenses incurred.

    What can we learn about this Samaritan from the information in the parable? First, his credit was good. The Innkeeper must have known him as a usual traveler and visitor at the inn because he fully trusted him and was willing to do as instructed trusting that he would be compensated for his trouble. So, while as a Samaritan, he would have been theologically thought of by any of those listening as untrustworthy, he was in fact an honest man and worthy of the innkeeper’s trust.

    Second, while he may have been considered a heretic, he had the love of God in his heart. So here we have a comparison between the Priest, the Levite, and the Samaritan. Here we see people who hold up the importance in orthodox dogma more highly than those in need of their love. There is a lesson here. It is that in the end, we will be judged not by our creeds we espouse but by the life we live.

    Now, we are ready to examine the heart of Jesus’ teaching for this Scribe. First, the question is in earnest, so Jesus is not being curt or impatient with these questions. Jesus tells him to look at the Law and the Scripture texts that he carries on his arm. What do they say? “Love the Lord your God” and “Love your neighbor as yourself”. That is Jesus’ answer to the first question, “How to attain eternal life?”

    The parable is the answer to the man’s second question, “Who is my neighbor?” And what does Jesus tell us in his story?

    First, the narrow, legalistic, and codified definitions of a neighbor that the Rabbis had created were not the answer. Jesus is describing a much wider definition. For Jesus, a neighbor is ANYONE in need and we have to be prepared to help even as in the case of this careless traveler, they bring trouble upon themselves. Our help must be as wide as God’s love. Secondly, our help must be practical and not simply be that we feel sorry for someone’s plight. No doubt the Priest and the Levite felt a pang of pity, but when that is the extent of their response, in effect, they had done nothing. For our compassion for our neighbor to be real, it must be displayed in our deeds.

    So now, Jesus asks the Lawyer, “Which one of the three was a neighbor to the man who fell victim to the bandits?” The Scribe answered, “The one who showed mercy on him.” Jesus closes by telling him, “Go and do likewise.”

    Jesus’ response to the question is that he invites us to stop defining who is a neighbor and to start being neighborly. Jesus’ story invites us to offer healing in places where lives are broken and abandoned.

    So now the question for us today is, how do we do likewise? I am not going to suggest that we go out on the roadside searching for people who have been robbed and beaten trying to be roadside Samaritans. But there are ways that Jesus quite clearly and quite plainly lays out for us. Hear these words from Matthew 25.

    Matthew 25: “Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And the king will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’

    Now, we as Presbyterians can have discussions in committee meetings on how to go about feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, welcoming strangers, clothing the naked and helping the sick or visiting those in prisons. We can have those debates, but we must be mindful that we are called to put into action the love and mercy of God. We are not only to have pity perhaps offering prayer from afar. But as the Samaritan in the parable, we are called to put our faith into action and to bend down and help.

    So now, go and do likewise.

  • Being Tested, Matthew 4: 1-11

    Mel Prestamo, Ruling Elder PCUSA

    prepared for the Mine Hill Presbyterian Church, February 22, 2026

    OK. Jesus fasted. That is where we are in the lectionary in the Gospel of Matthew. And that fits since this is the first Sunday in our Lenten season. But before we get into Jesus fasting and what the purpose of fasting was, let’s get a picture of what is going on overall.

    Previous to Jesus going out into the desert to fast, Matthew tells us he went to John to be baptized. This was the first step in the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. But why did he begin it with his own baptism. Clearly, by what we believe of him, who we believe him to be, his being the holy, pure, the sinless Son, he didn’t need  to be cleansed in Baptism.

    But yet, Jesus submitted to a cleansing publicly. Why?

    The people who were going to John to be baptized were going because they were in search of God. John was telling them to make straight the path of the Lord.

    Making straight the path for a King was something the ancient people typically would do when they were altered that a King was coming to their village. They would go out on the roads and remove obstacles, smooth out and make the road straight and safe for the King to ride upon.

    This is what John was telling the people to do. The King, the Messiah, was coming and John was telling the people to get their lives in order; remove the obstacles that lay between them and the coming King, the Lord, the Messiah. And the people who came to John wanted to purify themselves in the waters of the Jordan so that they could be ready for the coming of the Messiah.

    Jesus came to be baptized by John so that he could join with and be one with the people – sharing in their desire to seek God. I guess what Jesus wanted them to see was that he had a heart that was humble and that his sole desire was to be pure and holy so that he could join with them in their desire to be ready for the coming of the King – even though he himself was the Messiah.

    That is step one of Jesus’ public ministry.

    Step two is where we are today. Step two is Jesus going to a place where he could be alone with God, to listen for and hear the voice of God and to understand just how he is expected to answer God’s call. What exactly is it that He, the Messiah, is supposed to do. And how is it that God wants him to do it.

    The ancient Jews believed that fasting was a means by which they could get a sharpened spiritual vision from God. They believed that through fasting they were surrendering themselves to God. They believed that removing food from their daily concerns purified the body and made the heart sensitive and their spirit attentive. They believed that when the body’s cravings were silenced then the soul could better hear the voice of God. Fasting was an opportunity to align oneself with the will of God. It was more than seeking preparedness. It was seeking a transformation from what they were to what God was calling them to be.

    We know the famous story of Elijah fleeing the wrath of Jezebel. He ran and hid in a cave on Mount Horeb. And while he hid there, the earth quaked and the skies thundered. Now you might think that quaking ground and thundering storms would seem like God was raging. But Elijah heard nothing from God in them. But while he fasted there came to him the still quiet voice of God and it spoke to him. It gave him courage and direction so that he could go out and complete his ministry as God’s prophet.

    In today’s readings, Matthew tells us this where we find Jesus. Jesus is standing on the precipice of a momentous decision. He was called to be the Messiah. But how does he do that? How does he prepare for that? Is he being called to be a great and mighty military warrior? Is he being called to raise a great army and lead the Chosen People to freedom from Roman occupation? Or is he being called to free the people from the bondage of their sin and guide God’s lost and wandering sheep back into God’s fold.

    Jesus is seeking to know God’s vision of who the Messiah is to be. Jesus is seeking to know how to make God’s vision a reality. Jesus was seeking the voice of God.

    We are told Jesus fasts for 40 days as means of seeking God – to hear the voice of God. Jesus goes into the desert with a hunger for God that transcends physical hunger. He is seeking divine revelation that can only come when he quiets every other voices in his head. In Jeremiah 29:13, the prophet tells us that if we seek God, we will find God. That is what Jesus sets out to do.

    Now, Matthew and we are not privy to the conversation that went on between Jesus and God. We can only guess at that and I won’t.

    But we can rejoin Matthew in verse two when he tells us that Jesus completed his fasting and presumably his conversation with God and that he emerged hungry. I’ll bet – forty days without food! But what Matthew does explicitly say is that Jesus also emerged from his fast in the desert with a determination and a strength of will. He knows now what his role is to be in God’s plan. We hear that in the next verses when the devil comes to tempt him.

    Now, let us think about this devil that comes to tempt Jesus. Of course, we have an image of the devil as evil. Yeah, that’s right on target. But in these verses that follow we will see that he is also a liar and a deceiver. The devil doesn’t just tempt Jesus to take advantage of his physical weakness. He uses lies. He offers promises to Jesus that he, Jesus and we know that he never intends to fulfill. The devil is a purposeful deceiver seeking to compromise Jesus and us. The devil is not seeking to pour gracious gifts upon us. He only seeks to lead us astray and to fall into sin. That is the sin of denying who we are and who we belong to. That is what devil is there for; to tempt Jesus to deny that he belongs to God.

    Let’s examine how he goes about it.

    The devil begins, “If you are God’s Son, tell these stones to turn into bread.”

    Jesus responds, “One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Jesus is quoting from Deuteronomy 8. It is part of the long discourse Moses gives to the Israelites who are about to enter the Promised Land. Moses is instructing the people on how they must keep their covenant with God. And he admonishes them to remember their forty years wandering in the desert and of when they cried out for bread to eat. But God gave them manna. God does not give them bread. Instead, God gives them manna. God does this in order to demonstrate that they and we do not live by bread but on every utterance from the mouth of God.

    Jesus is hungry for something to eat. Yes. But he has transcended his physical hunger. He has focused his hunger on the word of God.

    Continuing Matthew’s narrative, “Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the Temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,

    ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’
        and ‘On their hands they will bear you up,
    so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’”

    Here the devil displays his craftiness. Now it is the devil that is quoting scripture – Psalm 91: 11-12 to be precise. Here the devil is using the words of the Psalmist and twisting them into a temptation.

    Jesus responds again by going to Deuteronomy 6:16 and Moses’ discourse to the People. “Do not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah. You must diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God and his decrees and his statutes that he has commanded you. Do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, so that it may go well with you.”

    Again, Jesus is laser focused and aligned with God’s vision. He will not be tempted to distrust God as the Israelites in the desert did. His faith and vision are aligned with God’s. Jesus knows the heart of God. So there is no need to put God to the test.

    Matthew continues and one more time the devil tempts Jesus.

    “Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.”

    Jesus responds again with Scripture – Deuteronomy 6:13.

    “Away with you, Satan! for it is written, Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’”

    Jesus displays for us how powerful quiet time with God can be. One could only imagine where we might be today if Eve and Adam had fasted from eating to spend some quiet time with God.

    Resisting these temptation is how Jesus shows us and the devil just how strong the bond between he and God is. Jesus has gone into the desert. The desert is where the Israelites wandered and struggled to hear the voice of God. They could never get the devil out of their heads. They could never clearly hear the voice of God. They were easy pickings for the devil. But not so Jesus.

    Jesus has transcended the kinds of hunger that the devil could use to tempt him. Through his fasting Jesus had made his heart sensitive and his spirit attentive. He had reached a place where the only voice he heard was that wee small voice of God. And he and God were on the same wavelength.

    What a wonderous place to be!

    We are now in the Lenten season. Typically for Christians, it is when we enter a time of fasting of one kind or another. Some deny themselves their special favorite treat or food. Some give up food entirely. Honestly, I don’t know how anyone could do that. But I have made a conscience decision to try to give up some part of myself, my day, my life – so that I can quietly sit and listen to hear that wee small voice of God when God comes to speak to me. I look for God to show me how to be more Christ like. And I pray for you that you will find that quiet place in your hearts, in your day so that you can sit, listen and hear that wee small voice of God when God comes to speak to you.

  • Salt & Light [Matthew 5:13-16]

    Offered to the United Presbyterian Church of Alpha NJ on February 8, 20236

    Mel Prestamo, Ruling Elder, PCISA

    Salt & Light [Matthew 5:13-16]

    These words of Jesus in Matthew’s Gospel today are not the most famous, most recognizable words that Jesus had spoken during his ministry; but these in Matthew’s Gospel today are perhaps the pithiest.

    We all have favorite stories in the Bible that jump out to us. For me, Luke 15 is the Gospel of Jesus Christ within the Gospel of all his teachings. Jesus’ parables of the Lost Sheep, the Lost coin and the Lost Son speak to me with the most resonance.

    We also all recognize Matthew 28:

    “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

    We all have seen John 3:16 signs held up at sporting events worldwide.

    “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”

    The Beatitudes in Matthew 5 which precedes today’s text are also highly recognizable:

    “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

    “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

    “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

    “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

    These are stories and quotes from Jesus that we recognize and remember most clearly and that have had great impacts on us as Christians.

    But these three verses in Matthew’s Gospel today have some of the most deeply rich meanings for us as Christians. If we stop to really understand them, we can clearly hear what Jesus is calling [us] his disciples to be. I would like to dive into them with you today. Let’s first look at Salt.

    In the ancient world Salt was a highly valued commodity. There was a phrase the Romans coined that expressed their appreciation of the value of Salt. It was, “There is nothing more useful than Sun and Salt.” The Romans considered Salt to be the purest of all things because it came from the two most basic elements of all things, the Sun and the Sea. Salt was valued because of its qualities to preserve and to add flavor to food.

    So, when Jesus is using Salt as an image for what his disciples should be like, the characteristics of its purity and to flavor should be two that should jump out at us. Taking this one step further, if Christians are to be Salt to the world, we are to be examples of purity and to bring flavor to the world.

    Bible scholar, William Barclay expands on this further. He looked at his world in the previous century and characterized it as a world of lowering standards. In his words, “Standards of honesty, standards of diligence in work, standards of conscientiousness, moral standards, all tend to be lowered.” It is amazing isn’t it; that no matter how dramatic the changes have been in the last 80 years since Barclay wrote his commentary – in our economies, politics, sciences and even in religion are today, his comments from the past century seem to still hit the mark.

    Barclay continues, “The Christian must be the person who holds aloft the standard of absolute purity in speech, in conduct, and even thought.”

    Being absolutely pure examples of Jesus is a tall order. Being asked that when you go from this place today to be absolutely pure examples of the love of Jesus is an absolutely difficult thing to do. I know that in a few short hours, I probably will do something that will somehow disappoint.

    But I can take solace in knowing that Jesus didn’t pick perfect people to follow him. The first time Jesus spoke to Peter telling him to throw his nets on the water so that he and his companions could pull in an enormous catch of fish, Peter came ashore and fell at Jesus’ feet begging Jesus to go away saying from him, “…for I am a sinner.”

    Jesus selected a Tax Collector to follow him. Tax Collectors were notoriously corrupt people. They skimmed off the top from the taxes they collected cheating the people as they gouged their profits.

    He selected Judas to follow him. Judas was a zealot. And by that, I mean he had a militaristic ideal of what he expected the Messiah to be. He wanted a Messiah that would expel the Romans and return Israel to its previous glory. He was willing to sacrifice everything that Jesus could give him so that he could persue his own goals.

    These people were not perfect in purity. They struggled as we do. So don’t be taken aback when Barclay suggests that a Christian must uphold the absolute standard of purity to the world. I would suggest that absolutely TRYING to be pure is what Jesus is calling us to be.

    But still, it is an awesome responsibility – to reflect the image of God into the world; to reflect God’s love and compassion in everything you do.

    As Christians, we cannot depart from the standards of honesty. We cannot accept the lowering of moral standards or the elimination of Truths we believe and know to be true. These are not commodities that we can barter or trade with. We must stand up for the purity of Christian life even though we may fail along the way. We cannot shrink and hide away inside our own little cocoons making believe that what is happening in the world around us does not concern us. In the first chapter of the Apostle James’ letter, he writes to us, “Religion that is pure and undefiled … is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world.”

    What does that mean? What is James trying to tell us?

    It is this. Religion, Christian Religion that is pure is one that cares for the least among us. In Matthew 25, we listen to Jesus’ discourse about the Son of Man who will sit at the throne in judgment. He will look out at those who had compassion for those who needed to be fed, clothed and cared for and say to them you are welcomed into the Father’s Kingdom because you fed and cared for me. And the people will ask when did we do this for you? And he answers in verse 40: “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you did it to me.”

    And of course, we know how the Son of Man turns to those who scorned and ignored the needs of the community around them. Then the King looks out upon them and casts them out of the Kingdom. They ask the same question, “…when did we ever see you in need…? We know the Son of Man’s response. “…whenever you did not do it for the least among you, you refused me, as well.”

    Jesus is telling us that we must be the purity, the Salt that lives within the world and preserves its purity. Our world today needs us to be Christ’s agents of his pure love and compassion more than ever before.

    Salt in the ancient world was also a preservative. Salt was used to keep things from corruption. If we Christians are to be Salt unto the world, we are to work to keep it from corruption. There is a Jewish Proverb. It says, …from an evil thing keep far away.

    Now you might think this verse in Scripture is telling you that when you see evil you should turn and walk away, not confront it, not get sullied by it, move as far from it as you can. But Rabbinical teaching was just the opposite. Rabbis taught that when you are confronted by evil, we are to push back on it. We are not to let is get a foot hold and grow. We are to stamp it out before it becomes a malignancy that festers and infects the body.

    One more thought about Salt. It is that Salt adds flavor to things. Food without Salt, let’s face it, is unappealing and unsatisfying. As Christinas, we are to be Salt adding flavor to life. We are not to be dower and sullen, tasteless. That is not what Christianity is about. We are to express the Father’s Joy and love for God’s Good Creation and bring that Joy and love into God’s Good Earth around us. We are not to live our lives acting like a mourner at a funeral. We are to bring flavor to life and be diffusers of the Father’s Joy and love.

    This is a point that our Christian witness makes again and again. We are not fulfilling our purpose if we are not being Salt to the Earth.

    Now to verses 14 – 16. “…You are a light for the whole world. A city built on the top of a hill cannot be hidden. And no one would light a lamp to put it under a bushel … Make your light shine so that others can see the good that you do and will praise your Father in heaven.”

    Jesus had also said to us, “…As long as I am in the world, I am the light to the world.”

    Barclay writes, “When Jesus says to his followers, we are to be lights to the world, he is demanding nothing less than that we be like himself.” This is another of Barclay’s bars set high.

    Once again, I take solace in the knowledge that Jesus didn’t select perfect people to follow him and that being like Jesus is a process, not something that we instantaneously become overnight.

    Nevertheless, let’s talk about being the light to the world.

    There was Rabbinical foundations to Jesus’ teaching about being the light to the world. Rabbis often spoke of Jerusalem as the light to the Gentiles. Understanding how these Rabbis’ used this metaphor will help us to understand what Jesus was saying.

    Of that light Barclay writes, “The Jews understood that no man lit his own light. Jerusalem was a light to the Gentiles, but it was God that lit Israel’s lamp. The light that Israel was to shine out to the world was borrowed light.”

    And that’s what a Christian’s light should be. It is not one that we can light on our own. It is a light borrowed from God. It is one that reflects the light of God shone through us. The radiance of joy that we should reflect comes from the presence of Christ within our hearts.

    We cannot be a light hidden under a bushel. The utmost important thing about reflecting Christ’s light is that it is meant to be seen. This goes back to being Salt to the world. Salt is meant to add flavor. The Light is meant to be seen. Our Christianity cannot live within the walls of our church only or within small circles of our own families and friends.

    When Jesus spoke to us about loving our neighbors, he asked, “If you love only those who love you, what reward can you expect for that? Even Tax Collectors love their friends.” So, if those are your limits – that you love only your family and friends, then your light is under a bushel.

    Our light needs to be seen in everything we do by everyone we come in contact with.

    When we have an exchange with the receptionist at a doctor’s office. We may be there because we are sick and feel horrible but still, we have a light to shine. When we are checking out at the grocery store and we’ve been shopping for an hour and we can’t find what we need because they have reorganized the isles, still we have a light to reflect to the frustrated people standing in line with us. When we get stuck at a stop light behind a driver who is texting and doesn’t see that the light has turned green, then they drive off leaving us stuck at another red light, the finger we give them should be a thumbs up and not…

    Our Christianity needs to be perfectly visible to everyone at all times, even though at times we may stumble and use the wrong finger. We are not perfect. I think that Jesus knows he is working with imperfect stock. While it is difficult for us to absolutely be Salty and to absolutely shine God’s light, I think Jesus is gracious in forgiving our shortcomings. What is important is that we ABSOLUTELY try to be Salty and ABSOLUTELY try to shine God’s light. What we cannot do is absolutely NOT try.

  • “Come Follow Me”                                      

    Prepared for the Rockport Presbyterian Church / January 25, 2026

    Mel Prestamo, Ruling Elder, PCUSA

    Before we get into this story in Matthew’s Gospel, I want to first just get a picture of what Jesus was doing.

    The first thing that Matthew tells us is that John the Baptizer was arrested and put into prison and that Jesus went to Galilee. Why?

    It was because the political and religious climate in Jerusalem and Judah was too hot and too dangerous for him this early in his ministry. So, Jesus went from Nazareth to Capernaum. I want to tell you that this was not an easy trip. It was not just around the corner. It was 20 miles away and about a four-day journey. 

    Why would Jesus do that? After all, Nazareth was his hometown. Why would he bypass it and go to Capernaum? One reason that I found in my digging was that Nazareth was a smaller community and very conservative. Early on, the people there were not receptive to Jesus’ teachings and claims. We know from Luke 4 that when Jesus began his ministry in Nazareth, he went into the meeting place there and read a scroll from the prophet Isaiah. He quoted from Isaiah 61: 1-2:

    The spirit of the Lord God is upon me
        because the Lord has anointed me;
    he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed,
        to bind up the brokenhearted,
    to proclaim liberty to the captives
        and release to the prisoners,
    to proclaim this is the year the Lord has chosen.

    Whoa. Jesus is proclaiming something extraordinary in the Jewish meeting place of his hometown – a place he had probably sat and prayed in hundreds of times before. Everyone there knew him. He takes the prophetic scroll of Isaiah and proclaims to the people, “The spirit of the Lord God is upon me.” Why? “Because the Lord has anointed me!” He goes on to announce, “The Lord has sent me [has selected me] to bring the good news…” And to “…proclaim this is the year the Lord has chosen.”

    In other words, from the prophetic scrolls of Isaiah, Jesus proclaims the Lord God has chosen me. “This is the year the Lord has chosen.” People, you have been waiting 400 hundred years. Well now the time has come.

    Well, that’s good news, isn’t it. The Jews had been waiting 400 hundred years for some word from God. God had been silent. Finally, Jesus is proclaiming, here is God’s herald, God’s messenger, God’s Messiah? That’s good news, isn’t it?

    However, when he did this, it angered and outraged those listeners in the meeting place. It enraged them to the point that they drove him out of town threatening to stone him. Well, that couldn’t have been the reaction Jesus was hoping for. No. We know that Jesus would say elsewhere that prophets are not welcomed or accepted in their homeland. Jesus had to begin his ministry somewhere else.

    Going to Capernaum afforded Jesus both distance from the haters and a far more receptive audience. You see Capernaum was at the farthest northwestern side of the Sea of Galilee. It was north of Samaria and even farther north of Judah and Jerusalem. It was a portion of the ancient kingdom of Israel that when the initial tribes of Israel entered into it, they never really were able to completely establish themselves as the dominant culture or religion. Instead, right from the beginning the Israelites were assimilated into the cultures of the people in those lands. They absorbed and picked up the local practices. And after a time, that caused the purist down in Judah to say they were no longer really true Jews.

    Also, Galilee was on the crossroads of several important caravan routes that brought with it trade, commerce and new ideas, customs and religions. And the Galileans were quick to be accepting of new and fresh ideas. Which meant that it was fertile ground for Jesus to arise and say to the people, “…Repent. The Kingdom of God is near.” In Galilee, Jesus was new. His message of repentance and salvation was received with interest and then with a growing following.

    A second reason for Jesus’ move to Capernaum may have also been to fulfill the words of the prophet Isaish foretelling that the Messiah would arise from out of the territory of Zebulum and Naphtali. Those were the two Israelite tribes that first entered Galilee. So, while Jesus was seeking a safe haven from which to begin his ministry, he was also dotting his “I-s” and crossing his “T-s” making sure that the ancient words of the prophets were being fulfilled.

    And maybe, there was a little bit of Jesus saying to his hometown, “I know you are not going to believe me. But I am going to give you a chance anyway.” It didn’t go well.

    So, just as Jesus told his disciples in Luke 10, “… whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say,‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.” In other words, you had your chance and you blew it!

    OK. That’s our background for today’s Gospel story.

    Now I want to focus on verse 17 particularly on the word translated here as “preaching”. The text reads: “Then Jesus started preaching, “Turn back to God! The Kingdom of God will soon be here.”

    Now, I am going to use William Barclay’s commentary as a resource here. In his commentary on the Greek word used here that we have translated as “preaching”. The Greek word is “kerussein”. Which means: a herald’s proclamation from a king. So, what Barclay is telling us Matthew was trying to say here was that Jesus was not just preaching like I am here today but that his manner was that of a herald proclaiming a message from the King in Heaven, God.

    How is Jesus being a herald of God and me being a visiting preacher differ?

    First, Barclay tells us that a herald spoke with an air to certainty. The herald’s message was not filled with ifs and maybes. It was delivered with the certainty of one who spoke for the king.

    And with that came a voice of authority. Jesus spoke with the certainty and authority that he knew the mind of God.

    And that tells another thing about a herald. He didn’t speak for himself. He spoke for the king. Jesus’ Words were the Words of the Father. These were not opinions or the rehash of commentaries.

    When I enter a pulpit, it is with the preparation of study and research from commentaries of learned sources. When the Spirit takes ahold of me, using me to speak to you, you may say later, Mel that was a great sermon message. But what Matthew is telling us here in verse 17 is “Mel, no matter how good the people tell you that you are, you are a pale comparison to the true light that was the Christ.”

    What Jesus was doing was far greater. When Jesus taught, it was with extraordinary authority – like nothing the people had experienced before. It was the Word of God standing before them and it was the awesomeness of God that shown through him. That is what Matthew is trying to say to us in verse 17.

    Now with that being what the people of Capernaum were seeing and experiencing, imagine Jesus walking up to you [Peter, Andrew, John and James] and saying, “Come with me! I will make you fishers of people instead of fish.”

    Wait a minute though. Don’t think that out of the blue, Jesus saw these men for the first time and singled them out. It was more likely that these men had already heard of and had seen and listened to Jesus’ teaching around town. And he was aware that they were following him – here and there listening to him teach.

    Perhaps they had already been down to the river Jordan and heard John announcing to them “…to repent and make straight the way of the Lord.” Perhaps they had already stepped into the River Jordan with John to be baptized and cleansed so that they could be ready. Perhaps they had already witnessed a miracle or two of Jesus. Perhaps things for the people of Galilee were beginning to fall into place regarding this new message that this new herald of God was proclaiming. And when this extraordinary teacher came to these fishermen in their boats and told them to come and follow him, they were more than ready and jumped at the chance. Perhaps.

    This brings us to the final thought that I wanted to share with you today. It is this. Consider how different the call of the first disciples must have been from other calls to people in the Bible.

    Samuel heard the voice of God call him from out of his sleep. He didn’t understand but at the direction of Eli, he responded to God out of faith. “Here I am.”

    When Isaiah found himself in a dream prostrate before the throne of God and after the Seraph cleansed his lips, God asked, “Who will go for us? Who shall we send?” Isaiah responded again in faith, “Here I am. Send me.”

    When the Angel Gabriel visited Mary and proposed to her God’s preposterous scheme for impregnation and the birth of a Son of the Most High, Mary responded, “I am the Lord’s Servant. Let it be as you have said.”

    In faith, these servants of God submitted themselves in order to be used by God.

    The calling of the first disciples was a bit different. They were seeing firsthand the awesomeness of God. They were seeing extraordinary signs before their eyes. They may not have understood what they were seeing but nonetheless they were seeing and being called to be a part of something extraordinarily different from anything that happened prior throughout Biblical history.

    In John 3:16, John tells us that “God so loved the world that God gave his only Son so that everyone who has faith in him will have eternal life and never die.”

    What that boils down to is this. “God gave God’s self at the Incarnation.” And we have to connect the dots here. What that means is that God’s very self, the Word of God, the Son of the Trinity in God, was standing in their midst. In their own physical time and space speaking to these fishermen calling them to follow him. Holy [expletive deleted]!

    What Matthew was describing here in his Gospel was a singular moment in human history and it is important for us not to gloss over it. We have to stop and absorb it and allow it to sink in. Because if we don’t, we would be in danger of allowing the entire Good News story of the Gospels to be swept away. We have to grab ahold of the awesomeness of what Matthew is telling us here.

    Now we may never be graced or lucky enough in our lifetimes to hear the Christ, the Son, the voice of God call us so clearly. For most all of us, the calls we hear may be as Samuel’s – a wee small voice whispering in the night, calling our name. Maybe, we will dream of God sitting high up on a throne calling for someone to send. Or maybe we might be graced by an Angel’s visit. Even those were a bit out of the ordinary. But I think what the disciples experienced when Jesus looked them square in the eye and said, “Come, follow me.!” was singularly unworldly. I’ve run out of descriptive expletives.

    Most of us will experience less dramatic calls that will demand faith from us. We’ll hear wee small voices in our sleep. We’ll feel the nudging of the Spirit trying to push us in a direction that we may not be sure is right for us. And that’s alright. Because Jesus didn’t offer those first disciples a structured program for discipleship. Instead, he held out his hand to offer a relationship. I think how we answer the call we feel will be based more upon faith in that relationship than in dramatic certainty.

    But my friends, it is no less important that we recognize and answer that call.

    God whispers to us every day, “Come follow me.” Will you leap at the chance to follow him?