Understanding the Jesus of the Gospels

Based upon readings from Isaiah 6 and Luke 5

Offered to the First Presbyterian Church of Long Valley, NJ – February 6, 2022

Mel Prestamo, Ruling Elder PCUSA

“Here I am.”  Out of curiosity, I googled the phrase. It has been used as a popular song title by artists such as Bryan Adams and Air Supply. It’s even the title of a gangster rap song by Rick Ross. Dolly Parton uses the phrase for the title of a documentary on her life’s journey. As romantic love songs, it seems to be used as a lament to tell the world, Here I am, broken hearted. Rick Ross uses it to announce to the world, Hey!, Here I am!. I’ve arrived. Dolly Parton wants it to reflect on her life experiences and how they had brought her to where she is today as a performer, activist, feminist and Christian. Each one uses the phrase in one way or another to announce that they are here.

It’s a Hymn in our own faith tradition and we often use it during confirmation and ordination ceremonies as a pronouncement of our faith saying “Here I am, Lord. I’m ready to serve.”

These are very recognizable words from our Bible tradition. I did a little investigation and found that the phrase, “Here I am” appears over 800 times in the Old Testament. It is Joseph’s response when his father Jacob calls him to check on his other sons and his flock. Jacob calls Joseph. Joseph responds, “Here I am” and Jacob sends Joseph out to check on his brothers and as you may recall that begins for Joseph a most tumultuous life’s journey. Most notably, we recognize it as Isaiah’s response to God’s call when Isaiah experiences a vision that has him at the throne of the Most High.

The two readings selected for today’s lectionary focus very clearly upon the action of being called and the responses of Isaiah and Peter.

Being called, what does that mean? It would be an understatement to suggest that being called is different for each of us. A call to ministry such as the one that Pastor has answered is different from how one responds to leading our music ministry or to leading our Youth ministry. A Deacon’s call is different from a Ruling Elder’s call. Our Bible study leaders have responded to calls by bringing their strengths to this congregation. Our Building Care Elders tend to the physical plant of the church making sure that we have a well-maintained structure to worship within and bring our ministries to the community. And let’s not forget how we use the buildings. We house the Food Pantry which brings food to the needy in the Long Valley community. We allow community groups to use our facilities for their activities. All of these ministers have responded in different ways to answer calls to ministry.

It is as Paul suggests. We all have different strengths to exploit and employing them all is what builds up the body of the church. Many have heard God’s call; and many have stepped forward to find some way within this church community to be a part of the work of the Body.

Hearing or experiencing a “Call” can be different for each of us. Take Isaiah. He sees a vision. And in that vision, he sees the God Most High sitting on a throne. God is attended by Seraphs, and they are calling out praises to the God Most High. Their voices are so powerful that their sound shakes the foundations of the throne room. Isaiah feels and sees all this and falls prostrate and cries out, “Woe is me for I am a man of unclear lips.” In other words, I am not worthy. I am not clean; I am a lowly human from a people who are unclean. He must be thinking to himself, “What am I doing here?” Isaiah might be suggesting, if anyone is unworthy of being brought into the presence of the Lord, it is me! Does that describe you? Most times, I think it describes me.

Yet, yet, that does not seem to bother God. God does not look down on the lowly [we sinners] and grunt at our lack of worthiness. God sees within each of us a talent, an ability to contribute to God’s plan of bringing all of creation back into Shalom, back into God’s peace. One of the Seraphs comes down to Isaiah, who is lying face down on the ground, and puts a coal to his lips to purify him, to make him worthy. This is an act clearly initiated by the God Most High. For it is only God’s grace and mercy that can purify us of our sins.

What is the significance of this? It can be suggested this is no mere coal. It is a symbolic representation of the Messiah Yeshua [Yes-shu-a -that is Jesus]. It is symbolic in that it displays how something very low [a mere piece of coal] is raised to the heights of being able to forgive and wash away the stain of sin. That is a foreshadowing of the ultimate work of the Christ. So, here in Isaiah, we have both a Messianic prophecy [the forgiveness of sins] AND an example of how one should respond to that forgiveness and that cleansing. After receiving God’s mercy, when God calls and asks, “Whom shall I send?”, Isaiah responds, “Here I am. Send me.” He had gone from feeling woeful to being boldly and fully filled with grace.

Now what happens when God calls us? I am not going to suggest to you that there might be a dramatic earth-shaking event such as Isaiah had experienced before the throne as a sign that we are being called. That would be too easy for us, wouldn’t it? I mean it would make it too easy for us to refuse a call because it isn’t bombastic enough. Instead of committing when asked to serve, we can respond by saying, “Well, the earth didn’t move”. I mean, picture our Gifts & Talents Elder coming to you and asking if you could serve as a member of some work group within the ministry of the church. And you put out your hands to steady yourself, and look around, then when nothing happens you respond, “No, I think I should wait.” That would make it too easy to say, “No.”

No, it might be something simpler like Jesus suggesting to Peter, “Hey, that spot looks good. Go fish over there.” That is when we experience something, feel something, and a bell of recognition goes off in our head and we realize that in a very quiet way that small, faint voice of God has called.

In the Gospel passage from Luke this morning, many people refer to the amazing catch of fish by Peter as a miracle. I read in a commentary that there are three conditions for a miracle. The first is that the eye needs to see. What I mean by that is that we have to take the time to see what is happening around us. We need to see the need, the hurt, the places where God is pointing us to. Take for example, Jesus’ suggestion to Peter that he fish over in some spot that Jesus was pointing to. Now, we can think that Jesus miraculously created a shoal of fish in that spot and directed Peter to fish in it. But I think that would be missing the miracle. The miracle, I think, was in Peter’s response.

The truth is Lake Gennesaret was teeming with fish. It is acknowledged that from the shoreline, you could literally see shadowed areas so densely filled with fish that they would be jumping into your boat. All Jesus needed to be was observant. Jesus observed that the conditions were right for an abundant catch. An exhausted Peter couldn’t see that. He thought it was hopeless. The night was a total loss. Fishing in the morning would be hopeless. But Jesus had an eye for possibilities.

So now step two. There needs to be a spirit willing to make an effort. Peter was exhausted. This was early morning. He had been fishing all night and now they were cleaning their nets which signified the end of their workday. What was next was a meal and sleep. But Jesus, this teacher that was surrounded by hundreds of people on the shore was telling him to go out again and fish over there in that spot. If Peter wasn’t willing. If Peter gave into his exhaustion. If Peter said, “You know what Mr. Preacher Man, I work long hours and I don’t have time to go chasing your fantasies.” If Peter responded in that way, there would have been no miracle.

But no. Peter responds with a spirit that is willing to attempt what seems hopeless. That is step three. Many times, that is what church work, what servant work, is like. We could have looked at the need for food in our community years back and said, “You know what. There are too many people who need assistance. We can’t possibly provide for all of them. It bigger than us. It’s a job for one of those bigger catholic churches. They have more people. Their better equipped.” If LVPC had that attitude years ago, we would have never had built the coalition of congregations known as LVCAP that now provides food security for more than 100 families locally. There was a spirit willing to attempt the hopeless.

About a decade ago, LVPC decided to start a ministry to the Dominican Republic. We partnered with the Foundation for Peace. It started small. We were helping a struggling congregation to build a place of worship. That was their hopeless dream. We were pointed to a spot and told to build there. The work was slow and tedious. It was all back breaking, manual labor. They started by digging a foundation, and then the next year laying concrete block, then in the next years building walls and then a floor and a ceiling until after many, many years, they had built a church, a place of Worship in a spot where was nothing before. When that was finished, they began a second building. The first was already being used as a community center providing needed health support and services to the community and the new building was to become the new sanctuary. That was when I finally dragged my sorry butt down to participate. It was an unbelievable experience. The timing wasn’t perfect. I had to take time off from work as did many others in our group. But we were there when we finished building a church. We poured the floor and ceiling with concrete bucket by bucket. I can remember passing buckets to others in a bucket line. We did that for hours over several days. Ultimately, when the work was completed, we were able to participate in the first worship service in that new house of God. What seemed hopeless more than a decade before had become community and worship centers. Can I get an Amen?

The circumstances were not perfect for Peter. Peter wasn’t coming off of a good night’s sleep. It was the opposite. He was exhausted because he was working all night. He was dead tired, but Peter had a spirit that was alive. Was something stirred in him by the words Jesus was teaching from his boat? We don’t know. Luke doesn’t tell us what Jesus was teaching that day. But whatever it was; whatever was said, it stirred in Peter a spirit of willingness and a spirit to act. Peter responded to what might have been hopeless with a willingness to act.

Now this speaks to us today about when, how, and why we respond or do not respond to a call. Sometimes, we wait for the perfect set of circumstances. Sometimes we expect that call for us should be like it was for Isaiah. That the earth should shutter. That there should be visions of Angles swirling around overhead. That the circumstances would be that we are finally rested, that we are finally financially secured, that we are available because the kids have moved on and setting up households of their own. Sometimes we are thinking, I should wait for the circumstances to be perfect. But you know what, the circumstances will never be perfect. We will never be rested enough. We will never be financially secure enough. We will always find a reason that our kids will need our help. If we wait for the perfect time, if we wait for an Isaiah moment then nothing will happen. We would have missed the opportunity to see with our eyes the hopeless situation that Jesus is calling us to. We would be burying within us that spirit that burns to be fired up and set free. We need to make the effort to see and do the impossible. We must take Jesus at his word when he bids us to attempt the impossible. We need to be faithful to the possible in hopeless impossibilities. When we hear that wee small voice of God ask, “Whom shall I send?” We need to respond, “Here I am Lord, Send me!”

Charge: My friends, listen for the wee, small voice of God calling you. It may sound like another church member asking for help on a project. But remember that our God is awesome. One of the awesome things God can be is a ventriloquist. God can sound like so many different voices. So, if you listen and hear one of God’s voices, step out and say, Here I am!

Based upon Mark 3: 1-6

Second Sunday of Advent, December 7, 2025

Offered by Mel Prestamo, Ruling Elder PCUSA to the congregation of the Presbyterian Church at Bound Brook, NJ

So, I will begin today by asking you the same question that Jesus asked the religious leaders of the synagogue. “Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath, or to do evil?” Consider the question. Is it lawful to do good or is it lawful to do evil?

As Jesus entered the synagogue that Sabbath day standing around him were the religious leaders and the deputies of the Sanhedrin. They were watching his every move – listening to his every word hoping only to find an opportunity to accuse him of breaking the law – that’s their own Jewish law with a small “l”, not God’s Law with a capital “L”. They were looking for grounds so that they could arrest him.

Jesus was gaining a reputation as a troublesome teacher. The word was out that he should not be allowed to teach in the synagogues. Those doors were closing to him. That is why we have gospel stories of his teaching on the hill sides and from boats on the shorelines. And if he showed up, he was to be watched carefully for infractions of their law. It was actually a great show of courage for him to confront this danger and to go and teach inside a synagogue. But Jesus’ trust was in the Lord.

Proverbs 3: verses 5-6 teach us: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”

Being barred access to synagogues and teaching centers were now the circumstances Jesus was finding himself in. It was dangerous for him to enter them. The orthodox leaders of the religious community were aware of his controversial teachings and were at odds with him. He wasn’t keeping the law. Specifically, he was healing people on the Sabbath. That is why they were there. Would he break the law, yet again? If he did, then they could pounce. They were ready. The deputies of the Sanhedrin were the policing agents authorized to arrest and take him in for trial.

That is the backdrop for what is happening in the Synagogue that day.

This is the scene. There was a man standing in the congregation. According to writings called the Gospel of the Hebrews, he was a stone mason. We have limited fragments of these writings, and I referenced them here because I believe it helps us to understand what is happening. His hand and arm had been injured in an accident, and he was no longer able to work at his trade. I would suggest that he may have come to the synagogue that day hoping that this miracle working Rabbi might see him, have mercy on him and heal his injury. Make him whole again.

Jesus calls him to the center of the congregation. Jesus turns to the synagogue leaders and the deputies of the Sanhedrin and asks them the question, “Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath? Or evil?”

Now I have asked you this same question already and I can hear you thinking out loud in your heads. Dah! Of course. It’s obvious, isn’t it? Of course we should do good on the Sabbath. Why would you ask such a question?

Well, for the orthodox leaders of the synagogue and the deputies of the Sanhedrin, the answer to that question wasn’t so simple. You see they had a law – again that’s law with a small “l” – and they ardently followed that law. Their law was the foundation of their religious rituals. And that law told them that work on the Sabbath was forbidden. And healing, according to their law, was work. You see Jewish law was very detailed on this matter.

According to Jewish law, medical attention on the Sabbath could only be given if a life was in danger. And healing someone on the Sabbath whose life was not threatened was forbidden work.

Bible scholar William Barclay explains some of the details of the law regarding work on the Sabbath. For instance, you could help a woman in childbirth because her life might be in danger. But if a wall fell on someone, you could only clear enough of the wall to see if he was alive. If he was alive, you could help him but only to the point that he was stabilized. But if he was dead, the body had to be left for the next day to clear away. If the family wanted to remove the body, they could not. That is how detailed the law was in limiting what work you were allowed to do on the Sabbath and specifying what you were not allowed to do. This man who Jesus called to the center of the congregation was not in danger of losing his life. His arm was injured in an accident, but it was not life threatening. According to the law, a fracture could not be attended to. You could keep it from getting worse, but you could not make it better or heal it.

So, for these believers in the orthodoxy of their law, this was not a simple question to answer. Everything they believed – that their religious law told them was that healing was work and work on the Sabbath was unlawful. It was a crime. When Jesus healed that was work and on the Sabbath that work was a crime. By their definition, Jesus was evil.

But the question Jesus asked them was, “Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath? Or to do evil?” He didn’t ask if it was lawful to heal which was all they were there to determine.  Their myopic focus on their law prevented them from hearing and seeing the Word of God.

Jesus knew the Jewish law, but he also knew God’s Law and more importantly God’s Will and by that, I mean that Jesus understood the spirit of God’s Law. The spirit of God’s Law and God’s Will is that we be compassionate and to do the work of healing the brokenness of Creation. Jesus is telling them that God’s Will is that we do good on any and every day and that includes the Sabbath.

Now, be alert to also hear the flip side of Jesus’ question. What Jesus is suggesting in his question is that if is unlawful to do good, does it become lawful to do evil. Because in Jesus’ mind leaving this man broken as he is – without showing love and compassion – is the same thing as doing evil. That is the conundrum Jesus is presenting to them. That is the conclusion that their Jewish law would point them to.

Jesus’ question challenged the very foundation stones of Jewish law and its religious rituals. And to that challenge, the religious leaders had no answer.

Jesus called this man to the center of the congregation hoping that the religious leaders would see him and have sympathy for his plight. But they did not. As shepherds of God’s fold, they were failing in their charge. Their rituals and law had become more important to them than the welfare of the people.

So, they didn’t answer. They stood there silent. The gospel text tells us that Jesus became angry. The text tells us that “he was grieved at the obtrusiveness of their hearts.” Jesus became angry that when these shepherds of God’s fold were faced with the question of whether the law allowed them to do good or if it required them to do evil, the religious leaders stood fast and remained silent. They knew the people there would want the man to be healed. The man wanted to be healed. But their law didn’t allow it. So, they didn’t answer him.

Jesus tells the man to stretch out his hand for all to see. And there before them all, his hand was restored.

Now there is some fine print in this story probably more important than the miracle that Jesus performed. Come with me to dig deeper into its meaning. This incident was a head on clash of two very fundamental ideas of what religion is.

Bible scholar William Barclay breaks it down this way. For the Pharisees, synagogue leaders, and the Sanhedrin, religion was ritual. For them the practice of their religion meant obeying rules and regulations. But their rules provided them with only rituals to follow in their practice of religion. And by obtrusively following their rules, they were closing their hearts from seeing the needs of God’s children. Those were their rules, and Jesus broke their rules, and then because Jesus broke the rules they were convinced he was evil. He was evil and he needed to be eliminated.

That brings us to Jesus’ second question that were heard later in the text. “Is it lawful to save a life, or to kill it?”

The final verse in our reading today tells us that the Pharisees immediately met with the Herodians [agents of Herod] to concoct a plot against Jesus. Their intention was to eliminate him – to kill him.

Jesus’ second question struck at the very heart of their intentions. These religious leaders cared nothing about the Law – that’s God’s Law with a capital “L”. God’s Law stated quite clearly that “…thou shall not commit murder.” Yet that is exactly what they were plotting to do. They were going to break a core commandment of God’s Law in order that they could protect the integrity of their law – again that is law with a lower case “l”. Their rituals were more important to them than opening their hearts to the Word of God standing before them.

Jesus, on the other hand has a different notion of what religious practices should be. Jesus’ idea of religion was service. For Jesus religion meant love of God AND love of neighbor. Being a servant that brings God’s love and compassion to our neighbors and to others was the most important thing he could teach them. Barclay writes, “Rituals were irrelevant when compared to love in action.” But their hearts were obtuse. They were hardened and could not see what it was that God’s Law required of them. They could not see how love would enter into the fray. To quote from Tina Turners’s lyrics, “What’s love got to do with it?”

But that’s exactly what Jesus was all about – service borne out of love. This is his message. This is his good news. And they – the religious leaders – didn’t get it. They couldn’t see it. They couldn’t understand it. Their rituals and their law didn’t allow for it. When confronted with the needs of the people, they did not act. They remained silent.

And that my friends is the lesson we have to grapple with today. When confronted with the needs of our neighbors and others around us, how do we act? Do we reflect God’s love and compassion?

There is hunger in our communities. There is homelessness. There are people living in fear. Like Jesus’ disciples, they are hiding behind closed doors living in fear of the authorities. How do we respond to the cry of human need from our neighbors and others?

We are here today to worship God. But if all this is only ritual and not a call to service, then what are we doing? We can go through the motions – sing hymns, say prayers, participate in Communion – and we can look like a good and priestly people but that’s not the same as being a servant people.

That is what Jesus was trying to explain to the religious leaders in the synagogue that day and it is also what Jesus wants to say to us. Don’t let the practice of religion become ritual. Don’t let your minds and hearts fall into that trap of doing things and thinking that is what God desires of you. Jesus wants us to approach God with a heart yearning to serve God by sharing God’s love and compassion with everyone who needs to be comforted.

Remember at the end times, the Son of Man will gather all the nations before him. “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me in. I needed clothes and you clothed me. I was sick and you looked after me. I was in prison, and you came to visit me.”

Then perhaps without thinking you might respond, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothed you?When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?”

Then our Lord will reply, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you did it for me.”

Jesus is telling us that sharing God’s love and compassion with our neighbors and with the others who are hungry, homeless, hurting and in need of healing is what Jesus calls his servant people to do.  

My friends, during this Advent Season as you prepare for the day of the coming of the Christ child don’t let rituals decorate your path. Let your prayers be heartfelt and intentional. Sing your hymns with praiseful fervor. When you share Communion celebrate it knowing Jesus gave us this meal to do it in remembrance of him. But not only remembering his sacrifice on the Cross but also to remember his love and compassion for us.

As Christmas Day [the coming of the Christ] approaches, prepare for it knowing that your redeemer came to walk and live among us. Know that he came to show us what a life of love, compassion and service looks like. The life of a servant people is what we are called to. Sharing God’s message of love and compassion and healing with your friends, your neighbors and the others you do not know is the service life we are called to. This is the Sabbath work that is good and that we are called to do.

Charge to Congregation:

My friends, my charge to you this week is this. As you journey through this Advent Season examine your rituals: the lighting of the Advent candles, the hymns you sing, the prayers you recite, and the your devotions each day and make sure you do them with a desire to be God’s servant people to the world infusing everything you do with God’s love and compassion for all God’s children.

Offered to the First Church of Hanover NJ

Mel Prestamo, Elder, PCUSA

As we prepare to look at this passage in John this morning, I think it is important to take a step back to understand what John is trying to accomplish in his Gospel. I am sure that you already know that John’s Gospel tells of the ministry of Jesus in a  very much different way from what are known as the Synoptic Gospels. One of my favorite ways of describing the differences between the four Gospels is to say that Matthew, Mark and Luke tells us what happened; John tells us why it happened.

The feeding of the five thousand is a perfect example of this. In Matthew, he devotes 9 verses to the event. [Matt 14: 13-21] He simply tells us that it happened. John devotes 14 verses in chapter 6, verses 1-13. But he follows it up with 38 additional verses [22-59]. John provides additional context and meaning. After seventy or so years of mulling and thinking about the ministry of Jesus, John has a much deeper insight that he needs to share. And if we are going to benefit and grow in our own knowledge of Jesus then we have to follow John down his rich and rewarding rabbit hole.

In the first three Gospels, the writers tell us the story of Jesus’ life and ministry and express in their stories the great degree of Jesus’ compassion for the people. Mark tells us the Jesus is moved with compassion for the leper. Mark also tells us that Jesus had sympathy for Jarious regarding the impending death of his daughter. When Jesus raises the son of the widow from death, Luke tells us that with tenderness, Jesus gave the widow her son. We are told that Jesus wept at learning of the death of his friend Lazarus. But in John, the telling of miracles has a different purpose. John calls them signs. And the purpose of these signs is not to display Jesus’ compassion but to point to and demonstrate the glory of the Christ and through the Christ the glory of God.

At Cana, John says to us, “This was the first of his signs…to manifest his glory. [John 2:11] Of the raising of Lazarus, he says it was for the glory of God. [John 11:4] For John, it was not that there was no love or compassion in Jesus’ miracle acts but that every one of them pointed to the glory of God. And that God’s glory was manifesting itself into our human time and space. These miracles were signs that reveal to us a glimpse of who God is. And knowing this is vitally important if we are to understand what John is trying to tell us in his Gospel.

Every one of the miracles that Jesus performs opens up a brief portal and gives us a glimpse of who God is. And this is the critically most important element of these signs. These glimpses of God are ONLY opened to us through the Christ.

So, with that as our backdrop, let’s take a look at the miracle of the Feeding of the Five Thousand.

Right at the top, I am going to suggest to you that there are three ways in which we can look at this miracle. The first would be very plainly that it was an outright miracle where a sparse and meager gift was turned into a bountiful meal. And certainly, the text stands on its own in substantiating that assertion.

The second is that it might be a sacramental meal meaning it was something like our Christian Communion meals. Tiny parcels of the bread and sips of the wine are shared so that everyone can be fed. That is just an OK explanation for me. But the third is a much more compelling explanation for me.

We are told in John’s telling that the “Passover Feast was near.” What does that tell us? Well, it means that thousands of the Jewish faithful were on the road on their way to Jerusalem for the celebration of the Passover. Remember it was a requirement of the law that anyone within a one day’s journey of Jerusalem must make the pilgrimage to the city. The Jewish historian Josephus recorded that a census taken by Roman governor Quirinius in 6 CE showed that at the time of Passover, the population of Jerusalem swelled to over two million people. This is to give you an idea of the numbers of people who were on the road to Jerusalem.

What is important to understand here is that these people didn’t have fast food restaurants or convenience stores along the road where they could stop off to buy food for their journey. No, if they were making this trek, they would have to plan to bring enough food for themselves when they needed to stop and eat. And that’s what we see here when Andrew finds the young boy who had five loaves of barley bread and two fishes. The fish would have been something like sardines, a staple of travelers at the time.

This meager meal is what the lad had brought along this journey for his own nourishment. It is reasonable to assume that many of the people in the crowd had done much the same thing. Perhaps, Andrew went through the crowd and was turned away by vast numbers of people who had something for themselves but were unwilling to share. It was only this young boy who was initially moved to come forward and share.

Andrew brings this boy and his offerings to Jesus. Jesus instructs his disciples to tell the crowd to sit on the grass. Jesus begins by giving thanks to God with a traditional Jewish prayer of thanks. It might have been something like, “Blessed are thou, O Lord, our God, who causes to come forth bread from the earth.” Now one of two things happened at this point. We can either imagine the loaves and fish replicating themselves over and over piling up at Jesus’ feet so that suddenly there was enough to feed the five thousand. OR, we can envision Jesus solemnly praying to God and that prayer was as much an offering of praise as it was a plea that the hearts of those in the crowd who had food to eat come forward to share.

Then we see a similar miracle. This one was not that Jesus miraculously created a bounty for all but that his prayer had silently moved the hearts of the thousands of people and that they came forward to share. Either way, Jesus has performed a miracle pointing to the glory of God where once again God is feeding God’s people.

What we see is a meager gift that a believer brings to the Christ and how in Jesus’ hands with meager beginnings a miracle can happen. Now in this miracle, John sees a sign that points to the glory of God. For us, we can see how Jesus can take our own meager gifts and offerings and make bountiful things happen. On the surface our own individual small gift may seem inadequate but, in his hands, – in God’s hands, miracles can happen.

It is to the glory of God that Jesus provides food to feed the people. Either way that you view how this miracle happened, it is John’s assertion that it pointed to the glory of God.

But this miracle has another element. In it we can see a glimpse of the God that feeds God’s people. We see our God who nourishes and sustains us through God’s Word, the Christ.

Where do we see that?

OK. To answer that question we need to get into the nitty gritty of verses 22-59.

In those following verses, we learn that Jesus now was in need of rest. So, he sneaks off to avoid the crowds. The people, however, chase after him and the find him again in Capernaum. They ask him, “When did you arrive and how?” Jesus’ response is to plainly say to them that they are searching for him not because of the signs that he had performed and that they and seen, but because he had fed them.

Jesus says to them, “Do not search for food that perishes but for food which lasts and gives eternal life, that is the food that the Son of Man will give to you; for the Father, God, has set his seal upon him.”

What is Jesus saying here? He reads the crowd plainly and he calls them out for their shortsightedness. He knows that many of them are nothing more than groupies following the latest pop star. And he says it directly. I will paraphrase here. “The only reason you are here is because I fed you. I have shown you signs from God, but you have not seen them. You have come for bread to eat but the bread you search for will [pass through you and] perish and leave you hungry again. I can give you so much more. The bread that I can give you will feed you forever and give you eternal life.”

And what is their response? In verse 30 we read, “What signs are you going to perform that we may see and believe in you?”

Are you kidding me? Are you blind? Well, yes. Many of them were blind. Jesus fed five thousand people days before and then they come asking “What signs will you perform?” He has raised people from death. He has cured the blind, the cripple, the leper. And you ask, what sign will you perform?

They go on to speak of bread feeding miracles from Jewish history. Moses fed us manna in the desert. In other words, we have seen this parlor trick before. But Jesus counters by saying, Moses did not feed you the manna, God did. Further, “The bread of God is HE who comes down from heaven and gives life to this world.” John is here referring back to the opening verses of his Gospel story. “In the beginning was the Word…” Be clear. For John, Jesus was the Word that was with God in the beginning.

Now it appears they are beginning to get the idea of what Jesus is saying. They respond, “Sir give us this bread.” However, that is to say, “Where is it? Where can we buy it.” Is it available at Walmart or Target?

Jesus responds by saying to them, “I am the bread from heaven.”

Now Jesus’ response creates a firestorm of questions in the crowd. Who does this guy think he is? Isn’t he the son of Joseph who we knew as a boy growing up in Nazareth? How can he say, “I come down from heaven?”

But Jesus insists. “I am the bread of life. He who believes in me will have eternal life. Your fathers are manna in the desert and they died. This is the bread of life come down from heaven that you may eat of and not die…anyone that eats of this bread will live forever.”

Let’s pause a moment and think about what Jesus means by “Bread”. It is not any earthly type of food – manna or otherwise. What Jesus is speaking of is the “WORD” of God. According to John, Jesus is the Word made flesh. “The Word was in the beginning. The Word was with God. The Word was God.” Jesus has come to reveal to us the life sustaining and lifegiving love of God through the Word. Hearing the “Word” of God spoken by Jesus is how we feed on the Bread that will give us eternal life.

So, when we look back at the feeding of the five thousand, we need to realize how temporary that earthly food was. And Jesus points that out to them and us. They were fed yesterday and here they are hungry today looking to be fed again. He tells them, you need to be looking for something more substantial. You need to be looking for the bread that brings you closer to knowing who your God is; closer to having an intimate relationship with God; closer to knowing the name of God. And that bread is the Word. It is the Christ.

Knowing the “NAME” of someone has a very specific meaning in ancient cultures. It meant to know a person on an intimate level. And that is what Jesus is bringing to us. It is an opportunity to know God on a close, personal, and intimate level. That is what Jesus is offering us when he offers himself as the “Bread come down from heaven.”

And now, that is our task. We need not to get bogged down being concerned about what sustains us today. We need to focus on what will bring us closer to knowing the name of God – closer to knowing God on an intimate and personal level. And what will bring us closer to God? It is the Christ. It is the Word. Jesus is the bread that feeds us so that we can know God. Jesus feeds us the Word that is the bread that will give us eternal life in God.

“Sir, give us this Bread.”

Luke: 21: 25-36

Mel Prestamo, Elder PCUSA

Reading these verses at the beginning of the Advent Season might be thought of as being odd given that during Advent we are usually looking towards Christmas Day and the stories of the Babe’s birth in Bethlehem. During the Advent Season, it might seem more appropriate to be reading the stories from the first chapter of Luke. We are expecting the narrations of the story of the Angel Gabriel’s visit to the young virgin girl Mary and her acceptance of her role in God’s plan for salvation and a recitation of the Magnificat. But rather than hearing the stories of the infant Babe and the little town of Bethlehem, this lectionary and the gospel writer Luke take us to the end of Jesus’ ministry here on earth. Today’s gospel reading has us focusing on not the first coming but the next coming of the Christ.

Focusing on the next coming of the Christ was something that the early Christians did a lot of. The believed, indeed they expected, that the Christ was coming again, soon – right away. They were looking for it. They were hoping for it. The prayed for it. It was the obsession of every waking moment. During the time following the life, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus there was no celebration of his birth. There was only anticipation of the next coming of the Christ. Perhaps it is something that we don’t do enough of.

I wonder how many of our congregation arose from their sleep this morning contemplating Christ’s next coming this day. Think about that. What would it mean in our lives if the Christ stopped time and broken into our realty and returned to take us home, today. Honestly now, is that the first thing that you thought of when you awoke this morning?

Our lives have really gotten too busy. We’re planning the holiday season with check lists. We’re scheduling and preparing to host Christmas parties. Others of us are making travel plans to be with family. We’re arranging dates for visiting this relative or that one. We’ll be decorating our houses with lights and holly, and trees with ornaments. I’m sure that even after one of the largest menu packed days of our year, Thanksgiving, there are some well-prepared cooks who are already planning their Christmas dinners. And don’t forget to leave some time for gift shopping. Recently a family member announced they had already completed their Christmas shopping. That may not sound so bad expect they made the announcement back in October. We’re making the time for all these concerns and worries but have we stopped to hear the message that Jesus gave his followers in verse 34. “Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you suddenly like a trap.”

If we allow ourselves to be distracted by the anxieties of this life, we can lose the importance of the good news. That is that Christ will come again to take us home and we need to be ready.

The early Christians were consumed by the thought of it. And why shouldn’t they be? Many of them had seen the Christ. He had walked among them. He had taught them on the hillsides and from the lake shores. He had fed them on the mountain. Some were privileged to see him after his resurrection. They broke bread with him. They touched his wounds. They received his Great commission and saw his ascension. They knew he was real. They were very much the other extreme from us. They were looking for signs in the sun and the moon every day. In the time of Luke’s writing, which was already after the destruction of the temple by the Romans, they must have believed they were all the more close to his coming. They must have been retelling the stories and Jesus’ words of how they needed to be prepared looking closely for the signs he had mentioned.

Then there were those who planned for the coming of the Christ in much a different way. They did nothing. So real was it for them that he would be coming again soon to take them all to the Kingdom that they laid down and did nothing.

Jesus had predicted the destruction of the Temple. It had happened.

Jesus told them, they would be arrested. It happened. Peter and John and others had been arrested by the religious authorities. Some of them were executed by stoning.

So, for the early Christians, they believed it was all coming together. They were waiting for his next coming. They were excited. They were vigilant.

But after two thousand years, we have lost that anticipation. We come to worship each Sunday with no particular urgency. No. Wait. Let me rephrase that. We come here today with too many urgencies. Our minds are cluttered with arrangements that need to be made. Our hearts are distracted. We are weighed down with the worries of this life. We are not, “On guard.” Let’s face it, if Christ came today to take us home, we would cry out, “No. Wait. I’m not ready. You’ve come too soon. You were not expected.”

We are like the bridesmaids at the wedding feast waiting for the bridegroom. They grew tired of waiting. They fell asleep and let the oil in their lamps run out. And while they ran out to buy more oil, the bridegroom came and they missed him.

So much of what we do in our daily lives is a distraction. So much pulls us away. It bogs us down. It fills our minds with so many worries. In Mark, Jesus tells not to be concerned about the clothes we wear or the food we eat. Look at the flowers in the fields and the birds in the air. They are provided for by God. Are we not more important than these to God? As he cares for these so will he care for us. We shouldn’t allow this life to be so filled with worry that we become distracted from what is really important.

But we are. We’re concerned about car payments, mortgages, the cost of living, our raises, our standard of living. We’ve grown complacent. The hour grows late and we’re letting our lamps run dry. We grow tired of being vigilant. Our eyes are heavy and we long for sleep. And in that moment of distraction, we miss him.

We are far removed from the events of Jesus’ lifetime. We didn’t hear his words directly from him. We read the words in the gospels but we let them fall as just words instead of hearing them as the Word. We miss the exhortation.

 “Be on guard!”

All of the things that Jesus warned us about are happening in our time. Christians are still being arrested and persecuted. Christians in China have to profess their faith behind closed doors. Priests and church leaders are imprisoned for the practice of their faith. In Africa, Christian workers are murdered because of the faith they profess and teach.

If the persecutions are still going on today, if the waiting is still going on, shouldn’t our vigilance go on, as well? Shouldn’t we still be on guard?

When you leave this place today will you be on guard? When you sit down for dinner this evening, will you still be on guard? This Advent Season as you prepare for the coming of Christmas and of the coming of the Babe, will you be on guard for the next coming of the Christ?

Read verse 34 with me again. “Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down … with the worries of this life and that that day catch you unexpectedly, like a trap. For it will come upon all those who live upon the face of the earth. Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all those things that will take place and [pray that you will] stand before the Son of Man.”

Amen.

Offered by Mel Prestamo, Elder PCUSA

The year 2020 will no doubt be recorded as one of the most trying, exasperating and difficult tests of survival in our country’s history. But more than that, it is as equally trying a test for American Christians.

The cornerstone of our country’s foundation – the one our nation was built upon –  that is the notion of “liberty and justice for all”, is being shaken and tested; no less is our Christian faith and its Cornerstone – Love the Lord your God with your whole heart, your whole soul, and your whole mind, and your neighbor as yourself – these are equally under stress.

We are a nation divided. We are Red States. We are Blue States. We are us. They are them. We are Second Amendment advocates, or we are thieves in the night trying to steal away guaranteed rights. We are White churches. We are Black churches. We are strong loving Americans protecting our neighbors by wearing masks; and, we are a people asserting our personal liberties not to wear them and not to care. Some Christian religious leaders have taken sides – applauding Bible thumping stunts  – while other pastors are tear-gassed and pushed away from their own houses of worship. We have been divided into a country struggling to return to greatness and a country hoping to still become that great Light shining on the hilltop.

Quoting the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, I ask you the question, “Where Do We Go From Here?”

I apologize for the political over tones of the beginning of this message; however, I must confess to you that I am consumed by the events that have rocked and are rocking our nation as I sit to compose this message to you. So, I beg your forgiveness if my words are off putting. And to answer Rev. King’s question, I have chosen to turn to Scripture.

In Matthew 22, an expert in the Law asked of Jesus the question, “What commandment in the Law is the greatest?”, Jesus replied to him, “ You must love the Lord your God with your whole heart, and your whole soul, and your whole mind. This is the great and chief commandment; and the second is like it, “You must love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments the whole Law and the prophets depend.”

For the first half of his answer Jesus is quoting from Deuteronomy 6:5 It is the basic and essential creed of Judaism. Theologian William Barclay says of it, “It means that to God we must give total love, a love which dominates our emotions, a love which directs our thoughts, and a love which is the dynamic of our actions.” And I would add, when we rise in the morning, our Love of God should be the single driving force that enriches and motivates our lives.

The second commandment that Jesus refers to is from Leviticus 19:18. “You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against your countrymen. Love your fellow as yourself.” I would suggest to you that our love of God MUST be displayed and evidenced as a love of and for others.

How does this commandment guide and influence us as Christians in America? We might want to say, it is how we meet and treat the people around us – with Love. We might go as far to say, it is the basis in Law upon which we have built this nation. It is what the notion of justice for all is built upon. If I love my God, then I love my neighbor and I treat my neighbor fairly and equally and with respect.

But, yet I wonder.

I am a Face Book user and I follow a number of my church friends. A couple of them have been reposting a statement and perhaps you’ve seen it. It reads:

“I don’t care if you’re Black, White, Straight, Bisexual, gay, lesbian, short, tall, fat, skinny, rich or poor. If you’re nice to me, I’ll be nice to you. Simple as that!

Now this sounds “simple” enough. It sounds “nice” enough. But do you see, do you understand -how perversive it is to the teachings of the Jesus? He taught us that if you love your God then love your neighbor – first. Not after your neighbor is nice to you. Your neighbor does not have to prove their worthiness to you, first. We are called to love our neighbor period. I scream at my Christian friends, Stop posting this! This is NOT how we Christians are supposed to treat people.

But it begs the question, if that is how we approach people – If you are nice to me – are we being Christian? Jesus taught his disciples that any parent can be loving to his child [if your child asked for a fish, would you give him a snake?] NO! Of course not. Any parent is capable of loving their own child. But it is not enough. We, Christians, have to go further. We have to do more.

What is happening in America is an indication that we need to go further. We need to look within ourselves and be critical about the way we treat our fellows.

America is a great and wonderful country; but not for all.

The Federal Reserve has said that the top 1% of Americans control 35% of the nation’s wealth. That means $34 trillion dollars in wealth is in the hands of only 3 million people. The top 20% of households control more wealth than the entire middle class. On average, Black families possess only 9% of the wealth of White families. At the median, Black families have an average wealth of $13,500 in wealth [total wealth] versus the average wealth for White families 10x greater – that is $142,000.

How has that happened?

Our own history tells the story. In the 1800’s our government enacted laws to create a transfer of wealth from the government to the citizens via the Land Rushes. What does that mean? It means that White Americans were given the opportunity to create wealth through the acquisition of land at a time when Black Americans were still in Slavery. Black Americans were not given the opportunity to gain wealth through the acquisition of property until the 1960’s through the Equal Right Act; however, that right is curtailed through the bank lending tactic of Redlining Black neighborhoods – a practice that is still going on today.

What does all this mean within the scope of our message today? It means when people of color say to us that racism in America is “systemic” [that is built into the structures of our banking, economic, educational and the legal systems], they are speaking a truth to us.

Now, that is not to say that we are racists – you and I. I do not believe that. But what it reveals is that privilege in America is decidedly biased toward Whites. Regardless of how hard I have worked to gain the wealth that I possess, I have had the advantage of a White bias. Now believe me I have worked hard for what I possess in wealth. I am a commission salesman and I have not worked a day in the last forty years when I was paid a base salary. Every dollar that I have earned has been hard earned. There were days of no sales that I came home with nothing – no sales, no pay. But still, I enjoyed the privilege of the bias that benefits me as a White. I know there were doors on sales calls that were opened to me because I look the way I do  – that would have been shut to people of color. As hard as I have worked, I know that it is true.

Again, what does that mean for us as Christians? How do we step out against the tide of systemic injustice “to love our fellow”? There may be one, but I think I am safe in guessing that no one listening to me today controls the banking and economic system in America; nor is there one that can change the legal & educational systems. So, without that power and authority to make change, what are we American Christians to do?

Again, let’s turn to Scripture.

In John 2:14-16 we can gain an example from Jesus. “¹⁴In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. ¹⁵So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. ¹⁶To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!”

Here we see an example of our Lord that is total out of character to the extreme. It is one that befuddles us. It is hard to balance his actions in the Temple with his teachings; especially those in what we call the Beatitudes. In Matthew 5:5 Jesus teaches us, “Blessed are the “meek”, for they shall inherit the earth.” Or with the Jesus who teaches us in Matthew 5: 39, “I tell you not to resist evil; but if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other to him also.”

How are we, “meek, turn the other cheek” Christians, supposed to step out against the systemic injustice that imperils and causes pain to our “fellow” who we are commanded to love as an expression of our love of God?

Well the first step might be to better understand what Jesus meant by blessing the meek. What does it mean to be meek? In our lexicon today, meek has a meaning of being spineless and submissive. But it was not so in the Greek language in which this text was written. In the Greek language, meekness was a virtue that exhibited a balance between excessive anger and excessive angerlessness. It was the balance between knowing when to be angry and when not to be. As a general rule for Christians, it is never right to be angry for ourselves but it often right to be angry about injuries done to other people. William Barclay frames it this way, “Selfish anger is always a sin. Selfless anger can be one of the great moral dynamics of the world.”

That is the anger that Jesus exhibited in the Temple. It was not a rage to avenge an insult to himself. It was a rage to avenge an insult against his Father and his Father’s house. He overturned the tables in order to overturn the abomination that had been sanctioned by the religious authorities who had used the Law to oppress the poorer, disenfranchised “fellows” that Jesus had come to love.

In Matthew 5:9, Jesus tells us, “Blessed are the peace-makers, for they shall be called sons of God.”

How do we peacemakers fit in? Do we wave a white flag as call for a truce? Is it enough to simply call for a violence or injustice to stop?

Here we need to understand what the word “Peace” means in this text as Jesus is using it. The word in Hebrew is “Shalom”. Shalom is never simply the absence of trouble. In Hebrew, peace always means everything which provides for a person’s highest good. In the Bible, peace is not only a freedom from trouble but the enjoyment of all that is good.

So, what does that mean? It means peace-making is not simply peace-loving. We are not making peace if we are avoiding reality and piling up more trouble for the future for the sake of a quiet today. This Bible blessing does not come to those who avoid thorny issues; but to those who actively face them and make peace – that is a peace that creates the greater good for our “fellows”. Shalom-making is God’s active role in the cosmos; bringing it together into a oneness with God. We can’t do that with patch work peace – peace for some but not all – a peace that leaves our “fellow” in distress. Shalom calls us to act to bring about a oneness of all God’s creation.

In Matthew 5:39, Jesus tells us to turn the other cheek. But how does he do it? If you can picture in your mind’s eye how someone would slap your face to insult you. It was traditionally done [in Rome] with the right back hand against the right cheek. Turning the other cheek [the left] to another back-handed slap makes another strike impossible. You can’t slap the left cheek with the back-handed right. So, while Jesus is telling us not to meet violence with violence, he was also telling us how to stand against unjust authority.

So perhaps, this is how Jesus tells us to step out against the injustices that are systemic within our nation. By knowing when it is right to be angry and by making a Shalom that brings everything good thing to everyone. That in being a properly balanced meek Christian, we can be angry against the wrongs done to our fellow and move to make peace – true peace – not just the absence of protests and killings – but true Shalom.

A popular protest phrase of the day is, “Silence is Violence.” When Christians misunderstand how it means that they are called to be meek and to be peace-makers and they don’t take action while witnessing the violence against their fellow – whom we are called to love – then they don’t understand Jesus. Theirs’ is a silence which begets violence.

Remember Jesus’ story of the fellow who was beaten by thieves and left on the side of the road to die. Two believers passed him by and refused to help him because of what the Law demanded of them. The Law demanded that they be clean and undefiled because they were leaders in the Temple. Then came one who without question or qualification went to the injured man got down on his knees to lift him up and care for him. He didn’t ask the man “Have you been nice to me?” He simply saw need and went to help. With meekness, he stepped into a dangerous situation and worked to make peace.

Jesus has shown us how to act when our fellow, our neighbor, is being injured and abused. He has shown us that as his followers and as lovers of God, we need to go out and be meek. We need to actively and proactively engage the issues of the day when we see our fellows being treated unfairly seeking the justice that God requires of us. We need to be peacemakers.

Matthew 22: 1-14

Offered to the First Presbyterian Church of Succasunna, NJ, 2008

Mel Prestamo, Elder, PCUSA

Well, we’ve got a lot on our plate here. We have a Kingdom Parable. It is one in which Jesus begins by saying, “The kingdom of God is like…” A couple of weeks ago, Pastor gave us some insight into kingdom parables. He told us that when Jesus starts teaching with the phrase “…the kingdom of God is like…” that we must carefully consider the whole of the lesson and not rush to extract out elements like how many rooms are there in my Father’s house or where will I be seated … on your right or left hand? You don’t want to be too specific or narrow in your interpretation.

More than that, we have a parable that is in a word – UNCOMFORTABLE – to listen to. Here we see a king angered concerning the treatment of his servants, raising an army, burning homes and destroying cities and killing those who had offended him. It is a very Old Testament, Sodom & Gomorrah like story. Who is this king? Who is this guy and what have you done with my God of love and mercy?

I read one commentary resource that said that most preachers will opt out of using this version of the parable and choose to use a similar text in Luke’s Gospel. That one is a more listener-friendly version with no armies, destruction of homes or wars.

Well, let’s deal with this difficult question right away. Where is Jesus going with this parable? Why is he using all this war like military imagery? Well, the answer may be that Jesus may not have taught this story as one continuous parable. What we have here may actually be two parables. We have one parable in verses 1-6 & 8-10 and a second one in verses 11-14.

How do we know that? Well, when the two are separated, they are very similar to two very well know rabbinical stories of Jesus time. What Jesus does is to change them a bit to suit his own purposes.

The first story is completely in accordance with Jewish custom at the time. When there was a wedding, invitations went out to the invited guests similar to our “Save-The Date” invitations. They were an advanced notification. Except, they didn’t specify the date or the time. All they really said was that you are invited. As an invited guest, you were expected to prepare for the wedding feast and then wait. When everything was finally prepared by the host, then a final summons would go out, and you were expected to be ready and to show up at the feast. So then as this story goes, the original invitation to this wedding had long since gone out and the invited guests knew well in advance that they were invited.

So, what happens in our story when all is prepared, and the final summons goes out? The invited guests make excuses. One had to go to manage his estate. Another went to oversee his business. They make a choice to forgo the “joy” of the wedding feast. Their reasons seemed to them [and perhaps to many of us] to be very earnest and worthwhile reasons. But still their refusal is an insult to the host.

So, what does the king do? He sends his servants out to bring in people from the highways – passers by [if you will] – people who had no expectation whatsoever of receiving an invitation. These are people who perhaps know nothing of this wedding feast or even of who this king is. This is an important distinction. The invited guests expected an invitation. The passers-by had no expectation of receiving an invitation from the king.

But understand this, one way or another, the king will fill the wedding hall with guests and the celebration – this joyous celebration will go on.

Let’s stop for a moment and assess what we have thus far. Now this is the thing, it would be simplistic and shallow of us if we just skimmed the surface meanings of this parable and said, the king represents God, the son at the wedding feast represents the Son, the invited guests who refuse to go to the feast represent the Jews and the people who are brought in from the outside into the wedding feast are – well that would be us – the good Christian faithful.

Yeah, but that would be too easy, and you wouldn’t need me up here to tell you something that obvious.

When Pastor and I discussed this parable, one of the things that he mentioned was that in Kingdom Parables whenever you think Jews draw an arrow directly to Christians and when ever you think Israel draw another arrow directly to the Church. That is because these parables should be just as convicting of us listening today as they may have been for the Scribes and Pharisees who were listening the first time Jesus spoke these stories. Stop for a moment and consider what we are doing here in this sanctuary. Haven’t we been invited to a great feast in this worship of God’s holy name? Take a look around. Why aren’t the seats filled? Why are so many of them empty? How many of our friends – how many of this congregation are making excuses as to why they can’t be here?

Now here is something to think about. In the parable, the invited guests who refuse the invitation have very fair and reasonable excuses for not going into the wedding feast. None of them was going off to do anything immoral or wrong. One needed to tend to his business. Don’t many of us work on the Sabbath? Another had business at his estate. Isn’t it reasonable if someone has an important issue to resolve and that they go to see to it? Then if we look at the parallel story in Luke, we find one person had to take delivery of a team of oxen and another had just recently gotten married himself and felt that he had a better offer.

These are all fair and reasonable excuses. But look how seductively the idolatry of business and daily life has replaced worship of God. Picture this if you will in terms of the first commandment, “Thou shall have no other gods before me. And then the second, You shall not make for yourselves a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, … you shall not bow down to serve them;” What have these guests done that is so terrible. They have replaced the opportunity to be in joyous celebration with the king for the mundane responsibilities of every day life. 

What Jesus is trying to explain to us is that whether you are prepared to answer the invitation or not the feast will go on – with or without you. The king will still celebrate his joy with those who answer the call. Those who refuse – be they Jew or Christian will be left standing at the outside of the door watching the joyful feast within but not participating. The tragedy of life is that so often second bests shut out the things which are supreme. Missing the feast is not so much a punishment as it is a tragedy of lost joy.

Does that make sense? Christian theologian William Barclay commented, “If we refuse the invitation of the Christ, some day our greatest pain will lie not in the things we suffer, but in the realization of the precious things we have missed.” [Wm Barclay]

Now if you have been attentive, you are aware that I have skipped over verse 7. It has to do with the king raising an army and destroying the people who refused the invitation and then murdered the king’s servants. The reason for that is because Jesus probably didn’t teach this as part of his parables. Modern scholars look at the text and point out that a Jewish rabbi probably wouldn’t have gone there. They point out that the writer of Matthew was recording these stories somewhere between 80-90 CE. If you look at the history, there is a cataclysmic event that took place in Palestine around 70 CE. It was the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem by the Roman army. What we may have here may be an editorial comment by the author sticking it to the Jews saying, “You see. If you had followed Jesus when you had the chance, none of that would have happened.” It would have been out of character to the stories for Jesus to have said that. So, there is at least the possibility that verse 7 might have been added text.

Now let’s consider the second parable in verses 11-14. This is the part of the story where the king spots a guest who is improperly dressed without wedding attire. The king goes to him and challenges the guest and asks why he is not in wedding clothes. The guest has no good response. So, the king has him bound up and thrown into the darkness where Jesus says, “…there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called and few are chosen.”

Now on the heals of the first parable and the inserted text about the king destroying the insulting guests, you have to be taken aback. You might scratch your head and ask, “Jesus, what are you saying here? You go out and drag people in from off the highways and then because they are not dressed rightly you throw them into a pit of darkness. What gives?

But when we break apart the two stories, we find a separate parable again based on another rabbinical story of the day. But Jesus changes it a bit for his own purposes by tacking on to the first parable.

What is Jesus saying here? He is still talking about the guests who are called from the highway. These people have no expectation of being invited to the king’s feast or to put it more directly – of being included in the promise of salvation from the Jewish God. This one god – no idols allowed, Sabbath is holy – Shalom God is just some anomaly that those annoying Jews invented. It has nothing to do with us Gentiles as they call us. But yet this Jesus, their Messiah, is specifically calling and inviting us in.

And that is true. Jesus is restating that the promise of salvation is universal and open to all. All are invited into the Feast. But there is one proviso. You can’t live a life of sin and show up at the king’s feast still dressed in the clothes of a sinner. You can only enter in if you have let go of and shed your sinfulness and have re-clothed yourself in the proper wedding garments and are prepared to sit with the king at the wedding feast.

You may have been called but if you stubbornly come clothed as a sinner, the king will scrutinize you. The king will see you for what you are and have you cast out into the darkness. We are all called but we have to make the choice to be among the few are chosen.