Sermon on Luke 17:5-10

Pastor Jennifer Garcia

According to our Gospel reading today, we should be able to transplant trees into the ocean, it’s okay not to thank people who are being exploited, and we should consider ourselves “worthless slaves”?

Raise your hand if you find any of that troubling.

This is a pretty gross teaching. Jesus isn’t sounding like a rabbi I would want to follow.

What do we do with this?

This doesn’t make it any less gross, but it at least explains why our reading doesn’t seem to connect the mustard seed teaching with the slavery metaphor. Our reading is probably two teachings. The whole beginning of chapter 17 seems to be a collection of miscellaneous teachings of Jesus.

As we talked about two weeks ago, none of Jesus’ disciples were following him around furiously recording everything that happened. The Gospels weren’t written until decades after Jesus’ death and resurrection.

The writer of Luke wanted us to hear these teachings of Jesus but didn’t necessarily write them down chronologically. They may have been assembled more by theme.

So, we can look at these teachings as individual units and then see if they offer any other gifts by reading them together.

First, we have the mustard seed teaching. The disciples request more faith, but Jesus teaches that even a tiny speck of faith allows incredible works like planting a tree in the ocean.

This seems a little discouraging, because I sure can’t do that—can you?

But maybe Jesus’ point is that faith isn’t a commodity to be amassed. We as Lutherans believe faith is given by God. It’s something we don’t do on our own, so we don’t need to ask God for more of it. We can trust that God has given us what we need. If God needs us to plant a tree in the ocean for some reason, we’ll have the necessary faith.

Then, the second reading is the really gross one with the slavery metaphor.

It’s troubling whenever Jesus uses slavery imagery and doesn’t condemn the practice. It’s an unfortunate example of being able to find whatever you’re looking for in the Bible, including justification for or at least not condemnation of enslavement.

But as faithful readers of the Bible, we look at bigger themes throughout—themes like liberation, love, and compassion, which are incompatible with enslavement. We use those themes instead of individual troubling verses to figure out what God’s up to in the world.

What was God up to when Jesus taught this? We know and Jesus knew that he would end up at the cross. He warned his disciples again and again. As he drew nearer to Jerusalem and his death, he taught some challenging things to try and prepare his disciples for what was to come.

It wasn’t enough to follow Jesus around hoping for a miracle and a free lunch. Following Jesus meant you might be arrested, beaten, and even killed. So, as much as Jesus’ teachings can sound harsh, it would have been unkind for him not to be realistic about what he was asking of his disciples.

So, as harsh and troubling as Jesus’ words are here, we can see them as a reminder to his disciples (who were known to occasionally quarrel over which of them was the greatest) that they weren’t following Jesus for the glory. They were, in fact, going to experience some heart-breaking trials by following Jesus to Jerusalem.

The point isn’t that slavery is okay—it’s not—or that we shouldn’t thank people—we should—but that following Jesus doesn’t mean we’ll get glory or even thanks. Instead, it has to be something that matters to us so much that we’re willing to die for it. It’s not about us. It’s about Jesus and Beloved Community.

When we take these two teachings side by side as they’re presented to us by the Gospel of Luke, we can use them as a meditation on humility.

The mustard seed parable reminds Jesus followers that we don’t have to have a massive amount of faith—it doesn’t work that way. We trust God to equip us for the journey of life that we’re on and whatever ministry God calls us to. We don’t have to worry that we’re not enough.

And the second teaching reminds us that we’re not following Jesus for the kudos.We’re doing it because the God of the universe loves us and heaps grace upon us. So, out of gratitude, we do our best to love God and our neighbor.Remembering that helps keep our egos in check.

These two teachings together remind us that: we have faith enough, and that’s nothing to brag about.

In fact, the word that’s translated “worthless” means something more like “someone who isn’t owed anything.” It doesn’t have the dehumanizing connotation that “worthless” does.

I’ve heard people complain before about cashiers responding to a thank you with “no problem” instead of “you’re welcome.” You’re allowed to have your opinions on etiquette, though cashiers have it hard enough without complaints like that.

But the response “no problem” illustrates the attitude of “someone who isn’t owed anything.” “No problem—I don’t want you to think that what you’re thanking me for caused me any inconvenience. I was just doing my job. It was no problem.”

When we’re focused on Jesus and on loving our neighbors as if they were Jesus themselves, we’re not worried about glory or even gratitude. No problem. The love is enough.

But we often worry we’re not enough.

Imposter syndrome bombards us. Insecurity sets in. We worry we won’t measure up. Or if we’re currently measuring up to our arbitrary standards, how long before we make a mistake and our self-image comes crashing down? How long before people see us as we really are?

Or we might worry that we as a congregation aren’t measuring up. We worry that we aren’t what we used to be. We aren’t as big. We’re getting older. We can’t do all the things we used to do. We don’t have a professional marketing plan. We don’t have a Vacation Bible School. We don’t host funeral luncheons the way we used to. We don’t have three services or an extensive music program.

It's easy to focus on what we don’t have. Just like the disciples worried they didn’t have enough faith.

But as troublesome as our reading today is, it does remind us that it’s not about us.

God gives us faith. God gives us enough faith to do what God calls us to do.

And God has called this community to feed our neighbors, body and soul, and we do, week after week. God provides. And sometimes God provides us to serve the needs of our neighbors. It may not be a mulberry tree planted in the ocean, but bags of groceries and a genuine smile for a hungry neighbor are far more practical and needed.

We have enough. We have enough to share.

And through the Holy Spirit and our amazing pantry director, Deenna, we have partnerships with other congregations, organizations, and community members who keep this ministry thriving.

God provides. Sometimes God provides other people to join us. That’s the beauty of the Beloved Community and the Body of Christ.

Today is World Communion Day. We remember that we’re part of the Body of Christ, connected through Holy Communion with followers of Jesus around the globe and throughout time.

In the Body of Christ, no part is more important than another. We’re all important and necessary. We’re united in Christ, and together we do what God calls us to—without worrying about glory or even thanks.

Thanks to God, we have enough faith to feed our neighbors—no problem. That is enough, and you are enough. Thanks be to God!

Sermon on Luke 16:1-13

Pastor Jennifer Garcia

Some of Jesus’ parables seem straightforward, and others require some more unpacking. And this one is downright perplexing!

The main character was getting fired for “squandering[his boss’s] property.”

He then effectively stole a bunch of his former boss’s future profit by lowering debts owed to him.

And then, his former boss said, “Good job!”

But instead of explaining this surprising reaction, Jesus went on to teach about “children of this age” and “children of light, “dishonest wealth,” “eternal homes,” “true riches,” and not serving “two masters.”

Jesus taught over and over again that his disciples should give up their earthly possessions and not trust wealth. And yet, this parable seems to glorify committing fraud.What are we supposed to get from this?

One thing that really helped me get a better understanding of this text this week was finding out that this might be a collection of a couple different teachings that the writer of Luke put together because they had similar themes, which explains why Jesus seems to be glorifying a dishonest manager and then discouraging being dishonest and why the teaching jumps around so much.

We know that no one was following Jesus around with a tape recorder or furiously scribbled notes day by day throughout his ministry. None of the Gospels were written until decades after Jesus’ death.

That’s not to say they aren’t faithful representations of Jesus’ teachings, but they may not be completely chronologically accurate.

So, when someone sat down to write this Gospel, they wanted us to know about these teachings of Jesus, and it made sense to put a parable about gaining friends through “dishonest wealth” next to a poem about “dishonest wealth” and “true riches.”

They’re similar in theme, but we can take the pressure off trying to find a single takeaway from this whole reading. We might think of it more like listening to two songs from the same album and seeing how they enrich each other.

So, let’s look at these teachings on their own and then look for common themes.

First, we have the parable.One of the ways Jesus uses parables is to tell a story and then say, “how much more”—for instance,how much more is God going to listen to your prayers than this unjust judge listened to this persistent widow.

In today’s parable, it’s surprising that the rich man doesn’t have the dishonest manager thrown in prison either at the beginning or the end.

We can understand this parable as teaching that the manager was trusting his boss’s mercy. When his boss merely fired him, he figured he could do more to secure his future without feeling the wrath of his former boss.

Jesus, then, is essentially saying, “if the dishonest manager trusted his entire future on his boss’s mercy, how much more should Jesus followers trust God’s mercy and provision for our future?”

And with Jesus’ explanation of the parable— “make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone they may welcome you into the eternal homes”—he encouraged his followers to be cunning and creative in the ways we build community.If this sketchy manager could store up favors, how much more should Jesus followers be investing in relationships instead of finding security in accumulating their own wealth?

Then, the poem that follows goes on to contrast being “faithful” with being “dishonest.”Taken on its own, it can be understood that God wants us to be faithful with the earthly things God has entrusted us with before giving us God’s true riches. We shouldshow faithfulness to God instead of wealth.

A more faithful translation of the word “wealth” that’s confusing for modern audiences is “Mammon,” a personification of wealth.It’s like wealth as a god or idol. We can’t serve both God and Mammon. Take a look at the iconography of any celebrity magazine or the holy ritual of Prime Day or Black Friday, and it’s not hard to recognize Mammon today.

So, if you take these teachings together—the parable and the poem, these two songs from the same album—they do bring richness to each other.

Jesus was encouraging his followers to renounce their service of Mammon to secure their futures and instead build community. Money doesn’t last, but relationships do. His followers should hoard friendships, not gold—stockpile community, not goods. That’s how we declare our allegiance to God instead of Mammon.

That also sets the stage for next week’s parable of the rich man and Lazarus, so stay tuned.

But these teachings are hard to hear. They go against dominant American middle-class respectability.

We’re taught that if we work hard, we’ll succeed. We shouldn’t depend on anyone else, because we should be “self-made” people. Anyone can pull themselves up by their bootstraps, and anyone who doesn’t is just lazy, and we definitely don’t want to be lazy.We’re encouraged to succeed on our own and not let others know if we’re struggling.

But that’s not the way of Jesus.The way of Jesus is not about independence but interdependence.

Depending on each other builds bonds and strengthens community. There’s an African proverb that says “if you want to go fast, go alone, but if you want to go far, go together.”

We followers of Jesus need to go far, together. It’s been 2,000 years since Jesus’ death and resurrection, and we don’t know how much longer it’ll be until the fulfillment of the Reign of God. We need to keep our stamina up—together.We need to trust each other, not Mammon.

It’s a little early, but I’m reminded of the classic Christmas film It’s a Wonderful Life, where after George Bailey has kept having to defer his dreams to help others, he faces almost certain financial ruin. After miraculously witnessing the difference he had made in so many lives, he watches in astonishment as his community rallies around him, donating the money needed to thwart the plot of greedy Mr. Potter.

The town toasts George as “the richest man in town,” and his angel companion Clarence leaves him some parting words: “Remember, no man is a failure who has friends.”

George’s actions have a surprisingly similar outcome to the shrewd manager in our parable today.

Relationships formed over time can beat overwhelming circumstances and can fortify us better than any bank account.

We can depend on our merciful God and the Beloved Community gathered through the Holy Spirit.

So, be shrewd: serve God by abandoning the idol of Mammon and investing in relationships instead. Loving relationships with God and our neighbor are the true riches.Be like George Bailey and become the richest person in town.

Sermon on Luke 15:1-10

Pastor Jennifer Garcia

Our readings from Exodus and from Luke show us what seem like two unsettlingly different sides of God.

In Exodus, God was angry—ready to smite the newly-freed Hebrews and start over, creating a new nation from Moses. That doesn’t sound like the God of mercy and love that I know.

Then in Luke, Jesus told some parables that illustrate different behavior from God. In them,a shepherd and a woman rejoiced over what had been lost. The familiar parable of the prodigal son follows these, which also shows a father rejoicing over a son who had been lost.

The religious leaders had grumbledbecause Jesus ate with “tax collectors and sinners,” so Jesus told them these parables, which show that God rejoices over finding what had been lost.

Those who had been lost—like maybe the lost Hebrews who had made an idol to put their trust in, because they were too anxious that Moses might not come back down the mountain after being gone for forty days? They seem like they were pretty lost.

So, does God rejoice over the lost or become overwhelmed with anger? These readings seem to contradict each other when it comes to God’s character. What is God actually like?

We can find a clue in our reading from Deuteronomy from last week.

God framed the giving of the Law after the Exodus as a choice between life and death. God wanted the Hebrews to choose what was life-giving: a covenant, a trusting relationship with God.

God was angry that the Hebrews so quickly created a substitute lower-case god, a golden calf with no life or power. They had just been freed from hundreds of years of enslavement. God had worked wonders on their behalf, even tearing the Red Sea in two so they would have safe passage to freedom as God’s people. And now, mere weeks later, they lost their trust in God.

Anger is an understandable reaction to that, though it’s distressing to think that God was inclined to wipe them out.

But God returned to Godself when Moses gave a reminder of God’s character. God “brought [the Hebrews] out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand.” God swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob by God’s own self that their descendants would multiply “like the stars of heaven” and that they would inherit the land God promised them.

God had done great things for these people and had made promises to their ancestors. Moses reminded God that God had been faithful to them and had promised to continue to be faithful.

Faithfulness is God’s character. Inviting people into what is life-giving is God’s character. Love is God’s character.

We see that character in our Luke reading. Jesus illustrated beautifully and repeatedly that God rejoices when people choose life in God. These “tax collectors and sinners” were choosing life by choosing to spend time with Jesus and live into the Beloved Community that Jesus was fostering.

They could choose life because God’s grace had found them. God loved them and sought them out. They didn’t have to pass a test or quit their jobs or change their behavior before sitting with Jesus. They didn’t earn their place at Jesus’ table—none of us do. Jesus rejoiced at their very existence.

The final parable ends with the older brother refusing to join the party for his prodigal younger brother and his father reminding him of how much he values him too, not just the younger brother.

Itends without telling whether the older brother went in to celebrate.

The religious leaders who were complaining about Jesus’ company were like the older brother who was unwilling to celebrate the “wrong” kind of person. It was up to them to write the ending of the parable. Were they willing to associate with the “wrong” kind of people for Jesus’ sake?

Not only were tax collectors known for skimming off the top for themselves, but they were also collaborators with the Romans.They were hated for being greedy and crooked and for contributing to the occupation of their land by the Roman Empire.

Jewish people in the first century understood the word “sinners” differently from us. We recognize that we’re all simultaneously saints and sinners. We mess up all the time, hurting ourselves and others, and we completely depend on God’s grace and forgiveness.

But in the first century, according to New Testament professor Greg Carey, the word “sinners” meant people who “so habitually transgress the ways of God that they are sinners in need of repentance.” They were so consistently removed from the life-giving way of life that it would take a serious change of behavior to realign with it.

Still, it required an element of human judgment from the religious leaders to decide who was a “sinner” and who wasn’t. We humans excel at judging one another. “Tax collector” was an objective identity, but even then, the religious leaders complained that Jesus hung out with them, which condemns their very presence as unseemly.

But Jesus himself didn’t require those “tax collectors and sinners” to change their ways before spending time with them. He rejoiced that they wanted to be near him.

The religious leaders, on the other hand, missed out on time with Jesus because they wouldn’t mingle with those socially unfit people.

Jesus, instead of calling them out on their judgmental behavior, started to tell stories, stories about things that were lost and then found. And then about an older brother who wouldn’t join the party because he was so upset about his habitually transgressing brother getting celebrated.

Just as the father invited his elder son into the party, Jesus was inviting the religious leaders to reevaluate their understanding of who was on the outside—who was irredeemably lost and immoral—and just join the party already.

We too can get distracted from simply rejoicing in God’s presence.

We can be like the Hebrews and forget God’s past faithfulness, instead putting our trust in idols that aren’t life-giving for us.

We can become overly concerned with fitting in, changing ourselves to who we think others want us to be, instead of seeking the sense of belonging that comes when we’re seen and valued as the beloved children of God we are.

We can seek the security of wealth and status, putting our trust in retirement accounts, security systems, insurance, and knowing the “right” people, instead of trusting God to provide and keep us secure.

We can create an idol out of a political party, a golden donkey or elephant, and forget that the Reign of God doesn’t fit into any one box but brings communion, abundance, and belovedness that the world cannot understand and human beings can’t create on our own.

And also, we can be like the religious leaders in our story: concerned with the image our social circle projects, unwilling to associate with those we deem on the outside. We put others in boxes or label them as the wrong type of person instead of seeing everyone through God’s eyes.

Our God, whose character is faithful, life-giving, and loving, saved us all by grace without us doing a single thing to be worthy of it and instead doing many things that make us unworthy of it. God recognized our lostness and didn’t rest until we were found safe in God’s hands.

God set a place for us that we’ll never earn. It’s out of gratitude for that inclusion and belonging that we can set down our judgment, our categories, and our labels that keep us from recognizing the face of God in everyone we meet.It’s only because of God’s grace that we can choose what is life-giving for us and the world we live in.

God rejoices that you are found by God’s love. This table is set for you. You belong here, and so does everyone else. Thank God!