Service for August 17 Tenth Sunday of Pentecost
Sermon for August 17, 2025 Tenth Sunday of Pentecost
What happens when God’s dream meets Human nature!
Listen to the reading with an open mind and open heart. Listen for one thing that seems to speak to you, personally today!
But before you do that I want to clarify 2 things: 1st Fire is not always destructive. In the Bible, sometimes fire is used to purify, to burn away what is impure and to refine what is left.
And 2nd: There is a difference between a Bible passage that is descriptive and one that is prescriptive; a difference between saying, “This is the way it is” – that’s DE-scriptive and saying “This is the way it should be.” That’s PRE-scriptive. In this passage Jesus is being descriptive not prescriptive. He is saying, “This is the way the world is when confronted with the good news of God’s love for all people”. He is not saying, “This is the way the world SHOULD be.”
Ok, again, listen to the reading with an open mind and an open heart. Listen for one thing that seems to speak to you, personally today.
MESSAGE VERSION
Some of you may remember the “me” decade. That was the name given to a whole generation of people who were adults and especially young adults during the 1970s. They were called the “Me” Generation because it seemed they were only concerned with themselves. It’s an oversimplification, of course. But they thought that the generation, for the most part, embraced entertainment and consumer culture and focused mostly on satisfying themselves. Some people think there are some real similarities between that generation and the youngish generations of today.
They say that social media has amplified the focus on personal image, and self-promotion, and that it encourages people to focus on curating their life for display to the world rather than living a meaningful life. Technology has extended the focus on the self to a new level, so this generation has been called the “MeMeMe” generation.
That might be accurate in some ways and another oversimplification in others. But I think maybe a better name for this time we’re in might be the “Us against Them” decade. Not only in the U.S. but around the world, everything seems to be divisive. Politics is polarized. Religious lines are being drawn between conservative and progressive. Families are divided based on who they voted for in the last election. The gap between wealthy and poor is sharper than ever.
Division is the order of the day. And so people come to church not to be further divided but to be comforted. We don’t want division or disruption at church. We ask pastors to not be political. They probably mean partisan, not political. Jesus was political: addressing the concerns of the day. So pastor’s sometimes sound political. But, pastors, at least in the ELCA try not to be partisan.
It’s been 16 years since the ELCA decision to ordain gay and lesbian people in committed relationships. 16 years since the church decided that risking division for the sake of the message of God’s unconditional love for all people was worth the risk.
Despite the best efforts of the folks who worked for decades researching the Biblical basis for the 2009 decision, despite that they asked us all to do as the apostle Paul advised and “bear one another’s burdens” that we strive to understand each other and live together in love and agree that our love for each other and God’s love for us is more important than the details of anyone’s sexual preferences, despite that, real and painful division occurred. In some cases, whole congregations left the ELCA. in other cases individuals were drawn to ELCA churches because of the clear message of acceptance that the decision demonstrated.
In my opinion the ELCA is stronger than ever. Some of the churches that remained in the ELCA have grown, welcoming folks who long for Jesus’ message of love to be the dominant voice that we bring to the world, rejecting the false gospel of judgment based on human, cultural standards.
In 2009, the ELCA risked division for the sake of being a strong, true voice of God’s love and Christ’s salvation for the whole world.
Some wise Lutheran writer said, “Every time we draw a line between us and others, Jesus is always on the other side of that line.” EVERY time WE draw a line between us and others Jesus is always on the other side of it.
Jesus offers us all; promises us all: peace, freedom, hope. But, the peace, the freedom and the hope that Jesus offers everyone are the peace, the freedom and the hope that put an end to death. They are the peace, the freedom and the hope that end all division forever, bringing all people, all creation over to the side that Jesus is on until there is no “other” side. Jesus does not offer us an easy peace or an easy freedom or an easy hope. We can make an easy peace, an easy freedom and hope on our own. We can pretend that everything is all right; that despite what we see around us: homelessness, war, hate, violence in the name of Jesus. We can pretend that that is being faithful! We don’t need Jesus for that!
But, pretending that everything is all right. Looking the other way from injustice so that our sense of peace remains intact; keeping our mouth shut so that we don’t disrupt the calm in our family, or our neighborhood, our town or our country only maintains the power of the strong to oppress the weak. Our aversion to conflict maintains the status quo that is killing our planet. Our desire to avoid controversy keeps the systems in place that allow guns to continue to take the freedom to pursue life, liberty and happiness away from an average of 46,000 people each year from gun-related injuries.
Our desire to get along has allowed racism to grow until now the number of African American men being killed or incarcerated is out of control and “Christian Nationalism” is on the rise.
Our desire not to rock the boat has allowed young girls to be raped, with no consequences to the rapists because the girl’s testimony is not believed. Instead we wait on a “list” to verify the facts freely available to us if we trusted women.
It is into just such a mess as this, that Jesus says, 49 “I came to cast fire upon the earth. How I wish that it was already ablaze! 50 I have a baptism I must experience. How I am distressed until it’s completed! 51 Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, I have come instead to bring division.”
Not all fire is destructive, deadly fire. But, for Jesus fire is always about judgment. Luke told us earlier in his gospel through the story of John the Baptist, that Jesus is coming with a fire of purification and refinement.
Of course, Jesus bring fire. It’s the fire that burns away all that is unrighteous, all that is idolatry and injustice. That is God’s judgment: that God’s righteousness, justice and holiness is for our sake and for the sake of our neighbor.
The fire Jesus wants to kindle is a fire of change, the fire of God’s active presence in the world. No wonder Jesus is so eager to strike the match.
Jesus wants to burn away all that gets in the way of us living truly free, with real peace and the hope that gives life abundant and joyful.
We should remember that Jesus grew up in his mother’s home, learning at her side, undoubtedly listening as she sang her Magnificat! (She must have sung it many times over the years instilling it deep in Jesus heart)
“My soul magnifies the Lord,
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
50 His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
51 He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
52 He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
53 he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
Anyone: Jesus, Martin Luther King, Jr., Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Bishop Oscar Romero, Bishop Desmond Tutu, Daniel Berrigan, you or me, anyone who tells the truth about the unconditional love of God as shown in Jesus for ALL people, radical love not only in word but in a life lived enacting that love- when we, the church names that truth boldly, division will be created.
There will be people who cannot imagine that Jesus is asking them to welcome those who they feel don’t deserve God’s grace. There will be people who cannot abide sitting in the same pews with people who cannot kick their addiction or who keep sliding back into their old ways; those whose work is considered shameful or immoral or those who say one thing and do another. In other words, many of us have a hard time accepting people who are ‘human,’ conveniently forgetting that we too are human. We too have fallen short of the glory of God.
Jesus yearns for “the kingdom of God” to become reality in this world. The transformations and justice that Jesus’ mother imagined are the things that Jesus wants, too. But, for that to be true, for the lowly to be lifted up, for the hungry to be fed means that the powerful cannot remain powerful, the rich cannot remain obscenely rich. Oppression has to end. Greed must end. Idolatry in all its forms must end. And so must all exploitation, dehumanization, narcissism, and any other evils you can name that prevent all people and all creation from flourishing. All of those things that prevent God’s love from transforming our world – those things must end.
That is what the church is about. Not a peace that pretends not to see injustice. But, a church that unflinching sees and names injustice. A church that walks over to the side of those suffering the injustice and stands with them until the injustice ends.
The church is here to do just that: stand with the oppressed until the oppression ends. Stand with the hungry until everyone is fed. Stand with the marginalized until the margins are erased.
This is a hard message from Jesus that causes division because Jesus is always on the other side of all divisions! So, just when we think we’ve got it figured out: we decide we will work to end hunger, work to end oppression, care for the earth and all people – we get there at what sounds like a pretty comprehensive understanding of what it means to “Love God and love neighbor” and then we remember… Jesus is always on the other side of all division.
So, we identify the perpetrator, the oppressor, the culprit, the wealthy corporate CEO or the powerful politician who is the cause of oppression, injustice, and death and then we must remember that Jesus is on their side as well! Make no mistake, scripture is clear, beginning to end, God is against oppression and poverty and everything that dehumanizes even one person; anything that goes against God’s truth that every single person is created in God’s image and worthy of love; that everyone is God’s beloved AND Jesus is also standing with the oppressor, the white supremacist, the rapist even, the sex worker and the one who solicits sex.
God does not condone the things that hurt others, but God recognizes the deep wound at the heart of every oppressor that allows them to treat people as less than human. God recognizes the pain and isolation and dehumanization that lead the white supremacist to look for someone else to inflict pain upon. God sees the heart of the one who kills because the capacity for human connection was killed in him as a child.
God looks at all of humanity and sees belovedness! Every one of us is God’s dearly beloved. And Jesus asks us to see that truth in each other; to live that truth with our lives; to continue to reach out to those on the other side until there is only one side and we are all there together with Jesus. Amen.