Philippians 2:1-13

A Sermon for the Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost

There is a basic kind of poetry in the Bible, particularly in the Old Testament. It is called parallelism. Something is said and then the same thing again in the next line, slightly differently. This is called “synonymous” parallelism. Or something is stated and then the opposite follows in the next line; that is called “antithetic” parallelism. Or where there is progress in what is said, it is called “synthetic” parallelism.

Scholars have identified as many as six different kinds of parallelism. Don’t worry. We won’t go through them all today.

There is a joke from the 1600’s about poetry and prose. You find it in Molière’s play, The Middle Class Gentleman, written in 1670. In one scene the Philosopher says to the Middle Class Gentleman: “If it’s not prose, it’s poetry, and if it’s not poetry, it’s prose.” The Middle Class Gentleman turns to the Philosopher and says: “For forty years I’ve been speaking prose, and I didn’t even know it.”

Back to the Bible and to poetry found, this time, in the New Testament.

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Matthew 20:1-16

A Sermon for the Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost

The whole world of Christian mission is different from what it used to be a century ago. In 1900 only 20% of Christians worldwide lived in the Southern Hemisphere. Today 75% of Christians are in the Southern Hemisphere.

Today also there is widespread and increasing persecution of Christians, particularly in China, India, North Korea, and throughout the Muslim world. The Center for the Study of Global Christianity estimates that between 2005 and 2015, 900,000 Christians were killed for their faith. That’s 90,000 per year.

At the same time, we know that contrary to our expectations, Christianity spreads under persecution. (Tertullian: “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.”)

The Gospel of Matthew, it could be argued, has the most emphasis on mission of all the four Gospels. We see this in the Great Commission at the end of Matthew: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20).

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A sermon for the Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Matt 18:21-35

In the gospel text from Matthew, Peter asks: “Should I forgive as many as seven times?” And the answer is: “Seventy times seven.”

That doesn’t mean when you’ve forgiven someone 490 times, then it’s O.K. not to forgive. It means totally.

Then comes the parable of someone who owed ten thousand talents (about $25,000 in today’s terms). The king was going to sell the servant and his family into slavery, but the servant pleaded for mercy and the king forgave him his debt.

This same servant then turns around to someone who owed him a mere twenty-five dollars (!), and when that person begs for mercy, the servant says: “No,” and throws him in prison.

The point of the parable, which comes in the last verse, is to forgive from the heart. The point is: Don’t just forgive, but forgive from the heart.

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Matthew 18:15-20

A sermon for the Fifteen Sunday after Pentecost

There are amazing promises in the Matthew text for today. It says: “Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven” (Matthew 18:19).

What do we have here? A crazy saying? To be sure, the next verse says: “where two or three are gathered in my name” (Matthew 18:20).

You might say: “Well, it has to be ‘in his name.’” That’s not too difficult. We often pray, as we should, in Jesus’ name. That means something enormous. It means by his authority, his power, to which we can appeal because we are adopted children of God, fellow heirs with Christ (Romans 8:16).

But how does it work really? Practically speaking. How it all works with our feet on the ground?

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Matthew 16:13-20

A Sermon for the Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Ideally, the account in Matthew 16 about Peter is taken up as one story which begins with his confession: “You are the Christ” and then ends with Jesus’ rebuke of him (Matthew 16:16) and ends with Jesus’ rebuke of him, saying: “Get behind me, Satan!” (Matthew 16:23).

But the lectionary committee cut this account in half! They assigned the first half for last week and the second half for today. It’s not right, and therefore, we’re going to take up the story as a whole so you can see what’s going on.

First, Jesus asked the disciples: “Who do you say that am I?” and Peter answered: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16).

Then Jesus says: “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it,” etc. etc. (These words are written inside the dome of St. Peter’s in the Vatican.)

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