Sermon Notes for Sept 21-Mt. 20, Ex. 16

September 21 Ex. 16, Mt. 20

God is not a capitalist. Few things reflect the strange new world of God’s economy than 2 of our readings today.God’s economy is a shift to sharing and equality. It moves beyond careful calibration of who deserves what. We continue to look for marks of salvation. We continue to try to make sure that those who are saved as deserving. God’s household economics is centered on gift, centered on abundance. God’s wants us to share what we need.

When we encounter a parable, it is good to remember that they make reference to God’s way in the world, not a slice of real life. this is a parade example of how parables may deliberately confound our expectations and assumptions about daily life to push  us to see God in a different light.It can be a good way to try on the different character for size. For some reason, most of us do not want to live with the owner for very long.This story hits me between the eyes on always asking people for more for church, more time, more attention, more educational activity more money.                             

In the end, this is a story of the nature of God’s generosity, far more than some wage plan.envy creates the evil eye.If Cardinal fans existed in this time, we would have heard Larussa would have parted the Red Sea quicker. Cardinal fans walk on water, so no need to part the Red Sea. Pujols deserved what he was paid. Of course, some continue to gripe about the wage scale for professional athletes in light of what we pay, say teachers.

Slaves work for nothing for themselves but make their masters rich. Free enterprisers want the most production at the least cost. To break out of a slave mentality, they are given the gift of manna falling from the sky. As they move to a place of their own, they receive bread for hte journey.When I was a boy, my mother would tell us, do you think money grows on trees? Well here, food does drop from the sky. They have to gather it for each day, as in the Lord’s Prayer, but it falls on them like rain. As Bruegemann says, this is God’s decisive answer to a sense of anxiety and scarcity. If we are filled with a sense of well being, we can share and be generous with each other.thje manna won;t keep’ it can;t be invested but consumed for the hungy people.

I sense a new religious dimension in the parable for us. Jews have been the chosen for millennia and have suffered grievously for it. Why do Christians get the same benefit? When I was young we used to speak of the deserving poor, and we connected it to effort, work, and what someone deserved. Some folks detest the idea of a deathbed confession of faith, as they fear someone has lived a fun-filled dissolute life. It is interesting that we identify with those who worked all day and some latecomer gets the same share of the pie.In the economy of heaven, we get to the same place.we so easily set ourselves up as judges of who should get what according to our calculus. We know all about reward, but we dismiss the idea that we should be punished for malfeasance or neglect of our duties.

Happiness is like manna; it is to be gathered in grains, and enjoyed every day. It will not keep; it cannot be accumulated; nor have we got to go out of ourselves or into remote places to gather it, since it has rained down from a Heaven, at our very door” Tyron Edwards