November 12, 2023 – The 24th Sunday After Pentecost
Fr. Cal Calhoun
In the Name of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the last few months, we have journeyed through the Book of Exodus. We heard about Moses’ birth, and the unusual situation that led him to be raised in Pharaoh’s daughter’s house. Moses left Egypt and became a shepherd. He receives the call from God, that whole burning bush thing, to return to Egypt and lead the Hebrews out of Egypt to a land that God will show them. God is mightily present as Moses leads the Israelites out through the Red Sea. But there was no quick salvation. They were 40 years in the wilderness. They grumbled. God gave them manna, and birds, and water from the rock. God makes it possible for them to pass through other lands and kingdoms. And finally, it is time for them to enter the promised land. Moses doesn’t get to make that journey. It is Joshua who leads the Israelites into the promised land of Canaan. And they make a place for themselves, mostly by displacing the Canaanites who are there.
Today’s reading comes from the end of the Book of Joshua. Joshua is reminding the Israelites of all God has done for them. And he asks, who are you going to serve? The gods from Egypt? The gods of the Amorites? Or the God of your ancestor Abraham, Yahweh?
We hear Joshua’s best-known quote as he queries the people about who they will serve. You can serve whomever, “but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” The people reply, “Far be it for us that we should forsake the Lord our God who brought us up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” It has been forty years in the wilderness. There has been a turnover of generations, but the people know their story and their God. And I love the part where Joshua uses reverse psychology on them. Way before psychology was even a thing, much less reverse psychology, Joshua says, “You cannot serve the Lord, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God.” And they reply: “No, we will serve the Lord!” Joshua wants them to mean it. He wants them to know the importance of getting it right.
In our Gospel, Jesus tells, what is surely one of my least favorite parables, the parable of the ten bridesmaids. The five foolish ones come off as not getting it right, not being worthy of the wedding banquet.
This community is named for someone who got it right, the Good Samaritan. Now the twist on Jesus’s parable of the Good Samaritan, is that Samaritans were hated by the Jews. They worshipped Yahweh, but they worshipped on Mt. Gerazim, not in Jerusalem. They should know better. They were worse than the Gentiles, because at least the Gentiles don’t know any better.
In the parable that names this community, the one who gets it right is the hated outsider. And the ones who don’t get it right, are the priest and the Levite. They are the ones trusted with upholding the worship and the law, and they don’t get it right.
Joshua is imploring the Israelites to get it right. Worship the Lord your God and only the Lord your God. And Jesus is telling us to prepare. Keep awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour.
We want to get it right, don’t we. And thank God the Good News sounds much more like this. Br. Keith Nelson at SSJE says it this way: “Jesus does not wait for us to “get our act together.” He doesn’t wait for us to clean our noses or put on a clean shirt. He certainly does not wait for us to solve the mystery of human suffering, articulate an airtight personal theology, or establish an invariable routine of daily prayer. Jesus does not wait for us to prove that we deserve his love.” We are beloved children of God even when we don’t have our act together, even when we have forgotten the extra oil, even when Joshua points out our shortcomings, we are beloved children of God. And that is the good news that guides this community of faith.
Because the truth is, I don’t always get it right. You don’t always get it right. But as a community of faith, we get it right more often than I will get it right on my own, more often than you will get it right on your own. And that, to me, is what makes this community worthwhile, worth being a part of, worth investing in, with time and attention and treasure.
I don’t know that this community is much like that earliest group of Israelites in the promised land. They left the wilderness to enter the promised land. We come to the wilderness each week. The wilderness is our promised land. But like those early Israelites, God has always been with us. And like those early Israelites, we are more likely to get it right together than we are all on our own. Whether we are talking about worship, or study, or taking care of one another, or making a difference in the world, or remembering the extra oil for our lamps, we need each other, we need each other to be our best.
Last night we had a wonderful celebration kicking off our capital campaign. This capital campaign is a recognition that we need each other, that this community is worthy of our investment of love, of time, and of treasure. If you weren’t there last night, we will be getting information to you about the projects we have identified to make sure this building is sound and ready support the next generation of Good Samaritans, and that this community will remain strong and vibrant and much more likely than I am by myself, to get it right.
I chose the hymn (The Hymnal 397 vs 1-2) we sang just before the Gospel, because it reminds me of this community, that God is always with us, the ways God shows up for us, and for this above all things we can be grateful. Freddie can we sing that again?
Year A – The 24th Sunday After Pentecost – November 12, 2023 – The Rev. Cal Calhoun
