November 26, 2023 – The Last Sunday After Pentecost
Zane Scarlett
“Wagon Train” was a TV series that ran from 1957 to 1965. Each season the show would begin with the formation of the wagon train in St. Joe, Missouri. The season would end with the wagon train’s arrival at the destination of Sacramento or San Francisco, California. Each week we would meet someone on the wagon train and learn why they had left behind their past to join this dangerous journey, looking for a better future. Along the way, their leader was wagon master, Maj. Seth Adams, who put the people’s welfare and safety above his own. This is part of our nation’s Exodus story. The Exodus that had begun in Ireland, Germany, Italy, and continued westward as people were looking for a better life, for the Promised Land.
But there is more to the “Wagon Train” story. This was happening just after the Civil War. The division and destruction of our nation and these people’s lives as they tried to make a new start was pronounced in these stories. Shattered lives were healed by the compassion and help from fellow travelers. Maj. Adams looked after the needs of the least of these, and he did his best to see that the travelers treated each other with justice. The dreams of a new future depended on the help and cooperation of all. To get to the Promised Land, we all must help each other.
Today is the last day of the long Thanksgiving weekend. And today is Christ the King Sunday and the last Sunday of Pentecost. Next Sunday is Advent, the beginning of a new year in the Church calendar. So that means that today is like New Year’s Eve. New Year’s Eve is a time of reflection and anticipation. A time to look back to find how we got to where we are. A time to make resolutions about how we can be better in the future; to change where we are into where we would rather be. We MUST leave the past behind so let’s make the future better. If we could just change this or that, we would be better off. This is what the people on the Wagon Train were trying to do. This is where Ezekiel is in today’s reading.
There are two defining events in the history of the Jewish people. Events that make this group of people who they are. Both events deal with captivity, bondage, freedom, loss and redemption – seeking the Promised Land. The first event is the Exodus story. With the escape from Egypt and the time in the wilderness, the Hebrew people learned what being a covenant people meant – that the Lord would be with them and get them to a better place; if they would remember that the Lord is their God – and act like it. The second event that shaped these people was their exile to Babylon, after their nation had been divided, defeated, and dismantled. With the exile, the people came to understand that being the Lord’s people meant following the Lord God and only the Lord God. Rules were made about how to follow the Lord. A lot of rules were made, because without a rule telling you how to act, how do you know if you are not acting right?
This is when these people became Jewish as we understand it. And this is where Ezekiel is. He is in Babylon, in captivity. His people are slaves, again. And he looks back to how they got to this. His conclusion is that the people had no leadership. The kings that they had were ineffective at best and had led the people away from God if they had led at all. Ezekiel, and the people, wanted a better future, they wanted to get back to the Promised Land. The Promised Land was more than a place, it was being the Lord’s people. They thought that they had fallen out of favor with the Lord, and they wanted to get back.
We all want to get to the Promised Land, whether that be Sacramento, California, or world peace, or maybe a better relationship with God. And that is the looking forward to the future that we do on New Year’s Eve. What can we do differently next year that will get us closer to that Promised Land, whatever that may be for each of you. What leadership do we need that will give us the right direction? Ezekiel said that in the future there WILL be the right leader. As WE are held captive to sin in this life, on this earth, where does OUR search for the right leader take us?
Today, of course, we read Ezekiel as foreseeing Jesus as the shepherd that will gather those who have strayed, the one who will heal the crippled, the one who will feed the downtrodden with justice. And, of course, Jesus did come and did just as Ezekiel had said.
And Jesus told us that he is the Good Shepherd. I think that we could not do better in our search for a leader.
Jesus’s teachings are what shaped us and brought us to where we are. Jesus is Christ the King – the one we want and need. But the bad leaders are still there, and we still must exist in this bondage of life as we look to the future in the Promised Land. As we look to the Second Advent of Christ the King.
The 25th chapter of Matthew consists of three parables that Jesus told to his disciples as he told them about the end times, when he told them that he was going away but that he would return. These three parables build on each other as they tell us how we are to act as we await that return of Jesus in the Second Advent. Two weeks ago, we heard the first of the three: about the bridesmaids and their lamps. We learned that we should be prepared to wait, and to remain watchful while we wait because we don’t know when the time will come; but it will be a wait. Last week we heard the second parable: about the talents. There we learned that while we wait, we must use the love that God has given us. We can’t be afraid to use that love and keep it hidden away, but we have to invest it – to give it away. And the more love you give, the more you will receive. Love is the gift from God that must be regifted. Today, we hear the third parable which tells us what it looks like to give away the love that God has given us. HOW we investthat gift that God gave to us. We do that by feeding the hungry, clothing and housing those in need, visiting the sick and lonely. This parable tells us that, while we wait,
we must take care of each other so that we can all make it to our destination. It tells us that we must follow the command of Jesus: to love one another as he loves us. What better New Year’s resolution could there be?
But wait, look at the response by the people in the parable. “When did we do (or not do) these things?” We are either led or not led in such a way that we are not even aware of the leading. As Mother Elizabeth so rightly told us last week, we read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest God’s teachings so that they become a part of who we are. We were taught and we learned from those who came before. You and I, WE, are now doing the teaching and leading to those who come after. Next week is Ingathering Sunday. My hope is that we all will make our pledge to keep this church strong and
ongoing for those who come after. And I hope that we all will also make our pledge to the capital campaign so that this building will be kept up and ready for the future. The journey to our Promised Land is not an easy one, but we know the rules. Love one another, feed each other with justice. The parable says the reward is to sit at the right hand of Jesus and that you will inherit the kingdom.
Today’s beautiful words from Ephesians tells us that God will give us the spirit of wisdom and will reveal to us “the riches of his glorious inheritance” and “the immeasurable greatness of his power in us who believe.” That immeasurable greatness of his power is the power to love each other and to help each other to get to our own Promised Land. That is the glorious inheritance that we receive – the power to love as Christ loves us.
To sit at the right hand of Christ the King as inheritors of the kingdom. THAT is something to be thankful for in this season of Thanksgiving, as we look forward to the future, to the Second Advent, in a new year.