March 25, 2007 At Saint Mark Church in Norman, OK

Isaiah 43:16-21 + Psalm 126 + Philippians 3:8-13 + John 8: 1-11

Jesus is really the one on trial here. The situation with the woman is just a game to trick Jesus and catch him in some contradiction or conflict. with the law. The church places this scene of accusation, judgment, and condemnation on the Sunday before another scene of accusation, judgment and condemnation. They have different outcomes, fortunately for us. There are three verbs in this story we shall hear again: “Caught, brought, and made to stand there” These are verbs of power, of control,

In another week, we shall hear of Jesus being caught, brought, and made to stand there. In both stories, the power is broken In both stories, when the end comes, there is no one left. They, the powerful, the ones who seem to have control go away. In both stories, the accused live, and so for all of us, these are stories of hope when the misery of sin meets the mercy of grace.

Those righteous ones who caught, brought, and made her stand there have walked away not just from Jesus, but from his teaching about forgiveness and mercy. In their blindness and ignorance, they have bound judgment and condemnation together. It is not so with Jesus. The Pharisees saw the person and the sin as one and the same. Jesus wanted to put an end to the act: “Sin no more.” he said. The Pharisees wanted to put an end to the woman. What Jesus teaches that day in the Temple is that right judgment about the morality of acts does not include the right to condemnation.

One last thing to ponder in Lent’s closing days comes from the image of those clenched fists holding so tightly to those stones. Without the first stone, there will not be a second. Jesus stops the first stone in a brilliant moment of restraint, and that’s all it takes. Stop the first, and there will be no more. How often we forget that practical, sensible wisdom! How badly we need to remember it.

“Where did they go?” asks Jesus. “Where did they go?” It is no rhetorical or ironic question. Neither is it a cynical gloating over victory over a case won. It is a painful question that wells up from deep inside him out of a hidden grief. His sadness over this refusal, his grief over their hardness, his cry as he looks at their backs rises up this week to those who have still not embraced the mystery of forgiveness and with stone filled hands have not found their way to mercy. Accuser and accused are often the same.

God in the Old Testament always speaks of Israel’s failures as infidelity and of Himself as the faithful spouse. The Pharisees know that, and they get the point when Jesus writes with his finger for that is the way God wrote on the stone tablets. They thought they would try Jesus with the trial of the woman, while all the while, it is they who risk condemnation by their own lack of mercy. They are the ones who miss the mercy because they can’t put down their stones. “Where did they go?” He asks so sadly. “Where have we gone?” is the question in Lent’s final weeks.

March 18, 2007 At Saint Mark Church in Norman, OK

Joshua 5: 9-12 + Psalm 34 + 2 Corinthians 5: 17-21 + Luke 15:1-31

It is both a story of sibling rivalry and inheritance lost. It is a story of apparent ungratefully dismissed and costly love. Biblical stories of fighting brothers are nothing new: Cane and Able; Ishmael and Isaac; Jacob and Esau are all stories of brothers in conflict and the younger one coming out ahead contrary to the way things should be in that culture and society. The opening story of the Old Testament is one of inheritance lost, and that sets the theme for all the rest…..”the last shall be first…..”

This parent’s story is twice burdened by ungrateful children. This father doesn’t have just one ungrateful son, he has two! When the suggestion comes up to split up the inheritance, the one who stays home does not seem to object to his younger brother’s scheme. He says nothing in protest/ He seems quite content to take his share early as well! Right in the middle of this conflict stands the father whose love seems to be endless. All he wants is Joy, and it’s in short supply in this story.

Weaving its way through the episodes, there is this sense of joylessness. What spoils the joy, and ruins the day is resentment in the face of gratitude and grace. The older son thinks he is privileged. He talks of rewards and claims the high ground with his self-congratulating attitude.

Resentment is built on comparison and perceived inequality. The older brother evaluates himself in relation to his younger brother and, not surprisingly, comes off favorably. He states the facts accurately: He has obeyed, his brother has not He has stayed home and worked, his brother squandered everything.

The game of merit does not have God as a player.

Grace does not go to those who deserve it.

Grace goes to those who can receive it.

The young son had emptied himself – everything was gone. The older son was far from empty. He was full of himself, his deeds, his skills, and now with his resentment. He is without Joy and so is everyone else.

We work for reward, and the in the presence of God’s abundance,

we find ourselves resentful and envious. This keeps us from joy. When we break loose from the poison of privilege and stand firm in the face of grace; when we cease to measure our worth and expect reward by comparing ourselves with another, we will have come face to face with grace and in its presence, we will see God who loves us all and would call us all His children.

That day of grace will be the beginning of gratitude, and thanksgiving will be all we think of. On that day, we shall hear the music in the house,

and we shall know that we are home.