Gathered in this room we typically have a group of retired teachers. I want to say thank you for your years of teaching children in the US and Canada. Children have been blessed by your love of sharing knowledge and teaching children how to love learning. Our children in this congregation can be blessed by how you are teaching them to love to hear the stories of the faith they are learning and to live as followers of Christ. In school and church, children are still learning and preparing for what lies ahead of them. Being taught, being willing to learn, gaining understanding and knowledge, has been something most of us have wanted in our lives. It started for most of us when we were very small?wanting to learn how to tie our shoes or use the potty. And it continued through the years,like learning to use our iPad, Facebook, or some other form of technology. Even now, gaining understanding and keeping your brain working is important.Medical studies share that continuing to learn new things and new ways of doing things can help prevent Alzheimer?s and dementia! Learning from a teacher and applying those learnings in our lives is important at every stage and age.
Our lesson today is from the teacher, the Rabbi, who taught everyone around him a new way to live, taking the scriptures and knowledge of old, and putting a new twist on them, and presenting these words in a way that they could understand. You see, our teacher, Jesus, the Son of God, came to walk life with people and taught through parables, healings, and miracles. Parables are a short allegorical story designed to illustrate or teach some truth, religious principle, or moral lesson. Meaning, they are not always straight to the point and people have to think about how they apply to their lives. When the people would have heard these parables, they would have taken away different meanings and life applications; just like we can today. One of the problems with going through the bible through The Story, has been how much is included in each chapter. In today?s chapter, it is almost every parable, teaching, miracle, and healing story. Typically, a sermon is preached on ONE parable, miracle, or healing story! Let us remember, that as we talk through these few stories of Jesus this is only a small sampling of the stories for today. I hope we can remember how unique and different and new and awesome all of these words from Jesus would have been. People were hungry for a new way of being, and others wanted things to stay the way they had always been. I invite you to pray with me as we go into our scripture lessons for today. Let us pray.
Matthew 13:3-9: Then he told them many things in parables, saying: ?A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop?a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. Whoever has ears, let them hear.?
As I think about this passage and I think about the history I know of Wintergarden, I think we have been in every place in this story. There have been times this worshiping community has been a place where people can grow in their faith and relationship with God, and other times this worshiping community has been a place where people have been scattered and then taken away. Today, as I think about this passage and what it would mean for our congregation and community, I am thinking about what type of soil people are being planted into when they come to worship, Sunday school, or special events in our faith community. It has been my hope to make the soil of this community more fertile, so that we are growing in our faith and disciples of Jesus, so that we can go out stronger and more comfortable living out our faith. But putting more nutrients in the soil takes time. So as we are planted into this community at different times in the life of the church, we have all experienced different ways of learning, growing, and being in the world. In understanding these living words for our life, we are able to become more planted and grounded in how we live out our lives. It takes the faith community to be nourished as members of God?s family. It is important to join together with other Christians in worship, study, and fellowship to learn what it means to live by God?s values and not the values of the world. Then we move to the greatest commandment.
Matthew 22:36-40: ?Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?? Jesus replied: ??Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.? This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ?Love your neighbor as yourself.? All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.?
When I hear these words, I am reminded of how these words are the summary of the 10 Commandments-how we are in relationship with one another and how we are in relationship with God. And then I wonder, how do we learn to love God with all our heart and soul and mind? Where does that happen? It is formed in the home and through a worshipping community?it is lived out in our community, our neighborhoods, our place of employment, our schools?it can be lived out anywhere, yet it has to start at home and continue out from there. So how are we doing as a faith community in learning these teachings at home and then carrying it out with us? Now we move to what kind of foundation we have for faith.
Matthew 7: 24-29: ?Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.? When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.
When reading this passage from Matthew 7, we have a solid rock and sand. We all say, ?I would build my house on solid rock!? Yet, have we? What have you thought to be the solid ground in this story? It is the Word of God. And the Word of God is our rock. When we build our lives on other things, people, experiences, ideals, idols, expectations, we are building our lives on sand?yet when our lives are centered in God?s Word, our foundation is rock solid. And we can then face the rain, streams, and the winds that aim to destroy, because we have a solid foundation. When what we do is founded in God?s Word, life might not be easier, but it is more faithful. And as a church, when we are truly founded in the teachings of scripture and in the understanding of God?s desire for our communal lives, it is much easier to discern God?s will for our congregation and community.
These are just a few of the stories from our reading for today. These words from our teacher are still vital to us today. These teachings of Jesus still have meaning. They are living words and with living teachings. My take away from reading these stories this week is simple. Being involved in community, spending time gaining understanding of God?s Word, and sharing the love of a faith community with those in our larger community is essential. We don?t want to keep all of this to ourselves?then we aren?t showing others how amazing life can be by believing in God. Jesus didn?t come into the world to keep us comfortable. Jesus came to challenge our understanding of God and lead us into a deeper relationship with God. I encourage you to read through many of these parables and teachings this week. Think about how God is working in your life and how God is challenging you to respond. What does this great teacher have in store for you, your life, and the lives of those around you?
In closing hear these words from Ann Weems: ?Going through Lent is a listening. When we listen to the word, we hear where we are so blatantly unloving. If we listen to the word, and hallow it into our lives, we hear how we can so abundantly live again. Let it be so.?Friends, may listening to the word, making it part of our lives, allow for all of us to live abundantly in our world today. Amen.