I used to teach at St Albans which is next to Birmingham Central Mosque. The majority of pupils were Moslem boys. I taught English and R.E, including Islam. One of my pupils asked to borrow a Bible. I lent him my RSV and surprisingly he read it from cover to cover. When he returned it he had ripped off Holy from the cover and written over one of the passages about women being silent the words, “Why don’t you do it?”For him literally obeying the Koran, some of which has been taken from our Bible, would make him a good Moslem and acceptable to God. He believed his book came straight from Allah and had been dictated by the angel Gabriel to the prophet Mohammed. As I was a Christian, he felt I needed to obey my text in a similar way.He was behaving in much the same way as the Pharisees in our gospel reading who were testing Jesus trying to catch him out.They had a legalistic understanding of the Old Testament. Their relationship with God and standing within Judaism was predicated upon their keeping of the minutiae of the law as found in the first five books of the Bible. They had been so caught up in the particulars that they had missed the reasons the law was there in the first place, to enable us to love God and our neighbour.In the past many Christians have treated the Bible in a similar way to Orthodox Jews and Moslems. Instead of looking at the historical context in which texts have been written, and the need for women and slaves to obey those over them if they were to survive, they have attempted to preserve the cruel cultures of those times. As a result women, slaves, homosexuals, and people of colour have often been treated cruelly. The Bible is not the Christian equivalent to the Koran. Jesus Christ is the Christian equivalent to the Koran.For the Muslim, the Koran is the absolute Word of God. For Christians, Jesus Christ is the absolute Word of God. We love and respect the Bible because the Holy Spirit inspires and teaches us through reading the written text. Through it we learn how to have a relationship of love with God and our neighbour. But we do not revere the Bible. We revere Jesus. We do not worship the Bible. We worship God. Our gospel is the final attempt to wrong foot Jesus before having him crucified. Jesus had silenced the Sadducees who attempted to make him look stupid by trying to prove there was no resurrection. Jesus used their sacred book to show that If God is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob then they must be alive because he is the God of the living not of the dead.The Pharisees, who believed in the resurrection, were trying to wrong foot Jesus by asking him which was the greatest commandment, a much debated question amongst the academics of the day.Jesus responds using part of the Jewish statement of faith found in Deuteronomy 6. It is called the Shema. All Jews were called to recite it on a daily basis, place it on their doorposts and bind it upon their hands and foreheads.“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” No Jew could disagree. Jesus then adds a verse from Leviticus. “You shall love your neighbour as yourself. The ancient rabbis agreed. They taught, "What is hateful to you do not do to your neighbour. That is the whole Law." Jesus tells us that all the law and the prophets are contained in those two verses. We cannot love God unless we love our neighbour.God’s will for our lives is that we love him and each other deeply. It is an act of will which requires action; more than an emotional response. We cannot love and treat certain categories of people shamefully. We are called to love others as Jesus loves usWe are not supposed to try and catch each other out when debating scripture but through our worship and love hold together as one.What does it mean to love God with all our heart, soul mind and strength in these difficult times when we are made aware of how much suffering is going on around the world and here in the UK Britain?The Shema starts with the words, “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord” Muslims likewise begin their prayer with the words of the Shahada, “There is no God but God.” Both religions are strictly monotheistic. Yahweh for Jews and Allah for Moslems require devoted worship and obedience.Jesus had ridden into Jerusalem on a donkey, earlier in the week and been hailed as the Messiah, the Son of David who would save the Jews. In this passage he attempts to broaden the Pharisees idea of God. He asked them whose son the Messiah was. They responded, “The Son of David.” The Jews were expecting an exceptional human being to come and save them. Jesus leads them to Psalm 110 where David calls the Messiah Lord who sits at God’s right hand. If Jesus is the Messiah sent by God to defeat his foes, then he is also our Lord who sits at the right hand of God. Loving the Lord our God with all our being therefore includes loving and worshipping Jesus.As Christians, we also believe the Lord our God is one God, a unity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. When we worship and pray we picture Jesus. When we look at what Jesus said and did we have the advantage of seeing what God is like.We see in 1 Thessalonians and in the words of Jesus that we need to proclaim and share God’s love, to tell others about how much Jesus loves them and how he died for them.We are also called to show God’s love through our loving actions, caring for those who are sick, helping those in need, rejoicing with those who rejoice, mourning with those who mourn.Christian love is demanding. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.” The Shema in Deuteronomy uses the word strength instead of mind. Jesus is talking to a teacher of the law, a man who has devoted himself to developing knowledge of God. Is Jesus saying, “You work mainly with your mind. Bring everything you are, every aspect of your personality, all your work, passion, learning, everything that God has made you to be. Use it all to love him?” God wants all of us, not just a part. We are called to love God unconditionally and wholeheartedly, without any reservation. Jesus quoted a commandment we will never be able to keep in our own strength. Because God loved us first, he always forgives and accepts us back. But that mustn’t stop us giving ourselves afresh to God each day and renewing our commitment to a life of discipleship and true love for God.Christian love is unconditional towards others. The command to love our neighbour is more than loving those who are similar to us. Loving our neighbour means loving those who are antagonistic towards us. Jesus made it clear in the Sermon on the Mount and the actions of the “Good Samaritan” that we were to love those who hate us. Jesus showed that love by dying on the cross for us and for those Jews who had spent much time trying to trap him.That’s tough! Jewish and Islamic understanding of justice from sacred texts meant they were unable to love their enemies. They quoted texts such as, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” For followers of Jesus costly loving kindness and mercy trumps human justice. Finally, Christian love is self-accepting. God loves you.If we can’t love ourselves, we will find it very difficult to love others. Each one of us is beautiful, lovely and lovable in God’s eyes. Love defines Christians. Followers of Jesus choose to love God with all of their beings in their worship and love of all people. They share the good news of Jesus with others and invite them to accept him as their Lord. Such love is self-accepting. We don’t love so that God will love us; we love because God has loved us in Christ with the greatest love we will ever know.
I used to teach at St Albans which is next to Birmingham Central Mosque. The majority of pupils were Moslem boys. I taught English and R.E, including Islam. One of my pupils asked to borrow a Bible. I lent him my RSV and surprisingly he read it from cover to cover. When he returned it he had ripped off Holy from the cover and written over one of the passages about women being silent the words, “Why don’t you do it?”For him literally obeying the Koran, some of which has been taken from our Bible, would make him a good Moslem and acceptable to God. He believed his book came straight from Allah and had been dictated by the angel Gabriel to the prophet Mohammed. As I was a Christian, he felt I needed to obey my text in a similar way.He was behaving in much the same way as the Pharisees in our gospel reading who were testing Jesus trying to catch him out.They had a legalistic understanding of the Old Testament. Their relationship with God and standing within Judaism was predicated upon their keeping of the minutiae of the law as found in the first five books of the Bible. They had been so caught up in the particulars that they had missed the reasons the law was there in the first place, to enable us to love God and our neighbour.In the past many Christians have treated the Bible in a similar way to Orthodox Jews and Moslems. Instead of looking at the historical context in which texts have been written, and the need for women and slaves to obey those over them if they were to survive, they have attempted to preserve the cruel cultures of those times. As a result women, slaves, homosexuals, and people of colour have often been treated cruelly. The Bible is not the Christian equivalent to the Koran. Jesus Christ is the Christian equivalent to the Koran.For the Muslim, the Koran is the absolute Word of God. For Christians, Jesus Christ is the absolute Word of God. We love and respect the Bible because the Holy Spirit inspires and teaches us through reading the written text. Through it we learn how to have a relationship of love with God and our neighbour. But we do not revere the Bible. We revere Jesus. We do not worship the Bible. We worship God. Our gospel is the final attempt to wrong foot Jesus before having him crucified. Jesus had silenced the Sadducees who attempted to make him look stupid by trying to prove there was no resurrection. Jesus used their sacred book to show that If God is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob then they must be alive because he is the God of the living not of the dead.The Pharisees, who believed in the resurrection, were trying to wrong foot Jesus by asking him which was the greatest commandment, a much debated question amongst the academics of the day.Jesus responds using part of the Jewish statement of faith found in Deuteronomy 6. It is called the Shema. All Jews were called to recite it on a daily basis, place it on their doorposts and bind it upon their hands and foreheads.“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” No Jew could disagree. Jesus then adds a verse from Leviticus. “You shall love your neighbour as yourself. The ancient rabbis agreed. They taught, "What is hateful to you do not do to your neighbour. That is the whole Law." Jesus tells us that all the law and the prophets are contained in those two verses. We cannot love God unless we love our neighbour.God’s will for our lives is that we love him and each other deeply. It is an act of will which requires action; more than an emotional response. We cannot love and treat certain categories of people shamefully. We are called to love others as Jesus loves usWe are not supposed to try and catch each other out when debating scripture but through our worship and love hold together as one.What does it mean to love God with all our heart, soul mind and strength in these difficult times when we are made aware of how much suffering is going on around the world and here in the UK Britain?The Shema starts with the words, “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord” Muslims likewise begin their prayer with the words of the Shahada, “There is no God but God.” Both religions are strictly monotheistic. Yahweh for Jews and Allah for Moslems require devoted worship and obedience.Jesus had ridden into Jerusalem on a donkey, earlier in the week and been hailed as the Messiah, the Son of David who would save the Jews. In this passage he attempts to broaden the Pharisees idea of God. He asked them whose son the Messiah was. They responded, “The Son of David.” The Jews were expecting an exceptional human being to come and save them. Jesus leads them to Psalm 110 where David calls the Messiah Lord who sits at God’s right hand. If Jesus is the Messiah sent by God to defeat his foes, then he is also our Lord who sits at the right hand of God. Loving the Lord our God with all our being therefore includes loving and worshipping Jesus.As Christians, we also believe the Lord our God is one God, a unity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. When we worship and pray we picture Jesus. When we look at what Jesus said and did we have the advantage of seeing what God is like.We see in 1 Thessalonians and in the words of Jesus that we need to proclaim and share God’s love, to tell others about how much Jesus loves them and how he died for them.We are also called to show God’s love through our loving actions, caring for those who are sick, helping those in need, rejoicing with those who rejoice, mourning with those who mourn.Christian love is demanding. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.” The Shema in Deuteronomy uses the word strength instead of mind. Jesus is talking to a teacher of the law, a man who has devoted himself to developing knowledge of God. Is Jesus saying, “You work mainly with your mind. Bring everything you are, every aspect of your personality, all your work, passion, learning, everything that God has made you to be. Use it all to love him?” God wants all of us, not just a part. We are called to love God unconditionally and wholeheartedly, without any reservation. Jesus quoted a commandment we will never be able to keep in our own strength. Because God loved us first, he always forgives and accepts us back. But that mustn’t stop us giving ourselves afresh to God each day and renewing our commitment to a life of discipleship and true love for God.Christian love is unconditional towards others. The command to love our neighbour is more than loving those who are similar to us. Loving our neighbour means loving those who are antagonistic towards us. Jesus made it clear in the Sermon on the Mount and the actions of the “Good Samaritan” that we were to love those who hate us. Jesus showed that love by dying on the cross for us and for those Jews who had spent much time trying to trap him.That’s tough! Jewish and Islamic understanding of justice from sacred texts meant they were unable to love their enemies. They quoted texts such as, “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” For followers of Jesus costly loving kindness and mercy trumps human justice. Finally, Christian love is self-accepting. God loves you.If we can’t love ourselves, we will find it very difficult to love others. Each one of us is beautiful, lovely and lovable in God’s eyes. Love defines Christians. Followers of Jesus choose to love God with all of their beings in their worship and love of all people. They share the good news of Jesus with others and invite them to accept him as their Lord. Such love is self-accepting. We don’t love so that God will love us; we love because God has loved us in Christ with the greatest love we will ever know.
So the Pharisees came to Jesus with a question, "Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar?"Matthew reports that they were doing this purposely to trap him. What can he say... if he says no, then they have him for opposing the law. If he says yes, then what about God, what about the temple and compassion for the poor? Surely this would be undermining the message he came to give.They approach him with words of truth and flattery. "We know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You do not allow yourself to be swayed by others."Notice how Jesus was not caught up with the situation but rather seemed to stand apart from it, almost as if he were a bystander looking at it from a distance. The flattery was all too clear and Jesus showed them up for their motives. Why do you try to trap me you hypocrites?This was more of an opportunity for the self righteous to reflect and admit the truth about themselves. Their problem was that they had a form of godliness but denied God in their existence, thus being without any real power. Like the rest of us, they were sinners too, but rather than repent, they chose to hold on to their image thus continuing their pretence. A consistent message from the Prophets throughout history, is to Tell God you are sorry for your sin and he will forgive you. It is in repentance that mercy and reconciliation is to be found. God freely offers the hope and power not only to survive this age but the ability to fulfil His will in our world.The Pharisees didn't like Jesus, they were not prepared to enter the gateway that God provided for them and for everyone... so they were against him, they needed to defeat him and if necessary kill him. Choosing to hold onto their pride would take them to extreme measures and to their ultimate destruction.Jesus asked them to show him a coin, so he asks, "Whose head can you see on it?"They said Caesar's. So Jesus said, give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what is God's. Not the direct answer they were hoping for. It was also a statement that this world and His world were very different places. This world is Caesar's for a short while but in the end it will be God's. By Caesar, I refer to the evil ruler of this age. This world however, belongs to God in its complete fullness.What does this mean for today? For me, there is a choice about who to serve. I would love them to be one of the same thing but they always seemed to oppose each other. 1 John says: Don't love the world, neither the things of the world. If anyone loves the world, the Father's love is not in him.Yes, we should pay our taxes and I long for HMRC get their act together, not being bound by awkward regulations which makes communication difficult. The world by both subtle and blatant means, presses people to conform to their ways, which often distance us from God. Many of our young today believe that they must try to look the same, dress the same, talk and act the same otherwise prepare to suffer rejection or bullying. Through fear or convenience, the temptation is to lie, embrace the quick fix, so taking our eyes away from Jesus and eternity to come. That gateway to the Father remains open, face the truth, confess our wrongs and shortcomings, as John said repent, amend our ways and God will forgive us and keep us in peace with Him. Was the pathway intended to be easy? No, but the destination is assured and sometimes we experience joy as we journey along.
There is so much that we are not allowed to do at the moment to enrich our lives. The pandemic stops us sharing coffee, sitting near each other, tasting the wine from our common cup, singing and most of all partying.All these things, plus dancing take place at wedding banquets.Today’s’ parable of the wedding feast reminds us that our heavenly Father invites us to a joyful celebration, a banquet, a wedding reception where he lays on the best of everything for his guests.Wedding receptions are celebrations of God’ goodness, of his great love, of the family we are meant to be and of community. Two families are brought together and made one through the marriage of the bride and groom. Jesus continues speaking to the chief priests and Pharisees, but the imagery he uses moves from the comparison of the Kingdom of Heaven with a vineyard to the imagery of feasting.Again, the imagery is familiar in the Old Testament. We meet it in Psalm 23, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies” and primarily in the passage we have just read, Isaiah 25 which begins with a communal hymn of thanksgiving for God’s deliverance from tyrants continues with a description of a universal banquet hosted by God “on this mountain,” on Mount Zion, where the temple stood. God is faithful and steadfast. He will deliver his people from the tyrant, Babylon, just as he will deliver us from the pandemic. He is a refuge for the poor and needy, just as he is the one we run to now in our time of need.In the previous chapter, Isaiah 24, God was seen inaugurating divine reign on Mount Zion, attended by elders who saw God’s glory. Seventy elders were invited with Moses, Aaron, and Aaron’s sons to see the God of Israel on Mount Sinai, and to eat and drink in God’s presence, just before the stone tablets containing the commandments were given to Moses.Jesus, the bridegroom, who invites us into a marriage relationship with himself, invites us to feast with him on Mount Zion where God prepares this banquet not only for the leaders, or for the chosen people, but for “all peoples” and “all nations.” Here it is God who plans and serves the menu, described as very rich food and wine. Mourning clothes are no longer needed, since the people are comforted. As they eat, God victoriously “swallows” both the shrouds and death itself and wipes tears from all faces.Jesus always invites his enemies as well as his friends to feast with him. In his last supper he invited Judas knowing he was going to betray him.The chief priests and Pharisees were welcome even though they had been trying to engineer his death for a long time.There is continuity between this parable and last week’s story of the wicked tenants. In both slaves are sent out, in the one to collect the harvest and in the parable of the wedding feast to call those invited to the banquet.Even though the father of the groom, the King, had prepared the best calves and got the meal ready, his guests did not come.Being invited to a wedding feast is a privilege. The parents of the happy couple spend a lot of money and take long time preparing. The feasting went on for a week during a Middle Eastern wedding and gallons of wine would be drunkThe invited guests however make light of the invitation. Their responses are rude, making light of all the King has done for them.They did what a lot of us do when invited to feast on Christ through having a living relationship with him.Instead of enjoying what is best and good, they went away, one to his farm and another to his business while the rest maltreated and killed the slaves.They either ignored the invitation or angrily responded with violence.The majority of people are thankfully non violent. In this country, except for the new atheists, most people just ignore and give the church a wide berth. In much of the world today however, Christians are persecuted and killed, especially if they give God’ invitation to others and invite them to become Christians.Understandably the King was enraged and sent out troops to destroy the murderers and burn their city. This is strange. These people are the King’s citizens so presumably he is destroying his own city.The chief priests and Pharisees did not accept God’s invitation, the King’s Son was crucified and Jerusalem, the city of the great King as it is called in the psalms was soon to be destroyed.Strangely, the King sent out his slaves again, while the city burnt, this time to invite anyone they could find who would come.They invited all, good and bad so that the wedding hall was full of guests.God is not a respecter of persons. All, every race, gender and class of people are invited, Jew and Gentile alike.It is of great importance, however that we respond to the invitation. Our salvation and deliverance depends on it.Since our heavenly Father and King invites us to a party, our worship should be times of rejoicing and enjoying his presence. Post pandemic let’s enjoy, music, dance and feasting more often together as we celebrate who we are in Christ. The party in the story was in full swing when the King arrived. He notices a man who wasn’t wearing the right robe. The guests had been plucked off the streets so they wouldn’t have had a chance to find one. Their robes would have been provided by the host, a common practice in Middle Eastern weddings.The robe may refer to the robe of righteousness we are given when we repent of our sins and come to Christ, the robe placed upon us by our heavenly father which compare with the royal robe placed on the prodigal son when he returned to his father’s love.This guest was clearly not joining in with the rest of the guests so he is bound, and thrown out into outer darkness where there is weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.The only way of entering the wedding celebration is by invitation to celebrate the marriage of the King’s Son. We can only enter the Kingdom of heaven through Jesus and the sacrifice he made for us on the cross.Isaiah 62 talks about Jerusalem no longer being forsaken and of her land being married to the Lord. The chief priests and elders knew they were set apart to be God’s holy bride but had failed to reflect his glory.Ephesians 5 tells us that wedding celebrations are a picture of the marriage of Christ to his church and Revelation 19 reminds us that we will, one day, enjoy the marriage feast of the lamb who was slain for us in heaven. Jesus showed his love for us by dying on the cross so that our sin could be covered by his love.Through our hospitality and worship of God today we reflect the feast we will one day enjoy.One day soon our worship will look more like a celebration. Until then let us accept God’s invitation of love to become united with his Son and rejoice with the angels in heaven within our hearts.
