Rev Chris Roth

  Jeremiah 8:18-9:1; Psalm 79:1-9; 1 Timothy 2:1-7; Luke 16:1-13 There is a lot happening in our readings today. They are hard to ignore, and they are going in such different directions. First, we have the reading from Jeremiah , the weeping prophet, crying out over the coming destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple at the hands of the Babylonian Empire. This is seen as an act of judgement, and as a consequence of turning away from God. The Psalm laments over the destruction of Jerusalem, the Temple, and the death of the people in the wake of this destruction.  So, with these first readings we could look at the theme of judgement. It is an uncomfortable topic. We don’t like thinking about God in terms of judgement, but if God is concerned with justice, then judgement will be a part of that picture. We don’t like thinking about being judged, but if we are a victim of a tyrant, we probably hope there is judgement for them.  We can’t entirely escape this uncomfortable topic by retreating

  Luke 15:1-10 At the present, in our society, we have 2 extremes when it comes to thinking about sin. On one side, we don’t really believe in sin. What we call “Sin” is merely the result of malfunctioning genes, or chemical imbalances in the brain, or maybe a bad upbringing. Sin isn’t really my fault. It is a result of conditions that are outside my control. It is bad nature, or bad nurture, but not really choice. In this sense there isn’t really anything such as sin. … So, if someone commits a murder, we fairly quickly assume it is mental illness, or the consequence of a bad upbringing, or a manifestation of social ills. … But not a choice, and therefore, not really sin. Brokenness, perhaps, but not really sin.      And there is an element of truth to this. The Bible sometimes talks about sin as a power that grabs a hold of us, and manifests through us, and we seem helpless to stop it. On the other extreme, we seem to be coming to believe in sin in a way that it is unforgiveable.

  Luke 14:25-33 A German theologian and pastor, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, wrote a book called The Cost of Discipleship. In that book he says,  “Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession.... Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.” What Bonhoeffer is saying is that we can interpret God’s love for us in such a way that nothing is expected of us. We can be like a spoiled child whose parents always clean up their mess and the child is never expected to help or even to apologize for making the mess. The child is never expected to participate in the chores of the family. The child isn’t even expected to treat the other family members with kindness or respect. It is a life where everything good is given to the child and there are no consequences for bad behavior, or expectations that they will parti