The Soap Opera Continues...

And so the soap opera continues. Rev. Amber told us last week about Jacob who tricked his blind, old, father, Isaac, into giving him his brother’s blessing and inheritance. He did this by disguising his smooth body with a fur robe to imitate his brother’s hairy body. And his mother, Rebecca, was coaching him from the sidelines. Now we find that Jacob himself has fallen in love with the daughter of a man named Laban, a distant cousin. Her name is Rachel and she is the younger sister of Leah. Jacob wants Rachel for his wife and is willing to strike a bargain of labor in Laban’s fields for seven years to win his bride. After the seven years are up, the trickster is himself tricked – Laban dresses up the older daughter, Leah, as the bride and marries her to Jacob instead of Rachel. Jacob is, of course, outraged and demands to know what Laban is up to – and Laban says that they never marry off the second daughter before the first. You think he might have mentioned that seven years ago! So Jacob works seven more years for the beloved Rachel and so they were also married, both sisters to the same husband. Trouble and rivalry ensue. As the story continues, Rachel and Jacob have one son, named Joseph while Leah bore Jacob at least six sons and several daughters. We also remember the story of Joseph and his coat of many colors, and how he came to be sold into slavery by his jealous half brothers. Yet he lived to be the most important right-hand man to the Pharaoh in Egypt. From the unethical trickery of Jacob and his father-in-law came the saving grace of Joseph’s mystical intelligence and power. From small, petty, even evil acts, God created the power and grace of Joseph, who saved his family and people from starvation. God redeems the past and creates a future for God’s people.
In our Gospel for today, Jesus gives eight examples of God doing something surprising and redemptive: the tiny mustard seed becomes a tree large enough to shield and house many birds; the parable of the wheat and the weeds is explained to the disciples; the Kingdom of Heaven is compared to a treasure hidden in a field that is discovered by someone who hides the treasure and then purchases the field with joy; a merchant finds a pearl of such perfection and beauty that he sells everything he has and buys it; a large catch of fish is hauled in and separated into good and bad - Jesus even adds that this is what the angels will do at the end of the age to the evil and righteous! Jesus asks if the disciples understand and they say yes. And he adds, as the eighth parable, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the mistress of a household who brings out of her treasure what is new and what is old.” This statement doesn’t seem to go with the other parables, does it? “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the mistress of a household who brings out of her treasure what is new and what is old.”
I think Paul gives us three clues in Romans that might enlighten the statement about the scribe and her treasure. Paul identifies three promises or maybe treasures that God has given us in this reading from Romans. The first is the guiding presence of the Holy Spirit with us: ” 26Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. 27And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” The second promise is the gift of God’s gracious blessing to those who love him: “28 We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose”. And then there is the third promise, the confidence Paul has in the unfailing presence of God in our lives – that God will not abandon God’s people ever. And he lists all the things that cannot and will not separate us from God. Not in the past, not in the future. Like Jacob and Joseph, like the scribe who brings out of her treasure to the Kingdom that which is old and that which is new, is God being faithful and present to his people old and new – past, present and future. God redeems the past and creates a future for God’s people.


For I am convinced
That neither life nor death nor angels nor principalities
Things present or things to come
Nor powers
Nor life nor death
Nor any other created thing
Will be able to separate us from the love of God
Which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Many historians have observed that Jesus might have been identified as Christ, but Paul was the founder of Christianity. And this verse put to song could have been their theme song. Paul tells us today of his surety that even though it seems like things are not always going so well for the Early Christians, nothing will separate them or us from God’s unfailing love, no matter how perfect or imperfect we are. The story of the early centuries of Christianity is long, bloody and complicated - a seed of love and compassion planted among the first followers of Jesus grew in many directions and took various forms even from the beginning. Our namesake town, Antioch, was a chief center of early Christianity. Although the Romans had claimed it as one of their capitals earlier in the 1st century, the city had a large population of Jewish origin and attracted the earliest missionaries. Antioch is said to have been evangelized by Peter first and then later by Barnabas and Paul during Paul's first missionary journey. The converts in Antioch were the first to be called Christians. They were just one small branch of the large tree growing from the trunk and roots which were Jesus. Things did not always go smoothly in Antioch, there were varying opinions on many details of belief and doctrine. They fought, they tried to exclude those with opposing beliefs. They disagreed bitterly about including the gentiles in their congregations and what would be required for them to join. In the readings from Morning Prayer this week we have been following some of these accounts in the book of the Acts of the Apostles. Saturday’s reading was about a letter the folks in Jerusalem sent to the congregation in Antioch, encouraging them to include the gentiles and their culture in the Christian Way, sending out Paul and Barnabus for on-site support. Acts 15:“22Then the apostles and the elders, with the consent of the whole church, decided to choose men from among their members and to send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They sent Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leaders among the brothers, 23with the following letter: “The brothers, both the apostles and the elders, to the believers of Gentile origin in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia, greetings. 24Since we have heard that certain persons who have gone out from us, though with no instructions from us, have said things to disturb you and have unsettled your minds, 25we have decided unanimously to choose representatives and send them to you, along with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, 26who have risked their lives for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will tell you the same things by word of mouth.” The early Christian congregations were not without a great deal of conflict, but they believed that nothing could separate them from the love of God, and they encouraged each other and lived, loved, suffered and argued together. And the small seed that was the deep compassion of Christ grew to a large tree, large enough to shade the whole earth. God redeems the past and creates a future for God’s people.
For I am convinced
That neither life nor death nor angels nor principalities
Things present or things to come
Nor powers
Nor life nor death
Nor any other created thing
Will be able to separate us from the love of God
Which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Amen.