Denying Jesus? Loving One Another? How Do We Choose to Follow?

The Rev. Brad Sullivan
Lord of the Streets, Houston
April 2, 2026
Maundy Thursday
Exodus 12:1-4, (5-10), 11-14
Psalm 116:1, 10-17
John 13:1-17, 31b-35

So, I know we don't actually talk about Peter denying Jesus, after his arrest, until tomorrow, on Good Friday, but I'm skipping ahead a little bit in the story because there are many ways we get to deny Jesus throughout our lives. Sure, there’s the obvious stuff like saying, “I no longer believe in Jesus,” but what about the less obvious ways where we deny Jesus by how we choose to follow Jesus? 

I know that sounds strange, denying Jesus by how we choose to follow Jesus, but what about when we choose to follow Jesus by praying against all of the evil ones whom Jesus is going to send to damnation? It’s one thing when hurting or angry to pray against people, and Jesus hopefully comforts us in those prayers, and we get to give that hatred and anger as our offering to God. Then, Jesus reminds us to pray for the healing of our enemies, and we follow as Jesus’ disciples by offering that sometimes difficult prayer of blessing and God’s will upon even our enemies. 

So, praying against our enemies to get our anger out, that’s one thing, but what about when we pray for the eternal damnation of our enemies with the absolute conviction that we are right and that Jesus truly is going to condemn those evil ones? That’s when we are denying Jesus, because we are praying and believing completely against how Jesus taught us to pray and believe. 

Pray for your enemies. Bless those who persecute you. Don’t judge others as worthy of eternal damnation; we’re all a bunch of screw ups here, what the hell do any of us know. Those were the teachings of Jesus, so when we claim to know better and to pray in ways and judge people in ways that Jesus expressly told us not to, we are denying Jesus.

www.instagram.com/p/DWXKkdPEvua/

What about when we declare that a war is being fought in Jesus’ name? Jesus, who said, “Put your swords away,” when enemies came to arrest him. Jesus who chose to be killed rather than summon hosts of angels to kill his murderers. Jesus who said, “Those who live by the sword will die by the sword,” aka, war and killing people actually aren’t terribly great ideas. When we declare a war is being fought in Jesus’ name, we are denying Jesus, denying who he is and what he taught. 

What about when we look at others with contempt or even indifference. You don’t matter; your needs don’t matter; I have everything I need, and if you’d just work harder, you would too, but you’re too lazy; I deserve my good things and you deserve your bad things; you’re not worth my time or effort. When we treat other people that way, we are denying Jesus who said, “Whatever you have done to the least of these, you have done to me.”

What about when we determine that any of our success and wealth that we get through our success and wealth-making efforts are all thanks to Jesus blessing us for our faithfulness? As much as we may be trying to give praise and glory to God, when we claim all of our riches and success are because we are particularly faithful to Jesus, we are actually denying Jesus, who never promised us success or wealth as a reward for faithfulness. No, when we claim God’s favor on us for being more successful and wealthier than others, we’re actually just claiming to be better than others, not only in our own eyes but also in God’s eyes. 

Jesus didn’t say people will know we are his disciples by how strong our belief is in him. Jesus didn’t say people will know we are his disciples by how holy and righteous we are. Jesus certainly didn’t say people will know we are his disciples by how rich we get through all our rich-getting efforts, claiming that Jesus is the one blessing us with riches. 

No, Jesus said people will know we are his disciples by how we love one another.

To illustrate this point, Jesus took the role of a servant during his last Passover meal with his disciples. He washed their feet and told them that if they didn’t let him wash their feet, they had no share in him. Not letting Jesus wash their feet was denying Jesus. Then, Jesus told them to wash one another’s feet, meaning they should serve one another. They should love one another and live out that love by actually, physically caring for one another. 

Of course, we’re not very good at caring for other people if we are not cared for ourselves. So, Jesus told his disciples, you gotta let me wash you first. Be good sheep that you may be good shepherds. If we don’t let Jesus care for us and then assume we’re gonna care for others, we’re denying Jesus just as surely as Peter did after Jesus was arrested. 

Love one another, Jesus taught. That’s how we proclaim Jesus in the world, by loving other people. Eventually we may get to tell folks that we believe in Jesus, if they ask, if they want to know, but our proclamation is first about loving other people. Our proclamation is not first about evangelizing other people or saving other people; Jesus already took care of that. Our proclamation is first about loving other people, continuing to live the healing love that Jesus lived. Our proclamation is to draw near to Jesus to be loved by Jesus in prayer, in rest, in scripture, in service, in fellowship, in adversity, in joy, and in sorrow, we draw near to Jesus to be loved by Jesus and to share that love with others. 

Then, in those times when we do deny Jesus, because we all do, we repent. We return to the love of Jesus to share that love. When we deny Jesus by deciding which humans are bad and deserving of damnation, we return to Jesus with humility, choosing to see them as beloved, not damned. When we deny Jesus by deciding that our enemies or those others that we view with contempt are not worthy of Jesus’ love, we return to Jesus with humility, choosing to see Jesus in those other people, respecting their dignity. When we deny Jesus by determining that our blessings are due to our great faithfulness (and therefore other less-blessed people must not be as faithful), we return to Jesus with humility, choosing to trust Jesus not because of our success or failures but because Jesus showed us the way of love.

In Jesus, God said, I choose to join with you in every part of your lives, including being hated, tortured, and killed. Such is God’s love for us, and so Jesus said, “Love one another as I have loved you.”

Saint Rachel. Trusting We are Loved. Avoiding Tummy Aches.

The Rev. Brad Sullivan
Lord of the Streets, Houston
November 2, 2025
All Saints’ Sunday, C
Ephesians 1:11-23
Psalm 149
Luke 6:20-31

My son, on Halloween afternoon, said he was going to eat all of his Halloween candy that night and make himself sick. I didn’t point out that he was going to get sick if he ate all of his Halloween candy, mind you. He said, “I’m going to eat all of my Halloween candy and make myself sick.” I asked him not to, pointing out that if he did that, I’d have to take care of him, so really, he’d just be making life difficult for me, not to mention that he’d feel terrible and regret the decision. Grudgingly, he agreed to have mercy on his dad and not eat all of his candy in one night.

So, my darling angel chose to care about someone else and get a little less pleasure for himself. What a saint, and truly isn’t that the way of the saints? How blessed are you who don’t eat all of your Halloween candy in one sitting, for you avoid a tummy ache, as well as your father’s displeasure. That’s from an older version of scripture.

Seeking a little less pleasure for yourself so you can care more about other people and not get a tummy ache. That really does sound like what Jesus was talking about in the blessings and curses we heard him give in our reading from Luke 6 today.

“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God…But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.” Woe to you who eat all of your candy all at once and even take more of other people’s candy, so they don’t have as much and eat all of that too, but blessed are you who have just enough candy to enjoy and not get a tummy ache. It’s not the best analogy, but the point works. 

Woe to you who have far more than you need and tend not to be all that bothered by the struggles of those around you. Woe to you who have far more than you need and end up relying almost totally on yourself and your money, seemingly without the need of anyone else. 

That’s not how God made creation, for us to depend on ourselves alone with our stuff. We were made to depend upon one another. 

So, Jesus said, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.” The kingdom of God is present when we are in love, and peace, and service with one another. When we are not rich, we kinda have to depend on one another, and Jesus calls that a blessing. Sharing what we have with one another, living with trust, and care, and concern for one another, that sounds like the kingdom of God. Sharing what we have with one another, living with trust, and care, and concern for one another, that sounds like the lives of the saints. 

Put that way, being a saint sounds kinda good, and not terribly hard.

I knew a young man when I was a youth minister, many years ago. He said he didn’t want to be a saint because it seemed too much like work. There were too many things he thought he’d have to say “no” to. He felt there was too much pleasure that he wouldn’t get to have.

So, he went another way with things, sought a lot of pleasure real fast, ate all of his candy at once, and he struggled quite a lot for many years. He’s doing well now, and it took a lot of work with his parents and others to help get him back on track.

Unfortunately, when he was younger, he had this notion that being a saint was all about behaving well, being good, and not enjoying life too much. He had this notion that following Jesus was all about not going to hell and having to be miserable in this life to avoid hell. Trouble is, both those notions are wrong.

Following Jesus is not about avoiding hell or being miserable in this life. Jesus never said, “Be miserable, or God will be displeased with you.” Following Jesus is about living and receiving a life of love, peace, and kindness with one another. Following Jesus is about living with trust, walking with God, and having hope for life abundant even after we die.

Being miserable is not part of the bargain. 

Being beloved and trusting how beloved we are, now that is part of the bargain.

Trust your belovedness, and then live in a way that brings love, peace, and kindness. Do not fear getting everything right. Just trust that you are beloved, and then live out that same love towards others. So, when Jesus said, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God,” he wasn’t saying, “Make sure you’re poor so God doesn’t hate you,” Jesus’ teaching was more like, “Wait a sec, guys, you think you’re poor because God hates you? Look despite what others may say, you who happen to be poor are 100% beloved of God. Despite what others may say, you who are poor are not cursed by God. In fact, you who are poor are blessed by God, and the kingdom of God is yours to live, and love, and enjoy. 

Also, if you’re terribly jealous of those who are rich, who look down on you and think of you as cursed, God’s got some words for them, and they aren’t going to enjoy those words. 

Now, to be clear, there’s nothing particularly saintly about being poor, all by itself. Think of a guy who is angry and mean to everyone he sees, who then asks, “Do you think Jesus is cool with me? I mean, I’m a total jerk to everyone.” “Well, are you poor?” “Yeah.” “Ah, well then, you’re good. Don’t worry about it. Jesus is cool with you.”

Obviously, that’s not the case. You can be a hateful, mean, evil jerk, so long as you’re poor, of course not. Jesus wasn’t making a list of how to trick God into being on your side. 

Jesus was teaching us to trust that we are beloved, and then to live out that same love towards others. Think about the people we consider saints in our lives.

I’m thinking of one of our kid’s teachers, Saint Rachel. She was so good with our kiddo and strove with him when he was having an enormously hard time. She may never be in a book of saints or have her face on a medallion in a Christian store, but our family will always be grateful for Saint Rachel.

When we talk about people in our lives and say, “She was a saint,” we’re talking about how they were with us, the impact they had on us, the kindness, caring, and love they showed. They weren’t perfect, but they were saints to us, living the love of God and making that love real in our lives. 

That doesn’t mean perfection. It does mean habits and practices of doing good for others, treating other people as beloved. That’s part of what having faith in God is. We believe we are loved, and we let that belief be real enough to change our lives. See, we cannot separate what we believe from what we do. If we say we love God, but hate people, then we are lying to ourselves. We cannot claim to love God while hating people, and we cannot claim to love people while treating people terribly.

Having faith means we treat people well, and when we don’t treat others well, we work to repair any damage done. We see a beloved one whom we have harmed, and we work to help them heal. That’s having faith. Faith is not just what we believe with our minds, but also what we do with our bodies. 

God became human. So, our human bodies and what we do with them matter immensely. When we seek too much pleasure for our bodies all at once, eat all the Halloween candy in one night, we get a tummy ache, the people around us suffer, and our faith suffers. Our ability to receive God’s love and then love others in return suffers. So, being a saint is about living a faith of belief and action. Being a saint is not about being perfect. Being a saint is about believing we are loved, as Jesus taught that we are. Being a saint is about living out that love towards others, as Jesus taught us to do, and being a saint is about practicing that belief and way of living. 

Even as saints, we still get to have candy. We still get to enjoy life, and we get to do so with love and concern for others, trusting that we are loved. 

Beautiful Neighbors

The Rev. Brad Sullivan
Lord of the Streets, Houston
July 27, 2025
Proper 12, C
Colossians 2:6-15, (16-19)
Psalm 138
Luke 11:1-13

Eventually, maybe one day, I’ll feel complete. If I gain enough success in life, I’ll feel like I have accomplished enough to feel good about myself; or maybe if I earn enough money, or get enough stuff, then I’ll feel like I’m ok. That’s kind of ridiculous, yeah? The thought that I’ll finally be a whole and complete person if I only have enough, well, that’s a ridiculous thought, and I’m guessing that if you asked just about anyone if they need more money or success or stuff to be a whole and complete person, they’d likely say, “no,” and yet the drive for more is still there.

What drives us to have more, to get more, to be more? What gnaws at our subconscious telling us, if we just have this one more thing, if we can just achieve this, then we’ll be ok? Something seems to be telling us that as we are, we’re not good enough. Perhaps that starts at a young age?

I was watching a movie about Mr. Rogers the other day. Y’all remember Mr. Rogers, Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, the kids show on PBS years and years ago? “It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood, a beautiful day for a neighbor. Won’t you be, won’t you please? Please won’t you be my neighbor?” He was so kind, and on his show and in his life, he showed others how to be kind. He had a great love of children, and he taught kids how to deal with their emotions and showed them how wonderful they were. 

One thing Mr. Rogers talked about was how wonderful and beloved kids are, not because of who they’ll be one day, but that they are wonderful and beloved just as they are. 

What if, as kids, we already know we are complete? What if, as kids, we already know that we are valued and loved just as we are, not because of who we’ll one day be?

Perhaps then we wouldn’t feel the need for enough money, possessions, or success to feel whole. 

I’m not saying this to knock anyone’s parents, but I’m guessing we’ve all had people in our lives who in one way or another made us feel like we had to achieve something to be ok. Think about some of the messages we often get as kids. “Don’t cry.” “Be quiet.” “You shouldn’t be so angry.” “Stop being so sad.” “Smile more.”

Mr. Rogers pointed out that saying things like that to kids makes them feel like they don’t belong, like they aren’t good enough as they are, like their emotions aren’t welcome. Kids are trying to figure out how to belong, and a lot of the messages they get are, “You don’t quite belong in this adult world. You need to change in order to be ok.” This makes sense because parents are trying to prepare their kids for adulthood, but kids often get this notion that, “I’ll be good enough, I’ll belong, once I have achieved” whatever it is: enough money, enough success, enough fame, enough stuff. 

For Mr. Rogers, encouraging kids wasn’t about telling them how great they’ll be when they’re grown? For him, encouraging kids was about telling them how great they are now.

How children feel about themselves is what I care about most. If we can help our children feel accepted and valued when they are small, they’ll have a better chance of growing into adults who can feel good about who they are, too. – Fred Rogers

That’s right in line with the teaching Jesus offered us in our Gospel today. “Take care!” Jesus said. “Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” Jesus told this to a man who wanted what he felt was his share of his family’s inheritance. 

Was this guy really struggling for money, or did he just want more to feel better about himself, to feel complete, to feel worthy? He didn’t say he was impoverished, and you’d think he would have led with that if it was the case. No, it sounds like the guy was hacked off that his brother was getting more than he was. It wasn’t right, it wasn’t fair, and if he could only get more of the inheritance, then he’d be ok, and it was all about comparison. 

He had enough, but he had less, compared to his brother, so he felt some aching, some longing to be complete. Jesus taught him, though, that having more or less doesn’t make us more or less. Having enough for status doesn’t actually improve our lives, and we don’t need it to be healed and loved.

That goes counter to some preaching that’s out there. Name it and claim it? Give your money to whatever ministry, and God will bless you with even greater wealth? That kind of preaching ain’t about the gospel. The name it and claim it preaching is simply feeding into our insecurities of not belonging, of not being enough, of not having enough. Rather than telling us the truth of God’s love for us, as we are, for who we are, the name it and claim it preaching is fueling the lie that we need more in order to be ok. 

Jesus wants us to know that our lives are not made complete by status, wealth, success, and stuff. Our lives are made complete by love. 

There was a study done about wealth and happiness, showing that having tons more money that you need doesn’t actually make you happier. Now, for a person making $30,000 a year to get a salary increase to $60,000 a year, they end up much happier. So much less stress and so much more freedom, not worrying nearly so much about where food is gonna come from or if they can afford rent. That doubling of salary from $30,000 to $60,000 makes a huge difference in happiness. 

For a person making $500,000 a year, however, if they double their salary to $1,000,000 a year, they don’t actually end up much happier. They can certainly buy a crud ton more stuff, but that doesn’t tend to translate to improved quality of life or improved happiness. 

It turns out that modern social science is learning the truth that Jesus taught a couple thousand years ago. Our lives are not about having a bunch of stuff, and our lives aren’t actually made better by having a bunch of stuff.

 

The happiest people are those who have quality relationships with other people. Again, that’s what Jesus taught and how Jesus lived. When Jesus talked about the Kingdom of God and having riches in the Kingdom of God, he was talking about the love we have for others and they love others have for us. 

Here’s the Gospel secret, or not so secret, God has that love for us, and we don’t need to be better, do better, earn more, or have more to earn God’s love. We’re already complete, and we’re already completely beloved just as we are. 

“Jesus, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.” 

“Dude, I ain’t here to make you rich, man. I’m here to tell you, you don’t need to be. You’re already complete. You’re already whole. You already belong to God’s family just as you are.

Punk-Rock Mary

The Rev. Brad Sullivan

Lord of the Streets, Houston
December 22, 2024
4 Advent, C
Hebrews 10:5-10
Luke 1:39-55

We just heard in our Gospel reading Mary’s words of praise to God, not only for placing Jesus to grow in her womb, but also praise to God for the upheaval God has planned for humanity. We call Mary’s words, “The Song of Mary” or “The Magnificat”, and I heard a comment last week that someone wished there was a punk-rock version of the Magnificat, and that seems to fit pretty darn well the whole idea of Mary’s song. The status quo ain’t quo, and God is not ok with how things are: the rich get richer while the poor struggle ever harder. 

That won’t stand in God’s eyes; there will be an upheaval, Mary proclaims. The lowly will be raised up, and the rich will be sent empty away. If that ain’t punk rock, or rap, or metal, or any kind of protest music, I don’t know what is. 

We’ve got these quiet, mindful, demure images of Mary, hands folded, piously looking heavenward: a dutiful little housewife with no real will of her own, other than to say, “You bet!” to the Holy Spirit impregnating her with Jesus. Hmm, let’s look at Mary for a minute.

She was likely about 14, the general age for marriage back then, and she was risking everything by saying “Yes” to God’s offer to have her be the mother of Jesus, the mother of God as a human being. She was risking her marriage as Joseph may or may not have believed and understood that she was bearing God’s son. She was therefore risking her life because if Joseph didn’t believe that she was bearing God’s son, she could have been killed for adultery, bearing another man’s child. If not killed, she was still risking being ostracized and outcast for dishonoring her family and bringing some unknown man’s child into the world with no real hope of land or security.

So, Mary was taking a big risk by saying “Yes” to God. “Let it be with me, your servant, according to your will,” she said to God, and she seems to have been pretty darn excited about it. Quiet, mindful, and demure? No, Mary was excited, faithful, and outspoken, and she spoke out about what God was doing in the world by becoming human and living among us. “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,” she said, because she was so excited about what she knew what was coming.

She knew what the angel Gabriel had told her, that Jesus would be the son of God and that he would rule forever. Mary also seems to have known the scriptures because what Mary was describing in her punk-rock, rap, metal protest song was the kind of status quo smashing action that God had taken continually throughout the scriptures. 

Oppression of the poor laborers by the rich ruling class, yeah, that kind of stuff has never sat well with God, and we see throughout the scriptures God telling the people of Israel and other nations that a reconning is coming because of their oppression of the poor. ‘Oh, you’re very religious, and that’s great,’ God would say, ‘but when you have a society in which those at the top keep getting more and those at the bottom don’t have enough to live on, then by your actions you show that I’m not the one you’re worshipping.’ 

That was God’s complaint, over and over. There was outright idolatry too, but time and again, God’s big complaint against the people was that when their society became one in which the rich had more than they could ever need and the poor worked hard for not enough, then the people’s god had become something other than actual God. 

“But we worship you all the time,” the people say, and God says, “Yea, I don’t know you, for I was naked and hungry, without shelter, and you did nothing but stare with indifference and contempt.” That’s how Jesus said judgement will be, the same kind of reconning that God has brought throughout human history. 

So, when Mary sang, “God has brought down the powerful from their thrones,

and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty,” she was being a punk-rock prophet. She was remembering what had happened over and over when God intervened in our world.

Now, we could look at Mary’s protest anthem as a song about class warfare, rich vs. poor, the rich losing the battle and the poor overtaking them in conflict. As a rock song, that would certainly sell a few albums, and the movie would be great to watch, but I’m not sure God would be all that delighted in such devastating a conflict. 

See, what we read about God and what we hear Mary proclaim is that God does not desire for one group to rise up and destroy the other. It happens a lot. An oppressive and powerful minority is eventually ousted as the oppressed rise up in violence against them. We recently saw this happen in Syria as the oppressive government was overthrown after over a decade of civil war.

Violent uprising is the way things tend to go after the oppressed have finally had enough, but I don’t think that’s what Mary was singing about. Punk-rock Mary was a revolutionary, but not a violent revolutionary. John the Baptist was in the womb of his mother, Elizabeth when Jesus was in the womb of Mary, and even in the womb, when John heard Mary speak, he leapt for joy.

The revolution that Mary was singing about was the kind of revolution that John started when he went into the wilderness baptizing people. Mary was singing about a revolution of repentance. That’s the kind of revolution we see God desiring throughout scripture, constantly warning the people that violent revolution is coming if you don’t repent of oppression. Violent revolution is coming, God warns, if your society doesn’t stop claiming to worship me while actually worshipping wealth and power. 

God’s desire is to break the cycle of violent uprising. God’s desire is revolution of repentance where the rich and all of society will turn away from their love of wealth and power and instead learn to love one another. That is what John proclaimed in the wilderness. That is what Jesus taught over and over again. That’s what Jesus gives us the power to do.

In our world today, we can’t go on as we are. A society increasingly ruled by wealthy oligarchs who push for rules to benefit themselves while almost fifty percent of people struggle to make ends meet. Society can’t go on that way.

So, we look to Jesus, to the revolution of repentance and love which he brought. We sing the song of punk-rock Mary, calling for and living for a revolution of repentance and love, rather than a violent revolution. That’s why Mary’s soul proclaimed the greatness of the Lord. God lifts up the poor and the oppressed. God turns our hearts to repentance and love to end oppression by breaking the cycles of violence and leading us to God’s kingdom of peace. 

But God, I Wanted You to Hurt Them, Not Care for Them!

The Rev. Brad Sullivan
Lord of the Streets
September 24, 2023
Proper 20, Year A
Jonah 3:10-4:11
Psalm 145:1-8
Matthew 20:1-16

But God, I Wanted You to Hurt Them, Not Care for Them!

“But God, I wanted you to hurt them, not care for them!” That’s Jonah’s complaint against God over the people of Nineveh. Jonah was a prophet sent by God to tell the people of Nineveh to turn from their harmful ways and follow God’s ways instead. Jonah didn’t want to go there because he wanted God to kill all the people of Nineveh, and he knew if he went there, they would repent and God would show mercy.

So, when God took him to Nineveh on the Whale Express, he preached to the people, and they repented, and then Jonah began to sulk. “I wanted you to hurt them, God, not care for them.” Jonah was displeased because God’s love for humanity was too much for Jonah’s taste. “It’s great that you love me, God, but you’re not supposed to love those other ones. I don’t love them. I don’t care about them, so you shouldn’t either, God.”

If we’re really honest, Jonah’s contempt for humanity tends to show up in all of us, even if in less obvious ways. The people we won’t forgive. Our “my way or the highway” mentality. The irredeemable people we know are on the outs with God. Sometimes our contempt for humanity is even less obvious than that. Jesus illustrated this in his teaching about the Kingdom of God with his parable of the laborers in the vineyard.

In Jesus’ parable of the Kingdom of God, people who only worked an hour got paid the same as people who worked all day. That’s not fair, we may cry, and we’d be right. It’s not fair. God doesn’t seem all that concerned with our notions of fairness. God seems concerned about people, the healing and well-being of all of us and of all people.

All of the people in Jesus’ parable needed enough to live on, and so they each received the usual daily wage. That wasn’t making anyone rich. The daily wage was enough to live on. So, when folks who worked only an hour received the usual daily wage, they were receiving just enough to live on.

Well, it’s still not fair, we may say, so let’s look at where our notions of fairness get us. If the folks who only worked for an hour only got paid for an hour’s worth of work, they’d have had about an eighth of what they needed to live. If they kept on with only an eighth of what they needed, they’d soon enough be starving and dead.

The landowner had enough for that not to happen. He was able to pay all of his workers enough to live on, even those who were only able to work for an hour. Is it fair? No, but the other option for the people who could only work an hour is eventually just to let them die.

That’s where our notions of fairness get us. You can’t live off only an eighth of a day’s worth of wages. So we see, our notions of fairness actually hold people in contempt just as much as Jonah did with the people of Nineveh. “I wanted you to hurt them, God, not care for them” Jonah was thinking. Then the laborers in the vineyard were thinking, “It’s not fair that those who only worked an hour got paid for a full day’s worth of work.” The possibly unconscious reality was then, “I don’t care about them, and neither should you, God. If they die, they die.”

We may not actually think that last part, but our notions of fairness leave us with the contemptuous mentality of “If they die, they die.” That’s the economic reality of those upset about fairness.

Jesus’ parable of the kingdom of God is about economic justice, because economic justice seeks to care for people and heal people. Remember, that’s the whole point of the gospel, for God to heal us and for us to heal each other. So, in God’s kingdom, we use what we have for the well being of others.

The wealthy landowner needed workers, and the workers needed enough to live on. The landowner could have only paid an eighth of a day’s wage for those who only worked an hour, and that’s probably what would happen most often in our economy. The landowner got to save some money by only paying them for the hours they worked. They weren’t owed anything else, and anyone who complained could easily be replaced by someone else the next day.

That’s often how our economy works, but that’s not how the kingdom of God works. If all who call themselves Christian were really serious about living the kingdom of God, people would be paid what they really need, not just what employers can get away with paying them. Of course, not all employers do that. Many employers do pay what people need, but a great many do not, and a great many people get extremely wealthy while their lowest paid workers are in poverty.

That’s not the kingdom of God, and for those who think Jesus’ parable is all about getting into heaven when we die, don’t kid yourselves. Saying this parable is all about life after death is definitely a convenient way of ignoring the economic justice that is taught in this parable, but getting to heaven when you die is not what Jesus was teaching. The parable wasn’t a metaphor for life after death. Jesus was talking about life here on Earth and God’s continued desire for us to treat one another with love and to create a society in which we care and use our riches generously.

If you look at the acts of Jesus and his other teachings, he was continually healing the poor and sick, those who had been left with only an eighth day’s wage, and he was continually telling those with great wealth to give what they had to the poor.

Pretending that this parable is not about economic justice is just one more way to ignore the fact that our apathy towards others and our desires for “fairness” would leave many people dead, and in fact, our apathy and unthinking ways do leave many people dead.

“But God, it’s not fair that those who only worked an hour got paid for a full day’s worth of work.” Well, if we paid people what the really needed, not just for the amount they were able to work, wouldn’t that lead to apathy? Many would argue that, saying, “God’s economy wouldn’t work. I’ll bet the next day, in Jesus’ parable, no one showed up to work until the last hour.” Well, I’ll bet the landowner had a fix for that.

Notice the people who only worked an hour wanted to work, and the landowner was happy to hire them. If folks had showed up at the last hour, unwilling to work until then, I have a feeling he wouldn’t have hired them. God’s economy works. We just have to be willing to care about one another as much as God does. We have to be willing to let go of our ideas of fairness. We have to be willing to let go of our apathy towards one another and our contempt towards one another. Then, we will see “justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” (Amos 5:24) Then, “all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God” (Isaiah 52:10). Then, we will see God’s kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven.

Gaining So Much More Than a Pearl

The Rev. Brad Sullivan
Lord of the Streets
July 30, 2023
Proper 12, Year A
1 Kings 3:5-12
Psalm 119:129-136
Matthew 13:31-33,44-52 

Gaining So Much More Than a Pearl

So, there’s an addendum to the story about Solomon we heard today in which God granted him long life and riches. Solomon didn’t ask for long life and riches, he asked for the wisdom to lead the people of Israel well. So, God was pleased with Solomon, and after agreeing and grant Solomon wisdom, God also granted him the long life and riches that he didn’t ask for.

When I was a kid, reading that story, the sneaky little part of my brain thought, “Well that’s cool. All I need to ask for something unselfish and then maybe God will make me hugely rich as well.”

Now, I knew God wasn’t stupid. Having just read that story about Solomon, I couldn’t just say, “God make me wise,” and expect to become rich. No, I had to try to fool God into thinking I really meant it. So my prayer was something more like, “God just make me wise. I’m not going for riches, just the wisdom part, so please help me out with that. Oh, and if you do make me rich, I’ll use like the hugely vast majority to give away to others.”

I’m not sure God said “yes” to either part of that prayer, but I’ve since realized what I pretty well expected back then, which is that God doesn’t work like that, at least not for me.

Far from the almighty golden gumball machine of a young boy’s fantasy, God seems more concerned with teaching us God’s ways of love and living out God’s kingdom here on earth than with granting the get rich quick prayer scheme of a teenage boy.

In one of Jesus’ parables that we heard today, the kingdom of God was kind of compared to a get rich scheme involving a merchant and a really big pearl. In the story, the merchant finds a huge pearl and sells everything in order to acquire it. Going back again to my teenage boy self, I didn’t find this story of God’s kingdom all that compelling. I mean, I got that the story was a metaphor, but the thought of a big pearl just didn’t interest me. What would I do with it, put it on a shelf and not really look at it all that much? If it was a life-size, working Millennium Falcon, then I could see the appeal, but the pearl just wasn’t doing it for me.

I wonder if sometimes my teenage take on the story rings true for many of us, meaning that I wonder if we hear about living God’s kingdom here on earth and find that it’s just not that appealing, like hearing about Solomon and thinking, “Yeah, yeah, wisdom’s great, but what about the money?” I wonder if we hear about God’s kingdom and think, “Yeah, that sounds lovely, but like a big pearl, I think I’m just going to put it on a shelf and not look at it all that often.”

God’s kingdom often sounds like a pretty good idea in church, and then it’s back to the rest of life. Fears and stresses of life hit us, and we take that pearl and put it back up on the shelf. The challenges of life make Jesus’ kingdom seem less appealing than the protection and numbing that often comes with just getting through the day. Even in those times when we really do want to live God’s kingdom, we really do want the pearl, but what the heck are we supposed to do with it? It’s pretty, and a lovely idea. Now what?

Well, what’d the merchant do? He sold all that he had to get it. For us, that means seeking God’s help to live out God’s kingdom here on earth. That means changing our lives to follow the ways of Jesus and giving up anything that gets in the way of us living Jesus’ way. The merchant sold all that he had to get the pearl, because living God’s kingdom was absolutely worth the price.

Following the ways of Jesus, we’re supposed to love our enemies. There’s a cost there, and a giving up of some of who and how we are. Letting go our fear, our anger, our desires to force our way in the world. We’re going to risk ourselves for the sake of others. We’re going to spend large amounts of time in prayer and seek peace with others. We’re going to give up selfish ways, and we’re going to join with others in helping to make the lives of those around us a little bit brighter.

That’s a lot. The merchant sold everything he had. Jesus said that we should lose our lives for his sake and the sake of the kingdom of God. Of course, Jesus also said that if we lose our lives for his sake, we would find our lives. Think about this not just as physical death, but also as losing the lives we have, giving up all of the ways which keep us from God’s kingdom. The merchant selling everything.

Then realize, the guy was a merchant. He didn’t sell everything and buy the pearl to put it on a shelf. He was buying the pearl to sell it again. He was going to make back all that he had given up for the pearl and then some. Jesus said, “those who lose their lives…will find them.”

When we give up all of the ways which keep us from living God’s kingdom, we aren’t left empty, with nothing. We gain back so much more. Now, I don’t mean wealth. Unlike my teenage boy self, we’re not trying to trick God into a get rich quick scheme. Also, giving up all that we have is not a simple, one-time prayer or declaration. Giving up all that we have is an ongoing process as we, over time, bit by bit, realize the parts of ourselves that aren’t living God’s kingdom, and we, over time, bit by bit, give those ways over to God. We let those parts of us die, and we begin to see what’s being reborn.

As we are reborn over time, bit by bit, here are some things that we gain as we give up all that we have. We gain peace, no longer struggling with everything and everyone around us. We gain acceptance that life is not all as we wish it was, and we find beauty in the life we have. We gain community, joining with others in living God’s kingdom and offering it to others.

The merchant didn’t force the pearl on anyone, telling them angrily or at knife point, “You have to take this pearl or else.” He offered the pearl to those who were willing to buy it. As we live into God’s kingdom, we can offer it to others, not with threats, not because they have to. We offer what we’ve found in God’s kingdom because we have been healed by it. As we are healed in God’s kingdom, we offer that healing to others, and joining with others, we see the healing of God’s kingdom grow. We see the lives of the people around us change for the better.

This isn’t a sudden get rich quick scheme. It happens over time, bit by bit. God’s kingdom grows, and the world is healed.

 

“F%&k You Jobu, I’ll Do It Myself.”

The Rev. Brad Sullivan
Emmanuel Episcopal Church
October 10, 2021
Proper 23, B

Mark 10:17-31

“F%&k You Jobu, I’ll Do It Myself.”

In the 1989 movie, Major League, star slugger, Pedro Cerano, could hit the ball clear out of the park as often and with a swing almost as beautiful as Yordan Alvarez’. Unfortunately, in the movie Major League, Pedro Cerano, superstar slugger, could not hit a curve ball, nor could he presumably lay off of them? So, he routinely stuck out as other teams realized that the curve ball was his Kryptonite. 

The best solution might have been to work with a hitting coach, but alas, Pedro’s solution came in the form of a tiny, crazy-haired statue of a wild-eyed man he called Jobu. Pedro offered Jobu rum and cigars, and once even a whole chicken (KFC) in order to help him hit the curve ball. Jobu was a straight up idol which Pedro was using to try to make his life easier. When it kept not working, Pedro finally said, “[To heck with] you, Jobu, I’ll do it myself,” at which point he of course hit a curve ball out of the park.

I bring this up, one because I’m a little excited about the Astros and the postseason, and two, because Pedro’s use of Jobu is a pretty good example of an idol being used to try to make life easier. Ancient idols, carved or sculpted, set in homes and prayed to were meant to keep bad things away, to make life easier. Idols were thought to grant your requests if you prayed to them just right, if you gave them rum and cigars and whole chickens.

Now, many of us don’t have small statue idols like Jobu that we use to try to make life easier, but idols can come in many forms. For the man who asked Jesus, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”, his idol was his wealth. His wealth, his riches, his stuff made life easier, and he seems to have believed that he could’t be happy unless life was easy, that he couldn’t be happy unless life wasn’t hard. See, unlike Jobu, the rich man’s idol seems to have been working for him in making his life less hard. So, when Jesus told him to set aside his money, the idol that made life easier, he thought that he couldn’t be ok without it. He believed that he couldn’t be ok if life was hard, so he walled himself off from life in God’s kingdom.

Here’s a secret, life is always going to be hard, at least hard at times, and no amount of rum offered to Jobu is going to change that. 

“How hard it will be,” Jesus said, “for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of heaven.” How hard it will be to enter the kingdom of heaven for those who fear life being hard and aren’t willing to risk life being hard. That was the challenge for the rich man whose idol was his money. Well, here’s another secret, you don’t gotta be rich to have idols get in the way of risking for the kingdom of God.

Will I be ok? Will I have enough? Will I be enough? Do I have enough money, time, experience, expertise? How will I possibly be ok if I give up much of anything that I have? These are fears that I dare say all of us face, and I dare say most of us have some kind of Jobu to which we offer rum. Sometimes that idol is simply walling ourselves off from risk. 

Into all of that fear and unknowing, Jesus is teaching us to trust God in the unknowing, accepting the fact that yes, things may fall apart, and to trust that we are enough (and there are others with us). Jesus is teaching that we can never offer Jobu enough rum to safeguard against life being hard, so be ok with taking risks and giving things up for the sake of God’s kingdom.

“We gave stuff up!” Peter said in his very very Peter way. “Yes,” Jesus replied, “and you are going to receive much more, people around you to support you so that you will be ok even without as much money, time, or rum and cigars to offer to Jobu.” 

Jesus’ disciples gave up the protection of life as they knew it in order to live life in God’s kingdom with new people, new situations. Often we protect ourselves by walling ourselves off from new situations. We keep ourselves from entering new relationships and new situations for which we feel we are not enough. Our walls feel like they make life easier, but remember what God did to make life easier in Genesis 2? God made a human companion. Humans were made to be helpers and supports for each other. We find wholeness in new relationships and risk because we were meant to be there for each other. That’s life in God’s kingdom.

So, for a way that we can be there for each other and for others, to risk new relationships, I’m going to turn things over to Kathryn Johnson, Counselor at Rhodes Elementary school. We have begun a partnership with Rhodes Elementary to serve and minister there, and Mrs. Johnson is going to talk with us about the school and how we can serve and minister there.

…

…

Jesus is calling us in this time and in this place, in our new home, to risk for the sake of relationship, connection, and service in God’s kingdom. Serving and ministering at Rhodes is one of the ways Jesus is calling us, and the usual questions probably arise. Will I have enough time? Do I have enough expertise? What do I know about serving with kids? I’m too old to relate, or I’m too inexperienced to know what I’m doing.

With our questions, doubts and uncertainties, realize there will never be enough protection, there will never be enough rum for Jobu to make us ready or enough. Like the man with great wealth, Jesus is calling us to life in his kingdom, even though it may be hard. He’s also assuring us that what we’ll find in serving others is the peace that we’re looking for. What we find in giving up our various Jobus, in risking new relationships in new situations, is that we actually are enough; we actually can hit that curve ball. We actually don’t need all of our protection to make life less hard. We have each other, and we have a wonderful new opportunity to serve and live the life of God’s kingdom.

To Sustain the Weary With a Word

Brad Sullivan

Proper 19, Year B

September 16, 2018

Emmanuel, Houston

Isaiah 50:4-9a

Psalm 116:1-8

James 3:1-12

Mark 8:27-38

To Sustain the Weary With a Word

Years ago, when I was youth minister and assistant priest, one of the youth in the church said to me, apropos of absolutely nothing, “You shouldn’t even be paid.  All you do is talk for a living.”  She said it with a smile…I think she was joking.  We laughed.  There is a lot of talking in my job, and one thing I pointed out was, “hey, I gotta eat.”  Hopefully what I’m really doing through all this talking, is sustaining the weary with a word. 

That’s what God had Isaiah do in his years of prophesying to Judah:  sustain the weary with a word.  Judah had not yet been taken into captivity by Babylon, and Isaiah prophesied both warnings of coming captivity and promises of restoration.  Throughout Isaiah’s messages of warning and hope, there was a recurring theme of sustaining the weary with a word. 

The Lord enters into judgment with the elders and princes of his people:  It is you who have devoured the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your houses.  What do you mean by crushing my people, by grinding the face of the poor? says the Lord God of hosts.

Isaiah 3:13-15

One of the main problems that God had with his people was how they were treating the poor and marginalized.  ‘Why do we fast, but you do not see?  Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?’  The people called out.  “Look, you serve your own interest on your fast-day, and oppress all your workers,” God responded through Isaiah.  (Isaiah 58:3)  God was not pleased with any religious sacrifice or offering while the unskilled workers were left poor and marginalized.  God was not pleased by any amount of pious devotion or faith by those in a nation in which the wealthy became rich off of the labor of the poor, and the poor did not make enough to get by. 

If it sounds like I’m getting political, talking about America, that’s what’s in Isaiah.  Isaiah was there to sustain the weary with a word, not to uphold the wealthy who kept the poor weary through low wages.  Isaiah was not about class warfare.  Neither was God.  God wasn’t telling the wealthy they had to be paupers.  He was telling them, however, that if they truly wanted to be God’s people, then they had to make for darn sure that the poor among them, the wage earners and day laborers, had more than enough to get by.  Otherwise, God said, you will not continue to be my people.  

That is the heart of God.  Don’t worry so much about pretending to love me through devotion, worship, and religion, God says.  Truly love me by making sure that the least among you has enough not to be in poverty. 

At our last diocesan council, there was talk about executive salary, and I spoke with a man who agreed wholeheartedly with Isaiah.  Years ago, this man was being paid a multi-hundred thousand dollar a year salary, and those whom he managed and oversaw were being paid not just less, but not enough.  They were struggling.  So he changed that and lowered his own salary to give substantial raises to those who worked under him.  This man didn’t talk for a living, but he did sustain the weary with a word:  the word of Isaiah, the word of Jesus which he lived out and made real in his life.

The word of Jesus that he lived out was, “those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.”  This man didn’t go hungry.  He didn’t lose his house.  He sacrificed quite a lot of luxury and convenience.  He didn’t have the lifestyle that he could have, but he had enough.  He chose to have less than the market demanded he have in order to make sure that others had what they needed.

That’s losing your life for Jesus’ sake. 

Choosing to get by with less ain’t the easiest thing in the world to do.  There are folks who will ridicule you for it.  Folks who would be made uncomfortable by it.  Choosing to get by with less so that others may have more is kind of counter to the American dream.  Work hard enough, do enough, and you can get ahead, get rich, become powerful, a captain of industry.  Choose to sacrifice your own wealth for the sake of your workers?  That’s not really in there.

“Sustain the weary with a word,” God told Isaiah, and let that word be lived out in your actions.  To be fair, everyone is weary.  Even the wealthy and powerful get weary.  We all have variations on the same brokenness inside of us:  fear, lack of trust.  From our earliest days, we all come to realize the world is often dangerous, and we can’t always trust the people around us.  Jesus understands that fear which means God shared that fear with us.  God gets it; God understands, that fear and lack of trust, our brokenness, is part of what drives us to seek power and wealth.  With enough power and wealth, we feel secure, like we don’t have to depend on untrustworthy others.  The problem is, it’s hard to get wealthy without someone down the line working for almost nothing.

If you try to save your life, you’ll lose it, Jesus said.  Give up your abundance, your excess, your luxury (which many would call “comfort”), and see to it that those who work for very little, have enough.  If you’ve got someone who works in your home or in your yard, pay them more than they ask for.  Encourage others to do the same.  Shop at businesses that pay their workers more than the minimum.  Tell businesses that don’t, that you won’t do business there.  Sustain the weary with a word.  We’re not talking charity here, we’re talking wages needed to have enough, even if the market demands less.

I keep thinking of the Frank Capra movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” with Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed.  It’s the story of George Bailey, a businessman who owns and operates the Bailey Building and Loan.  He was hoping for a more lucrative business, but when his father died, he ended up taking over the business because the only other lender in town was a rather greedy man named Mr. Potter.  Potter charged high interest, made a lot of money, and no small amount of people were left impoverished when they were late on their loans. 

So, George Bailey continued his father’s business, making loans to folks so they could build a house, make it till the next month or the next job, and he didn’t charge high interest, and told folks who couldn’t pay him back, to do what they could when they could.

George didn’t get rich.  He helped his community.  He had a drafty old house, an old car, and enough for his wife and kids.  He’d been a man with big dreams, and was frustrated by seeing his childhood friends getting wealthy and getting ahead while he was stuck in his hometown, not getting wealthy, sometimes wondering if he was going to be ok, if they were going to have enough.  Even so, he wouldn’t let that fear drive him to get rich off of the needs of the folks to whom he loaned money.  He helped his community.  He sustained the weary with his word and actions.

Then his bumbling Uncle Billy lost a huge amount of money, and George was facing the possibility of jail time and of losing his home and business because of the missing money.  In the midst of this crisis, his wife made some calls to friends and family to let them know that George was in trouble.  Folks from all over the community came pouring into his home, bringing money to get him out of the trouble he was in, and he received a message, in inscription in a book:  “No man is a failure who has friends.” 

That’s what giving up your life for Jesus looks like.  That’s what sustaining the weary with a word looks like.  If all you do is talk for a living, if you mow lawns, if you’re a captain of industry, or anything in between, we get to sustain the weary with a word.  We get to live like George Bailey and all of his friends.  We get to encourage others to do the same, to save our lives by giving up our lives, and to sustain the weary with a word and with action.