Oh, The Places You’ll Go…Or Not [OR God Transforms Unholy Places] Romans 3:19-28 and John 8:31-36 Reformation Sunday

**sermon art: /r/Place canvas as of April 3, 2017   Place is a collaborative canvas that any registered reddit user could ‘draw’ on one pixel at a time. In order to draw another pixel on the canvas there was a 5 minute wait time. ‘Individually you can create something. Together you can create something more,’ is Place’s motto.  https://twistedsifter.com/2017/04/what-is-reddit-place/

Caitlin Trussell with Augustana Lutheran Church on October 25, 2020

[sermon begins after two Bible readings]

Romans 3:19-28 Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. 20For “no human being will be justified in his sight” by deeds prescribed by the law, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin.
21But now, apart from law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed, and is attested by the law and the prophets, 22the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, 23since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; 24they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith. He did this to show his righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over the sins previously committed; 26it was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies the one who has faith in Jesus.
27Then what becomes of boasting? It is excluded. By what law? By that of works? No, but by the law of faith. 28For we hold that a person is justified by faith apart from works prescribed by the law.

John 8:31-36 Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; 32and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” 33They answered him, “We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, ‘You will be made free’?”
34Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. 35The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever. 36So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.”

[sermon begins]

Oh, the places you’ll go…or not go, depending on who else is there, whether or not masks are required, and how much or how little you need to see people. As those things get figured out, “place” takes on new meaning in our lives. Our favorite places usually qualify as favorites because they’re fun or beautiful or peaceful or sacred or we find our favorite people there. These days, the places we go are often necessary and cannot be avoided, or meaningful and we bend to accommodate them.  Adjustments have also been made to meaningful places like the way we worshiped under a tent in the courtyard over the last few months. Last week, place was also shifted for our Confirmation students who were affirming their baptismal promises in the Rite of Confirmation. Annually celebrated on Reformation Sunday, we held a brief ritual with the youth and their families and recorded it to be celebrated with all of us here in online worship. It was a unique Confirmation, as the few of us who gathered together represented the fullness of the congregation in the Sanctuary, our community’s sacred place.

Place is important to what Jesus is saying in the Gospel of John reading as he says that, “the son has a place [in the household] forever; so if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” Jesus’ place brings freedom that cannot be created on our own. This is good news if you don’t like the new place in which you find yourself, feeling displaced by a pandemic.[1] Jesus’ freedom can also sound like good news if you’ve been displaced or excluded by other people for reasons like income, disability, skin color, or education level.

The 16th century Reformation took place in complicated socio-political times that parallel our own. Martin Luther was not the first reformer of his day, but he was the first reformer that lived long enough to disrupt the systems of church and state applying pressure to both the pope who controlled the church and the princes who controlled the city-states of their time. While Luther condemned the institutional church for its extortion of the poor and manipulation of the faithful; he also challenged the princes against exploitation of the peasants. Luther and other Reformation preachers were adamant that princes and leaders address systemic issues.[2] Luther wrote, ““For so to help a man that he does not need to become a beggar is just as much of a good work and a virtue as to give alms to a man who has already become a beggar.”[3] Lutheranism has long since preached justice-oriented community engagement on behalf of our neighbors alongside the grace of salvation “by faith apart from works.”[4] In fairness though, this grace-and-justice preaching had its place long before Luther.

In the Romans reading, check out verse 25. The execution of Jesus at the hands of the Romans gets flipped into the language of sacrifice.[5] The 1st century listener would have been like, “Whaaaat?!!” Everybody knew that sacrifices offered to God meant specific animals, killed in the temple, by a priest. No one would have equated a Roman execution of a Galilean rabbi, on a hill outside of town, with sacrifice. More specifically, the Greek word “hilasterion,translated here as “sacrifice of atonement,” is more accurately translated “mercy seat.” The early listeners in Greek would have heard that “the redemption in Christ Jesus” was put forward by God as a “mercy seat through faith in his blood.”[6]  This is BIG, so hang with me here. The mercy seat was known to be in the Holy of Holies in the Jewish Temple where the high priest entered once a year to sprinkle blood over it on Yom Kippur for the atonement of all of Israel.[7] This section of the Romans reading transforms the unholy place of the cross into the Holy of Holies, the center of God’s reconciling grace; the place where the unholy, non-Jewish Gentiles are transformed into holy Christ believers and God’s servants. These verses claim that God transforms the unholy place into a place of holy transformation. Transforming the unholy into the holy. Put a place-holder there, we’re going to come back to it.

Another dilemma in the English is that the word for justice and righteousness is the same word in Greek – dikaiosyne. 1st century listeners would have heard this word to simultaneously mean “righteousness (right relationship with God) and justice (right relationship with one’s neighbor).”[8] There was no choice needed to be made about meaning like there is in English. The place of justice for our neighbor IS the place of righteousness with God. There are many people who celebrate the Reformation solely as an event in history that revealed God’s reconciling grace within each individual believer. What often gets missed, is that it was simultaneously an event that turned the believer away from self towards the neighbor. This reading from Romans is the perfect place to open up God’s word in the fullness of the Reformation and to allow it to open us up as God’s word finds a place in us.

Grace was at the heart of the 16th century Reformation and love of neighbor completed the freedom granted by Christ’s grace. Luther also wrote, ““Poverty, I say, is not to be recommended, chosen, or taught; for there is always enough of that by itself, as [Jesus] says (John 12:8): ‘The poor you always have with you,’ just as you will have all other evils. But constant care should be taken that, since these evils are always in evidence, they are always opposed.”[9]

I’m going to let you in on a well-kept secret…we have an election coming up. Democracy and voting would have been inconceivable to Luther and his peers, not to mention to our 1st Century siblings in Christ, but they all would have understood justice and neighbor-love as required by God.[10] We’ve spent the whole last church year in the book of Matthew in which Jesus lifts up the vulnerable and oppressed as our faithful priority. And just around the corner in Advent, we’ll hear Mary sing about lifting the lowly, filling the hungry, and sending the rich away empty.[11] Voting is one more place to help our neighbor as we examine ballot issues, judges, and elected leaders. Remember to pray for yourself and each other as we vote.

Remember also that the mercy seat of Christ dwells within you by the power of the Holy Spirit in your baptism. When we were baptized into Christ, we were baptized into his death, and into the mercy seat of God.[12] The unholy places in you are the very places that God redeems and makes holy for your sake in God’s righteousness and for your neighbor’s sake in God’s justice. Today on Reformation Sunday, we celebrate that everyone has a place in the household because Christ is the mercy seat through which God redeems us and sends us in freedom to love and serve our neighbor. Thanks be to God and amen.

_____________________________________________________________

[1] Pastor Margot Wright, Lord of the Hills Lutheran Church, Centenniel, CO. Metro East Preacher’s Text Study, Rocky Mountain Synod (ELCA), on October 20, 2020.

[2] Carter Lindberg and Paul Wee (Eds.). The Forgotten Luther: Reclaiming the Social-Economic Dimension of the Reformation. (Minneapolis: Lutheran University Press, 2016), 24.

[3] Ibid., 19.

[4] Romans 3:28

[5] This section of the sermon relies heavily on this work of Jane Lancaster Patterson, Associate Professor of New Testament, Seminary of the Southwest, Austin, TX. Commentary on Romans 3:19-28 for October 25, 2020 on WorkingPreacher.org. https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=4605

[6] Patterson, Ibid.

[7] Ibid.

[8] Ibid.

[9] Lindberg and Wee, Ibid.

[10] Micah 6:8 “He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.”

[11] Luke 1:46-55

[12] Romans 6:3-11

For Nancy…A Celebration of Life (September 23, 1948 – October 10, 2020)

Caitlin Trussell with Augustana Lutheran Church on October 13, 2020

[homily begins after two Bible passages]

Philippians 4:4-7  Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. 5Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. 6Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Mark 2:1-5 When he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. 2So many gathered around that there was no longer room for them, not even in front of the door; and he was speaking the word to them. 3Then some people came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. 4And when they could not bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and after having dug through it, they let down the mat on which the paralytic lay. 5When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

[homily begins]

Think for a moment about Nancy and what comes to mind. For some, her style for hosting funeral receptions is one. More than a few people have said to me how wild it is that we’re in a moment in time when that favor can’t be returned. Although someone told me on Sunday that Nancy would say that when the time came, skip the reception. I guess she got her way there. Nancy had a thorough way of talking through things – whether it was a trip she had taken or a story she told about someone she cared about or her own diagnosis and treatment. Time talking with Nancy took time. And it was time well spent.

You might hear about her upbringing on the farm in Iowa. Cleaning hundreds of eggs with her signature efficiency while she cried the whole time. She got it done but it wasn’t pretty.

You might hear about her enrolling in business school at the first possible opportunity and moving to Denver where she fell in love with the city, with Augustana, with her friends, and, eventually, with Ed.

You might hear about her unofficial parking spot at the Hallmark store where she acquired the 100s of card sent to many of you for birthdays, anniversaries, illnesses, and condolence.

You might encounter the beautiful things that Nancy had in her home and her personal elegance as you encountered her warmth and her kind heart.

And we all know she was organized and good at keeping the rest of us on task while she led by her example of being a good servant to others.

When she was diagnosed with leukemia, a year ago July, Nancy took the task of getting well as seriously as she approached everything else in life. She wanted to defeat it and she gave it everything she had to do so. And when her will wasn’t enough, and her body finally wore out, she died “gently.” That’s how her brother Greg described it – that she died “gently.” It’s why the passage from Philippians was chosen. In verse five, it reads, “Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near.” Nancy died as she lived – with a gentle determination into what comes next.

The story of the friends in the Gospel of Mark seems appropriate for Nancy’s funeral. What a scene! These friends are true problem solvers. Their paralyzed friend needs help and they head toward Jesus.  There were so many people that they couldn’t get in the house. So they opened the roof to lower their friend down to Jesus. That is determination infused with deep love for their friend.  This Bible story just shouted to be told as an echo to Nancy’s life.  I can imagine Nancy up on that roof.  Quietly directing the rest of us to be careful with the friend on the mat, monitoring the proper lowering speed to keep the descent smooth, and efficiently homing in on Jesus’ location – directing us to bring our paralyzed friend to Jesus’ attention.

On the flip side, I can also see Nancy as the friend on the mat. The one who desperately needed help from other people and also needed the attention Jesus. She couldn’t say enough about her brothers and those of you who made her life and treatment easier over the last year. When she was diagnosed, it was her turn to receive all that she had given. Note that Jesus doesn’t ask for a list of virtues before he forgives the friend on the mat. He doesn’t ask the friends to recite all the reasons why Jesus should do so. This seems important to notice at a funeral.

At funerals we have a tendency to create a virtue list of the person who died as if the life and virtues of a person can be mixed into cement of sorts, paving the way between us and God. Don’t get me wrong – the faithful virtues of someone like Nancy are a guide and an inspiration to the rest of us. She’s someone we can look up to. But God receives Nancy into the company of the saints in light because of who God is, not because of what Nancy did. Because what Jesus does through the cross, is promise that there is nothing Nancy could do or not do to make God love her any more or any less. That’s the beauty of grace through faith.

The gospel emphasizes the power of God in Jesus. Jesus, who is God. God, who is Jesus. Jesus who came not to condemn the world but to save the world that God so loves. Jesus whose ministry of God’s unconditional love led to his execution on a cross. One thing the cross means is that God knows suffering. More than that, the cross reveals the mystery of God suffering with us when we suffer which means that the cross meets our grief with hope – allowing space at the foot of the cross for sadness and loss while also celebrating the goodness of life in the person who died.

Christians will sometimes refer to living on “this side of the cross.”  The resurrection-side of the cross is simply too much to fathom in a world in which we can clearly see real problems.  In this way, the truth of the cross is closer to home than the resurrection. It’s a truth we get deep in our gut. The truth that being human involves real suffering and pain.

The truth that God would rather die than raise a hand in violence against the world that God so loves.

The truth of God’s self-sacrificing love.

The truth that forgiveness comes from the cross as Jesus says, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

The truth about the unflinching love of God in the face of our failures.

Those are hard truths, but we can get at them from our own experiences of love, forgiveness, self-sacrifice, pain, suffering, and death.  We can get at them from this side of the cross.

The resurrection side of the cross, the empty tomb of Easter, means that we are not left forever in the shadow of the cross. The empty tomb reminds us that there will come a day when God, “will swallow up death forever…and will wipe away the tears from all faces.”[1] The empty tomb reminds us that Jesus laid his life down in self-sacrificing love, and now catches death up into God, drawing Nancy into the holy company of all the saints in light perpetual along with Ed. Here, now, we are assured that this is God’s promise for Nancy.  And be assured, that this is God’s promise for you. Thanks be to God! And amen.

[1] Isaiah 25:8

Pandemic Brain [OR An Honest Accounting of Binding Anxiety to Unhelpful Things] Exodus 32:1-14, Philippians 4:1-8, and Matthew 22:1-14

**sermon art: The Golden Calf (2001) Oil on canvas by John Bradford (9’ X 14’)

Pastor Caitlin Trussell with Augustana Lutheran Church on October 11, 2020

[sermon begins after 2 Bible readings; find the Matthew reading at end of sermon]

Exodus 32:1-14 When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered around Aaron, and said to him, “Come, make gods for us, who shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” 2 Aaron said to them, “Take off the gold rings that are on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” 3 So all the people took off the gold rings from their ears, and brought them to Aaron. 4 He took the gold from them, formed it in a mold, and cast an image of a calf; and they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” 5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a festival to the Lord.” 6 They rose early the next day, and offered burnt offerings and brought sacrifices of well-being; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to revel.

7 The Lord said to Moses, “Go down at once! Your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have acted perversely; 8 they have been quick to turn aside from the way that I commanded them; they have cast for themselves an image of a calf, and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’ ” 9 The Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, how stiff-necked they are. 10 Now let me alone, so that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them; and of you I will make a great nation.” 11 But Moses implored the Lord his God, and said, “O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians say, “It was with evil intent that he brought them out to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce wrath; change your mind and do not bring disaster on your people. 13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, how you swore to them by your own self, saying to them, “I will multiply your descendants like the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’ ” 14 And the Lord changed his mind about the disaster that he planned to bring on his people.

Philippians 4:1-8 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, my beloved. 2 I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord. 3 Yes, and I ask you also, my loyal companion, help these women, for they have struggled beside me in the work of the gospel, together with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life. 4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. 5 Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. 6 Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. 9 Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.

[sermon begins]

 

 

Anybody else here struggling with pandemic brain? I can’t say that pandemic brain is an actual term coined by anyone else beyond me. But you may recognize it as a higher tendency for your mind to wander, not as efficient as you once were, less patient with yourself and others, more tired than warranted by the amount of sleep you’re getting. There are likely a slew of other ways you’re experiencing pandemic brain. I’d like to go after a big one that I’m pretty sure is fairly widespread – anxiety…[cue foreboding music].

Our culture has pathologized anxiety to an extreme – as if we need any more help feeling anxious about feeling anxious. Here’s one gem of good news this week, anxiety is normal. At least a certain amount of anxiety is normal. It’s a normal function of the part of our brain called the limbic system, the part that processes our emotions.[1] We don’t do high level processing there. We simply react. It’s where fight-or-flight happens. It’s the part of our brain that keeps us alive without having to think about it. Emotions clue us into whether we feel afraid, or safe, or worried, or loved. Higher level processing takes place in the grey matter of our brain called the cortex. This is where we think, learn, and process our emotions, about the information our emotions give us.

Okay, neuroscience lesson over but why am I giving it? Well, for starters, it’s timely to World Mental Health Day on October 10.[2] It’s also timely to our current world moment. Most people I talk to are dealing with some level of anxiety spiraling in the wrong direction. Anxiety caused by events deeply personal and close to home or anxiety linked to everything going on in the world. One thing about anxiety is that it can fool us into thinking that we’re thinking but we’re not thinking, we’re just using a lot of words as we react.

Let’s take the Israelites in the Bible story from Exodus today. We’ve been following their story over the last couple of months starting with their oppression under Pharaoh, the birth of Moses, the call of the Lord to Moses to set his people free, their daring escape, their complaining in the wilderness, and now they’re at the base of Mt. Sinai up which Moses has disappeared to listen to God. They’re a traumatized people fleeing and fighting for their survival. Apparently, he was gone too long for their comfort and they did not know what had become of him (v1). They gathered around Aaron, a priest and also Moses’ brother, demanding that he make gods for them. The Hebrew word “to gather” might be better translated as to “gather against.”[3] Aaron was under pressure from the people to do what they asked. Probably feeling anxious about his own survival, he complied with their demand and made a golden calf around which the people first made sacrifices and then they ate, drank, and rose up to revel. They partied. And the Hebrew word translated as “revel” means that they partied hard.[4] The Israelites were stressed. They’d escaped slavery in Egypt, meandered in the wilderness, and now Moses was delayed in coming down the mountain. More than a few of us can probably appreciate their need to blow off some steam, drink away their troubles, and fall asleep without worrying about their leader. Who can blame them for binding their anxiety to the things that feel good.

“Binding the anxiety” is an expression that I learned from my therapist who I now see online about once a month whether I need it or not. These regular mental health tune-ups do a world of good in a world that isn’t always good. One of the things I’ve learned is that the anxiety we feel for all kinds of reasons finds a way to bind to things that make us feel better. These things run the gamut of good, bad, and ugly so subtly that we unconsciously sweet talk ourselves with them. We often leave our anxiety binds unexamined because the status quo is much easier than figuring out what IS good for us. We could invite our friends who’ve been through recovery with Alcoholics Anonymous to teach us a thing or two about binding anxiety with a perilous status quo. But there are lots of ways to bind anxiety that fly under the social radar. I bet if I polled all of you listening about what you bind your anxiety to that we’d come up with a fairly comprehensive list of how well we fool ourselves as well as healthy good options that are actually in our best interest.

Whether it’s the Israelites in the Exodus story, or the violent king in the parable in the gospel of Matthew, or Paul’s feuding co-workers of the gospel – Euodia and Syntyche, there are examples aplenty in today’s Bible readings to provoke us into difficult questions about our behavior and faith.[5] On the heels of World Mental Health day, there’s no time like the present to pause, think, self-examine, talk with trusted friends and therapists, reflect, pray, and repeat. Especially because over the next few weeks, the political, economic, and pandemic news as well as personal household stressors will increase the anxiety that highjacks our higher-level thinking and highjacks who we’re called to be as Jesus followers.

We’re called to gratitude, rejoicing, prayer, and in those activities “the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will guard [our] hearts and [our] minds in Christ Jesus.” And in our Augustana community of faith, as in the church at Philippi, we help each other understand ourselves and our neighbors as beloved so that we can hear the things that Jesus followers are encouraged to do. Let’s listen to those verses one more time:

“Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and receive and heard and seen…and the God of peace will be with you.”

The good news is that we have a Savior who was bound, battered, and thrown into the darkness where there is wailing and gnashing of teeth – on a hill, far away, on an old rugged cross.  A few chapters beyond the today’s parable in Matthew is the story of Jesus’ crucifixion.[6] During the events leading up to his crucifixion, through the crucifixion itself, we are told of one who is tossed out. The one who is silent in the face of challenge[7], the one who is mocked for being in the wrong clothes[8], the one who is bound hand and foot[9], the one who is hung on a cross where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth[10], the one who is forsaken,[11] the one who hangs under a sign announcing his kingship[12], and the one who is finally announced as God’s Son.[13]

Jesus knows threat, trauma, and fear because the lies of powerful people were exposed by his message of justice, peace, grace, love, and faith. Our Savior frees us to be honest about our fragile anxieties and yokes us to himself by the power of the Holy Spirit. We can speak the truth of our failures while also seeing the way out of an empty tomb into healing and new life not only for ourselves, but in support of each other too, pandemic brains and all. There are big and small ways to take a step towards mental health. The first step is an honest accounting of our personal moment. As Christians, we’re encouraged to do that anyway. The second is to reach out, talk it through with trusted people, and make a plan that holds us accountable to thinking on honorable, just, and commendable things while binding our anxieties to a cross and a Savior that promises hope and life in the here and now. Thanks be to God and amen.

Song after the sermon; ELW 362 At the Lamb’s High Feast We Sing

1 At the Lamb’s high feast we sing
praise to our victorious king,
who has washed us in the tide
flowing from his wounded side.
Alleluia!

2 Praise we Christ, whose love divine
gives his sacred blood for wine,
gives his Body for the feast —
Christ the victim, Christ the priest.
Alleluia!

3 Where the paschal blood is poured,
death’s dread angel sheathes the sword;
Israel’s hosts triumphant go
through the wave that drowns the foe.
Alleluia!

4 Praise we Christ, whose blood was shed,
paschal victim, paschal bread;
with sincerity and love
eat we manna from above.
Alleluia!

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[1] For brief and surprisingly thorough one-minute videos about this anatomy, check out “The Triune Brain: at https://www.thescienceofpsychotherapy.com/the-triune-brain/

[2] World Federation for Mental Health https://wfmh.global/world-mental-health-day-2020/

[3] Vanessa Lovelace, Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean of the Seminary, Lancaster Theological Seminary, PA. Commentary of Exodus 32:1-14 for October 11, 2020. https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=4611

[4] Ibid.

[5] Today’s Bible readings: Exodus 32:1-14, Philippians 4:1-9, and Matthew 22:1-14

[6] For my full sermon on this parable and line of thought go here: http://caitlintrussell.org/2014/10/12/matthew-221-14-a-haunted-house-and-a-flashlight-or-of-a-king-and-a-son-and-a-thrown-out-one/

[7] Matthew 26:63

[8] Matthew 27:28,

[9] Matthew 27:31b

[10] Matthew 27:33

[11] Matthew 27:46

[12] Matthew 27:37

[13] Matthew 27:54

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Matthew 22:1-14 Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying: 2 “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. 3 He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come. 4 Again he sent other slaves, saying, “Tell those who have been invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready; come to the wedding banquet.’ 5 But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business, 6 while the rest seized his slaves, mistreated them, and killed them. 7 The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. 8 Then he said to his slaves, “The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. 9 Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.’ 10 Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad; so the wedding hall was filled with guests. 11 “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe, 12 and he said to him, “Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?’ And he was speechless. 13 Then the king said to the attendants, “Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14 For many are called, but few are chosen.”