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<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica;font-size:10pt;color:black"><span style="font-size: 12pt">Resources for Proper 21</span>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">Matthew 21:23-32 - "When the Best People Were Left Out"</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">Matthew 21:23-32 - "Love Your Enemies” Doesn’t Mean Don’t Make Any" by Leonard Sweet</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt">Matthew 21 - the sermon title “When the Best People Were Left Out" </span>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">There is a wonderful story about a group of military leaders who succeeded in building a super computer that was able to solve any problem--large or small, strategic or tactical. These military leaders assembled in front of the new machine for a demonstration. The engineer conducting the demonstration instructed these officers to feed a difficult tactical problem into it. The military leaders proceeded to describe a hypothetical situation to the computer and then asked the pivotal question: attack or retreat? This enormous super computer hummed away for an hour and then printed out its one-word answer . . . YES.<br>
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The generals looked at each other, somewhat stupefied. Finally one of them submits a second request to the computer: YES WHAT? Instantly the computer responded: YES, SIR.<br>
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The Pharisees, like these generals, were accustomed to people saying "Yes, sir" to them. They were the religious authorities. They were used to being treated as such. But there was a new teacher in town, a teacher who was threatening their authority. The Pharisees were alarmed. They feared Jesus' popularity, his ability to heal and to perform miracles. In their eyes, Jesus was preaching heresy and leading people away from the religious traditions that defined the Jews. The Pharisees wanted to expose him as a fraud.<br>
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It was in this context that Jesus told a story about a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, "Son, go and work today in the vineyard."<br>
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The boy immediately said, "No." Later he changed his mind and went. Then the father went to his other son and said the same thing. This one answered, "O.K." but he never got out to the vineyard. Then Jesus asked a simple question: "Which of the two did what his father wanted?"<br>
"The first," they answered.<br>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">Then Jesus delivered the punch line, "I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him." (NIV)<br>
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That really was a punch line, and the Pharisees were the ones who were punched. I imagine Jesus heard some gasps and "How dare he!" from the crowd that day. It was unthinkable to compare the righteous Pharisees to blatant sinners like the tax-collectors and prostitutes. Didn't he know that the Pharisees were too good to be lumped together with the likes of them? Didn't he know that only those people with the right "credentials," so to speak, would make it into the Kingdom of God? What was Jesus talking about and why was he excoriating the best people in town?<br>
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There is an old Japanese legend that tells of a man who died and went to heaven. Heaven was beautiful--full of lush gardens and glittering mansions. But then the man came to a room lined with shelves. On the shelves were stacked piles of human ears! A heavenly guide explained that these ears belonged to all the people on earth who listened each week to the word of God, but never acted on God's teachings. Their worship never resulted in action. When these people died, therefore, only their ears ended up in heaven. <br>
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Jesus is dealing with a bunch of "earless" religious folk in this passage, and it would be to our benefit to listen in on the conversation. It's so easy to mistake self-righteous attitudes for true belief in Jesus as Savior. Any one of us can be guilty of it. This passage packs a powerful message, telling us...</span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">1. How God's grace is shocking.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">2. How we are to live our lives.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">3. And how, no one is excluded from the Kingdom of God, not even a Pharisee.</span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">The rest of this sermon following the outline above can be obtained by joining <a target="_blank" href="http://mail.churchmail.com/lists/lt.php?id=Kk8AAAcHDwdaRAMNAEsDAABWWg%3D%3D"><font color="#0000ff">http://www.sermons.com/signup</font></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt">Matthew 21 - the sermon titled "Love Your Enemies Doesn’t Mean Don’t Make Any" by Leonard Sweet </span>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">Mike Rowe has made a career out of doing disgusting stuff. As the host of the Discovery Channel series “Dirty Jobs,” Rowe has mucked-out, dug under, flushed, slogged, and slid through some of the most filthy and foul places on the planet. </span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">But whether he has been hanging from rafters or slipping through sewers, Rowe has consistently shown his viewers how even the most grungy, grimy, gross job still has its own dirty dignity. Rowe always offers respect to those who are “showing him the ropes,” whether they are demonstrating how to scrape up penguin poop or harvest worms. The underlying message of “Dirty Jobs” is that no matter how nasty, a job is a job and doing it well gives a sense of well-being and worth to humanity. </span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">Except . . . . and it’s the exceptions that prove the rule . . . some jobs have always been just too “dirty” to redeem. Jesus honed in on the performers of these most despicable jobs throughout his ministry. Jesus spoke with and reached out to exactly those who were supposed to be shunted off and shoved aside for the unredeemable “dirty jobs.”</span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">Jesus touched and healed the untouchable and unhealable — lepers, Gentiles, crazies. </span></div>
<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">Jesus comforted a Roman centurion grieving for his daughter. Jesus extended his hand to those out of their minds, “possessed” by demons. </span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">But perhaps the most wretched refuse Jesus consoled and companioned were the tax collectors and prostitutes. Neither disease, nor demons, nor DNA made these people outcasts. They had professions that they knew would make them outcasts among their own people and despised by the people they served.</span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">In Jesus’ day both tax collectors and prostitutes were viewed as “collaborators.” They profited from the despised existence and detested ruling authority of the Roman Empire. </span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">Tax collectors brought the reality of Roman rule into the pocket of every Jewish citizen. Every action taken, every aspect of life, was scrutinized and taxed by the Roman authorities. Every sheckel paid was a cruel reminder of Israel’s defeat, of the loss of identity and the fear of no future that haunted the “chosen people” of God. Every time the tax collector dumped coins into Rome’s coffers, Israel’s hopes became emptier. </span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">Prostitutes violated their own sexual purity, to be sure. But their existence also threatened the purity of Israel itself. According to Mosaic law any child born of a Jewish mother was considered Jewish. But what happens when the “chosen people” are being created by Roman soldiers? </span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">The tax collectors were instruments used against Israel’s political identity. The prostitutes were instruments used against Israel’s genetic identity. </span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">Yet it is precisely these two groups, one the most dangerous and the other the most despicable, that Jesus singled out and elevated above “the chief priests and elders of the people.” It was the ultimate insult…</span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">Click here: <a target="_blank" href="http://mail.churchmail.com/lists/lt.php?id=Kk8AAAcHDwdVRAMNAEsDAABWWg%3D%3D"><font color="#0000ff">http://www.sermons.com/signup</font></a> or call 1-800-777-7731 to join.</span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">Needing a Change of Heart</span></div>
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<div style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="font-size: 12pt">The primary point of this parable is about having a change in heart, not just about saying or doing the right things. The following stories might illustrate this point.<br>
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Once there were two couples. Couple A were married in a large, beautiful church ceremony. They pledge life-long faithfulness and love to each other in the moving words of their vows. However, their life together has been one of abuse -- both physical and verbal. They both have been unfaithful to each other.<br>
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Couple B live together. They had no public ceremony. They signed no marriage license. They spoke no vows in the presence of witnesses. However, their life together is a loving and affirming relationship. They have remained faithful to each other.<br>
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Which couple would you say is doing the will of God?<br>
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Both need change of hearts -- couple A in the way they act towards each other and couple B in their attitudes about the importance of the words in a public ceremony.<br>
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Another analogy might be with those who attend church and say all the right words, but whose lives fall somewhat short of John's "way of righteousness" and others who live exemplary lives; but who want nothing to do with "organized religion" and the public expression of their faith.<br>
Both need "a change of heart".<br>
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Brian P. Stoffregen, Exegetical Notes<br>
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