Profit and Loss
Matthew 21: 33-46
Philippians 3:4-14
When I was growing up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, there was a wonderful amusement park a few miles out of town called Kennywood Park, a place that our family and all the school groups would visit often. I loved Kennywood Park - but I didn’t go on very many rides. I didn’t like the roller coasters or any type of rides that made my insides turn upside down or inside out. As usual I played it safe. I quietly enjoyed all the smooth, gentle rides like the Swan boat rides that simply floated down little streams and made easy turns around tranquil or amusing scenes.
One of the roller coaster rides at Kennywood Park was called The Jack Rabbit which was built on a natural ravine, has a 70 foot natural double dip drop. I have never been on that ride. My brother tells me there are two new roller coasters, one called Phantom’s Revenge with a 230 foot drop and at times moving at speeds up to 85 MPH. The second is called The Exterminator which twists and turns you around, up and down in the dark. While many people relish the thrills, dips, double dips, plunges, twists, turns of coasters, there are many of us who prefer our feet firmly planted on the ground or moving gently through still waters, surrounded by stability and serenity.
These past few weeks we have all been on a roller coaster ride called The Economy. It has been quite a ride; no thrills and certainly no moments of stability. There have been ups and downs, twists and turns, dips, double dips and plunges. We are in an economic time that has yielded few profits and resulted in landmark losses. And there is nothing that makes anyone more nervous and filled with angst – than money and our financial situation.
This past Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial average fell 778 points. The S&P 500 fell 8.8% - the lowest close since October 2004. The price of crude oil fell from $106 a barrel down to $96 a barrel. The yield on US Treasury securities plunged. Wachovia Bank took an 82% plunge and was bought by Citigroup. It has been estimated that 1.2 trillion dollars in stock market wealth was lost around the world on Monday.
We watch while holding our breath. We observe the plunging global economy from a distance - but we know that it will affect our own personal assets and our financial stability or instability - as the case may be. We watch our governmental officials, who can’t seem to really work together to find short or long term solutions. We wonder about their motives, and speculate that it is all motivated by self-interest, partisan politics and greed. But what plays out on that national level – is really very personal because we have this underlying fear that we or our loved ones may have to choose between paying heating bills and putting food on the table.
We find another set of government and religious leaders in our story from Matthew. These officials are also a group who don’t seem to work together for the common good and it is also evident that were motivated by self-interest, partisan politics, religion and greed. The chief priests and elders have gathered in the temple courtyard and they question the authority of Jesus. There are some “gotcha politics” going on – because they try to trick Jesus. Jesus refuses to answer them under their terms and instead tells them a few stories. The first is the Parable of the Two Sons and their lack of response to their father, when they are asked to work in a vineyard. In the second, Jesus tells the Parable of the Tenants, a story found in all three synoptic gospels.
It is a story about a landowner who takes great care to build a business and who almost loses it all because of the reckless actions of the tenants – whose very faulty thinking is based on self-interest and greed. When we live our lives and are solely guided by self-interest, greed, money and getting ahead – we can very mixed up with some faulty and dangerous thinking.
Listen to the care with which the landowner builds his business.
There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey.
The landowner takes care to plant, protect, and take care of vineyard. He hired some workers and entrusted his financial venture to them – as all of us do with our business or our work or our investments. We hope and expect that it will produce fruits that will provide for our family. The landowner did the same.
But the tenants somehow forgot who the owner of the land and the vineyard was. The tenants became filled with self-interest only and they mistakenly forgot that they were there because of the owner. They didn’t even own the land. They were tenants. Self-interest and greed can really distort one’s thinking.
The tenants kill the servants that the owner sent and they ultimately even reject and kill the owner’s son. The tenants were swallowed up in self-interest. They were operating on faulty thinking. They lost sight of the bigger picture – they lost sight of all that was really important. When we are so totally absorbed in money – our vision of what really matters is blocked.
There is a children’s story that I have done before – with a coin. When you bring the coin all the way up to your eye – the rest of your vision becomes totally blocked. Try that sometime. Any coin – close up – will block your larger vision. As a matter of fact – any one thing – that you consume yourself with – can block your larger vision. When greed overwhelms your thoughts and your actions – you lose sight of family, friends and community. Pull the coin back – put money and worry in its proper place – and your vision will expand and you will see a better balanced world. Realistically we can’t ignore money and our financial situations – but keep it at a proper and healthy distance.
At the end of the parable – Jesus quotes Psalm 118:22 which reminds us of what and whom is our cornerstone – our anchor in life when we are overwhelmed, fearful, confused or need direction in our life for whatever reason.
The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone;
The Lord has done this and it is marvelous in our eyes.
Jesus is the cornerstone. Jesus is the capstone. He is the anchor - the son sent by God – God who is the landowner with unending patience. In our own moments - be they moments of profit and loss – when our stomachs turn inside out and upside down - we can turn to the Jesus who will not be moved. Those moments when we don’t know what the next day will hold – we turn to God - who will not be moved.
We might move and shake. We might fall down or feel paralyzed at times about all kinds of things - but God does not move. The love of God is a solid as a rock and when we pull back and look a broader picture we see that God has put family, friends and community around us – to live a healthier and whole life.
Jesus also said when that the greatest commandment was to love our neighbor as one’s self. The word “as” is a conjunction – linking care for oneself and care for neighbor and gives them the same level of importance. We need to take care of ourselves – but we balance that with care for one another.
The Philippians text this week gives us the direction we need.
We press on.
We press on and move forward. We take the lessons we have learned from our yesterdays – and we press on. We learn from the times that self-interest and greed have blocked our vision. We learn and we press on. Every day is a new day. Every day is chance to start again.
The apostle Paul goes through his whole resume in this text. It’s quite impressive – but Paul says – it doesn’t matter. Paul says;
“If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.
But Paul realized that all of that doesn’t matter - the greatest thing is knowing Jesus Christ.
But whatever was to my profit, I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him.
We find ourself – in the love of God.
We find ourself – in the love of Jesus Christ.
We find our stability in our faith.
Paul concludes:
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called in Christ Jesus.
We press on.
When our financial worries overwhelm us – we press on.
When a family situation confounds us – we press on. We don’t give up.
When a health situation scares us – we press on. We don’t stop taking care of ourselves. We can’t ignore our health either – we take care of ourselves – today.
We press on – and we don’t let that which scares us - paralyze us.
We press on.
I disagree with Paul when he says that we should “forget what lies behind us.” We can’t really forget our past anyway – but we can learn from it. At some point we take what we have learned – let’s say it is about our financial situation and our money fears and it becomes a lesson. If we weren’t able to pay all the bills this month – we think through how we can make ends meet next month. We get an additional job. We spend less somewhere else. We take some healthy actions and next steps – so that we won’t run into that situation again. We take the lesson with us – and we press on.
Pressing on – is about not giving up which takes courage and fortitude. Rev. Peter Gomes that says “Fortitude is that moral quality that allows us to persevere when others would easily give up or give in; it is the fuel of the long-distance moral runner who despite inner fatigue and the apparent outward success of others, nevertheless keeps on keeping on.”
And so we press on.
On this Worldwide Communion Sunday we come together with people of all Christian faiths - all around the world - we come to the table of the Lord. Throughout the world churches of all denominations, in all nations, in many languages, are celebrating the Lord’s Supper and we together we celebrate, remember and recommit to the cornerstone of our faith - Jesus Christ.
This is the place where we bring our financial worries, our health concerns, our relationship challenges.
This is the place where we come with our fears and with our tears.
This is the place we come. We come because this is the place where we meet Jesus Christ – and we make the decision to press on.
The table is set and there is a place – just for you.
Amen.
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