I Think Icon Matthew 22:15-22

A couple of questions before we begin. Do we remember where this confrontation takes place? Do we remember where Jesus is sitting or standing when this confrontation between the Pharisees and the Herodians with Jesus concerning taxes takes place? Jesus is in the Courtyard of the Gentiles, probably sitting, teaching the people.

This courtyard is part of the greater Temple complex so, when one enters, one begins to divest oneself of worldly distractions. One of the first things to happen would be that a person would need to change their worldly money for temple money. A Roman denarius has the head of the Emperor and an inscription something like, “Son of the living god,” on the face side. On the reverse, it reads, “Pontifex Maximus”, a title held by the Emperor indicating he is the head of the Roman religion. This makes Roman coins idolatrous.

Temple coins are stamped with images of wheat or trees or other images of creation, but not the image of a person, one who is created in the image of God, lest the human image on the coin is considered to be an image of God. Only the coins of the temple can be used inside the Temple, so exchange tables are set up at the gates to save people from breaking the first commandment, “You shall have no other gods. You shall not worship any graven images.”

Now that we have the setting in mind, consider that this confrontation the Pharisees’ disciples and the Herodians provoke with Jesus occurs in that strange time of already and not yet. We continue to march toward the end of our Church Year. Reformation Day is next week. We will remember All Saints Sunday November 5. Christ the King Sunday is November 26, ending the Year of Matthew. Then Advent opens the Year of Mark and is supplemented by the waiting stories of Luke and Matthew as we prepare to tell the story of God’s word revealed to us in a vulnerable child named Jesus. At the same time, we are marching toward the cross. It is Holy Week in our Gospel text today.

This is the setting when the Pharisees send their disciples with the Herodians to Jesus. The Herodians are Jewish people, but they support Herod and his Roman ways. The Pharisees and Herodians come with another test to entrap Jesus in his own words so they can get rid of him because of the trouble he has been causing them in their lives. There is tension in the air. Jesus is becoming more than just an annoyance: he is challenging the order of their world.

So, the Pharisees send their disciples, their best and brightest students, and the Herodians, trained in political debate, to challenge Jesus. For us today, this would be like putting Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer together as a team to get a mutually satisfactory answer. As highly partisan political groups, it would be almost impossible to satisfy both the Pharisees and the Herodians.

They come to Jesus asking, “Is it lawful?” The Pharisees, understanding that we are not to worship the emperor, are asking a religious question, “Is it lawful for Temple offerings to be used to benefit the Emperor?” But the Herodians are concerned with the pragmatic consideration that, in order to ensure the Temple continues to exist, the current Temple practice to pay tribute or taxes to the emperor must continue.

This answer could easily get Jesus in trouble. If he says, “Yes, you should pay taxes”, Jesus would advocate violating Mosaic law, but if he says, “You shouldn’t pay taxes,” Jesus would be inciting insurrection against the Roman government.

Jesus instead asks why they are testing him, why they are putting him on trial. In the words of the prayer Jesus teaches, he is stating something like, “Lead me not into the time of trial, temptation, or testing. Deliver us from evil.” He says, “Why are you testing me, you hypocrites?”, that is, “Why are you questioning me about what you can’t live up to yourselves?”

To demonstrate this, Jesus says, “Where is the coin that you use to pay the tax? Show it to me.” Remember, they are within the Temple complex. They should not have any of the emperor’s coins, but, somehow, one of the coins is immediately available. Do you see the problem here?

Way back in Genesis, thousands of years before this confrontation, these words were given for the people of Jesus’ time and for ours. “The Lord said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image. And God created humankind in his image. Male and female he created them.’”

In the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the word for image is very particular. Transliterated, we have come to know this word as icon. Today we think of icons as something on our computer screens, but this use of icon in the Old Testament speaks of the verisimilitude, the reflection, of God.

“Whose icon is on the coin?” is what Jesus asks.

They reply, “The Emperor’s.”

To understand the depth of the question, let us consider, “Whose icon is on you?” You see, the emperor’s icon may be stamped on the coin, but God’s image is stamped on you. God’s image is stamped on us. Each one of us carries God’s imprint on us. To put that on a coin would devalue what God has done. This is why the temple coins are not stamped with human images.

So, Jesus says to the Pharisees’ disciples and the Herodians, “Then give back to Caesar, the emperor, what belongs to the emperor—his picture, his title. Then give to God what is God’s—you. Remember that you have been created, you are born, imprinted with the image of God.”

And, not only have you been imprinted in the image of God, but in Baptism, you have been marked with the sign of the cross, forever! This is your identity. It is that icon we get to give back, to reflect, to turn back to others so that they might see the good works of God in you. In our Thanksgiving prayer following the offering we say, “We offer with joy and thanksgiving what you have first given us, ourselves, our time, our possessions”, that is, our talents, our property, our coins, our icons, “signs of your gracious love.”

There is a plot going on here to entrap Jesus so that they might arrest him and kill him, but not today! Jesus reminds them and indicts them with the idolatrous coins that they bring to the temple. He forces them to produce the evidence of their own damning while the Pharisees’ disciples and the Herodians are trying to condemn him.

So, they are amazed; they marvel at his debating skills; and they leave. Of course, they will come back at another place and time to test him again. In the meantime, we are left with God’s icon, with Christ’s branding cross upon us, with Christ’s message of good news embedded in us, so that we will always have enough to give, what has already been given to us.

We have always lived in a world of multiple loyalties, and we understand that there will always be multiple loyalties claiming us, our time, and our resources, but today we are faced with COMPETING loyalties. In a competition someone or something has to win. So, it is that, in this text, we are called to faithfully discern that competition between Caesar’s and God’s power in the world, to understand the importance of the first commandment, “You shall have no other god before me.”—the command that includes that you will not worship graven images.

In class last week, in our discussion of the numbering of the Ten Commandments, Brandon said, “Luther does not put worshipping graven images in as a separate commandment because Luther understands that this part about graven images is just a further explanation of ‘You shall have no other god before me.’” I was so proud of him, because that is exactly why Luther did that. That is why Lutherans number the Ten Commandments differently from other denominations. It is one of those things we should know about our Lutheran heritage in the 500th celebration Reformation year. Okay, part of it may be that Luther wanted us to sound just a little different without being too different.

This subtle shifting of content is also seen in Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians. Here Paul is doing something radically new and different. In this letter Paul invents something new in the name of God. He creates the group letter. This is the first time in history that a letter is sent not to a person, but to a whole community. It is not to lift up a single person, but a whole community of people, to tell them that he, Paul, holds them in high regard and that God has claimed them because God has imprinted God’s image on them. Because of God’s own work, God loves them enough to send his son to save them.

In Isaiah, today, we hear that God does not only work through the chosen people, but through anyone God wants to. God chooses to use others in the world to show God’s love for God’s chosen people. We see Cyrus becoming the hand of God to lead God’s people home, out from slavery, out of bondage to the Babylonians, back to Jerusalem.

God says, “I can do this because I have done everything else.” In this text we are reminded of creation and everything God has done, even to imprinting God’s icon on all of humankind, male and female, of every race and nation, gay and straight, able and disabled. We are imprinted, stamped, created, in the image, the icon, of God. So, as we go into our world of multiple and competing loyalties, let us faithfully discern where we should put our trust.

I was reminded of a story this week of how difficult this process of discernment can be. A young woman was out sunning herself on a beach when she saw a young boy, dressed in his swimming suit, wearing flippers and swimming goggles with a snorkel, sort of duck-waddling down the beach toward her. She smiled at him as he struggled through the sand to her, and then he asked, “Lady, do you believe in Jesus Christ?”

She was taken aback, but she said, “Yes, I do.”

The boy continued, “Do you read the Bible and say your prayers every day?”

She said, “Yes, I do.”

The boy asked, “Do you go to church every Sunday?”

She said, “Yes, I do, but why do you want to know?”

He looked at her for a long time and then seemed to make a decision. “Will you hold my quarter for me while I’m swimming?”

There are those days when we really want to go swimming and need to make sure that our quarter is safe. What to do? What to do? Hopefully, we will always find such satisfactory solutions to our problems as we discern our multiple and competing loyalties that challenge us every day in our lives in the midst of God’s complicated and delightful cathedral creation. So, let us walk together holding each other’s quarter while we swim in the waters of baptism bearing the image of Christ to one another.

COIN TOSS LOSS

THE ANGELUS TRUMPET

The Unexpurgated Source for Alternative Bible Facts

SPORTS

COIN TOSS LOSS

by Matt Hughes
Dateline: Jerusalem, Oct. 22, 2017, 22:15:22

In the non-conference game between the Temple Pharisees (TP) and Reform School Disciples (RSD), controversy arose when TP QB Herald DeYoung won the coin toss over RSD QB Josh Kristy. It appears that Head Referee Dan Areas, gave the ball to Temple when he told DeYoung to call it in the air, saying “Heads you win; tails they lose.”

Despite the disadvantage RSD received when they lost the toss, they wiped the field with TP throughout the game. TP’s defense was taxing, but TP never fully tested the forceful push of RSD’s offense. Kristy’s brilliant ability to instantly read the TP defense shredded the TP containment play and its morale alike.

In the end, TP just wasn’t up to the job. TP clearly came out number two—final score: RSD 27, TP 0.

The Case of the Rhetorical Parable Matthew 22:1-14

To begin with, a rhetorical question is a question that has an expected answer. For instance, if I asked, “If I follow the instructions you gave, I will get to where I want to go, right?” Since you gave me the instructions and you know where I want to go, the answer should be yes. The answer is understood by the wording of the question. Or, someone might say, “A fool and his money are soon parted, right?” Or, maybe you might say, “Is the Pope Catholic? Is the sky blue? Do bears do what bears do in the woods? Are flamingos pink?” We might even cry out, “God’s in his heavens; all’s right with the world!” expecting an affirmative response.

We use this rhetorical device as a means of gathering consensus among friends. We don’t always ask the questions in a way that demands a positive answer; sometimes we are eliciting a negative answer, but we are seeking agreement. In the midst of a political discussion, we might say something like, “I didn’t vote for it either, but do you hear me complaining?” You might hear someone say, “Do I have stupid stamped on my forehead? Was I born yesterday? Do I look like your mother? So, you think you are the boss?”

Even when we want to answer these questions in a contradictory way, we know what the expected response is supposed to be. And yet, there are times when we honestly have to answer in that contradictory way. So, when you hear today’s parable, does it make you feel good? Does it make you feel uncomfortable? Does it make you feel like asking questions?

This past week I have been with a lot of pastors at the Bishop’s Convocation (a big title for the Synod’s fall conference). One of the topics of conversation was, “What do you think you’ll do with this text on Sunday?” It turns out, among pastors I talked with, this is one of the most disliked parables in the entire New Testament. It is violent. It is difficult. It challenges the fundamental precepts of what the kingdom of heaven is like.

I have to admit that I, with my colleagues, have always been disturbed by this parable in Matthew. I like the telling of the parable in Luke 14 much better. The way Luke records Jesus telling this parable is much more about welcoming everyone into the wedding banquet after getting rid of those rich people who can’t be bothered with a relationship with God, but Matthew doesn’t let us go there.

As Lutherans, we are committed to the idea that Scripture interprets Scripture. So, this week I started looking at the structure of Matthew’s parables. I was surprised to notice that as these parables have been told, they get more violent. At first, I thought this was in anticipation of the trial, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus. As much as I like that idea, that would say much more about Matthew than it says about what Jesus is doing here. In addition, these later parables are told in rhetorical ways that seem to lead to certain conclusions and behaviors we anticipate, but these conclusions run contrary to what we know God’s activity to be.

I noticed that Jesus keeps engaging the people he is teaching, asking them what they think should happen. Each time, the people answer in a judgmental, violent way that seems to vindicate them as judges and convicts those who are acting badly in the parable. Last week we heard the Pharisees and the people convict the tenants of the vineyard saying, “The landowner should take those wretches and put them to a miserable death.”

In response, since I enjoy mysteries, I would like to present today’s parable with all of its challenges as a mystery for us to solve. I am calling it The Case of the Rhetorical Parable. It does just what the Pharisees and the people who convicted the tenants of the vineyard last week wanted. Jesus incorporates these violent, judgmental statements into today’s parable, integrating that judgment to demonstrate what judgmental actions and violence lead to.

This parable then is like one of those rhetorical statements or questions. This parable assumes an answer, but that answer is incorrect. We know that following directions does not always get you where you want to be. Recently, people in the Roman Catholic Church, sent a letter to the Pope claiming that he was too Lutheran. The sky may be cloudy and gray; flamingos are not always pink. There are times I complain about my elected officials when I haven’t voted for them. And yes, there was a day when my sister made a rubber stamp that said Stupid on it and stamped my forehead.

In a like manner, the kingdom of heaven may, might, could be, compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, but then again this might not be the best kingdom to emulate. With all of the violence and death contained in this parable, we are called upon to consider whether this parable is what we think the kingdom of heaven is. And, whether that is the kingdom that God wants us to live in. Are we seeking a kingdom of devastating burning judgment and expulsion of those who don’t look like us?

Or, as we look to the closing chapters of Matthew, is there a different image of faithful following that can be more helpful, an image like that of the cross and earthshaking tomb of resurrection? Again, we recall Peter’s rebuke of Jesus earlier in the Gospel, and with Peter we are challenged to consider whether our minds are on earthly things and not on divine things.

As I studied this text this week, I have become convinced that the format should be something more like, “Jesus said, ‘There are those WHO WANT TO COMPARE the kingdom of heaven to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son.’” This language lets us know immediately that there might be another way of thinking about these words. It may not be a wedding between a man and a woman, although it is assumed that a man and a woman will be present, but this story may be about a political alliance between the offspring of two rulers. As a political wedding, the behavior of the people in this parable seems to have much more relevance.

As a political ruler, the reaction of the king seems more understandable (not necessarily more appropriate, but understandable). The behavior of the people who have been invited is not a social snub. Rather it is a political statement of their support or lack thereof. Finding no support among the wealthy, the king acts to eliminate any opposition to his rule. He destroys and burns the cities of rebellion (those who will not come to the wedding feast).

Left with no guests for the banquet, the king decides to flood the wedding banquet hall with the people from the streets. The king wants to look good in front of the soon-to-be allied family. Now he enters into the banquet hall and sees someone who doesn’t belong there. It might be one of the people whom he invited earlier, or it may be a potential assassin; it may be an evil person. It may even be a person of righteousness in the midst of a vulgar society.

What we know is that this person is not dressed like the others. He is not wearing a wedding garment. He is not wearing the right clothes. This wearing the wrong clothes becomes the reason for arresting him; for binding him foot and hand; and, for the fourth time in the book of Matthew, someone is cast out into the darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. We will hear this judgment of condemnation again before we leave this Gospel.

OR, is it a place of renewal, that place of darkness from which God creates the goodness of the world, where repentance can happen, that place to get right with God and become righteous? What we hear is that from this place of outer darkness, God’s voice is still heard: “For many are called, but few are chosen.”

In this outside place, God continues to be in relationship with the people and offers possibility of being restored to the community God gives. This gift of community is a gift meant for everybody. Indeed, everybody is called to be in relationship with God and one another. Beyond that, there are a few that are chosen—chosen to be examples for the world. The invitation is open to us always, but are we the many or are we the chosen? Is it possible that we are neither, or both?

As I was preparing this, I was wondering how a more modern telling of this parable might be told, and I couldn’t help thinking of our modern political setting and how that might lend itself to what Jesus was trying to say. This is what I came up with.

There are those who might want to compare the kingdom of heaven to a president who was elected by the people and then prepared an inauguration ball and banquet for the nation. He collected more money for the banquet than any other president because this was to be the inauguration ball and banquet of all time.

He invited all of the important people to come, but they did not come. He prepared the food and the entertainment, and the important people continued to find excuses for not coming. On the day of the inauguration, the president had the pictures cropped so that it looked like there were many more people than there were. He did this because it was embarrassing, and it shamed him, to have such a low turnout. For some reason, the people just did not come. They ignored him.

The president was angry, and he worked at destroying the reputations of the people who did not come. He had his staff burn the bridges of cooperation between people claiming that anything the unworthy people said was fake news and not worth listening to.…

I’m not really sure where I want to go from there, but I do think that there is a parallel statement that can be made about our time based on what Jesus was saying to the people of his time for this parable is not about what God is doing nor is it about healthy relationships with the people. This parable is much more about what happens when we forget that the world is not about us. We are not the ones who are in charge of what the kingdom of heaven is like. We get to tell others what the kingdom of God is like, but we don’t determine what the kingdom of God is like.

The king in this parable says, “I have prepared my banquet. I have slaughtered my oxen and my fat calves.” This is not a banquet for his son and wife, nor is it for the people. It is a banquet for the king himself. It is so much about the king that when the people do come, he acts badly.

The rhetorical statement of this parable is, “The kingdom of heaven is like,” but the question is, “Do we want the kingdom of heaven to look like this? Is this the only way the kingdom of heaven can be? Is there a kingdom of heaven we can proclaim that will de-escalate the violence of the world? Is there a kingdom of heaven that we can proclaim that is more inclusive than exclusive? Is it possible that the image of the cross and the earth-shaking, empty tomb of Easter is a better marriage than that of a king’s son and an undesignated wife to be named afterwards?

Is it possible that there are better metaphors than the political systems of the world, either the Roman empire or even our own government and time? If so, what might that metaphor be? If we are going to stay with the metaphor of a wedding, who do we want to invite? Whose banquet are we going to prepare?

In the midst of the violence of his time, Jesus continues to journey forward to the cross calling us to be in relationship, to continue to walk with him, exploring all of the corners of the kingdom so that we might be prepared to go out and proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ to all that we meet. We are reminded by Paul that Christ died once for all.

The invitation to Christ’s table is, “Come for all has been made ready. This is the body and blood that is given and shed for you. Come and receive the gifts which are given for the forgiveness of sin for ALL people; where the darkness of the cross of death leads to the empty tomb of resurrection and new life.”

CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE DEPRESSED

THE ANGELUS TRUMPET

The Unexpurgated Source for Alternative Bible Facts

CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE DEPRESSED

by Matt Hughes 

Dateline: Jerusalem, Oct. 15, 2017, 22:01:14

Invitations went out last week for a banquet to be held by Roy L. King. In truth, the occasion amounted to nothing more than a major political fund raiser understood to be a command appearance of the who’s who of our time. Yet many apparently chose to ignore the Roy L. King summons.

When a second more forceful “invitation” strongly encouraging their attendance was extended by King, political differences, which had influenced so many to ignore the original invitation, resulted in heated confrontations ending with rock throwing and overturned, burning vehicles. At least one person died as a result.

In an unexpected retaliatory move, King responded by sending a trained security force to destroy and burn out those who would not attend. At last count, the result is five more dead and many seriously wounded.

George Tillerman, a farmer survivor of the attack, said, “When the crops are ready to harvest, you harvest them. I don’t care who the invitation comes from. If the people want to eat, they have to have food, and some of that food comes from my fields. I mean banquets need food too, so I thought I was doing the patriotic thing by harvesting instead of attending. I was shocked when King’s thugs and ruffians came rocketing like the winds of hell through the fields, setting them on fire and shooting anyone and anything that moved. All I can say is that there will be a lot of empty bellies this year because of King’s unconsidered and rash behavior.”

Dr. Akma, another survivor of the attack, said, “I have been a faithful supporter of the party for years, but the statements King has been making lately disturb me. He has always been a blusterer, but his actions lately seem somewhat unhinged. He seems to think that everything is about him. He has little regard for other people around him until it comes time to celebrate something he is interested in. (Frankly, Roy, I don’t give a damn.) Yet I was not prepared for Roy’s reaction to my personal disapproval. Just before I saw my last patients Friday, what appeared to be a street gang swarmed outside my office, shooting out the windows and throwing a Molotov cocktail into the waiting room. In seconds the whole area was burning. If it hadn’t been for the sprinkler system and the back exit, many could have died.”

The final death total and costs of the damage are not yet known, but the people are looking for help as they recover from what they thought was nothing more than a simple act of civil disobedience.

Later, during the banquet, one of the disaffected guests who had come with a suspect agenda was found by King security. Rumors suggest that he had come to do King some kind of harm. Harley Quinn was arrested, cuffed, and transported to an outer precinct where he is being questioned.

Shelters are being opened for those who have nowhere to go following the devastating King response. As one can imagine, there are many stories of tragic loss with many tears.

There are also many who are gritting their teeth and threatening further reprisals against King and his “fascist, authoritarian, thuggery ways.” At this time, the violence is depressed, but further outbreaks are expected.

Munchausen by Proxy Matthew 21:33-46

With all that has been going on, this is a hard text to hear today. In the midst of the craziness of the world, in the midst of the violence, we come to this really violent text and see reflected the very violence of our world in Scripture. It has really been a struggle. So, I am going to begin today by asking if I say Munchausen by proxy, do you know what I mean?

Yes? So, some of you know. Are there any of you who don’t know?

Okay, Munchausen by proxy is a psychological condition where people, oftentimes mothers, create crises in the lives of people they care for, most oftentimes children, but it happens among older adults too, that threaten their lives. Then at the last minute they rush those depending on them to emergency rooms or get them to the doctor in the nick of time to save them. Most times they are successful, but sometimes, sometimes they are not and the dependent person dies. It is a dangerous, psychological condition for the care giver and horrifyingly life-threatening for the person under their care.

Today I am wondering if we live in a Munchausen by proxy world. That is, I wonder if we live in a world where we create our own crises in order to rush in at the last moment to rescue others so that we can feel good about ourselves? Do we participate in a system of behavior that creates crises that will occur again, and again, and again? In our 21st century world, one would think that we would be able to do something to prevent, or at least lessen, the catastrophes of society today.

In the past few weeks, I have been more convinced of this Munchausen by proxy idea as we begin the rebuilding process surrounding Harvey, Irma and Maria. We have known for years that Houston was below sea level, that there have been any number of things that could have been done to avoid at least some of the flooding that occurred in the aftermath of Harvey. We know that after the flooding of 1932, certain steps were taken to prevent that kind of flooding again, but then, with population growth, personal greed, and a false sense of security fostered by years of good fortune, the people of Houston became inattentive to the maintenance and the need for continued preventative construction.

This is not new technology that is needed. The people of the Netherlands have known how to do this for more than a thousand years. It means that canals need to be dug and maintained; the dikes and the levees need to be monitored. Pumps need to be ready for emergency use. But mostly it depends on constant vigilance.

I heard with horror the reports from New Orleans that, when the pumps responsible for controlling flooding were tested, nineteen of the pumps were inoperable. This is not because of sabotage or intentional damage; it is not because the pumps have been overworked and are worn out, but simply because they have not been tested regularly and general maintenance has not been attended to. Today TOO MANY of those pumps remain inoperable. “Experts” claim the number of pumps on line are sufficient for the emergency today, but what happens if one of those pumps fails in the midst of the crisis? Will we again rush in to rescue and save?

We know that the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico get hit by devastating hurricanes every once in a while. We know that this year has been exceptionally devastating. We have watched and listened with a macabre fascination as that crisis unfolded We have witnessed the testimonies of those who are still waiting for aid, who are drinking out of rivers and streams ignoring concern for water purity because they are thirsty, and it is the only source of water.

At the same time, we know that our military is able to establish bases for thousands of soldiers in the midst of combat zones with everything that is needed. They can fly in all of the infrastructure needs for an entire city in a matter of days, and yet there are some in Puerto Rico who have still not received the aid they need weeks later.

We mourn with the people of Mexico in the aftermath of the earthquakes, for the people who died because of inadequate housing construction. We know that some of these buildings are very old, but some of these buildings are new enough to have benefited from modern building design and materials. But the building codes either don’t exist or are not enforced, and so more die as others rush in to rescue.

In past years, we have gone from shooting to shooting, counting the bodies of the dead, and rushing the wounded to hospitals. Then, in the aftermath we wonder what is going wrong with the world that we live in. And then, when the carnage is over, we go back to our daily lives, hoping, “God forbid it should ever happen in our community”.

Las Vegas is now the worst, but not the last. We no longer think, “If this happens again”, but “When this happens again”. There must be a way for us to honor our constitutional rights and meet the safety needs of our society. In the meantime, we loosen the regulations on gun ownership. Soon it will be legal in several states to carry a gun into courtrooms and schools. We have relaxed the rules on gun ownership and mental wellness, and there is now a bill to make it legal to carry a gun into any venue in any state if it is legal in your state of origin.

We stand in judgment of those who would do such a thing, and we celebrate those few that run toward the gun instead of away from it, sometimes sacrificing their lives to save others. I have to admit that I was particularly impressed with the man who ran from the shooting to his truck and then drove back into the shooting in order to get those who were wounded out of the killing zone to hospitals and aid stations. He didn’t do this once, he drove back into the shooting five times.

We remain quiet in the midst of hate language and behavior. We don’t even bother to hold our elected officials accountable for their actions and language when it further stigmatizes and criminalizes the actions of some while creating a way of leniency for others who commit the same behavior. Taunting and bullying language and actions seem to be much more prevalent than at other times in history.

Wedges seem to be driven deeper and deeper into the fiber of our society expanding the gap that divides one person from another. We carefully watch that gap grow, calculating when that critical moment will demand immediate action so that we are able to rush in and be the hero of the day, or, at least, that is the hope.

We have lived in this culture that claims a saving role in the world around us. We live in a world where Lincoln saved the union. Our commitment to WWI, “the war to end all wars”, resulted in the conquering of the Kaiser. Our entry into WWII “saved the world for democracy”. After that, we have been involved in any number of combat engagements that have inconclusive endings requiring us, as a nation, to maintain a policing presence in order to preserve our democratic way.

You see, we don’t want to look like despots. We want the world to see us as the great rescuer of the world sharing the extreme abundance of our society while participating in the systems that initiate and even escalate that violence. We enjoy our place of world privilege, manipulating the geo-political scene, and then wait for the nations to beg for what we have. We seek the adoration of being the rescuers of the world.

In the meantime, the violence of our world continues to escalate, and we stand by, helplessly asking what can be done. We live in a Munchausen by proxy world where the catastrophes are waiting just outside our doors giving us the opportunity to swoop in and rescue the victim du jour in the world. To me, this is crazy!

Today our text includes violence with an anticipated savior who will rescue too. There is a temptation to look at this parable historically as being about the Jews and their rejection of Jesus as the Messiah. This view has led to thousands of years of anti-Semitic violence blaming the Jews for the death of Jesus and a self-righteous claiming of the rescued vineyard resulting in even greater violence.

When we connect the two stories of the vineyard, this one in Matthew and the other in Isaiah 5, we further distance ourselves from this text by distancing the imagery even further into ancient history, and that is our great failing. Other interpretations of the text also help to distance us from the story itself. After all, Jesus is telling this story to the Pharisees, isn’t he? We are not Pharisees. Therefore, this story can’t be about us, can it? Or can it?

In so many ways, I really don’t know what to do with this parable that will give a conclusive answer or direction for good news proclamation, but here is where I am going today. When we focus on the verdict of the people, that is, “The landowner will take those wretches and put them to a miserable death and then give the vineyard to tenants who will give the fruits of the vineyard,” we set ourselves up to be the rescuing inheritors of the vineyard. So today, I think that we need to confront this parable with the honesty of the Pharisees realizing that this parable is about us, and this parable is being told before there is a resurrection rescue act.

Yes, this parable is about us. We are the people of the vineyard. The landowner is sending a payment due notice to us. Not only that, the payment due notice has been delivered to generations that have gone before us, and the response then and now continues to be violence. Beyond that, we set the stage for violence in a way that allows us to look virtuous in the midst of the violence. We continue to live in a world of beatings, killings, and yes, even stoning. We continue to find ways to throw God’s redemptive work, God’s only son, outside of the vineyard and kill him.

And so, the vineyard gets taken away from each succeeding generation and given to the next in the hope that the fruits of the kingdom of God might be shared in a way that offers healing instead of bloodshed; that the kingdom of God might be a place where we stop the pattern of crisis and rescue, of violence without resolve, and find ways of peace, Christ’s peace that surpasses all understanding, for we know that God has already showed us another way. In the midst of the chaos and violence of Jesus’ time, God found a way of forgiveness, grace, that is, God’s undeserved love, and reconciling wholeness, in the heart of violent brokenness.

We get confused from time to time, thinking that it is our ways that will bring peace. That peace comes from speaking softly and carrying a big stick. Now this isn’t just any big stick, this is like the biggest stick you have ever seen. It is a stick that is so big that it can create a fury and violence like the world has never known before. It’s a great stick, and you don’t really want me to get that stick out because you don’t really want me to use it, but I’m not afraid to use it, and you know that it is always an option that is on the table.

In this parable we are reminded that judgment belongs to the landowner, not the listeners; that the foundation stone of the kingdom of God was rejected by the builders in favor of another; that the builders have chosen violence, but God chooses peaceful reconciliation.

Today I come to you with this amazing story of a vineyard. It is a pristine and ideal vineyard with a hedge or fence around it. Now when the Jewish people talk about a hedge or a fence around God’s work, they are talking about Torah, the law, those laws that God handed down through Moses in the midst of the wilderness, that gave order to their lives and freed them to live with one another in safety and peace. This proclamation of the law said, that within the relationship of God and God’s people there can be peace. Further, it says that, if we live in that relationship of peace God intends, others will notice and want to become part of the relationship. In that relationship we can be the city built on a hill; a light to the nations reflecting God’s light to the world.

In this vineyard is built wine presses and towers, a source of food and drink, a place of vigilance for seeing the forces that threaten the vineyard, the garden of God’s creation. We are reminded that humanity once lived in that garden of perfect relationship with God, and found a way to screw it up. Indeed, every generation after Adam and Eve has found their own unique way to screw it up. So, the vineyard continues to be handed down from generation to generation.

I suggest today, in this parable of the vineyard, we are the people, the tenants of the vineyard with the ability to give or withhold the produce of the vineyard, to be the fruits of the kingdom for the sake of the world. In the midst of this Munchausen by proxy world we are given the possibility of being a source of peaceful wholeness, a source of hope in the midst of our chaotic world; the source of breaking the cycle of life-threatening terror, of being a place of safety and hope. We can be the source of calling our public authorities to accountability for what they say and do. We have been given the fruits of the spirit conferring the authority to say, “Enough is enough!” For as the tenants of the vineyard, we need to find ways of maintaining the world we have been given in a way that offers safety for the greatest number of people.

The word for tenants in Greek is a compound word, combining geo and ergon, geo meaning earth or world, and ergon meaning work. We know this word today in the name George. So, the landowner leased the vineyard to George, earth workers, ground tillers, farmers, people like us, expecting those who leased the vineyard to work for the world. The landowner expected George to till the earth, to care for the fruits of the spirit, and gratefully pay from the bounty of peace, but George paid in violence.

Let us not fool ourselves. When the time comes, the vineyard will again be taken away from us and handed over to those who come after us, but we do not have to bear the fruit of violence during our tenure. We do not have to be known for our violence. We have the possibility of being known as George the peacemaker, as George the changer of violent behavior, as George the ender of Munchausen by proxy, so that those who come after us will have a world that is worth inheriting. We can slay the dragons of greed and offer up the good fruits of the vineyard.

It is time to check on the functioning of the pumps that protect us from the rising seas of chaos. It is time to build towers that will withstand the shaking of our world events. It is time to build strong faithful infrastructures that can prevail against the winds of change and stormy controversy. It is time to simply give thanks for our vineyard that God has created for us. It is time to give God the produce of the vineyard we live in hearing those prayerful words, “We offer with joy and thanksgiving what you have first given us…, Your gracious love.” All this we lift up before you today, O God, in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Who Said You Could Do That Matthew 21: 23-32

One of the great challenges of preaching is that the order of our readings is not always helpful when we consider the calendar of our time and the calendar of the Gospel we are reading. We all know that this is the first of October, and that the season is fall. Therefore, we are coming to the end of our year 2017. There will be some conferences coming up for me, there will be the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, deer hunting, Thanksgiving, and did you know that there are only 84 days before Christmas? Yet this text pulls us back to Holy Week and Easter.

This text immediately follows Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. In trying to be in both places at the same time, we experience a kind of spiritual whiplash. It is both spring and fall; it is Holy Week, and yet, we live with the knowledge and promise of Easter resurrection; it is a time of already but not yet. So, we come to this text with the chief priests and the elders dazedly asking, “By what authority are you doing these things?” And in order to get our feet under us more firmly, we need to understand that Jesus has just come into Jerusalem, he has just cleansed the temple, he has been healing the blind and the lame in the outer courtyard of the temple, that is, the courtyard of the Gentiles, and now we come to this question: “By what authority are you doing these things?”

I think that it may be helpful to see in our mind’s eye the place of this confrontation because its architecture has something to do with the situation. The architecture has something to say about the authoritative holiness of the place.

In Josephus’ history of the Jews, he describes the temple of the Jews as this magnificent structure. It was a major architectural feat of the time. It was built on the top of Mt. Zion and was cantilevered off the top of the mountain over the marketplace below. From a distance, the temple seemed to float in space above the city. In order to get to the highest place of the temple, the Holy of Holies, which was just behind the high sacrificial altar, you entered through the Courtyard of the Gentiles. From there, one went up a flight of steps to the Women’s Courtyard, and then up a flight of steps to the Men’s Courtyard, and from there to the high sacrificial altar and then to the Holy of Holies that was entered only once a year. This whole structure was built out of white limestone, and the tops of the walls were covered in gold so that when the sun shone on it, Josephus said it hurt the eyes to look at it, reminding all of the people that to look on God’s self was to be blinded and die.

So, the building itself had this holy authority over the people. As a symbol, it reminded all who looked upon it that the Jewish people, in the words of Isaiah, were to be “a light set upon a hill and a light unto the nations.” The building complex itself was a reminder to the people that, as God’s word had been brought down from Mt. Sinai, had been given to the people, and had become the central identity of who God’s people were, so now God’s word continued to come down to them and remained at the center of all that they did. It embodied the witness of God’s presence in the world. This word and witness came down from on high, from the Holy of Holies, past the high altar of sacrifice, through the men and the women of God’s chosen people, into the courtyard of the nations, more commonly referred to as the Courtyard of the Gentiles (ethnos), this place where everybody could come. For its time, it was like our United Nations. It was a place where all could come in peace to learn of God’s plan for all of God’s people.

Having learned of God’s plan, the Courtyard of the Gentiles was the place where one could begin to cast off the signs of the world and enter into the presence of God’s holiness. In the process of leaving the world behind, even the money that could be used needed to be changed from the worldly Roman coins to temple coins. You see, the Roman coin carried the head of the emperor stamped upon it, and, as such, it was regarded as idolatrous. We will hear more about this problem later this month.

In this courtyard of exchange, this place where sin offerings and other ritual practices began and led to becoming right with God; in this place that provided the means for initiating the progressive process of being cleansed and lifted up before God as a righteous follower, worthy of being in relationship with God; in this world-gathering-place known as the Courtyard of the Gentiles, that is, the nations, Jesus disrupted the rhythm and order of daily living. This courtyard is the one Jesus cleansed just before today’s reading.

In this Holy Week time, and in this autumntide, we are confronted with Jesus, healing and teaching, not from on high, but from the bottom of the temple complex, from the outer limits of the temple, from the world itself. In essence, Jesus is saying that God’s work begins at the root of life, in the foundations of daily living, and does not depend on the power of the chief priests and elders bringing God’s word down from on high.

Instead, relationship with God is about living amid the struggles of the world, gathering together, worshipping and praising God for the gifts of life. God’s relationship with the people is not something to be imposed, but expressed like the Psalmist’s words, “Let my prayers rise up, like incense before you; the lifting up of my hands as an offering to you.”

As such, the ritual practice of cleansing one’s money and one’s self is not something for the profit of the temple, but for the benefit of God’s people. It is a benefit that begins with repentance and right relationship with God and God’s people. It begins with forgiveness that allows us to forgive, not changing coin for coin, but changing the way we live, and, through believing, understanding that even tax collectors and prostitutes have a privileged place in the kingdom of heaven.

This is the context of the confrontation we witness today. The chief priests and the elders have come down from the highest places of authority, knowing where their authority comes from (“We are children of Abraham, and we’ve been elected.”), but they were not clear about Jesus’ authority, so they asked, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” It was an amazing question for the day.

What they were not prepared for was Jesus’ confidence in his authority and the condition Jesus put on his answer. “Was the baptism, done by John, divine or of human origin?” These chief priests and elders were unable to come to consensus, so Jesus told them this parable, “A householder had two sons….” When he was done telling the parable, he asked the priests and the elders which one did the will of his father? And they answered the first one, right?

What I find interesting about this answer is that really neither son did the will of the father. The first son shamed his father by publicly refusing to work in the vineyard. Even though he changed his mind and went to do the work, his public shaming of his father remained. The second son, who said that he would go, but didn’t, also shamed his father by not living up to the commitment he had made. So, neither son did the will of his father.

But, by answering Jesus’ question the way that they did, the chief priests and the elders set themselves up for the final answer that Jesus gave. Their answer here also answered the question they did not want to answer. The tax collectors and the prostitutes, the ones who believed John and came to him in faith in the wilderness, were like the first son.

Let’s be very clear here. Jesus was not lifting up being a tax collector or a prostitute as being somehow praiseworthy. What he was lifting up was their willingness to change their lives, to turn their lives around, in faith. The chief priests and the elders who also came out to see John in the wilderness at the Jordan affirmed him there, but did not change their ways. They were like the second son.

Now, if the chief priests and the elders had said that the second son had done the will of the father, Jesus could have said, “Then look at yourselves in the mirror; you that claim to do the work of the Lord, but don’t.” Or If they had remained uncertain, Jesus could have said, “So now you understand, it is not by what you do, but by what God does for you, that makes all of the difference, that allows you to be saved.”

As we continue to read these parables from Mathew, we hear how they were answered and therefore believe that this is the way they have to be answered. But there are more ways to answer these parable questions, and it is why they continue to speak to us over time. It is why these parables continue to be alive for us, offering us the possibility of, “What if the people had answered these questions differently? Could the kingdom of heaven look different today? If it could, then are we able to change what the kingdom of heaven looks like for others? Might we make that kingdom look more inviting yet real?”

The chief priests and the elders asked, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” Yes, it was an amazing question for the day. It is also a question we need to ask ourselves today: “By what authority did Jesus do these things, and who gave Jesus this authority?”.

We know where Jesus’ authority comes from. The answer is not brought down to us from on high, from chief priests and elders, but through the witness of some very common people—from women who went to care for his body and witnessed the events of the open tomb. Because of their witness, we recognize, claim, and give authority to Christ in our world and in our lives.

Jesus’ authority came from the people he healed and taught. They had firsthand knowledge that God’s love and caring is not something to be mediated by priests and elders, or by anyone else for that matter. Christ comes down to us directly.

Next, why am I standing here before you today? What authority do I have? We might immediately run to Jesus for this authority, but I tell you today that the authority I have from Jesus is no greater than the authority you have from Jesus in Baptism.

So why is it that I have the authority to stand before you and speak? It is because you have called me to be your pastor. You have given me the authority to speak in your midst and to publicly proclaim the Gospel and our ministry together. So then, this authority that I have is not something I get to claim for myself, but this authority is something that is given or conferred.

In addition, “By what authority are we doing what we do, and who gives us that authority? By what authority do we sit and judge the rightness or the wrongness of the answers that have been given in the parables? By whose authority do we speak of, bear witness to, God’s work in the world?” We are given this authority by gathering together here each Sunday morning affirming each other’s faith and supporting one another in our daily ministries as we go out into our daily work. Here we gather to be forgiven for our shortcomings and empowered for the work ahead of us proclaiming what we have been given.

So, we come; we come to this hungry place seeking God’s words of hope for us, “The body and blood given and shed for you”, and seeing God’s vision of hope ahead of us. Our paradise that we look to, our hope for the world, is not some building, some construct, some architectural feat of simulation, it is a vision of hope that depends on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. We are then sent out into the world to proclaim what we have seen and heard with the authority from Christ’s work for us and the assurance of that authority through the faith and confidence of one another.

So, it is that our authority comes from God and from one another, not always for the public ministry of the church, but for our individual ministries in our daily lives; in our relationship with our neighbors, our families, and our assembly. As Jesus is sent by his father, so through baptism, we are sent into the world being lifted up with Christ in the authority of the resurrection.

With the authority you have given me, I now affirm in you, the authority to go in God’s gracious love to love and serve the Lord. Thanks be to God.

It’s Always Five O’clock Somewhere Matthew 20:1-16

“It’s not fair!” How often have I said that? How many times have I heard that?

It’s not fair is what I said when I lost my sight for the first time: It’s not fair that I can’t ride my bicycle or freely do what I used to do anymore. It’s not fair that anyone should have to go through what I was going through at the time.

And then, on that fateful day, it snowed, and I was bored, and I told my mother that I wished I could do something, and she told me to go out and shovel the sidewalk. I again complained that it was not fair.

It’s not fair! As a camp counsellor, my charges seemed to have that comment ready every time they had to do something they didn’t want to do.

There are so many times when something happens in our lives that we had never envisioned. I remember sitting with a friend in the hospital after he and his wife had been in a terrible car accident. They had been married for less than a year when his life was radically altered. His wife had died, and he had bruised almost every organ in his body from the seat belt that had saved his life. “It really doesn’t seem fair,” he said. “We were just really starting to get to know one another, and it was good.”

When we hear these words about fairness, it does not usually have anything to do with being fair. When we hear and say these words, it is usually about not getting our own way, about not getting the things that we want. Somehow, we have not received the recognition or respect that we think that we have a right to or deserve. Somehow, we think that we are carrying a heavier burden than the people around us. We think that our lives are more troublesome than our neighbors. We bought our lottery ticket with everybody else, but did we win? No!... It’s not fair.

But fair isn’t what we are really talking about in these situations. It may not be right, or it may not feel right, but fair really isn’t what we are complaining about. Fair is what we get when everyone puts in the same amount of work with a predicted outcome.

Fair is really not what we are concerned about. It is usually the complaint that arises when we feel personally violated or devalued. Certainly, the issue in this story of what the kingdom of heaven is like pushes the work ethic sensibilities for the people then and for us because really, we don’t want what is fair. We want more than what we have received.

In a world where there are haves and have nots, this story of the five o’clock workers will continue to raise eyebrows. And as long as we keep our focus on the workers, we emphasize the issues of the workers. But this parable is not a workers’ rights story.

This parable is about the kingdom of heaven where we don’t want things to be fair. Because if it is about being fair, then we will have no place in it. We want, and indeed depend on, the kingdom of heaven not being based on fairness but on grace. We don’t want this story to be about fairness; we depend on this story being about generosity. We don’t want this story to be about the work of the people. We need this story to be about God’s work in the world.

If we get caught up in all of the details of the day, then we lose sight of the image that Jesus is presenting here, “The kingdom of heaven is like…”. And, in learning about the kingdom of heaven, we learn about the world that God has created for us. We are reminded that God’s abundant creation gives us enough for all. In this parable we are reminded of God’s people in the wilderness and of those times when they didn’t have enough and God provided the manna, the “what is it?” stuff, that gave them what they needed for each day but no more, and all ate and were filled.

This parable is about having enough. It is about being given what we need; and that gift includes community relationships, our salvation relationship with God, and forgiveness that continues to sustain us throughout this phase of God’s kingdom of heaven and then carries us into the next.

In the coming weeks, we will hear these words, “The kingdom of heaven is like…”, again and again, because the next four weeks include parables about the kingdom of heaven. In these parables, we will witness the chief priests, the elders, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the scribes, and ourselves today being challenged by these images of what the kingdom of heaven is like. We will be challenged to keep from tripping over the stumbling block of self-concern to think about God’s ways, divine ways—not our own human ways that rebuke God’s work and God’s plan—and open ourselves to the possibilities of God’s creating work in the world in the midst of suffering, pain, and loss.

It will be a time to put aside our personal concerns and consider what God is doing in our world and in this place, being reminded that there is always a five o’clock place with five o’clock people who are waiting to join us in God’s work for the sake of the world. Indeed, it may very well be that the work cannot be finished without including the five o’clock people.

This five o’clock somewhere place is not the product of a Jimmy Buffett song that says life is not fair because it isn’t going the way we think it should and so we will drink our sorrows away. This five o’clock world with it’s five o’clock people is about the struggle of God’s people to get what they need to live each day on a daily basis.

It is difficult to hear and read the news these days without witnessing the great need of the five o’clock people. They live in the Virgin Islands, in Puerto Rico, in southern Florida, in Houston and the whole coastal area of Texas and Louisiana. They are the people who are reeling from the devastating earthquakes in Mexico, and our sisters and brothers in the Koreas and all those who live in fear of possible nuclear devastation or even simple warfare resulting from bloviating bully tactics from world leaders who should know better.

These people are not somehow less deserving than those of us who are living more safely today. They are our five o’clock people because life circumstances have left them in the market place without enough for the day. It is not fair. Indeed, in a world that was fair, all of us who are safe with more than we need, we would give up the excess of our lives for the sake of those who are struggling. We would make sure that they received the largess of our abundance so that their life circumstances would be eased. But that is not the way that things go. The simple logistics of that plan prohibit that instantaneous transfer we would want.

So, it is that we continue to witness the inequities of this world, while recognizing there is only one who can give us everything we need to carry on, that is, Jesus Christ, God’s love. God’s work continues to be that hope-filled activity we see that challenges us to continue working in the vineyard of the kingdom of heaven knowing about the five o’clock people, knowing that there will be those who grumble at the full inclusion of five o’clock people in God’s loving embrace. Today, we especially need to remember that it is not about us and our work, but the kingdom of heaven is all about God’s love and God’s caring and that great abundance of creation that continues to sustain us with the great assembly of all of God’s people.

Then, when we embrace our five o’clock people, we will be able to celebrate the last being first and the first being last, that we might be assured that we are going to be there celebrating in the presence of God, with the whole communion of saints, finding peace and joy in the abundance we have been given as we celebrate the presence of those who have lived in the five o’clock world.

Hedge Fund Manipulations Contribute to Stone Cold Killing

THE ANGELUS TRUMPET

The Unexpurgated Source for Alternative Bible Facts

Hedge Fund Manipulations Contribute to Stone Cold Killing

by Matt Hughes & Izzy Proffet V
Dateline: New Jerusalem, PA, Oct. 8, 2017, 21:33:46

Kingdom of Dodd (KoD) CEO Josh Kristy announced yesterday that financial irregularities at KoD’s NU-Wine vineyards helped reveal the unscrupulous dealings of hedge fund manager, Inja Pokkette, of Reich & Reicher, LLC. The SEC has had Pokette under investigation for some time for allegedly receiving monies from several questionable sources, but the public did not suspect his alleged manipulation and the fund’s largely inflated values until this paper received a tip leading to evidence of contributions by Earth Vandals & Looters (EVaL 1).

In addition, Pokette will soon be indicted for a personal pyramid scheme that has given him access to vast amounts of cash for other market manipulations. The full scope of his fraud is not known, but two days ago a number of his investors received unusual delays regarding fund redemption.

Today, in a desperate measure to evade arrest, Pokette attempted to leave the country after liquidating his holdings. His projected gains were $666 million from KoD alone. Early estimates of the total are minimally projecting $100 billion.

As federal agents attempted to peacefully detain Pokette at his offices, R & R’s security forces’ violent response caused one agent to be brutalized, one injured from office furniture being thrown, and one killed.

Additional agents were dispatched in response. A subsequent high-speed chase injured several more agents, some critically; and two died when, attempting to avoid pedestrians, the driver lost control of their vehicle and ran into a tree.

The final standoff was at the New Jerusalem airport where Pokette and several cohorts were captured after snipers shot out the tires of his private jet, but not before the Deputy Director became the final statistic. What started out to be a huge money maker at the expense of others by Pokette has resulted in a shameful display of arrogant disregard for life.

Phil Angis, an airport mechanic described the situation, “I don’t mean to point fingers, but the Deputy Director was going out to the plane when the door opened, and they just stone cold shot him. It wasn’t like they were going to be able to get away or anything, and still, they just stone cold shot him. I couldn’t believe it. What did they think they could possibly gain? What is the world coming to?”

It is uncertain as to whether all banking records will ever be uncovered, but investigation continues into who knew what when and how widespread the investment fraud goes. Pokette’s sale of KoD stock resulted in a significant plunge from an opening market price of $185 to a closing bell price of $65 for the day. Due to other robo-purchasing algorithms, KoD’s fall initiated a further market price cascade. Some are calling the result a catastrophic loss further challenging market stability. It is not known how long it might be before the market will be redeemed.

Josh Kristy remained hopeful in his comments regarding this attack on our markets when he said, “It is time to get back to doing what we do best. EVaL 1 and its confederates continue to use deceit and violence to take us down, but we are resilient. Each attack makes us more aware of EVaL 1’s desire to overcome us, but KoD’s work to continue in peace to make the world a better place for all will continue to prevail. In the meantime, our Nu-Wine vintages are ready for sale. We have some exceptional cabernets and merlots, a very fine port, a serviceable sherry, and what I think of as being a very satisfying Chablis. But this year you will have to forgive our zins. Next year will be better, I’m sure.”