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Duke University Chapel Service of Worship,
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July 9th,
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1978.
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(orchestral church music)
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(orchestral church music)
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(orchestral church music)
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(orchestral church music)
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(choir singing church music accompanied by orchestra)
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(orchestral church music)
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(orchestral church music mixed with congregational singing)
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Greetings in the name of Christ.
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If any of you need permission to take off a jacket,
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please do.
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If we say we have no sin,
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and no need to confess our sins,
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we deceive ourselves,
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but when we confess our sin,
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God is always waiting to forgive us,
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to heal us,
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to restore us.
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Let us pray:
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Oh God, everywhere we turn,
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someone is making demands on our time.
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We spend ourselves frantically,
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without taking time to be in touch with you,
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or with ourselves to evaluate what is important
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for us to be doing.
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People who need us are often overlooked.
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Causes which need our energy, are often neglected.
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Opportunities for real learning are not foreseen.
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Words which wound are uttered in haste
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on momentary irritation.
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In the midst of our haste, we are thirsty for your presence,
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and the sure knowledge of your love.
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Help us to spend our time wisely and lovingly
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as we live and serve in your world;
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Amen.
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Hear these, our personal confessions, oh God, Amen.
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We give thanks that God is forgiving and loving,
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that we now can live as forgiven people.
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Dear people of God, accept the forgiveness
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which is yours this day.
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Let us give thanks for God is good
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and God's love is everlasting.
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Thanks be to God who creates us.
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Thanks be to God, by whose mercy we are redeemed.
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Thanks be to God, whose Spirit leads us
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into the future.
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Gene Owens who was scheduled to preach this Sunday
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was admitted to the hospital on Wednesday,
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and anticipated that he soon
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would have to have back surgery.
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We're sorry that he cannot be with us,
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especially because of illness,
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but we are grateful, thankful, and privileged
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that the Reverend Dr. D. Moody Smith, Jr.,
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agreed to stop work on his manuscript
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that the publishers are now awaiting
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long enough to prepare to preach for us today.
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Moody is well known internationally
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because of his outstanding work on the Gospel of John.
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He is just ending a sabbatical year,
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a time he has used to complete his third book on John.
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Those of you who have read works
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in the area of New Testament,
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know he is one of the people
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who is always quoted, and footnoted,
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but Moody is also a scholar who can communicate
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with us ordinary people.
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He is a dedicated church person, a caring father,
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husband, colleague, friend, and teacher.
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Moody, thanks, and welcome.
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Let us pray:
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Oh Holy God, we wait in your presence.
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Open our minds,
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still our hearts,
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that we may hear you speak to us this day; Amen.
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The Old Testament lesson is selected
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from the 55th chapter of Isaiah.
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Hear now, the reading:
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Ho! Everyone who thirst, come to the waters;
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And he who has no money, come, buy and eat.
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Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
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Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
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and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
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Harken diligently to Me, and eat what is good,
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and delight yourselves in fatness.
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Incline your ear, and come to Me.
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Hear, that your soul may live;
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And I will make with you an everlasting covenant,
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My steadfast sure love for David.
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Behold, I make him a witness to the peoples,
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a leader and commander for the peoples.
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Behold, you shall call nations that know not,
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and nations that knew you not, shall run to you,
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because of the Lord your God, and of the Holy One of Israel;
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For He has glorified you.
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For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
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and return, not thither, but water the earth,
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makin' it bring forth and sprout,
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giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
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so shall My word be that,
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one that goes forth from My mouth;
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It shall not return to Me empty,
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but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
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and prosper in the thing for which I sent it.
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For you shall go out in joy,
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and be led forth in peace;
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The mountains and the hills before you shall break forth
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in singing, and all of the trees of the field
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shall clap their hands.
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Instead of the thorn, shall come forth the cypress.
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Instead of the brier, shall come up the myrtle;
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And it shall be to the Lord for a memorial,
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for an everlasting sign which shall not be cut off.
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Here ends the reading of the Old Testament lesson.
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(orchestral church music)
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(choir singing church music accompanied by orchestra)
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Will the congregation stand for the reading
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of the gospel lesson?
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Hear the reading selected from the 13th chapter
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of the Gospel according to Saint Matthew:
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That same day, Jesus went out of the house
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and sat beside the sea,
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and great crowds gathered about Him,
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so that He got into a boat and sat there;
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and the whole crowd stood on the beach.
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And He told them many things in parables, saying:
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A sower went out to sow.
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And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path;
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and the birds came and devoured them.
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Other seeds fell on the rocky ground,
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where they had not much soil;
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and immediately they sprang up
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since they had no depth of soil.
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But when the sun rose, they were scorched,
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and since they had no root, they withered away.
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Other seeds fell upon thorns,
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and the thorns grew up and choked them.
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Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain:
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some a hundredfold, some 60,
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some 30.
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He who has ears, let him hear.
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Hear then, the parable of the sower:
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When anyone hears the Word of the Kingdom,
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and does not understand it,
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the evil one comes and snatches away
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what is sown in his heart.
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That is what was sown along the path.
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As for that which was sown on rocky ground,
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this is he who hears the Word
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and immediately receives it with joy;
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yet he has no root in himself,
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but endures for a while,
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and when tribulation or persecution arises
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on account of the Word, immediately he falls away.
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As for what was sown among the thorns,
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this is he who hears the Word,
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but the cares of the world and the delight in riches
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choke the Word, and it proves unfruitful.
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As for what was sown on good soil,
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this is he who hears the word and understands it,
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he indeed bears fruit and yields in one case,
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a hundredfold, and another 60, and another 30.
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Here ends the gospel reading.
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All glory and praise be unto God.
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(orchestral church music)
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(congregational singing accompanied by church music)
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I bid you good morning,
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it's good to be here once again,
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even under rather unfortunate circumstances.
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Thank you, Helen, for that typically gracious
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and overly generous introduction.
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I do want to say, however, that no Christian
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preacher ought to stand up to preach the gospel
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thinking that such things as you have
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just said about me are true.
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I think the only resolution of this problem
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is to come before God in prayer,
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so may I invite you to pray with me, let us pray:
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May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our heart
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be acceptable in thy sight, Oh Lord our strength,
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and our Redeemer; Amen.
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The gospel lesson for this morning
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is Matthew's rendition of the parable of the sower.
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Jesus might have been a little amused
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and I hope not angrily outraged
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at the spectacle of preachers expounding
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and explaining his parables.
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But the preacher who does so is in good company.
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Saint Matthew himself was no earlier
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than the second and probably at least
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the third or fourth preacher to expound
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and explain the parable of the sower.
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Saint Mark preceded him,
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and in all probability there was a tradition
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of interpretation or preaching before Mark.
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Yet, at best, there's something faintly ludicrous
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about explaining Jesus' parables.
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It would seem that the parable itself
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is intended to make something clear.
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If the parable is not entirely explicit
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in its message, that has to do with its quality
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and character as parable.
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Presumably, Jesus himself had some purpose
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in putting his message in to parabolic form.
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He did so, so often.
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Not long ago, I read a book on the uses
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of structuralism in biblical exegesis
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and interpretation.
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Now those of you who are familiar
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with structuralism will know all about that,
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and those of you who are not,
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would scarcely profit from my explanation of it.
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After a learned exposition of several leading
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exponents of structuralist method and thought,
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the author set about to demonstrate
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its usefulness in biblical interpretation
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by applying it to the parable of the Good Samaritan.
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I read the author's erudite discussion with amazement,
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but then wondered whether it might be
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just another sophisticated way
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of leaving the man attacked by robbers
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in the ditch.
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I had read and heard Jesus' parable
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and I had thought I had understood enough
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to be disquieted by it.
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Now, I felt myself being led down paths
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of restful confusion
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and through valleys of amazed perplexity.
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One recalls Karl Barth's dictum,
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uttered in another context,
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that God did not intend for us,
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first to learn Chinese in order to understand the gospel.
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And I think Barth would also have agreed
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that the Chinese would not have to learn English
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in order to understand the gospel.
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Or there's the story about Halford Luccock,
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the late professor of preaching at Yale Divinity School.
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He emerged from listening to a lecture
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on revelation by his distinguished colleague,
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H. Richard Niebuhr, but not much had been revealed
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to him, and as he came out he was heard to mutter,
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"I'm thankful that the Lord said feed my sheep,
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"and not feed my giraffes."
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In other words, it suffices to put the cookies
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on a lower shelf.
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We have an innate sense that the gospel of Jesus
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is simple enough to be understood by simple people,
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and we're surely not wrong in that sensibility.
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One reason that we think this, is the presence
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in the New Testament, especially in the gospels,
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of so many parables of Jesus.
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Here are brief and simple stories
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told in the language of a predominantly rural society.
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Stories which do not seem to put too great a strain
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on our understanding or our intellectual capacity.
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And for centuries, or at least until the emergence
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of modern and technological society,
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these parables have spoken an almost universal
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language of seed, time, and harvest.
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The shared experiences of people
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who lived close to nature and close to the land.
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Tell me the stories of Jesus; I love to hear.
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We expect to hear something familiar.
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In fact, most people, who down through the centuries
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have heard Jesus' parables,
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have heard things that are familiar to them.
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Perhaps there is no more familiar parable
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than the parable of the sower.
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We just heard it read.
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Of course, you all listened attentively
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while that gospel lesson was read, I'm sure,
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but on the other hand, just because the sermon
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topic of the parable of the sower was announced,
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might not necessarily mean that someone
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is actually going to address himself to that text.
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And moreover, what is familiar can become too familiar.
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So familiar, in fact, that we do not even hear it.
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So, perhaps, at this point, we'd do well to remind ourselves
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of what we're talking about.
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Our text falls into three parts:
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First, there's the parable itself.
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Second, there's the disciple's question,
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and Jesus' statement about the purpose
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of parables, generally.
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Third, there's the explanation of the parable of the sower.
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Now, Matthew tells us that Jesus was so pressed
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by the crowds along the lake shore
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that he got into the boat and addressed the people,
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standing in the boat.
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Jesus spoke to the crowd in parables
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and Matthew then relates this parable,
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presumably as a kind of specimen of what Jesus said.
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A sower sows seeds which fall in different places.
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Along the path, where birds devour it.
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On rocky ground, where it is soon scorched by the sun.
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On thorns, where it is soon choked out.
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And yet, some does fall on good soil, and bears fruit.
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A hundredfold, sixtyfold, and thirtyfold.
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"He who has ears to hear, let him hear.", says Jesus.
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Now if we were not told that this was
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a parable of Jesus, and also later in the text,
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if we were not told what its interpretation might be,
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our reaction to it might not be entirely positive.
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We might think "far out" or even "off the wall"
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or more than likely, "so what?"
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Even the importance of the subject,
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the harvest does not seem so immediately urgent to us.
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At least it doesn't seem urgent until we encounter
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yet another round of price increases at the supermarket,
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or see farmers on TV,
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declaiming their determination not to plant again
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unless they get better prices.
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But, as a matter of course, we don't feel the urgency
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00:32:06.550 --> 00:32:10.720
of the issues involved in the imagery of this parable.
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Now, of course, we are right in sensing
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that the parable is not about agriculture,
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but farming provides imagery that's appropriate.
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For what is at stake, Jesus seems to imply,
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is no less a life and death matter
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than the success of the harvest.
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Still, the meaning of the parable is not so obvious.
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Not such a simple matter.
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Now Matthew, the evangelist, here apparently follows
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one of his sources, the gospel of Mark.
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And he next portrays the disciples asking Jesus
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why he speaks to the crowd in parables.
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Now, that part was not read in the lesson this morning,
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but I do want to make one or two comments about it.
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And their question about why speak in parables,
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reflects a perplexity which any hearer
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00:33:02.410 --> 00:33:05.400
or reader might feel at this point.
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And in answer to this question,
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Jesus gives them a rather long answer.
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He seems to be saying that
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what is clear to the disciples,
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must be stated in parables to the multitudes.
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But it's not really clear to me
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whether the parables are to help the crowds understand,
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or Jesus' speech seems parabolic to them
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just because they don't understand,
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and this, I think, is a difficult passage,
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but Matthew is not as difficult as Mark at this point.
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In Mark, Jesus says quite explicity
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that he speaks to the outsiders,
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00:33:45.260 --> 00:33:48.860
to non-disciples in parables in order that,
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00:33:48.860 --> 00:33:53.860
so that, they will not understand and be forgiven.
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00:33:54.150 --> 00:33:56.290
Now that was too much for Matthew.
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Matthew evidently thought that the Lord
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could not have said such a thing,
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so he changes the wording just enough
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so that Jesus doesn't say that,
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and then he quotes Isaiah more fully
355
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to the effect that unbelief is the fulfillment of scripture.
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Whatever Matthew's reasons or grounds
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00:34:15.796 --> 00:34:17.687
for departing from Mark,
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he was in all probablity right in one thing;
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That is, right in refusing to represent
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00:34:24.260 --> 00:34:28.060
Jesus' parables as a means of obfuscation,
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00:34:28.060 --> 00:34:32.260
confusion, condemnation, rather than as a means
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00:34:32.260 --> 00:34:35.410
of communication and grace.
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That much is certain.
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00:34:40.250 --> 00:34:42.890
Then after what almost amounts to a filibuster
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00:34:42.890 --> 00:34:45.580
against Mark's parable theory,
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Matthew gives Jesus' interpretation
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00:34:48.410 --> 00:34:51.948
of the parable of the sower.
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00:34:51.948 --> 00:34:54.080
And it's pretty much like Mark.
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00:34:54.080 --> 00:34:57.120
The seeds falling upon the various soils are equated
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00:34:57.120 --> 00:35:00.358
with different bearers of the Word.
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00:35:00.358 --> 00:35:03.170
Finally, the seed sown in good soil
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00:35:03.170 --> 00:35:06.830
are those people who hear and understand the Word,
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00:35:06.830 --> 00:35:11.830
and bring forth fruit. It all sounds so obvious now.
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In all probability, even this interpretation
375
00:35:15.390 --> 00:35:17.350
which is familiar to most of us,
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00:35:17.350 --> 00:35:21.760
even this interpretation is some early preacher's idea
377
00:35:21.760 --> 00:35:24.598
of what Jesus meant.
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00:35:24.598 --> 00:35:27.870
As a matter of fact, very seldom in the gospels
379
00:35:27.870 --> 00:35:32.870
does Jesus offer such an interpretation of his parables.
380
00:35:33.050 --> 00:35:35.760
The parable of the sower, as a matter of fact,
381
00:35:35.760 --> 00:35:38.600
appears in the apocryphal Gospel of Thomas,
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00:35:38.600 --> 00:35:40.870
without this interpretation.
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00:35:40.870 --> 00:35:43.480
Also, the language, the technical terminology
384
00:35:43.480 --> 00:35:45.850
of the interpretation, reflects the situation
385
00:35:45.850 --> 00:35:47.840
of the early Christian church.
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00:35:47.840 --> 00:35:50.440
For example, the term "the Word" here
387
00:35:50.440 --> 00:35:53.060
means the Christian gospel.
388
00:35:53.060 --> 00:35:56.130
The parable is about the success of the gospel
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00:35:56.130 --> 00:35:59.853
among those who at first accept it.
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00:35:59.853 --> 00:36:03.340
Actually, elsewhere, Jesus does not speak in this way,
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00:36:03.340 --> 00:36:05.850
and we hear witness to the earliest interpretation
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00:36:05.850 --> 00:36:08.310
of one of Jesus' parables.
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00:36:08.310 --> 00:36:11.280
The first Christians understood that parable
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00:36:11.280 --> 00:36:13.680
in relation to their own situation,
395
00:36:13.680 --> 00:36:18.350
and that was not such a bad, or such a wrong idea.
396
00:36:18.350 --> 00:36:21.000
And yet, Jesus first spoke this parable
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00:36:21.000 --> 00:36:23.670
with his own situation in view.
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00:36:23.670 --> 00:36:26.400
As the messenger who announces the reality
399
00:36:26.400 --> 00:36:29.460
and coming of God's Kingdom, God's rule,
400
00:36:29.460 --> 00:36:34.100
Jesus himself is the sower who goes forth to sow.
401
00:36:34.100 --> 00:36:37.390
His preaching and His ministry find different receptions
402
00:36:37.390 --> 00:36:39.080
among different people.
403
00:36:39.080 --> 00:36:40.990
A lot of people react positively,
404
00:36:40.990 --> 00:36:43.530
he gets an enthusiastic reception.
405
00:36:43.530 --> 00:36:46.760
Yet, many more wither in the heat of the day
406
00:36:46.760 --> 00:36:51.760
than endure or persist.
407
00:36:51.810 --> 00:36:55.480
Now, as we see, reading the Gospel of Matthew,
408
00:36:55.480 --> 00:36:58.670
is a little like looking down a kaleidoscope
409
00:36:58.670 --> 00:37:03.670
or a stairwell, or peeling off the layers of an onion.
410
00:37:04.150 --> 00:37:08.170
One can distinguish what Matthew added to Mark,
411
00:37:08.170 --> 00:37:10.365
what Mark wrote,
412
00:37:10.365 --> 00:37:14.011
what Mark got from the early church's preaching,
413
00:37:14.011 --> 00:37:16.330
and what Jesus himself said.
414
00:37:16.330 --> 00:37:18.761
They're layers of meaning,
415
00:37:18.761 --> 00:37:20.370
but there's no reason to doubt
416
00:37:20.370 --> 00:37:24.068
that Jesus himself spoke this parable.
417
00:37:24.068 --> 00:37:26.780
It's also as certain as can be that Jesus wanted
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00:37:26.780 --> 00:37:31.311
to say something about the Kingdom or the rule of God.
419
00:37:31.311 --> 00:37:33.830
All the gospels, but Matthew, particularly,
420
00:37:33.830 --> 00:37:35.950
put the sower at the head of a group
421
00:37:35.950 --> 00:37:40.100
of parables of the Kingdom, and in doing so,
422
00:37:40.100 --> 00:37:44.873
they preserved the original intention of the parable.
423
00:37:44.873 --> 00:37:47.930
Moreover, as I read Matthew, I don't see just
424
00:37:47.930 --> 00:37:50.770
competing or conflicting meanings.
425
00:37:50.770 --> 00:37:52.660
There's a unity in what is said,
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00:37:52.660 --> 00:37:56.473
even if it's said by more than one witness.
427
00:37:56.473 --> 00:38:00.080
Furthermore, and I should like to underscore this,
428
00:38:00.080 --> 00:38:03.270
Matthew puts his finger on an important thread
429
00:38:03.270 --> 00:38:06.970
that runs through the text, and runs from the text
430
00:38:06.970 --> 00:38:09.760
back to Jesus himself.
431
00:38:09.760 --> 00:38:12.230
In the interpretation of the parable,
432
00:38:12.230 --> 00:38:14.530
only Matthew writes:
433
00:38:14.530 --> 00:38:17.750
when anyone hears the Word of the Kingdom,
434
00:38:17.750 --> 00:38:22.242
and does not understand it, understand it,
435
00:38:22.242 --> 00:38:24.050
The evil one comes and snatches away
436
00:38:24.050 --> 00:38:26.325
what is sown in his heart.
437
00:38:26.325 --> 00:38:30.320
At the end of the interpretation, Matthew writes:
438
00:38:30.320 --> 00:38:35.320
He who hears the Word and understands it, bears fruit.
439
00:38:36.380 --> 00:38:39.903
Only Matthew speaks of understanding
440
00:38:39.903 --> 00:38:41.880
and at the end of the whole parable collection
441
00:38:41.880 --> 00:38:45.740
in Matthew 13, Matthew, and Matthew only,
442
00:38:45.740 --> 00:38:48.930
has Jesus ask his disciples:
443
00:38:48.930 --> 00:38:51.630
Have you understood all this?
444
00:38:51.630 --> 00:38:54.610
And they answer, yes.
445
00:38:54.610 --> 00:38:57.150
It's pretty clear we have uncovered here
446
00:38:57.150 --> 00:39:02.140
an important and distinctive motif of Matthew's gospel.
447
00:39:02.140 --> 00:39:04.470
Christian discipleship according to Matthew
448
00:39:04.470 --> 00:39:09.453
is not only obeying Jesus, it is also understanding Him.
449
00:39:10.740 --> 00:39:12.500
But I think there's more to it than that.
450
00:39:12.500 --> 00:39:14.550
That is, more to it than just an important theme
451
00:39:14.550 --> 00:39:16.540
of the Gospel of Matthew.
452
00:39:16.540 --> 00:39:19.980
Matthew is pointing to something ingredient to,
453
00:39:19.980 --> 00:39:24.888
essential to, being a disciple, being a Christian.
454
00:39:24.888 --> 00:39:26.300
I'd like to take a few moments now
455
00:39:26.300 --> 00:39:29.470
to look at the ways in which Matthew's emphasis
456
00:39:29.470 --> 00:39:33.010
on understanding really makes sense of the parable.
457
00:39:33.010 --> 00:39:36.130
That is, it makes sense of this specific parable,
458
00:39:36.130 --> 00:39:37.970
and makes sense also,
459
00:39:37.970 --> 00:39:42.965
of Jesus' habit of speaking in parables.
460
00:39:43.800 --> 00:39:47.930
Jesus didn't appear on the scene discussing theology,
461
00:39:47.930 --> 00:39:49.770
or even debating questions
462
00:39:49.770 --> 00:39:52.740
about the interpretation of the Law.
463
00:39:52.740 --> 00:39:57.228
He came announcing the advent of God's Kingdom.
464
00:39:57.228 --> 00:40:00.280
He spoke in hyperbole, or so it seems,
465
00:40:00.280 --> 00:40:05.220
about turning the other cheek and going the extra mile.
466
00:40:05.220 --> 00:40:07.930
He spoke in parables in answer to questions
467
00:40:07.930 --> 00:40:10.600
or in order to make a point about God's Kingdom,
468
00:40:10.600 --> 00:40:12.468
or God's rule.
469
00:40:12.468 --> 00:40:16.040
In fact, in the gospels, Jesus never answers
470
00:40:16.040 --> 00:40:18.510
or speaks directly to the question,
471
00:40:18.510 --> 00:40:21.970
What is the Kingdom of God?
472
00:40:21.970 --> 00:40:24.360
Scholars remark that Jesus seems to assume
473
00:40:24.360 --> 00:40:27.080
his hearers will understand what he means
474
00:40:27.080 --> 00:40:30.220
by Kingdom of God; that may be right,
475
00:40:30.220 --> 00:40:32.090
and yet it is not altogether clear
476
00:40:32.090 --> 00:40:35.010
that even all of Jesus' Jewish contemporaries
477
00:40:35.010 --> 00:40:38.840
would have understood the same thing by that phrase,
478
00:40:38.840 --> 00:40:40.960
Kingdom of God.
479
00:40:40.960 --> 00:40:44.960
Jesus' language is suggestive, evocative,
480
00:40:44.960 --> 00:40:47.870
his parables illicit understanding
481
00:40:47.870 --> 00:40:50.100
on the part of the hearers.
482
00:40:50.100 --> 00:40:52.930
The question that his parables pose for the hearer
483
00:40:52.930 --> 00:40:55.090
is something like this:
484
00:40:55.090 --> 00:40:57.800
Do you grasp what I'm talking about?
485
00:40:57.800 --> 00:41:02.070
Can you perceive what's going on?
486
00:41:02.070 --> 00:41:04.570
And the answer is not a matter of purely
487
00:41:04.570 --> 00:41:08.410
intellectual understanding, or assent.
488
00:41:08.410 --> 00:41:10.820
With Jesus, it has to do with the nearness
489
00:41:10.820 --> 00:41:12.695
of God's rule.
490
00:41:12.695 --> 00:41:15.500
With the earliest church that produced Matthew's gospel,
491
00:41:15.500 --> 00:41:18.600
it has to do with the good news that God's rule is now,
492
00:41:18.600 --> 00:41:22.760
in a sense, present in Jesus.
493
00:41:22.760 --> 00:41:25.010
And then it becomes a question of whether people
494
00:41:25.010 --> 00:41:27.060
are going to accept it,
495
00:41:27.060 --> 00:41:29.430
and Matthew makes explicit
496
00:41:29.430 --> 00:41:33.320
that this is a question of understanding,
497
00:41:33.320 --> 00:41:38.200
but in either case, the question implicit in Jesus' parable,
498
00:41:38.200 --> 00:41:40.160
the parable of the sower,
499
00:41:40.160 --> 00:41:44.276
is what one makes of Jesus himself.
500
00:41:44.276 --> 00:41:49.276
Do you understand who I am, what I'm doing, he's asking.
501
00:41:49.660 --> 00:41:52.016
Why I'm here?
502
00:41:52.016 --> 00:41:55.870
But that question is never a silly, irrelevant,
503
00:41:55.870 --> 00:41:59.941
abstract, or pointless question.
504
00:41:59.941 --> 00:42:02.220
The question about Jesus is not just
505
00:42:02.220 --> 00:42:05.166
an other-worldly question, either.
506
00:42:05.166 --> 00:42:08.920
It's put to the disciples, to the church,
507
00:42:08.920 --> 00:42:10.965
where they are.
508
00:42:10.965 --> 00:42:13.420
It is not asked in the cloister, so to speak,
509
00:42:13.420 --> 00:42:16.860
but in the world of people and of events.
510
00:42:16.860 --> 00:42:19.350
The sower went forth to sow.
511
00:42:19.350 --> 00:42:24.346
He scatters seed among all sorts and conditions of people.
512
00:42:24.346 --> 00:42:27.998
He comes saying "the reign of God is at hand."
513
00:42:27.998 --> 00:42:32.001
(clears throat) His Kingdom is near.
514
00:42:32.001 --> 00:42:34.760
We are caught short.
515
00:42:34.760 --> 00:42:38.490
Is this rather strange, itinerate preacher
516
00:42:38.490 --> 00:42:42.120
who casts out demons, heals the sick,
517
00:42:42.120 --> 00:42:44.250
and associates with undesirables,
518
00:42:44.250 --> 00:42:48.891
somehow the token and embodiment of God's rule?
519
00:42:48.891 --> 00:42:52.796
Does he have a right to make demands on us?
520
00:42:52.796 --> 00:42:55.076
In fact, he does so,
521
00:42:55.076 --> 00:42:59.410
but his demand is at the same time, a question,
522
00:42:59.410 --> 00:43:02.520
and thus he speaks in parables.
523
00:43:02.520 --> 00:43:05.320
The sower went forth to sow.
524
00:43:05.320 --> 00:43:07.728
Do you know what's happening?
525
00:43:07.728 --> 00:43:12.626
A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho.
526
00:43:12.626 --> 00:43:16.880
Which of these three do you think proved neighbor
527
00:43:16.880 --> 00:43:21.866
to the man who fell among robbers?
528
00:43:22.720 --> 00:43:25.590
Jesus speaking in parables, is itself,
529
00:43:25.590 --> 00:43:28.710
a challenge to understand.
530
00:43:28.710 --> 00:43:32.650
Believing and obeying, are of course, essential.
531
00:43:32.650 --> 00:43:37.581
But a meaningful obedience of faith requires understanding.
532
00:43:38.600 --> 00:43:43.290
To be a disciple of Jesus, one must know not only
533
00:43:43.290 --> 00:43:47.120
who he is, and where he is,
534
00:43:47.120 --> 00:43:51.793
but who we are, and where we are.
535
00:43:51.793 --> 00:43:56.290
Jesus' probing parables call forth a response.
536
00:43:56.290 --> 00:43:59.960
A response, not intellectual sophistication,
537
00:43:59.960 --> 00:44:04.960
but what we might call moral and spiritual insight.
538
00:44:04.960 --> 00:44:09.150
Matthew rightly speaks of understanding.
539
00:44:09.150 --> 00:44:12.540
The simplest person is capable of it.
540
00:44:12.540 --> 00:44:17.455
The most sophisticated intellectual may miss the point.
541
00:44:18.650 --> 00:44:22.040
Several years ago, I was observing a divinity student,
542
00:44:22.040 --> 00:44:24.020
leading a discussion in a youth group
543
00:44:24.020 --> 00:44:26.490
at a church not far from here.
544
00:44:26.490 --> 00:44:29.720
We might describe it as a working class church.
545
00:44:29.720 --> 00:44:32.720
The subject of the discussion was communism,
546
00:44:32.720 --> 00:44:34.910
and the discussion was going pretty badly.
547
00:44:34.910 --> 00:44:37.220
The young person doing most of the talking
548
00:44:37.220 --> 00:44:40.210
apparently had some canned material from Life Line
549
00:44:40.210 --> 00:44:44.040
or some such source, but eventually the talk got around
550
00:44:44.040 --> 00:44:47.370
to such matters as school, integration,
551
00:44:47.370 --> 00:44:49.330
Duke student demonstrations,
552
00:44:49.330 --> 00:44:50.900
which had just then been going on,
553
00:44:50.900 --> 00:44:52.760
and other matters closer to home,
554
00:44:52.760 --> 00:44:56.203
and as it did, the discussion got a lot better.
555
00:44:56.203 --> 00:44:58.810
The young people, it was clear, could understand
556
00:44:58.810 --> 00:45:01.810
their parent's strong feelings against some of these things,
557
00:45:01.810 --> 00:45:03.830
but they thought that their parents were really
558
00:45:03.830 --> 00:45:06.243
a little intolerant.
559
00:45:06.243 --> 00:45:08.010
And finally, the girl who had been reading
560
00:45:08.010 --> 00:45:12.296
the anti-communist propaganda had a flash of insight.
561
00:45:12.296 --> 00:45:17.025
As Christians, she said, we should love everybody.
562
00:45:17.025 --> 00:45:22.020
We must love communist, and black people, and Duke people.
563
00:45:23.490 --> 00:45:26.350
Well, I stifled a laugh, and for years,
564
00:45:26.350 --> 00:45:30.350
I have told this story in a rather condescending way.
565
00:45:30.350 --> 00:45:32.830
It seemed to me to illustrate so marvelously
566
00:45:32.830 --> 00:45:35.680
the way in which people in town think, some people,
567
00:45:35.680 --> 00:45:40.570
and how they regard Duke University, and Duke people.
568
00:45:40.570 --> 00:45:43.448
But now I have some second thoughts.
569
00:45:43.448 --> 00:45:45.730
This young person had a perfectly valid
570
00:45:45.730 --> 00:45:49.350
and important Christian insight.
571
00:45:49.350 --> 00:45:52.010
It came home, especially as far as black people
572
00:45:52.010 --> 00:45:56.418
and Duke people were concerned, to right where she was.
573
00:45:56.418 --> 00:45:59.510
Now, I might say parenthetically as the years have passed,
574
00:45:59.510 --> 00:46:01.710
I've found that loving Duke people
575
00:46:01.710 --> 00:46:06.090
is not such an inconsiderable challenge after all.
576
00:46:06.090 --> 00:46:08.190
As members of an academic community,
577
00:46:08.190 --> 00:46:10.840
we can be insufferably self-assured
578
00:46:10.840 --> 00:46:15.100
and self-righteous, but such learning and prestige
579
00:46:15.100 --> 00:46:18.070
as we possess is no guarantee, may not even be
580
00:46:18.070 --> 00:46:20.460
any evidence that we have the kind of insight
581
00:46:20.460 --> 00:46:24.613
and understanding which Jesus demands.
582
00:46:24.613 --> 00:46:27.760
Indeed, we do not always agree,
583
00:46:27.760 --> 00:46:30.768
and in fact, we are not always right.
584
00:46:30.768 --> 00:46:32.910
William F. Buckley once said that he would
585
00:46:32.910 --> 00:46:35.760
rather be governed by the first 1000 people
586
00:46:35.760 --> 00:46:37.590
listed in the Boston telephone book
587
00:46:37.590 --> 00:46:41.070
than by the faculty of Harvard University.
588
00:46:41.070 --> 00:46:43.100
Now, I'm not sure whether I agree entirely with that,
589
00:46:43.100 --> 00:46:44.680
or whether I'd like to apply it
590
00:46:44.680 --> 00:46:48.840
to Duke and to Durham or not, but be that as it may,
591
00:46:48.840 --> 00:46:52.630
the longer I reflect, the more I rejoice
592
00:46:52.630 --> 00:46:55.590
in a young girl's spontaneous insight,
593
00:46:55.590 --> 00:46:58.010
that the gospel lays upon her the demand
594
00:46:58.010 --> 00:47:02.210
to love her neighbors even if they are Duke people.
595
00:47:02.210 --> 00:47:06.230
And it occurs to me to think that the reverse of that
596
00:47:06.230 --> 00:47:10.168
is also true for us.
597
00:47:10.168 --> 00:47:13.370
We who are members of an academic community,
598
00:47:13.370 --> 00:47:16.800
for all our penchant for self-criticism and debate,
599
00:47:16.800 --> 00:47:20.350
we find it easier to esteem and in a real sense,
600
00:47:20.350 --> 00:47:22.300
love our colleagues.
601
00:47:22.300 --> 00:47:26.130
We find it much less easy to esteem and to love those
602
00:47:26.130 --> 00:47:31.130
who do not share our intellectual and related commitments.
603
00:47:31.150 --> 00:47:35.420
And whom we do not esteem as equal before God,
604
00:47:35.420 --> 00:47:39.771
we can scarcely, meaningfully love.
605
00:47:39.771 --> 00:47:44.771
For those of us who had lived at once in the University
606
00:47:45.020 --> 00:47:47.540
and in the church of Jesus Christ,
607
00:47:47.540 --> 00:47:51.988
there may be a painful but necessary acknowledgement.
608
00:47:51.988 --> 00:47:55.250
It is certainly true that the values and goals of the two,
609
00:47:55.250 --> 00:47:58.880
the church and the University, in many ways overlap
610
00:47:58.880 --> 00:48:01.140
and are mutually supportive.
611
00:48:01.140 --> 00:48:04.440
The goals of the University are valid and valuable.
612
00:48:04.440 --> 00:48:06.700
I do not, for a moment, disparage them.
613
00:48:06.700 --> 00:48:08.900
In many ways, as many of you do,
614
00:48:08.900 --> 00:48:12.218
I live out of them and for them.
615
00:48:12.218 --> 00:48:14.410
And yet, the understanding which, according to the
616
00:48:14.410 --> 00:48:18.520
New Testament Jesus calls for, is not the same
617
00:48:18.520 --> 00:48:23.360
as the understanding we seek in the University.
618
00:48:23.360 --> 00:48:26.720
That distinctively Christian understanding
619
00:48:26.720 --> 00:48:29.836
is not based upon erudition,
620
00:48:29.836 --> 00:48:33.925
but upon an insight born of faith.
621
00:48:33.925 --> 00:48:36.300
It is not available to the arrogant
622
00:48:36.300 --> 00:48:41.300
and the haughty of this world, but to the lowly,
623
00:48:41.400 --> 00:48:46.370
and to people who have put all pretense aside.
624
00:48:48.070 --> 00:48:53.070
Whoever can hear and understand the parables of Jesus,
625
00:48:53.170 --> 00:48:56.960
will gain this saving knowledge.
626
00:48:56.960 --> 00:49:01.781
So, at the conclusion of the parable of the sower,
627
00:49:03.910 --> 00:49:06.911
what does Jesus say?
628
00:49:06.911 --> 00:49:11.340
He who has ears to hear,
629
00:49:11.340 --> 00:49:16.340
let him hear.
630
00:49:16.490 --> 00:49:18.933
So be it,
631
00:49:18.933 --> 00:49:22.460
may we indeed hear;
632
00:49:22.460 --> 00:49:25.001
Amen.
633
00:49:32.090 --> 00:49:35.590
(orchestral church music)
634
00:50:00.426 --> 00:50:05.426
(orchestral church music mixed with congregational singing)
635
00:52:02.007 --> 00:52:04.453
Let us affirm what we believe.
636
00:52:05.960 --> 00:52:10.960
We believe in God who has created and is creating,
637
00:52:11.400 --> 00:52:14.980
who has come in a truly human Jesus,
638
00:52:14.980 --> 00:52:17.023
to reconcile and make new,
639
00:52:17.890 --> 00:52:21.573
who works in us and of us by the Spirit.
640
00:52:22.600 --> 00:52:27.500
We trust God, who calls us to be the Church,
641
00:52:27.500 --> 00:52:30.730
to celebrate life and its fullness,
642
00:52:30.730 --> 00:52:33.830
to love and serve others,
643
00:52:33.830 --> 00:52:37.370
to seek justice and resist evil,
644
00:52:37.370 --> 00:52:40.903
to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen,
645
00:52:41.940 --> 00:52:43.890
our judge and our hope
646
00:52:44.860 --> 00:52:47.700
in life, in death,
647
00:52:47.700 --> 00:52:49.433
in life beyond death,
648
00:52:50.290 --> 00:52:52.770
God is with us.
649
00:52:52.770 --> 00:52:55.120
We are not alone.
650
00:52:55.120 --> 00:52:56.113
Thanks be to God.
651
00:52:57.740 --> 00:53:00.032
The Lord be with you.
652
00:53:00.032 --> 00:53:01.617
And with your spirit.
653
00:53:01.617 --> 00:53:02.450
Let us pray:
654
00:53:14.270 --> 00:53:15.863
Oh holy God,
655
00:53:16.750 --> 00:53:21.293
we bow before you in awe and adoration.
656
00:53:23.210 --> 00:53:26.010
We are overcome with a sense of our infinitude
657
00:53:26.010 --> 00:53:28.890
when we consider your greatness, and your power,
658
00:53:28.890 --> 00:53:30.173
and your love.
659
00:53:32.450 --> 00:53:36.203
We are confused, troubled people.
660
00:53:37.890 --> 00:53:42.020
We live with the complexity of our existence.
661
00:53:42.020 --> 00:53:44.860
We want to be your people through whom your Word
662
00:53:44.860 --> 00:53:47.610
and your truth is manifest,
663
00:53:47.610 --> 00:53:50.583
and yet we struggle and become discouraged.
664
00:53:51.960 --> 00:53:54.600
So we ask you to teach us to pray
665
00:53:54.600 --> 00:53:57.733
for ourselves and for others.
666
00:53:59.180 --> 00:54:02.613
Hear these our prayers of petition and intercession.
667
00:54:05.320 --> 00:54:08.460
We pray that the way we spend our leisure time
668
00:54:08.460 --> 00:54:10.463
may be a living witness to you,
669
00:54:11.870 --> 00:54:15.000
and that we may never forget the many who are enslaved
670
00:54:15.000 --> 00:54:16.883
to the industry of entertainment,
671
00:54:18.730 --> 00:54:22.323
and the poor who have no leisure or only their leisure.
672
00:54:24.310 --> 00:54:27.830
Show us ways that all of our time will be used
673
00:54:27.830 --> 00:54:28.943
for your glory.
674
00:54:31.360 --> 00:54:35.000
We pray, oh God, that what we do with our abilities,
675
00:54:35.000 --> 00:54:38.300
and our energies will be a living witness
676
00:54:38.300 --> 00:54:41.233
to your love and concern for this world.
677
00:54:43.120 --> 00:54:46.433
May we never forget the many who cannot choose their work,
678
00:54:47.660 --> 00:54:50.573
those who find no satisfaction in their work,
679
00:54:52.090 --> 00:54:55.573
those who have no work, or only their work.
680
00:54:57.430 --> 00:55:00.550
Direct our social and political struggle toward
681
00:55:00.550 --> 00:55:04.170
a society where all can love you
682
00:55:04.170 --> 00:55:07.303
and their neighbor in the midst of their daily work.
683
00:55:10.220 --> 00:55:13.080
We pray that the style of life we have chosen
684
00:55:13.990 --> 00:55:16.543
may be a living witness to your love,
685
00:55:18.160 --> 00:55:20.910
and that we may never forget the many,
686
00:55:20.910 --> 00:55:24.560
who married, or unmarried, find no hope
687
00:55:24.560 --> 00:55:26.253
or joy in their future.
688
00:55:27.930 --> 00:55:30.853
Redeem our destructive relationships.
689
00:55:32.160 --> 00:55:34.283
Release us from loneliness.
690
00:55:35.170 --> 00:55:40.170
Renew your church so we may become truly your family,
691
00:55:41.550 --> 00:55:44.013
the new caring humanity.
692
00:55:45.820 --> 00:55:48.733
To you, oh God, we bring our failures,
693
00:55:49.980 --> 00:55:54.553
our compromises, and the joys of our achievements.
694
00:55:56.700 --> 00:55:59.760
Hear now, our prayers for those who are facing
695
00:55:59.760 --> 00:56:04.120
special crises, illness,
696
00:56:04.120 --> 00:56:06.673
unemployment, death.
697
00:56:09.090 --> 00:56:12.433
We mourn the loss of those who have recently died.
698
00:56:14.200 --> 00:56:16.530
We give you thanks for the lives
699
00:56:16.530 --> 00:56:19.913
of Carlyle Marney and John Wheeler.
700
00:56:20.800 --> 00:56:22.620
And we pray that their family and friends
701
00:56:22.620 --> 00:56:25.393
will be sustained by your comforting presence.
702
00:56:26.890 --> 00:56:31.313
Send us your Spirit, oh God, with all your healing power.
703
00:56:33.140 --> 00:56:35.763
When we are grieving, console us.
704
00:56:36.970 --> 00:56:39.733
When we are fragmented, make us whole.
705
00:56:41.300 --> 00:56:43.993
When we are desperate, help us to walk in hope.
706
00:56:45.230 --> 00:56:48.253
When we're separated, unite us.
707
00:56:49.740 --> 00:56:52.793
We pray in the spirit of the one who taught us to pray.
708
00:56:55.019 --> 00:56:59.150
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
709
00:57:00.120 --> 00:57:04.000
Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done,
710
00:57:04.000 --> 00:57:06.117
on earth as it is in heaven.
711
00:57:07.003 --> 00:57:09.303
Give us this day our daily bread;
712
00:57:10.350 --> 00:57:13.220
and forgive us our trespasses,
713
00:57:13.220 --> 00:57:16.203
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
714
00:57:17.300 --> 00:57:19.600
and lead us not into temptation,
715
00:57:20.466 --> 00:57:22.549
but deliver us from evil.
716
00:57:23.465 --> 00:57:26.782
For thine is the kingdom, and the power,
717
00:57:26.782 --> 00:57:29.115
and the glory forever; Amen.
718
00:57:34.442 --> 00:57:37.942
(orchestral church music)
719
00:58:56.369 --> 00:59:01.369
(choir singing church music accompanied by orchestra)