Cheating?

 Cheating?

1 Timothy 2:1-7[1]

We have a saying, “Cheaters never prosper.” Unfortunately, there are a lot of people in this world who “cheat” in some way or another and get away with it. That doesn’t sit well with most of us. We don’t like it when someone takes unfair advantage and gets away with it. Of course, except when we do it. And, of course, when we do it, it’s not “cheating” or “taking unfair advantage.” It’s “being smart.” Or “maximizing our opportunities.” Or “getting ahead.” We don’t like “cheaters,” but what most of us tend to overlook is the fact that we all have advantages that we didn’t necessarily work for. They were handed to us at birth. And in this world, our advantages represent a kind of “cheat” to those who don’t have them.

We tend to look at religion the same way. We believe that “heaven” is reserved for those who, like us, do things the “right” way. And those who fail to live up to the standards we have worked hard all our lives to maintain rightfully deserve to be denied access to “heaven” and its blessings. I think we have a hard time grasping the idea of a God who loves all people  with no strings attached.[2] It seems that in our experience with life, there are always strings attached. Or expectations we have to live up to. The idea that God simply loves us, and that there’s nothing we can do to change that love, is one that just doesn’t compute with many of us. In fact, we may think of it as “cheating” that some people who don’t live up to our standards get to enjoy the same love that we do. The idea that God loves us all unconditionally and irrevocably just doesn’t seem quite right, or perhaps even quite fair.

Despite all that, That God loves us all is precisely the message of our Scripture lesson for today from First Timothy. Simply put, “God our Savior … desires everyone to be saved” (1 Tim. 2:3-4). And to that end, “Christ Jesus … gave himself a ransom for all” (1 Tim. 2:5-6). The language is clearly all-inclusive, embracing “everyone.” That may come as a surprise to you, because it’s not the typical way in which we understand God’s “plan of salvation.” We tend to think of salvation not as a gift of God’s grace, but as a transaction. Those of us who do the right things, like believing in Jesus, going to church, and living the right kind of life, receive salvation as a reward for our efforts. Those who don’t get what they “deserve”

This view of salvation has been around for a long time. From the earliest days of the church, the accepted view was that “outside the church there is no salvation.” This makes the statement from our Scripture lesson problematic, to say the least. When you take that point of view, it’s hard to believe that God “desires everyone to be saved.” And so we have come up with ways to “adjust” this bold declaration to make it more palatable. Some will say “God desires everyone to be saved,” but “everyone” equals all kinds of people, not all people. Others say “God desires everyone to be saved,” but “everyone” equals all those whom God has chosen for salvation, not all people. The conclusion seems unavoidable that what they are really saying is that “God does not desire everyone to be saved”![3] 

I think there are a variety of reasons why we take this verse of Scripture and twist it around to mean the opposite of what it says. For one thing, we want life to be fair. If you’re like me, and you’ve been in church all your life, it can seem unfair that God offers salvation to everyone without conditions. I’ve had a long-standing member of a Presbyterian church ask the question, “If God is going to save everyone, then why do we go to church?” Of course, this betrays the assumption that we can somehow earn God’s love by attending church. In reality, that kind of thinking has it all backwards. We don’t go to church in order to earn God’s love. We go to church because we’ve encountered the incredible love God gives all of us, and in response we want to live our lives by loving God in every way we can.

I think another reason for this kind of thinking is that we think that people ought to get what they deserve. It can seem like “cheating” for someone who has lived however they pleased to get to experience God’s salvation just the same as those who have tried to practice kindness and justice. I also had a church member tell me “There are some people I want to go to hell!” Again, this misses the point of the gospel. The gift of salvation isn’t something we can somehow do enough good to “deserve.” The message of Scripture is that none of us can ever “deserve” God’s love. That’s why it’s a gift—for everyone. That’s a good thing for all of us—regardless of what we think we “deserve.”

I can accept and endorse the fact that there are different interpretations of the Christian faith.  There always have been, and there always will be.  But I never have and never will embrace a view of God that excludes the vast majority of humanity from the gift of salvation through Christ. I choose to take the Scripture at face value when it says “God desires everyone to be saved”!  And I believe it is valid both biblically and theologically to hope for and believe in God’s eventual redemption of all people.[4] The foundation for this faith is nothing less than God’s character: it’s who God is—God our Savior. [5]

I realize this sermon may leave some of you scratching your heads. It may not sound like any sermon you’ve ever heard before. Unfortunately, the idea that we have to earn God’s love by doing enough good to deserve salvation has been around for a long time. But I would say that idea is not consistent with the message of Scripture. The Bible teaches us that God loves us simply because that’s who God is. And there’s nothing we can ever do to deserve that love. The flip side of it is that there is nothing we can ever do to lose God’s love. The good news of the Gospel is that God loves us all, and because of that love he “desires for everyone to be saved.” That is the purpose and the goal toward which God has been working throughout the centuries. And nothing and no one will  be able to prevent God from accomplishing that goal. It may seem like “cheating” to some, but I call it “grace.”

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[1] © 2025 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Brehm PhD on 9/21/2025 for Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.

[2] Cf. Hendrikus Berkhof, Christian Faith, 136, where he (as a Reformed theologian) points out that the doctrine of dual predestination “has caused much uncertainty and has robbed many Christians of the joy of the Christian faith.”

[3] Cf. John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 3.23.1: “since election itself could not stand except as set over against reprobation … those whom God passes over, he condemns.” Calvin was influenced by Augustine of Hippo, who argued that God’s desire for “all people to be saved” only applies to those whom God has predestined to salvation, and excludes all others, even infants who die without being baptized. See Augustine, On Rebuke and Grace, 14.44; On the Predestination of the Saints, 18.36; Enchiridion, 27, 103; cf. Jaroslav Pelikan, The Christian Tradition I:321; Johannes Quasten, Patrology IV:443.  On infants, see Augustine, On the Soul and its Origin, 4.11.16; cf. Pelikan, Christian Tradition I:297-98.

[4] Many throughout the history of the church have endorsed this view, beginning with Origen of Caesarea, and including Gregory of Nyssa, Juliana of Norwich. See J. Pelikan, The Christian Tradition, I: 151-52; V:116-17, 224; J. Quasten, Patrology II:87-91; III:289-90. In more recent times this view was represented by Catholic theologians like Karl Rahner and Hans Urs von Balthasar, and by Protestant Theologians of all traditions. In the Reformed tradition, both Karl Barth (eventually) and Jürgen Moltmann, both of whom were influenced by the 19^th Century German pietist Christoph Blumhardt, endorsed this viewpoint.

[5] Cf. James D. G. Dunn, “The First and Second Letters to Timothy and The Letter to Titus” New Interpreters Bible XI:798, where he says that this is “a statement that is as clear as any assertion of ‘Christian universalism’: God wills the salvation of everyone.”

Channels of Grace

Channels of Grace

1 Timothy 1:12-17[1]

We’ve been discussing some of the pitfalls of religion over the last several weeks. As hard as it is to admit, the Church has not escaped the flaws inherent in all human religion. I think it’s fitting to have this discussion this year because Luke’s Gospel focuses on these matters. A brief overview of history shows us that the Church has had a mixed legacy. In many cases those who follow Jesus have given sacrificially and have poured out kindness and mercy to those who are hurting. At times giving their very lives to serve other people. But in all too many cases, I’m afraid the Church has been responsible for inflicting harm. More than that, the Church has inflicted violence of many kinds on innocent people. At times it was just for being from the wrong religion. I think about the crusades. At times it was for being the wrong gender. I think about the “witch hunts.” There were sometimes when it was simply for practicing a different form of Christianity! I think about Protestants versus Catholics and vice versa.

Just like every other human endeavor, religion is flawed because it is practiced by human beings. Many others have observed that the roots of the problem are to be found in our own capacity for fear, hatred, and self-deception![2] As hard as it is for us to hear, our religion can turn into neurosis. The definition of neurosis is that what a person has repressed—fear of not being “enough,” self-hatred, excessive pride, unbridled desires—becomes what they see in others. But it’s all an elaborate  (but unconscious) ploy to avoid having to face the ugly truth within themselves![3] This repression of one’s own insecurity and guilt inevitably leads to a rigid set of rules and authoritarian beliefs that are considered absolute precisely because they protect the guilty from having to face their own shame. Anyone who opposes, challenges, or in any way questions that system of religious self-justification becomes the target of vicious hatred and violent attacks. It’s happened over and over again in the history of the world! When religion originates with fear and hatred, it’s no wonder that people kill others in the name of God, as heartbreaking as it is to recognize!

By his own admission, St. Paul was such a man. His devotion to Judaism was so complete that he considered the message of Jesus about God’s joyful acceptance even of those who have lost their way to be a blasphemous insult. When confronted with the gospel, Paul’s initial response was violent. Anyone who preached Jesus’ message deserved a death sentence. What made Jesus’ gospel outrageous to someone like Paul was that it defines God as the one who loves everyone so much that he goes out searching for those who have lost their way, as our Gospel lesson reminds us.[4] But the fact that Jesus preached and enacted that good news contradicted Paul’s original view of God as a stern and unfeeling judge who doles out rewards and punishments in strict conformity to obedience and sin. Jesus’ message of grace and mercy to those who have lost their way was an intolerable upheaval in the image of God for Jewish zealots like Paul. It was outright blasphemy! And so he set about to eradicate it.

Again, this isn’t propaganda hurled against Paul by his opponents. This comes from Paul’s own confessions about his life. In our lesson from 1 Timothy for today, we hear about how Paul had formerly been “a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a man of violence” (1 Tim. 1:13). I can imagine that his heart broke as he authored those words. The book of Acts recounts that Paul was on his way to Damascus with the authority to seek out followers of Jesus and have them put to death! The sobering fact is that he did all of that on God’s behalf, as an expression of his faith. That may seem impossible to believe, and yet I think it was part and parcel of his version of that compulsive, neurotic religion. When confronted with something he could not reconcile with his own “sacred cows,” Paul didn’t hesitate to act in anger and violence. People of all faiths still do it all the time.

But something happened to Paul that changed him. He came face-to-face with the risen and exalted Christ. And as a result Paul says he received mercy and grace “poured all over” him (1 Tim 1:14, CEB). That was enough to convince him that he was headed in the wrong direction. So he turned his life around. But more than that, he received a commission: Paul says he was “judged faithful” and “appointed” to serve Christ. And so, as he says elsewhere, Paul began to proclaim the good news he had formerly tried to destroy (cf. Gal. 1:23). In a real sense, Paul became a channel of the very grace and mercy he had formerly sought to suppress and even to eradicate.

Some might be tempted to say that God made an exception for Paul. But our lesson for today suggests that the reason why Paul experienced such extraordinary grace and mercy was not only to make him a channel of that grace to others, but also to show that this is the way God deals with us all. As the Scripture lesson puts it, Paul’s experience was to demonstrate that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Tim. 1:15). Since Paul could consider himself the “foremost,” or a “worst-case” sinner, our lesson says that he received mercy so that “Jesus Christ might display the utmost patience, making me an example to those who would come to believe in him for eternal life” (1 Tim. 1:16). Paul experienced God’s grace, mercy, and love so that he could become a channel of that grace to others, especially those who were considered a “lost cause.”

I think some of this might come as a shock to us. After all, it is “Saint Paul” we’re talking about, preacher and teacher of the gospel, founder and pastor of churches, and writer of about a third of the New Testament! He’s called “Saint Paul” for a reason. Most of us would consider ourselves much worse sinners than Paul! But I would say our lesson insists that the reason why Paul experienced such amazing grace and mercy was to show there is no one who is beyond the love of God. By his own admission he had blasphemed Christ and viciously attacked and even murdered Christians. If he could be forgiven for that, then there was no one who could not be forgiven their sins. Since Jesus came into the world to save sinners, that includes us all. Paul was the prime example of how God’s grace can transform even the most violent person into a channel of grace to others.

While our Scripture lesson for today comes from the end of Paul’s life, the message that God’s grace and mercy and love are for all people was an important part of the gospel Paul preached from the very beginning. In fact, this message can be found in Scripture long before Paul lived, even before Jesus died on the cross. Throughout the Hebrew Bible, God displays grace and mercy to the people of Israel again and again. Grace and mercy and unfailing love define God’s very character throughout the Bible. We might wonder how Paul and his compatriots could be so devoted to Scripture and be so completely wrong-headed about God. And yet, as I observed when we began, whenever anyone uses religion to cover up a fundamental sense of guilt and shame, their religion can become angry and violent.

As was the case for Paul, so it is still true today that God’s grace and mercy and love remain intact, even for those who use their religion to harm others. God’s grace remains for us all! And part of Paul’s point in our lesson from 1 Timothy is that the extraordinary grace God showed someone like Paul is for everyone. Christ Jesus came to save us all. That means there is no one who is ever beyond the love of God. This is the way God has dealt with people from the very beginning. But the purpose of God’s grace has always been to transform those who experience it into channels of grace to others. That was true with Abraham and his descendants. It was true for Paul and his compatriots. And it’s still true for us today.

There are things happening in our world and in our country that are troubling and discouraging. It may leave us wondering what we can do to make a difference in this big world that seems to be spinning out of control into violence and hatred. I’ve said it before: I believe that every time we act with integrity and compassion, it makes a difference. Every time we share the grace we’ve received from God with someone else, it makes a difference. It certainly makes a difference directly in the life of those with whom we share that grace. But I believe it also makes a difference in the bigger world. We may not see it. We may not see the path in front of us, but that’s because we’re living in a time when we’re forging that path by every act of integrity, kindness, or compassion. Every time we act as channels of God’s grace, we’re forging the path toward the light, toward goodness. We’re blazing the trail toward kingdom of God. The purpose of God’s grace has always been to transform us into channels of grace to others. That was true for Paul and it’s still true for us today. God shows us his grace and mercy and love, without restrictions or conditions, to make us into people who will rejoice with him any time anyone who has lost their way finds their way back home. He does so to make us into people who will become channels of that grace to those around us.

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[1] © Alan Brehm 2025. A sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Brehm PhD on 9/14/2025 for Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.

[2] Keith Ward, Is Religion Dangerous?, 25-41. Jürgen Moltmann, The Church in the Power of the Spirit, 186-89.

[3] Cf. Paul Tillich, “The Yoke of Religion,” in The Shaking of the Foundations, 93-103; Emil Brunner, Revelation and Reason, 258-273; Karl Barth, The Epistle to the Romans, 236.

[4] Cf. Jürgen Moltmann, The Crucified God, 128-29, where he points out that Jesus “demonstrated God’s eschatological law of grace towards those without the law and the transgressors of the law, through his forgiveness of sins. By so doing he abolished the legal distinction between religious and secular, righteous and unrighteous, devout and sinful. He revealed God in a different way from that in which he was understood in the law and the tradition and was perceived by the guardians of the law.” Cf. also ibid., 142, where he speaks of this as a “revolution in the concept of God”: “God comes not to carry out just revenge upon the evil, but to justify by grace sinners, whether they are Zealots or tax collectors, Pharisees or sinners, Jews or Samaritans, and therefore, also, whether they are Jews or Gentiles.”

Not Too Difficult?

 Not Too Difficult?

Luke 14:25-35[1]

Like many of you, I do love a challenge. I’ve recently decided to start taking guitar lessons again. I took them 20 years ago, and learned to play guitar solos from classic rock songs and chord melodies from Jazz standards. Over 20 years, you can forget a lot. It’s a bit humbling to start over again, but that’s life. I’ve tried to keep up on my own, but you just learn more, and more quickly, when you have a teacher you have to meet with on a regular basis. I’ve always been that way about loving a challenge. I took all the “hardest” professors in college, just to prove to myself I could. I’ve tried to read the books that have been considered “difficult.” And in the middle of working on my PhD dissertation, I took my family to Germany for a year of study abroad. One of the reasons I did that is because one of my professors encouraged me to do so. He believed I would be up for the challenge. Some, perhaps many, might call taking a wife and two small children overseas “crazy” rather than stepping up to a challenge. But for me, it made a significant difference in my ability to step outside the box I had been living in when I was working in the Baptist world. I don’t regret that, and I don’t think I’ll ever regret rising to a challenge.

In our Scripture lesson from Deuteronomy for today, Moses encourages the people of Israel that the challenge of obeying God’s commands and following God’s ways was not “too difficult” for them. Rather, he urged them to follow the inclinations of their hearts. He believed that if they only followed the voice inside that was telling them what was right, they would be able to live up to the challenge he presented to them. Unfortunately, the history of the people of Israel demonstrates that it’s not quite that simple. Because along with the voice of conscience telling us what is right to do, we all have other voices. Especially the voice that tells us to do whatever we please. It’s a voice that tells us to take the easy way out and just avoid having to do what’s difficult. Then Jesus came along and did the most difficult thing. He gave up his life in obedience to God’s will, and then he called us to follow him in that same path! I’m not sure we always fully appreciate just how difficult that is for us to do in our daily lives.

I think our Gospel lesson from Luke illustrates that difficulty. The call to follow Jesus is one that demands that we shape our whole identity based on the kingdom of God. It’s a call to a way of life that defines all of life. Of course, none of us starts out there in our faith journey. Most of us start out simply hoping to have a better life here, and in the afterlife a home in heaven. But Jesus spoke about something more: about the kingdom of God that is in the process of changing all things and all people here and now. Most of us don’t start out with that in mind. If we continue to seek God’s kingdom, however, we will have to face a call that claims our whole lives, just like it did Jesus’ life.

One of the reasons why this can be difficult for us is because we don’t have to face the likelihood that following Christ will mean the loss of family ties, being cast out of our circle of friends, or even being stripped of the means of making a livelihood. We celebrate the fact that in this country we’re free to embrace our faith without suffering the hardships that many people have suffered for Christ throughout history, and many others still suffer to this day. It’s good to have the freedom to worship according to our conscience. But I think it makes it harder for us to appreciate how difficult it is to follow as our “Savior” and our “Lord” one who suffered a humiliating death.

I believe our Gospel lesson for today places this question front and center. In fact, it’s hard to avoid when you read this passage and really listen to it. It’s one of the hardest things Jesus ever said. Some of what Jesus says here about what it means to follow him can sound pretty harsh to us. Because of the difficulty of this passage, it’s easy to miss the “forest” for the “trees.” I think the point is that Jesus is calling us to shape our whole identity, from the roots up, around our commitment to following him and to seeking God’s kingdom. It’s a call to a way of life that defines all of life. And that means being willing to “leave everything behind,” at least to let go of it in our hearts.

Right off the bat we hear the challenge: Jesus says, “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple” (Lk 14:26)! Cannot be my disciple! It’s just plain jarring to hear. As is often the case with difficult passages of Scripture, we have to look elsewhere to gain the proper perspective. I don’t believe that Jesus wanted anyone to literally “hate” their families, or that he wanted anyone to literally “hate” themselves. But I would say that we have plenty of evidence that the Christians for whom Luke’s Gospel was intended actually went through this kind of thing. Their choice to follow Jesus literally put them at odds with their families. Their choice to follow Jesus meant they had to leave everything behind.[2]

Jesus follows this up with another hard demand, “Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple” (Lk 14:27). For us, the cross is a symbol of our faith. We decorate it with flowers and make jewelry out of it. But no one in the First Century would have made jewelry out of a cross. It would make about as much sense as making jewelry out of a hangman’s noose. There was nothing “pretty” about the cross in the First Century. We’re familiar with the sentiment of “taking up our cross,” because Jesus had earlier called those who would follow him to “deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me” (Lk 9:23). I’m just not sure we understand what it means for us to take up our cross. After telling them that his path of seeking God’s kingdom was going to lead him to die on the cross, he called them to follow a similar path. He called them to “take up your cross daily.” Again, I think this brings us back to what it will cost us to follow Jesus: our very lives, and more than that, all of life.

Perhaps even more difficult for us is that Jesus sums up what it means to follow him by saying, “none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions” (Lk 14:33). This is not so much offensive as it seems downright impossible. Who can afford to give up everything they own? But perhaps the idea here is broader than just our “possessions.” Some translations say, “none of you can be my disciple unless you give up everything you have” (GNT). That’s the way older versions translated this passage. I think it’s more to the point: Jesus calls us to leave everything behind just as he did the first Apostles (Lk 5:11, 18). I think that means holding everything we have “loosely,” recognizing that it belongs to God anyway, and holding it with the freedom of offering it all back to God to use however he pleases. Jesus calls us to a way of life that defines all of life. And that means letting go of everything else. We may still “have” it, but we don’t “hold” it so tightly. It doesn’t define us.

I don’t believe that Jesus wanted anyone to literally “hate” their families or themselves. That makes no sense! I also don’t believe Jesus expected everyone who follows him to literally become a martyr for their faith, although many have done so. I believe that Jesus made the shocking statements in this passage to make clear that the kind of demands it would take for people to follow him would claim their whole lives. He was calling people to shape their whole identity based on the way of living he demonstrated for them. And he said that it was nothing short of leaving everything behind for the sake of the kingdom of God. And he used the shocking language of this passage to impress upon all who would follow him how difficult it would be to actually do that.

Jesus calls us to a way of life that defines all of life. And here we learn that “leaving everything behind” to follow Jesus applies not just to the first disciples, but to us all. That’s difficult for us to hear. We begin our faith journey hoping that it will make for a better life for us. When we hear something like this it may sound like Jesus is taking all that away. Because it doesn’t fit in with our approach to faith, we may be tempted to ignore it. But we cannot do that! Although they are difficult for us to hear, I believe we must pay attention to Jesus’ demands in this passage. The fact that they are so difficult for us to hear today, and they probably always will be, makes this passage so important. They create a tension that I think is purposeful on Jesus’ part. It was meant to draw us continually deeper into our commitment to following Christ. I’ve been reading this passage personally, professionally, and academically for over 40 years, and it continues to challenge me to this day. I hope it continues to challenge you as well. I think that’s the point: these demands continually call us to follow Jesus in a way of life that defines all of life. That means continually learning what it means for us to leave everything “behind,” to let everything go, for the sake of the kingdom of God! Perhaps Moses was right in that this means we have to seek to put into practice what our hearts are telling us is right, even and especially when the whole world may be telling us it’s wrong! But despite what Moses said about it being “not too difficult” for us, I think that’s always going to be difficult.

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[1] © 2025 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Brehm PhD on 9/7/2025 for Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.

[2] Cf. Jürgen Moltmann, The Way of Jesus Christ, 204, where he expresses the value of the decision to follow Jesus in discipleship: “Anyone who participates in ‘Christ’s sufferings’” becomes a witness “to the coming truth against the ruling lie, to coming justice and righteousness against the prevailing injustice, and to coming life against the tyranny of death.” This by definition sets those who follow him at odds with the current status quo.

Toxic

 Toxic

Luke 14:1-14[1]

I find it interesting how words and symbols change. I think just about everyone here, from young to old, knows the word “toxic.” It’s a word that’s fairly commonly used these days. But when I was a child, we used the word “poison.” And there was a skull and crossbones symbol that marked things that were poisonous made the warning clear: stay away from this, because it can kill you! In our day, that symbol is still used, but the one on the PowerPoint slide today is much more common. It’s called the “biohazard symbol.” It tends to be used for anything that can pose a significant risk to life. Even though you can find it pretty much everywhere in our world these days, and those of us who are adults tend to recognize it, I’m not sure it’s as effective a symbol as the skull and crossbones was, especially for children. When I was a child, the skull and crossbones symbol was fairly scary, and it got the point across. Of course, I’m sure that there were people back in the day who routinely ignored the “poison” symbol just as much as we may ignore the “biohazard” symbol today.

The idea that something is toxic is much more widespread in our day than “poison” was back then. But then that’s also because we’re much more aware of how widely toxic substances have spread in our world. I personally find myself dismayed at the information we just recently gotten about “microplastics.” Apparently, they are everywhere. In the soil, in our food, in our water, in our very bloodstream. What an irony that plastic, a substance that was designed to make our lives more convenient, has turned out to be toxic. And these microplastics are so widespread that they are not only affecting us and our children, but also just about every species of wildlife. More than that, they are threatening the very wellbeing of the planet itself. I refer you to the huge “islands” of plastic pieces floating in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans at this very moment.

But my sermon is not about the dangers to the environment posed by short-sighted thinking on the part of policymakers. My sermon is about our reading from the Gospel of Luke for today. Essentially, Jesus used the situation of healing a man with a chronic illness on the sabbath to point out the fact that the religion of the Jewish leaders of his day was toxic! If you are familiar with Jesus’ interactions with the Jewish religious leaders, you know that this wasn’t the only time they clashed. I find it significant that Jesus clashed with them more often than not over the sabbath day. Their focus on the religious rules of their own devising was so single-minded that they valued their rules over the welfare of people. Jesus had to remind them that the whole point of the sabbath was to honor God by helping people. Their rules for observing the sabbath prevented them from saving life. The scenario of rescuing a child or an ox that had fallen into a well was literally a matter the Jewish religious leaders debated! That should have been a huge red flag!

Of course, Jesus didn’t specifically call the religious leaders out for being “toxic.” He used other words. One that we’re most familiar with is “hypocrite.” He chastised them for putting on a show of being “holy” while their hearts were selfish and full of their own ego. They were more concerned about using their religion to make themselves look good than they were with the welfare of other people, particularly those who were “beneath” them. The very people God wanted them to help! Another word that Jesus used for the religious leaders was “wicked.” That may come as a surprise. It may come as a shock. For centuries, the word “wicked” has been used in our language to describe “sinners,” those who are judged to have turned away from God, those who are judged as morally defective, those whose life is characterized by vice or addiction. In short, “wicked” is a word that has been used to stigmatize anyone who doesn’t live up to the social conventions that define what makes a person “good.”

The Bible has a lot to say about what it means to be wicked. But most of it directly contradicts our social conventions about what it means to be “good” or “bad.” In the Bible, the wicked are those who take advantage of the weak and the vulnerable just because they can.[2] In the Bible, the wicked use lies, dishonest schemes, and even violence to enhance their power or enrich themselves at the expense of those who have no way to protect themselves.[3] And in the Bible, because they have the means and the power to get away with it, the wicked take their wealth and their power as evidence that they are right, maybe even “blessed by God,” in what they do. But the Bible calls that being “haughty” and “arrogant,” and defines it as renouncing God and God’s ways.[4] The Bible’s definition of “wicked” is very different from ours. And in the Bible, the definition of God’s ways is “justice” and “righteousness.” One of the cornerstones of God’s justice is caring for the weak and vulnerable, including specifically orphans, widows, and resident immigrants.[5]

Now, of course, you may have noticed that the word “wicked” doesn’t appear in our Gospel reading for today. Only once in all the Gospels do we have record that Jesus called the religious leaders “wicked,” and we probably shouldn’t be surprised that it’s in Luke’s Gospel (Lk 11:39).[6] But he did so in other ways. He told parables that highlighted all the ways that they directly contradicted God’s justice and used their position to benefit themselves.[7] He praised Zacchaeus, who was the very definition of a “sinner” in their eyes, because he vowed to give half his wealth to the poor. Jesus called them out for “devouring” widows’ houses (Lk 20:47), for their need for their obsessive need for attention and recognition (Lk 10:43), and for the fact that they only added to the burdens that the weakest and most vulnerable people in society were already carrying by the religious rules they imposed on them (Lk 10:46).

But mostly Jesus called the religious leaders out for being “wicked” by doing on the sabbath what their rules branded as “sinful.” He healed people who needed healing. He helped people who needed help. And by doing so, he was actively confronting him for their refusal to practice true “righteousness.” He was effectively saying through his actions on the sabbath that the religious leaders were the “wicked” ones in the world of the day. They knew it, and they plotted to kill him for it!

I think in this day and age, the word “wicked” means too much to be of any value. In traditional circles, it still designates those who are judged to be morally deficient. But “wicked” is also a way of saying that something is “outstanding.” That’s why I think toxic is a better word for what Jesus was trying to say to the religious leaders. He was trying to help them see the folly of their ways. He didn’t give up on them. He was trying to open their eyes! But because of their obsession with their rules, they were blind to the people who were in genuine need. That made their religion toxic, and because they defined themselves by their religion, it made them toxic.

We’re familiar with “toxic” people, “toxic” work environments, and “toxic” relationships. These phrases are commonplace in our world. But those of us in the church haven’t tended to even consider whether that our religion might be toxic. The sad truth is that religion always brings with it a temptation to be so focused on what we believe is right that we can overlook our own shortcomings. As Jesus put it, we can be so offended by the “speck” in someone else’s eye that we overlook the “log” in our own (Lk 6:41). I think if we’re going to take to heart the message of our Gospel lesson for today, we may need to take a long hard look at ourselves through Jesus’ eyes. Perhaps we need to take a look at ourselves through the eyes of the most vulnerable people in our community! It may be disturbing, but there are times when we need to be disturbed! We may need the words and actions of Jesus to disrupt our routines in order to take a hard look at ourselves. Sometimes that’s what it takes for us to make the changes that the kingdom of God demands of us!

 

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[1] © 2025 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Alan Brehm PhD on 8/31/2025 for Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.

[2] Cf. Ps 10:2, “In arrogance the wicked persecute the poor”; Prov 29:7, the “wicked” ignore the “rights of the poor”; Isa 32:7, the “wicked” “ruin the poor with lying words.”

[3] Cf. Ps 10:3, “the wicked boast of the desires of their heart; those greedy for gain curse and renounce the Lord”; Ps 37:14, “The wicked draw the sword and bend their bows to bring down the poor and needy”; Prov. 17:23, “The wicked accept a concealed bribe to pervert the ways of justice.”

[4] Cf. Lk 16:14, where Luke calls them “lovers of money.” Cf. also Ps 10:3; Prov. 17:23, “All day long the wicked covet, but the righteous give and do not hold back”; Isa 13:11, “I will put an end to the pride of the arrogant and lay low the insolence of tyrants”; James 3:16, “where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind.”

[5] Cf. Deut 10:18, God is the one who “executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and who loves the strangers, providing them food and clothing”; Deut 27:19, all the people are to acknowledge that “‘Cursed be anyone who deprives an alien, an orphan, or a widow of justice.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen!’”; Cf. also Isa 1:17, where “doing good” and “seeking justice” means to “rescue the oppressed; defend the orphan; plead for the widow”; Jer 22:3, among other things, “acting with justice” means to “do no wrong or violence to the alien, the orphan, and the widow.”

[6] Cf. Lk 16:15, “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of others, but God knows your hearts, for what is prized by humans is an abomination in the sight of God,” which is again a somewhat indirect rebuke (cf. Prov 15:9, “The way of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord”!).

[7] Especially the Good Samaritan (Lk 10), the Widow Seeking Justice (Lk 18), and in our Gospel reading for today the Parable about Places of Honor at Table (Lk 14).