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Reformation Day Resources:
Sermons for Proper 26-31:
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Through the Lens of Grace
a sermon based on Luke 19:1-10
by Rev. Randy Quinn
When I was five or six
years old, there was a bank robbery in the town where we lived. I was
too young to remember it, but I’ve heard my father tell about it - and
how it directly affected him. The bank tellers gave an accurate
description of a man, including a description of the plaid shirt he was
wearing. Within minutes, the police found my father in a store about a
block away. He was wearing the same shirt and matched the description of
the man who had been involved in the robbery. But when they took him
away, he had no idea why he was being arrested.
In those circumstances, protesting innocence
doesn’t help. Certainly he was guilty of something! I mean, like my
father, I sometimes find myself exceeding the speed limit. Like my
father, I sometimes find myself jay walking. Like my father - and many
of you - I find myself pressing the limits of parking meters on
occasion.
No one is totally innocent. We may be ‘law-abiding
citizens,’ but there are some laws we have broken at some point in time.
Until he knew what he was suspected of doing, he couldn’t plead
innocence. All he could do was tell the truth and hope the truth would
be believed.
It wasn’t long before the truth was heard; they
realized they had the wrong man and my father was released. (I’ve never
heard who the real bank robber was, though.) Have you ever been wrongly
accused of something? You may not have been taken into police custody
for questioning, but have you ever been blamed for something you didn’t
do?
Most of us have. When I was a child, there were
countless times when my brothers would do something and I would take the
rap. In those circumstances, I tried to plead innocence but to no avail.
I was presumed guilty because my brothers said I was. In all fairness to
them, I suspect they have often said they took the rap for me - I just
don’t remember those times! All-too-often, the perceptions of the
accuser cloud the truth and it cannot be seen or heard. Protesting does
not change perceptions.
In many parts of the world, Americans are
perceived as the cause of poverty and suffering simply because we have
enormous wealth. It’s a perception that will not be easily changed
because the accusers have already passed judgment.
Americans have been accused of idolatry, of
worshipping money and wealth. And some say the terrorists are trying to
convict us of the per [continue]
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