Tag: humility

“Be Careful What you Ask For” Text: Mark 10:35-45

by Steve Harsh, posted in Christian Discipleship, Faith and Values

What would you do if your boss asked you to undertake a big project that would require a lot of effort and travel but she wouldn’t tell you what the project was until you agreed to do it?    Would you buy that deal?  Or if your very best friend comes to you with a financial crisis, and when you ask what it is or how much he needs – the answer is that he can’t tell you but just needs you to write him a blank check!  That’s what James and John seem to be saying to Jesus in this passage from Mark 10.  “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.”

Why would these two close disciples of Jesus even dare to ask such a brash and bold thing?  There is some evidence to support this unseemly behavior if we look elsewhere in the Gospels.  At least four times Jesus seems to offer the disciples and us that kind of magic wand.    ‘Whatever you ask for in prayer with faith you will receive” (Mt. 21:22).    And three times in John’s gospel, “I will do whatever you ask in my name” (John 14:13; 15:7 & 16).

Such a deal!  No wonder James and John want to cash in.  What would you pray for if you were guaranteed you’d get whatever you asked for?  New job? Healing for yourself or a loved one? Straight A’s?  A full-ride scholarship to the college of your choice?  Browns in the Super Bowl?  Hey, it says whatever you ask!!!!   How about healing a broken relationship?  Or let’s think really big and go for world peace and a healthy environment.

But there’s something wrong with this picture isn’t there?  We’ve prayed for most of those things and more, and more times than not, the answer is ‘no’ or ‘not now” or “not yet.”  The cancer isn’t cured.  The marriage ends in divorce.  The perfect job doesn’t appear.  Mr. or Ms. Right turns out to be a big Ms-take, and the world seems further from peace than ever.

If God is all powerful and promises to answer our prayers, why is there so much suffering and pain?  Why is the world such a mess?   We’ll come back to that question later.  First let’s look at the second surprising thing in this story about Jesus and his disciples.  After the audacity of James and John to ask Jesus to grant them whatever they want, the next surprise is that Jesus doesn’t laugh in their faces for daring to ask such a foolish question.  Jesus calmly responds, “What is it you want me to do? “  And when they say they want the seats of honor next to Jesus in his kingdom, then Jesus gets a little more direct with them.  He says, “You don’t know what you’re asking.”  In other words, “Be careful what you ask for.”  And then Jesus goes on to explain for the umpteenth time the cost of discipleship.  Following Jesus means being a servant and a slave, the exact opposite of the cushy places of privilege and honor James and John were asking for.

In Isaiah (55:8) God says, “My ways are not your ways.”  Jesus makes the same point here in Mark.  He says “among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them.  BUT IT IS NOT SO AMONG YOU (church); but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant; for the son of man came not to be served but to serve” (10:43).   Sometimes our unanswered prayers are the result of asking for the wrong things–like when we pray for athletic victories.  I don’t think even Jesus could get the poor Browns to a Super Bowl;  or for materialistic things or success in a job or on a test at school when we haven’t taken the responsibility to do the work and the study necessary for success.

Even prayer for peace and the environment can be nothing more than pious platitudes if we don’t live peaceful and environmentally responsible lifestyles.   That’s why the letter of James tells us, “Faith without works is dead.”  That epistle says it does no good to wish someone well if we don’t lift a finger to help feed them or meet their needs.  A friend of mine on Facebook recently posted a few messages about breaking a new bottle of insulin she needs to take every day.  Her insurance company refused to replace the expensive medicine, and she didn’t have money in her budget to replace it.  After a few days of going without the insulin she posted another message saying she was starting to feel the effects of going without.  In response there was a long list of messages from her Facebook friends offering prayers and messages of sympathy, but not one offer of any funds to help her buy her meds.  Prayers without works to back them up are dead.

At first glance, it looks like James and John’s request is denied because they are asking for special recognition.  Don’t we all like to be appreciated and affirmed?  We put our plaques and diplomas and awards on our office walls, but I don’t see many of us displaying pictures of times we really messed up or a headline from the paper when we got a speeding ticket.  What if James and John simply asking for assurance that they’re ok?  Just a few verses earlier Mark tells us they were afraid as they headed ever closer to Jerusalem and what awaited Jesus there.    Maybe James and John just want to be close to Jesus.  Don’t we all want to be sure God is walking beside us on our daily journey – to be reassured that the single set of footprints in the tough times are really God’s and not ours?

But there’s a difference between asking for God’s presence and expecting special treatment.  We’d all like to be exempt from suffering and pain, and our loved ones too.  But we are called with Christ to suffer with those who suffer.  Fred Craddock, one of the great preachers of our time describes what we want as “almost Bible” – things that we think are or should be in the Bible but aren’t.  He says we want the Bible to say that “when the Messiah comes there will be no more suffering.”  But what it says is “Where there is suffering, there the Messiah comes.”  And Jesus calls us to be there with the suffering also if we want to be next to him.  Yes, God promises a peaceful, pain-free existence for the faithful, but that peace comes only in the spiritual realm of divine healing, beyond the trials and tribulations of this mortal existence.

Some prayers also go unanswered because they are just too small.  The scope of our prayer concerns is like an archery target of concentric circles – you know what that looks like with the red bull’s eye in the very center of the target.  Our personal concerns and needs are naturally at the bull’s eye.  Next to us are those we love and care most about, then come friends and neighbors in the next circle, then friends and acquaintances of others brought to our attention when they are put on the prayer list, etc. The secret to growing in our faith is an ever-expanding sense of who we are connected to in God’s family until our prayers and service reach to the far outer ring of the circles – to those we don’t even know who look different and think differently, even worship differently or not at all – even to those we have labeled as our enemies.  All of God’s children and all of God’s creation become part of our prayer vision and circle of compassion.  That’s the vision that inspires our giving to missions at home and around the world.  It’s the reason dozens of our own Jerome church members are on three mission trips to Kentucky, Haiti and Argentina at this very moment.  Praise God for that dedication and service.

The scope of our concern is like flying in a plane. At ground level all we can see are the other planes on the tarmac and the terminal and the control tower, and those people out there losing our luggage.  Then as the plane lifts off the ground we can see the parking lots and highways next to the airport, then the skyline of the city we are departing from, and as we get higher we can see for miles – pick out lakes and rivers and other landmarks.  And from 30000 feet on a clear day we can see all the way to the horizon miles away.  And for an even better view, we’ve all seen pictures of the earth sent back from Apollo astronauts circling the moon and have seen what a beautiful, fragile little planet we live on – one without the artificial borders and boundaries that divide us from one another.   From that vantage point we begin to get a God’s eye view and a universal perspective that calls us to pray and act on behalf of all creation and all of God’s children.

Jesus calls us to be servants of that whole creation, and that means making hard choices.  We have to put our own desires and wishes on hold to tend to the needs of others.  Mothers and fathers and caregivers for the sick or elderly know exactly what that means, and the Scriptures challenge us all to adopt that role of caretaker for God’s world and God’s people – not just out of necessity, but with joyful hearts.

God has entrusted humankind with the care of all creation and we must take that job more seriously.  It isn’t easy – none of us want to give up the comfortable lifestyle we enjoy.  We can pray for researchers and business leaders to find solutions to difficult environmental problems – but all of us need to also do more to simplify our own consumption of the finite resources God has provided.   I know businesses don’t like EPA regulations that limit their freedoms and their profits, none of us do, but without rules and regulations we are not good at environmentally healthy choices and practices – because when our eyes are focused on just the bulls eye of our own well-being and not on the Creator’s perspective, we lose sight of the bigger target.

World peace is an even bigger challenge.  We pray for our troops and honor the sacrifices they and their loved ones make every day that we too often take for granted.  But Jesus calls all of us to live peacefully too.  He says, “If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also” (Mt. 5:39), and stop the cycle of anger and revenge.   Yes, I know there are huge questions about how we do that in the face of tyrants and terrorists, and I don’t have any easy answers.   But what I do know is that the Scriptures challenge all of us to wrestle with what that means and how we respond to bullies or road rage or a back stabbing colleague at work.  Jesus says pray for your enemies and for those who abuse you, but prayer alone is not enough — he also says to love them.

World peace is so big an issue we are tempted to throw up our hands and just give up, but that is not an acceptable response.   None of us is likely to go out this week and stop the violence in Afghanistan or Syria or even on the west side of Columbus – but every one of us will have multiple opportunities to respond peaceably to someone who rushes in front of us in the checkout line at Kroger’s, or takes a parking place we were obviously heading for.  We will all have chances to put ourselves in the shoes of someone who is unkind or rude, perhaps because they are distracted by problems at home or work or have just gotten terrible news from the Dr.  Or a student at school who is a jerk because he or she just flunked a big test or got cut from the squad.   And I guarantee you that all of us will have many chances in these final days before the election to resist the temptation to put down those we disagree with politically and choose instead to respectfully disagree .

On the topic of elections and political disagreements – a friend posted some very good advice this week from someone I never expected to see on Facebook–John Wesley, one of the founders of the Methodist church.  Way back in 1774 Wesley wrote these words that are just as relevant today as they were 250 years ago.  Wesley wrote in his journal:

“I met those of our society who had votes in the ensuing election, and advised them,

  1. To vote, without fee or reward, for the person they judged most worthy:
  2. To speak no evil of the person they voted against:
  3. To take care their spirits were not sharpened against those that voted on the other side.”

In every situation, I urge all of us to pray and meditate on Jesus as the way and the truth and life as we make daily choices this week.  Remember what Jesus says to James and John: “It’s not about you.  You don’t need to elbow and shove your way into the spotlight.”   God sees acts of servanthood and they may not get recognized or rewarded in the coin of the realm – but God will reward us with the peace that comes when our prayers are in alignment with our actions, and our will is in harmony with God’s.

How do we live peaceful lives of love and forgiveness toward others?   The best advice is always to look to Jesus as our example, and when it comes to the question of how to pray faithfully there is one short prayer of Jesus in Mark 14:36 that says it all.  That prayer is the exact opposite of what James and John ask of Jesus.  They want to play God and expect Jesus to do whatever they want.  In contrast, in his greatest hour of need on the night before he was crucified Jesus also prayed to God and asked very clearly for what he wanted.  Remember he says, “God, for you all things are possible, remove this cup from me.”  In other words, “get me out of this mess.”  But unlike James and John, Jesus doesn’t stop there.  He goes on to say, “But not my will but thy will be done.”  That is the ultimate test of authentic prayer.  Do we give God’s will priority over ours?  We can and should voice our deepest fears and requests to God.  God wants that kind of personal relationship with us.  But the bottom line is to humbly let God be God and submit our desires as faithful servants to God’s will.  A sincere prayer for God’s will to be done is prayer that will always be answered.

[Preached at Jerome UMC,Plain City, OH,  Oct. 21, 2012]

 

Fish Tale and Forgiveness, Jonah 3:1-10

by Steve Harsh, posted in Christian Discipleship, Faith and Values

Last week’s text from I Samuel raised a tough question: are some sins beyond forgiveness?  I hadn’t looked ahead in the lectionary then but was pleased to find that the Hebrew text from Jonah for this week offers a great response to that question.

Ask most people what they know about Jonah, and you will get “Jonah and the whale” as their response.  It’s a familiar story kids learn about and sing about in Sunday School, but it is more than a big fish story (which is what the Hebrew says, not a “whale” per se).  I’m not a fisherman, but I’ve always been attracted to Jonah and even chose it as the text for the first sermon I ever preached, way back in 1969.  At the time my wife asked me why that text.  She said, “What does that story mean for us today?”  My response, “Don’t go swimming with big fish.”

Of course, it means much more than that if we take time to ask some basic questions, like what was Jonah doing in the water and why was he swallowed by the big fish?  It’s a very short story, only 3 pages, and it makes much more sense if read in its entirety. But here’s the abridged version:

  1.  God calls Jonah and tells him to go on a mission to Nineveh.
  2. Jonah doesn’t want to go and jumps on a ship headed for Tarshish (in the exact opposite direction) instead.
  3. God is not pleased and causes a storm at sea, and when the sailors learn that Jonah is the reason for God’s displeasure, they throw Jonah overboard.
  4. God appoints a big fish to swallow Jonah. (Not to punish him, by the way, but to save him and give him time to reconsider God’s offer.)
  5. After 3 days God has the fish spit Jonah out; and Jonah decides this time he’d better listen to God, heads for Nineveh and delivers God’s message.
  6. The people of Nineveh heed Jonah’s warning, repent of their sins, and are forgiven and saved from God’s judgment on them.
  7. Jonah pouts because he really wanted God to give the Ninevites hell, not mercy.

So there’s a lot more going on here than Jonah and the fish.  It’s a story about a refusal to say yes when God’s wishes are very plain.  Jonah’s call is not ambiguous as is sometimes the case. The message from God to Jonah couldn’t be more clear and direct: “Go at once to Nineveh” (1:1).    There is no failure to communicate here – just reluctance to obey.  And we all know how smart it is to say “no” to God; so why would Jonah even try?  To answer that question requires a little history lesson.  Nineveh was the capital of Babylon, a hated enemy of the Hebrew people.  Ironically, for our contemporary context, Nineveh sat about where modern day Baghdad is located today.  Given that context, we know what Jonah was being asked to do was take a warning to the people of Nineveh so they could be forgiven and spared from God’s wrath.

Jonah knew, as he says in 4:2, that Yahweh was a God of mercy and would forgive those hated enemies of his people.  Put yourself in Jonah’s place.  Fill in your own favorite enemies: liberals, conservatives, 9/11 terrorists, Republicans, Democrats, Tea Partiers, Muslims, Evangelicals, bitter athletic rivals, business competitors, lawyers, former spouses – whoever it is that you would like to be the very last people God would forgive.  That’s who Johan is being asked to save and why he is a reluctant prophet who dares to defy a direct order from God.  As the story unfolds we see it is one of repentance – Jonah repents of his obedience after God gives him a three-day time out in the smelly innards of a fish.  The people of Nineveh repent after they hear Jonah’s message from God.  And even God gets in on the act and repents of his judgment against the people of Nineveh.

Which brings us, finally, back to last week’s question about unforgiveable sin.  And the answer is “no.”  If God can forgive the enemies of his chosen people who destroyed Jerusalem and carried God’s people off into exile, what could be unforgiveable?

Jonah is a foreshadowing of the grace-filled Gospel of Jesus, which turns on its head the vengeful, don’t get mad, get even theology we often prefer in our Jonah-like assessment of who deserves forgiveness.  Jesus states that Gospel as clearly as God calls of Jonah.  “You have heard it said ‘an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,’ but I say to you, if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also.”  And, ‘You’ve heard it said, ‘love your neighbor and hate your enemy,’ but I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matt. 5:38-44).

That doesn’t sound like a God who would hold anything unforgiveable, does it?   That’s the Amazing Grace we sing about that “saves a wretch like me.”  So, then why does it say in last week’s text (I Sam. 3:14) that the sins of Eli’s house shall not be atoned for forever?  David Stackpole, one of the best students I ever had in preaching class, interpreted that I Samuel text in a way many years ago that made a lot of sense to me then and still does.  David pointed out a couple of key words in I Samuel 3:14 that are easy to read over when our attention is captured by the harshness of the other words in the verse.  He pointed out that the verse doesn’t say their sins cannot be atoned for; it says they cannot be atoned for “by sacrifice or offering.”

We sometimes fall into the trap of imposing our human limitations on God.  Someone once said, “God created us in God’s image, and we return the favor.”  In this case those limitations involve too narrow concepts of not only who and what God can forgive, but how.  The Hebrew theology of Samuel’s day saw sacrificial offerings as the default means of seeking God’s forgiveness.  Ironically, it was Eli’s son’s misuse of sacrificial offerings that got them in hot water.  (See last week’s post for details.)  Eli’s sons corrupted sacrifice as a means of grace with their own selfishness and deceit; so how could something they had no respect for and had broken trust with be a vehicle for finding their way back to God.

But because humans spoil one gift from God doesn’t mean God can’t come up with others.  To put those kind of limits on God would limit God’s power and render God unworthy of our trust.  Jonah tried putting parameters on God’s forgiveness, and we see how well that worked for him.

God’s forgiveness cannot be bought with sacrifice or offering.  But it can be accepted as a freely given gift by those who are humble enough to know we need it.  The Ninevites were forgiven because they repented and admitted their sin (Jonah 4:6-9).  There are multiple scriptures that attest to God’s merciful nature.  The prophet Isaiah (1:18) says, “Though your sins be as scarlet I will make them white as snow.”   Jesus says to his executioners from the cross, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:24).  I John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Yes, I know, there are many counter texts that argue for the vengeful God Jonah wished upon his enemies (like we do).  Those texts were written by angry men who wanted their enemies to suffer, but be very careful of that two-edged sword.  Those who live by that unforgivable doctrine will stand under the same judgment.  See living in glass houses and throwing stones?

God’s grace is free.  It can’t be earned by bigger checks in the offering plate or making greater sacrifices of our time and effort.  It is simply poured out in an overflowing cup for those who repent and truly seek it.  What are you waiting for?  There is no need to carry that heavy burden of guilt and anger another day.  God who can show mercy on reluctant, disobedient Jonah and on his dreaded enemies in Nineveh can certainly forgive us too.

HEAVENLY PEACE, Micah 5:25a; Isaiah 9:6-7a; Luke 1:76-2:14

by Steve Harsh, posted in Christian Discipleship, Faith and Values

[Christmas Eve sermon at Jerome United Methodist Church, 2011]

Among the many pieces of “wisdom” floating about in cyber space this gem about being at peace came into my inbox recently:

“If you can start the day without caffeine,
If you can always be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains,
If you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles,
If you can eat the same food every day and be grateful for it,
If you can understand when your loved ones are too busy to give you any time,
If you take criticism and blame without resentment,
If you can sleep without the aid of drugs,

Then you probably are the family dog!”

I flunked 5 of those 7, by the way, especially in the hectic days of December.  Does anybody else feel like you’ve been running non-stop since Thanksgiving?  I was reminded again during this busy Advent season of a book I read many years ago by Malcom Boyd.  I’m sorry to say I don’t remember much about the content of the book, but the title has remained with me for decades as a great motto for living.  The title is Are You Running with Me, Jesus? We all know we are more likely to exercise if we have an accountability partner, and who could be a better companion to run life’s extraordinary journey with than the one we call Emmanuel, which means “God with us.”

If we are asked what we really, really want for Christmas, deep down, most of us would go beyond the stuff under the tree and ask for real peace – peace of mind, peace with God.  Peace is a goal of all major religions.  In just 24 verses of Scripture tonight from Micah, Isaiah and Luke peace is mentioned five times.  My concordance says there are 392 references to peace in the Judeo-Christian Bible.

If peace is so central to our faith, why is it so illusive?  Do you remember the great Wendy’s Hamburger commercials a few years ago that asked “Where’s the Beef?”  My question this Christmas is “Where’s the Peace?” The Scriptures from Micah and Isaiah promising us the Prince of Peace were written over 2500 years ago.  Even for the U.S. Postal Service, 2500 years is pretty slow service.  It makes me wonder if the problem is not on the sending end, but on the receiving end?  Maybe God’s peace does not come packaged the way we think it should look and we miss it.

Where’s the peace?  Peace is what we say we most want in our lives – and yet our actions are often inconsistent with our words.  We all profess to know that money can’t buy happiness – but we don’t act like we believe it.  In the midst of the worst economic recession in nearly a century, guess how much Americans spent Thanksgiving weekend.   $52 billion.  How much peace will those purchases really bring, especially when the credit card bills come home to roost early in 2012?

We have most of our troops officially out of Iraq one day, and we’re talking about intervening in North Korea the next.  Violence masquerades as entertainment on video and movie screens.  Where’s the Peace?

When baby Jesus grows up he preaches a sermon that says, “Blessed are the Meek.”  Wait a minute, Jesus – maybe we don’t want peace if have to be wimps to get it.  Maybe what we really  want is just law and order to preserve things the way we want them to be?   We keep looking for a superhero who will solve all of our problems, and who do we get?  A puny helpless baby born in a barn.  Isaiah promised, “A Little child shall lead them?”  And we say, huh?   Kids have no power, no influence.   Where’s the peace?

One of characteristics of those who find peace is a willingness to be surprised – to think outside the box – to embrace serendipity and ambiguity and admit we don’t know – to laugh at ourselves instead of others.  The modern innkeeper in our skit tonight saw human potential in a homeless man where her hotel doorman could only see a problem

Could it be that God’s peace is different from ours?   In John 14 where Jesus is saying farewell to his disciples before the crucifixion he says, “My peace I give you – not as the world gives do I give to you.”

We don’t’ get it, and that’s why God persists.  That’s why we need Christmas every year and worship and prayer on a regular basis.  Luke tells us that the Messiah will “guide our feet into the way of peace.”  And even better, God gives us all kinds of road signs to help us stay on that path.  The Scriptures are very clear about the characteristics of peace – forgiveness, mercy, love, faith, hope, humility.  Those are the real gifts of Christmas, and they are never the wrong color or size.  You don’t ever have to return them to the store.   And best of all you can regift them all as often as you like.  In fact it is highly recommended to share the gifts of forgiveness, mercy, love, faith, hope, humility as often as you possibly can.

Peace is not an easy journey, and that’s why we need Jesus to run with us.  The powers of evil never rest and are very creative.  Beware of the prosperity gospel that tries to turn disciples into consumers.  The abundant life Jesus promises is not one of ease and comfort and wealth.  It is a life of abundant faith and peace no matter what our life situation may be.  We want to believe what Fred Craddock calls the “almost Bible” statement that says, when the Messiah comes there will be no more suffering.  That’s almost right, but what the Scriptures really say quite different,  “Where there is suffering, there the Messiah will come.”

That’s what the Christmas story shows us if we don’t miss the irony of where the baby Jesus is born.  He is a helpless, poor, homeless kid revealed to shepherds in a country living under the oppressive rule of a despot like king Herod who kills babies for fun.  The beloved Christmas story is so familiar we forget how radical it is.  It’s so hard to fathom that the Magi, the so called wise ones, went to the wrong town, to King Herod’s palace, the absolute wrong place in search of the Messiah.  Like us, they were looking for peace in all the wrong places.  Where’s the peace?

[At this point I walk over to the Nativity Scene]  Our nativity scene looks so peaceful and serene, but anyone who’s ever been in a barn full of animals know it can be a very noisy, smelly place – but even there surrounded by the most basic reality of life what does  the infant Messiah do?  He “sleeps in heavenly peace.”

[I pick up the doll from the manger and carry him out toward the congregation]
Have you ever held a sleeping infant in your arms?  There is no more peaceful, wonderful feeling in the world.  A sleeping infant is so trusting, so helpless and innocent, even when they have been screaming and driving you up the wall for hours.  The minute he or she falls asleep in your arms the baby becomes a warm, cuddly bundle of pure peace and joy

[The members of the congregation were all given a small piece of a baby blanket with baby powder on it as they came into the service]

I invite you to take the piece of baby blanket you were given tonight and feel its softness.  Hold it to your cheek and smell it.  Close your eyes and feel the joy of knowing that the Prince of Peace still comes into our broken lives and hectic world – and where “meek souls will receive him still, the dear Christ enters in.”  And we too can sleep in heavenly peace.

[Kiss baby and put him back in manger]

“Just One of the Crowd,” Matthew 23:1-12

by Steve Harsh, posted in Christian Discipleship, Faith and Values

My son is an excellent athlete—a very good golfer, played on a high school state final four basketball team, skis well.  The irony is that I am the one who got him started in all those sports.  I taught him his first basic lessons.  So why is it that he is head and shoulders better than I in all things athletic and has been for many years?  When I asked him once why that was so, he just smiled and told me, “Dad, I just watched you and saw how not to do things.”  Fortunately, he also learned from my bad example how to be a more confident and relaxed father, husband, and overall good human being.  Apparently teaching by negative example can be a very effective educational methodology.  “Do as I say and not as I do”  becomes “Just do the opposite of what I  do and benefit from my boneheaded mistakes.”

In Matthew 23, Jesus uses the Scribes and Pharisees as examples of how not to be a faithful follower of God.  Jesus is teaching “the crowds” and his disciples, and he begins by saying, “The Scribes and Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat; therefore, do whatever they teach you and follow it.”  So far that sounds like a pretty good recommendation, right?  Then comes the ‘but.’  “But do not do as they do, for they do not practice what they teach” (vs. 1-3).  Jesus then goes on to itemize a variety of prideful, egotistic behaviors these religious leaders engage in to support his argument that they don’t practice what they preach:  expecting others to live up to a higher standard than they do, showing off how religious they are by wearing prominently displayed religious symbols, doing good deeds not to help others but to earn brownie points with God, expecting the best seats of honor at church potlucks and luxury boxes at football games, I mean in the synagogues, always being greeted and treated with proper titles of honor.

It seems the Pharisees needed a shift to the educational philosophy that encourages teachers to move from being “the Sage on the stage to the guide on the side.”  Jesus says in verses 7 and 8, “they want to have people call them rabbi (teacher).  But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all students.”  In other words, no matter what our income tax bracket or net worth or educational pedigree, we are all part of the crowd learning together from the one true Rabbi, Jesus.

That does not mean the Pharisees are evil personified.  Their daily religious rituals and the reminders of God’s law they wear are good spiritual disciplines, as far as they go.  The world would be a better place if all of us were more conscious all the time of God’s commandments instead of treating them as mere suggestions.  Christians can learn a valuable lesson from our Muslim friends who take time to pray five times every day wherever they happen to be.  As Jesus reminds us, the Pharisees, the teachers of God’s laws “sit on Moses’ seat,” i.e. we should listen to those who specialize in studying God’s word and learn from them.  But the lesson ends when their actions are inconsistent with their words.  Do as they say and not as they do.  Jesus delivers a not so gentle reminder that those who are privileged to be messengers of God’s word bear huge responsibility.  The Pharisees sometimes forgot that they, like Moses himself, were recipients of God’s law, not the giver or creator of that law.  Because the Scribes and Pharisees let their position of authority go to their heads, this text reminds us all again that “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

As always, the scriptures teach us more if we move from history lesson to current events, from pointing fingers at “them” to holding up a mirror in front of ourselves,.  Jesus makes it very clear that the Pharisees and Scribes don’t practice what they preach, but by verses 8-12 he does what some congregations describe as going “from preaching to meddling.”  He turns his teaching to the crowd and the disciples, and those with ears that work can hardly miss the point.  We are all students with one teacher and only one unfailing authority figure in our lives.  We are all called to be servants, not teachers or masters, and the take away line in verse 12 is, “All who exalt themselves will be humbled and all who humble themselves will be exalted.”

This text is not a teacher evaluation for the Pharisees.  Its relevant question is to you and me: Do we practice what we preach?

  • We teach the Golden Rule and the love of neighbors as ourselves, but we pay our farmers not to grow wheat while thousands starve in Somalia.
  • We teach “thou shall not kill” but violence is epidemic in our society and we continue to develop more sophisticated and impersonal drones and other ways to eliminate our enemies.
  • We read over and over again in our Bibles that God wants us to care for the widows and orphans and strangers in our midst, but when it comes to welfare or health care reform or taxation, our first thoughts are often not “what is best for the weakest and most vulnerable members of our human family?”  Instead we ask, “What will this mean to my bottom line?”

I know because I say it too.  “I’ve paid my dues, worked my way through school, taken my job and my family responsibilities seriously.”  We’ve made it on our own, why can’t everybody else?  But have we “made it on our own?”  What do we take for granted that our parents and grandparents bequeathed to us – land, money, values and self-respect, a solid work ethic, a good education, a spiritual foundation.  Those are all things that many of the least fortunate people in our society and world have never had.  Competition can be good and build character and strength, but only in a fair game with a level playing field.  The danger with succeeding in any competitive venture is that we might begin to believe our own press clippings and think we deserve the seats of honor and special treatment for what we have achieved.  That’s why we only get 15 minutes of fame.  After that it starts to go to one’s head.

I learned a lot of valuable life lessons from my years as a Boy Scout—lessons that I only came to appreciate years later.  One of the most important is humility.  One of my best friends, Blaine Brunner, and I had a very serious but friendly competition to see which one of us could achieve our Eagle Scout badge first.  Eagle Scout is the highest rank in scouting and one that takes several years and a great deal of support and encouragement from family, community and scout leaders along the way.  Blaine and I ran a very close race through all of scouting’s ranks from Tenderfoot to 2nd Class, 1st Class, Star, and Life awards, always with our eye on the prize that took 21 merit badges in skills as diverse as cooking, swimming, hiking, and camping.  Fortunately, it turned out that we both completed our requirements at about the same time, and we were proud to receive our Eagle badges together during a Sunday morning worship service in our church.

The Eagle badge is a red, white and blue ribbon in the shape of a shield that has an eagle hanging below it.  The badge is worn by pinning it on the scout uniform over the left breast pocket.  Blaine and I wore those badges with great pride as long as we were in the scouting program.  When it came time to move on from scouting and our youth to the pursuits of young adulthood, my Eagle badge went into a shoe box along with other mementos of that part of my life.  I found that box while packing for a move several years later, and to my dismay discovered that the ribbon on my cherished Eagle Scout badge had been shredded by a mouse who needed material for her nest.  “All who exalt themselves will be humbled.”

This text fits well for Reformation Sunday, a time to reflect on the principles that inspired the Protestant Reformation nearly 500 years ago.  Humility is foundational to the Protestant Principle which reminds us that there is always room for improvement in the church and in us as individuals.  Protestantism began in large part as a protest against the Roman Catholic doctrine of the infallibility of the Pope and the abuse of that power.  That doctrine reminds me of the hilarious country song that says, “O Lord, it’s hard to be humble when you’re perfect in every way.  I can’t wait to look in the mirror, ‘cuz I get better lookin’ each day.”  The song gets better from there (you can Google it if you dare), but you get the point.  One of my favorite biblical summaries of what faithful living looks like is Micah’s response to the question, “What does the Lord require of you?”  He says it is “to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8)  Humility is one the top 3 qualities of the Godly life.  Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” (Mt. 5: 5), is another familiar affirmation of the importance the Judeo-Christian tradition place on humility.

Most of us enjoy being around humble people much more than those insecure souls who feel the need to toot their own horns incessantly.  And yet, when Jesus says “the greatest among you will be your servant” we cringe a bit, don’t we?  When asked as a child what you wanted to be when you grow up, did anyone say, “Oh, I want to be a servant?”  Service sector jobs pay minimum wage because the ways of the world are not God’s ways.   The truth is that human beings and organizations like the church can never be satisfied with where we are or who we are.  We are either growing as life-long learners or we are falling behind the times.  We all have had teachers who have grown complacent and are recycling old knowledge and lesson plans instead of staying current with new ideas.

Clergy for nearly 400 years have been asked a question designed to remind us to stay humble during the United Methodist ordination service.  It is a question from one of our founders, John Wesley, which simply asks, “Are you going on to perfection?”   Not that we believe we achieve that state in this life; that would not be very humble.  The question is a clever reminder that life is a journey, not a destination; and so is faith and ministry.  Baptism, confirmation, ordination, graduation, marriage, a big promotion; none of the milestones in life’s journey mean we have arrived.  Those with the mind of a humble servant know that and live accordingly.

Another key doctrine of Protestantism is “The Priesthood of All Believers.”  Simply put, it means we are all one of the crowd.  No one is to be called holy or rabbi.  Lay persons have as much access to God as clergy and vice versa.  That’s the good news.  I don’t have to go through any fallible human intermediary to communicate with God.  The power of Being itself is ready and willing to listen to my joys and concerns 24/7, our fears and confessions, our hopes and dreams.  No busy signal, no maddening telephone answering system where the menu has recently changed, no elevator music or commercials to listen to while we’re on hold, no power outages or servers that are too busy, no “please try again later.”  Everyone in the crowd who wants it has instant access to God, and the only prerequisite is enough humility to admit we need God’s help.

The terminology from the Hebrew Scriptures that comes to my mind here is that of being “God’s Chosen People.”  We all like to be chosen, don’t we?  One of childhood’s most painful memories for most of us is not being popular or being chosen dead last when teams are picked for a game of soccer or baseball.  Perhaps no words are tougher to hear than, “go play right field.”   The scriptures tell us in both testaments that we are indeed “God’s chosen people.”  I Peter says, “You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, God’s own people” (2:9).  Does that not contradict the need to walk humbly with God or Jesus’ call to servanthood?  Not if we understand what it means to be one of God’s priests.  Being chosen by God is not a call to privilege but to service of God and humanity; to take up a cross and follow Christ.  The rest of I Peter 2:9 says we are “a people belonging to God (God’s very own possession) that we may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into God’s wonderful light.”  We are clearly chosen to toot God’s horn, not our own.

Yes, we are God’s Chosen ones, but we are chosen not to be served but to humbly and gladly serve.  We are all one of the crowd, listening to Jesus, the master teacher, learning together as fellow students to faithfully follow both his word and example.  Because Jesus is the only teacher who can honestly say, “Do as I say AND do as I do!”