“Fettered Service”
The Twentieth Sunday
after Pentecost – Proper 22
6 October 2013
Saint Anne’s
Episcopal Church
Fremont, California
Lamentations 1:1-6
Lamentations 3:19-26, or Psalm 137
II Timothy 1:1-14
Saint Luke 17:5-10
INI
The Method:
In my life as a preacher it has always been my practice to
confine my preaching to the texts for the day.
I think that it is important to comment on the rich array of Scripture
that the lectionary now gives to us, and to awaken the both of us to the often
hidden treasures that abide there. This
morning, however, I am aware that I need to take a much broader approach. First of all the lessons are somewhat
disparate, and to wrestle them into a unity would be a futile and not all that
useful exercise. The first reading is a
continuing reading that has now landed in the book of Lamentations, and the
second reading is a continuing reading from I and II Timothy. Then there is the Gospel – and it is here
that we can take our stand and both listen and comment.
Another point that makes me pause this morning and take a
different approach. Being a liturgical
church, along with our Roman and Lutheran brothers and sisters, we tend to have
a preaching program that is deeply tied to the liturgical year. During the festival half we are lead from
event to event. Advent (and its shadow
which we are entering with these Sundays) leads us to the prophets and an
outlook anticipating the end of time – and ultimately the promise of Jesus. Christmas is a collection of events. Epiphany begins with the Magi and then
continues with Jesus’ baptism and what flows from that. Lent, although meant to be introspective and
devotional, still casts a long glance at the Passion and the events of Holy
Week. Easter is the same. So we as Christians tend to think of our
faith as centered in a series of events.
Although that is partially true, it neglects to look at the teachings of
Jesus. Ordinary time, green time, if you
will, attempts to do that, but our minds have been formed to even look at the
teaching moments as events: The Sermon on the Mount, the Feeding of the Five
Thousand, the Sending out of the Seventy-Two, and so on.
In the Gospel for today, the disciples ask of Jesus to
increase their faith. Many commentators
see this request not so much as avid students urging their Rabbi for new truth,
but rather a social jockeying for place in the “kingdom”. Jesus however has something entirely
different in mind. Before we get to that
insight, however, we need to rehearse the teaching of Jesus. And to do that, I’d like to focus our search
so that we can see some unique perspectives that we can apply to Jesus’
instruction to the disciples. Here’s my
method.
Sharpening our Focus
The Gospel of Mark, Matthew, and Luke all depend on a
supposed source called “Q” (which stands for the German word “Quelle” the word
for “source”. This book contains sayings
that contribute to the three Gospels. I
have, however, tied these sayings to those found in the Gospel of Thomas, to
provide a further filter and focus to our query. What did I find? I found plenty. Too much for a sermon, however, so I have
chosen these four sayings from Luke and Q to give us our focus.
1.
Jesus teaching is counter cultural.
2.
Jesus wants us to be aware of our own situation.
3.
Jesus wants us to be ready to do mission work.
4.
Jesus wants us to give.
Let me fill these in:
Perhaps
people think that I have come to cast peace upon the world. They do not know
that I have come to cast conflicts upon the earth: fire, sword, war. For there
will be five in a house: there'll be three against two and two against three,
father against son and son against father, and they will stand alone.
(Luke 12:51-54, Thomas 16)
Talk to your neighbor, and let them know
that you are a Christian, and you will hear a few expectations that they will
have of you. The question for all of us,
when we hear those expectations is how they match up to the expectations of
Jesus. Here Jesus does not run away from
the conflict that arises when truth is spoken, but rather seeks it out. The question is then, for what are you
willing to stand up and be outspoken?
Are you willing to try that principal against those of Jesus? Can you dare to be different? The WWJD question in the last decade did not
wrestle with the radical Jesus, the Jesus that requires us to be outrageous in
our living out the Gospel.
You
see the sliver in your friend's eye, but you don't see the timber in your own
eye. When you take the timber out of your own eye, then you will see well
enough to remove the sliver from your friend's eye.
(Luke 6:41-42, Thomas 26)
We have learned to be critical of our time, and there is
much to be critical about. Have we,
however, learned to be critical of our own lives? Sometimes, no most of the time, we reserve
such introspection to Lent, and forget the disciple the remainder of the
year. Jesus wants his disciples to know
themselves intimately. How do you do
that? There are Ignatian methods that I
could share with you, prayer practices, private confession and absolution, and
other means that can make us aware of what we are. Luther had a great term: simil Justus et peccator, “at the same time justified and a
sinner”. Jesus wants us to have a
perspective of ourselves before we cast a glance at our neighbors.
The crop is huge but the workers are few, so beg the harvest
boss to dispatch workers to the fields.
(Luke 10:2, Thomas 73)
As much as television can, it gives me a clue as to how lost
and floundering we all are. We are all
looking for something that will give meaning to our lives. If you watch reality television you can see
that that “meaning “ is achieved at the expense of others. We look at people who don’t have a clue about
much of anything, hoping that it will convince us that we do. That is the harvest – but it is only a
potential harvest. It is a harvest
awaiting workers. What are we doing
together to get out the message of life for all?
Congratulations to those who
go hungry, so the stomach of the one in want may be filled.
(Luke 6:21, Thomas 69b).
You may have read
this in the paper –
“Americans throw away 40
percent of the food they buy, often because of misleading expiration dates that
have nothing to do with safety, said a study released Wednesday by Harvard University
Law School and the Natural Resources
Defense Council, an environmental group.” (SFGate, 5 October 2013)
In view of the
hunger of the world, we are a wanting society.
Jesus treasures those who hunger for the sake of those who are really
hungry. My brother has borrowed a slogan
with which he and his family try to leader their lives, “Live simply, so that
others may simply live.” What have you
given up so that you might give to those who need?
In short, be a
cultural misfit, understand who you are in faith, know what opportunities there
are for your service, and be prepared to give.
A Troubling Metaphor
Jesus then tells a quick story
about a slave and a master. The master
comes first, the slave second. In our
egalitarian society, and having as a society jettisoned the institution of
slavery, teaching disciples to be slaves can be a bit troubling. But that is exactly what Jesus wants us to
understand – our place over against him and the mission that he provides. Slaves!
It is a term that Paul is not anxious about, for he describes himself in
such terms. Once we have jumped over
this cultural obstacle, we can begin to understand what it means, and tie it to
what Christ asks us to do. So to go over
Jesus’ teachings again:
1.
Know that you will differ from the prevailing
attitudes of our own time.
2.
Know who you are in Christ. Remember your baptism (remember that bowl at
the back of the room. Be here next
Sunday as we invite Marisol to join us in the baptismal fellowship here. Know that you are something different.
3.
Know where it is that you are called to
serve. Know all the avenues of service
in this congregation and in this community.
Take in the nourishment of the Eucharist, and the grace of the Crucified
One so that you can take your own cross out into the world – the cross of
service.
4.
Finally, know what you have so that you can
give. The slave served dinner and ate
later. Know that those who hunger and need are your masters. You will be fed later – with the bread of
heaven.
SDG
