A Sermon for September 23, 2012 (RCL Proper 20 B)
Offered by Nathan Ferrell for Trinity Episcopal Shared Ministry
Texts: James 3:13-4:3,7-8a; Psalm 1; Mark
9:30-37
Themes: the wisdom from above, selfish ambition,
the grand reversal
Title: The Home for Hypocrites
There’s a
story told in Ireland that after St. Patrick had visited the village of Cong in
western Ireland, the great saint went out of the village to pray in a quiet
place. And after praying, he laid down to sleep, using a stone as a pillow.
That stone became known as the Stone of Truth, and people never dared to lie if
their hands or head were on that stone.
Many years
later, a man named Kerwin lived in Cong who had no faith in God and who
despised all talk of love, peace and honesty. Kerwin thought that every person
ought to gain whatever wealth they could, and enjoy it. He lived faithfully by
his creed, stealing and cheating at every opportunity.
One night he
was returning to Cong after visiting another village, where he had stolen some
gold. The night was dark and Kerwin tripped over the Stone of Truth. The gold
flew out of his hand and his head came crashing down. He was left with a huge
gash right across his forehead. Cursing, he ran home and bandaged the wound. But
he was left with a scar – a long line across his forehead.
Sometime
later, a similar thing happened. But this time, the cut on Kerwin’s forehead
ran from the crown of his head down to the top of his nose. And that too left a
scar, so that now he had a cross mark permanently on his forehead. The
villagers all mocked him. “Ha! The one who doesn’t believe in God now has the
cross of Christ on his own head!”
Kerwin hated
this mockery, and he hated the Stone of Truth for disfiguring him. So he
decided to bury the Stone. He dug a deep hole beside it, but the Stone was too
heavy for him to push into the hole. Then he covered the Stone with dirt. But
sheep grazing nearby soon scraped the dirt off with their feet.
In misery,
Kerwin sat down there by the stone and wept. “O God, what can I do?” he wailed.
At that
moment, a beggar dressed in rags passed by.
“Why are you
crying out to God?” the beggar asked. “Perhaps I can help.”
“Go away, you
fool” was Kerwin’s reply.
But the beggar
did not go away. Instead he sat down and out of his bag took out a chunk of
bread. He broke the bread in two, and handed one half to Kerwin. Without
thinking, Kerwin took the bread and they both began to eat.
After a
minute, the beggar said, “Well, you’ve called out to God for help, and you’ve
taken bread from a beggar. So you can’t be proud. You must be a true
Christian.”
And after
that, the beggar got up and went on his way.
Only when the
beggar left did he realize what had happened. And from that moment, he was
changed. He gave up stealing and cheating, and he began to serve the needs of
others.
Kerwin ended
up living a long life. The folks who knew him as an evil man all died away, and
the young viewed his scared forehead as a sign of his saintliness. Before he
died, he talked with some young folks from the village and he told them the
story of how he became a Christian. He said, “That Stone which I stumbled over
saved me. And that beggar gave me my first communion” (Celtic Parables
by Robert Van de Weyer, p.32-35).
My dear
friends: like Kerwin in this old story, God must shatter our pride and our
self-centered will if we are ever to participate in God’s full and abundant
life.
How many of
you have heard people complain that the church is full of hypocrites?
Yes? Me too.
Many times. Typically, of course, this comes from those who do not really have
any experience of the church, but sometimes it does come from those who have
been deeply hurt or shocked by the behavior of church members.
I’ve heard
some clergy say that they refuse to put any Christian stickers on their vehicle
so that people do not judge them as hypocrites by their bad driving behavior!
That’s a real
concern, is it not? If you advertise yourself as a disciple, as a student of
Jesus, does that mean that you are thereby declaring to live by a higher
standard than others?
How did James
describe the wisdom of God which is to guide the life of the Christian
community? “The wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle,
willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of
partiality or hypocrisy” (James 3:17).
Without a
trace of hypocrisy! Wow –that is a high and difficult standard!
Who among us
can live without a trace of hypocrisy?
Anyone want to volunteer themselves?
I didn’t think
so! Who wants to be placed under the microscope to have all of your actions
analyzed and measured against that kind of standard?
Both our
lesson from James for this morning and our Gospel reading do an excellent job
of pointing out the root problem of humanity.
And that, my
friends, is self-centeredness.
James criticizes
the believers for their “selfish ambition” and for their cravings which cause
conflicts and disputes in the community.
In Mark’s
Gospel, Jesus criticizes the twelve for their self-centered hypocrisy, claiming
to follow Jesus while continuing to focus upon securing the best possible
position for themselves.
This is the
problem of humanity, and it is the problem of every single human being.
How can we get
outside of ourselves?
How can we live
free of selfishness, free from the need to protect ourselves and to secure our
own advancement at the expense of others?
The message of
the Gospel in this regard is clear and simple: you cannot!
By yourself,
in your own power, this can not be done!
Remember last
week when James spoke about how olive trees do not produce figs and how a
spring cannot produce both fresh water and salt water?
This kind of
change cannot happen through your own willpower!
Please listen
and understand this clearly: becoming a Christian is not about trying to be
morally correct, or trying harder to not be a hypocrite!
That is always
our temptation – because we like to be in control!
You see, this
way, the power is still in our hands. We can exert a bit more effort, and then
we can be pure and righteous in God’s sight, and God will love us and accept
us.
But the Gospel
tells us that we can never, ever do that.
Being a
Christian is about NOT trying any more! It’s letting go, it’s resting in
the Gospel truth that God has done EVERYTHING already! Our task is simply to
accept this grace, and then to be changed by it.
You are a
little pine tree, and God wants to turn you into a mighty oak. You cannot
change yourself, but God can – if you allow God to change you from the inside
out!
And I’m sorry
to say it, but we are all hypocrites after all. And the right and proper place
for us hypocrites is here in the church!
This is the
home for hypocrites – at least for those hypocrites who know that we cannot change
this basic fact about ourselves by trying harder to get it all straight within
our lives.
But God can
change us! God can clean up the hypocrisy of our lives. God can make us
consistent and focused, pure, peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of
mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy.
Did you notice
that one key phrase in there? “Willing to yield.”
Sometimes God must
trip us up and break us and bring us to our knees, like Kerwin in that old
Irish tale, before we will yield. Sometimes it could be a child, or a beggar,
who brings us – surprisingly - into God’s presence.
No matter
what, the path forward for hypocrites like us is to yield to the grace of God.
“Submit
yourselves therefore to God,” James calls to us.
This is how we
begin our journey with Christ, and this is how we move forward in this journey.
Are you
willing to yield, my friends?
Are you
willing and able to submit yourself to God’s work in your life, to allow God to
change you and transform you? To give up control and let God be in charge?
“Draw near to
God, and God will draw near to you.”
When you walk
forward to receive the sacrament today, let that be your time to yield, to draw
near to God in humble submission, to accept and receive the grace of Christ,
and then know with confidence that God has drawn near to you. And be changed.
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment