Proper 24, Year B
Sunday, October 21, 2012
St. Mark’s, Bay City
Job 38:1-7 [34-41]
Psalm 104:1-9, 25, 37b
Hebrews 5:1-10
Mark 10:35-45
The priests in ancient Israel were
both the greatest and the least among the Israelites. They were great because they worked in the
service of God’s temple, assisting all Israelites in their religious practices
and sacrifices. The priests were the
least of all because they were given no land of their own. They had no cattle or crops. Their livelihood was entirely dependent upon
the people with whom they lived. They
weren’t mighty rulers above all of the people.
They were servants of the people.
I can’t help but think this was in
Jesus’ mind when he told his disciples that the greatest among them must be
servants. James and John wanted glory,
to sit at Jesus’ right and left hand, and not only does Jesus tell them “no”,
but when the other disciples began grumbling about their request, Jesus tells
them they are acting like Gentiles, rather than like Jews.
Y’all are seeking greatness and
glory over and above each other, but that’s not who we are, Jesus was telling
them. Yeah, that’s how the Gentiles do
things. The rest of the world, they
scramble and fight to be better than each other, to gain mastery over each
other. They see each other as
adversaries and are constantly at odds with each other, but that’s not who we
are, Jesus told his disciples.
We’re governed by God’s law, God’s
way, God’s will, to be servants of each other.
We’re called to be advocates for each other, not adversaries. Greatness for us comes not from mastery over
each other, but from serving each other, caring for each other, being brothers
and sisters and fathers and mothers to each other.
The disciples were forgetting who
they were as God’s people. Rome was
ruling over Israel, and there was plenty of Roman influence in Israel. With so much Roman influence, it was easy for
first century Jews to forget who they were as God’s people. They were called to be a light to influence
the Gentiles of Rome, not to become more like Rome. Jesus’ disciples were becoming like Rome,
wanting to rule over each other, and so Jesus was reminding them to be who they
were and to be a light to enlighten Rome.
Here we are now, two thousand years
later, and we’re still called to be the light of Christ to the world which is so
in need of the Gospel and the Gospel way of life, and here we are, two thousand
years later, still at times being influenced by the world, rather than being a
light in enlighten the world. Right now,
I’m thinking specifically of how we at times view money and finances. This time of year, our annual stewardship
campaign is just getting underway, and many often think of this in terms of an
annual fund-raising campaign, as though we were a non-profit business
organization trying to raise funds from our base of donors.
That is how non-profit businesses
work, but that’s not who we are. We are
not a business trying to raise funds. We
are the household of God trying to manage well the affairs of the
household.
We are the household of God,
called, not to greatness, not to mastery over the world or each other. We are called to be servants, the household
of God called to be servants of God’s peace.
As members of God’s household, we all then contribute to the household
as we are able. We pool our financial
resources together, each contributing as we are able, and pledge what we think
we’ll be able to contribute to our household in the coming year. That way, to manage our affairs well, we can
draw up a budget and pay for our ministers, the employees of the household, the
building, outreach efforts, pastoral care efforts, etc.
I can’t help but realize as I’m
saying all of this that it does seem a little self serving for the priest to be
asking us all to contribute to the finances of the household which pay my
salary and for the house in which my family lives. Does that not seem like the Gentile leaders
Jesus was talking about, lording over people, asking for money? I don’t believe it is.
St. Mark’s has decided that we want
a full time priest who doesn’t have to have another job, but can do full time
ministry here at St. Mark’s. So, we’ve
decided to pool our resources to allow that to happen. We’ve decided we want a church building and
parish hall in which to gather for worship, fellowship, and formation. So we pool more of our resources to make and
keep our home here at St. Mark’s.
We also give of our time and talent: choir, ministry to youth, inreach, pastoral
care, outreach, altar guild, children’s ministries, ministries of prayer,
teaching, serving on the vestry, etc. In
all of these ways, we give of ourselves to build up the household of God here
at St. Mark’s
We give to manage our household
well and to be the light of Christ to those in the household and to carry the
light of Christ to those beyond the household, but why do we have this
household of God? We have this household
of God and contribute of ourselves to the household of God because we believe the
Gospel is the greatest story there is.
We believe in the Gospel and the power of the Gospel to heal and to
transform lives. We believe in Jesus, in
God become human for our sake. We
believe the words of Psalm 62:1, “For God alone my soul in silence waits; from
him comes my salvation.”
We believe that since Eden, and our
distancing ourselves from God, that we desire with all our hearts to be fully
reunited with God. We believe that
salvation is being reunited with God, and we believe that salvation comes from
God, who united himself fully to humanity in Jesus, that we might be fully
united to him through Jesus. We believe
in the light of Christ, brought into the world to dispel the darkness, and that
darkness cannot overcome the light of Christ.
We believe in the peace God gives
us through the light he brings us, and we believe in bringing that light to
others. We believe in being servants of
God’s peace. That is at least what I believe.
That is at least why I am a part of the household of God.
I believe in Jesus. I believe in the healing and reconciliation
he brings. I believe in his call to his
disciples to be servants rather than masters.
I believe, as St. Francis prayed, in being servants of God’s peace, to
share the light of Christ here within the household of God at St. Mark’s and
then brining the light of Christ with us as we go into the world every minute
of every day. Lord, help us to bring
your light with us wherever we go. Lord,
make us servants of your peace. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment