October, 1, 2017 - 17th Sunday After Pentecost (21A) Stuttgart Liturgical Service
Philippians 2:1-13, Matthew 21:23-32
I don’t know about you, but I need a little bit of encouragement these days. The world seems crazier and more mixed up that I ever remember it, even though the world has often been even more dangerous and unpredictable than now. You cannot read a newspaper or watch television or check social media without getting hit in the face with the reality that, left to our own devices, we can really mess things up.
That’s why we need a story bigger than our own in which to be grafted and grounded. That’s why we read the stories of the Hebrew Bible and Christian scriptures. They tell stories that are not so much factual as they are true. The gospels are like documentaries of Jesus’ life and teachings, each with a particular audience in mind. Likewise, the letters are written to particular communities of believers with particular problems and gifts. These writings were designated as a canon of sacred texts after they had proved to be instructive to the Christian community for several hundred years. Still today, they teach us important lessons about who God is and who we are called to be if we have committed our lives to Christ. Knowing this, what do we do with the words that we have heard today from Paul and involving the events and stories we have heard about Jesus?
This passage from Philippians is very famous and historical. It is called “the Christ Hymn,” and is believed to be part of a hymn from the early church, when Christianity was spreading from person to person, and house to house. These verses are deeply theological, describing not just the behaviors of Jesus, but also revealing Paul’s understanding of his very nature. Deep questions are addressed in this passage. What is the relationship between Christ’s humanity and his divinity? And how does the saving work of his life relate to the work that we are called to in his name? Even better, this passage names the kinds of lives we are being called to live – lives of love, compassion, sharing and sympathy. It sounds like an easy task in the abstract, but in practice, it is agonizingly difficult. Why do you think that is?
One reason could be our status in the world. That status could be defined by our race, our gender, our socioeconomic level, our level of education, the list is endless. I think about the life that I am leading… about where I came from and the resources I have at my disposal, and it’s easy to get caught up in the expectations of the world… to be lured into thinking that I’m doing OK on my own. After all, if my needs are being met, that’s the most important thing. But that’s not true, at least not in God’s world. When trouble comes, personal, emotional, worldly trouble, I am reminded that my own comfort and perspective are far from the life which I claim in Christ.
It is worth remembering that the earliest Christians were considered some of the lowest members of society. The chief priests and elders made that pretty clear in our gospel lesson. “By whose authority are you upsetting our apple cart?” they ask Jesus. And the original “answer a question with a question” man responds by challenging the whole premise of their question. He knew that somewhere along the way they had stopped being followers of God and started being the gatekeepers of the world they wanted to control. Jesus knew that while they thought very highly of themselves, they were also afraid enough for their positions that they wouldn’t pull out the big guns until it was absolutely necessary.
We don’t know exactly why this parable is the one that follows Jesus’ newest encounter with the religious leaders, but we can see that it would be a real puzzle to everyone gathered… no easy answers allowed. Which of the sons honored the father? The one who told him what he wanted to hear, or the one who maybe even begrudgingly did the right thing? I’m guessing that we can see ourselves on both sides of the fence, and I don’t know about you, but it makes me really uncomfortable.
So maybe pairing this passage from Philippians with this Jesus encounter is purposeful enough to allow us to dig a little deeper into not only the nature of Christ but also our relationship with him.
When I look back over my life, I often remember that it’s been at the moments that I have felt most carefree and “together” – when everything was ‘rainbows and unicorns’ - that life got turned upside down, reminding me of why I need Jesus. A few years out of college, I got a promotion at work and a few months later was offered an even bigger job in a different state. And I wanted to be happy – to celebrate my big success with my friends and family… but all I could do was cry. And after prayer and soul-searching and some good pastoral care, I realized that wasn’t the life I wanted, and a year later ended up cashing in all in to go to seminary.
Over and over in my life, just when I thought I had my act totally together, I realized that this was not the act that Jesus had called me to. And I’ll bet that’s true for you, too. This passage from Philippians reminds us that we meet Christ most honestly in the midst of our need for God. Just when we think that we can make it on our own, something happens to remind us that our real strength is found in community… in loving and caring for one another, which most often means putting the needs of others ahead of our own needs.
Today we hear of Christ himself taking the form of a slave, humbling himself even to the point of death by crucifixion -- the execution reserved for slaves and traitors in the Roman Empire. In God’s world, it is Christ’s willingness to give up himself to the powers of the world that gives us our freedom. To become like Christ, if that’s what’s being asked of us (and I think it is), then we begin by hearing how Christ became like us and continues to come among us. Then, and only then, are we ready to hear about how to be "the imitation of Christ."
Jesus’ life is one of both descent and ascent – of coming down to be like us, with us, even though he was in the form of God and equal with God. Relinquishing that, even for a short time must have felt like slavery for him – limited by the frailness of the human body and spirit. During his time with us, he experienced how fickle we can be, and how we are willing to sacrifice much for our own safety and security. And still, he gave himself up for us, obedient to the task at hand, willing to see it through, even though the end would be so painful.[i]
This is both exhilarating and frightening, to see what Christ went through in his faithfulness to God, knowing that we are also called to live that kind of life. Maybe the military community has a special understanding about what that might look like, but still, it takes being training and practice to live up to those ideals.
The best news is this: we are not called to this kind of life alone. God is the one working in us, stirring up in us a willingness to do the things which must be done. When we immerse ourselves in it fully, God’s work is the source of our energy and enthusiasm to serve. And when we find community in the process, amazing, even miraculous things can be accomplished. In fact, because of the language differences between Greek and English, the “you” to which Paul refers is not in reference to individuals alone being called to serve, but to the development of communities, the willing and the working.
Likewise, the salvation that we are working out is not just about who’s going to heaven and who’s not, but about the quality of our corporate life as we work together under the rule of the Savior. How will we know if we are successful in sustaining this kind of life? Paul talks about it in these terms: mutual love and affection, sharing in the Spirit, unity, humility, sacrifice – and doing in all “in Christ.” So, if anyone tries to tell you that faith is an individual, private thing, or that’s it’s all about going to heaven, please direct them to Paul and this letter to the church at Philippi. Faith is corporate and public and even political… after all, Jesus came to turn the world upside down and calls us to do the same.
I don’t know what that means for you, but the place that I’ve started is to listen. There are millions of people in the world who have different life experiences than mine, and rather than assuming the worst of them and trying to make their lives look more like mine, I’m going to put more energy into listening to their pain and disappointment and joy, and to figure out if there is some way that I can be a part of the solution to make life and the world better.
This week on NPR I heard the story of a student who helped integrate a public high school in Tennessee in 1964. All-white schools would often refuse to play there, and if they did meet on the field, many of the black players left the game bloodied from the extra hard hits and no-calls from the referees on the field. Sometimes the police would have to escort their buses as they left town. He described the relief he felt when they got back to the high school safely, seeing his dad there to pick him up, each week escaping the angry mob of mostly white folks who felt like this integrated team was ruining football for them.
Dr. Weaver said, "Normally when you're with a team, you feel like everybody's going to stand together, and I never got that feeling that the team would stand with me if things got bad," Weaver says. "I think a number of the white students who were there with me would say now, If I could have done something different, I would've said something. But that's what evil depends on, good people to be quiet."
Weaver has never been back to West High School since graduating 50 years ago. After hearing a StoryCorps interview that aired on NPR last month, the current principal reached out, and Weaver says he will return to the school in early 2018 to talk to the students about his experiences with integrating the school.[ii] Think about that – over 50 years since it all happened and this is the first opportunity he’s had to go back and share what that meant to him – how it made him the person he is today.
Don’t be fooled into thinking that a good Christian life is all about the grand gesture… although those are always good. The harder thing is to not be silent when a word of love or kindness or support is needed. It’s scary to step out of our comfort zones and say the things we know that others don’t want to hear. But Paul reminds us that the more we act out and speak out the faith we accept in our hearts, the more God will give us the heart and energy and courage to walk that road. In the end, we have to live like we’re lifted up, and God will do the rest.
I’m going to close with the same Philippians 2 passage, but this time from Eugene Peterson’s “The Message.”
1-4 If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care— then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.
5-8 Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion.
9-11 Because of that obedience, God lifted him high and honored him far beyond anyone or anything, ever, so that all created beings in heaven and on earth—even those long ago dead and buried—will bow in worship before this Jesus Christ, and call out in praise that he is the Master of all, to the glorious honor of God the Father.
12-13 What I’m getting at, friends, is that you should simply keep on doing what you’ve done from the beginning. When I was living among you, you lived in responsive obedience. Now that I’m separated from you, keep it up. Better yet, redouble your efforts. Be energetic in your life of salvation, reverent and sensitive before God. That energy is God’s energy, an energy deep within you, God himself willing and working at what will give him the most pleasure. [iii]
Peace, Deb
[i] Susan Eastman, Commentary on Philippians 2:1-13, Preach This Week, September 24, 2011, http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=1009 (Dr Eastman's reflection was a key inspiration for this sermon.)
[ii] William Lynn Weaver, “What Evil Depends On: For Good People to Be Quiet.” Story Corps: NPR Morning Edition, September 29, 2017.
[iii] Eugene Peterson, The Message
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