RCL Year B (Proper 20) - September 20, 2009

The Rev'd Kenneth H. Saunders III
Christ Episcopal Church
Cleveland, NC

RCL Year B (Proper 20) - September 20, 2009

Proverbs 31:10-31

Psalm 1
James 3:13-4:3, 7-8a

Mark 9:30-37

Be Somebody!
Just do IT!
Life is short!

Let’s party all night long and take in our fill… we ALL deserve it! You have to MAKE it to the top in life to be successful! I am stronger than YOU are!

Don’t let your co-worker stop you… just use them as a stepping stone!

Go ahead and get to the Top… that way you will look good! So… take on that extra responsibility! If offered the chance, move into that corner office with a view!

It doesn’t matter what peon you had to step on to get there. Make more money, get a bigger house (with a bigger mortgage)! Buy a new car! Get that extra credit card! Or better yet… Just “claw your way to the top”

At this point, you are saying to yourselves… Wait a minute Ken…

But, I am here to tell you… That yesterday, today and tomorrow… That imagery in our society is REAL…. And it’s scary! There is so much pressure in this world to do just that! And it causes us ALL anxiety!

So… This morning - the question is… What ARE the disputes among YOU? Where do they come from? Family?, Work?, Church?, Money?, Power?… You want something and cannot have it… You covet something and cannot obtain it…

Our modern society puts so much emphasis on obtaining positions of false power and authority…

I even heard a young mother just the other day saying to her young child, “when you grow up, one day you aught to be president!” I even think that MY mom used that one on… That may be ok for a kindergartener, but what happens if that level of aspiration is forced?

You’ve got to BE a Doctor… BE a Lawyer… Be Somebody!… Don’t get me wrong… There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with having a successful life, or aspirations for success accomplished with hard work, but too many folks see it as a “zero sum game.” Where there is a “winner”… there must be a “loser.”

Therefore, we do everything that we can to “Claw” our way to that top position of power sometimes at the expense of others… and as the peak of the Mountain gets smaller and smaller on the way to the top there is less and less room for us to stand, but one finally emerges… victorious! What anxiety that produces… It is no wonder that one in ten young people in the United States today have a diagnosed anxiety disorder.

This isn’t completely unlike what is going on in our readings today. We were very carefully warned at the beginning of the service, as the collect so plainly tells us… “not to be anxious about earthly things, but to love things heavenly!” Anxious? – about earthly things? – Who us???

NOW… that statement even makes me anxious! Anxious about being anxious!

Anxiety and Society are friends… And our Society LOVES Anxiety!!! And anxiety is created in all types of situations… How will I get that job and a corner office with a view??? I have been a faithful employee for YEARS!... I deserve more responsibility – AND – MORE MONEY! Will I be accepted????

Or even better yet…

Lord, who will sit at your right hand in the place of honor? Lord, you said you had to die… do you think when you are gone, I can be in charge? Lord, don’t you like me better than him?

Can you imagine what the anxiety level is of the disciples? In their society, that is what they know… They lived in a world where honor and status had extreme value… Their obsession with positions of power rendered them totally incapable of understanding, or even accepting what Jesus is trying to teach them.

Even though Mark’s account of this incident says that they were silent when they hit Capernaum, (on their way to Jerusalem) Jesus knew something was going on… Jesus tried to teach them along the way, as he told them over and over - That “the Son of Man is to be betrayed, killed, and then risen in three days… But the scripture says that they continued to not understand… and they were anxious…

They were all caught up within the struggles for power of their world, arguing with one another about who was the “greatest" and who would sit at his right hand… Jesus, like so often before, uses the opportunity to try to teach them more… He tells them, “Whoever wants to be first… must be last of all and servant of all?”

I can only imagine the responses…

but Lord, I left my job and my life and followed you… I have listened to your teachings… I believe that you are the ONE that has been sent by GOD into the world… You ARE the Messiah, the Christ!

We can only imagine…

I am ready to run with the ball… Put ME in coach… I am ready to play!

The disciples were anxious… and yet they still did not understand… and at this point… they were getting more and more anxious…

So… In the midst of their anxiety and them not understanding… Jesus goes a step further… Jesus takes a little child in his arms… A little child, who was considered to be the weakest and most vulnerable member of their society… A little child, with little or no status and the least among those within the community or family… And Jesus said to his followers…


“Whoever welcomes one such child in my name, welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”

In one phrase, Jesus collapses the whole power structure that his disciples were climbing and disarms their understanding of the way things work in society. They learn quickly that they need to put it back together and reassess things in their heads and in their manner of life VERY differently.

They must welcome the child… Because when they welcome the child… they welcome GOD! They must come off of their “high horse,” forget about their quest for personal greatness, and completely HUMBLE themselves... Completely Humble themselves and show a radical hospitality to even the weakest member of their society…

And this is a very difficult thing for them to put into practice… This is very difficult for ANYONE to put into practice

St. Benedict, the abbot of Monte Cassino, lived in the 6th century. He wrote a famous “rule” to govern Monastic life. Part of that rule included 10 steps of humility… After listing all the steps he says, “after ascending all these steps of humility, the monk will quickly arrive at that perfect love of God which casts out fear. Through this love, all that he once performed with dread, he will now begin to observe without effort, as though naturally, from habit…”[1]

Now - We are NOT Monks in the 6th Century. However, we must show welcome like Jesus says, but, not just to each other… We need to welcome the lowest of the low… we must cast down our personal delusions of power, and redefine in our lives what it means to be “great.” We must HUMBLE ourselves… and through our acts of personal humility and welcome, God will casts out our fears, and remove our anxieties…

In our gospel story, Jesus will not be among his disciples for very much longer… He has told them that he will die, they are scared… and they are anxious… because they don’t understand. But, we have had 2000 years to figure it out… We know the rest of the story… We can look beyond the cross to the glorious resurrection… We know that the saving act of Jesus has been done… But we are still anxious about earthly things…

So, as we approach the table this morning, let us humble ourselves… let us put aside our personal power, and our rank and status, and let us get rid of our personal feelings and realize that we are NOT better than anyone or anything that happens to kneel next to us…

Let us understand that we don’t have to be “successful” by the world’s standards to inherit the kingdom of heaven… let us not be anxious…

Don’t be anxious about earthly things, but love things heavenly…

[1] Benedict’s Rule 7.67

RCL Year B (Proper 18) - September 6, 2009

The Rev'd Kenneth H. Saunders III

Christ Episcopal Church

Cleveland, NC 27013

RCL Year B (Proper 18) - September 6, 2009

Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23

Psalm 125
James 2:1-10, (11-13), 14-17

Mark 7:24-37

Today we kind of get bombarded from all directions!

The scripture readings are bring us full circle, calling us to a self-awareness, generosity, good works, humility, and dignity as God’s redeemed people. The lesson from James is a sermon in itself; therefore, I am not going to preach that one again.

It is something that we should probably meditate on. It is as direct as it gets with a call to action for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

How appropriate is it to hear this lesson of a call to action on this weekend that we honor those that labor? After all, we are a redeemed people, our sins are forgiven, and in response to that forgiveness, we should desire to go out and do those good works and show the Christ that we experience to the world.

But this morning, I want to focus on the healing miracles that we just heard about in the Gospel reading.

Jesus is going (somewhat haphazardly) from town to town, trying not to be noticed too much, for fear of drawing a large crowd and too much attention to himself… at this stage he has found himself a sojourner in a strange land, depending on the hospitality of strangers in order for him and his rag-tag caravan of followers to survive.

His mission at this point, is to preach repentance and redemption to the children of Israel. They have found themselves in the region of Tyre and Sidon. This is pretty far north of their normal stomping grounds around the sea of Galilee.

This was up near Mt. Lebanon, along the sea coast of the Mediterranean. It was most definitely Gentile territory. Not a good place for a Jewish boy to roam.

Word had obviously spread in the region about all the wonderful things that Jesus was doing… the healing & the casting out of demons… He was developing quite a reputation. Jesus shows up, and all of a sudden all things are made well. He comes for a visit and suddenly the mute are speaking, the crippled are walking, and the blind are seeing.

No wonder he can’t get a moments peace! We have to remember that this is ancient Palestine... In a time when there were no hospitals, no ambulances, and no pharmaceuticals – Compared to what we are accustomed to, this is an extremely harsh world with sickness and pain and death… until Jesus shows up!

The grape vine of communication is quick, and a Syrophoenician woman immediately hears of the great healer that has come to town. She has a daughter who has an unclean spirit, so she goes to Jesus… and in an act of pure humility, this non-Jewish woman, bows down at Jesus’ feet and begs Jesus to help heal her daughter.

Not surprisingly, Jesus tried to dismiss her. He actually seems rude and insults her, calling her a dog (which was pretty commonplace for a Jew to say to a gentile – most times much worse)… Jesus’ words were, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.”

Ooooo… you can almost feel the tension in the air, as this woman (who should have never addressed a man in public), claims her dignity and get’s very bold. She doesn’t return the derogatory remark, but remains humble in her dignity… She answers, “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”

Jesus acknowledges her, and tells her that because of her statement, she can go – her daughter had been made well.

It is amazing that we get the images of humility, dignity, and restoration all in the same short story of an encounter with Jesus. It almost seems that we have heard it before? Maybe we have?

One of the things I miss most about the Rite I liturgy in the Episcopal Church is the prayer that was usually said after the Agnus Dei, before the bidding to the table called the Prayer of Humble Access…

If you will indulge me for a moment and open your Prayer Books to page 337 – find that prayer at the bottom of the page and let us read it together… slowly. And, if you have never done it before, this is the time to pay attention and think about the words…

We do not presume to come to this thy Table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in thy manifold and great mercies. We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy Table. But thou art the same Lord whose property is always to have mercy. Grant us therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of thy dear Son Jesus Christ, and to drink his blood, that we may evermore dwell in him, and he in us. Amen.

Does it seem familiar? It is a prayer that is older that we can imagine… it was taken from the Old Latin Sarum Litrugy and was translated to English in by Thomas Cramner for the first Book of Common Prayer in 1549.

It is a way of approach… A way to approach Jesus, who is present with us in the bread and wine of the blessed sacrament. Suddenly, in this prayer, we are in the mindset of complete humility, putting ourselves behind the place of even the Syrophoenician woman in the Gospel lesson, by claiming that we are not even worthy even to gather up the crumbs under the table.

But the prayer also claims our dignity, the dignity that we receive in our baptism as followers of Christ, as we are admitted to the table to eat and drink the body and blood and be nourished, restored, and ready to go out and proclaim the risen Christ!

But hold on!

That’s where we need the second part of the Gospel lesson that we heard… We know how to approach Jesus, now what do we do when we get there?

A deaf man with a speech problem was brought to Jesus. Jesus takes him away from the crowd and then in the crudeness of form, puts his fingers in his ears and spits and touches his tongue and says “Be Opened” – Opening his ears and loosening his tongue… So that he can hear and speak plainly.

Jesus meets us, right where we are in the crudeness of our humanity. He is present with us and wants our ears to be open to listen to his holy word, and he wants our tongue to be loosened so that we can proclaim it to the world. We approach in humility, and we are restored to dignity then we go forward into the world and proclaim what we have heard…

These two stories of healing are very real to us in our journey of faith… we come to Jesus from different places, through different circumstances, and Jesus meet us right where we are.

We experience his real presence in our lives through the Eucharist, and then we leave in dignity, forgiven and restored, ready to proclaim the gospel to others… And we are also ready to do all those good works that James is talking about!

So take this with you this morning… humble yourself and come to the table, receive the body and blood of Christ… Take in His “real” presence in the Eucharistic elements and let your souls and your bodies be nourished. Be restored to the wholeness that only Jesus can give you and then go fourth into the world to proclaim the gospel with your life and do the good works that Jesus has given us to do… Amen!