LAKE JAMES

NORTH CAROLINA

Proper 17C + September 2, 2007 + St. Paul’s Church, Lake James

+ In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Did today’s Gospel sound strange to you? What are we to do with a suggestion such as “When you are invited to a banquet, go and sit in the worst seat, and do it so that, when the host sees you there, he’ll rush over to you and say ‘you belong in a much better place’ and, in front of all the other guests, make a big thing about escorting you to a seat of great honor, while everyone there looks at you, admiring your great humility!” Taken at face value, Jesus seems to be giving instructions which would encourage behavior best described as scheming and manipulative – although the Gospel text is actually a paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures we just heard as our first Bible Reading, that is the Book of Proverbs, Chapter 25: “Claim no honor in the king’s presence, nor occupy the place of the great, for it is better for you to be told ‘come up closer’ than that you be humbled in front of the prince.”

There’s a second teaching in today’s Gospel, and it may also seem odd. It’s where Jesus says that when we give a dinner party, we should not invite our relatives, friends or affluent neighbors, because they’ll just return the favor. Instead, we are told to invite those who are poor and handicapped. Why? Because they can’t repay and so, we will be blessed. Doesn’t that sound as artificial as taking the poorest seat so as to be moved up in the social order?

Well, Old Testament or New, what are we to make of such messages? What are they about? The great spiritual writers through the centuries have pondered human behavior and why we so want to be admired by others. Virtually all of them give it the same name: the sin of pride – a basic failing common to most humans. It may express itself in various ways, by the false humility of taking the worst seat or by its opposite, a need to impress others. A good friend just sent me a delightful example of the latter.

Many of you may remember the Lone Ranger and Tonto. It seems that they went camping in the desert. After they got their tent set up, both men fell sound asleep. Some hours later, Tonto wakes the Lone Ranger and says “Kemo Sabe, look towards sky – what do you see?” The Lone Ranger, wanting to impress his companion and show how learned he is, ponders a moment and then proclaims “Astronomically speaking, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets. Astrologically speaking, it tells me that Saturn is in Leo. Time-wise, it appears to be a quarter past three in the morning, theologically speaking, it is evident the Lord is still all-powerful, and we are small and insignificant, and meteorologically, it seems we will have a beautiful day tomorrow.” Then, as an after thought, he turns to Tonto and asks, “What does it tell you?” Tonto is silent for a moment, and then says “Kemosabe, you dumber than buffalo poop! Someone has stolen our tent!”

If we are honest with ourselves, Church people often like to impress others and are apt to fall into the trap of thinking that, because we are Christians, when it comes to faith, we are very knowledgeable people. We know and believe the Christian Faith. We go to church. We pray to God. We (at least usually) try to do good rather than evil. We even pledge a share of our income to the Church and give donations to worthy charities. We don’t murder or rape, we don’t often rob or physically attack others. No, we really are rather good people (especially when compared to some we might name!) – Does that sound at all familiar?

One of the temptations with which many of us have to cope, whether as individuals, or as a parish, diocese, or world-wide Church, is to be so preoccupied with self there is little room left for a loving relationship with the rest of God’s creation. I think of a Pennsylvania Parish for which I have especially fond feelings, for it was there, many years ago, that I was trained to serve as an acolyte. As I have mentioned to some of you, at one time in its history, (long before I was even born), it had been an extremely wealthy church, most of whose members came from the ranks of the rich and “socially acceptable.” After the experience of having some newcomers start to come to the church, the Vestry decided it was important to safeguard the “purity and quality” of parish membership. To do so, they built and endowed two beautiful churches as parish chapels some distance from the mother church and staffed them with good priests. Then, if people who were not Caucasians came for more than two Sundays in a row, the ushers politely suggested that they might be “more comfortable” at Saint Mary’s Chapel. Likewise, if visitors came who might be white, but clearly not of adequate social status, they would be firmly recommended to Saint Elizabeth’s Chapel. (I think I have the two right, but it may have been that St. Mary’s was for poorer whites and St. Elizabeth’s for others of color.) At any rate, that was many years ago and, thanks be to God, nobody there now would even dream of defending such nonsense. In fact, that parish is now not only quite multi-racial in membership with many poor people as faithful parishioners, but being an inner-city parish, has a strong ministry to the homeless, some of whom sleep in the parish hall during the cold winter months! Another footnote – the two chapels long ago became independent parishes, serving their neighborhoods with wonderful ministries. Still, the parish history is what it is, including the time when its members tried to be and remain a select group limited to those they deemed to be the “right” people.

Scholars tell us that what is called “The Parable of the Best Seats” and the verse from the Book of Proverbs, are examples of folk literature cited with gentle irony by Jesus, who then adds his own teaching, saying “whoever exalt themselves will be abased, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” Here, he is talking about real humility, a message profoundly illustrated by a cartoon with the caption “humility is not about groveling, it’s a reality check when we forget that God is God and we are not!” The cartoon drawing itself shows a man looking up to the heavens, saying “Sorry, I keep forgetting.” God responds “It’s ok – I keep forgiving.” To which all of us might simply add, “thank goodness!”

Today’s Collect prays that God would graft into our hearts the love of His Name. Grafting, after all, is a process of including something which is not naturally there. And living the Christian life, my brothers and sisters, is something accomplished by the help of God’s grace, not simply by our own abilities or unaided efforts.

The Collect further includes our request for that Love of God, not simply for our own sakes, but so that “true religion may be nourished in us, enabling us to bring forth the fruit of good works” – meaning a real concern for others. This is a good time to consider how we may fall into either of the twin traps of inordinate pride or false humility, each involving a lack of true concern for others. Actually, any time is a good time for that. What makes today so special is that it is the “now” which God is giving us to do it. So, let’s not wait! Let’s use it!

+ In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

The Reverend Alfred T. K. Zadig, Sr.

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