Monday, November 6, 2017

Who Is the Greatest?

Who Is the Greatest? 

1 Thessalonians 2:9-13; Matthew 23:1-12 

First Thessalonians may well be the first letter written by Paul, and also the first words written of our New Testament. So Paul is setting the precedent for the style of letters that compose the larger part of our New Testament. 

In our Tuesday Bible Study, we have been wrestling with the letter known as First Corinthians, also an early letter of Paul. As the folks in the Bible Study tell the story, there has been a certain reluctance in this congregation to spend any meaningful time studying Paul, and an easy acceptance of the way he has been characterized. It is clearly our intention to break that pattern, and let the apostle Paul speak to us in Morton. 

There are several problems we encounter dealing with Paul. He often cites the common practice of the community - as if the culture “proved” the veracity of what he was saying about God and the Christian community. As he writes from a deeply patriarchal society, this becomes a stumbling block in a congregation where strong female leadership has long been embraced. 

He also reflects the traditional order of rhetorical proofs adopted by Aristotle, where the highest order of proof is that the person actually lives out what he claims to believe. When we read these claims with eyes of the 21st century, it can sound like bragging. It may have sounded less so in a culture, where folks were reluctant to invite folks to “see” if they “walked the walk, or just talked the talk.”  

The use of this selection of Paul’s letter is directly related to the braggadocio that has long been associated with Paul, and the clear call in the gospel lesson this morning for humility. 

I try to stick to the gospel lessons when preaching in an Interim position. There is no better source of hope in the world, than the life and teaching of Jesus. I want the congregation to have the stories of Jesus fresh on your minds. I want to help you model the approach of Jesus in the world that you are living in. 

I believe the world would be a better place to live, if more folks behaved towards their neighbors as Jesus did. He expressed clear values, but did not intimidate others. I also believe that our best invitation to folks who do not have a church, is to meet the love of Jesus, living in us, and kept fresh with an awareness of Jesus the Christ, the center of our gospel stories. Jesus is always our best model, and the answer to all of the hard questions.

In today’s passage from Matthew, Jesus clearly says to be careful to notice the difference between what people say they value, and what they do. It is easy to make claims about caring for others, but we would be well served to see what folks really do. Self proclaimed praise has no value. 

Because of the age I am, I cannot reflect on humility in the public arena without recalling two contrasting, and contemporary personalities of the 1960s and 1970s; Cassius Clay, later named Mohammed Ali, and President Jimmie Carter. Both of these men were widely noted for the influence of faith in their personal and public lives, and both have been offered as contrasting examples of bragging and humility. 

Cassius Clay was a brash teen age boxer out of Louisville Kentucky. He was a large man for the day, and quick as lightening. At 18 years of age he won the 1960 light-heavyweight Olympic Gold Medal for boxing. He turned professional soon after this event. After he won the world heavyweight championship in 1964, he announced he had converted to Islam and changed his name to Muhammad Ali. The Nation of Islam, was a controversial splinter group of Muslims, devoted to black separation and self-improvement in its beginning, was his initial entry into the Muslim faith.    

In the 1960’s, the United States was awakening from its intentional blindness to the effects of racism in our country. The Civil Rights Movement would grow in visibility, as African Americans stepped out of the shadows to proclaim the truth of injustice in our society. 

As the heavy weight Champion of the World, Muhammad Ali was - by virtue of both his personality and title, a significant public figure. There was continuing pressure on black public figures, to make clear where they stood on the issues of race and justice in the US. Ali was a focal point for the growing movement. Into the mix of this heightened sense of political awareness, came the rapid expansion of the war in Viet Nam, and the restoration of the military draft. 

In both the celebration of his victories in the ring, and promotion of those fights, Ali was a media favorite. He was good-looking and engaging. He loved to use rhyme and meter, usually wrapped around an allegorical depiction of his prowess. “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee,” is an often  quoted example. What really stuck was his proclamation, “I am the greatest.” It was likely a true statement of his boxing skills and physical prowess at the time. It became a handle for derision when Ali picked up the resistance to the Viet Nam war, by refusing to be inducted into the Army after being drafted. 

There were death threats. There was name calling. The most resistant pockets of racial intolerance became inflamed, trying to match the pugilist’s rhetoric, in mocking his race, acceptance of Islam, and unwillingness to participate in the armed services. 

We all know that the Army would gladly have given him an early out if he would have been a Public Relations spokesman for a couple of years. Clearly Ali knew the choice he was making. He was taken to court. He served time. He missed the most productive years in the short career of a prize fighter. We will never know just how great a fighter he may have been. 

Jimmy Carter is a Georgia peanut farmer and Sunday School teacher. As a young man he was an Annapolis graduate, served in the US Navy’s submarine force and nuclear division, and later become the governor of Georgia. In the tumultuous time following the resignation of President Richard Nixon, the unlikely Carter was elected President of the United States in 1976. 

Carter is one of very few people who has left the political arena, and have their reputation for integrity, continue to grow. He has received the Nobel Peace Prize, is widely noted for his continuing efforts, and some success, in the area of international statesmanship. 

During the election campaign, Carter sat for an extensive interview published in Playboy magazine, of all things. As a modest man and devoted Christian, he seemed out of place in those pages. During the interview he admitted that he had committed adultery - “by lusting in his heart.” 

In the time and place, such an admission seemed to be without any meaningful context. He was speaking from a deep awareness of the value of women and rejection of their objectification, which was the hallmark of the Playboy Enterprise. He spoke in contrast to the pervasive sexual permissiveness that characterized the 60s and early 70s. 

  So this morning we sit with several examples of pride and humility, mixed with a sense of religious awareness and conviction. The apostle Paul, who was clearly the driving force to the spread of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the Western world, the Christianity that you and I know, is hard for us to hear. He is a prisoner of the patriarchal age, and the urgent nature of his personality and his understanding of his mission. 

Muhammad Ali, is a polarizing figure for his role in social issues, as well as his conversion to a controversial form of the Muslim faith. As happens so often in cults devoted to a charismatic leader, the Nation of Islam, in its desire to be a change agent in the broader society, was susceptible to power plays within the organization. It became unstable following the death of Elijah Muhammad. 

Ali was respected by both his proponents and detractors for being genuine. While he was a gregarious extrovert by nature, as his Parkinson’s disease progressed, he stayed out of the public eye. His later years were marked by his privacy, philanthropy, and family time. 

President Carter, continues to be a force for peace and compassion for the world. He had deep convictions, but was not sufficiently prepared to play the games in the nation’s capital, to achieve all that he wished for as President. In many ways, he has been easier to understand and appreciate as a private citizen than he ever was as President. And I can claim that as a personal observation. 

Jesus instructs us to do the work assigned to us. You and I are called to be saints, alive and well and making an impact in Morton, Illinois. You have chosen as a congregation to express the wide welcome of the gospel story of Jesus in a community where there is intolerance towards the LGBTQ people. This is also a region where racism is alive. We live in a culture that idolizes the super wealthy, and disdains the poor. There are self-proclaimed super-patriots leading attacks on the environment, public works of all kinds, and the role of women in society. 

Our job is not easy. Jesus encourages us to approach our task with the demeanor of a servant. We are encouraged to confront the racism, classism, sexism with unblinking reliance on the love of God. True humility does not mean that we are silent in the face of oppression. Humility is not another name for silent acquiescence. 

So we ask God to help us confront racism, but not label our neighbors as racists. They are children of God, who need a change of heart. We strain to welcome LGBTQ people and their families, without becoming “haters” of those who do not understand, and will not cease their devotion to the sin of separation, dividing people into us and them.   

So, with all of these heady thoughts rattling around my cranium this week, I turned on the radio to an oldies stations. They played the classic from the Charlie Daniels Band, the Devil Went Down to Georgia. My son is an Old-Time fiddler, but he could not be here this morning, so, you will have to go home and Google it if you need to hear a live fiddler. 

The story in the song is the devil makes a bet, that he is a better fiddler. The young boy says, “My name’s Johnny, and it might be a sin. But I’ll take your bet, you’re gonna regret, cause I’m the best that’s ever been.”  And of course, he won in toe tapping style. 


If you are good enough to beat the devil, I guess you ought to, but only - only if you can do it for the glory of God. You see the gifts we get from God, are to be used to build the love of God and neighbor. So the choirs - young and old - sing hymns, the bell ringers jingle, and the organ’s pipes are tipped toward heaven. And we do our best, limited by the language of our day. We do our best, realizing that only Jesus was the best, so we let his teaching and actions inspire the work that we do. Amen.

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