The Third Sunday After the Epiphany
Listen to the Sermon for January 25, 2015
Read the Sermon for January 25, 2015
Today's icon: Call of Simon and Andew by Duccio di Buoninsegna
Tag: Church
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Can anything good come out of Nazareth?
When Jesus began his public ministry, the first thing he did was to form a community. Those disciples, walking with Jesus for two or three years, were formed and shaped to continue his mission after his death and resurrection. The calling of the disciples marks the beginning of that community of followers of Jesus we refer to as “The Church.” The Church was formed by Jesus Christ and continues to be empowered today as the delivery system for his message. The Church doesn’t have a message; the Message has a Church!
The experience of those first disciples set the pattern for those who would come after them. They did not volunteer for the mission. They were called. There is an important difference. The Church is made up of disciples, not volunteers.
Take Nathaniel, for example. (Jn. 1:43-51) He was approached by Philip, who had already met Jesus and answered his call. Philip said to Nathaniel, “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.” Nathaniel’s response is priceless. “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip was not at all discouraged by Nathaniel’s skepticism. “Come and see,” he said.
Nathaniel went and Nathaniel saw. His encounter with Jesus was profound. Jesus knew his name and seemed to understand him in a way that surprised Nathaniel. Nathaniel blurted out, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” Whatever epiphany occurred in that initial encounter convinced Nathaniel that Jesus was for real and his own inner response compelled him to go with Jesus.
Those who have experienced a similar encounter with Jesus know that we did not initiate that relationship. We did not volunteer to love him and serve him. We found ourselves in a place where the invitation was so generous and personal and the presence so powerful that we could not resist. We knew in an instant that we would follow him anywhere and learn from him how to live life to the fullest. He would be the one to open heaven!
On occasion, we’ve had an opportunity to introduce others to him or to invite them to “Come and see.” More often than not, those invitations have been met with a certain amount of skepticism or resistance. But those who have accepted the invitation and met the Savior in Word and Sacrament, in an authentic community of his followers, in the signs and wonders his Church has been able to perform in his Name, often find themselves in the same place as Nathaniel.
In this season of Epiphany, as we read of those early encounters with Jesus, we have opportunities to reacquaint ourselves with the Lover of our Souls. As he calls us by name and invites us again to follow him, we are strangely compelled to go with him beyond the limits we have imposed upon ourselves. We find ourselves wanting to intro-duce others to him. They will come with us because they see in us an unmistakably authentic devotion. Does it make sense? Not always. As Blaise Paschal said, “The heart has reasons which reason cannot know.” But we all know what it is to love someone and believe in someone so intensely that we will do whatever is necessary to sustain and enrich that relationship.
So it is with the followers of Jesus.
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Stewardship is in our DNA.
Like many other congregations in America, ours is emphasizing stewardship of financial resources at this time of year. Next Sunday, we’ll invite worshipers to fill out new commitment cards and bring them to the Altar. Then, over the next couple of months, we’ll do everything possible to persuade everyone in the congregation to make a new, and hopefully increased, pledge of financial support of God’s work for the coming year.
I'm not sure why we have to work at this so hard to get Christians to do something so central to the Christian way of life. It came to my attention years ago that a substantial number of Christians consider the topic of stewardship to be less popular than some other ones. In fact, on several occasions, I’ve had church members suggest that I soft-pedal stewardship because some people might get upset. I’ve never taken that advice and here’s why.
Over half of the recorded sayings of Jesus Christ have to do with possessions. Jesus clearly knew how often possessions interfere with our relationship with God, our neighbors, and even our own spiritual identity. Think about it. Don’t most wars, lawsuits, family feuds, and legislative battles finally boil down to who possesses what and how much?
There is an event in the life of Jesus that illustrates this aspect of Jesus message. The story was so important to early Christians that it is recorded almost word for word in all three synoptic gospels. A rich man approached Jesus and asked, “Master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus responded by telling him the only thing left for him to do was to sell all his possessions, give the money to the poor, and follow Jesus. The man couldn’t do it. Why? He was possessed by his possessions. He relied on his possessions too much. He derived too much of his identity, security, and status from his possessions. Jesus wanted to liberate people from whatever enslaved them and in this instance, the man was a slave to his possessions. Jesus was not condemning wealth. He was trying to help a man find the freedom and joy that comes from living in a right relationship with God, his neighbor, and his stuff!
Following the example of Jesus, I believe one of the most important aspects of my priestly vocation is to help people have a healthy relationship with their possessions so that all the other relationships of their lives will be healthier and they will know the kind of freedom Jesus called “eternal life.”
Another reason I believe it is important to help people be faithful stewards is because the story of stewardship is grounded in the story of creation. In the beginning, when God created human beings, our role as stewards of all that God has made was imbedded into our DNA. As the only creature made in the likeness of God, humans have the distinct privilege and responsibility of managing all the resources God has provided in ways that further God’s creative and redemptive purposes.
When human creatures abdicate their role as stewards, they lower themselves in the pecking order of creation. They view themselves as the subjects of their possessions or the elements. Before long, they make idols and their idols stand between them and God. As Martin Luther once observed, "Whatever your heart clings to and confides in, that is really your god." The vocation to be stewards of creation is one of the fundamental things that makes us human! It is in exercising stewardship that we become more fully human and fulfill our God-given destiny in the ongoing progress of creation.
Fianlly, it is important to help the community of Christian people see how necessary the work and witness of the community is to the ongoing redemptive mission of Christ. The first thing Jesus did in his public ministry was to form a community. Throughout his ministry, he worked to strengthen that community and form them into an apostolic, missionary force. The last thing he did before his Ascension was to send that community into the world to bear his message and transform lives. We give a portion of the money and time and other resources that have been entrusted to us for the work Jesus Christ wants to be done through the community he called into being. When the community of Christ's followers is healthy and vibrant, the apostolic witness impacts the mission field at our doorstep in powerful, divine ways. We can't be faithful stewards if we neglect the community into which we are baptized and to which Christ has entrusted so much of his redemptive work.
When our lives are focused on stewardship instead of ownership, we experience greater freedom. When we embrace the pattern of Jesus’ life that is characterized not by having but by giving, our relationships are transformed. When we fulfill our vocation as stewards of creation, we become more fully human and realize more completely what it means to be created in the image of the Creator. When our giving strengthens the Church, the divine mission given uniquely to the Church can be accomplished.
As a priest, why would I want to soft-pedal something like that?
Almighty God, whose loving hand hath given us all that we possess: Grant us grace that we may honor thee with our substance, and, remembering the account which we must one day give, may be faithful stewards of thy bounty, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (The Book of Common Prayer, p.827)