November 1, 2009
Rev. John Collins
BE WHO YOU IS
My message today begins with this amazing scene from Mark’s gospel. We find Jesus in the Temple having a “made for cable television” debate with the religious authorities. It reminds me of cable TV because it is not a discussion designed to produce wisdom or inspiration. It is a verbal assault by the authorities on someone they view as a threat, as a troublemaker. Just the day before Jesus had driven the moneychangers from the temple so the atmosphere was a little tense.
This morning for a moment, I’d like you to relax and put yourself there… in the audience of people watching and listening to this debate.
First come the Chief Priests, Elders and Scribes. “By what authority do you do these things?” they demand. In other words, show us your credentials. “Where’s your degree, your references?” But it doesn’t work. Like a wrestler in the middle of the ring, Jesus pins them to the mat with a dangerous question of his own about John The Baptist…and they slink away! Next come some Pharisees and Herodians (followers of Herod) to trip him up by asking whether it was lawful to pay taxes to the emperor or not. A no win question that! If Jesus says yes to paying taxes, the crowd will turn against him, if he says no, he could be arrested by the Romans. But we all know that he asked for a coin, asked whose likeness was on it, and said, “give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” Bam. They’re gone. Next come the Sadducees with a bizarre question. If a woman marries a man and he dies, and she marries his brother who then dies, and does this seven times…whose wife will she be in heaven? What? Jesus points out that heaven is very different from earth and the Sadducees are defeated. In all these verbal attacks Jesus wins the question, the audience loves it and the authorities get angrier. BUT….
Here is the turning point. A scribe then asks Jesus, “Which commandment is first of all?”
I want to lift this wonderful person out of the story and get you to look at him closely. This scribe is the hero of this section of Mark because his question is sincere, from the deep curiosity of his own desire to know how to live, how to find a deeper experience of life and God. It is a stunning moment. This flesh and blood person, like you or I, asks the question from his heart, not to trick Jesus, but because he really is curious and open. And because of that openness Jesus gives him an astounding answer.
Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength… and Love your neighbor as yourself.
If this individual person had not asked this question from his heart, it is possible that we would never have had the wonderful answer. And this answer is amazing because it shows us the specific ways that we relate ourselves to the mystery of life. Our heart represents the emotional connection to God, our mind is the extraordinary ability to think and reason, our strength is the physical experience of the body in this world and our soul is the eternal link to God’s Spirit. If we love God and truly appreciate this gift of life with all these aspects of being, then we find the Kingdom Of God day in and out. And with that foundational wisdom in place, Jesus then says…… to Love your neighbor as yourself.
When you see that commandment, To Love your neighbor as yourself, what stands out to you? Usually the emphasis is on loving our neighbor, caring about others. But today I want you to concentrate on the second half of that statement, to love your neighbor AS YOURSELF.
There is a profound lesson here that Jesus assumes we’ll understand. And that wisdom is, that we cannot hope to love God with our whole being or love our neighbor unless we love ourselves first!
So, do you love yourself? It’s a slightly uncomfortable question. To say “I love myself” sounds like an ego trip, someone with an inflated sense of themselves. But that isn’t what is going on here. Loving oneself in this context has to do with a deep appreciation for the miracle of creation that you are. Please think about this, you are absolutely unique. Of all the people who ever lived on this planet, of the 5 billion people alive now, of all who are to come, there is and never has been anyone exactly like you. Your gift, your song is a presence the world has never seen before and… it needs it! But, you cannot sing your song to the world, dance your unique dance if you do not first appreciate just how extraordinary you are.
The author Bill Bryson points out that we are each made up of trillions of atoms. He says that if you could take yourself apart with a tweezer atom by atom and put them into a pile you would end up with a lifeless pile of atomic dust. How amazing that all those trillions of atoms arrange themselves to be you!! To be your life!! There aren’t words to describe how incredible it is that you are you.
Jesus not only assumes this, he lived it throughout the gospel record by stopping to shine a light on individual people who would otherwise be overlooked and say to them, you matter, your connection to God is as important as anyone else’s. Whether he is speaking to the woman at the well, Zaccheus, the disciples, the rich young ruler or this marvelous scribe in Mark, over and over Jesus affirms the authentic person standing in front of him and their longing for God.
Are you with me?? Then I can tell you my story. It’s about me which is nice since I love myself too.
When I finished seminary I became the minister at a small church in Pennsylvania. I had a college degree, a three year divinity degree, I was a minister so I had position in the community…people thought I was something and I encouraged that thinking!...but it wasn’t the best fit for me. I was 25 years old and the rest of the church was much older, so I stepped out of ministry after three years there to look carefully for a new parish. It took 9 months for me to find the right church here in Connecticut and while I looked, my brother Tom gave me a job in his company working as an electrician’s helper.
One day during that time, he and I were installing light fixtures in a house. At one point we were standing in the living room having a conversation with the owner, a woman who was kind of particular, when she suddenly realized that the light fixtures she wanted to look at were in my brother’s truck. So she said to Tom, “Send your boy out to the truck to get the fixtures.”
Send your boy? It was like getting slapped in the face. I wanted to stop everything and say, “listen lady! Two months ago I could have been doing a baptism or wedding for your family and then you would have seen me in all my glory and you would know who I really am!! But I quietly went to the truck, and as I went, I had a thought that has been very helpful to me ever since. It was this:
No matter what my circumstances, I was till the same me I was anywhere else. Whether I was standing in work clothes and a tool belt in that house or standing in the pulpit in my robe, my essence and my unique self were still the same. And it was crucially important not to let the opinions of others, negative or positive have any effect on that. I had to know I mattered. No one could do that for me. Others could affirm my gifts, but truly appreciating myself had to start with me.
So I want to say to you….. You are significant no matter what costume you wear or what role you play in life. You are a child of God no matter what your circumstances, or what your reviews are. And I believe that to do anything important, you must know that truth about yourself deep down.
Which brings me to the title of my sermon. BE WHO YOU IS. This is the first line of an epitaph on a gravestone in Boot Hill Cemetery in Dodge City, Kansas. The full epitaph reads:
BE WHO YOU IS
CAUSE IF YOU IS WHO YOU AIN’T
YOU AIN’T WHO YOU IS
I borrowed that from my friend Monsignor Jack Bendik, an old friend of mine from college, who used this as the theme for his 25th anniversary of ordination to the priesthood.
Our lives grow and find meaning in the ways we become aware of the wonder and goodness of life. In the answer he gives to that wonderful scribe’s question, Jesus reminds us that this awareness must first start with ourselves. You are an extraordinary child of God.
So……BE WHO YOU IS, CAUSE IF YOU IS WHO YOU AIN’T, YOU AIN’T WHO YOU IS!