Sermon:  “What Does the Lord Require of You?  Walk Humbly”

“Walk Humbly with God” – for some of us not so easy to do.  I may have shared with you once before our great North Carolina Senator Sam Ervin’s observation about our home state – which I paraphrase – and that is, there is nothing we are more proud of, as North Carolinians, than our humility.  Our humility is really outstanding, maybe our greatest gift!  Today’s lesson from Jesus, from Mark’s Gospel, calls us to that level of humility – humility that really should be a hallmark of all who profess the Christian faith.  And yet, if you asked people who aren’t regular church-goers to describe the average Christian, I wonder if “humility” would even make the “top 10” adjectives? 

Church outsiders, in my experience, expect us to be kind of snooty and aloof – holier-than-thou maybe.  But in fairness to them, maybe all the Christians they have met have been the prissy, self-righteous Christian kind – you know, like Dana Carvey’s “church lady” on Saturday Night Live?  Some churches do seem to attract people who see worship as just a chance to put on Sunday clothes and celebrate their own moral perfection.  Most of us know at least a few folks who remind us of that great old country tune by Mac Davis: “Oh Lord, it's hard to be humble when you're perfect in every way.” 

But we know better, right?  One of the earliest – and I think most beautiful – professions of our Christian faith, in Paul’s Letter to the Philippians chapter 2, proclaims, “Christ Jesus, ⁶who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, ⁷but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, ⁸he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross.”  We Congregationalists especially – in our plain, white colonial meetinghouses with no stained glass or crucifix to remind us of how Jesus died – we do remember the way Jesus gave his life on the cross.  Even if we by far prefer the sunshine of Easter Sunday to the gloom of Good Friday, we do remember. 

The disciples knew what risk they were all taking too.  Today’s passage begins with Mark’s third prediction of the crucifixion – so clearly Jesus doesn’t pull any punches about what lies ahead for either him or for his followers. He is explicit in his instruction to them here about humility.  He says, “whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, ⁴⁴and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. ⁴⁵For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”  This is what Bible scholars mean when they speak of Jesus in the tradition of “the suffering servant” – an image from the book of Isaiah, a famous passage from the 53^rd chapter that we lifted up in our opening “prayer of approach” earlier in worship today.

Using that kind of redemption language might seem old-fashioned, or even morbid, to us.  But even if it makes us feel a little uncomfortable – I think that if we are to remember to be humble, it helps if we remember, and honor, the utter humiliation of Jesus. To be stripped and beaten – nailed to a Roman cross – was an outrage.  That he knew it would happen and deliberately chose that path – that he set his face to go up that rough road to Jerusalem – what a stunning act of courage and self-sacrifice!  We hear “Jesus went up to Jerusalem,” and it sounds like simple directions, like “He went up to New Milford.”  But when we read, ³²They were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them; they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid,” we remember his disciples were hanging back, because they knew they’d be lucky if any one of them could make it out of town alive.  This is the Lord we profess at our baptism. 

So how do we now, in our church, put this kind of humble and courageous faith into practice?  What does it mean to give our lives in humble service to the world – not to literally die, we hope!  To put it in terms of our old UCC motto, “To believe is to care, to care is to do” – we don’t waste a lot of time around here just professing our beliefs, or wallowing in the emotion of caring.  We do our faith.  We live it out.  From our Parsonage Crew to our Refugee Ministry, from our Church School and Youth Groups to our Choirs and Committees, and to what is arguably the high point of our community ministry, our Yankee Fair – we do Christianity together.  We may not be the most “churchy” Christians on the block, here at the Congregational Church, but we really do know how to put blood, sweat, muscle, and ingenuity into our faith.  We are proud of our service to others, right?

The greatest challenge for many of us is when life takes a turn – and we are not as able to do as much “barn raising” for Jesus as we used to do.  My good friend Jane, at my last church, was an absolute pillar of the church.  She was a strong 60-something single woman – at worship every Sunday, often as a lay reader, serving on committees, leading retreats, attending Bible Study and women’s groups – until she fell and sprained both her ankles.  She thought that was bad until she fell on her walker and broke both arms too.  That’s when she ended up in a convalescent facility, a fate I know many of us fear even more than death!  But Jane told me she was going to pray that God would show her a way to be of service, even there in the nursing home. 

At first, she figured she would do that by talking to her roommate, and encouraging her – that was until she met her roommate, who was well into her 90s and completely deaf and blind.  She did nothing but sleep.  All the other residents were also severely limited or disabled, or suffering from advanced dementia.  It was very discouraging to Jane, to say the least.  But she continued to pray about it.  Finally, one day when I came to visit, she couldn’t wait to tell me the good news:  “Bryn, it’s the staff.  I’m helping the staff!”  As you might expect, in a facility that seemed to be filled with nothing but the world’s most hopeless cases, Jane’s room was turning into place where the staff was coming when they needed fresh hope and encouragement.

Not everyone is called to that kind of humble service, exactly – just as not everyone is called to bathe the bodies of the dying. To be humble doesn’t mean we have to be utterly miserable.  We each have our call.  To be humble is to be “down to earth” enough to simply live out our faith in our daily lives.  We serve and grow in faith in the ground where we are planted.  Where are you planted in this life?  Where do you practice your humility?  How do we offer service to others?  Mothers, teachers, psychologists, social workers, nurses – in those jobs the compassion is obvious.  Others of us need to notice how our lives bear witness to the love of God in the world. 

I’ve known Christians, for example, who work in business, or in offices, who will run themselves down because they don’t particularly feel inspired by the products they sell.  They may not give themselves credit for the ways they live out their faith by being good listeners to their coworkers, or by fostering an office climate of cooperation instead of competition, or setting a good moral example of honesty and integrity instead of back-stabbing and character assassination.  Crucifixion, you see, didn’t happen just to Jesus – it happens to people right here in corporate America today, maybe even to you.  And we are called as Christians to bear witness to another way of living, a way of love.  Sometimes even a smile can be a lesson in God’s grace. 

Go forth, people of God, and spread the sunshine of God’s love in Jesus’s name.  To live as servants for Christ is a beautiful thing.  It restores and heals the world. 

Thanks be to God for this Good News. Amen.

 

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Mark 10:32-45

³²They were on the road, going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them; they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. He took the twelve aside again and began to tell them what was to happen to him, ³³saying, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death; then they will hand him over to the Gentiles; ³⁴they will mock him, and spit upon him, and flog him, and kill him; and after three days he will rise again.”

³⁵James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” ³⁶And he said to them, “What is it you want me to do for you?” ³⁷And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” ³⁸But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” ³⁹They replied, “We are able.” Then Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; ⁴⁰but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.” ⁴¹When the ten heard this, they began to be angry with James and John. ⁴²So Jesus called them and said to them, “You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. ⁴³But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, ⁴⁴and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. ⁴⁵For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”