Serving Somebody

Preached Wednesday April 27, 2016

Church of the Ascension and Saint Agnes – Washington, D.C.

Lectionary readings:

Leviticus 19:1-18, Psalm 119:73-96, 1 Thessalonians 5:12-28, Matthew 6:19-24

You’re gonna have to serve somebody
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody

– Bob Dylan, Gotta Serve Someboday

Bob Dylan really hits the nail on the head there doesn’t he? It may be the devil or it may be the Lord, but you’re gonna have to serve somebody. Jesus doesn’t parse words when He speaks to us this evening either. He is very clear, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume… but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven.” That’s pretty challenging isn’t? For one thing, this admonition falls smack dab in the middle Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, which contains such gems as:

“You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not murder’; and ‘whoever murders shall be liable to judgement.’ But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgement; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, ‘You fool’, you will be liable to the hell of fire.”

YIKES! As Saint John Chrysostom acknowledges, “What can be more alarming than our riches leading us to fall from the service of Christ? Yet, what can be more desired than despising our wealth if it makes our affection towards Christ and our charity perfect?”

These are wise words, but what do we do with them? In the fundamentalist tradition in which I was raised, the solution was always to build a wall around the admonition of Christ. If Christ tells us that our anger will imperial us, then we make a rule to never be angry. If Christ tells us “anyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of unchastity, causes her to commit adultery” then we will make a rule that never permits divorce. Whatever Christ says we will make even stricter so that we make sure and not violate the rule. Thinking about tonight’s passage, I read a story a couple of years ago about an American billionaire who’s plan is to give away all of his money so that he dies completely penniless. I have to ask, though, who does that serve? Is that really following Christ’s admonition to us this evening?

Another, different way to think about all of these commandments, a different way to think about Christ’s whole message in the Sermon on the Mount, is not to think about them as constraints but as motivators. Think about the old adage of giving 110%. Christ is calling us not to live rigidly but to live lovingly and abundantly. See Christ is not calling for us to give-up on storing up – Christ is calling us to store up differently. We are called to store up in ways that glorify God and the work of the kingdom. We are not called to abandon our resources and gifts – we are called to live into them to use them so lovingly and abundantly that God’s reality shines through! It’s all about service to God. We cannot serve God and wealth. Giving everything away without God is like the Pharisee who makes a big production out of fasting. It is still service to wealth. Serving God is to live beyond the dichotomy having and not having – it is to experience a new vision of what the world can look like. This is what we do every time we bring our sacrifice and offering here at the Altar, before God. We experience a glimpse what it is to live beyond all of our human frailties and structures. We get a glimpse of the Kingdom and the radically new and different reality that God calls us all into. Let us now step with humility and awe into that reality. AMEN.