The Church of St. Paul In The Desert

THE PRESENTATION OF OUR LORD, February 2, 2003

Luke 2:22-40

The Reverend Vernon L. Suter

According to the law of Moses, which stated that "Every firstborn male shall be designated as holy to the Lord", Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to Jerusalem for his official rite of presentation and designation as a child "holy to the Lord." Anxiously anticipating their arrival was this man, - - probably a rabbi, - - Simeon. Simeon was convinced that the Lord intended that before he died, he, Simeon, would have the opportunity to see and hold the Lord's Messiah in his arms. His wish was fulfilled. Holding the baby Jesus, Simeon thanked the Lord for keeping his promise. Simeon prayed to the Lord in thanksgiving, insinuating that he could now die in peace, having held the infant Messiah in his arms. Specifically, Simeon prayed, "Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel."

Simeon's prayer was a powerful and heart-felt prayer, but there is a part of that prayer that could be easily overlooked in our joy for Simeon and his wonderful experience. Let me repeat the last part of that prayer with some special emphasis added: ". . .for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles - - - - and for glory to your people Israel." - - - - In most cases, before we die, we tend to want to leave a legacy of accomplishment, wealth, or reputation, for the personal benefit of our own families. In some cases, we work at building a legacy for the benefit of our own ego. In any case, most legacies, with rare exception, tend to be personal and generally not for the welfare of the multitudes. However, if we think in terms of a legacy, the last words of Simeon's prayer recognized that the gift of Jesus was meant for all humankind, the multitudes, not just for the family of Israel. Simeon's thanksgiving was for the revelation that Jesus was to brighten the path of the Gentiles, - - and not only the Gentiles, - - but all humankind.

If we now bring this closer to home, where does it take us? Well, for one thing, it's clear that we should not keep Jesus all to ourselves. My relationship with Jesus is not a legacy to be left to the exclusive use of my family, - - or, for that matter, - - my church.

If we really scrutinize this, we will discover that any Christian church is false to the gospel if it is concerned only with its own prestige. Any proclaimed Christian would not be true to the gospel if he or she did not reach out in love and redemption to all people, everywhere, no matter what their race, creed, status or attitude.

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We have just come through the season of Christmas, the time in which we celebrate the birth of the little baby Jesus, just as Simeon and Jesus' parents celebrated the presentation of Jesus centuries ago. - - - -

All those centuries ago when Jesus was presented, he looked just like every other little baby. Although he was the newborn son of God, Jesus was just like any other little baby, and everybody loves a baby, - - right? They're cute, they "coo," and they're cuddly. But, what happens when they grow up? When little babies grow up they aren't so cuddly and cute anymore. Everybody doesn't always love them, either.

Perhaps today is a good day to take a look at that little baby Jesus all grown up. Think about it! As an adult, Jesus wasn't all that loved anymore. As a cute little baby, he was fine. As a cute little baby Messiah, he was adored. But as a grown up human being, even though he was the Son of God, to a great many, he wasn't so hot. I doubt he was cute and cuddly, and I'm sure he didn't "coo" anymore.

I am certain that when Jesus became an adult and was confronted by his nation of that day, he was considered by many as quite intolerable. As a matter of fact, I'm sure that some of the best men of his nation, the eminent citizens, even those in authority over the church and state, considered him less than desirable. After all, he offended their prejudices and challenged their convictions. He antagonized the interests which they were determined to defend. He set up principles for life which every stubborn instinct in his fellow citizens rejected. - - - - The grown up Jesus of centuries ago brings these same challenges to us today. He challenges us to make difficult decisions. He compels us to review and reshape our values. He challenges us to renounce some of the things we insist on hanging on to because of our pride, greed, lust, power and prejudice; and instead, he admonishes us to accept the Christian imperatives of his law of love and service.

As Christians, we are asked to make decisions and judgments by the criteria of Jesus, not the criteria of the world around us. It's such a temptation, and I'm afraid a habit, to decide so many things on the basis of what the masses think. We tend to stand on a point or standard of living because we want to be where everyone will agree with us. This, in a sense, is idolatry. When we are conforming or agreeing just to be accepted by someone else, we are giving them our freedom of choice and, indeed, making a kind of idol of them. On the other hand, if we behave based on the values Jesus Christ offers us, we may be criticized, but we will like ourselves. Additionally, in behaving as Jesus would have us behave, and doing it with ease and self-confidence, we set an example that people will follow. It's a known fact that when someone observes someone else living a happy life, they begin to look for the same happiness. I cannot tell you how many times I've heard one not so happy person, say to another obviously happy person, "I don't know what you've got going for you that makes you so happy, but I'd sure like to have some of it." Of course, what that person has going for him, is living the life Jesus would have him live.

Several times during this sermon I've made reference to living as Jesus would have us live. I suppose one could make a list of rules miles long describing just how Jesus would have us live, but I believe, as Jesus did, that it can be summed up in the two great Commandments. Simply put, all we have to do is love God with all our heart, mind and soul and love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Put God first and we can't help but love ourself. Pass that same love and respect on to your neighbor and you've got it made. With that formula, we'll always be successful in relationships. Whether the relationships are personal or business, we will be successful at them if we honor those two great Commandments.

If we are consistent in following this behavior, we will no longer experience the obsessive ideas and prejudices that currently exist in business, economics and our social lives. Instead, we will experience success in every one of these areas. No one can argue the point that the personal and social issues of our times are terribly complicated. There's bound to be disagreement. But if we can purify and discipline our own hearts by keeping ourselves from being controlled by blinded selfishness; if we can follow Christ's great belief that it is only in understanding and treating one another as brothers and sisters in God's sight; if we can, indeed, love others as we love ourselves, - - we can then be a part of God's redemption of human relationships.

Perhaps the simple and short answer to what's taken me this long to say is found in a poem by my favorite author, Shel Silverstein. I'd like to read it to you now. It's titled: No Difference, and can be found in his book, Where The Sidewalk Ends.

NO DIFFERENCE

Small as a peanut, Big as a giant, We're all the same size When we turn off the light.

Rich as a sultan, Poor as a mite, We're all worth the same When we turn off the light.

Red, black or orange, Yellow or white, We all look the same When we turn off the light.

So maybe the way To make everything right Is for God to just reach out And turn off the light!

The Church of St. Paul In the Desert

The Second Sunday of Easter, April 27, 2003

The Reverend Vernon L. Suter

John 20:19-31

"Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe."

These are the words Jesus said to Thomas after having to prove to him that he was really there and that he had truly risen from the dead. Thomas had been openly doubting, pushing the whole appearance of Jesus aside as ridiculously impossible. Christ was dead and dead men don't rise. As far as his alleged appearance to the ten disciples a little over a week earlier was concerned, Thomas must have figured that it could be nothing more than sheer hallucination born of frayed nerves, or wishful thinking that seemed to come true. Don't forget. The disciples that were there for Jesus' appearance were scared to death. They were meeting in the upper room where the Last Supper had been held. I think perhaps hiding would be a better word. The prevailing atmosphere was more an atmosphere of stark terror than anything else. They had the door tightly closed and locked. For whatever reason, Thomas hadn't been there with them.. At that time, if Jesus or anyone else had knocked on the door it would probably scare them to death. They would be afraid to answer the knock in fear for their lives. They knew the venomous bitterness of the Jews that had surrounded the death of Jesus and they were afraid that their turn would come next.

Mary Magdalene had brought the news that she had seen the Lord, but who could believe it? They hadn't seen him, - - and I think this is a very important point. By the time they were reporting Jesus' visit to Thomas, they had seen him. Lest we get too tough on "Doubting Thomas," we must remember that there really was nothing for the other men to doubt. Jesus had personally appeared to them. It was another story, however, when Mary Magdalene told them that she saw Jesus.

I think Thomas was simply like many of us. Thomas was a matter-of-fact kind of person. He liked his feet firmly planted on the solid ground of specific facts. He was not one who rushed into believing what he wanted to believe or that which was more pleasant to believe. On the other hand, he was a man who was able to face the facts and to accept them, however grim and dark they might be. This being the case, I think Thomas had no choice but to question the reality of Jesus appearance. Yes - - Jesus did, indeed, say to Thomas, "Have you believed because you have seen me?" However, at the time Jesus made this proclamation, I have no doubt that he thoroughly understood Thomas, and all others who would have the same kind of skepticism that Thomas had. Had we been there, more than likely we would have argued as Thomas did and said what Thomas said. This being the case, the fact that most of us here today would have been Doubting Thomas's under the same circumstances, what can we say about believing without seeing?

In the first place, I seriously doubt that anyone in this church or anyone else that I know as a faithful Christian has ever actually seen Jesus Christ in person, let alone observed and touched the crucifixion wounds on his body. Furthermore, I don't think Jesus ever thought there would be all that many people who would believe without seeing. Otherwise, he would not have had to make himself so obvious to the original disciples, as they were cowering in that locked room after his crucifixion.

Now, as I stand here and proclaim the fact that, just as with Thomas, I don't think there are many of us who do very well at believing without seeing, I can, at the same time, turn around and state that I firmly believe we have all seen or experienced Jesus in some personal way; a way that has directly strengthened our belief as it did the Apostles. Let me see if I can resolve this seeming contradiction in statements.

When Jesus appeared to the disciples in the upper room, two very important things took place. The first time he came and stood among them he said, "Peace be with you." He then breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit." So, besides experiencing the personal presence of the resurrected Christ, the Apostles received that never ending peace of God that passes all understanding. They were endowed with God's presence the Power of the Holy Spirit, so that they and all those Christians who inherit this experience may share the presence of Jesus wherever we go. This is clarified earlier in this Gospel when Jesus told the disciples, The Holy Spirit. . . "will take what is mine and declare it to you." (John 16:14-15)

Even now, thousands of years later, we are witnessing the resurrected Christ by the Power of the Holy Spirit, sharing God's Peace through experiences in our everyday lives. We see Jesus whenever we see the homeless of our city fed and clothed through organizations like Well In The Desert. We see him when an alcoholic or drug addict, destitute with his or her life in shambles, walks into an AA or NA meeting and emerges in peace and happiness to a life of sobriety. I think we are reminded of the resurrected Christ when we hear one of the Guide Dogs of the Desert snore during one of Fr. Andrew's sermons. (I just couldn't resist making it one of Fr. Andrew's sermons.)

When a blind person graduates from Guide Dogs of the Desert and walks away, led by their finely trained dog, I think of Jesus, restoring sight to the blind. I could go on and on with examples of the visibility of Jesus, the ways in which we can, as Thomas did, see, so that we can believe. Yes, it is indeed a blessing to be able to believe without seeing, but knowing our humanness and all the weaknesses of being human, Jesus has made it possible, through grace, and by the Power of the Holy Spirit for us to actually see his works and solidify our faith in spite of ourselves.

St. Paul's Episcopal Church

The Fifth Sunday after Pentecost

July 13, 2003

Mark 6:14-29

The Reverend Vernon L. Suter

Well, - - - I don't know about you, but that Gospel we just heard conjured up some pretty gross images for me. When I looked up the Scripture I was to preach on today and read this, I could only come up with Fr. Armand's line from a few weeks ago. This is the kind of Gospel rector's give to associates to preach on. - - - - (Armand, I figured stealing your line would be OK if I gave you credit for it.) - - - - Actually, I seriously doubt that Fr. Andrew planned his vacation around avoiding this Gospel, but I have to admit that, at first blush, I thought calling in sick might be a good option. - - - -

In all seriousness, after my initial reaction to this reading and then taking the time to go into the surrounding story and it's background, I believe there are some very important points to be learned. The actual execution of John the Baptist is not the real issue here. Rather, I believe the message is in the reason for Herod having John the Baptist killed, - - but more about that shortly. First, I think it's important to put this all in context by looking back at last week's Gospel.

Oh! By the way! I think it's important to note, that the Herod we are speaking about in today's Gospel is one of the sons of the Herod referred to at the time Christ was born. In last week's Gospel, we heard about some of the, - - and I quote: "deeds of power done by the hand of Jesus." Although his home town people didn't accept nor believe in him as our Lord and Savior, they couldn't help but ask questions about all his apparent power. They couldn't get around the fact that he was a home town boy who took up his dad's trade as a carpenter, but at the same time he was going around expounding all this wisdom and performing all these miracles. Further, he commissioned, - - and empowered, - - his twelve Apostles to go from town to town, purging people of unclean spirits and healing the sick.

So, - - - it's with this background leading up to the present, that our Gospel for today starts with the statement, "King Herod had heard of these things." Jesus reputation finally reached the ears of Herod, along with all the speculation as to who this powerful person might be. Prior to this, Herod knew nothing of Jesus and the things he was doing. As to the speculation of who Jesus really was, the Jews were claiming him to be Elijah. Elijah was expected to return, and they were sure that's what had happened. Many said Jesus was the resurrected John the Baptist, and Herod was one such believer. - - - -

Now when John was still alive and imprisoned by Herod he had, what I would call, a love/hate relationship with John. Herod was afraid of John the Baptist. John exuded a holiness that Herod perceived as real, but at the same time Herod hated John because John had publically scorned him. John the Baptist had chastised Herod for seducing and marrying his own brother's wife. - - - -

(Actually, the house of Herod made the old book, Peyton Place look like a life of sainthood. Of course, you have to be a little older to remember that book, but suffice it to say, it was considered quite scandalous.)

And this brings us to our Gospel for today.

A few minutes ago I said that I believe the message of this Gospel reading is in the reason for Herod having John the Baptist killed, not in the fact that he did such a horrid thing. To further explain this, I'd like to introduce two very important behavioral traits that have everything in the world to do with our Christian life. The first one is pride and the second one is courage. The first one hinders our Christian existence and the second one is necessary for our Christian existence.

First, lets talk about pride. In my opinion, it is not coincidental that pride is number one on the list of the Seven Deadly Sins. Pride is the single most dangerous thing to our conducting ourselves as Christians that I can think of. Whether we realize it or not, pride is all about self. Pride is about how we want others to perceive us. Pride is that which makes us believe that we must come first, always appearing a little (or even a lot) better than others. - - - - And yes, pride is what motivated Herod to order John the Baptist beheaded. Herod was having a birthday party at which all the leaders of Galilee were present. Power and pride were everything to Herod. That's one reason his birthday party was so overflowing with important people. Herod, because of his pride, was showing off. After his wife's young daughter danced, he was so pleased he made rash promises to her, but it all backfired. When she asked for the head of John the Baptist, which she did to please her mother, Herod was too proud to back off. He was already afraid of this man, John the Baptist, and though he had no problem imprisoning him, he was not ready to execute him. But Herod's pride would not allow him to be embarrassed in front of all those dignitaries. So, plain and simply, the answer to why John was killed is the sin of pride, the first of the Seven Deadly Sins. I think the answer to most negative behavior, whether big or small, is the sin of pride. I don't believe there is one person in this room that cannot recall more than one instance in which we made a dishonest statement, drastic mistake, or just some little "egg on your face" faux pas, all for the sake of our pride. Pride is, indeed, the major block to living the Christian life.

The second behavioral trait that comes out loud and clear in this Gospel is courage. Interestingly, we must constantly do battle with our pride in order to exhibit any courage. Often, courage is required to do that which must be done, whatever that might be, in spite of what others think. In order to do the right thing, we must often risk the rejection of some very important people. Herod was afraid to do that. If he changed his mind and refused John's execution, the rejection he feared would come from the leaders of Galilee, not to mention his wife and daughter, was more than his pride could take. It would take a lot of courage to publically announce that he would not keep his word to his daughter, in spite of the fact that the request for John's head on a platter was about as horrible a request as one could imagine. - - - - Now let's take a look at John the Baptist for a moment. While pride and lack of courage on Herod's part cost John his life, John the Baptist had the courage to risk his life to say publically that which he believed. The very greatest thing in this whole passage is the courage of John when he told Herod publically that it was not lawful for him to have his brother's wife. It's no wonder that in Matthew's Gospel, Jesus paid John such high tribute when he said, "There has risen no one greater than John the Baptist." (Matt. 11:11) - - - -

One thing I want to interject here is that there is such a thing as negative courage, and it's often a very fine line that we must look for to define the difference between Christian courage and negative courage. To be truthful or "up front," as they say, no matter what anyone thinks, when no useful purpose is being served, is certainly an exercise in negative courage. On the other hand, if we put faith into the mix, there is a courage which is a religious virtue, stemming from this faith. The latter was the courage of John the Baptist.

Another point of warning is that there are those who will tell us that courage is fine, but we must be careful. We constantly hear proverbs like, "Watch your step," or "Discretion is the better part of valor." However, let's not forget that the epitaph on the gravestone of many good causes has been, "Died of discretion." To avoid negative courage, as well as overkill on discretion, I think we would all do well to remember John's courage as a model to live by; a courage founded on the high standards of Christian faith. It doesn't hurt to remember Herod's pride either, so we can remember to find the humility that lets us have the faith that produces the courage to be a Christian.

I would like to close with the collect in our Prayer Book for The Nativity of Saint John the Baptist.

Let us pray:

Almighty God, by whose providence your servant John the Baptist was wonderfully born, and sent to prepare the way of your Son our Savior by preaching repentance: Make us so to follow his teaching and holy life, that we may truly repent according to his preaching; and, following his example, constantly speak the truth, boldly rebuke vice, and patiently suffer for the truth's sake; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.