PSALM 40:1-10
1 CORINTHIANS 1:1-9
JOHN 1:29-41
“What’s
in it for me?”
All
too often, that’s a classic American question, to be asked of any proposed
course of study, course of action, group activity or job. “How will this benefit me, enable me
to attain my objectives, help me to “get ahead” (however I
define “getting ahead”).
The
use of the first person singular is significant. In many other places and times, the question
would have been (or still is), “What’s in it for us?” “Us” was (or is) defined as the most
meaningful group identity to the person, either in general or as it impacts the
question being considered.
“What’s
in it for us?” could be asking, “What’s in it for the people of our family,
community, state, nation, ethnic group, religion, age group, profession, union
or a host of other identity groups. I don’t
see this kind of question as dominant in America today; instead “What’s in it
for me?” dominates, as 280 million Americans are atomized into 280 million
different interest groups, each with one member, each concerned with what he or
she sees as his or her own unique interests.
This emphasis has been lessened in the last few months, but I
think it’s too early to tell if we’ve seen a long-term shift.
The
question “What’s in it for me?” is asked about many things—including
institutional religion. And it’s a
legitimate question. After all, if the
answer is “nothing”, why bother with institutional religion? Why not just make up your own religion, or
have a private, idiosyncratic relationship with God as you understand God
without any spiritual community to urge you to grow in your understanding of who
God is and what God wants you to do.
So,
when people come to church-goers and ask, explicitly or implicitly, “What would
be in it for me if I came to your church?” it would be reasonable to answer the
question, perhaps mentioning things like spiritual growth, a caring community,
opportunities for learning and for serving others, inspiring worship, and a
rector who cracks worse jokes than they do.
HOWEVER,
today’s Scriptures’ answer to the question “What’s in it for me?” would be to ignore
that question—and answer instead another, more important
question.
Over
2,500 years ago, someone in the tiny community of Jews who were exiled in
Babylon was having a bad day. He was
discouraged. He was totally “bummed
out”. He was also the author of today’s
first reading. He called himself simply
“The Servant of the Lord”, and despite his high and holy calling, he was
really, really down. He writes “I have
labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity; yet surely my
cause is with the LORD, and my reward is with my God.”
He
was waiting to hear from God “what was in it for him.” He’s been faithful since birth, worked hard,
done his best, gotten nowhere (or so he thought). O.K. So now, “What’s in
it for me?”
God
responds “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the
tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of Israel; I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach
to the ends of the earth.”
(emphasis added)
“Oh
good,” he might have said. “Now what
are my chances of doing that?”
Guess
what? We here this morning are part
of the proof that this commission by God worked.
It’s
fair to assume that all or nearly all of us come from countries which that
particular individual 2,500 years ago didn’t know existed. But he took that commission—to be a light to
the nations, i.e., the Gentiles—and ran with it. Over 500 years later, Jesus embodied the mission of the Servant
of the LORD—and his followers did, over the centuries, take the Good
News of God's love and offer of salvation to all people through Jesus Christ
"to the ends of the earth”.
THAT’S how we, and our ancestors, first heard about Jesus
Christ. That wouldn’t have happened
otherwise.
Guess
who God is counting on and commissioning to keep making this happen in our time
and our place? Look in the mirror each
day for the answer.
Twenty-five
centuries ago the Servant of the LORD was wondering, “What’s in it for me?” and
God answered with “what was in it for the world.”
John
the Baptist was standing with two of his own disciples when he saw Jesus. John pointed to Jesus and said, “Behold the
Lamb of God (who takes away the sin of the world).”
John
did not say to them, “Hey, guys, here’s the Man who can take away
your sins.” Andrew and the other
disciple, to their credit, also did not say, “What’s in it for me?” John had started by answering the real
question, namely, “What’s in it for the world?”
Without God’s action, sin would not merely
be the world’s largest problem—rather, sin
would conquer the world, totally and forever. No hope, no end. If you
want a little vision of what that might look like, imagine the worst news of
the last six months being repeated daily forever.
Pointing
out to them The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world got
Andrew and the other disciple’s attention.
It should get our attention, too. If the world can be saved, then so can we.
The
corollary of that is this: if, as part
of being saved, the world must be changed—then, so must we.
In
today’s Epistle, St. Paul writes to the members of the only church in Corinth,
a “XXX-rated” seaport in which “Virgo’s” and the so-called “adult
entertainment” section of Sayreville would have been comparatively wholesome
influences. Paul writes, “To the Church
of God that is in Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called
to be saints, together with all those who in every place call on the name of
our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours: Grace to you and peace from God our father and the Lord Jesus
Christ."
O.K.,
so in that kind of town the Christians were “called to be saints” and to
be “sanctified”—made holy—and they were called to be “together” (at
least spiritually and psychologically) with all Christians everywhere. Phew!
That’s quite a package—wouldn’t one or the other be enough?
Ah,
but it’s not just “what’s in it for me” or even “what’s in it for ‘us’,” it’s what’s
in it for the world. If God’s plan
for the world comes to fulfillment, you and I will be fine—if
we participate in helping to fulfill the plan, both by growth in
holiness and in togetherness with others far beyond our group.
One
Sunday here some years ago, somebody asked me why we include the Anglican Cycle
of Prayer in the intercessions each week—why, specifically, we were praying for
the church of Liberia, “way over there in Africa”?
Well,
I replied, because they’re part of our family, and people should remember
members of their family in their prayers.
And it’s funny how things happen sometimes…because we found out after
the service that the visitor who came to church that day was…the Suffragan
Bishop of Liberia. Visiting his sister,
who lives in Kendall Park. Hmm.
We
can grow both in holiness and togetherness with others by
adopting a very expansive answer to the questions, “Who is a member of our
family?” and “Who deserves our utmost respect and care?” There is really only one answer which will
do: everybody. God’s plan of salvation is not just for me
or for you or for you-and-me, but for the world, and we can participate
in it insofar as we participate in his wish that we grow both in
holiness and connectedness to the whole human race. And one way we can do both at the same time
is to examine and root out from ourselves and from those we influence any and
all taint of racism and prejudice.
“Racial
profiling” has gotten a lot of attention lately, as it should, and the
attention has been focused on police in New Jersey and on federal law
enforcement officers, both of which need to learn that it is both wrong to
label someone as suspicious due to their race or ethnicity (as opposed to their
behavior), and it lessens the chance of crime prevention, in two ways.
First,
I have yet to hear of any racial or ethnic “profile” which helped the
authorities to catch Timothy McVeigh, Charles Manson, the Unibomber and a host
of other appalling criminals before they committed murder, because they weren’t
profiled. Somehow, American-born whites
just don’t seem to get profiled.
Second,
crime prevention is aided greatly if the authorities have the justifiable confidence
of all the races and ethnic groups in the area they serve. For example, 99.9% of all the
“Middle-Eastern-looking people” who are now or have been in this country
are as good or bad as anyone else.
The other .1% scare the living daylights out of me. It will be a lot easier to find that
dangerous .1% if the great majority of “Middle-Eastern-looking people” believe
the authorities are truly only after evil-doers instead of anybody
who looks Middle-Eastern.
But
let’s be serious: “profiling” is not
just done by certain law enforcement people.
It’s done by lots of people in lots of walks of life and
lots of situations. And it has a long
history in this country—back to the days when “Help Wanted” signs added “No
Irish need apply”, back to the days 100 years ago when the St. Barnabas
cemetery specified that no Italians could be buried there, back to the days
when American citizens with German accents were looked at as suspiciously as
Arab-Americans are today.
And
yes, profiling exists in the Christian Church.
Churches,
subtly—and sometimes not so subtly, ask of inquirers, “Are you ‘our’
kind of person?” The profiling churches
do may be about race, or ethnicity, or economic status, or educational level,
age, marital status, gay or straight, or even about whether or not you already
knew how to get there. I just heard of
a church which a prospective visitor called for directions and the person who
answered the phone at the church couldn’t give them directions! And the person was a staff member. That church clearly has a “profile” of who
they want: only the people who are
already there.
But
the Christian Church doesn’t get to profile. Whose sin does Christ take away?
The world’s. Who were the
Corinthian Christians supposed to be “together” with? “All those who in every place call on the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ.” Who was the Servant of
the LORD called to reach out to? “…the
nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”
Guess
what: that’s our commission
too. The “profile” of who God wants
invited to have a saving relationship with Jesus Christ is: human beings. That’s the task we’ve been given, and to build an inclusive
community in which all of its members can be treated with love and
respect, strengthened and guided to reach out to the world in the power of the
Holy Spirit.
Kind
of reminds me of a speech I once heard, about someone having a dream. Sisters and brothers, The dream is now. The dream is here. The dream is us.
Be the dream. Live the
dream. Make it come true, with
God’s help.
(The
Rev.) Francis A. Hubbard