In
the name of God- Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Are you an impersonator or an
imitator? You can watch Saturday Night Live and see comedians do their
impersonations of the President. And they’re normally fairly spot on. Going
back a bit, Dana Carvey did a good George Bush, and then Will Ferrell did George
W. Bush. If you weren’t giving it your full attention, you might mistake the
comedian for the President, and that means they were a good impersonator- they
made you think that they were someone they are not.
But if you ever listened to them speak about their
views on politics, it became quite clear that they were not trying to imitate their
subjects. Will Ferrell is not a student of George W. Bush and he wasn’t sincere
in trying to actually model his life after Bush’s. And that is the difference
between an impersonator and an imitator. In our Baptisms, we have promised to
follow Christ, and so the question this morning is: do you merely mimic Jesus,
or are willing to follow him to the end?
It’s the question that Jesus himself is getting at
in the Gospel reading this morning. A man has two sons, he tells the first to
go and work in the field, and that son refuses, but then changes his mind and
actually does the work. This son is imitating the model of faithful son. That
same man then tells a second son to go and work, but the son doesn’t, even
though he said that he would. He is impersonating a faithful son. And Jesus
notes that it is the first son, the one who actually does the work, the one who
is imitating what is supposed to be done, who is the one who will reap rewards
for his actions. Gandhi is reported to have once said “I like your Christ, but
I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”
As St. Paul wrote in his letter to the Church at
Philippi, “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.” In other
words, be imitators of Christ. Take up your cross and follow him. Take his yoke
upon you and learn from him. Now, this is quite the admonition- have the mind
of Christ in you. Classical theology has taught that Christ was perfect,
sinless, and God incarnate. How is it that you and I are supposed to have this
same mind in us?
We aren’t. When Paul writes “let the same mind be in
you,” he’s using the second person plural. If he were from around here, he
would have written “let the same mind be in y’all.” Together, we are to have
the mind of Christ in us. We are to focus on him and be united in him. But if
we are going to be united, we must decide if it will be in impersonation or
imitation.
If we are to properly hear this passage from the
gospel according to Matthew, we must not the lectionary confuse us. Though we
are a long way from Holy Week, this run in with the Temple authorities happens
just after Jesus enters Jerusalem on Palm Sunday and overturns the tables. With
such aggressive confrontations, Jesus is effectively signing his own death
certificate. Throughout his ministry, he has been preaching and teaching about
the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven. And as we see in the Cross, he was not
simply impersonating someone who cared about the poor and the helpless, but his
actions were imitating the will of God.
It has been said that we are like tea leaves, in
that we don’t know how strong we are until we get into hot water. When things
get intense, impersonators will drop the act and run for safety, while
imitators will only become more resolute in their convictions. Jesus finds
himself being questioned by the leaders of the Temple in Jerusalem. This would
be as if one of us were called before the Senate in Washington, DC to face
questioning. Jesus was an itinerant preacher from the backwaters of the Galilee
region. No one thought that he had the right to be questioning the religious
leaders of his day. And so that is why they first ask him “by what authority
are you doing these things?” They are trying to silence him and invalidate his
critiques against them. But their trap gets reversed and they are the ones
whose authority ends up in question.
Which is good lesson for us: Jesus is dangerous. I
don’t watch Dr. Phil, but I read that one time he was asked “if you could
interview anyone from history, who would that be?” And he immediately responded
by saying “Oh, that’s easy, I’d interview Jesus and find out about the meaning
of life.” Anyone who knows Jesus knows that this is the wrong answer. I know
that we all say that we want more Jesus in our lives, in our nation, and in our
Church. But I’m not so sure that we actually do. When it comes to Jesus, it’s
far easier to be an impersonator of a disciple than an imitator of one.
A few years ago I was in the Holy Land and we
visited a site that scholars consider to be the place where Jesus was baptized
in the Jordan River. On the way back to the bus, we walked up some stairs from
the water and passed a fence that had a yellow sign on it which read “Danger!
Mines!” While it is a sad reminder of the violence that Israel has known, it is
a fitting metaphor for Baptism and life as imitators of Christ. When we come up
from those waters of Baptism, indeed, dangers will await us.
Isn’t it interesting that Jesus never says “agree
with me” and rarely says “love me,” but instead he often says “follow me to the
Cross” and “do not be afraid.” It should tell us something that whenever God
calls us to follow, God also says “do not be afraid.” In the gospels, very few
people (in fact, only the outsiders) actually approach Jesus, but instead Jesus
comes to them. And that’s because most people had enough sense to stay away
from Jesus because he is so dangerous and so demanding.
My favorite preacher is the Methodist Bishop Will
Willimon and he reminds us that Jesus is not here to help us get what we want
out of God; but that Jesus is God’s means of getting what God wants out of you.
Jesus is not a tool that we can use to get up to God, instead Jesus is a way
for God to get down to us. That moment when we choose to be an imitator of
Christ means that life as we know it ends. The money we earn is no longer is
ours, but God’s. Our preferences get thrown out the window. Our personal opinions
crumble in the shadow of Gospel Truth. Our desire for polite conversation that
avoids politics and religion is turned into a burning passion for justice. Our
ability to look away when we see someone in need is gone. Instead of thinking
in terms of “what do I get out of Church” the question really is “what does
Church, that is, the Body of Christ, get out of me?” And God is looking for
more than lip service paid by impersonators.
There is a story of a missionary who drove a few
hundred miles to be the guest preacher one Sunday morning. The missionary
preached at both services and talked to many people. Before leaving, a church
official handed them an envelope, with what could only be assumed to be a check
inside. Wanting to be modest, the envelope was tucked away until they got home
when they opened it to fined written on the check “a million… thanks.”
Sometimes, ministry takes more than words. Now don’t get me wrong, speech is a
very powerful tool. Prayers can be world changing. But at the end of the day,
any impersonator can use words. Being an imitator takes action- it takes
holding hands, it takes standing up to injustice, it takes giving ourselves.
Willimon, in a book called Why Jesus? writes a series of chapters with titles for Jesus. One
chapter calls Jesus a “delegator.” Jesus is delegating his ministry to us. And
so, as St. Paul writes, if we are to follow Christ, we must empty ourselves as
he did. This isn’t so that we can win an award for being “most humble,” but
rather so that there is room to fill ourselves with Christ. Earlier in Matthew,
Jesus says “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom
of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.” And that
is the key here, this is not merely being a busybody, but rather that we have
been given the task of doing the will of our Father in heaven.
With the idea that we are to be imitators of Christ,
for the purpose of living into God’s will, I’d like share some of what my
vision is for St. Luke’s in this first year of our ministry together. I shared
with the Vestry at our September meeting that my vision and prayer is to be the
best St. Luke’s that we can be. One of the things that has excited me most
about St. Luke’s, since the first time I had a video interview with the Search
Committee, is the energy and potential that is here for doing great things in
Jesus’ name. We all know the parable that Jesus tells about the people who
build their houses, one on a solid foundation, the other on sand. If we are to
live into God’s will for St. Luke’s, we will need a strong foundation from
which to build.
St. Luke’s has all of the necessary ingredient for
this: a strong history, a dedicated staff, wonderful and passionate
parishioners, and the blessing of solid finances. What we will be working
towards together in the coming months will be using these resources to be the
best St. Luke’s that we can be. Notice that I’m not saying that we need to be
the best church in town, and I’m not sure that’s a humble or measurable goal.
But what we do, we will do well. We will have wonderful worship that orients us
to God through prayer and music, we will be formed as disciples through classes
and programs for people of all ages, we will care for each other in times of
need, we will welcome our guests into this warm and loving community of faith,
we will share the Good News of God in Christ, we will serve others in the name
of Jesus, and we will practice stewardship as a way of life and a response of
thanksgiving for all that God does.
But St. Luke’s can only be the best St. Luke’s that
it can be if you are the best you can be and if I am the best Robert that I can
be. We will need to challenge and support each other in this. When I was
meeting with the Search Committee and Vestry, there was a lot of discernment
done. And I know that as you all prepared the parish profile, there was a lot
of discernment done as well. But discernment is not a onetime event, it is
ongoing. If you are to be the best John, Sally, George, or Rachel that you can
be, what do you need to do?
When people and parishes go through discernment, it
is often a time of uncertainty- not knowing who your next priest might be, or
where you might be moving to. But now that the Holy Spirit has brought us
together, let us keep praying for the wisdom to know God’s will for us, as
individuals and a group of believers who are seeking to be imitators of Christ
towards the end of being the best that we can be, for the glory of God and the
benefit of the world.
Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.
Will we impersonate Jesus or imitate him? If we choose to imitate him, we will
be challenged and pushed to places we might never have imagined ourselves, but
we shall also more deeply know the loving salvation of God. And in being an
imitator, we will be led to the dreams that God has for us to be the best that
we can be. So let us pray in the words of a familiar hymn: “Take my life, and
let it be consecrated, Lord, to thee; take my moments and my days, let them
flow in ceaseless praise. Take my will and make it thine; it shall be no longer
mine. Take my heart, it is thine own; it shall be thy royal throne.” Amen.
