God’s grace, peace
and mercy be with you. … My focus is on Matthew 18:4 and Romans 13:6. From
Matthew, “Whoever humbles himself like
this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” From Romans, “the authorities are ministers of God.”
Let us pray.
Heavenly Father, the psalmist wrote, “I rejoiced when they said to me, ‘Let us go
to the house of the Lord.’”[1] Now that our feet are
within your gates, we rejoice to hear your Word. As we listen, may your Spirit
enlighten our minds and move our hearts to love deeply as Jesus loved. This we
pray to you, Most Holy Trinity. Amen.
O Lord it's hard to be humble when
you're perfect in every way … I can't wait to look in the mirror cause I get
better looking each day … To know me is to love me. I must be a heck of a man …
O Lord it's hard to be humble but I'm doing the best that I can.
"It's Hard to Be Humble," the title track of Mac
Davis’ 1980 album, and the first of four consecutive Top Ten country hits, is one
of the funniest songs ever written. Every pastor over age 40 has quoted it in a
sermon that addresses humility.
Today, I will talk about two phrases – he humbled himself by becoming obedient from Romans and the authorities are ministers of God.
The word humble comes from the Latin word humilis meaning “lowly.” It literally
means “on the ground or earth.” Because you are “of low birth or rank” you are not
to assert yourself, or as Golda Meir said, “Don't be so humble; you're not that
great.”[2]
In Matthew 18, Jesus extended his corrective teaching. The
question, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” revealed the
disciples were far from grasping the significance of Jesus’ passion prediction
and its implications for them as sons of God.[3]
They were concerned about status based on sinful human thinking – being greater
or lesser, more or less important. In chapter 20, they will ask about seating
arrangements.
Jesus corrected their understanding of “the greatest” in the
kingdom of heaven. In today’s language, Jesus’ description of greatness is
lowly, childlike neediness as He invites His disciples to a radically different
way of thinking and living in community. The image of a child or little one
redefines their understanding of greatness in terms of dependence or neediness.
This would have shocked and offended a first-century Jew.
The disciples were shocked and offended because although Israel
loved and cherished her children, they did not serve as role models for adults.
Children did not possess the positive qualities adults strive to emulate. Our Western
World is not the classical world of the Ancient East where people held reason
in high esteem. In that culture, people regarded children as inferior because
they were not rational thinkers. Children were physically weak, subject to the
will of adults, and susceptible to sickness. If they were praised it was because
they possessed potential for becoming something in the future, not as a
paradigm for adults.
True, the psalmist wrote, “children are a heritage from the
Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are
the children of one’s youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them!
He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.”[4]
However, elsewhere we read children are ignorant of God and unfit to rule. They
cannot count and are unable to choose between good and evil. They are easily
deceived and cannot defend themselves.[5]
Why did Jesus hold them up as an example for his disciples
to emulate? It was because children, like Israel, were dependent upon God for
everything. Everything – from identity to food to protection from one’s enemies
– came from God. Unless his disciples turned and became like little children
dependent on God for everything, not only would they not be considered great in
God’s Kingdom, they would not even enter it. What a shocker!
Jesus redefined the
greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven not as the independent, capable person who
serves others, but one who, like a child, is the weakest, most dependent and
most vulnerable. Jesus called his disciples to regard such needy ones as the
most important people, worthy of virtually unlimited care and forgiveness.[6]
His disciples were to serve these little ones – Jesus’ brothers and sisters –
because in God’s eyes, they were the most valuable. They were the greatest in
His Kingdom.
Now that we have an understanding of what Jesus said, we
turn to Romans. Last week, I said Paul’s advice to the Christians in Rome was
not to withdraw from the world into seclusion as an individual or Christian
enclave. Instead, he encouraged them to live among others, but with a different
set of values. Paul exhorted them to reconcile and win over their enemies
through kindness, compassion and brotherly love.
Today, Paul addresses how Roman citizens and subjects should
regard authority. After all, Christ’s death won them freedom from the law. Does
that not include civil law?
Paul makes two points.[7]
First, Christians may not frivolously disregard civil authority. Read the first
two verses of Genesis, and see that by overcoming primeval chaos God
established order So, Paul lays down that God established order, and that chaos
and disorder are His enemies. To oppose order is to oppose God by supporting
those forces that are at enmity with God. Freedom from the law does not mean
freedom from civil law. Obey traffic laws. Pay your taxes. Respect the office.
That said, a government, whether or not it is aware that it
is an agent of God for order and good, punishing evil and disorder, cannot
claim for itself absolute devotion from God’s creatures. Devotion is due to God
alone. Once a government makes that claim, it becomes an idolatrous opponent of
God.
These verses not only describe what a government authority
is but also prescribe what it is to be. Limits of power. Keep order for the
common good. Obedience to God.
All well and good, but how do the readings relate to our
lives today? Friday is Patriot Day, originally designated in memory of the
2,977 killed in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the day also
encourages community engagement. In light of that, how do we apply the passages
to our lives as Christians in America?
How do we – humble disciples of the Lord Jesus and
authorities charged by God to keep order – serve those who are most valuable in
God’s eyes because they are the most vulnerable in our society? First, who are
the most vulnerable?
At some point, it is any of us, who, like these little ones,
recognize that everything we are and have has its origin in God. From the color
of my eyes to the language I speak. My height, gender, race, sense of humor,
siblings and parents. I chose none of these. They all come from God. Without
God, I am nothing.
To expand on the question requires only a day in the life of
America. In addition to church work, my life experiences include schools,
hospitals, nursing homes, homeless shelters, soup kitchens and prisons. In each
of those settings, I found these little ones – society’s most dependent,
vulnerable beings. I found children with profound learning disabilities and
adults hanging on to the fringes of life. I visited frail elderly women
forgotten by family and found housing for homeless women estranged from their
families. I served meals to men suffering from schizophrenia and counseled
mothers incarcerated for possession. I could make the case that any of these
are valuable in God’s eyes, and they are.
Instead, I propose that our most vulnerable, dependent
beings are those legally discarded across our nation, unborn infants. Since
1973, taxpayers have legally funded abortions in hundreds of clinics across
America. Planned Parenthood, with assets of $2.2 billion dollars, received
$616.8 million in government funding in 2018-19. Planned Parenthood affiliates
around the country performed 345,672 abortions in the 2018-19 fiscal year.[8]
While teens accounted for 10% of all babies aborted, women in their twenties
accounted for the majority of abortions. Since 1973, 62 million unborn babies
have been aborted in the United States. During the course of our one-hour
worship service, 98 babies were aborted.
Are unborn infants our nation’s most vulnerable, dependent
beings? Are they the greatest in the Kingdom of God? Like each of us, do they
bear the image of God? How can we serve them?
Today’s verses from Romans point to the fact that there is
no dimension of life that is beyond God’s concern or outside of His power or
control. Those who govern are answerable to God, because there is no area of
reality which can exempt itself from His sovereign power.[9]
And Christians who are governed need not resort to anarchy while engaging in
civil disobedience on matters that are sinful or conscientiously objectionable,
such as abortion.
Our Lord’s call to humble oneself like a little child and
Paul’s admonition to be subject to the governing authorities does not mean that
we acquiesce to sinful activity that is permitted or promoted by any
government. Humility does not ultimately depend on personal effort
but on openness to God’s power. Humility invites us to make a radical choice
‘to give over all of one’s life to be with Jesus no matter what the consequence.’
Imagine following
Christ in being insulted and humiliated without
anyone sinning and without there being dishonor to God. Imagine real situations
of Christ and his followers being confronted by evil. Left to our own choice,
would we respond the way Christ did or display a justifiable reaction of
outrage? In our current climate, do we cherish the degradation Christ faced,
not because we perversely link religion with destruction, but because we fully
embrace the full extent of Christian hope in His promises?[10]
Christians of 1st century Rome believed Jesus
Christ died for their sins and rose from the dead. They believed that they,
once rebellious enemies of God, were reconciled through Christ’s death and
resurrection. When the Paschal Mystery is embedded in your heart, mind and
soul, you do what God asks or commands. You even deny yourself,
take up your cross and follow Christ by loving your enemies with brotherly
affection.
To answer my previous
questions (see above), I thought of the encounter that happened at the Lincoln
Memorial on January 18, 2019. If you have ever been on the Annual March for
Life in Washington, DC, you know that everyone there is protesting peacefully.
Christians of all denominations as well as Orthodox Jews join together to stand
up for the unborn. I am sure you have seen at least one video of a young man
standing there smiling and another man beating his drum. The young man,
Nicholas Sandmann, said that he smiled because he wanted the man beating his
drum to know that he was not going to become angry, intimidated or be provoked
into a larger confrontation. You’re also aware of the media response,
investigations, lawsuits and, as Paul Harvey always said, the rest of the
story.
Here’s my point. Many
people said that Nicholas Sandmann did not deserve what he got; others
disagreed. When we are on the receiving end of harsh criticism and hate speech,
we say that we don’t deserve it. You are right. We don’t deserve to be on the
receiving end of harsh criticism or hate speech. We deserve worse. We justly
deserve God’s present and eternal punishment. We said this in our Confession
earlier. Yet, Jesus Christ did nothing to deserve his punishment, but the Good
News is that he accepted his punishment in our place for the forgiveness of our
sins and the gift of eternal life. Because we are sinners who do not deserve
the grace of eternal life and the forgiveness of our sins, like the Christians
of 1st century Rome, we humbly do what God commands, deny ourselves,
take up our crosses and follow Christ by loving our enemies – those who try to
intimidate us with harsh criticism and hate speech – with brotherly affection.
Like Nicholas Sandmann, our disposition must communicate that we are not going
to become angry, intimidated or be provoked into a larger confrontation.
To do so, we must recognize like a little child that we are
all equally needy and dependent on God. If you are going to pick up your cross and
carry it behind Jesus, you will experience times and situations when you will
be beaten down by sin and evil and Satan and find yourself in dire need. You
will be like a dependent, needy child. … and when you see someone in that
situation, as a disciple, you must respond to his need.
When you see people who have wandered from the fold, have
you considered that you have the opportunity to bring them back with
forgiveness, love and understanding? When you know someone who is experiencing
a situation where he is beaten down by sin, evil and Satan, do you support him
with a compassionate word and a courageous act? When you are aware of someone
in dire need, do you offer to help her carry her cross? Are the least in our
current culture as valuable and dear to me as they are to God?
My friends, like the disciples, are there moments you are
seeking greatness even as you bear your cross and follow Christ? In short, when
is the last time you prayed to be humble – humble enough to love even your
enemies? If you are a parent, grandparent, teacher or coach, when did you last
encourage children to seek humility? This week, I ask you to pray for humility
and to love with courage, like to child embraced by our Lord, and when you do,
may the
peace of God that surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in
Christ Jesus. Amen.
[1]
Psalm 122.
[2] http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=humble
[3]
Jeffrey A. Gibbs, Matthew 11:2 – 20:34. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House
(2010), 888ff.
[4]
Psalm 127:3-5
[5]
Gibbs, 892
[6]
Ibid., 895.
[7]
Paul J. Achtemeier, Romans. Louisville: John Knox Press (1985), 203ff.
[8] https://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/data_stats/abortion.htm;
https://www.all.org/learn/abortion/abortion-statistics/; https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/planned-parenthood-annual-report-more-government-money-more-abortions-65786.
[9]
Achtemeier, 206
[10]
See Katherine Dyckman, Mary Garvin and Elizabeth Liebert, The Spiritual Exercises Reclaimed: Uncovering Liberating Possibilities for Women (New York: Paulist,
2001), 202–204.
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