First United Methodist Church
October 20th, 2024
Rev. Lauren Hall
Do Unto Others: Humility
I hope everybody had a great weekend and that you were able to find some time to relax in this wonderful weather. It’s time for us to check our pulse. Literally – you can find it here [neck], or you can find it here [wrist]. Did everyone find a pulse? All of our hearts are beating, right? It’s kind of a foolish question, isn’t it? If you are able to feel your own pulse, then your heart must be beating. But sometimes, even if you wake up every day and your heart is beating, what you do each day isn’t as healthy as it could be.
I remember a few years ago I thought I was doing all the right things in order to be healthy. I ate my vegetables, I exercised when I had time, and I avoided most things that would be considered “unhealthy.” But when I went to the doctor for a physical, I found out that I had high blood pressure, high cholesterol and high blood sugar. All of these things are treatable, and with a few lifestyle adjustments, I was able to get myself back on track.
I think this happens with a lot of us. We check in with our doctors at least once a year in order to manage our health and if a health issue is discovered, we take advantage of the advice that they give us.
So what would happen if we took some time every year to check our spiritual pulse? What would we find?
I ask this question because most of us have absolutely no idea how to assess ourselves in our spirituality.
Think about the way a physician examines you when you go in for a physical. Check your weight – do you regularly have so much on your plate that you don’t leave room for the Holy Spirit? Do you exercise regularly? Do you have time set aside daily to participate in means of grace such as prayer, fasting and Bible Study? How’s your eyesight? What do you see when you look into the face of your neighbor? What about your hearing? When you hear the Word of God do you hear it clearly or is it muffled by outside noises? Take a look at your checking account as if it were a journal recording the priorities in your life. And finally, ask yourself the following questions:
What do I like most about my church and the ministry I do? How do I make a difference in other people’s lives? What gifts do I bring to the church and how am I sharing them?
As you can see, there are many ways to check our spiritual health. This is an important thing to do periodically to make sure that our words and our actions truly reflect the sacrificial love that Jesus commands us to share with one another.
Today’s scriptures call us to a level of sacrificial living that most of us never truly experience. Our modern world is somewhat different than the ancient world, because it is possible to have wealth and be generous at the same time. When we read this passage and apply it to our modern lifestyles, we discover that although most of us seek opportunities in which we can redistribute or share our wealth by making donations to organizations and ministries that we identify as making a difference, these donations can be ongoing because our level of wealth can be maintained, making it possible to make donations over and over again. Our donations often [do] require a sacrifice, such as giving up a recreational vacation to participate in a mission trip, and making these sacrifices does change us, but they rarely change our status in society. Our children may have fewer American Girl dolls or X-box games because we decided to make a generous donation to Operation Christmas Child, but for the most part, being a Christian in the 21st Century doesn’t involve the same kind of sacrifices that the early Christians had to make. Many of the earliest followers of Jesus walked away from a life of wealth, security and status to pursue a life of poverty, persecution and possible martyrdom.
When James and John ask Jesus for preferred status in heaven, we have to realize that their question comes in part from a desire to know that their sacrifice was worth it. They loved Jesus, and they wanted to remain close to him. Deep within their hearts, they knew that Jesus was the Messiah, and even though they kind of understood what following Jesus meant, they had a flawed understanding of the Messiah’s mission.
Jesus’ response to James and John is one of the rare occasions when Jesus does not do what he was asked. As he often did before a healing encounter, he initially asks, “What do you want me to do for you?” In this instance, though, he tells the disciples that it’s not his place to grant such a favor. But he doesn’t stop there. Instead he presents a model of discipleship that challenges the believer to take a risk of uncertainty. There is no guaranteed success in following Jesus, at least not in the way the world measures it. Success, Jesus says, is achieved by drinking his cup and receiving his baptism.
The “cup” and the “baptism” Jesus mentions were later understood as references to the sacraments, and these were gifts of God’s grace by which people have a share in the destiny of Jesus. But the cup and the baptism are not symbols of achievement or tokens of successful discipleship; rather they are marks of our commitment to do as Jesus did.
Jesus challenges us to take a risk – not simply in what we give up, but in what we take on. We have been given the responsibility to introduce people to and nurture them in the Kingdom of God. We are to welcome the stranger, which may seem simple, but for most of us it is the most difficult task that we accept as Christians. It is the “cup” of the 21st Century, and as we drink it, we fully experience our baptism.
When I first moved to Indiana and walked through the doors of North Webster United Methodist Church, I was not prepared for the journey that I was about to undertake. At the time, I didn’t even know what that journey was going to be. But like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, I needed someone to point me in the right direction, to get me started and to support me along the way. If you think about it, this is exactly what the ministry of the church is all about. This is what Jesus did, and this is what Jesus calls us to do. Every emerging Christian needs the loving support of faithful Christians. We don’t know what an individual is going through when they walk through our doors, even if they have been a part of our church for their entire life. Matthew 25:35, although inserted within a parable, makes one of the most important directives in Christianity: “for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger, and you welcomed me.”
It’s easy to identify those who are hungry and thirsty. And we know what we need to do about it even though we are often slow to respond. But welcoming the stranger seems to be an obstacle that many of us struggle with on a daily basis. Part of our issue stems from our inability to trust one another, but part of it also comes from our inability to identify the stranger. Because sometimes the stranger is the individual sitting right next to us, the person we really don’t know because we have never truly opened our hearts to him or her. When we embody Christ’s ministry and allow it to define who we are, we can genuinely welcome each person who walks through these doors, because Christ’s love comes directly from our hearts.
When we check our spiritual health, we begin by evaluating where we are at this moment. Just as when you go to a physician for a physical, you receive an assessment of your health today, not what you want it to be, and certainly not what you were ten years ago. But the past and the future do factor into the assessment, so we can’t ignore these things. As you think about your spiritual health, how are you doing?
Over the next week, I’d like to challenge you to spend some time checking your spiritual health. How might you do this?
The gospels frequently call us to make sacrifices, and if we are to claim these scriptures as truth, there are times when we will have to filter our interactions through the lens of humility if we are to let go of our own positions in an attempt to fully understand one another.
Living in peace with one another doesn’t require us to agree all the time, but it does challenge us to cultivate the qualities that equip us to live in unity regardless of agreement. What we put into the world becomes part of the ongoing creation of the world. Are we here to cultivate hatred and division, or joy and justice? Let us pray:
Invitation to Discipleship:
One of the things I love most about the church is that I don’t have to have any special talent just to belong. Christ will accept me just as I am. All I need to do is make a commitment to serve in Christ’s name and have a good pulse. As you go out into the community this week, take a moment to check your spiritual pulse and approach one another with humility, gentleness and patience. Go in peace.
