Sermon Title: - “Philanthropist Olympics” – Pastor John Burk
Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
People who know a lot about children know that if you want to make them
comfortable, if you want them to feel at ease with you, you have to get down
to their level. You have to stoop down and look them in the eye. That
gesture more, than anything else, shows that you honor the world of children
and wish to be a part of it.
Bruno Bettleheim, a famous child psychologi st, wrote a wonderful book called “The Uses of Enchantment”, a psychoanalytic understanding of fairy tales.
Fairy tales work so well for kids because the kids are always the heroes.
For example: Jack, who is small and powerless, outwits the enormous giant
and saves his mother and himself from starvation. So often, children see
themselves as dwarves in a giant's world - victims, in a sense, of arbitrary
rules that they can't understand. Fairy tales empower them.
Bettleheim noticed that children's stories often feature the powerless
against the powerful. Cinderella is a victim of her mother's untimely death
and her father's marriage to a cruel and tyrannical step-mother who favors
her own children and puts down and abuses poor Cinderella. Yet Cinderella,
who is full of goodness and kindness, is befriended by beast, bird, and
rodent, and ultimately a powerful fairy godmother who helps her to become
what every, poor, exploited chi ld wants to be - a princess. Fairy tales are
children's dreams come true - they are wish fulfillment at a very
fundamental level.
Our lesson from Mark reminds us that in the world of the kingdom of God, the
values of this world and life will be turned upside-down. Greatness will be
measured, not in terms of how much money you have, how much power you have,
how much status and fame you have. No, in the Kingdom of God, other values
will triumph. How much are you willing to sacrifice? How much of yourself
are you willing to give away? How willing are you to humble yourself in
service to those in need so that the God of all might and power will exalt
you?
The disciples never seem to get it.
We were talking two weeks ago about sign language. The sign for null, for a
void, for a dummy are all the same. This sign. Duh! We laugh at Peter,
James, John, and the rest, but they are no different or dumber than we would
be. A part of us hates the Kingdom's values, a part of us cries out for
wealth, glory, admiration, and control. We don't understand why God would
leave the center of power and become vulnerable; become a baby, an infant, a
child, and a mere man - a person for our sake.
Yet God had to stoop down to our level too, and in stooping down, God exalts
us. God shows us, in Christ, what true divinity is.
God is love.
Power-abandoning, life-sacrificing, withholding-nothing love.
God is Christ, forgiving the sinners and reclaiming them from shame and
guilt, making them new and whole again.
God is Christ, gathering children and showing us that children are of equal
value to everyone else - even though their potential is latent and unproven.
God treasures them because they are his handiwork and loved for their own
sake.
Greatness in the Kingdom of heaven, in the Kingdom of God, has to do with
service and love. "Whoe ver wants to be first, must be last of all, and
servant of all."
I read in one of my pastor’s magazines a moving story of a doctor at a major
medical center in the mid west. He was head of surgery and extremely
successful. He had a six figure income, and all the material blessings
money could buy. He was a sought after speaker and addressed many surgical
conferences. To his amazement and everyone else’s, he left his practice to
take a position at a small hospital in Idaho – deep in the country. He
enjoyed the change of scene. He really enjoyed the lack of stress that came
with only working a forty hour week and having time for himself and his
family.
At times though, he got a hankering for his old life, his celebrated life.
He joined a church in his new town and as he got to know his Pastor they
spoke about it. “I feel like I’m cheating sometimes Pastor”, he said. “I
have lots of knowledge and talent to give. And I mis s the limelight and the
prestige that came with it. I sometimes feel diminished”.
His Pastor responded. “Well, perhaps in the world’s eyes you are
diminished. But those eyes don’t really matter. God gave you talent, skill
and you are still using it. You have every right to know peace and not keep
that 60 hour a week schedule. It is God who called you here, God who
justifies you. God who saves you. Don’t listen to the world. Didn’t Jesus
say his kingdom was not of this world?” It can be demonic to focus too much
on ourselves, yet all of us do it. Sometimes when I feel like you do now, I
do the “what will happen when I’m dead” reality check. Will the world go on
without me if I drop dead of a heart attack? Will this parish I serve
survive? I say this not to humiliate you, but God wants humble servants who
are always in awe of His divine power and who also trust in it.
Where have we seen the Kingdom come?
I suppose, l ike you, sometime ago I was astounded that Ted Turner, one of
the world's richest men, decided some time ago to give a billion dollars to
the United Nations - to be spent on programs that will benefit children -
the clearing of landmines, the providing of refugee services, and
immunizations against childhood diseases in the Third World.
We wonder, "Why did Ted Turner suddenly become so generous?"
Ted Turner is the king of a media empire which got its start in the British
tabloids. He is the one who started paying the millions of dollars for
pictures of Princess Diana and Princess Fergie in revealing poses. He is the
godfather of all paparazzi, and God is working on Ted Turner's conscience.
None of us lives in a moral vacuum and Mr. Turner is feeling the pinch of a
conscience that he has violated - his own. We all must live in the world we
help to create, and Mr. Turner now is wondering whether he has made the
world a bette r place or a worse one. All of us must one day stand before our
maker to give an accounting of our deeds and Mr. Turner is right to feel
fearful. Mr. Turner must look in the mirror as we all must and God is
working on him now.
Perhaps real good may come from Princess Diana's tragic and senseless death.
Ted Turner has called on Bill Gates, the head of Microsoft, to give
generously too. Gates is a mega billionaire. In the last two years, Mr.
Gates established the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation and plans to give
the bulk of his great fortune away in acts of charity and some to Africa’s
poorest.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if we had philanthropists' Olympics? Philanthropy
means the love of people - from the same root as Philadelphia. Wouldn't it
be incredible if we had a major meet to give away portions of our wealth to
feed the poor of the earth, or to finance AIDS research, or to fund
education for Third World kids?
Wouldn't it be incredible if we gave Oscars, not for the best supporting
actor, but for the most loving act of self-sacrifice given for the homeless?
Wouldn't we please God if we gave Emmys, Grammies, and Clios to those who
were most able to set aside self and live in child-like imitation of the
Savior who gathered all the powerless in his loving arms?
While we will always be tempted to ask “who is the greatest?” we will always
have a counter balance Jesus’ mandate to “sell all we have and give to the
poor.” We follow his example, he who gave away even life itself to achieve
life and freedom for us.
In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
Who We Are