Theological Truth: Gratitude and humility lead to Godly wisdom and Christ-like greatness.
Come Holy Spirit and kindle in us the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and we
shall be created, and you shall renew the face of the earth. Amen.
I recently had the pleasure of meeting a retired Roman Catholic priest who lives in the valley. Having spent some time talking with him, I knew him to be a wise and thoughtful person, deeply committed to contemplating and following Jesus’ teachings, so I wasn’t surprised when I saw the magnetic sign on his car. There on the front door—as big as the door—on a white background with black italicized lettering read: “Make America Grateful Again”.
I don’t know his political party affiliation or presidential candidate preference, but I doubt he’s either supporting or denigrating the more familiar version of that slogan.
To be honest, I think he’s above that … or better said … beyond that. “Make America Grateful Again” isn’t a political statement, it’s a theological reminder. It’s an invitation to follow Jesus into a different way of living, an alternative way of keeping score, an ongoing reversal of our self-centered worldview. His car is a rolling reminder that gratitude is the key to true greatness. Humility is the source of authentic worth.
These are not easy lessons for us to grasp. The disciples sure don’t get it. In today’s reading from Mark’s gospel, Jesus sets aside some private time with them to teach this counter-intuitive message that the way of the cross is the way of life; that the way of surrender is actually the way of victory; that the way of giving everything away leads to receiving more than we can ask or imagine. This is the second time the disciples are hearing Jesus predict his passion, death, and resurrection, and yet they still don’t quite get it. It’s too contradictory to what they have known. Like the robot character in Lost in Space, they respond, “Does not compute … does not compute.”
And so, like an overwhelmed teenager in a physics class, they are too lost to ask any questions; too afraid to register their confusion. Instead of honestly admitting, “Hold on, Jesus. We have no idea what you are talking about,” they do the same thing that we are likely to do, they distract themselves with more familiar ways of keeping
score: who is the greatest, who is the favorite, who is the most important. They double down on what’s familiar, even though the lesson is starting to break through.
Apparently, they are starting to understand about where true greatness comes from,
because when Jesus calls them out for it, they don’t want to admit their conversation.
Their silence reveals that they may not completely get it, but they’re starting to.
The lesson from Jesus, for them and for us, is, “Whoever wants to be first must be
last of all and servant of all (or minister to all).” To be on top, we must take our
place at the bottom. To get this message across, he embraces a child. He doesn’t
just put his hand on their dirty hair or rest it tentatively on their shoulder. He takes a
child into his arms and hugs them. By lavishly welcoming a child, Jesus is ministering to the last of all, the person of no value, no status, and seen (if seen at all) as having no standing or worth. Jesus not only ministers to the last and the least, but he also identifies with them. “When you welcome them, you welcome me,” he says.
Jesus is calling us to see ourselves and each other in the way that God sees us. In this way of seeing and being, there are no categories or levels of belovedness. There are no hierarchies of value. There is no score to be kept, only grace to be received. We are all children of God, beloved of God. This truth isn’t a humiliation to be suffered, but a new identity to be realized, a new paradigm to live by. But old paradigms die hard.
Going to confession opened my eyes to the wonders of life under grace. As you may remember, the BCP offers private confession with the understanding that “all may, none must, and some should” avail themselves of this sacramental rite. I was in the “some should” category, because I was having difficulty trusting God’s forgiveness for a youthful transgression. The notion lingered in my mind that without a perfect moral scorecard, or at least a much better-than-average virtue GPA, God was forever disappointed in me. And so, like those disciples on the road, I was afraid to draw near to God, assuming Jesus had more virtuous favorites. But with the help of the Holy Spirit and the gentleness of my spiritual advisor, I confessed my failure. His response shattered the old paradigm. He simply and gently and lovingly said, “Welcome to the human race.”
It turns out it’s not a race at all, not in the sense that there are winners and losers.
What a weight lifted! What new life to be enjoyed! No need for pecking orders to be established or defended; no status to attain or privileges to protect; no moral
perfection required or levels of acceptance. There’s only Jesus, with his wide-open
arms on the cross, saying, “Father forgive them.” Welcome to the human race and
God’s amazing grace.
The real race is to remind one another of us this shared reality and Gospel good news of God’s love, acceptance and mercy for all humanity, especially to those who are receiving messages to the contrary, the children of God and our brothers and sisters being told they are the last, the lost the least among us: the poor, the elderly, the immigrant, those struggling to be heard and to get by.
They are indeed great, because their greatness, just like ours, isn’t based on what we do, but who’s we are. This requires a humbling … not a humiliation; an admission that I, like everyone else, am a recipient of a grace I haven’t earned, a mercy I don’t deserve. Gospel humility means being grounded in this unshakable source of our worth, operating out of the ground of our being, serving all because of God’s love is for us all. The grace of God revealed in Christ is definitely Good News, but it is also humbling news … grounding us all in the greatness of God’s steadfast loving mercy.
Which is where gratitude comes in. Practicing gratitude is a spiritual discipline that keeps us humble. By looking for things to appreciate and taking concrete daily times and ways to say, “Thank you, Lord,” we are aware of, and attentive to, the many ways we have received God’s unmerited, unearned favor. The more grateful we are, the more grounded we remain in God’s determination of our worth rather than our calculation for ourselves or comparison with others.
So yes … please Lord, make us grateful again. Ground us in an awareness of the greatness of your abundant love. Make us great by serving all, loving all, and welcoming all.
Sermon by The Rev. AJ Heine at Trinity Episcopal Church, Staunton, Virginia, on September 22, 2024.
