FEAR AND TREMBLING

Something I found while scanning sermons back into my computer. From the 18th Sunday after Pentecost, 1996:

TEXT: Exodus 17:1-7 Philippians 2: 1-13 Matthew 21 :23-32

I'm going to tell you something you may not understand. And then I will try to explain it to you. It comes directly from the scriptures we read this morning; but you have to look carefully to find it there. Listen. What I have to tell you is this: "The price of glory is the universal. " That is the coin you pay in. That is the price you pay. It is "A condition of complete simplicity/Costing not less than everything." Now, I will try to explain to you what I mean.

The Pharisees are getting a bit suspicious of Jesus. They really want to know who he thinks he is, why he thinks he can say the things he does. So they ask him. And he refuses to answer, until they put themselves on a level playing field with him. Their authority is presumed. By them. But Jesus asks them for their authority. And in this episode, it appears that their authority comes from the people, and not God. Because they worry about how the people will hear their answer. Not God.

There people, here, are the universal. They are our world. Our ethics, our standards, our right and wrong; for us, these things come as much from the people as from God. 150 years ago, slavery was not universally considered wrong. Even the Bible does not condemn it. The Hebrews, who had been slaves, held slaves. Paul returned a slave to his master; we have the
letter in our Bible. But today, world-wide, we consider slavery so evil that it is a sin. In the universal, the ethical, the world we all live in, slavery is wrong. Slavery is evil. Slavery is a sin. By what authority do we think so? The authority of the ethical, which is to say the people. The world.

You will think: But our ethics come from God. Indeed they do. And God's ethic is eternal, and unchanged, and unchanging. But the ethical, is where we agree on what God's ethic requires. "What does the Lord require of you, " the prophet Amos asks, "but to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God." The ethical, the universal, is where we daily decide what justice is. The ethical is the good; but it is not God.

So the Pharisees were not evil. They became the modem rabbis of Judaism. They were good teachers, and good people. They were not evil; but they were not God. And their understanding of God's will was based on the ethical, the universal, the people, rather than God.

"The price of glory is the universal." The Pharisees, here, in Matthew's gospel, cling to the universal. They will not give it up to attain a place before God. They care too much about who they are in relation to the people who think John was a prophet, rather than who they are before God.

And is that so unreasonable? Look at what happened to Jesus, according to Paul. It's a hymn, you can almost sing it: "He was in the form of God; yet he laid no claim to equality with God, but made himself nothing, assuming the form of a slave. Bearing the human likeness, sharing the human lot, he humbled himself, and was obedient, even to the point of death, death on a cross!" (Philippians 2:6-8, REB) There is nothing lower than a slave. Even sheep and cattle are better cared for, because the slave takes care of them. Who takes care of the slave? It isn't a question of freedom. If you are a slave, you are someone else's property. And if I own a slave, why should I treat him any better than I treat my blue jeans? After all, his only purpose is to work. We who have never known slavery think we would have to learn to be cruel to a slave; but it's easy. We could all do it. There is nothing lower than a slave.

But Jesus is our model; Jesus is our teacher, the one who shows us the way. Is the way, then, through slavery? No, the way is through the universal; the way is through payment of the universal, which leads to glory. The price of salvation is everything. The price of glory is the universal itself.

Consider what Paul is saying about Jesus. He was obedient, even to the point of death. But obedient to who? Certainly not to the universal, the ethical. Had he obeyed the ethical, he would have listened to the Pharisees and tried to persuade them. He would have engaged them in a discussion, tried to work out differences, tried to resolve the conflicts, perhaps show them the error of their ways. Instead, he tries to trap them. He knows what they are about, and he refuses to get involved. Because he is arrogant? No; because they are. Obeying God does not raise you above the ethical, the universal, the opinions of people. It puts you below them. They do not understand. They cannot grasp the divine, see the glory. It is arrogant to think you have God's glory through the approval of the people. It is the Pharisees who are arrogant, thinking they know what God wants because they know what the people believe. Jesus is trying to level the playing field; he is testing their faith, their belief. He wants to see if they, too, will pay the price for glory.

The universal is everything you know. The universal is everything you understand. Like the fish in water, it is the water you swim in. The power of the universal is that it contains not less than everything. And to attain glory, you must submit to the universal, the ethical, be condemned by it for obedience to God, and accept the judgment on you. Like a slave. "You must work out your own salvation in fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you, inspiring both the will and the deed, for his own chosen purpose." (Philippians 2:12b-13, REB)

Ahh, but glory and what is glory? Glory is the presence of God, and the price of glory paid allows you to stand in the presence of God, to address God familiarly, to know the glory of God. It is a condition of complete simplicity/costing not less than everything." It costs Moses his comfortable life as an Egyptian. He ended his days wandering in the wilderness of Sinai. It cost Abraham his home among the Chaldees. He ended his days as an old man with only one son to become the mighty nation God had promised. It cost Paul his easy life as a Pharisee; he wandered the Roman empire as a tent~maker, picking up hospitality and establishing churches among strangers who would listen to him. But how many of these things does the world value? How many of these accomplishments does the universal count good? Is it ethical to leave your home and take your family to a place you've never heard of, and have no knowledge of! Is it ethical to spend your life relying on the kindness of strangers? The price of glory is the ethical, the universal, the world.

The price of glory is slavery, is submission. "You must work out your own salvation in fear and trembling." Fear and trembling because it is God at work in you, and because the world opposes you. Glory will not take you out of the world, but return you to it. It made Moses a leader; it made Paul an apostle. "The price of glory is the universal." And it is a matter of deeds, not words. "Which of these sons did what his father wanted?" The one who set aside his own needs, and followed his father's wishes. Even our needs are determined by the ethical; unless we listen first to God. Amen.