Saint Luke's Lutheran Church

Do you have a "most embarrassing moment" - a time when you did something or failed to do something and got caught with your proverbial pants down? Most of us do. I can think of a couple of embarrassing moments, but none that I want to share so publicly. Remember, these sermons go on our web site for the whole world to see! So, instead, let me tell you about one of Dan Rather's embarrassing moments. He had flown down to Florida late one night because he was scheduled to speak early the next day. As he came down the elevator in the morning, ready to face several thousand people, he was thinking about his speech and was in no mood to be the center of attention. But in the elevator, he felt that everyone was looking at him. "Didn't these people's mothers teach them that it's rude to stare?" he thought to himself. Thankfully, the elevator soon reached the lobby, and as it emptied out, a woman gently took hold of his sleeve. "Mr. Rather," she said quietly, "I don't mean to intrude or make you feel embarrassed, but your fly is unzipped and part of your shirt-tail is sticking out about four inches." Then she smiled and walked off the elevator, leaving Rather to tidy up and compose himself.

In our Gospel reading for today, Jesus and his disciples were on their way to Jerusalem. As they walked along, his disciples got into a lively, if not heated discussion, about who was the greatest - the best disciple, the most important one among them. When they got to the house where they would be staying, Jesus asked them what they had been arguing about. But they kept quiet. They were embarrassed - and rightly so.

Greatness in the kingdom of God is determined much differently than it is in the world. Forbes just published its list of the 400 wealthiest people in America. When Forbes asks, "What's are you worth?" they don't mean, "How valuable is you to your church or your community." They don't mean, "How moral a life are you living?" They don't mean, "How good a parent have you been?" They mean merely, "How much money do you have?" And to make their list of 400, you have to have at least $600 million. When Jesus thinks about what someone is "worth," he thinks about more than money. While the world measures greatness by how much you have, Jesus measures greatness by how much you give. The world measures greatness by how successful you are; Jesus measures greatness by how faithful you are. The world measures greatness by how much power, prestige, or popularity you have; Jesus measures greatness by how much you love and by how much you serve others. No wonder the disciples were embarrassed. They were thinking the way of the world - not the way Jesus had taught them. Jesus comes at life with a much different value system.

Values is a popular and important issue in our society today. We hear a lot about "traditional values" and "American values," and "community values," and especially "family values." What we value is supposed to be what drives us, what shapes us, what determines how we live our lives and how we spend our time. The problem is that there is often a difference between what we say is valuable and important to us and what is reflected in our life style. It's not that we reject our stated values entirely, but more often that we put our values on hold.

In our skit this morning, Larry's immediate priority was the football game. That took precedence over his wife, their friends, even God. Everything else, including eternity, could wait until halftime. Larry is a full-fledged member of the "now generation." This generation, to which most of us also belong, is focused on the short-term rather than the long-term. We travel in the fast lane, tasting life the way we eat our food - grabbing a little here and there, with a schedule that lacks routine and leaves little time to sit back and enjoy much of anything. In this now generation, religion does not have a high priority. Spiritual things are seldom very pressing - giving us the impression that we can put them off until some time later.

There are some problems with this approach to life. In his book Unconditional Love, John Powell writes about a student he had in one of this theology classes at Loyola University. Tommy turned out to be the "atheist in residence." He did not believe in God and at the end of the class, he asked his professor, "Do you think I'll ever find God?' To which Power replied, "No, I don't think you will ever find God, but I think that God will find you!"

Tommy shrugged his shoulders and left. A few years later Tommy walked into Prof. Powell's office. His body was wasted by cancer and his long hair had all fallen out from the chemotherapy. He said he only had a few weeks to live.

"Can you talk about it?" Powell asked.

"Sure, what would you like to know?" he replied.

"What's it like to be only twenty four and dying?"

"Well, it could be worse."

"Like what?"

"Well, like being fifty and having no values or ideals, like being fifty having never really lived life or loved God or discovered what is truly important. After they told me that I didn't have long to live, I remembered about something you had said in class: 'The essential sadness is to go through life without loving. But it would be almost equally sad to leave this world without ever telling those you loved that you had loved them.' So, I began with the hardest one, my Dad.

"He was reading the newspaper when I approached him. 'Dad, I need to talk with you.' 'Well, talk,' he said without lowering the paper. 'I mean . . . it's really important.'

"The newspaper came down three slow inches. 'What is it?'

"'Dad, I love you. I just wanted you to know that.'

"The newspaper fluttered to the floor. Then my father did two things I could never remember him doing before. He cried and he hugged me. We talked late into the night, even though he had to go to work in the morning.

"It was easier with my mother and little brother. They cried with me, too, and we hugged each other and started saying real nice things to each other. We shared things we had been keeping secret for so many years.

"That's when I turned around and God was there. You were right. He found me. He found me even when I wasn't looking for him."

The story of Tommy illustrates two things. First of all, it is dangerous to postpone the really important things in life, because we may not have as much time as we think we have. Secondly, religion is not just about where you will spend eternity; it's also about now. It's about life, and it's about love - the love of a God who gave his life on the cross so that we might have life now and so that we might live with him for all eternity. Jesus' path to greatness was marked by suffering and sacrifice - things which the world seldom associates with greatness. But Jesus says that true greatness - greatness in the kingdom of God is always marked by such humble service.

Of course, the cross was not the end of the story. The Jesus who died on that cross almost two thousand years ago also rose from the dead. He is alive - here and now. He continues to come into our world seeking us out, offering us God's love and forgiveness. Once Jesus finds us, he calls us to greatness - greatness in the kingdom of God. Once Jesus claims us, he makes us great by teaching us how to love - how to love God and how to love one another. He makes us great by teaching us how to live - how to live by serving God and by serving others. May you too be great in the kingdom of God. Amen.