Who's Up First?

Sermon: Joshua 3:7-17, Matthew 23:1-12
St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, Oct. 30, 2011

When I was a kid growing up in small town America in the 40’s we used to have pickup baseball games in the big yard across the street from my house. It was a big deal as to who got to bat first and we would compete to see who got to. We didn’t realize at the time that it was more prestigious to bat third or even fourth, the cleanup spot. Those are the positions the Miguel Cabreras and the Albert Pujols of the world bat. Actually, I don’t think it was so much about the prestige of being first as it was the idea that if you batted first in the lineup you would get to bat more often. Little boys are competitive, big boys are competitive and many girls are competitive, as well. That’s not necessarily bad, but it’s just that sometimes the competitiveness is self-defeating, especially when you are actually competing against the members of your own team to see who is best in a sport that is a team sport, like baseball. Sometimes we can forget that we need the other members of the team in order to win.

Much is made of how many games a pitcher wins in one season, like Justin Verlander this season, who won 24, but Justin wouldn’t have won a single game if his team didn’t get at least one run for him. Well, they say for that reason maybe the ERA, the earned run average, is a better evaluation of a pitcher’s performance. Yes, but the ERA depends partly on how well the other members of your team play on defense behind you.

This meandering does relate to today’s Gospel, in case you’re wondering. Jesus is once again castigating the Pharisees for their arrogance. Now the Pharisees were not bad people. They were law-abiding to the point of ridiculousness. They had performed and were performing an important role for the Jewish nation. Their emphasis on the law of Moses provided the people with a clear and proud identity in opposition to the other nations around them, especially their Roman conquerors. But… they tended to take themselves too seriously, believing their press clippings,as it were, and looking down on the other members of society who were perhaps not so well educated in the law or so law-abiding. They didn’t see themselves as team players, who needed the other people. That’s why Jesus keeps stressing, as he does in today’s Gospel, “All who exalt themselves will be humbled and all who humble themselves will be exalted.”

I believe the true team players are the ones who step up and do what they are called to do without having to bask in the glory or live to see the results of their efforts. Moses was one such. Today’s reading from the Book of Joshua is a continuation of last Sunday’s reading from the Book of Deuteronomy. Last Sunday God takes Moses to a high mountain; He does that a lot. He shows him the Promised Land that had been the goal of the 40 years’ journey in the desert. Because Moses had doubted God at one point he was not to be allowed to enter the Promised Land, but he sees it all. Then he dies, having fulfilled the work he was called to do. It is Joshua his lieutenant who will get the glory. In today’s reading they cross the Jordan into Canaan. Soon Joshua will fit the battle of Jericho and the walls come tumbling down. Joshua takes them home.

Isn’t it interesting that the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, the great leader, for a time, of the American Civil Rights Movement, used the Moses imagery in his final speech. On April 3, 1968, in Memphis Tenn. He spoke the following words:

“Well, I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn’t matter with me now. Because I’ve been to the mountain top and I don’t mind. Like anybody I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over and I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you but I want you to know tonight that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land. And I’m happy tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.”

He was assassinated the next day and the gauntlet was passed to others. Many other people were involved, had given and would give their lives. He stepped forward at a time when he was needed and rather reluctantly, just as Moses had asked out when God called him. In both cases the movements went on to achieve their goals, at least partially. Dr. King did not get to see the passage of the Civil Rights and Voting acts, just as Moses did not see the building of the Temple in Jerusalem. They stepped up, did their part, and moved on, as team players do. Oh, there are monuments to them. Michelangelo chiseled a famous statue of Moses which you can see in a church in Rome. And a new monument has been erected in Washington D.C. to Dr. King. But the real monuments are the cause of freedom and equality which they championed, the establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth.

The question for us: are we ready and willing to step up and do our part to forward the Kingdom? Are we team players, not needing to bat first and get the glory, knowing that HE accomplishes so much more if WE work together.