Last Sunday, I spoke about the Donatist controversy which caused so much damage to the Church in North Africa between the 4th and 8th Centuries and I said that, whilst the Donatist controversy itself had ended well over 1,000 years ago, the attitudes and beliefs that led to it are, unfortunately, very much still with us, and still causing problems for the Church today. But why should that be? Because anyone who has any understanding of the Gospel must know that there is no place in the heart and mind of any Christian, at least one worthy of that name, nor in the Church, for the kind hypocritical attitudes and beliefs that I spoke about.
If we think about the attitudes and beliefs that I spoke about, they can perhaps be put into two categories. A feeling that we’re superior to others in some way or ways, which often leads to a lack of respect for others and even bullying, could be said to result from an exaggerated sense of self-importance: in our own eyes, we think that we’re better than others. A feeling that we’re superior to others in terms of our faith, that we’re a better Christian than others, which often leads to judgementalism and a lack of love and forgiveness, could be said to result from an exaggerated sense of self-righteousness: we think we’re better than others in God’s eyes. But what makes these attitudes and beliefs so very damaging in and to the Church, is that they’re usually linked to a belief about reward. Those who think they’re better than others in worldly ways usually think that they deserve to be in charge of the practical side of Church business and should have the right to decide who else can be allowed to have a say in those matters, whilst those who think that they’re better Christians than others often think that they deserve to be seen as better Christians than others and to have the right tell others how to behave. And the result is that we have people in the Church who throw their weight around and keep others down, or even out, because they think that they deserve to be in charge.
In the Gospels, Jesus warns us time after time about these attitudes and beliefs. When the disciples argued about who was the greatest amongst them, Jesus told them,
“Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. For he who is least among all of you is the one who is great.”
And again, when mother of James and John approached him with a request that her sons should be allowed to sit at his right and left hands in his kingdom, Jesus denied their request and told them,
“You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
As disciples of Jesus are called to follow his example, these teachings of his should be ample evidence that no one in the Church is more important than anyone else, no matter who we are or how great we think we are: in fact none of us is any more important than the youngest child in the Church. And so there should no place in the hearts and minds of Christians, nor in the Church, for those feelings of superiority over others that lead to the problems we often find caused by those who think that they deserve to be in charge.
And neither are we any more important in God’s eyes than anyone else. That’s amply testified to in Jesus parable of the Pharisee and the tax-collector:
“Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Here again, we have ample evidence, in Jesus own words, that there is no place in the minds and hearts of his disciples, nor in the Church, for the kind of self-righteousness that leads to the judgementalism, and lack of forgiveness that causes so much trouble in the Church.
We mustn’t ever forget that, as disciples of Jesus, we’re called to love our neighbour as ourselves. And if we were on the receiving end of any of this kind of behaviour, we wouldn’t like it, so we shouldn’t do it to others. To do that can only be regarded as a lack of love and, no matter how good or important we think we are, if we don’t love others, we’re not very good, in God’s eyes. And if we do these things because we think we think we’re better than others and deserve some kind of reward, then we’re simply wasting our time. St Paul explains this so well in 1 Corinthians 13:
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
As Christians, the only reward we should have our hearts and minds set on, is the reward Jesus offered to all and promised to those who love him and keep his commandments, the reward of eternal life in heaven, and we should be doing all we can to gain that reward. The problem for us though is that, to some extent, we all crave tangible rewards, rewards we can have and enjoy now, and the reward Jesus offered and promised isn’t that kind of reward; it’s not a reward we can have and enjoy now, in this life, but one we can only receive and enjoy when this life has ended. But, as Jesus explains in this morning’s Gospel, we should be prepared to give up all for the sake of the great and precious reward he spoke about.
As Christians, we do have the Spiritual means to work for the reward Jesus offered and promised but, as human beings, we’re also creatures of flesh and blood who desire the tangible regards of this life, so we have a constant fight on our hands as these things battle for supremacy within us. But the reward Jesus offered and promised us is far more valuable than any reward we can ever hope for in this life, so that is the one we should be trying to obtain. It isn’t an easy reward to obtain, because to get it, means having to give up anything and everything that might prevent us from obtaining it, including the tangible rewards of this life that we crave so much. But, if we decide that the lure of earthly rewards is too great to resist, we run the risk of losing the great reward Jesus offers us. And if we allow ourselves to become so full of our own importance, in worldly or spiritual terms, or both, that we hurt others in our pursuit of the rewards of this life, we surely will lose the great reward on offer. A place in the kingdom of heaven might not be an easy reward to obtain, but the temporary rewards of this life pale into insignificance in comparison. So, let’s set our hearts and minds on obtaining that reward, and on getting rid of everything in our lives that might stop us from achieving it.
Amen.
You will find the Propers for the 17th Sunday of Ordinary Time (Trinity 7) here.
Parish Church of St Mark Chadderton 