Proper 23, Year B (BCP) sermon

BECOMING GOD’S HOUSE, ONE BRICK AT A TIME

[Amos 5:6-7,10-15]
[Hebrews 3:1-6]
[Mark 10:17-27(28-31)]
http://www.io.com/~kellywp/YearB/Pentecost/BProp23.html

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Good morning. I’m pleased to have the chance to come and worship with you again this Sunday morning. For those of you who didn’t meet me on my previous visit, I’m Andrew Benko, and this is my second chance to come to All Saints, Farmington, to come to church with you. Or perhaps I should say, “to come be church with you,” rather than “come to church with you”—because it’s really we who are church, not this or that building. If these walls and this roof, and all the beautiful windows all around us should disappear, all of us gathered here would still be church.

This week’s readings have got me thinking about houses. All of these readings mention houses in some way or another: how they are built, how to be faithful within them or as a part of them, how to leave or find them. We hear about the “houses of hewn stone” in Amos; Moses and Jesus’ different role in the “House of God” in Hebrews; and Jesus promise that those who leave house or household to for the sake of the Gospel will receive a hundredfold what they have left—houses and household and fields.

And as we gather here together to hear and reflect on these readings, we are not just in the House of God. As the author of Hebrews tells us, we are the House of God.

So, let’s take a closer look at the image of “house” that we find in these three readings:

In the reading from Amos, we hear the God condemn those who have built for themselves fine houses – “Houses of hewn stone” – by the oppression of others. The prophet says, “Therefore, because you trample on the poor and take from them levies of grain, you have built houses of hewn stone, but you shall not live in them.” This is what’s called a futility curse: saying ‘you have done so-and-so, but you won’t enjoy the fruits of it.’ In this case, God tells those who have built up fine mansions for themselves by defrauding the poor won’t get to enjoy their expensive dwellings for long. This isn’t the kind of building God wants us spend our energy on.

In the next reading, we see Hebrews' characteristic rhetoric of one-upsmanship in play: As usual, Jesus is somehow more-than or greater-than the old dispensation or figure. (This sort of argument runs through the entire letter to the Hebrews.)

- Moses was faithful in all of God's house as a servant
- but Jesus was faithful over God's house as a son

A servant or seneschal is faithful by executing the will of the householder-- by following orders. Moses was faithful in this way, following the commands given by God "to testify to the things that would be spoken later." So, like a good servant, Moses did as his master ordered.

But the author tells us that we are not just servants in the House of God—we are the House of God! We are called not just to build up or take care of this House—we are called to be it!

How is a house faithful? Perhaps just by standing firm, by being a good, structurally-sound house. A good house doesn’t crumble or fall down; it is well-made and unshakeable. The author tells us that "we are God's house if we hold firm to the confidence and the pride that belong to hope." A friend of mine, somewhat more knowledgeable of Greek than I, tells me that this could read: "if we hold firm the boldness and boasting that belong to hope." That is, if we are not prideful in ourselves, but boast in the hope that we have-- in God. If we are all bricks in this house, our confidence/hope in God is the mortar that glues us together into the House of God.

Do you see how exciting, and how challenging, this call is? If we are ourselves the House of God, it matters very much what kind of people we are. Our sins and failings aren’t just a private matter between us and God—they are broken windows, leaky roofs, missing bricks, and graffiti on the House of God. Now, none of us would dare throw a brick through the stain-glassed windows, or spraypaint obscenities on the walls of All Saints. But no matter how we may decorate the sanctuary with flowers or polish the altar silver, if we are not good bricks, the House of God is a pretty shabby place.

In today’s Gospel reading, the rich young man asks Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. Now, this man has been a pious, observant Jew all his life. We learn that he has kept all the commandments that Jesus lists from the Torah from his childhood. The Gospel says that Jesus looks at him and “loves him.”

Maybe that’s all this man really wants. Perhaps the man just wants affirmation. After all, he's kept the law. Shouldn't Jesus just tell him, "Well, it looks like you've got eternal life pretty much in hand; keep it up." Instead he gets a challenge.

It’s a pretty universal, human desire: we all want the approval of those we love and admire. We all want to hear those words, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant." We want to know we've pleased God. Just like a child wants praise from its parents, like a dog wants a pat on the head from its owner, we want to know God is happy with us.

But be careful what you ask for:
If you ask God, "aren't I a good boy (or girl)?"
You may just receive a challenge:
"You're off to a good start,
but here's what you need to change."

Maybe, with this teaching, Jesus helps illustrate how "no one is good but God alone." This young man certainly is on the way to "good-ness" -- he keeps the commandments Jesus mentions, and he clearly wants to be good-- but he falls short. There is a certain point in his growth towards goodness which he cannot get past, at least not without God's help.

For this young man, the thing holding him back most dramatically from following God is his wealth. This isn’t just about psychology: It’s not just that the man is “overly attached” to his money, that it is his “special sin.” Remember, in the Amos reading, God is concerned not about how wealth is “morally corrosive” to the wealthy, but how wealth is unjust because it exists side-by-side with poverty. I think sometimes we read this passage as if it need not apply to us, as if we need not listen to Jesus’ words to the young man. It is as if we are eavesdropping on a matter that does not concern us. But the Gospels are for us, now, today, here. Even the relatively poor, those who are struggling to get by in the United States, average among the top 3% of income of the world.

*****HERE'S A LITTLE GEM FROM THE SHEPHERD OF HERMAS,
an early Christian work. In a vision, Hermas is shown a great tower being built by angels, representing the Church. (See above for the Hebrews reading, also using the image of us being built into God's House.) Hermas asks his guide:************************ ************
“But who are these, Lady, that are white and round, and yet do not fit into the building of the tower?” She answered and said “How long will you be foolish and stupid, and continue every kind of question and understand nothing? These are those who have faith indeed, but they also have the riches of the world. When, therefore, tribulation comes, on account of their riches and business they deny the Lord.” I answered and said to her, “When, then, will they be useful to the building, Lady?” “When the riches that now seduce them have been circumscribed, then they will be of use to God. For as a round stone cannot become square unless portions are cut off and cast away, so also those who are rich cannot be useful to the Lord unless their riches be cut down.”*****************************************

You see, as the living bricks and walls and supports of God’s House, it’s not just enough to be “pretty good;” we need to be actually good—The kind of Good that only God is. If that sounds hard, remember that Jesus tells his disciples in another place: “Therefor be perfect, as your Father in Heaven is perfect.” Let’s dwell on the difficulty of this charge for a moment. “Be perfect.” That’s truly and actually perfect, God-like perfect.

It’s as if we’re camels who have been told to squeeze through the eye of a needle. Even if we manage to get rid of that hump, how can we ever fit?

Sounds impossible, right? Well, it is, in a way: “For human beings, it is impossible, but not for God: For God, all things are possible.”

That’s where I want to leave us this morning: hearing clearly the loving challenge, the invitation, of God, to put down our wealth, our sin, and our brokenness, and be the House of God.

This challenge isn’t just difficult, it’s exciting: God desires us for his Holy Habitation. God loves us, as Jesus loved the young man, even in our lack, and invites us to be the very House of God.

What an amazing thing.