This sermont was given by Fr. Gene R. Tucker at Trinity Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois on Sunday, January 13, 2013.
“DO
AS I SAY, AND DO AS I DO”
(Homily text: Luke 3: 15 – 17, 21 – 22)
Every year, as the old year draws to
a close, some group or another comes out with a list of words or phrases that
ought to be off-limits. One phrase that
got the boot at the end of last year was “kick the can down the road”. (There were many others, which I can’t recall
at the moment.)
I’ve come up with my own list of
words or phrases that either ought to be banned completely, or which have come
to be so misused that they conjure up nothing but suspicion. These words and phrases come from watching
cable television, and from logging onto my email account.
Taking those words and phrases that
appear when logging onto an email account, here is my list, all of which I’ve
seen in the past week:
- “Shocking discovery”
- “Shocking results”
- “New rule in __________ allows residents to get half price insurance.”
- “Men are finding unlikely testosterone boost.”
- “One weird loophole…”
- “Date women in
____________....”
- Notice the use of the words “shocking” and “weird”. I might add that “easy” is also often used;
- That “new rule in ______” can also be found in other places, depending on where you log on…for example, when we were back east visiting family, I found that they, too, had access to this “new rule”;
- The same can be said about dating all those women whose photos appeared on that internet ad…funny that these very same women live
in my area, and back east, too….maybe the photos of these women are all of
identical twins.
- "Historic price”
- “Amazing products”
- “Not sold in stores”
- “Only $19.95, plus shipping and handling”
- “But wait, there’s more….”
- “If you order today,
we’ll double the order….”
They prompt us to say, “This is too
good to be true.”
They prompt us to remember P. T.
Barnum’s famous statement, “A fool and his money are soon parted.”
They prompt us to say that what’s
being offered lacks integrity.
We live in a world that lacks
integrity. We live in a world, a postmodern
world, where people are very suspicious of nearly everything that’s outside
their own private sphere of knowledge and authority…Consequently, people in our
society have become very suspicious of government, of corporations, of
institutions, of leaders.
And where does this suspicious
attitude place us when we consider Jesus Christ?
Many outside the faith think that
Jesus Christ was merely a charismatic teacher and leader, whose teaching and
work spawned a movement of devoted followers.
(Sadly, many who call themselves Christians also believe this about
Jesus Christ, but that’s all they believe about Him.)
What basis do we have to be sure
that Jesus Christ has integrity?
After all, what we’re asking is
this: “Is Jesus Christ trustworthy? Is He worth following, worth making the Lord
of my life?”
What evidence would there be to
assure us that Jesus Christ is integrity
personified?
In a search for answer to this
question, let’s turn our attention to the gospel text before us today. The first three gospels (Matthew, Mark and
Luke) all recount Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist in the Jordan River. For early Christian believers, this event
must have been very, very important, perhaps even central to their ability to
trust Jesus and to follow Him completely.
Moreover, John tells us that Jesus’ disciples were baptizing people, as
well (see John 4: 1 – 2).
Now let’s recall that John the
Baptist’s baptism was a baptism for the repentance of sins.
But Jesus was without sin (see
Hebrews 4: 15). John seems to have
sensed Jesus’ sinless character as he said when Jesus came and asked John to
baptize Him, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” (Matthew 3:
14)
So, if Jesus is without sin, why
then did He ask John to baptize Him?
I think the answer is that the Lord
Jesus Christ always leads by example. As
we look at His sinless life, we see evidence of this integration of His words and His actions throughout His earthly
ministry.
Of course, this integration begins with His coming among us as one of us, fully
human and yet fully divine. This is His
incarnation, His “taking on of our humanity”.
In so doing, Jesus Christ sets aside – to some extent - the rights and
the powers of His oneness with God the Father, the rights and dignity that
belong to Him because He is God, one with the Father.
Now, we see evidence of His oneness
with the Father and the Holy Spirit in His baptism as the Holy Spirit descends
in the form of a dove, and the voice is heard that says, “You are my beloved
Son….with you I am well pleased.” Here
is the fullness of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, true integrity of the Godhead.
As the Lord’s life unfolds, His
integrity is seen most clearly in His suffering and death. Here, He allows Himself to be subjected the
deepest depths of human suffering, even to the point of death on a cross. His inseparable bond with all human suffering
is complete.
Returning to the opening images we
began with, we are reminded that what the words and phrases that we experience
in the ads we encounter on television, the internet and elsewhere all carry the
potential for a lack of integrity,
and therefore, a lack of trustworthiness.
Put another way, the words that are
used can’t be trusted to match up to the reality of whatever it is that’s being
offered for sale.
Our Lord Jesus Christ, by contrast,
is the personification of the unity, the integrity, of words and deeds.
As people come to trust Him in
faith, lives are changed and are marked with an indelible character that Jesus
Christ alone is able to supply.
His invitation to all who come to
faith is: “Follow me, do as I say, and
do as I do.”
Thanks be to God!
AMEN.
