Who Are You?

The Rev. Whitworth Ferguson III
Manassas Presbyterian Church
Manassas, Virginia
October 22, 2006
The 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Who Are You?
Job 38:1-11
Mark 10:35-45

The text we heard from the book of Job
comes from one of the most magnificent passages in the Bible.
We hear the voice of God –
the voice of God! --
a voice booming from the heavens,
a voice booming out from the whirlwind;
the voice, the voice of God,
seeming to come from everywhere.
The voice that explodes on that otherwise somber scene
is not a soothing voice,
not a sympathetic voice;
not a voice speaking from the heavens
to comfort Job in his misery and agony.
No, this is an angry voice,
the voice of a God who has listened to Job and his companions
drone on and on and on
and is now indignant.

And so God asks,
“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Did you determine its measurements?
Did you create the heavens?
Did you create the waters?
Did you create the mountains,
the rivers, the forests?
Did you create the whales and all the fish in the sea?
Did you create the birds, the elephants, the goats, the sheep?
Did you create the food you eat?
Did you create the food your own animals eat?
Did you create anything?
Tell me: surely you know.”

God is indignant after listening to Job and his companions.
They alternate between complaining
and try to convince one another
that each of them understands the mind of God
as they tried to figure out why poor Job’s life
had gone so sour.

God does not answer Job’s most basic question: “why?”
“Why did these things happen to me?
“God, this is unfair.
“I did nothing to deserve this.
“Why is this happening?”
God pays no attention to Job’s questions;
He reminds Job that Job is not God,
not even close to being God
and so there are many things in life
that Job will never understand,
never comprehend.
The book ends with Job conceding,
humbly saying to God,
“I have uttered what I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me,
which I did not know.” (Job 42:3)

We humans are forever flirting with the idea that
we ourselves are little gods,
just a notch below God himself.
James and John don’t flirt with the idea, however:
they get right to it and confront Jesus:
“make us your equals in your glory.”
Jesus doesn’t respond to them with the indignation
that marks God’s response to Job.
Jesus is as ever the patient teacher.
But he is clear with them:
“Do you know what you are asking for?
Do you think you can drink from the cup
that I will be called upon to drink?”
Did you hear the arrogance in the brothers’ answer?
“we are able.”
They will soon prove just how unable they are
when they join the rest of the disciples
in abandoning Jesus following his arrest.

What is it that causes us to be so arrogant,
to be so puffed up?
We read in the book of Psalms
“what are human beings that you are mindful of them, [O Lord],
mortals that you care for them?
Yet you have made them a little lower than God,
and crowned them with glory and honor.
You have given them dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under their feet…” (Psalm 8:4-6)

We read that and we think,
“Ah, power, power!
We are just a little lower than God
and we’ve been given dominion over the works of your hands.”
But in our arrogance, we fail to understand
that the word “dominion”
that we translate as the equivalent of power,
carries with it responsibility;
that God has not given us power;
God has given us responsibility.

Who are we?
Are we little gods?
Are we just a little lower than God himself,
than Christ himself?
Truly, this is beyond our ability to understand,
beyond our ability to comprehend.

What we know for sure is that we are
God’s beloved children.
Do you remember our text from two weeks ago:
“See what love the Father has given us
that we should be called the children of God.” (1 John 3:1)
We are children of God,
created in God’s image
bathed in God’s love,

But what Jesus teaches us
is that this doesn’t bring with it a life of wealth,
a life of privilege, and luxury,
a life that will be easy, without pain,
where the road will always rise up to meet us,
and the breeze will be ever so gently at our backs.
And, it doesn’t not bring with it
a place of honor.

No, our position as children of God
and disciples of Christ brings with it responsibility.
It puts demands on us and calls us to service.
There is no room in our lives for arrogance,
conceit,
a sense of self importance.
There is no room for that affliction that is so common
among followers of Christ: self-righteousness.
We are to walk humbly
and serve the Lord.

The great preacher Harry Emerson Fosdick put it this way,
“Christianity is not simply a message;
it is a deed to be done.”
In this simple sentence Fosdick reminds us
that Christian discipleship calls us to action,
calls us to service.
Fosdick observed, “Many a person’s religion
is emotional responsiveness
without practical response.”
We need the emotional response,
as we give ourselves completely to God through Christ,
but we also need the practical response
as we serve the Lord,
in the same way our Lord served.

We are to live the Gospel.
and to live the gospel means putting aside our own interests
as we seek to serve the Lord by serving others.
We are to live the Gospel by setting aside
our concerns about ourselves,
our egos, our worries, our anxieties,
our focus on success, security,
on things, on status.

James and John missed this point completely;
They thought that being a follower of Christ
assured them of a special privileges,
admittance to the VIP section,
seating in First Class.
Job missed the point completely, too.
He thought as long as he was faithful,
as long as he walked in God’s light
his life would be without problems or difficulties.

Jesus tells Peter that he will be the rock
on which he will build his church,
giving Peter great honor and glory.
But the rest of Peter’s days were arduous,
a constant struggle to share the gospel,
his life always in danger.
And it came to a violent end
when Peter was killed for his faith.
But nothing stopped Peter from serving.

As beloved children of God,
our place is not in seats of honor,
it is with the poor, the hungry,
the elderly, the outcasts of society
the single mother, the elderly man
It is with all God’s creatures,
including those over whom we “exercise dominion.”

Next week we will launch our Stewardship campaign.
The four weeks we have set aside for Stewardship
will provide us with an opportunity to celebrate the history
of this special congregation –
139 years, not as a privileged and exclusive community,
but 139 years of service to Christ,
service in the name of Christ,
service in response to God’s love in Christ.

The four-week Stewardship campaign will provide
each of us with time to reflect:
time to reflect on the ways we served over the past years:
ways in which you served
and ways in which you feel called to serve in the year ahead.

The month will provide you with a time to reflect on the question,
“who are you”;
And it will be a time for us as a community of faith to ask,
“who are we?”
Are we responding as faithfully as we should?
As faithfully as God wants us to respond
to the responsibilities imposed upon us
as disciples of Christ?

Stewardship is not just about making a financial commitment
to the church for the coming year, as important as that is.
It is about committing yourself,
your whole self,
to God’s work in this world.

Stewardship is about responsibility,
about response,
Stewardship is about serving
through our time, our talents, and our treasure.

Your pledge to our Stewardship campaign
will not result in your name on a plaque,
and an increased pledge won’t get you
an MPC coffee mug or Andrea Bocelli CD or DVD.
What it will do is help you to feel confident
that you are responding to Christ’s call to service,
God’s call to service.

Who are we that God should make so much of us?
Who are we that we should know God’s unwavering,
unconditional love through Christ?
Who are we that we should be called to faith?
Called to follow Christ?
We are each of us God’s beloved children,
and each of us Christ’s brother or sister;
But even as God’s beloved children
and Christ’s brothers and sisters,
none of us has been called to a place of privilege,
but of responsibility,
for we are each called by our Lord
not to be served,
but to serve.
AMEN