Bragging Rights
Sermon
Sermons On The Second Reading
Series I, Cycle A
A mouse was once riding on the back of an elephant, and the pair went across a rickety bridge. As might be expected, the bridge shook and rattled. When the duo had successfully navigated the bridge, the mouse exclaimed, "My, oh my, we certainly made that bridge shake, didn't we?"
It is all too common an experience to meet people who sound as if they are somehow related to that mouse. People who brag loudly about their successes, their skills, the ways they are crucial to the history of the world, or at least to their own little part of it, even when everyone who knows them suspects rather strongly that these people are really much less than they claim to be.
And even though we would like to think that other people are the ones who act that way, if the truth is told, all of us are certainly capable of acting that way at times. In fact, even Paul is capable of bragging this way. Paul begins by reminding his readers that if anyone should ever feel that they are guaranteed salvation, at least according to everything a person can do, the person who should feel most secure is Paul.
As he lists all his qualifications, all his reasons to brag, it sounds as if he had everything possible going for him. "Circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless."
Paul establishes his credentials as a Jew, one of God's chosen people, and then goes even farther. As a Pharisee, Paul was not only aware of the requirements of the law, he was dedicated to carrying out every rule. As a persecutor of the followers of Christ, he was zealous to defend the Jewish faith against the heretical sect of Christians. Finally, as one who would be judged by the requirements of the law, Paul regarded himself as completely and totally blameless under those rules. Sounds pretty good, at least if you're Paul.
But there are two problems with bragging like this. First, no matter how high an opinion we might have of ourselves, it is usually true that there are some areas where we fall short. Even Paul might be convinced that he falls short in some ways, and in other places he does acknowledge that he falls far short in many ways. In fact, here Paul writes this bragging list mostly for effect, not really to brag about how wonderful he is.
But the second problem is more serious than merely our tendency to overlook some of our personal faults and flaws. When we brag in this way, or when Paul brags in this way, or even when that mouse brags in this way, we build ourselves up by comparing ourselves to other people. The other people inevitably end up somehow less than the people doing the bragging.
Bragging always involves elevating ourselves by pushing other people down. Bragging is an exclusive sort of thing, where comparisons are made, invariably to someone else's detriment. Bragging is destructive, poisoning personal relations and threatening peaceful relations in groups of people. For all these reasons bragging is something Paul actually discourages.
Here, Paul brags simply to show how much he seemed to have to brag about. After all, in his situation, he might have appeared to have it made. He had done everything right, so he was assured that he was the most privileged of God's chosen people. And yet, Paul quickly points out what the value of these things he has been bragging about really is. As he puts it, "Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ."
All that good stuff he had been so proud of, all the things he had worked so hard to accomplish, the sum total of his life suddenly became a complete loss. The effect of this admission by Paul should be startling. It isn't often that a person who has so much to brag about, someone who is as proud as Paul was, comes to admit that everything he has recently bragged about is meaningless to him. But Paul does acknowledge that all those things are meaningless for him because of Jesus.
Because he knows Christ, Paul realized all the things that people have to brag about are really meaningless. What matters is the simple fact that he now knows Christ. Everything else has lost meaning.
Having established this fact, Paul begins to brag once again. It seems bragging is a habit that is hard to break. But now Paul brags not about his accomplishments for Christ, but about the fact that he has lost everything, and in fact regards everything of this world as rubbish. The only thing that really matters to Paul is his relationship with Christ.
It is this relationship that is the complete opposite of bragging. Bragging shuts people out, diminishes others, and draws exclusive circles in our world. It diminishes others when we try to brag about ourselves and our accomplishments.
The opposite happens in this relationship with Christ that Paul has, and that we share with him, a relationship that opens us up to other people. Rather than diminishing, this relationship with Christ helps us to lift up others, to praise their actions, and to think of others as better than we are. Rather than excluding others, this relationship with Christ invites others to join with us and share in the love of God as we have come to know it through Christ.
Through all of this, we might expect Paul to show a little pride, a little bit of bragging about how he has already established this relationship, and enjoyed the benefits of it such as resurrection and eternal life. We might expect it, but Paul surprises us once again when he confesses that he has not yet obtained the benefits or even reached the goal of a complete relationship with Christ.
Instead, he confesses that he is still working on it. From Christ's side of the relationship, Paul has already been completely accepted and made Christ's own. But, on his side of the relationship, Paul is still working on it, still trying hard to accept the complete relationship. But even Paul finds this to be something he is still working on.
For all our efforts to be perfect, to accomplish things, to be successful, Paul stands as a reminder to us that it isn't quite that simple when we speak of our relationship with Christ. Paul has spent years working on his relationship, trying to get everything in order and to ensure he has done everything possible to perfect the relationship. But he finds, after years dedicated to this project, he is still working on it, still pressing on, still straining forward toward the goal of a full and complete relationship with Christ.
It works that way with us, too. We try hard to get everything right, and then we find that there are always some things that cause us problems.
There was a mother who had a number of children. One day when all the children were home she ran next door to visit with her neighbor for just a few minutes. When she returned home, she found the five youngest children in the living room, excited and huddled in the center of the new carpet with something wiggly and squirmy. At first, everything seemed fine, but then the mother realized that the children were gathered around a family of skunks.
The mother screamed, "Run, children, run!" And the children each grabbed a skunk and ran for the door.
That seems to be the way it works for us, too. The problem is that bragging is so easy for us. It is simple to claim a perfect relationship with Christ; the hard part is actually to have a relationship in the face of all that tempts us to turn away from Christ. And all that tempts us seems to be warm and furry and cute, and we bring it into our lives without realizing just how much of a problem it can be. Our relationship with Christ is threatened by the warm, furry, cute little thing, just as a home is threatened by a family of skunks.
Paul knew the problem all too well, and he told the people who heard his words how he dealt with it. "I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection," Paul wrote, "and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death." There is nothing here about warm and fuzzy, cute and cuddly. Rather, there is talk about sharing the suffering of Jesus, the rejection by family and friends, the poverty, the arrest, beating, trial, and finally, ultimately, his crucifixion and his death.
This is not the sort of thing people brag about. This is the sort of thing people hide and try desperately to ignore. This is like the woman who wanted to be admitted to an upper--crust organization that required a genealogical search and a clean family tree for at least four generations.
The woman hired a genealogist to do the necessary research, and a few days later the genealogist reported to the woman. "There is a problem. It seems your maternal grandfather died in the electric chair in Sing Sing."
"Oh, my," the woman said, "that will never do. Can't you just forget about him?"
"No, I can't."
After some further discussion, the genealogist agreed to put the best possible face on the story in the final report. The final report read, "Subject's maternal grandfather worked in a state institution in upstate New York. Very dedicated to his work, he literally died in harness."
Most people today would prefer to hide the fact of ancestors with unsavory lives. Certainly an ancestor who was executed by the state for a crime such as treason or conspiracy to overthrow the government would be an ancestor who would only rarely be mentioned. Yet, in reality, that is what happened to Jesus.
Here is Paul, an upright man, trying as hard as he can to become like Jesus. Here is Paul, by his words and by his example, urging us to do our best to become like Jesus as well. Our following of Jesus involves more than merely following actions; it involves following attitudes as well. Speaking of both our actions and our attitudes in following Christ, Dietrich Bonhoeffer once said, "Anyone who thinks his time is too valuable to spend keeping quiet will eventually have no time for God or his brother, but only for himself and his own follies."
Paul is urging us to join him in pressing on toward the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus; the heavenly call on us of following the example of Christ, of serving others, of working for the betterment of other people, of living for Christ. We know that we will not earn anything by this, but we strive to live this way because Christ has already established a perfect relationship with us. Because that relationship comes from Jesus, we are working hard, straining forward to perfect our relationship with Christ. Amen.
It is all too common an experience to meet people who sound as if they are somehow related to that mouse. People who brag loudly about their successes, their skills, the ways they are crucial to the history of the world, or at least to their own little part of it, even when everyone who knows them suspects rather strongly that these people are really much less than they claim to be.
And even though we would like to think that other people are the ones who act that way, if the truth is told, all of us are certainly capable of acting that way at times. In fact, even Paul is capable of bragging this way. Paul begins by reminding his readers that if anyone should ever feel that they are guaranteed salvation, at least according to everything a person can do, the person who should feel most secure is Paul.
As he lists all his qualifications, all his reasons to brag, it sounds as if he had everything possible going for him. "Circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless."
Paul establishes his credentials as a Jew, one of God's chosen people, and then goes even farther. As a Pharisee, Paul was not only aware of the requirements of the law, he was dedicated to carrying out every rule. As a persecutor of the followers of Christ, he was zealous to defend the Jewish faith against the heretical sect of Christians. Finally, as one who would be judged by the requirements of the law, Paul regarded himself as completely and totally blameless under those rules. Sounds pretty good, at least if you're Paul.
But there are two problems with bragging like this. First, no matter how high an opinion we might have of ourselves, it is usually true that there are some areas where we fall short. Even Paul might be convinced that he falls short in some ways, and in other places he does acknowledge that he falls far short in many ways. In fact, here Paul writes this bragging list mostly for effect, not really to brag about how wonderful he is.
But the second problem is more serious than merely our tendency to overlook some of our personal faults and flaws. When we brag in this way, or when Paul brags in this way, or even when that mouse brags in this way, we build ourselves up by comparing ourselves to other people. The other people inevitably end up somehow less than the people doing the bragging.
Bragging always involves elevating ourselves by pushing other people down. Bragging is an exclusive sort of thing, where comparisons are made, invariably to someone else's detriment. Bragging is destructive, poisoning personal relations and threatening peaceful relations in groups of people. For all these reasons bragging is something Paul actually discourages.
Here, Paul brags simply to show how much he seemed to have to brag about. After all, in his situation, he might have appeared to have it made. He had done everything right, so he was assured that he was the most privileged of God's chosen people. And yet, Paul quickly points out what the value of these things he has been bragging about really is. As he puts it, "Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ."
All that good stuff he had been so proud of, all the things he had worked so hard to accomplish, the sum total of his life suddenly became a complete loss. The effect of this admission by Paul should be startling. It isn't often that a person who has so much to brag about, someone who is as proud as Paul was, comes to admit that everything he has recently bragged about is meaningless to him. But Paul does acknowledge that all those things are meaningless for him because of Jesus.
Because he knows Christ, Paul realized all the things that people have to brag about are really meaningless. What matters is the simple fact that he now knows Christ. Everything else has lost meaning.
Having established this fact, Paul begins to brag once again. It seems bragging is a habit that is hard to break. But now Paul brags not about his accomplishments for Christ, but about the fact that he has lost everything, and in fact regards everything of this world as rubbish. The only thing that really matters to Paul is his relationship with Christ.
It is this relationship that is the complete opposite of bragging. Bragging shuts people out, diminishes others, and draws exclusive circles in our world. It diminishes others when we try to brag about ourselves and our accomplishments.
The opposite happens in this relationship with Christ that Paul has, and that we share with him, a relationship that opens us up to other people. Rather than diminishing, this relationship with Christ helps us to lift up others, to praise their actions, and to think of others as better than we are. Rather than excluding others, this relationship with Christ invites others to join with us and share in the love of God as we have come to know it through Christ.
Through all of this, we might expect Paul to show a little pride, a little bit of bragging about how he has already established this relationship, and enjoyed the benefits of it such as resurrection and eternal life. We might expect it, but Paul surprises us once again when he confesses that he has not yet obtained the benefits or even reached the goal of a complete relationship with Christ.
Instead, he confesses that he is still working on it. From Christ's side of the relationship, Paul has already been completely accepted and made Christ's own. But, on his side of the relationship, Paul is still working on it, still trying hard to accept the complete relationship. But even Paul finds this to be something he is still working on.
For all our efforts to be perfect, to accomplish things, to be successful, Paul stands as a reminder to us that it isn't quite that simple when we speak of our relationship with Christ. Paul has spent years working on his relationship, trying to get everything in order and to ensure he has done everything possible to perfect the relationship. But he finds, after years dedicated to this project, he is still working on it, still pressing on, still straining forward toward the goal of a full and complete relationship with Christ.
It works that way with us, too. We try hard to get everything right, and then we find that there are always some things that cause us problems.
There was a mother who had a number of children. One day when all the children were home she ran next door to visit with her neighbor for just a few minutes. When she returned home, she found the five youngest children in the living room, excited and huddled in the center of the new carpet with something wiggly and squirmy. At first, everything seemed fine, but then the mother realized that the children were gathered around a family of skunks.
The mother screamed, "Run, children, run!" And the children each grabbed a skunk and ran for the door.
That seems to be the way it works for us, too. The problem is that bragging is so easy for us. It is simple to claim a perfect relationship with Christ; the hard part is actually to have a relationship in the face of all that tempts us to turn away from Christ. And all that tempts us seems to be warm and furry and cute, and we bring it into our lives without realizing just how much of a problem it can be. Our relationship with Christ is threatened by the warm, furry, cute little thing, just as a home is threatened by a family of skunks.
Paul knew the problem all too well, and he told the people who heard his words how he dealt with it. "I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection," Paul wrote, "and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death." There is nothing here about warm and fuzzy, cute and cuddly. Rather, there is talk about sharing the suffering of Jesus, the rejection by family and friends, the poverty, the arrest, beating, trial, and finally, ultimately, his crucifixion and his death.
This is not the sort of thing people brag about. This is the sort of thing people hide and try desperately to ignore. This is like the woman who wanted to be admitted to an upper--crust organization that required a genealogical search and a clean family tree for at least four generations.
The woman hired a genealogist to do the necessary research, and a few days later the genealogist reported to the woman. "There is a problem. It seems your maternal grandfather died in the electric chair in Sing Sing."
"Oh, my," the woman said, "that will never do. Can't you just forget about him?"
"No, I can't."
After some further discussion, the genealogist agreed to put the best possible face on the story in the final report. The final report read, "Subject's maternal grandfather worked in a state institution in upstate New York. Very dedicated to his work, he literally died in harness."
Most people today would prefer to hide the fact of ancestors with unsavory lives. Certainly an ancestor who was executed by the state for a crime such as treason or conspiracy to overthrow the government would be an ancestor who would only rarely be mentioned. Yet, in reality, that is what happened to Jesus.
Here is Paul, an upright man, trying as hard as he can to become like Jesus. Here is Paul, by his words and by his example, urging us to do our best to become like Jesus as well. Our following of Jesus involves more than merely following actions; it involves following attitudes as well. Speaking of both our actions and our attitudes in following Christ, Dietrich Bonhoeffer once said, "Anyone who thinks his time is too valuable to spend keeping quiet will eventually have no time for God or his brother, but only for himself and his own follies."
Paul is urging us to join him in pressing on toward the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus; the heavenly call on us of following the example of Christ, of serving others, of working for the betterment of other people, of living for Christ. We know that we will not earn anything by this, but we strive to live this way because Christ has already established a perfect relationship with us. Because that relationship comes from Jesus, we are working hard, straining forward to perfect our relationship with Christ. Amen.
