Stooping Is a Divine Posture
Sermon
Renewal of the New
Sermons For Sundays After Pentecost
Long ago and far away there was a land that could have been called "the richest little country in the world." Situated on the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea, this country had built itself into a maritime power. Its ships of commerce criss-crossed "the Great Sea," as the Mediterranean was called. Its ships and sailors were the best in the world. They even sailed over two thousand miles to the other end of the Mediterranean Sea, around the coast of Spain, and into the coastal waters of the Atlantic Ocean. The international commerce of this little nation brought it treasures from all over the world. The standard of living of its people was beyond anything other nations knew. But then something happened, and the richest little country in the world became the saddest little country in the world. Hear the story and weep, as Isaiah tells it in today's First Lesson.
God's Judgment On Tyre
The name of this little country was Phoenicia, occupying land that today is Lebanon. Only 140 miles long and fifteen miles wide, it lived by its trade on the sea. Its principal city was Tyre, situated on a magnificent harbor, from which its commercial fleets set sail. In the city shops were displayed precious objects from all over the world. Tyre was a proud city, reveling in its high standard of living, looking down its nose at the poverty of other nations. In a sense, Isaiah is speaking to the whole country of Phoenicia when he addresses the city of Tyre.
He calls it an "exultant city." Other translations render this a "bustling city," a "wanton city," or a "joyful city." The impression is that it was a prosperous and happy place, which had two especially long dimensions. One was its great age. Isaiah says, "Whose origin is from days of old." The other was its vast outreach. When Isaiah says, "Whose feet carried her to settle afar," he means that the country of Phoenicia through its port city of Tyre and its commerce had established colonies in distant places along the Mediterranean coastline. Its reach was almost as far as the then-known world. That this city was called "the bestower of crowns" means that it crowned the heads of its colonies. Its rich merchants were "princes" in the world of commerce, and its traders were ''the honored of the earth.''
But one day its bubble burst. Earlier in Isaiah's we read, "Wail ... for Tyre is laid waste, without house or haven!" Egypt was "in anguish" over losing its trading partner. Distant Spain at the other end of the Mediterranean was appalled over the loss of its commerce with Tyre. "Who has purposed this against Tyre?" is the question Isaiah asks, and then he answers his own question, saying, "The Lord of hosts has purposed it." The next question obviously is, "Why?" Isaiah explains that God brought Tyre low "to defile the pride of all glory, to dishonor all the honored of the earth." This means that Tyre had become so proud and boastful that God could not stand it any longer. Its self-admiration was a stench in God's nostrils. We are not sure how it happened, but enemy forces invaded Phoenicia and conquered it. Tyre could hold out for months because it could be supplied from the sea and therefore could never be entirely surrounded, but in the end it, too, was trampled into the dust. The city that worshiped wealth, that lived in a materialistic orgy, that gave its heart to the false god, Baal, was leveled by divine punishment.
One wonders whether America today is similar to the city of Tyre in that day. Ours is a country of unprecedented wealth. Our trade goes to all the continents of the world. We have our captains of industry and our "princes" of commerce. Our colonies are around the world in the form of military bases, overseas manufacturing plants and embassy compounds. Our unprecedented standard of living is worshiped by many among us. Materialism is god in many places. Is America a modern Tyre? Will our bubble also burst? Do we love our affluence more than we love our God? Do the rich care enough about the poor?
A very wealthy man complained to his psychiatrist that in spite of his vast riches he was miserable. The psychiatrist took him to a window overlooking the street and asked him what he saw. "I see people out there," the rich man answered. Then the psychiatrist took him to a mirror and asked him what he saw. "I see myself," the wealthy man replied. The psychiatrist drew this conclusion: "In both the window and the mirror there is glass. When you look through the glass in the window, you can see others. Because the mirror has a layer of silver behind the glass, when you look at it you see only yourself." The psychiatrist's obvious point was that the wealthy man was obsessed with his wealth and therefore was miserable.
To show the finality of the downfall of the city of Tyre, the prophet Isaiah advised the people of Spain to turn to farming, because the market in Phoenicia for their other products was gone for good. That is the meaning of the words in Scripture, "Overflow your land like the Nile, O daughter of Tarshish." Egyptians did their farming in the overflow of the Nile River. Tarshish is thought to mean Spain, because of a Spanish city called Tartessus, which exported silver and other metals to Phoenicia as its trading partner. When Isaiah says, "There is no restraint any more," this has been translated, "Your harbor is gone," meaning the harbor of Tyre, because Tyre has been destroyed.
This was the bitter end of a proud and boastful city. Isaiah says, "You will no more exult." Its boasting days were over. It is the old story: "pride goeth before a fall." In the eighth century, the Venerable Bede recorded a proud Roman proverb: "As long as the Coliseum stands, Rome shall stand; when the Coliseum falls, Rome will fall; when Rome falls, the world will fall." The city of Tyre could have boasted, "As long as Tyre stands, Phoenicia shall stand; when Tyre falls, Phoenicia will fall; when Phoenicia falls, the world will fall." Only it didn't happen that way.
The truth that "pride goeth before a fall" is cleverly illustrated in a fable from the Farmer's Almanac. Two geese were about to start on their annual migration when they met a frog who begged to be taken along. The geese said, "Okay, if you can think of a way that we can manage it." The frog got a long stalk of grass and asked each goose to hold it at opposite ends so that he could cling to it by his mouth in the middle. As the three were flying south, a man below noticed this extraordinary arrangement. With great admiration he shouted up, "Who thought of your unusual mode of transportation?" The frog was so puffed up by the compliment that he opened his mouth to say, "I did!" With that he lost his hold and plummeted to his death. The moral is that when you have a good thing going, don't be so eager to take the credit. Keep your mouth shut.
Today's passage ends with the words, "Arise, pass over to Cyprus, even there you will have no rest." Cyprus is an island which was almost 100 miles across the waters of the Mediterranean Sea from the city of Tyre. It was the first port to which trading ships from Tyre would go to anchor and to trade. Isaiah is teasing the defeated people of Tyre, saying, in effect, "Why don't you go to the island of Cyprus, now that your city has been destroyed? That is your closest trading partner. But, if you do, even there you will not be content." How could they be content? Their city was destroyed; their harbor was gone; their trade was ruined. All that they had boasted about was no more. Their pride had suffered a catastrophic fall.
God's Model of Humility
Today's Gospel is a counterpoint to Isaiah's prophecy. Two disciples of Jesus, the brothers James and John, asked for the highest places in heaven. When the other disciples heard about it, they were upset. A squabble broke out among the disciples. Jesus quieted them with this teaching for his new order, "Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of man also came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." Jesus illustrated this tellingly in his own life. He left his throne as Lord in heaven to come down to earth and live the role of a servant to others. He even took the place of a slave and washed his disciples' dusty feet before that last supper in the upper room. Then he died on a Cross, which was a death reserved for slaves and criminals in the Roman empire. For thirty-three years God in Christ stooped to save a fallen world. The world has never seen such humility. The only thing Jesus ever boasted about was his heavenly Father's wise and loving way. The carpenter of Nazareth, teaching, healing, serving, loving, helping, was God on his knees in the service of humanity. How can his redeemed world ever stop being astounded by the incredible stooping of almighty God in his Son on earth?
The noblest humans are those who have learned to assume this same posture in genuine humility. Hayden, who has been called music history's most modest man, had such a great admiration for Mozart that he wrote to a friend, "Scarcely any man can brook comparison with the great Mozart." Hayden wrote Mozart's father, Leopold, "I tell you before God, and as an honest man, that your son is the greatest composer I know, either personally or by reputation." The great botanist, Linnaeus, who developed categories for all the species of plants, categories that have been used all over the world since, was honored with many titles and even made a noble by his native land of Sweden. However, he kept his humility, and even though his tombstone near the Arctic Circle is carved with the words, "Prince of Botanists," he always preferred for himself the simpler title, "Prince of Flowers." When Admiral Robert Peary reached the North Pole in 1909 after seven failed attempts, a black man, Matthew Henson, was with him, having shared also the seven failed expeditions. Henson had become an expert in survival techniques in polar cold. He even taught the Eskimos on the expedition how to breathe properly in Arctic cold and how to conserve energy on the exhausting trek. He made the stoves and sledges that went to the Pole. Yet, when Peary received all the credit and fame, Henson was not bitter about being relegated to the background but humbly accepted that role. Jesus taught, "Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all."
Jesus tied humility inseparably to service. It is in stooping to serve others that we put on a Christlike humility. After President Jimmy Carter left the White House at the finish of his term as president, he could have basked in the afterglow of that great office until he died, doing little else. Instead, he has become one of the foremost supporters of Habitat for Humanity, the worldwide organization dedicated to building homes for the poor. Every year Carter puts on workclothes and works as a carpenter along with ordinary people, building homes for the poor with part of his time. A person with the same spirit was the woman who started the Fresh Flower Program for patients in the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. Judith Garden ran a little flower shop nearby. One day she volunteered to start giving fresh flowers every day to every patient in that huge cancer hospital, using her business connections to get flowers at a fraction of their normal cost and promising to get her own volunteers to do the job. It changed the atmosphere of the whole hospital. Not only every patient, but every corner of the hospital, was graced with fresh flowers. Although Judith Garden has died since she started this program in 1974, the program continues to this day, carried on by the support of others.
Christ stooped to serve so that the world might be reconciled to God. The letter to the Hebrews in the New Testament beautifully describes the result: "Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." Our need was so deep that only God could get down to the bottom of it. A woman in Monroe, North Carolina, screamed for help in the night, while clinging to a bush in a swollen river after her car had sunk in the floodwaters. Rescue workers with flashlights finally located her and saved her life by crossing the raging torrent in which three passengers in her car died. As habitual sinners, we, too, were in a desperate predicament before a pure and holy God, our souls screaming for help in the midnight of judgment. But a divine rescuer crossed the raging torrent for us and by the light of his eternal love saved our lives, though he lost his in the effort. Now we need to scream for help no longer; instead, we shout his praises in song and thanksgiving. Because he lived among us, died for us, and rose again to certify God's will for our salvation, we can "with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." Here are the true riches in life.
Humility before a saving God is required of nations as well as individuals. The Isaiah passage emphasizes the sovereignty of the Lord over nations. We sing even today, "Beautiful Savior, Lord of the nations." He is the Lord of history, for history is his-story. He lifts nations up and casts nations down according to their willingness to humble themselves before him. During a severe earthquake the residents of a remote village were alarmed when everything around them began to shake -- except for one old woman. When asked how she could even appear joyful in the midst of such turmoil, she answered, "I rejoice to know that we have a God who can shake the world." He is a God who sifts the nations and shakes the world and calls to judgment the peoples of earth. In the year 1989 there was a great shaking of the nations of Europe, and the peoples of eastern Europe emerged from bondage into the light of freedom. The hand of God can shake the world.
Again, we must ask, is America living in the consciousness of its accountability to a holy and just God? Do we think that we are movers and shakers of the world or do we remember that God is the mover and shaker of the world? Are we looking to God or to the Pentagon for our national defense? Is our alliance with other nations as in NATO our hope for peace or is our alliance with God in trust and obedience our hope for peace? Pray God for heads of state, generals and admirals, judges and authorities who are humble before God and responsive to his leading in their public trust.
The ancient city of Tyre was obsessed with "the bottom line." Its people cared most about the profit in the deal. They ignored the fact that there is a top line also. The top of the line is a God who stooped to save his lost creation, losing his own life in the act, but setting for all time the model of a life pleasing to him -- the humility of living for others in gratitude to the God who lived and died for us. Here is the meaning of life and its overarching purpose. The bubble of pride will eventually burst, but the stoop of humble service for Christ's sake will live forever.
God's Judgment On Tyre
The name of this little country was Phoenicia, occupying land that today is Lebanon. Only 140 miles long and fifteen miles wide, it lived by its trade on the sea. Its principal city was Tyre, situated on a magnificent harbor, from which its commercial fleets set sail. In the city shops were displayed precious objects from all over the world. Tyre was a proud city, reveling in its high standard of living, looking down its nose at the poverty of other nations. In a sense, Isaiah is speaking to the whole country of Phoenicia when he addresses the city of Tyre.
He calls it an "exultant city." Other translations render this a "bustling city," a "wanton city," or a "joyful city." The impression is that it was a prosperous and happy place, which had two especially long dimensions. One was its great age. Isaiah says, "Whose origin is from days of old." The other was its vast outreach. When Isaiah says, "Whose feet carried her to settle afar," he means that the country of Phoenicia through its port city of Tyre and its commerce had established colonies in distant places along the Mediterranean coastline. Its reach was almost as far as the then-known world. That this city was called "the bestower of crowns" means that it crowned the heads of its colonies. Its rich merchants were "princes" in the world of commerce, and its traders were ''the honored of the earth.''
But one day its bubble burst. Earlier in Isaiah's we read, "Wail ... for Tyre is laid waste, without house or haven!" Egypt was "in anguish" over losing its trading partner. Distant Spain at the other end of the Mediterranean was appalled over the loss of its commerce with Tyre. "Who has purposed this against Tyre?" is the question Isaiah asks, and then he answers his own question, saying, "The Lord of hosts has purposed it." The next question obviously is, "Why?" Isaiah explains that God brought Tyre low "to defile the pride of all glory, to dishonor all the honored of the earth." This means that Tyre had become so proud and boastful that God could not stand it any longer. Its self-admiration was a stench in God's nostrils. We are not sure how it happened, but enemy forces invaded Phoenicia and conquered it. Tyre could hold out for months because it could be supplied from the sea and therefore could never be entirely surrounded, but in the end it, too, was trampled into the dust. The city that worshiped wealth, that lived in a materialistic orgy, that gave its heart to the false god, Baal, was leveled by divine punishment.
One wonders whether America today is similar to the city of Tyre in that day. Ours is a country of unprecedented wealth. Our trade goes to all the continents of the world. We have our captains of industry and our "princes" of commerce. Our colonies are around the world in the form of military bases, overseas manufacturing plants and embassy compounds. Our unprecedented standard of living is worshiped by many among us. Materialism is god in many places. Is America a modern Tyre? Will our bubble also burst? Do we love our affluence more than we love our God? Do the rich care enough about the poor?
A very wealthy man complained to his psychiatrist that in spite of his vast riches he was miserable. The psychiatrist took him to a window overlooking the street and asked him what he saw. "I see people out there," the rich man answered. Then the psychiatrist took him to a mirror and asked him what he saw. "I see myself," the wealthy man replied. The psychiatrist drew this conclusion: "In both the window and the mirror there is glass. When you look through the glass in the window, you can see others. Because the mirror has a layer of silver behind the glass, when you look at it you see only yourself." The psychiatrist's obvious point was that the wealthy man was obsessed with his wealth and therefore was miserable.
To show the finality of the downfall of the city of Tyre, the prophet Isaiah advised the people of Spain to turn to farming, because the market in Phoenicia for their other products was gone for good. That is the meaning of the words in Scripture, "Overflow your land like the Nile, O daughter of Tarshish." Egyptians did their farming in the overflow of the Nile River. Tarshish is thought to mean Spain, because of a Spanish city called Tartessus, which exported silver and other metals to Phoenicia as its trading partner. When Isaiah says, "There is no restraint any more," this has been translated, "Your harbor is gone," meaning the harbor of Tyre, because Tyre has been destroyed.
This was the bitter end of a proud and boastful city. Isaiah says, "You will no more exult." Its boasting days were over. It is the old story: "pride goeth before a fall." In the eighth century, the Venerable Bede recorded a proud Roman proverb: "As long as the Coliseum stands, Rome shall stand; when the Coliseum falls, Rome will fall; when Rome falls, the world will fall." The city of Tyre could have boasted, "As long as Tyre stands, Phoenicia shall stand; when Tyre falls, Phoenicia will fall; when Phoenicia falls, the world will fall." Only it didn't happen that way.
The truth that "pride goeth before a fall" is cleverly illustrated in a fable from the Farmer's Almanac. Two geese were about to start on their annual migration when they met a frog who begged to be taken along. The geese said, "Okay, if you can think of a way that we can manage it." The frog got a long stalk of grass and asked each goose to hold it at opposite ends so that he could cling to it by his mouth in the middle. As the three were flying south, a man below noticed this extraordinary arrangement. With great admiration he shouted up, "Who thought of your unusual mode of transportation?" The frog was so puffed up by the compliment that he opened his mouth to say, "I did!" With that he lost his hold and plummeted to his death. The moral is that when you have a good thing going, don't be so eager to take the credit. Keep your mouth shut.
Today's passage ends with the words, "Arise, pass over to Cyprus, even there you will have no rest." Cyprus is an island which was almost 100 miles across the waters of the Mediterranean Sea from the city of Tyre. It was the first port to which trading ships from Tyre would go to anchor and to trade. Isaiah is teasing the defeated people of Tyre, saying, in effect, "Why don't you go to the island of Cyprus, now that your city has been destroyed? That is your closest trading partner. But, if you do, even there you will not be content." How could they be content? Their city was destroyed; their harbor was gone; their trade was ruined. All that they had boasted about was no more. Their pride had suffered a catastrophic fall.
God's Model of Humility
Today's Gospel is a counterpoint to Isaiah's prophecy. Two disciples of Jesus, the brothers James and John, asked for the highest places in heaven. When the other disciples heard about it, they were upset. A squabble broke out among the disciples. Jesus quieted them with this teaching for his new order, "Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of man also came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." Jesus illustrated this tellingly in his own life. He left his throne as Lord in heaven to come down to earth and live the role of a servant to others. He even took the place of a slave and washed his disciples' dusty feet before that last supper in the upper room. Then he died on a Cross, which was a death reserved for slaves and criminals in the Roman empire. For thirty-three years God in Christ stooped to save a fallen world. The world has never seen such humility. The only thing Jesus ever boasted about was his heavenly Father's wise and loving way. The carpenter of Nazareth, teaching, healing, serving, loving, helping, was God on his knees in the service of humanity. How can his redeemed world ever stop being astounded by the incredible stooping of almighty God in his Son on earth?
The noblest humans are those who have learned to assume this same posture in genuine humility. Hayden, who has been called music history's most modest man, had such a great admiration for Mozart that he wrote to a friend, "Scarcely any man can brook comparison with the great Mozart." Hayden wrote Mozart's father, Leopold, "I tell you before God, and as an honest man, that your son is the greatest composer I know, either personally or by reputation." The great botanist, Linnaeus, who developed categories for all the species of plants, categories that have been used all over the world since, was honored with many titles and even made a noble by his native land of Sweden. However, he kept his humility, and even though his tombstone near the Arctic Circle is carved with the words, "Prince of Botanists," he always preferred for himself the simpler title, "Prince of Flowers." When Admiral Robert Peary reached the North Pole in 1909 after seven failed attempts, a black man, Matthew Henson, was with him, having shared also the seven failed expeditions. Henson had become an expert in survival techniques in polar cold. He even taught the Eskimos on the expedition how to breathe properly in Arctic cold and how to conserve energy on the exhausting trek. He made the stoves and sledges that went to the Pole. Yet, when Peary received all the credit and fame, Henson was not bitter about being relegated to the background but humbly accepted that role. Jesus taught, "Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all."
Jesus tied humility inseparably to service. It is in stooping to serve others that we put on a Christlike humility. After President Jimmy Carter left the White House at the finish of his term as president, he could have basked in the afterglow of that great office until he died, doing little else. Instead, he has become one of the foremost supporters of Habitat for Humanity, the worldwide organization dedicated to building homes for the poor. Every year Carter puts on workclothes and works as a carpenter along with ordinary people, building homes for the poor with part of his time. A person with the same spirit was the woman who started the Fresh Flower Program for patients in the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. Judith Garden ran a little flower shop nearby. One day she volunteered to start giving fresh flowers every day to every patient in that huge cancer hospital, using her business connections to get flowers at a fraction of their normal cost and promising to get her own volunteers to do the job. It changed the atmosphere of the whole hospital. Not only every patient, but every corner of the hospital, was graced with fresh flowers. Although Judith Garden has died since she started this program in 1974, the program continues to this day, carried on by the support of others.
Christ stooped to serve so that the world might be reconciled to God. The letter to the Hebrews in the New Testament beautifully describes the result: "Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." Our need was so deep that only God could get down to the bottom of it. A woman in Monroe, North Carolina, screamed for help in the night, while clinging to a bush in a swollen river after her car had sunk in the floodwaters. Rescue workers with flashlights finally located her and saved her life by crossing the raging torrent in which three passengers in her car died. As habitual sinners, we, too, were in a desperate predicament before a pure and holy God, our souls screaming for help in the midnight of judgment. But a divine rescuer crossed the raging torrent for us and by the light of his eternal love saved our lives, though he lost his in the effort. Now we need to scream for help no longer; instead, we shout his praises in song and thanksgiving. Because he lived among us, died for us, and rose again to certify God's will for our salvation, we can "with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." Here are the true riches in life.
Humility before a saving God is required of nations as well as individuals. The Isaiah passage emphasizes the sovereignty of the Lord over nations. We sing even today, "Beautiful Savior, Lord of the nations." He is the Lord of history, for history is his-story. He lifts nations up and casts nations down according to their willingness to humble themselves before him. During a severe earthquake the residents of a remote village were alarmed when everything around them began to shake -- except for one old woman. When asked how she could even appear joyful in the midst of such turmoil, she answered, "I rejoice to know that we have a God who can shake the world." He is a God who sifts the nations and shakes the world and calls to judgment the peoples of earth. In the year 1989 there was a great shaking of the nations of Europe, and the peoples of eastern Europe emerged from bondage into the light of freedom. The hand of God can shake the world.
Again, we must ask, is America living in the consciousness of its accountability to a holy and just God? Do we think that we are movers and shakers of the world or do we remember that God is the mover and shaker of the world? Are we looking to God or to the Pentagon for our national defense? Is our alliance with other nations as in NATO our hope for peace or is our alliance with God in trust and obedience our hope for peace? Pray God for heads of state, generals and admirals, judges and authorities who are humble before God and responsive to his leading in their public trust.
The ancient city of Tyre was obsessed with "the bottom line." Its people cared most about the profit in the deal. They ignored the fact that there is a top line also. The top of the line is a God who stooped to save his lost creation, losing his own life in the act, but setting for all time the model of a life pleasing to him -- the humility of living for others in gratitude to the God who lived and died for us. Here is the meaning of life and its overarching purpose. The bubble of pride will eventually burst, but the stoop of humble service for Christ's sake will live forever.
