Reverend Richard Greenleaf, Sunday July 28, 2024
A Sermon
The Reverend Richard E. Greenleaf
St. George’s Chapel
Long Cove Rd.
Tenant's Harbor, ME 04860
28 July 2024
Tenth Sunday after Pentecost
HE II
Isaiah 53:1-3, 12
Psalm 37:1-12
Philippians 2:1-13
Collect of the Day
Heavenly Father, whose blessed Son came not to be served but to serve: Bless all who, following in his steps, give themselves to the service of others; that with wisdom, patience, and courage, they may minister in his Name to the suffering, the friendless, and the needy; for the love of him who laid down his life for us, your Son our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
In the year 1886,
the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche
published a work entitled Beyond Good and Evil,
in which he wrote the following:
"I regard Christianity as the most fatal and seductive lie that has ever yet existed--
as the greatest and most impious lie . . . I urge people to declare open war with it."
Nietzsche went on to write that he believed this
because he considered Christianity
"the morality of paltry people,"
the morality of "slaves" who,
only because of their own powerlessness,
promoted an ethic of love and compassion,
an ethic of "turning the other cheek."
Against this so-called "slave morality,”
Nietzsche argued for a "morality of the ruling class,”
a "master morality" based on what he called the "Will to Power,"
a morality that honors pride, vanity, power, and "dreadfulness."
Of this Nietzsche wrote,
"The noble type of man separates from himself the beings in whom the opposite
of this exalted, proud disposition displays itself: he despises them . . . The noble type of man regards himself as a determiner of values . . . .”
Against critics, who argued that he was calling for a new barbarism,
Nietzsche wrote,
"'Exploitation' does not belong to a depraved, or imperfect and primitive society;
it belongs to the nature of the living being as a primary organic function; it is a
consequence of the intrinsic Will to Power, which is precisely the Will to Life.--
Granting that as a theory this is a novelty--as a reality it is the fundamental fact of
all history: let us be so far honest towards ourselves!"
I know, I know,
the Nietzsche is
a bit extreme,
but as he said,
“Let us be so far honest towards OURselves . . . .”
And, you have to admit,
this is
a good exhortation
at any time.
But I think it is an especially good exhortation
for this time,
the middle of a summer
--and what a summer it’s been--
that has seen the world marked
by political convulsions;
by violence, war, and unthinkable acts of terror.
And here in the United States
by conflict and division;
by the shaking of our political institutions, attempted assassination,
and the continued coarsening of our civic discourse.
It is also the run up to a fall season
that threatens to bring even more of all this,
culminating in the national election
in just 101 days
on November 5th,
followed by the transition in administrations
and the seating of a new Congress.
We are also entering a time I have come to think of
as the beginning of the real new year
in our country:
the beginning of the school year.
And as someone who
for 31 years
served as a teacher and chaplain
at St. Paul’s School down in Concord, NH,
and, though now retired,
I have been thinking long and hard
about just what it is
that we are
and that we do
in both church and school
that could possibly make a difference
in such a challenging time.
And what I could possibly say
to the students at my old school
who will arrive
in just a few short weeks.
Again, in the words of Nietzsche,
“Let us be so far honest towards ourselves!”
Flashback—
For a number of years,
I taught a course on the history of ethics
in which I put this exhortation
--and the challenge of Nietzsche's words--
to my students
in the following
essay assignment:
St. Paul's School enjoys the reputation of being an elite boarding school that
prepares exceptional young people for positions of power and leadership in society.
It also claims to be a "church school" within the Christian tradition.
Questions:
To what extent can it be seen to teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the love ethic
of Christianity?
To what extent can St. Paul's School be seen to actually teach "master morality"
and Nietzsche's view of nobility in general?
Are these compatible?
If so, how?
If not, why not?
These essays
were usually
"interesting,"
to say the least.
Because the question they had to take on
is the question I believe to be at the heart
of today's reading from the gospel of Mark:
Namely,
is it possible to be ambitious, excellent, or successful
and be morally good?
This is a question
St. Paul's School
and many places like it
struggle with
all the time.
And that very real concern about it
is reflected in the School’s hard work
in the areas of its fully residential life,
in team building, leadership training,
and community service,
to say nothing of its chapel program.
Indeed, the School’s whole program
can be seen as an attempt to respond well
to Jesus’ warning that to whom much is given
much is expected,
and not just in terms of productivity.
Still, the question remains,
and it is a perennial question
for people of high achievement.
For Nietzsche,
it is a question that is easily discharged.
He simply does away with the traditional understanding of good and evil,
and calls power and conquest good,
opening the door to the full flowering of the will.
If Nietzsche were to interpret Mark’s story of James and John’s request of Jesus,
it would be James and John and “the way of the Gentiles” that was commended
and the ten disciples upbraided for not showing more spunk.
It is not too hard to hear Nietzsche saying,
"All who exalt themselves will be exalted,
and all who humble themselves will be humbled!"
"Let us be so far honest towards ourselves!"
And to be honest,
Nietzsche was right,
insofar that the way of the world
for countless millennia
was the way of the struggle for survival,
the way of power and conquest.
And success in this
counted for happiness.
But there has always been a counter-narrative,
and with the coming of Jesus
the old power narrative was most fully tipped on its head.
Notice that in today's gospel,
Jesus tells his disciples,
“You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. 43But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, 44and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. 45For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”
And the reason why
is that Jesus is here
reaffirming the dignity and inherent divinity
of each and every human person
--all persons—
that God bestowed on them
--on US!—
at creation.
As it is written in Genesis 1:27,
“So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them;”
And when asked what is the greatest commandment,
“Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; 30you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ 31The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:28-31)
But even more, Jesus told his disciples,
“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.” (John 15: 12-15)
And in his first letter,
the apostle John adds,
“Those who say ‘I love God’ and hate their brothers or sisters are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen.” (John 4:20)
I was trying to think of a way
to help us see this,
a living example,
when I came across an article
about Maria Skobtsova,
a saint of the Orthodox Church
whom the Episcopal Church
also remembers in its liturgical calendar.
Maria was born into the Russian aristocracy in 1891
but became a radical intellectual and poet.
She married, became a mother,
and involved herself in the Russian Revolution.
Slowly, she became disillusioned with the revolution
found her way back to the church,
and finally fled to Paris.
In the church’s write-up,
it is written that
“She became a nun,
but only on condition that she could live in the world
and directly serve the poor.
As a twice-married former revolutionary and poet-theologian,
she was a unique fixture,
to say the least.
When she was not giving of herself to those in need,
she could be seen smoking cigarettes
and debating theology or philosophy with her friends.
When the Nazis took Paris,
she did all she could to provide shelter and escape
for the Jews in the city.
And then,
Maria was arrested
and sent to a concentration camp.
Of her life of service,
Maria wrote,
"If someone turns with his spiritual world toward the spiritual world of another person, he encounters an awesome and inspiring mystery …. He comes into contact with the true image of God in man, with the very icon of God incarnate in the world... And he needs to accept this awesome revelation of God unconditionally, to venerate the image of God in his brother."
Maria continues,
"The way to God lies through love of people. At the Last Judgment I shall not be asked whether I was successful in my ascetic exercises, nor how many bows and prostrations I made. Instead I shall be asked did I feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick and the prisoners. That is all I shall be asked. About every poor, hungry and imprisoned person the Savior says ‘I': ‘I was hungry and thirsty, I was sick and in prison.’ To think that he puts an equal sign between himself and anyone in need. . . . I always knew it, but now it has somehow penetrated to my sinews. It fills me with awe."
And on Holy Saturday 1945,
Maria was martyred in a gas chamber in Ravensbrück, Germany,
taking the spot of another woman.
Once again, Maria:
“To think that he, the Saviour, puts an equal sign between himself and anyone in need. . . . I always knew it, but now it has somehow penetrated to my sinews. It fills me with awe."
To be sure,
other religious and philosophical thinkers before Jesus
made the connection
between love and virtue,
between service and success,
between humility and greatness.
But in Jesus
this connection was realized
with a fullness that
turned the world on its head
and gave birth to the Christian faith.
And because it was made real in Jesus
it became a living possibility,
for each generation that followed,
a living possibility
for us today.
My friends, we are the inheritors of a culture,
--a civilization--
that was spawned
from this core truth,
this form of greatness, this kind of love.
It was such a radically different truth,
historically speaking,
that we came to date our time
from its origin
in the life of Jesus Christ.
In recent years that civilization itself
has once again come under threat,
and we
--and our very way of life--
with it.
The "open war" on the Christian ethic
that Nietzsche called for
has been joined.
But in this war,
Christians
and all those who follow this way of love
are called not
to "triumphal domination or success,"
for that would be to give in
to the very values
that threaten to undo us.
Rather, we are called to that love,
that sacrificial goodness
upon which true success
--and true happiness--
indeed, civilization,
and life itself as we know and love it,
depends.
Although we stand at this critical point in time,
there is really nothing new in this message,
for it is the very thing that this place,
St. George’s Chapel, has been about for 123 years,
and St. Paul’s School has been about for 168 years
--when they remember what and "whose" they really are --
what they are about!
In the end,
when it comes to true greatness
there are really only two choices,
the way of Nietzsche
or the way of Jesus.
But the choice . . .
the choice
is ours!
Let us pray:
God our Father, you see your children growing up in anunsteady and confusing world: Show them that your waysgive more life than the ways of the world, and that followingyou is better than chasing after selfish goals. Help them totake failure, not as a measure of their worth, but as a chancefor a new start. Give them strength to hold their faith in you,and to keep alive their joy in your creation; through Jesus
Christ our Lord. Amen