Good Shepherd Lutheran Church(elca)

Following Christ, Growing in Faith, Sharing God's Love

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Too Much Me

Pastor: 
Pr. John Gerike
Sermon: Too Much Me
March 20 and 21, 2010
Lent 5
 
 
This is the last week of “Too”.
            We started with Too Familiar.
                        Then Too Comfortable.
                                    Too Entertained.
                                    Too Busy.
            And now this week—
                        --Too Much Me.
 
 
Ruth and I traveled this last week.
            She works at Parkway South High School
                        and they had spring break.
            And when Spring Break isn’t during Holy Week,
                        we like to get away.
                                    Just a little trip starting with some time visiting my Mom.
           
A few days before we left,
            we got a sample CD in the mail from one of those companies
                        that sells college lectures on tape.
            We’ve enjoyed those before,
                        so we listened as we headed toward the Kansas City area.
 
And in this lecture,
            the professor was talking about categories—
                        --and how they shape our thinking.
 
And he asked,
            “How would you pronounce a word
                        CHO PHO USE?”
            He said—“Don’t write it down.
                                    Just think about how you would pronounce it.”
 
And I was saying to myself—
            “CHO PHO USE?”
 
 
Now, it’s not a word I use very often,
            but it’s a lot easier to figure out
                        if you say:
            CHOP HOUSE.
 
Chophouse.
            Which is a restaurant that specializes in steaks and such.
 
(And I was relieved when the professor said
            that about 90% of folks came up with a pronunciation
                         like CHO PHO USE.)
 
 
That got me thinking
            about how we see things through lenses
                        that are shaped by our categories and preconceptions.
 
 
How do we see the world?
            What’s really important?
                       
 
And as I was lying in bed,
            after a full day of activities at my Mom’s house,
 each activity was vying for priority,
                        for most importance.
            And it seemed that the right lens
                        could be really helpful in making sense of life,
                                    of what’s really important.
 
 
And maybe it all starts
            with whether we’re focused on ourselves
                        or God.
            And I thought about some of the lenses I’ve heard through my life
                        and they sure seemed to put the focus on “me”.
                                    Too much me.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
During March madness,
            I start with:
 “Winning isn’t everything,
            it’s the only thing.”
 
Who said that?
            Vince Lombardi—coach of the Green Bay Packers.
                        (Although he was probably quoting someone else.)
            And a lot of our culture
                        seems to live like that’s true.
 
As I talked about a couple weeks ago,
            I’m a part of that culture.
 I rejoice when my team wins.
            I suffer when my team loses.
                        And if I don’t have a team,
                                    I pick a team.
 
And where is the focus?
            On “my” team.
                        On me.
 
Who does it put at the center?
            Me?
                        Too much me?
 
 
 
 
Or how about
            “The one who dies with the most toys wins”?
 We even say it tongue in cheek.
            We know, at some level,
                        that it’s not true.
 And yet,
            how often do we live as if it is true?
                        Trying to gather up stuff.
                                    Worried about all our stuff.
                        Focused on all our stuff.
            Spending time on all our stuff.
                        Sometimes even feeling trapped by all our stuff—
                                    --not even enjoying it,
                                                but feeling like
                                                            our possessions possess us.
 
 
Have you seen those commercials
            where people are carrying around numbers?
 And the commercial asks—
                        --“What’s your number?
                                    How much do you need for retirement?”
            And planning is helpful.
                        But where does it put the focus?
                                    On me?
                                                Too much me?
 
 
 
Our children sometimes keep it really simple.
            They say: “Me first.”
 They haven’t yet learned to hide that inclination
                        or make it sound more elegant.
            “Me first.”
 
 
It’s like that story that’s been around on email
            about the two young brothers.
 Their mom was making pancakes
            and they were arguing about who would get the first pancake.
   Mom saw a chance to teach a lesson and said,
            “If Jesus were here,
                        he’d say—let my brother have the first pancake.”
            And quick as a flash,
                        the younger brother turned to the older and said,
                                    “Today, you can be Jesus.”
 
Why?
            Because “Me first.”
                        Where’s the focus?
                                    Me?
                                                Too much me?
 
 
 
And the list can go on and on.
            “Have fun.”
                        Where’s the focus?
            “If you want something done,
                        you have to do it yourself.”
                                    Where’s the focus?
 
 
It seems that we do quite well
            at keeping the focus on ourselves.
 
 
 
But God has a different picture for us.
            A different lens to shape our world.
 A couple weeks ago,
            if you were here,
                        we talked about repentance.
            And how repentance isn’t just being sorry,
                        it’s being turned around
                                    toward----what?
                                                Toward the cross.
 
Because that’s the center that’s really important.
            The cross—
                        --the reminder of Christ
                        --who did count equality with God as something to be grasped,
                                    something to be exploited
                        --but rather, emptied himself
                        --even to death
                        --even death on a cross.
 
 
That’s how much God loves us.
            That’s how much Jesus cares for us.
 It seems so different than
            “Me first.”
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Would you look at the beginning of our reading from Philippians please.
            Read verses 4, 5 and 6 with me.
 
“If anyone has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: 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.”
 
 
What’s he saying?
            In the lens he was looking through,
                        he had it all.
 
 
But then,
            when Christ turned him around,
                        the value of everything changed.
 
 
Verse 7:
            Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ.
 
In fact,
            the only thing that has true value,
                        he says,
                                     is knowing Christ Jesus as Lord.
 
Nothing else matters.
            Nothing else matters.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Mary gives us a picture of this
            in our Gospel reading.
 Take a look at that with me.
            Jesus was having a meal.
                        And at that meal were Mary and Martha and Lazarus.
                                    Lazarus—after Jesus had raised him from the dead.
                                                And his sisters Mary and Martha.
 
And one of the sisters, Mary,
            took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard.
 Now I don’t know what nard is,     
            but it tells us how valuable it is.
                        It’s worth 300 denarii.
            A denarius is a laborer’s daily wage.
                        So this perfume was worth about a year’s wages.
 
So, how much do you make in a year?
            Think of the perfume as worth that much.
                                    And what does she do?
                                                She anoints Jesus’ feet.
                        Uses it all up.
                                   
 
And Judas is upset.
            He says:
                        “Why didn’t we sell this and give the money to the poor?
                                    What a waste.”
 
The explanation says that he wanted to steal some of it.
            Which obviously puts the focus on me.
 But even if he didn’t,
                        it seems that Judas just couldn’t get beyond the focus on himself.
            He wanted control.
                        He wanted to decide how to give away the money.
                                    He wanted it done his way.
                                                He wanted to be able to decide.
 
 
And that sure sounds like me.
            That sure sounds like us.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Especially in the face of extravagance
            like the extravagant grace of Mary’s.
 We have a hard time accepting that.
 
 
But think of the lens.
            The focus of Judas was on Judas.
            The focus of Mary was on—
                        --Jesus.
 
 
Like Paul said,
            the only thing that matters
                        is knowing Jesus Christ as Lord.
            And Mary lives that out.
                        To her, in that moment,
                                                nothing else matters.
 
 
 
And as she anointed Jesus’ feet,
            she wiped them with her hair.
 
She put herself in a position that she could be laughed at.
            Ridiculed.
                        Humiliated.
 
Put she didn’t care.
            Because her focus wasn’t on her.
                        It was on Jesus.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
And you know what’s interesting.
            And amazing good news.
                        Jesus does the same for us.
            This cleaning of Jesus’ feet
                        points to another footwashing.
 
You probably remember that one better.
            On Thursday before he died.
                        Jesus washed the disciples’ feet.
                                    (In fact, the Greek word is the same in both stories—
                                                --this story points to that one.)
 
 
Jesus did what he didn’t have to do.
            What he wasn’t expected to do.
                        What was beneath him.
                                    What was considered humiliating.
            Why?
                        Because he loves you and me.
 
 
For God so loved the world,
            that he gave his only son,
                        that whosever believes in him should not perish,
                                    but have everlasting life.
 
 
 
Jesus didn’t focus on himself,
            but gave himself up in love.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
What’s our mission statement?
            FOLLOWING CHRIST,
                        GROWING IN FAITH,
                                    SHARING GOD’S LOVE.
 
 
As we follow Christ,
            we give ourselves in love.
 
 
Following Christ,
            we aren’t focused on “me”,
                        but on God.
 
 
 
Each day,
            God needs to turn us around,
                        because we keep turning back to ourselves,
            focusing on things like:
 
--winning
--getting the most stuff
--being first.
 
 
 
Instead,
            Jesus keeps turning us around
                        to focus on the cross.
            To see the gift of love.
                        And reflect that love.
 
Follow Christ.
            Nothing else really matters.
 
 
In Jesus’ name,
            Amen