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PRE CRIPTION FOR GREATNESS BETHANY PRESB YTERIAN CKURCH
lfaian 53:19-i2 LAFAYETTE, INDIANA
/Mark 10:35--45 JOHN M,. BUCHANAN

~ November |1, 1973

This is a sermon about status stor synbots i+ is about greatness as that word

is defingd by the world and as it has been redefined by our Lord Jesus christ | And

| would begin by sharing with you the opening narrative of a recently published book

“LOCKED-OUT AMERICANS", by John R. Fry. “ead Les ae

A young Stone, no more than eleven years old - a “Junebug® - walked west
on 47th Street near Ellis Avenue, Chicago, one afternoon after school. IT
was March, 1969. He wore old pants, a thin jacket, sneakers, no socks,
and a brilliant red felt berct. He would not call it a red beret or even a
hat. It was a "sun." He would insist it be called a sun. It announced
he was not an ordinary ghetto kid; he was @ member of the Black P. Stone
Nation. He mignt hav been picking up some groceries for his mother, or
going to hang for a waile with the brothers at the candy stors. He
probably wouldn't gct his business done, whatever it was. That sun on

his head was a sure ticket to @ hassle and perhaps a trip to the Prairic
Avenue Police Station.

4 blue-and-white squad car of the Chicago Police Department was
cruising castbound on 47th Strect. The patrolmen in the car spotted the
Stone on the other side of the street. They slowed down, both looking
at him, then made an abrupt U-turn. Headed west, they moved up slowly
alongside the boy. The patrolman nearest Aim rolled down the car window
and said something. Tha Stone did not look toward the car or stop walking.
That obviously wouldnit+t do. Ths policomen stopped the car and got out,
putting their hats on as they walked up behind him. Policeman number one
reached him first, grabbed his shoulder roughly, and spun him around to
face them,

| couldn't hear whet they were saying. | was on the other side of
the street In my car. | had seen the incident arising and thought the kid
might need some eyewitness, so had stopped to watch. Clearly the police
were saying something to the boy; as clearly, the boy was not responding.
He stood there waiting to turn around and continue on to wherever he was
going. After a minute or so of this one-way conversation the first police-
man suddenly grabbed the sun and threw it down onto the sidewalk, covered
as it was with March slush end mud. Then he stepped on the sun and smeared
it around in the goop. Satisfied, he looked up at the Stone. He was
looking at his sun. He bent down and picked it up and put it on his head
at about the same rakish angle. The slush began to run down the sides of
his head and onto his face as he turned and continued westward.

The two policemen stared at the boy walking away from them. They
looked at each other. Firmer steps seemed called for. They went after the
boy. Policeman number two this time reached the boy first and grabbed him
around the neck with both hands. He was shaking the Stone and choking him.
There was a kind of exasperetion in the effort. “Why won't this kid break?"
When the patrolman had finished, the boy half stumbled out of the grasp
but didn't fall - or massage his necks muscles. Both policemen walked
around {n front of the boy. Policeman number two pointed back down the
sidewalk where the confrontation had begun. The boy didn't look back. He
still had not spoken @ word to them. The second policeman took the muddy
sun and smashed the thing right into the gutter, where, added to the side-
walk goop was broken glass, a lot more water, plus the usual stuff which
makes Chicago qutters so much resemble sewers, such as candy~-bar wrappers,
dead rats, bear cans, orange peels, doll arms, bottle caps, half burned
telephone books, cigarette butts, and the like. The gesture was the kind

PHEEAPIETION FOR GREATNESS nhs
NOVEMBER I!, 1973

you have seen Oliver Hardy mekc. {it said, What are you going to do

about that, you dumb kid?" Clearly agitated, the policeman stepped on the
sun, and almost as an afterthought, tromped it through some broken glass
to the bottom of the gutter. :

The Stone watched. When ho believed the policeman had finished, he
stepped away from the, squatted beside the gutter and felt around for his
sun. As he litted it out, it dripped with muddy water. i1f had been torn
by the broken glass. t[nstead of emptying it onto the sidewalk, he placed
it on his head again, this time giving no attention to the cool angle. The
slime oozed down. He made no mowe to wipe it away. He gaid nothing. He
looked straight ahead es he wheeled and began walking away. The pol fcemen
watched him go. A few moments later they returned to The car and after
making a wide U-turn, continued cruising eastbound. :

Thet rather dramatictilustrationholds up the mporfance of status as a way of affirming

setfhood., It identifies a symbol of status - in This case a red beret - as the expression -

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of a value systom, for that Is really what status symbols are + reflections of the
: Ce in mnel

values by which men Live.| in addition, it is 2 clear picture of a common truth, namely,
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that value systems and their accompanying signs or symbols are: the vehicices men use .
Tn has book = Aho my men Pe ha lhe at won ‘
yay qua we th vette - iy Ade qa4 ~ “he sya bol i> @W am whet

Greatness - status - and their visible symbols:\this is no light, alry subject] and

to give meaning to their lives.

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this sermon will try not to be a broadside against the petty agotism thet seems always

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to be a part of the human congition-\ Rather, 1 would hope we might find ourselves dealing

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this morning with the very essence of manhood - and the particularly Christian contribution
to ine subject. \ But bofore wo become too sociological let's hear the Bible on the topic.

| read this morning from that portion_of {tsaiah which is called the Servant Song.

i

In it, the prophet, writing to a croup of his countrymen ext led in Babylon,pulls together

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two rather atien ideas ~ servanthood and orcatness \ arter a langthy description of how

the Lord§ servant must suffer, the prophet sa s:Ptheretore | will divide him a portion

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with the great, and he shall divide The spoil with the strong.’'| Now, we are accustomed

to hearing those words;\ but let me emphasize that if you are a Jew whose homeland has

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been ravished, \whose nation has been conquered, whose suffering has been stretched across
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paneer | Laiiemmaaerirara

the centuries, the idea that suffering servanthood is, in fact, synonymous with greatness,
is startling and radical and rather_revotutionary.
The New Testarant lesson, in turn, says the same thing, a little more subtty | At
first glance it Is tempting to read in it 5 plea for non-status, the rejection of all
eternal

i

symbols of status | But that's not what Jesus said at all.

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They

PRESOMIPIiUN FUR GREATNESS ~3~ : NOVEMBER ||, 1973

it's a familtar passage. \ on Tho way to Jerusalem, James and John asked Jesus a
atari, niemme en] coma

tevor: [thoy wanted to sit at his right and left, in Mark's obrass fin your glory.' | Now
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let's not fall prey | to the common mistake of spiritualizing everything the discipies said,
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letew taka Shout Nepers

There is every reason to believe that at this potnt in time the twelve triends of Jesus

were assuming that they would shortly be occupying the seats ‘of power in Jerusalem. \ tose

rere very human, ambitious men, on thelr way to a political coup detat, and when ft
Serre nr ocr

happened they wanted te bu sure they had a piece of the action. When he was king, they
ae, —_——ae — — ne

wanted to be his Regent and Chancetor,

Jesus’ response is interesting: }vAre you sure you know what you are esking? fre you

Sure you can stand with mu in the days cheat Whatever glory that is coming to me wil}

be bought at a very dear pricu.”| “We are able,” they answered, and significantly both
Lei eg ped ~— .

James and John dled as martyrs sccarding te tradition.

in any case, the other ten beceme a little upset at the arrogence and presumptious~

ness of their collegues: or was it jealousy? | so Jesus sat them down to loarn a
ain, tae rena |

lesson:\a lesson he had tried to teach before and would try te tTGach agaln: 2 lesson
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rooted In the long ago fetter written by the Prophet to their exiled forefathers.

Greatness is sorving:| sorving iS grsatness.
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"You know that those who ary supposed to rule over the Gentiles lord_it over them,"

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he said.\ There is a sting In that “supposed to cute".\ The anctent historian Tacitus

records the rampant corruption ameng Minor Roman offictals, complete with records of
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their trials and convictions. | th Jews knew how empty pol tiga, status could be when it

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became synonymous with bribery, duception, corruption.
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"Well", Jesus said, “that?s not the way it is with you. ior is it the way God sees
rT) hos aver would be. greet among you must be your servant, and whoever would be
first among you must be a slave of ait]
The subtl. significance here is in what Jésus did not say: \ He did not tand ail over
eeerarcisemacl, mmo Leese d

a) ai fa i ' ch '
over the disciples for wa ating to pe ors othe didntt crLticizs them for lusting after

Status and the symbols of stetus Nir fact he seems s_to have been saying that the desire

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is normal, healthy, positive. \what ne did wes totally reverse the definition of greatness

eine |

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ans status, so that losers come out winners and th: slaves come out on the top of the heap.

wm “veer

PRESCRIPTION FOR GREATNESS -4+ NOVEMBER I1, 1973

He inverted the entire social pyramid with one fel! swoop, in @ way that was radical and

revolutionary - and stiil is.
In light of that, in light of what ho said about reatness and status let's return
—_ah 1 “ Cie)
alte bane oy pag
now to our situation, | Much has been made of our obsession wa th status. \ In our cul ture
the possession of certain commonly accepted symbols of status is one of the most powerful

motivational forces soing | Advertising depends on i+;{ one of the clearest messages we

recelve from television comperciais is that this product wid | produce status, or at feast

envy in the hearts of our ngighvors.\ Someone has defined an American os| person who

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borrows money he cantt back to buy something he doe d to impress someone he
A ¥ Pay. ph Michels go. salt nee Press some

doesn?t Hike." ellen ornare So ee

The typical religious response to this is +o be critical of status seeking per se, to
_ ~

étlign religion against the common desire for greatness. | and that is wrong | if Jesus
meant what he said to the disciples it is wrong, and its perpetuation by well meaning souls

is one of the reasons the rea! world simply doesn't listen when Christians begin talking.

The fact is that status - and status seeking is part of the human situation. Even tn

the church:}even in monastic orders founded on the principle of non-status and humi tity.

Even In communism ideologically based @n absolute egalitaranism there Is a drive to

wucceed, to climb the ladder, to get there. Status seeking is part of the human condition

in, MLN el

Sophisticated executives tn business know its reality and power:\iney know the mean~
LD ) ell i cg:

ing of an office of one's own, with a carpor| they know the existential force of having

one's own key to the executive rest room. \ itn the rareitied atmosphere of academia the
alana ein al a el Caneel

symbols differ but the seeking of status remains tn the form of degress, pubi ished

articles in scholarly journals and fat consul ting fees.\ even minister - although pro-

priety mitigates against driving cadillacs ~ have their symbols of status professors

enemies dt

“ith whom | am on a first name pasis;|\schoo! s live attended; |sonctusrigs | have filted.
Ftnesmeccgmritnie ee Extinct retina RS

It?s part of our Lite:\there's no getting away from i \tve | been introudced to people

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at ae : ' : .
as a Presbyterian minister who ask if I'm with the downtown church, and who seem genuinely

disappointed when | say no. \ But recently, as it was happening, the person who introduced

me: seid, \"eut, he spent the summer in Scotland. } Ammebofalustedese Status crept back in a | was

amused at my own culpability afterward, because having been given fronrtalat

a. 2 peuia wo.

PRESCRIPTION FOR GREATNESS ~~ | ' NOVEMBER il, £973

proceeded to wade right into # few rounds of "when we were in stonehenge this summer", ™
and it feltpretty good | Among many other symbols of status, travel fs a "comer" [ am
bi amin ee | mee Toa

discovering.

So it's part of us:\ wo need something by which fo attinn who we aro The Rev. Jesse

Jackson who used to head-up Operation Bread Basket on the Sduth Side of Chicago, began

is Sat ing meetings with the "lowe " by walkl the_podtum, look!
his Saturday morning meetings with the "lower than poor y wa ng to the Fum ng

at his audience and Saying "1" ~ they answered in one voice 1 sagt - vant" | "sombody" -

"somebody" and the auditorium would erupt,

——e

We need to affirm that we are:| that we have identity: that we natter\ We need

symbols that reflect our value system, and that will, in turn, give meaning to our lives,

And it is precisely at this pointé that we are confronted and Judged by the word of God:

bate I

not for our need 4A not for wanting status not for pursuing gceotnes ou for using
Or 7

the wrong definitions) for atiowing our culture to define what greatness: “and therebye

Turning our backs on God's definition.

That's our sin, essential ty:\ putting our eggs in the Wrong basket | al lowing culture,

peer group, other people to assume God's place. | Playing to the wrong gallery, that is

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Said

fo say. \ For ultimately we are accountable +o Him: \pne He has told us the basis on which
nnsien TCGegpe
‘- measures us\ The word is service \ servanthood \ To be a Christian is to wo tepent, to
worliny,
‘| ane if invotves changing some definitions. Whoever would

turn around, to be converted
Wim EEN

be great among you must be your servant," We siuge 4 sewn vptiavy | — rarer Chedginy

" jeanatt . ' : n : noo :
Se e 2 an am 3 . 3 : r
Now ervice™ has become a amorphous , vague word \ We Have Service Ciubs Worship

ow,

services": |e get our automobiles "serviced" \ What does it mean really, "to serve"?

The New Testament word is realted to ministry - which always points in the direction of

identifying with peopls where they are. \ service begins, thes, at the feeling level .\ If

vou are going to serve others you haveto be abla to fee} with them.

And at this particular point in time the ability to feet win others ~ the wWhilingness

fo bear in one's heart the pain of other people - is something our nation desparately
Lan

aeeds.\ It's not easy anymore. \ Pictures of starving children don't grip us the way they

used to because we've seen it so often. \ television has brought so much suffering into our

living rooms that we have begun to protect ourselves from it; [we build invisible defense

PRESCRIPTION FOR ORRATNESS Bn NOVEMBER [!, 197%

barriers to keep out pain and starvation and poverty. on news has been so consistantly
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fact thtbtcds

bad recently that the natural reaction Is to shut i+ out \ Time carried a cartoon On Reeontty

t \ A A
hat said fit alf man and woman are cowering behind the couch, quivering in fear as the
announcer intones, ("And Now for the Evening News."

Sof think it is the calling, and the burden, of the Christian to hold on to sensi-

tivity - the ability to feel - for dear Lite:\ think it is our calling to fee! Me pain

To

im our bodies when we know someone is burtings\ to weep -when we see tragedy \t0 rage in

anger when politicians make a mockery of our trust, our Las our constitution. \ I thir Think
errata, ia hanmeatelniral
ever wh bong hey
it is our burden, alone, to reject the fompting retreat into: ‘emotional numbness.
icra etre,

service begins with feeling, identitying with, assuming _as one's own - the pain of

others.\ And tf that's what it means to be called a bleeding ‘heart, so be 1+ because it

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iS our Lord who calis us to it.| That's where it begins, and it proceeds as we rol! up

our sleeves and go to work;\when the {ife we have been given to tive begins to find its
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— Leen eine

nat what yay hase cviheeted but Asw you ha
bulged oe
That's God's s definition of status (Mert Jesus Christ he has given us < @ model.

meaning in the other lives it haftps.
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George Peters put it this way:

"If you have any comprehension of the being and nature of

glory of God, then the fact_that he dwelt among us to serve us ought

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to overwhelm us, stagger us, take our breath away."

The incarnetion: [the coming of God aimighty to dwell amotig us happened, after all,

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not in @ palace nursery, but in a dirty cow stall | and it was:consumated, not on the

throne of David but on a cress, between two thieves.
There is a line somewhere in Robert Frost that oos |" bid you to a one-man revolution." |
—w

So - | bid you this norning.\ God cafls us - not to abject pum t ity, not to lowliness and

self debasement, but to status - to greatness. \ And in Jesus Chel st he has offered a brand

new definition of what that means.

I+ seems to me that an awful bt depends on grasping that...
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‘Whoever would be great among you mygt be your soront AMEN

Father, it is good to know that you smile on our desire to be great: our need to have
Status. Help us es we turn upside down our comfortable definitions of those words:
*hrough Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN