Being God's Slaves

Sermon preached by the Rev. Lowell E. Grisham, Rector
St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Fayetteville, Arkansas
October 6, 2007; 19th Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 22, Year C
Episcopal Revised Common Lectionary

(Luke 17:5-10) – The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!" The Lord replied, "If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, `Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you.

"Who among you would say to your slave who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, `Come here at once and take your place at the table'? Would you not rather say to him, `Prepare supper for me, put on your apron and serve me while I eat and drink; later you may eat and drink'? Do you thank the slave for doing what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, `We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!'
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We certainly get a challenge today to any sense of self-righteousness any of us may nurture. “When you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, ‘We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!’” No room for presumptuousness there. “I’m a good Episcopalian; a fine citizen and spouse; a generous steward and compassionate to my neighbor.” “So what!”

Jesus sets up a contrast between a relationship based on merit or achievement and a relationship based on belonging. A slave belongs to a master for life. The bond is indissoluble.

It’s not like working for an employer. If you do your work well, then you expect payment. The employer owes you. That’s an expectation. If you come to work and perform your job, you expect, you deserve a pay check.

But a slave is different. A slave belongs to a master. Period. And the master has total responsibility for the slave. The master will supply the slave’s quarters and food and clothing. The slave will do his duty.

I told some stories about my chronically homeless and addicted friend Phillip a few weeks ago. I remember Philip recalling wanly about his days in prison. “It wasn’t so bad,” he chuckled. “I had a roof over my head and three meals a day. I didn’t even have to buy clothes.” Not unlike what another friend who finished his military service told me. He said there was something liberating about military life. He got his orders and mission every day. He didn’t have to wonder or decide about what he should do. He didn’t have to decide what shirt to wear or what insurance to buy. The military provided everything. He said there was a sense of security and identity in all of that. “I knew who I was and what was expected of me. In some ways it’s harder out here in the civilian world,” he said.

There can be something liberating about laboring entirely out of a sense of identity and belonging – this is who I am and this is what I do. I do my duty. Time magazine reported about a firefighter who was headed into the World Trade Center just before its collapse. A bystander shouted to him, “You can’t go in there!” “Are you nuts? This is my job,” he replied. That’s a man whose sense of identity and belonging was so complete that his job had become a privilege. He was silently witnessing, “This is who I am and what I do; I put out fires. I do it not just to get some reward or a paycheck, but out of the highest sense of identity and duty.”

When firefighters and soldiers go into danger, they do so trusting in the training they’ve practiced and the commitment they’ve made. They display trust. Faith, if you will. Faith is a verb. It is acting in a manner consistent with your trust. Faith is like an on/off switch. You either trust or you don’t. In some sense, the disciple’s cry, “Increase our faith!” is the wrong sentiment. Maybe that’s why Jesus scolded them. You either act out of faith or you don’t. You either go into the building or you don’t. A little faith is all you need. Jesus tells his disciples, you’ve got all the faith you need. Do what is consistent with your being.

That firefighter didn’t debate with himself whether or not he should go into a burning building. He was a firefighter simply doing his duty. Jesus invites us into a similar sense of identity. You belong to God. You don’t have to debate about what you should wear or what you should do. You are bound to God in an indissoluble bond. Trust God and do whatever God’s people do.

The flavor of the slave imagery changes when we consider the nature of this Master. This Master, God, completely loves the slaves. This is the Master who is perfect Love. It is God, revealed in stories like the Prodigal Son – the Father who runs to embrace the profligate child and still gives to the elder everything. It is the God Jesus describes in the Kingdom where the slaves sit down and the Master serves them. In this Kingdom, Jesus is the Master who pours out his life for his own; who not only sets the table, but becomes the food and drink for his companions. This is the Master who makes the slaves his own children and heirs.

In this service, everything is provided. The whole of creation is God’s gift to God’s children. Therefore Jesus tells us, “Do not be anxious about what you shall eat or what you shall wear. It is your Father’s good pleasure to give you these things.”

God’s invitation to us is to be so confident of our identity as belonging to God, that we can be completely secure. We don’t have to be preoccupied by failure when we serve a God who forgives unconditionally; we don’t have to be anxious about our performance or our to-do lists with a God who is love; we don’t have to earn anything, because we already belong to God and God’s bond to us is as indissoluble as a slave’s.

So we are free. We are given the identity and meaning that sets us free. We belong to God. Therefore we are free. Free to meet the moment with complete trust. At each moment of life we can ask ourselves, “What does this moment demand or offer?” I’m God’s person so I am free to do my job. That’s who I am and that’s my job – to do what God wills. Almost carelessly. With the same kind of detached disinterest as a fireman going into a fire. “Are you nuts? This is my job?”

A couple of snapshots of what that looks like. When you don’t have to be something other than who you are – God’s person.

The story is told that when Dr. David Livingstone returned to the U.S., a contingent of dignitaries and media people swarmed around his plane. They wanted to be close to and hear from this heroic person. They were surprised when he looked past them, pushed his way through the crowd, concentrating on some mission rather than basking in their accolades. Finally free of the crowd, Dr. Livingstone went to the side of a small woman struggling with her child and her baggage. Humbly asking if he could be of assistance, he stooped to help her with her burden. He didn’t have to think about it. That’s just the way a servant is.

Dr. Bernie Siegel tells about a patient who had a small tumor near a facial nerve. The surgeon expected that the tumor could be successfully removed and be no longer threatening, but there was a risk that the nerve might be entangled and would have to be cut. If that happened, it would leave a portion of her face without feeling and somewhat disfigured. He looked in on the woman and her husband as she awoke from the procedure. She asked how everything went. The tumor was gone, but the nerve had to be cut. In the silence, her husband leaned over her bedside; twisting his mouth slightly to match hers, he kissed her gently, saying, “I think it looks kind of cute.” He didn’t have to think about it. That’s just the way love is.

We belong to God just as surely as that husband belonged to his wife and David Livingstone belonged to the humble. We don’t have to do anything special except be who we are, God’s people. All we need is enough faith to accept that we are God’s own. It’s an on/off switch. Trust that you are God’s, and be who you are. There’s a prayer I’ve heard from somewhere: “O God, I don’t pray for enough faith to move mountains. I can get enough dynamite and bulldozers to do that. What I need and ask for is enough faith to move me.”

Jesus invites us to the simple trust that we belong to God. Jesus gives us several images. We are children of the Most High. We are slaves of the God who loves us without measure. We don’t have to do anything to earn or accomplish our standing. And whatever we do is nothing more than living into our identity and meaning – doing our duty.

“So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, ‘We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!’” Trust the training you’ve practiced and the commitment you have made, and walk freely to the banquet table, where God serve the slaves and God’s Son is the food of eternal life.

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