Remembering, Realizing, and Living

In this week's Gospel lesson Jesus wants to make sure that we're in line with a few things.

Number one, he doesn't want us wearing broad phylacteries. Is your phylactery broad? . . . Don't even know what it is, much less have a long one? OK - check.

Number two, he doesn't want us to have long fringes on our robes, or to be called rabbi. Does your robe have extraordinarily long fringes? Any rabbis out there? OK, check - we've taken care of those too.

Number three, he wants us to be truly humble and live as servants. Hmmm. That one's a litte tougher isn't it?!

A phylactery is a box containing verses of scripture which is worn on the forehead and forearm by devout orthodox Jews. The fringes, or tassels, went along with the ancient dress of Jews. And rabbi, of course, is the title given to Jewish leaders of congregations or teachers.

The problem obviously wasn't with the phylacteries, fringes, or titles. The problem was their use. People were using these things to put themselves above others. They wanted people to look over at them and say, "Wow, look at the size of Mike's phylactery! - he must be very religious."

They were trying to put on a show so that others would be impressed. They were trying to put on a show so that they would feel impressive themselves. They wanted to be noticed, and wanted to feel important.

The thing is, God sees right through all that stuff. As the words of the Collect for Purity say, God is the God to whom all hearts are open, all desires known, and from whom no secrets are hid.

Although don't feel too comfortable about that fact that you neither have a phylactery or a fringe - because we all have phylacteries and fringes. We just call them different things. We build big homes. Or wear fancy clothes. We fuss about our hair. We think that by reading lots of books we'll be smarter. We try and kill the deer with the most points.

If you think about it, you probably have a fringe or two. And, no matter how much hair covers your forehead, you have a few phylacteries too.

This is all totally related to humility, which Jesus explicity asks of us in this reading.

Do you know what humility is?

It's not feeling badly about yourself. It's not beating yourself up unnecessarily.

Humility is realizing, remembering, and living into who we are - who we really and truly are.

And part of that is letting go of what we aren't: we are not in control, we are not in charge, we do not know it all, and we have no more power and authority than God entrusts us with.

We are creatures in God's creation. We are servants in God's Kingdom. And we are completely and totally reliant on God for everything: every breath, every heartbeat, every sunrise, and every blessing.

We build ourselves up - we make ourselves look good - we buy lots of stuff to try and set up the illusion that we're important, we're powerful, we're in charge, we're self-sufficient, and we know it all.

And, the fact is, we're none of those things.

Once we realize that - once we get the big picture of who we are - we can begin to grapple with the smaller picture.

We might be President of the United States. Or King of Burundi. Maybe we clean toilets at the mall. Maybe we're a school teacher, sheet metal worker, or priest. Maybe we're father or mother, grandfather or grandmother.

But, if we're President, we have to be humble - realizing that God has put us in this office, and we're no better than the fella cleaning the toilets. And, if we're the toilet scrubber, we have to be humble, realizing that we're no better or no worse than the King of Burundi.

Ever see the Lion King? I love Simba's early years. He's the son of the King of Pride Rock, and he knows that that means one day he'll be king. He's full of spunk, and he;s full of himself. He sings a song called "I Just Can't Wait to Be King." He longs for the day that he'll be in charge, the day that no one will be able to say to him "do this" "be there" "stop that" or "see here."

But, when he grows up, and 'remembers' who he is - and he actually ascends to the throne he does it with humility and grace. He does it to serve others, save others - even if it means his own discomfort.

Do you see that? Humility was seen when he ascended to the throne. Humility isn't feeling bad about ourselves, or beating ourselves up. Humility is remembering who we are (creatures in God's Creation and servants in God's Kingdom), realizing who we are (as individuals, becoming who God has called you and me to be) and living into who we are.

We don't know it all. We aren't in control. We aren't in charge. We aren't the end-all-be-all of the universe - no matter how broad we make our phylacteries or how big we build our homes.

In the grand scheme of things we are frail creatures a single breath away from death. We live in a universe we know only a very, very little bit about. And, we're in control of very, very little.

But, we are somebodies. We are creatures of God who God loves. We are creatures of God who God sent His Son for. We are creatures of God who have been asked by Him to be His servants in the world and in His Kingdom.

So, let us remember that. Let us realize that. And, let us live into it - leaving our forehead coverings at home.