The King Who Became a Servant
The Rev. Canon Frank Logue gave this sermon to the Community of St. Joseph on October 1, 2017 for the second anniversary of the ministry with and for homeless persons in Savannah, Georgia .
The King Who Became a Servant
Philippians 2:1-13
I want to start with a once upon a time kind of a story, in order to open a window on the life and ministry of Jesus: This is the story of two boys born on the same day. Though they lived quite near one another, their lives could not have been more different. Tom was born to a poor family who did not want him. Edward was born to a rich family and the whole nation celebrated his birth.
Tom grew up with his large family packed into a room on the third floor of a decaying building. As soon as he was old enough, Tom’s father sent him out into the streets dressed in rags to beg for money, a small child fairing much better at getting hand outs than his dad. Often his father beats him when he returns home for not bringing home enough money. His lot was a common one in his poor neighborhood as “Drunkenness, riot and brawling were the order, there, every night and nearly all night long. Broken heads were as common as hunger in that place.”[1] Life was tough.
Meanwhile Edward grows up with more than enough food, wearing the finest of clothes and receiving the best possible education. You see Edward was the much anticipated son of King Henry VIII. Edward is the crown prince, the future King of England.
One day poor Tom passes the Palace at Westminster and sees a boy of his own age walking the grounds inside of the imposing gates. Excited by a glimpse of the future king, Tom unthinkingly rushes up to the golden gates of the palace and presses his face against the bars. As the guards attempt to get the ruffian to leave, Prince Edward spies the commotion. He walks closer and sees a boy much like himself, but living in rags. Prince Edward invites Tom into the palace.
Once inside, the prince peppers the pauper with questions, learning such surprising facts as not only does Tom and everyone he knows only have one set of clothes, Tom doesn’t understand why he would need two sets of clothes as he only has one body. The two exchange outfits and in the process discover that with a change of clothes, they look so much alike that each could be the other. Edward sees that Tom is bruised and he runs to chew out the guards for their rough treatment of the boy. But the guards see not the young prince, but a boy in rags. They assume he is the poor boy they admitted not many minutes before. The guards laugh when Edward proclaims himself the prince. They toss him out of the palace.
Tom becomes the prince, as no one believes his protests that he is not. And Edward is now a poor boy in the streets, as no one can believe when he says that he is the future king of England.
This is the story The Prince and the Pauper written under the pen name Mark Twain by a newspaperman, Samuel Clemons. The story of the Prince who changes places with a poor boy was Clemens was of getting at the truth by telling it slant. You see, Clemens had noticed how the poor were treated worse by the court system, and how once in that system it was hard to get out. He travelled to England and France and found the situation in those more ancient civilizations just as bad, if not worse. Everywhere he looked, the poor were more likely to end up in prison or even put to death for crimes they did not commit. So Samuel Clemons wrote the story of The Prince and the Pauper to tell readers of the problem in a way he hoped they might hear it.
In the book, the Prince ends up in prison for a short stint and faces a beating. Every where he goes Edward discovers how the world is tilted to make life easier on the rich and even harder than it has to be on the poor, especially once they find themselves in jail. Meanwhile, the poor boy Tom proves himself an able judge as when he stands judgment, his street smarts make him better able to ask questions that get at the truth. He is not as likely to trust someone just because they have money or to distrust someone just because he is poor.
What would you want to do if you could swap places with someone in power? How might what you have learned in life help you be a better judge, or mayor, or governor, or president?
It was a problem to differentiate among blue and green buying viagra in canada color. In various cases cialis generic overnight the treatments of other diseases also cause loss of erection. In this dystopia (just think of it as a levitra prices http://cute-n-tiny.com/tag/human/ ‘dysfunctional utopia’ – if you need to look up for wholesale dealers of Wisconsin Ginseng.Nowadays, plenty of people have started trading in this same line of business. Moreover, its viagra online samples effects last in body for about 6 hours to offer a user long-lasting love-session. In our reading from Paul’s letter to the church in Philippi, we learn that the exact reversal we find in the Prince and the Pauper is what was going on when Jesus became human, except on a much larger scale. Paul writes:
“Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.”
The King of all creation empties himself to be born in human likeness. God the son becomes human. We humans turned our backs on God, yet God did not give up on us. God became human in Jesus. Just as the Prince became the Pauper, so the creator took his place in the creation. But God didn’t cheat and arrange to be born into a king’s household. Jesus was born to a poor girl no one else would have noticed. At the time of his birth, Jesus’ parents had been reduced to living in a cave used for a stable. And as soon as the wise men left, they were on the road as refugees, hiding in Egypt from a King willing to kill every young child in the Bethlehem area just to get rid of Jesus.
Jesus never cheated the system. He loved everyone as God loves them. Jesus paid special attention to the sick, the hungry, the poor, anyone that others looked down on. As our Gospel reading reminds us, Jesus seemed quite pleased that prostitutes and tax collectors were making their way into God’s kingdom ahead of the religious elite.
When he received the death penalty on trumped up charges, Jesus still did not cheat the system. Paul goes on to write in Philippians: “And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross.”
This is the story at the hinge of human history. Even when the cost was death, he would not give up on love.Jesus was willing to die for his love for the poor and the outcast. Humans put that love to death, but not even death could stop God’s love. Three days later, Jesus rose from the grave to break the power of death and to make forgiveness possible by his saving death. Jesus not only showed the way, he opened the path to us all through faith in him. Humans look to outward signs like wealth and power when judging other people. God looks on the content of the heart.
Jesus was the king who became the servant of all in order to turn the world right side up again.
The Community of St. Joseph, this field church, exists to be the church for a world that needs to be turned right side up once more by the love of God as found in Jesus. Today we celebrate the second anniversary of this church. We give thanks not just for the faithfulness of Pastor Jamie and Dan, but also for the many people who have made this ministry possible. This church takes a lot of work to set up each week year round, to feed us with both actual food and spiritual food, This is church as it is meant to be in the great cathedral of the outdoors and leadership depending on gifts and energy not on outward signs of success. The name Community of St. Joseph is matters as this is not just a church, but a community, a community that supports one another, rejoicing together when things go well and mourning together in loss.
In Mark Twain’s the Prince and the Pauper, Edward does end up back in his rightful place and is a more just and good king for his time on the streets. In the kingdom of God, Jesus who lived as one of us resumed his place in heaven and yet God remains with us through the power of the Holy Spirit. I may not know what you are going through, the struggles you have. You may not know the challenges I face. But all of us worship together King Jesus who does know and who cares, and who is with us every step of the way. He understands as he became like us. He knows our struggles and never leaves us or forsakes us.
There have been miracles in this church, as people have found the love of God in Jesus Christ, the king who became the servant of all in order to turn the world right side up again. Jesus knows what it is like to be trapped, and he comes into our lives to set us free. And whether you are still in chains to drugs or alcohol, or whether you are still in chains placed by a father who didn’t want you, who drank and beat you like the Dad in the story, Jesus is here to set you free. Freedom comes through faith in him, followed by a life of faithfulness, as we each seek to be more like Jesus.
It is that faith in Jesus that allows us to see others as God sees them. Seeing others as God sees them is what turns the world right side up once more.
Amen.
[1] From chapter 2 of Mark Twain’s The Prince and The Pauper
