The St. Thomas More Society Scranton, Pennsylvania
2301 N. Washington Avenue
Scranton, Pennsylvania 18509
Mr. Eric L. Bergman, Executive Director
The Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost
August 7, 2005
The 5PM Service of Evening Prayer
2 Samuel 13:1-22, Romans 15:1-13 and John 3:22-36
In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Amen.
In the story of the rape of Tamar, which we heard this evening, there is a pivotal moment, a turning point at which the course of events cannot but end in tragedy. That moment is when Amnon listens to the advice of his first cousin, Jonadab. The story begins with Amnon feeling sexually attracted to his half-sister Tamar, so smitten that he made himself physically ill. His condition was worsened because he knew what was right, that God’s law prohibited him from acting on his desire, not only because Tamar was his sister but also because she was a virgin. His orientation became to contemplate how to obtain what he wanted, and Jonadab’s advice is pivotal because he gave Amnon the means to accomplish his wicked objective. I don’t want to concentrate upon what exactly Jonadab said but to highlight what role he played in Tamar’s desecration.
Jonadab served as an agent to help Amnon get what he coveted, to help Amnon acquire what belonged to someone else. When we are confronted with covetousness in ourselves or in others close to us, this is one approach we can take. But there is a virtuous alternative. Very simply, Jonadab could have done something quite different than help Amnon figure out how to violate Tamar. He could have held Amnon to a higher standard, helping his cousin to be content with what he had. Because he does not offer sound advice Amnon rapes Tamar, Absalom murders Amnon, and the king’s household is thrown into disarray. As evidenced by this ancient and tragic story, the destructive power of covetousness is very great, so this evening I will talk about how we can resist and avoid covetousness, as well as discuss the virtue that we should instead pursue.
In our Gospel this evening there is an undercurrent of covetousness in those who question John the Baptist. They say to him, “Rabbi, he who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you bore witness, here he is, baptizing, and all are going to him” (John 3:26). The implication is that John should be concerned because more people are going to Jesus than are following him who was baptizing people first. But John does not fall into the trap. He compares himself to the best man, reminding them that he never claimed to be the Christ. As the best man he rejoices at the sound of the bridegroom’s voice, because he recognizes that the marriage between the Lord and His people is close at hand. He finds joy in pointing to the groom, in directing the gaze of the people away from himself and towards Jesus. He ends by telling the people who expect him to be jealous, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30).
John by his words and actions demonstrates the first key to avoiding covetousness, which is to reject every invitation to self-importance. John never loses his perspective. In doing great works for Jesus he never imagines that what he’s doing is in any way primarily about him. He does not covet the glory that God deserves, because he realizes always that he is not God. The temptation for all of us who participate in great works for Jesus is to forget that we are trying to get people to look to Jesus. We get sidetracked and invite people to look at us. But when the Gospel is about us it can no longer be about Jesus, so preachers who love the spotlight, no matter how much attention they get, ultimately fail in the mission of every Christian to bring people to Jesus and bring Jesus to the people. To become self-important is to forget what is important, so John’s example is especially helpful here – when the people of the world want to praise us for how much good work we’re doing we need to deflect the attention and, like John say, “No one can receive anything except what is given him from heaven.... He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:27,30).
When we are not the most important agent in any given endeavor, then we can work with God’s children rather than against them. St. Paul makes reference to this truth in tonight’s lesson from his Epistle to the Romans. He writes, “May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 15:5-6). St. Paul here eschews the competition that is so common among and between people. When we covet the limelight, or the positions of power, or some advantage over our fellow men then life becomes a perpetual game of one-upmanship. Instead of being able to see the different ways by which we all complement each other with our various gifts, covetousness blinds us. Covetousness causes us to compete with others, causes us to use the gifts God has given us to demean and destroy our neighbors. For example, Amnon used his superior physical strength not to protect his sister Tamar, but to violate her. Even as she used her gifts to take care of Amnon, he used his gifts to take from Tamar.
To avoid covetousness, then, we must not only lack self-importance. We must also couple our humility with a desire to glorify God. Our motive for success can never be to accumulate and acquire what other people have, as if the amount of one’s possessions is a measure of the man. No, our motive for success must be the glorification of Him who makes every good thing, including success, possible. If everyone is dedicated to this purpose, the glorification of a glorious God, then the competition between men that issues in their destruction will cease. Instead of attempting to best our neighbors we will in all humility seek them out, offering to join forces to help make our Lord the center of the world’s attention, which, of course will mean that we are not the center of the world’s attention. If figuratively speaking we should be the one to carry the ball into the end zone we will not seek the adulation of the crowd by doing a ridiculous dance – we will share the limelight with the whole team, which is what our Captain expects of us.
So to avoid covetousness we must first avoid self-importance. Second, we must eschew competition in favor of joint ventures with our neighbors in the glorification of God. The third thing we must do is put ever before us the glory we ultimately desire. To covet is a very temporal sin, as it invariably involves desiring something of this world, something we can experience in the here and now, even if we can’t see it and touch it. For example, we may covet an object, but we may also covet a certain relationship, or the contentment of a friend. Since we can’t take eternal life from someone and make it our own, covetousness always involves the earthly realm. Thus, the glory that can be derived from acquiring what we covet is limited to the time we spend upon this earth. If we covet money, or fame, or romance, we must recognize that we can take none of it along in the life to come.
St. John the Evangelist recognized this phenomenon, so he added a little postscript to his account of John the Baptist’s encounter with those who would tempt him. St. John wrote, “He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth belongs to the earth, and of the earth he speaks” (John 3:31). St. John knew that the pursuit of glory for ourselves drags us down, causes us to focus upon that which does not finally last. When we pursue earthly glory we are often willing to put at risk our eternal souls for a bit of temporary pleasure. Amnon, full of self-importance, seeing his sister as someone he had to conquer, ultimately was willing to disregard what he knew was right in order to get what he wanted, was willing to forfeit his soul for a fleeting satisfaction.
Jesus, however, was not. As St. Paul reminds us, “Christ did not please himself” (Romans 15:3). Whereas we have all chosen wrongly at some point in our lives in order to please ourselves, he who is our example never did. For Jesus, our salvation was more important than his very life. He was willing to suffer so that heaven could be ours. More than any earthly glory he wanted heavenly glory for us. So in the end, if we want to avoid covetousness we must desire life with our Lord in heaven for our neighbors and then for ourselves more than we want anything of this world. We must keep before us the eternal destiny that God desires for each of his human creation. Unless we are willing to put aside our egos, work with our neighbors, and seek to a heavenly glory before an earthly one we will have covetousness as a constant companion.
As we await our confirmation it may seem tempting to covet what others now have. After all, so many people have been confirmed and received into their parishes in a shorter amount of time and after expending far less effort. Our job, though, is not to wish we had what others do – our job is join with our brothers and sisters in Christ to glorify God with one voice. We are not in competition with other faithful Catholics; we are a complement to them as we seek to bring ever more people to Jesus Christ.
Even though we don’t have what others do, and we may be expected to do more, we must remember also that others do not have what we do. The average convert to Catholicism in the Diocese of Scranton does not get the attention each of us is getting, he does not get the Rector of the Cathedral to be his catechetical instructor, and he is not allowed to form a society and worship in the manner he used to. That is, the average convert is not going to be part of the founding of a new parish, a new parish that is unique because it is a parish of converts. In other words, Jesus has given us a different assignment in the fulfillment of his one mission. We have received different gifts, so we have a different job. If we had the same gifts others do we would be expected to do what others do.
I tell you this to encourage you. But the greatest encouragement is this – we are not finally making these sacrifices for ourselves. We are making these sacrifices for others, so that Episcopalians have a place to seek shelter from the storm, so that the vulnerable will have a group of people willing to speak for them, so that people we have not even met yet can come to Christ because they were able to see him in us. As we seek to glorify God by being a complement to our fellow Catholics, this is where we can leave all our self-importance – in the conviction that the salvation of others is important enough for us to do all we must to fulfill our assignment.
In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Amen.