First Reading: Isaiah 45:1-7
1Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped, to subdue nations before him and to loose the belts of kings, to open doors before him that gates may not be closed: 2“I will go before you and level the exalted places, I will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron, 3I will give you the treasures of darkness and the hoards in secret places, that you may know that it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, who call you by your name. 4For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name, I name you, though you do not know me. 5I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know me, 6that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the Lord, and there is no other. 7I form light and create darkness; I make well-being and create calamity; I am the Lord, who does all these things.”
Psalm 96:1-13
1Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the whole earth. 2Sing to the Lord and bless his Name; proclaim the good news of his salvation from day to day. 3Declare his glory among the nations and his wonders among all peoples. 4For great is the Lord and greatly to be praised; he is more to be feared than all gods. 5As for all the gods of the nations, they are but idols; but it is the Lord who made the heavens. 6Oh, the majesty and magnificence of his presence! Oh, the power and the splendor of his sanctuary! 7Ascribe to the Lord, you families of the peoples; ascribe to the Lord honor and power. 8Ascribe to the Lord the honor due his name; bring offerings and come into his courts. 9Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness; let the whole earth tremble before him. 10Tell it out among the nations: “The Lord is King! he has made the world so firm that it cannot be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity.” 11Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; let the sea thunder and all that is in it; let the field be joyful and all that is therein. 12Then shall all the trees of the wood shout for joy before the Lord when he comes, when he comes to judge the earth. 13He will judge the world with righteousness and the peoples with his truth.
Second Reading: 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
1Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace. 2We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, 3remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 4For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. 6And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, 7so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. 8For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything. 9For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.
Gospel: Matthew 22:15-22
15The Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle {Jesus} in his words. 16And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone’s opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances. 17Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” 18But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? 19Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. 20And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” 21They said, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” 22When they heard it, they marveled. And they left him and went away.
Lead by Example
How many here today grew up with a parent that said, “do as I say, not as I do?” Or with the axiom, your actions may be the only bible people ever read?” Or the proverb that was famous in my house, “actions speak louder than words?” Well despite what many people think, none of these sayings are actually found in the Bible. The closest verse you come to is found in John 14:15, “If you love me, keep my commands.” As Disciples of Jesus, we’re not only implored to be obedient to God, but as Paul tells us in Ephesians 4:1, “I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called.” Obedience and living our lives as examples are all part of the Christian life.
Arthur Ashe was a world-class tennis player who believed in leading by example. In an interview just before his death, Ashe said, “My wife and I talk about this with our six-year-old daughter. Children are much more impressed by what they see you do, than by what you say. Children at that age certainly keep you honest. If you’ve been preaching one thing all along, and suddenly you don’t do it, they’re going to bring it right up in your face.”
“I tell her it’s not polite to eat with your elbows on the table. Then after dinner I’m putting my elbows up. She says, ‘Daddy, your elbows are on the table.’ You have to be man enough, or woman enough, to say, “’You’re right,’ and take your elbows down. In fact, that’s an even stronger learning experience than her hearing it.” It means that she did listen in the past. She understands it. And she recognizes it when she sees it. But it takes actions, rather than mere words, to accomplish that.” Instinctively we all know this; actions always speak louder than words.
Another pastor tells about a three-year-old boy who had been learning the game of golf by watching his grandfather play. “The boy was so enthused,’ said his Grandpa, “I bought him his own set of clubs.” The following week the entire family had a cookout and the little boy who had learned to golf by watching Grandpa announced, “Watch me play golf!” and then he said a naughty word and threw his golf club into the pear tree! My dad used to tell me all the time, out of the mouth of babes comes everything that should have never been said in the first place. That goes for our actions as well.
St. Paul praised the Christians at Thessalonica for being “an example to all that believe in Macedonia and Achaia.” The people at Thessalonica had been worshipers of idols, but now they were imitators of Christ. They made this transition in the middle of a very stressful time for the early church. They were enduring persecution not only from the Roman government, but also from the pagan community and the Jews as well. And despite all the difficulties they faced, there was nothing phony in their witness, and according to Paul, everyone who heard their story was compelled by it. That’s what we need today. We need people who are willing to be examples. People willing to abandon their own pleasure and desires for the good of God’s kingdom. People who understand that this world needs Godly role models.
An unknown author has described our world like this: “We have taller buildings, but shorter tempers; wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less. We buy more, but enjoy it less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees, but less sense; more knowledge, but less judgement; more experts, but more problems; more medicine, but less wellness. We have multiplied our possessions but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often. We’ve learned how to make a living, but not a life. We’ve added years to life, not life to years.”
“We’ve been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet the new neighbor. We’ve conquered outer space, but not inner space. We’ve cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We’ve split the atom, but not our prejudice. We have higher incomes, but lower morals. We’ve become long on quantity, but short on quality. These are the times of tall men and short character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the times of world peace; but domestic warfare; more leisure, but less fun; more kinds of food, but less nutrition. These are the days of two incomes, but more divorce; of fancier houses, but broken homes. It’s a time when there is much in the show window, and nothing in the stockroom.” Whoever the writer is, they nailed our current American situation.
Every generation has needed its Godly role models, but this generation needs its Godly role models more than ever. Today, we need people who do more than talk the talk, we need people who walk the walk. A familiar face of the recent past belongs to Dave Thomas, the founder of the Wendy’s hamburger chain. When Dave Thomas was just fifteen, he dropped out of High school and moved out on his own. He got a full-time job in the restaurant business, and eventually created the great success that is Wendy’s. But despite his success, Dave never got over his regret of dropping out of school. And he never felt comfortable when people pointed to him as a successful drop-out. He didn’t want to encourage kids to follow his example. So, Dave decided to get his high school diploma.
In 1992, he hired a tutor and began studying for his GED. He said it was hard work, but eventually Dave took the test and passed. That was just 10 years before he died. Someone at Coconut Creek High School in Florida heard of Dave’s effort, and so the student body decided to adopt him. They invited Dave and his wife, Lorraine, to their prom, where they crowned them King and Queen of the event. The students and faculty wanted to honor Dave for going back and taking care of business.
I admire Dave Thomas for his desire to not be an example of a successful drop out, but as an example of someone who was not only a success, but also completed High School no matter the age. Would that everyone had that level of concern for the example they’re setting for our young.
There was an article in the news sometime back about a New York Assembly-woman who pleaded guilty to driving while alcohol impaired. Nothing unusual about that, unfortunately. What was sad was that she was the chair of the Assembly’s Alcohol and Drug Abuse committee. Do people not care about the impact they have on others anymore? Are we so self-absorbed as a people, that we no longer have any concern about the example we set for others?
There was another article in the papers about a member of the Labor Party in Great Britain, a Member of Parliament, who was addressing a conference about the environmental damage caused by cars. He railed that “the way we travel is damaging our towns, harming our countryside and already changing the climate of the planet.” What he said was fine and good, that is until someone pointed out that this allegedly environmentally concerned politician, who railed at the damage cars do, had arrived at the meeting in a stretch limousine. We need people who not only talk the talk, but who are willing to walk the walk. And even more important than those who set a secular example, we need Christians who are willing to set both a secular and Godly example for others to follow. Once there was such a woman by the name of Dranafice.
Rose Dranafice was a poor woman who lived many years ago in Albania. Rose and her husband opened their home to the poor and hungry in their town. Whenever one of Rose’s daughters would ask who the new visitor at their dinner table was, Rose would answer that it was a relative. Rose’s daughters grew up believing that they came from an enormous extended family. Even after Rose’s husband died, and the family was plunged into poverty, Rose found a way to give food to the hungry and help to the destitute.
One of Rose’s daughters was greatly influenced by her mother’s example of sacrificial love. And now, as Paul Harvey would say, for the rest of the story: This daughter, Agnes, grew up to become an advocate for the poor all over the world. She devoted her whole life to caring for those in need. Young Agnes grew up to become Saint Mother Teresa, the twentieth century’s living example of Christ in the world.
Saint Teresa became who she was because of the example of her mother. Examples do matter. The best hope this world has is that God will raise up people who understand that our lives are intertwined–that who I am, and what I do, affects who you are and what you do. I can look at my life, and see that I am who I am, because of the example of significant people in my life. And the same is true for all of us. This is how most people become followers of Christ. It isn’t because someone argued them into the kingdom, but because someone loved them into the kingdom and set an example of Christ-like living.
Some of you may have heard of Paul and Margaret Brand, medical doctors who served in India. India has more than three million people with leprosy, and Dr. Paul Brand was the first orthopedic surgeon to treat them. Dr. Margaret Brand was an ophthalmologist. The Brands had one patient named Sadan who looked like “a miniature version of Gandhi.” Sadan understood what rejection as a leper was. He was made fun of, kicked, and even turned away from hospitals. Sadan said, “I can still remember when Dr. Brand took my infected, ulcerated feet in his hands. . . . Dr. Brand and his wife were the first medical workers who dared to touch me.” Sadan had undergone numerous operations including “tendon transfers, nerve stripping, toe amputations, and cataract removal.”
Despite his suffering, here’s how Sadan, a man who suffered from leprosy characterized his life: “I must say that I am now happy that I had this disease. Apart from leprosy, I would have been a normal man with a normal family, chasing wealth and a higher position in society. I would never have known such wonderful people as Dr. Paul and Dr. Margaret, and I would never have known the God who lives in them.”
That’s how people come to Christ–they encounter Christ in those who follow Him. That’s why St. Paul was praising the Christians at Thessalonica. This is how children grow into responsible adults. This is how people come to faith in the living Christ. It’s by those who care enough to sacrifice their own selfish desires to live a Godly life that contributes to the greater good. It’s by those who care enough to set an example of Christ’s love, joy, hope, and courage.
There’s a story in a past edition of the Chicken Soup for the Soul books told by a mother in Costa Mesa, California. It was a hectic day in their home, she says, but with 10 children and one on the way, every day was a bit hectic. On this particular day, however, this mother was having trouble doing even routine chores–all because of one of her little boys. Len, who was three at the time, was on her heels no matter where she went. Whenever she stopped to do something and turned back around, she would trip over him. Several times, she patiently suggested fun activities to keep Len occupied. “Wouldn’t you like to play on the swing set?” she asked again. But he simply smiled an innocent smile and said, “Oh, that’s all right, Mommy. I’d rather be in here with you.” Then he continued to bounce happily along behind her.
After stepping on his toes for the fifth time, Len’s Mom began to lose her patience and insisted that he go outside and play with the other children. When she asked him why he was acting this way, he looked up at her with sweet green eyes and said, “Well, Mommy, in Sunday school my teacher told me to walk in Jesus’ footsteps. But I can’t see [Jesus], so I’m walking in yours.” Isn’t that what discipleship is all about, obedience to God’s commands and living our lives as examples for others? Role models still count. Worthy examples still make a difference.
Perhaps, if the Christians at Thessalonica, two thousand years ago, hadn’t been faithful under immense hardship–setting examples of sacrificial love for their neighbors–you and I wouldn’t be Christians in this millennium. There are way too many hypocrites in the world around us. What we need today is people who not only talk the talk, but people who are willing to walk the walk. Today, more than ever, we need people who are willing to set aside their wants and desires and be people who are not only obedient to God’s commands, but who are willing to set aside their wants and desires and be a Godly example for others to follow.
Amen