Submission

Jesus' brother, James, wrote long ago to the early followers of Jesus, "Submit to God."

I once counseled a man who at the age of forty had not yet married. The girl of his dreams was waiting for him, they had been dating for five years, but he would not marry her. So she was planning to move away. "I can't stay here, loving you and having you not want to marry me," she said. The man was distraught. He asked for help. When asked why he was so afraid to marry, he said that he was afraid he wouldn't be able to play golf.

Golf? What did that have to do with it? The man was afraid that he would have to give up his freedom, to put someone ahead of himself. He was afraid to submit to his wife. He was afraid to put her first, but there is no other way to have a successful marriage. We have to learn to put ourselves second.

The word to submit has taken such negative undertones. We think of it as an act of a weakling or a victim. It is a word used for abuse and oppression. But submission can also be an act of radical love, especially when it comes to God. To submit. The Greek word is hupotasso, upo means under and tasso means to place in order. Hupotasso, to place oneself under. Scholars believe it was originally a military term, meaning to place oneself under the authority of a commanding officer. The physical gesture associated with submission to God is to kneel or bow. It is a way of saying, "God, you are above me."

The disciples argued with each other about who would sit closest to Jesus in heaven. They knew that there would be a table in heaven, that they would be fed. But who would get to sit next to Jesus? Who would get the seat of honor? When Jesus asked them what they were talking about, their ambition embarrassed them and they didn't know how to answer him. "You must be like a little child to be with me," Jesus said.

When you ask God for something, what do you ask for? For health? For enough money? For a good job or home or successful business? Have you thought about what you are asking for? We all want health and success and popularity but are they really what we want? If the purpose of life is to sit near Jesus at the table, then maybe it is not good to put yourself first. Maybe you need to ask for what would make you more like a child. A child submits to the authority of the parent, it is part of the reality of childhood. A child does not always know what it best, so the parent must decide. Maybe instead of putting ourselves first, we need to follow James' advice and submit to God.

Just two weeks ago, the vicar of St. Mary's Church, Sue Carmichael, was attacked by a homeless man. I was early morning and he had come to receive some money. Damian was living in the woods. He had been drinking. Sue had known him since he was young. His mother was a drug addict. He was mentally ill. She had helped him for years. That morning, when he came in, he was holding a beer. "You don't want that," Sue said and she took the beer. And Damian went crazy.

He punched Sue in the face numerous times. Then he pushed her on her knees and held a knife to her neck. He is huge and strong. She was overpowered. But Sue said that she felt this incredible peace. She just kept saying, over and over again, "Damian, I love you. I love you. You don't want to do this."

Damian stood her up and put his big head on her shoulder and sobbed. "You have to call the police don't you?" he said. "Yes, I'm afraid that I do," she answered. Damian was taken into custody. Sue went to the ER, where she spent more time worrying about Damian than about herself. She is fighting for him to be put in a mental hospital rather than in jail. She fights for him.

Why was Sue not afraid? How was she able to trust, like a child? Well, for one thing, Sue Carmichael knows what to pray for. And she knows that her desires are not necessarily what God wants for her. So she has spent the past 30 years in Springfield ministering to the poor, the homeless, the mentally ill. She gives her money, her heart, her self. She knows what it means to be a baptized child of God. There is nothing to be afraid of. A baptized one already has everything that they could ever want.

When Damian brought her to her knees, Sue knew what it was like to be there. She did not try to get up, to fight him, to struggle. She stayed on her knees. She told him that she loved him. She trusted in the strength of God, not her own strength. She was not afraid.

In a radical act of submission, Sue was willing to die for God. She gave her whole life away.

Why are we called to give? To give is to visibly and practically put yourself under the authority of God. This pledge season, the church is going to ask you to pledge money. We ask you to do this first, before you decide all that you need and all that you want. Ask God first what He wants. Put his authority over yours. Be like a little child and ask your Father in Heaven to guide you. All the things that you want, they may not be what's best for you. Don't you know that there is so much more than just what we see before us? Don't you believe that God knows you better than you know yourself? Give, you baptized ones, and put God first in your life.

Oh, and my friend from my former parish, he did end up marrying his love. And he does play golf. But sometimes, when she needs him to be with her, he doesn't play but submits and loves her more.

James and Generosity

James was Jesus' younger brother.

I had a younger brother. I also have three sons, so I know the phenomenon of the younger brother. The younger brother, if healthy and outgoing, usually bothers the older brother. The younger brother is set to outdo the older. There is inevitable competition, envy, wrestling and yes, play.

Jesus lived with his family for many years. We do not know exactly how many, but he went back home with his parents at age eleven after being found in the temple in Jerusalem talking with the rabbis. From that point on, we hear nothing about his upbringing until his baptism in the river Jordan. But it can be assumed that he lived in Nazareth for at least a few years and continued to know and live beside his brothers.

James, along with his other siblings and his mother, came to Jesus after Jesus' ministry had officially begun. They came not to listen to his teachings but to make him come home. A crowd had gathered. James and his family declared in front of everyone that Jesus was "out of his mind." (Mark 3:21) and they tried to grab him. They wanted to bring him home by force, if necessary. All their experiences with their older brother told them that Jesus had gone crazy, that he was not acting like himself. Jesus' behavior was an embarrassment to them, such that they were openly hostile and tried to take him by force. They did not realize that, at Jesus' baptism, he had awakened to who he was. They just wanted life to go back to normal. They just wanted their brother back. What did they know about baptism?

After the resurrection, Jesus appeared to only one person who had not followed him in life. He appeared to his brother, James. I believe that James was able to see the risen Christ because, although he did not believe in Jesus, he did love him. He loved his brother and it was that love that opened his eyes.

Once James saw who his brother really was, James was baptized. Water poured over his head, just like it poured over your head, over my head. And from the moment he was baptized, James was changed.

Life cannot stay the same once you give your life to Jesus. Once the waters of baptism have poured over your head, everything changes. From that moment on, you don't belong to this world. You can avoid this fact and run from who you really are or you can begin to live into your inheritance and act like a child of God.

James would later write a Letter which was included in the Canon of the New Testament. He wrote that all of us who have been baptized into the death and resurrection of Jesus are called to live out that baptism. If we do not act as baptized Christians, living for others and for God, we kill the faith in us. If we do not act baptized, our faith is nothing, it is dead.

Often when someone is baptized, we think, "Done! She is saved now. Heaven awaits her." And it is true that God opens the gates of heaven to those who are baptized but if they do not act on their faith, if they do not pray, and worship and give, then when the time comes to walk through that gate, they will not know how.

From the moment of your baptism, God says "Come Inside." "Come to me." " Feed my sheep. Tend my lambs." And from that moment, God will place people in your lives, people who need your help. And you must respond. You are called to be generous. You must give your life to God.

Jesus responded to those who needed him. When a woman who was not a Jew came to him, begging him to heal her daughter, at first he was rude. But her desperation reminded him of who he was. He was called to respond to all who crossed his path. Jesus, the Son of God, was himself baptized. And if we follow him into those waters, we must be willing to follow him out the other side and into the fullness of his life.

Do you remember the story of Corrie Ten Boom? She was a baptized Christian living in the Netherlands as World War II approached. She and her family aided the Jews in any way that they could. One day, a well-dressed woman came to her door with a suitcase. The woman explained that she was Jewish. Her husband had been deported and her son had fled. She was afraid to go home as the authorities had already come to her house once. Could she stay with them?

I want you to stand in the shoes of Corrie ten Boom and her family for a moment. Stand in that doorway. Corrie ten Boom could have said no. She and her family, they could have closed the door, and with good reason. To take in this woman meant possible death or imprisonment for them. They did not have enough food. There were a million reasons why this was not practical, not sensible. But the ten Booms knew who they were. They were baptized Christians. They did not put themselves first. They were called to give their lives away. Without hesitation, they took her in.

The ten Booms would house many Jews. They built a secret hiding place in Corrie's room. They erected a false wall behind her bookshelf. Just 30 inches, it was the size of a large wardrobe. But when the Nazis came arrest the ten Booms, six Jews hid in that room and were saved. Corrie's father and sister would die at the hands of the Nazis but Corrie herself would live to tell her story.

Do you really think you have a choice when that door opens and someone asks for help? Don't you realize that from the moment you were baptized, your life became God's own? And when the church asks you not for your life but for the simple act if giving money, don't you realize that generosity is part of who you are? Your money is not yours. It was washed away in baptism. You belong to God now and you live eternally with God. The generous life is what calls you now.

If Corrie had closed that door, James would say that her faith would have died right there on that doorstep. But she did not close the door, she opened it. She responded to her baptism by saying yes. How will you respond?