A sermon given at the Episcopal Church of the Resurrection on the 5th Sunday in Epiphany, February 8th, 2015, by Fr. Tim Sean Youmans. I Corinthians 6.16f and Mark 1.29-39.
Don’t change who you are to accommodate other people. This is common wisdom. At the center of it is the notion of integrity. If I tell you one thing about something we are discussing, and then I tell that other person over there something else, that is a form of lying. How can you ever trust anything I ever say to you?
We associate politicians with this practice, trying to connect to the broadest number of different kinds of people, it’s tough to get politicians to speak frankly about what they think, and often they are caught saying more than one thing to different folks. That’s why when someone says, “You sound like a politician” they are not complimenting you on your ability making a broad appeal. They are calling you a phony.
Having said that, hear again what the Apostle Paul wrote to the people in Corinth. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. And then he sorta repeats himself and says, “to those under the law I became as one under the law, though (and listen to this) though I myself am not under the law. I’m not like you, but I’m going to act as if, I am like you.
Now, because we respect the scriptures, and we all generally agree that God’s word is located within them, we are willing to give Paul the benefit of the doubt. But if we extract this way of thinking about relating to other people, if we extract it out of the scriptures, disconnect it from anything religious, we might see this as a shady practice. Dishonest even.
I have no doubt, that there are many of you here today whose work involves sales. I’d be curious to find out what level of temptation exists for you to shift your presentation or adjust your personality to fit the different kinds of people you are selling to.
I discovered years ago that I mimic. I don’t do it in a mocking way, in fact, since I caught myself doing it I try hard not to, but I do. I pick up pieces of your accent, or if you have a certain catch phrase, then I’ll use that when I’m around you. Even beyond that, I also find myself being a collector of a wide variety of knowledgebits and pieces of different subjects. For instance, I’m not an avid sports fan, it’s fair to say that my wife knows more about what’s happening in the sports world than I do, but I watch ESPN and read sports news because I know that all of you love the sportsball. And if I’m going to sell you the thing I’m trying to sell you, then I need to be able to meet you where you are. I become a sports fan, so that I might reach all sports fans for the gospel of Christ.
Paul says, “To the jew, I become as a Jew, to the Greek, a greek. To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings.”
Now I’m not trying to be overly difficult or contrary. But part of me takes an issue with Paul. Does this mean that in order to bring people to God we need to become something we are not, to present ourselves as someone we are not?
Said in a somewhat glib way, if you knew someone was studying up on the things you were interested in so they could possibly interest you in their religion, would be drawn to that? Or would you be creeped out a little? The answer may be one that I don’t like, found in the example of our Lord Jesus.
Mark’s gospel says that in the evening, at sundown, they brought to Jesus all who were sick or possessed with demons. And he cured them. And then he moved to the next set of towns, to proclaim his message in their synagogues and casting out demons. Town after town after town, he sought people out to heal them. Jesus wants people to know of God’s love for them. He wanted us to know this so badly that he altered himself, he became something he was not.
It’s said so poetically in a hymn, a song shared within the letter to the Philippians:
Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. 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. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross.
We want people to be interested in the good news of Jesus, we want them to find their way here to Church of the Resurrection in order to receive God’s grace. It’s partly why we like seeing different kinds of people in our church, children for those who have children, youth for those who visit with teenagers, young adults when a young married couple visit, and so on. Fr. Everett Lees from Christ Church Tulsa recently conveyed that a visitor recently told him that they like the church well enough, but that they didn’t have enough old people. You don’t hear that too often from an Episcopal Church. People want to see themselves in the groups they attach to.
“Be all things to all people so that by all means we might win some to Christ.” When God became human, this was an expression of his love for us, reaching across the lines that divide. When we take such a radical interest in others for the same reason, it’s not a lie, it’s love.
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