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“What Is Your Passion?”

Text: Philippians 2:1-13

© March 16, 2008 by C. Edward Bowen at Crafton United Presbyterian Church.

The renowned psychiatrist, Karl Menninger, once offered a rather interesting piece of advice. He said that if you feel a nervous breakdown coming on, if you feel like what you’re facing in life is just too overwhelming, you shouldn’t immediately run out to your doctor to get some pills to take. No, Dr. Menninger said, if you feel a nervous breakdown coming on, if you feel like what you’re facing in life is just too overwhelming, what you should do first is lock up your house, go across the railroad tracks, find someone in need, and do something to help that person.[1]

Now, I don’t think Dr. Menninger was saying that helping other people is the cure-all to every psychological problem that a person might have. But I believe what he was getting at is that too many people spend the great majority of their lives focusing almost exclusively on themselves. We end up focusing on our wants, our needs, our desires, our problems. And yes, our wants, our needs, our desires, our problems are important, and they need to be taken seriously. But if that’s what we spend our whole lives focused on – ourselves – that’s not the purpose that God has for us.

Instead, as this passage that we listened to today from the apostle Paul’s letter to the Philippians says, even though Jesus shared in all the majesty and power of God from the very beginning of time, Jesus didn’t just sit there in heaven, focused on himself and his own glory. No, Jesus was willing to set aside the splendor of heaven to come here to earth and to take on the role of a servant, to take on the role of a humble and lowly servant. And I think that mentally, intellectually, we understand that if we want to be Christians, if we want to be disciples of Jesus, then that is what we need to do as well. Mentally, intellectually, we understand that if we want to be Christians, if we want to be disciples of Jesus, then we need to be willing to be humble and lowly servants, just like Jesus was. But the question is: even though we might mentally, intellectually, understand that we ought to be servants, are we actually willing to do that? Are we actually willing to serve other people even if there is some price that we might have to pay?

For instance, a few months ago some students from a high school near Buffalo, New York, decided that they wanted to do something to show that they cared about homeless people. And so, to call attention to the problem of homelessness in their area, what the students decided to do was to sleep out one night on the school’s lawn in cardboard boxes. But it turned out that the students didn’t exactly pay a great price for doing that. Because even though it fell to 18 degrees, the students spent the night watching movies on DVD players they had brought with them, they ate donuts and pizzas, and whenever they got too cold or bored, they were allowed to go into the school’s heated gym and hang out.[2]

It’s one thing to care about other people. It’s one thing to know that you really ought to do things to help others who are in need. But it’s another thing to actually to do it. It’s another thing to actually make the effort to serve other people and care for them, even when serving them and caring for them aren’t necessarily easy or pleasant things to do.

For example, this week we observe Maundy Thursday, or what some churches call Holy Thursday. And almost everyone is probably aware that it was on that Thursday night that Jesus had his Last Supper with the disciples. It was on that Thursday night that Jesus sat down with the Twelve and broke the bread saying, “This is my body,” and passed around a cup saying, “This is my blood.” And to remember what Jesus did there that night, most of us don’t have any objection at all to taking part in the sacrament of communion. We don’t have any objection at all to taking part in that special meal that Jesus commanded us to take part in as a way of remembering him and remembering what he stands for.

But according to the Gospel of John, eating bread and drinking from the cup were not the only things Jesus and the disciples did that night. No, according to the 13^th chapter of the Gospel of John, after they had eaten, Jesus got up from the table, took a basin, filled it with water, tied a towel around his waist, and proceeded to kneel down and wash the disciples’ feet. And after Jesus did that, he said, “I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you” (13:15).

The real question is: Why don’t we do that? Why don’t we wash each other’s feet? It’s interesting to note that Presbyterians and most other Christians define a sacrament as an act that Jesus commanded his followers to repeat in his name as a sign of God’s love. And so, since Jesus commanded his followers to baptize, we baptize. And since Jesus commanded his followers to share in the special meal that we call communion, we take part in communion. But what about footwashing? Because according to the Gospel of John, Jesus specifically instructed his disciples to do what he had done – to wash one another’s feet. But as far as I’m aware the only denomination that has made footwashing into a sacrament, an act that they do on a regular basis in their worship services, is a denomination known as the Church of the Brethren. But why is that? Why don’t we observe the sacrament of footwashing?

About seven years ago on Maundy Thursday we included footwashing as part of our worship service that night. We provided an opportunity for those who wanted to, to come forward and have their feet washed. And about 5 or 6 people took part. But afterwards the reaction was basically: “Rev. Bowen, that footwashing ceremony was very interesting, very biblical. But could we please never do it again?”

The basic complaint, of course, is that washing people’s feet isn’t a pleasant thing to do. It’s not something that people like to do. It’s not something that people want to do. But I think that’s precisely the point. That’s precisely the point why Jesus instructed his followers to do it anyway. I believe Jesus instructed his followers – his followers back in the first century and his followers today – to wash each other’s feet to drive home the point that serving other people isn’t always a pleasant thing to do. Serving other people isn’t always something that we like to do. Serving other people isn’t always something that we want to do. But if we’re serious about following Jesus, if we’re serious about being Jesus’ disciples, then we do it anyway. If we’re serious about following Jesus, if we’re serious about being his disciples, then we need to serve other people even if there’s a price we have to pay for doing it. After all, isn’t that what Jesus did?

So often it seems that people are willing to help others only with their leftovers. It’s like the food drive that they’re doing for us down at the public library right now. A full box of food that someone brought into the library was nothing but expired canned goods. And I don’t mean canned goods that were just a week or a month past their expiration date. No, quite a few of the canned goods in that box were a decade past their expiration date.

But that’s how a lot of people operate. Sure, I’ll give you some of my food – but only if I have any food left over after seeing what I want to keep for myself. Sure, I’ll give you some of my time – but only if I have any time left over after doing all the stuff that I want to do. Sure, I’ll give you some of my money – but only if I have any money left over after buying all the stuff that I want for myself. In other words, as far as a lot of people are concerned, they’re willing to give and care and serve only as long as it doesn’t cost them anything. They’re willing to give and care and serve only as long as it doesn’t require them to make any real effort, only as long as it doesn’t require them to make any real sacrifice.

But as we begin this week, this week that we call Holy Week, and as the cross gets closer and closer, we’re forced to see that that kind of caring, that kind of service, just won’t do. It just won’t do, at least as far as Jesus is concerned. Because Jesus calls on us to care for people, to serve people, no matter what, no matter what the price might be.

As you take a look at your life, what does all this mean for you? In what way is Jesus calling on you to serve? In what way is Jesus calling on you to make some kind of a sacrifice for the sake of someone else? But remember, it’s one thing to mentally, intellectually know what we should be doing for others. But it’s another thing to actually do it.