Senior Sermon
Oct 14, 2009
Marie Butterbaugh
The Senior Sermon of Marie Butterbaugh, Class of 2010 from the Diocese of Central Gulf Coast, given in Christ Chapel on October 14, 2009
How many times have you heard someone say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery? Genuinely seeking to imitate someone is to pay that person a compliment. But who do people chose to imitate? The sad fact is that in today's world many people get caught up in the practice of emulating a favorite television star, or rock super star. They believe that if they wear this brand or drive that car, they will have glamorous lives. The lives of those Desperate Housewives or the antics of Miley Cyrus at times seem far more glamorous and appealing. Something is missing. This is not what sincere imitation look like.
A five year old child, who loves ballet, is fascinated and captivated by the graceful movements of ballet's pirouettes, grand jetes. She is enamored. She dreams of being a ballerina. She longs to be a ballerina. Carefully she mimics their strong graceful moves in front of the mirror dressed in her pink tulle tutu. She twirls and jumps but that just isn't enough. Her imitation isn't quite right. She looks skeptically at the girl in the mirror and wonders what's missing?
Jesus reminds his followers, in today's gospel reading from Matthew that a disciple is not above his teacher. Rather, a disciple should strive to be like the teacher. Jesus' disciples are to imitate Christ. Such imitation comes from within, from the transformed heart.
Look at what happens to Jesus. He is rejected and ridiculed by the religious leaders of his day. He has no place to call His home, no money, no power as the world knows and recognizes it. Jesus suffers the brutality of the Roman whip and dies a humiliating prisoner's death on the cross. Jesus is warning His disciples. By following Him they too may encounter rejection, persecution, and possibly even death. Imitating Jesus is a scary proposition.
Proclaiming the word of God in any age can be risky business. Century's earlier, speaking God's truth caused the prophet Jeremiah a great deal of trouble. King Zedekiah sends two trusted men to Jeremiah. "Jeremiah, tell us, what God is saying to you? We really want to know." Do they really? Maybe not. Jeremiah brings devastating news. The Babylonians will burn Jerusalem to the ground. Suddenly Jeremiah finds himself being arrested, beaten and thrown into a cell. Why? Because they don't like what Jeremiah is saying. They don't like what God is saying.
Jesus' disciples will go forth to proclaim the teachings of Jesus. They will boldly proclaim Jesus Christ the crucified and risen Son of God. Twice Jesus tells them "Do not be afraid." Do not be afraid of what you may suffer? Do not be afraid as you undergo persecution? Do not be afraid of what others might say or think? That sounds like a tall order for a rag tag group of fishermen. That sounds like a tall order for us as Christians today.
Do people understand what imitating Jesus really means? In his book, Imitation of Christ Thomas a Kempis writes, "Jesus has many lovers of His heavenly kingdom, but few actually carry His cross. He has many who like consolation; few desire tribulation. Many wish to feast with Him; few want to fast with Him. All want to rejoice with Him; few will endure for Him. Many follow Jesus to break bread; few follow to drink His cup of sorrow."
Imitating Jesus, being the prophetic voice crying out in the wilderness is hard. It's messy. It can be dangerous. Imitating Jesus can lead you to places you never thought you would go. It can lead you to Seminary, far away from a life you have known, family and friend that you love. Imitating Jesus demands that we speak out against the injustices of this world. It gives us courage to stand against oppression and discrimination regardless of what form that discrimination takes. It means caring for those without adequate housing, food, clothing or medical care.
As the little girl stands looking at the mirror she smiles. Ahha! She thinks, I see what I am doing wrong. Ballerinas all have short hair. Silently she sequesters herself in her mother's sewing room. Yes she does. She takes her mother's sewing shears and cuts off the blond curly locks that her mother works so hard to maintain. To borrow a phrase from Steve Bishop. "It seemed like a good idea at the time." Unfortunately for her, her mother doesn't think so. By the time she is sitting in a barber's chair having her butchered hair put back into some semblance of order she doesn't think so either. Much to her dismay and far too late she realizes that ballerinas don't have short hair. Ballerinas have buns. Ballerinas are tall!
Many people have photo shopped pictures of Jesus running through their heads lurking there since their Sunday school days. Jesus the Good Shepherd. Jesus meek and mild. Jesus blessing the children. These are all poignant images. They have their place offering comfort and bringing warmth. But these images now appear flat and colorless. Is it this Jesus that you and I strive to imitate or is this a cardboard caricature?
My time here at Seminary tells me no! Imitating our Lord, following Him is so much more. I will leave Seminary with images of Jesus that are more brilliant, more vibrant and more revolutionary than I could ever have imagined. In imitation of Jesus, the border crossing Messiah, I traveled twice to Peadras Negras. I spent a January term at an urban parish in Atlanta. I left my preconceived notions of borders behind to cross over those borders that truly separate us from one another as children of God
The little girl in the pink tulle tutu has grown up. So much for imitating a ballerina. Those dreams have long since faded. I now long to boldly and unashamedly imitate our Lord. In humility to carry His cross, drink from His cup of sorrows, endure tribulation, to acknowledge and proclaim Christ crucified, died and raised.
The path is not easy. Perhaps it is the easy path that endangers our very souls. It is likely that most of us will not be called to lay down our lives literally for the gospel's sake, like the martyrs and saints before us. But as future leaders of the Church you and I can empower people to live lives that truly imitate of Christ. Lives that seek justice. Lives that strive for integrity. Lives lived as people who look with hope to the coming of God's Kingdom and see its' in breaking in the world around them. Right here, Right now. As you and I strive to imitate Christ, His compassion strengthens us. His love, God's Holy and life giving Spirit flows through us to a broken and hurting world. You and I don't need to be Mother Teresa or Dorothy Day. We need only to be the people that God has created us to be.
Amen.
