Sermon - The Rev. Elise A. Feyerherm - August 28th, 2022

The first thing I noticed in the readings for today brought an echo of a familiar voice – perhaps you heard it too. I read the last line of the epistle, “Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have…” and thought “Oh that’s where that comes from!!” It is of course the sentence that our rector Jeff just recently moved to Connecticut, used at every offertory I remember at St. Paul’s – I could even hear his voice saying it. What a lovely memory and connection – a reminder, with joy, of past gatherings of this community in praise and worship of God. 

It also feels to me like a confirmation of the instruction just a few sentences above, in which the writer of Hebrews says, “Remember your leaders, those who spoke the word of God to you; consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.” What better way to honor not only the clergy, but all those who have led this parish over the past decades. We honor the most not through gifts and accolades, but by following in the path which our leaders have trod. What better way to show not only our honor, but our love.

But I want to focus most this morning on a slightly different theme. I find myself asking the question, is the world fair? Can we expect God to be “fair?” Can we expect to get out of life what we put in? Is there a natural balance between good and evil, between behavior and reward?

The reading from Sirach implies that God punishes sin, especially the sin of pride, with appropriate calamity. Echoing the Song of Hannah and the Song of Mary, Sirach writes of the rulers being cast down from their thrones and the lowly being raised up. This seems not to be an economic or political thing as much as a response to human beings forgetting that they are not God – a thing that is easy to forget when you rule powerful nations and lead vast armies. 

All very well and good, except that in my experience, the proud do not always get their come-uppance. The FBI does not always find them; and even then, they are not always brought to justice. But that is Sirach’s perspective, perhaps more of a promise or a reassurance to the people that just because their rulers seemed invulnerable, they were not; that they were still subject to God’s authority and answerable to the basic call to justice.

Psalm 112 goes in the other direction. Instead of casting down the mighty, the psalm is lifting up the lowly, at least those who fear God and delight in the ways of God. Here, the assumption is that if you are good, God will reward you with wealth and happiness in this life, and those who are wicked will gnash their teeth in jealousy. Generosity will be rewarded with even more abundance; acting justly will ensure that God will treat you as you deserve, with justice. The psalm sketches out a “fair” world in a certain way, in terms of our relationship with God and with others who need our help. If you help others, God will help you. If you show God love, God will show love toward you, in very tangible ways.

In the letter to the Hebrews, we hear more about example, and solidarity. There is less about reward, and more about being the people we have been called to be. Follow the example of the leaders who shared the Good News with you. Show hospitality, remember those in prison and those who are suffering. Doing these things may not bring us wealth and power; rather, they are met with a promise from God to all who take on difficult tasks: I will never leave you or forsake you.” Not reward, but relationship. Not prosperity, but presence.

So it makes we wonder about what Jesus means when he tells the guests at a Sabbath meal that in their own hospitality they should not invite those who can repay them in material goods, but that they will be “repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” When he says that those who exalt themselves will be humbled and those who humble themselves will be exalted, he seems to be echoing Sirach. Is positioning ourselves in relationship to others all a calculation about what eventually will get us the better seat? Is he suggesting that doing good is actually about expecting a reward, if not now, then in the future? 

If we do good, expecting God to reward us in the future (whether in this life or after death), what kind of morality is that? How do we understand the testimony of Scripture, and the teaching of Jesus within that Scripture, on this matter?

It makes every bit of difference to remember that the Bible is a collection of books, a library, not a single volume. Our tradition is like a multifaceted gem, in which we gaze at the glory within as it gets refracted from all sorts of different angles. We see those different angles today, in our readings. Sirach comes from the Jewish wisdom tradition, from the period between the Hebrew bible and the New Testament. It is not part of the Jewish bible, or Tanakh. But it represents human beings struggling to understand how to live in a complicated and uncertain world. 

The psalm as well comes from this wisdom tradition, though much older. Even though it implies monetary and social reward for those who follow God, its vision of righteousness goes much deeper than that. It is not, in my mind, a version of the “prosperity gospel” that promises wealth for those who “really believe” in God’s promises. 

In fact, all of these passages tap into a reality that is not and has never been about expecting a reward from God. At the heart of it all, I see the power of a mystical transformation, which looks like this: “Doing good,” is ultimately about looking to God for a model of how to be. Doing good comes from looking to God, and looking upon God. As we gaze upon God, delight in God, love God, we see more clearly God’s ways in the world, and begin to reflect in our own lives the glory of God. Delighting in God changes us. In that is its own reward.

How does God act? By lifting up the lowly. By giving generously to the poor. By inviting to the table all those who cannot repay. God has sought us out, loved us, invited us to the table, knowing that we cannot possibly repay, and that has never mattered to God. Do we need any other reason to do the same?