A Sermon Walking
I have two stories today to help us reflect on today’s Gospel reading…
One afternoon in 1953, reporters and officials gathered at a Chicago railroad station to await the arrival of the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize winner. He stepped off the train—a giant of a man, six-feet-four, with bushy hair and a large moustache.
As cameras flashed, city officials approached with hands outstretched and began telling him how honored they were to meet him. He thanked them politely and then, looking over their heads, asked if he could be excused for a moment. He walked through the crowd with quick strides until he reached the side of an elderly black woman who was struggling as she tried to carry two large suitcases.
He picked up the bags in his big hands and, smiling, escorted the woman to a bus. As he helped her aboard, he wished her a safe journey. Meanwhile, the crowd tagged along behind him. He turned to them and said, “Sorry to have kept you waiting.”
The man was Dr. Albert Schweitzer, the famous missionary-doctor, who had spent his life helping the poorest of the poor in Africa. A member of the reception committee said to one of the reporters: “That’s the first time I ever saw a sermon walking.”
Here’s the second story…
The late great conductor Leonard Bernstein once was asked which instrument in the orchestra was the most difficult to play.
The maestro gave a surprising answer. “Second fiddle,” he said promptly. “I can get plenty of first violinists. But to find someone to play second fiddle with enthusiasm—that’s a problem. Yet, if there is no one to play second fiddle, there is no harmony.”
At the end of today’s Gospel, Jesus teaches, “The greatest among you must be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” The great Dr. Schweitzer humbled himself, not only on that day when he helped the woman in Chicago, but throughout his life. Similarly, the humble second violin adds depth and beauty to some of the world’s greatest music.
And when you think about it, wasn’t Jesus himself a “sermon walking?” He, the “greatest” among us, humbled himself, serving others, lifting up those who were bowed down, healing, tirelessly teaching, washing his disciples’ feet, and even laying down his life out of love for his friends. And he, who humbled himself, was indeed exalted by the Father, for Jesus was raised from the dead, and is the source of eternal life, the hope of those who are beaten down and cast aside, the inspiration for those who dare to be like him—in short, a “sermon walking.”
Something to think about throughout the coming week: “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”