Homily
By The Rev. Marcia McRae
St.
John’s Episcopal Church, Bainbridge, GA
18
Oct.
2015 Proper
24 Year
B:
Job 38:1-7, (34-41); Psalm 104:1-9, 25, 37b; Hebrews 5:1-10; Mark
10:35-45
Debates
are making headlines
as candidates run for president.
I
wonder if the disciples, angry with James & John, have been
debating who should get the top spots
in the new administration Jesus
will lead.
The
current debates in our news, with each person vying to be the single
winner, are different from the team debates my husband & I know
from our college days. What if you were asked to be in a college
debate? Would you want to be on a renowned team such as Harvard's, or
West Point's or the University of Vermont's nationally ranked team?
OR would you want to be on a team with convicted felons who are in a
maximum-security prison for crimes such as manslaughter?
Before
you choose your team, know this: To be on the convicts' team, you
will face a challenge to research information for potential debate
questions. The convicts have no internet for research, & their
requests for books & news articles must be approved by prison
administrators, & that can take weeks.1
What
kind of answers to debate questions can prisoners give? We might
expect answers like Job's answers to God's questions. God asks: Where
were you when I laid earth's foundation?
Can
you send lightning on a mission & have it answer you “I am
ready”?2
What
about giving the mind understanding?Job
can only answer: “I
don't know. No, I can't. No, I
haven't.”3
Is
that who you want as a debate team partner?
What
does your inner wisdom tell you? Harvard
or prison?
Before you decide, know this: The prisoners have
to argue in favor of an idea they totally oppose,
the
idea to deny public education to undocumented students. Which
team do you choose?
Harvard
or prison?
News
media tell us: the
convict team defeated Harvard in its debate a few weeks ago
[in
September].4
The convict team had its first debate in 2014, winning
over the U.S. Military Academy & then won against the University
of Vermont's nationally ranked team.
[I
commend to your reading the articles on this from the Wall Street
Journal & from the New York Daily News.]
The
prisoners' perspective so surprised the Harvard team that it was
unable to respond fully. Prisoner Alex Hall, who
was convicted of manslaughter,5
says: "We might not be as naturally rhetorically gifted [as
the Harvard students],
but we work really had."
"They
caught us off guard," says a Harvard team member.
The
disciples in our Gospel are caught off-guard by what they hear James
& John say in their bid for power & prestige. James &
John do not catch Jesus off-guard. Look at Jesus' wise response to
their question: Jesus answers a question with a question.
Those
of us who have been teachers – & the rest of us – should
be wise enough not to say “Yes, I'll do what you ask” BEFORE we
know the question.
We are wise
to wait
before answering, to gather information in order to make an informed
response even though our
impatient culture challenges us in the art of delay.6
We
live in a world rushing through life, fraught with different
opinions. In this noisy, busy world, our impatient culture shoves a
microphone in our face demanding an answer, often to catch us off
guard. May we have the grace of the prison team to respond wisely,
even in situations with which we do not agree.
- Waiting helps us be good stewards of our time & energy.
- Waiting allows us to focus on the idea rather than the personality of the person presenting the idea.
- Waiting helps in our stewardship of relationships, our being servant of all.
- Waiting requires the wisdom of delay to refocus our perspective like Jesus shows us in our Gospel.
When
we balance working
with God and waiting
with
God, we gain insight for what’s next in our ministry.7
Hard
as it is to hold opposites in balance,8
without
balance, we are more likely to act from confusion, fear or
self-interest [like James & John]
& less likely to act as
Jesus calls us to act
as servant of all.9
Bibliography
Brody, Leslie. “Prison vs. u in an Unlikely Debate”. The Wall Street Journal. Accessed: 8 Oct. 2015. http://www.wsj.com/articles/an-unlikely-debate-prison-vs-harvard-1442616928
Burt,Sharelle
M. Burt. :Harvard College debate team defeated by New York prison
team .” New
York Daily News.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/new-york-prison-debate-team-defeats-harvard-college-team-article-1.2387666
Accessed: 8 Oct. 2015.
De
Waal, Esther. Living
with Contradiction: An Introduction to Benedictine Spirituality.
Harrisburg: Morehouse Publishing. 1989.
Harper’s
Bible Commentary.
General Ed.: James. L. Mays. San Francisco: Harper & Row
Publishers, 1988.
Harper’s
Bible Dictionary.
General Ed.: Paul J. Achtemeier. San Francisco: Harper & Row
Publishers, 1971.
Holy
Bible with the Apocrypha.
New Revised Standard Version. New York: Oxford University Press.
1989.
Jewish
Study Bible: Jewish Publication Society TANAKH Translation.
New York: Oxford University Press. 2004.
Maynard,
Dennis R. Preventing
a Sheep Attack!
Rancho Mirage, CA: Dionysus Publications. 2013.
The
New American Bible for Catholics.
South Bend: Greenlawn Press. 1986.
The
New Oxford Annontated Bible With Apochrypha.
Eds: Herbert G. May. Bruce M. Metzger. New York: Oxford University
Press. 1977.
Partnoy,
Frank. Wait:
The Art and Science of Delay.
New York: Public Affairs (Perseus Book Group). 2012.
1
Brody,
Leslie. “Prison vs. Harvard in an Unlikely Debate”. The
Wall Street to be.
Accessed: 8 Oct. 2015.
4
Ibid. Brody.
And Burt, Sharelle M. Burt. :Harvard College debate team defeated by
New York prison team .” New
York Daily News.
5
Ibid. Burt.
8
Ibid. P. 107.
9
Note: Based on Ibid. P. 108.
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