The Opposite of You

Proper 23B, 20 Pentecost

10 Oct 2021

Here is an odd question: what is the opposite of you? By that I don’t mean some science fiction perversion of physics; I mean rather the essence of your character or your soul. If I think of those things that make me myself I think of someone who is reasonably intelligent, healthy, well off, caring, engaged in the world, and still an introvert. In short, I look at myself in basically positive terms, but add in a smattering of what in general I consider negative traits (at least in the family system in which I grew up): mildly disorganized and yet OCD, a procrastinator (homilies get written on a Saturday), and an over estimator of my own abilities.

So what is the opposite of me? Honestly I am not sure I could really conceive of that in any realistic sense. But I believe if I could, it might well teach me something about myself. Perhaps easier to conceive, but even harder to initiate, are the things that bind us. Well, maybe they are not so easy to conceive. Jesus reframes the question: what do we need to give up? That is, what is keeping you or me from truly being a disciple of Christ? It could be part of what is the opposite of you, or what you think is the opposite of you!

Or, even more to the point, do you really want to be a disciple of Christ? And if you are one, what is it that makes you one?

All heady questions and all at the heart of what it means to be Christian, a follower of the Way. Apparently early Christians often did give up much of what they possessed to share with others.

The recent revelations of the Pandora Papers in the Washington Post, detailing how so much wealth has been hidden and how the rich trod upon the poor, and on everyone else who did not matter to them reveal a great and widespread malevolence. Wealth hidden, funds misappropriated to benefit the few, and attitudes that are nothing short of evil. These people are not only unwilling to give up what is holding them back; they do not even believe they are being held back. I am not sure the story of the needle’s eye would hold any meaning for them. There is no reason to take the narrow way; no reason to give up their riches.

You are familiar with the story of the Lewis and Clark Expedition? They were looking for an easy way to the Pacific Ocean in hopes of increasing trade and wealth. The fact that there were already people living along those routes was not a concern. At any rate what they found was that there was a way, but not an easy one and clearly you couldn’t go up the Missouri, hop over a hill or two, and descend to the Pacific. There was no easy route to India for Columbus, not was the Northwest Passage a way to cut over Canada.

One of my sister clergy members talked about climbing up to Machu Pichu and how hard it was, with narrow and treacherous trails and passages. I have taken trails in the mountains, and even closer to home in Minnesota and on Isle Royale, that were rugged and took all of my stamina.

There is a scene in Bill Bryson’s book A Walk In The Woods where his hiking companion on the Appalachian Trail throws virtually all his gear out of his backpack because he is tired of carrying it. Leave not trace aside, it made me laugh to read it because I understood. I have been ready to do the same thing.

Jesus would, I think, agree with the backpacker: get rid of everything you do not need. Like people heading on the Oregon Trail, they had to make decisions about what to throw out when they saw the mountains that had to be crossed.

So what things do I need to throw out? As I get older, I know I have too much stuff and literally need to get rid of a lot of stuff. That is a given and that, frankly, is the easy part. Yet I still believe that I am holding back.

In Jesus’ time wealth was considered a sign that the gods favored you and that makes Jesus’ statement that much more astounding.

This week we heard Laura Haugen testify before Congress that Facebook was using ad algorithms to maximize profit and those algorithms exacerbated hate and disinformation because that’s the kind of post that drives ads and therefore money. Laura is, by the way, the daughter of Alice Haugen, a scientist and priest in this diocese. The author of the 1619 project (Nicole Hannah-Jones) and the Facebook whistleblower are both Iowans.

So if I have a point to make it is this: I cannot make any of the businesses or government officials give their money to the poor. I can only answer directly for my own complicity and figure out what it is that I lack, what it is that I am missing. Only you can figure out what it is that you need to give up.

But, like Nicole and Alice, all of us are responsible for speaking Truth to power. All of us with any power ourselves are called to use it in service to the least of those in our world.

So I would ask that you examine yourselves and your opposites. What is it that you need to give up to draw yourselves to the Kingdom, to The Way? As Christians we do believe there is an eternity to ourselves and we need to figure out how we are to spend it.

But many who are first will be last. And many who are last will be first.