Third Sunday after Trinity, Sunday, June 16, 2013

Fr. Todd Bragg

St. Margaret Anglican Church

Indianapolis, Indiana

“Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour” (I St. Peter 5:5ff)

If we look at the section of this first epistle of St. Peter just prior to what we heard today, we will discover that St. Peter is more than likely communicating with the deacons of the Church because we hear him refer to the “young” and how they should respond to their elders in the Church.  He is not referring to young people in regards to how old they are but rather “young” referring to those who are in service to the elders of the Church.  In other words, he is more than likely referring to the deacons and how they should serve those in higher authority above them.  Of course, it goes without saying that throughout Holy Scripture, whether it be Our Lord speaking  . . . or St. Paul . . . or in this case, St. Peter, even if the group is very specific, there is something to be learned by all of us, even if it is two-thousand years later.

So is the case today with St. Peter’s Epistle that we heard today.  If you look early on at the very beginning of the passage that we heard, the part where it says  . . . . . “to clothe oneself . . . “  if we look at the original word that is used, it is a very specialized word, “egkombousthai,” which in essence means a special garment tied with a knot, tied around the neck in a knot to keep it in place.  And this was a special garment which was basically used as a protective garment worn by slaves when they were doing dirty jobs.

Remember, as we have spoken in times past, that there were different rankings of slaves or servants in a household.  The lowest job, the most menial job of any slave was the job of cleaning the feet of those coming into a house.  Keep in mind that back then, unlike today, where we have so many different kinds of styles of shoes, we can go to Payless Shoes or what are some of the other shoe stores?   K & G or whatever it is called, I’m not into fashion, so I would not have a clue.  But back then, in essence, they only had sandals or even bare feet that they would walk around in.  Thus, they would walk in all kinds of conditions:  muddy, rainy, dry, dirty, etc.  And their feet would be covered in dirt and all kinds of  . . . . well, we are in church, so let’s keep this polite, shall we? . . .  other dirty things covering their feet and it was the job of the slave to clean all of this dirt off.  Thus, more than likely, he would be wearing this protective garment while he did this.

When St. Peter uses this symbolic imagery, one can only imagine that he was thinking of the example that Our Blessed Lord had given the Apostles.  Think back to St. John’s Gospel when we heard the following:  “He riseth from supper and laid aside His garments and took a towel and girded Himself.  After that, He poureth water into a basis, and began to wash the disciples feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith He was girded.”  (St. John 13:4-5)

Again, from St. John’s Gospel we are able to envision Our Lord, when St. John states that He “girded Himself,” we hearken back to what we were saying earlier about tying the garment about with a knot to keep it secure for the work that needs to be done.  Interestingly enough, this word . . . you know, the word I can not pronounce . . . should I attempt it again?   OK, here goes, “egkombousthai” also refers to a long, flowing stole-like garment which was worn as a sign of honour, to show that some was of pre-eminence, of great importance.

Thus, we can not help but think of Our Blessed Saviour, Who was of great importance, was the teacher, and the rabbi, and the preacher and the worker of great miracles before the Apostles, and yet at the same time, He showed Himself to be humble enough to wash the feet of those who were His apostles.  The teacher serving those who were His disciples.  He showed by example what we are called to do:  to serve and not to be served.

On Thursday of this week, I was off work, and so I made a point to go visit Bishop Mote’s grave.  Many of the members of this parish knew Bishop Mote so well but my image of Bishop Mote is seeing him after church suppers, cleaning up dishes or washing dishes or going around pouring coffee for people.  Certainly, I remember as a young priest, I was scheduled to say the Tuesday evening and Friday evening Masses and my memories of Bishop Mote were him serving Mass for me.  Now, keep in mind, I would beg Bishop Mote to say the Mass and I would act as server for him but he insisted that he would serve for me.  What humility!  Here was Bishop James Mote, the first bishop consecrated of all the Continuing Churches, for that alone, he was owed respect, but here was a bishop insisting to serve Mass for me, a young priest.  What an example of humility I had in Bishop Mote!

The other thing to keep in mind that I would like to point out about today’s reading is St. Peter insisting that we should be aware of the devil.  If you are guilty like I am, you do not take the devil seriously enough as we should.  Think about movies or TV shows, where you might have the image of a angel on one shoulder and then somebody dressed up in a red suit with a tail and horns on the other shoulder and that is what we think about the devil.  But St. Peter warns us to be careful of the devil, who “as a roaring lion, walketh about” seeking our destruction.

We hear in the Old Testament book of Job:  “And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence camest thou?  Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.”  (Job 1:7)

Just as St. Peter pointed out, so too, does Job remind us that the devil is busy prowling around seeking our ruin.  He is busy keeping us from God.   When you think about it, when we have distractions in our life, could it be that they are just that:  distractions to distract us from the Almighty?  The devil does not want us to have a relationship with God.  He does not want us to have time with God.  He does not want us to have interaction with God.  Why?  Because the devil wants us all to himself.

St. Paul gives us the answer:  “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness.” (Ephesians 6:11).  We are called to be holy and to be mindful of the dangers around us.  We are also called to be, in imitation of Our Blessed Saviour, humble and servants of those around us.  Keep holy and keep humble is the lesson of the day that St. Peter would have us know.