Fifth Sunday in Lent, Passion Sunday, March 18th, 2018

Fifth Sunday in Lent, 

Commonly Called Passion Sunday, 

March 18th, 2018

I never really had very much interest in any type of "Awards Shows."   You know what I'm talking about.  A night where celebrities get all dressed up in beautiful gowns and tuxedos and walk the red carpet and then they go inside and get nominated for "Best Actor;" "Best Actress:" "Best Movie:" "Best Song;" "Best Album:"  etc . . . . etc.   They have these awards programs for movies, for television, for music, for sports, etc.  They just had the Oscars not too long ago.  I haven't watched the Oscars in years, quite frankly.   The award winners try to get too political in their acceptance speech.  But that's an entirely different sermon topic so let's move on.   It is good, in my opinion, to be rewarded for your hard work.  It's good to acknowledged for dedication.  Far too often, it seems to me, people from all walks of life are never truly acknowledged for the hard work that they do in their professions.   Whether you are a trash man or a bus boy . . . . a teacher.  . . . . nurses  . . . . doctors . . police  . . . fire-men . . . We could go on and on.  Personally, I wish they had an awards show for "ordinary" people where awards are given to our military,  . . .  our teachers, . . . . our police and fire-fighters. .   . .  etc.   But getting back to awards shows, it boils down to a group of people honouring themselves, so to speak.  People in the film industry are giving awards to people in the film industry.  People in the music industry are handing out awards to people in the music industry, etc.  In other words, they are honouring themselves.

In the Eighth chapter of the Gospel of St. John, Our Lord is having a lengthy discussion with the Pharisees.  The Pharisees were trying to figure out exactly whom they were dealing with.  If you read through this eighth chapter, you will soon see that Our Lord is answering their questions directly.  And so at one point, the Pharisees ask Our Lord:  "Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which is dead? and the prophets are dead: whom makest thou thyself?" (St. John 8:53)  And Our Blessed Saviour responds:  " . . . If I honour myself, my honour is nothing: it is My Father that honoureth Me; of whom ye say, that He is your God . . . "  (v. 54)  Again, Our Lord Himself stated:  " . . . . it is My Father that honoureth Me . . ."  We need to e more like Our Blessed Saviour.  We need to be concerned more with what God thinks of us than what the world thinks of us.   So often we get all caught up in worrying about what people are thinking  .  .  . . what they are saying . . . . about us.  Especially in this age of "social media" that we live in, people seem to get their knickers all knotted up worrying about what people are saying and thinking behind our backs.  "Was that post about ME?!?"  "Were they writing that about ME?!?!"   We worry about other folks opinion of us and what they are saying and thinking about us.  But do we ever stop to think about what God thinks about us?  Do we care about what God has to say about us?  So often we do indeed "honour ourselves," as Our Lord said.  We give ourselves awards.  We make ourselves to seem more important than we are.  We want people to notice us . . . to acknowledge us.  But just as Our Blessed Saviour said to the Pharisees:  " . . . it is My Father that honoureth Me . . .  "  We need to be more concerned with what God thinks of us.  We need to focus on how impressed God is with our efforts.  I am sure we have all heard those letters:  "WWJD," which of course stands for "What Would Jesus Do."  But maybe we can get some wristbands made up with the letters "WWJT," which stands for What Would Jesus Think."  Are we more concerned how the world honours me or how God honours me.  Are we more interested in impressing the world  . . .  or impressing God?   

St. Margaret Church meets each and every Sunday morning at 9:30 AM.  We worship at the beautiful Chapel at Marquette Manor, located at 8140 N. Township Line Road on the Northwest side of Indianapolis.  We use the King James Bible and the 1928 Book of Common Prayer.  Come join us as we listen to God speak to us through His Word.  At Communion time, we receive the Precious Body and Blood of Christ to nourish us and give us strength for our journey called life.