Who’s Scruffy Looking?

There’s a story I’ve heard a few times about a church that had been without a pastor for quite some time, and was looking for a new pastor. They spent the months interviewing people, and after much deliberation, finally came to hire a new pastor. They announced this to the church, and also told them the Sunday that the new pastor would start their ministry.

On that Sunday, people came to church all excited, full of expectation. And as they started to come in from the parking lot, they noticed a homeless man near the front door of the church, dressed in rags, looking dirty, and half asleep.

“Is he on drugs?” some people wondered? “Maybe he’s still drunk from last night?” Some of the people went to the elders of the church and asked them to remove the man, who told them it would be taken care of, and that they should find their seats. More people came, and more people saw this homeless man. And they started to wonder out loud how someone could allow themselves to fall this far. “Isn’t that just typical? Irresponsible people end up being a burden. He should never have let himself get this far. He only has himself to blame.”

Inside the church, people were still anxiously waiting to hear the announcement of the new pastor. And finally, the elders announced the name of the pastor, and asked him to come forward. At that time, the man everyone had assumed was on drugs or half drunk, walked up the center aisle, and mounted the podium. He took off his dirty jacket, a wig, and a scruffy hat, revealing a normal, well-put together gentleman; and then he introduced himself as their new pastor.

You have to wonder what was going through people’s minds at that point. Obviously, they had to re-examine their beliefs, and reorganize their thoughts and judgements about this guy. 

And you have to wonder. Was it all about outward appearance? Was it because the elders of the church had vouched for him? Was that what changed their thoughts about this man?

Psychology tells us that we are hard-wired to think that beautiful people are smarter than those that don’t fit into society’s norms of beauty. And that we think that tall people are more capable of leading, just by virtue of their size. And that people who smile are more trustworthy than those who frown or who keep an expressionless face.

And while psychology tells us that this is our initial, hard-wired reaction, it is good that we are thinking and rational creatures, because each of us has experienced a wolf in sheep’s clothing, a salesman with a winning smile who is intending to sell you a lemon. Our hard-wired brains lie to us initially, but it is our thoughts and our understanding that helps us to see beyond the outer facade.

This is part of what is happening in today’s Gospel. Jesus is turning and reshaping the minds of the apostles, as he helps them to understand the interaction he had with a rich young man. 

The disciples, as many of the people in that part of the world at that time, assumed that rich people were blessed by God. And the reason for that blessing was because they were righteous. That is to say, they believed that if you were rich, you were more righteous than those who were poor. Or to say the opposite: if you were poor, you were a sinner, and if you were rich, you were the righteous people of God.

That’s why they were so surprised when Jesus told them that it is harder for a rich person to get into heaven than for a camel to enter through the eye of a needle – a small opening in a city’s wall that was hard even for a person to climb through.

The disciples had heard the conversation. This man had said that he had kept all the commandments – he had been righteous since birth – and Jesus tells him: “One thing you lack. Go, sell all that you possess, and give it to the poor.” And the man left, sad and upset, because he was very rich.

Jesus saw the man’s heart. He saw beyond the outer shell, and he saw the motivations of this man’s heart. The disciples had reacted with their hard-wired – or at least – hard learned lessons about life, and expected this man to be a shoo-in to heaven. And instead. Jesus says, “Nope. Not this one. It is hard for the rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

Now, despite this story being about a very rich young man with many possessions, this story is not about money. Sure, the young man is rich. And sure, Jesus talks about rich people having a hard time getting into heaven, but this is not about money. 

It’s about priorities.

This young man had kept the commandments since his birth, and by all accounts of the law would have been considered righteous. But Jesus sees beyond his outer shell and notices that this young man is lacking in trust. His first priority in life is not God, but his own wealth, and he has put more trust in what he owns than in God, more trust in his own status in the community, than his relation to God, the creator of life.

This story in the gospel should make us think about our own motivations.

First, what are our own priorities? If we have money, and wealth, do we find we trust in that wealth more than God? If we have status, positions of leadership or power, do we trust more in that position to help us, than we trust in God to help us? If we have an above average IQ, do we value that more than the intuition that comes from God, and trust our own understanding more than the wisdom of the one who protects and guides us?

If we put our trust in those things, rather than in God, then we will look at others, and judge them on the merits of those areas where we have an abundance. That is, we will judge ourselves more favorably, and assume the worst in others, simply because they seem to lack where we excel. <pause – longer>

“Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them.” … Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?” … And Satan responded, “Now, stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!”

And we know the rest of the story. Job, a very wealthy man, lost everything, and we find Job sitting in the dirt, covered in ashes, with boils all over his body. But he couldn’t just remove the dirty jacket, a wig, or a scruffy hat. Because Job was truly at the bottom, suffering in the dung heaps. One of Job’s friends at one point assumes that he has sinned, that it is his own fault that this has occurred to him. Another friend tells him that he ought to repent, and that this would stop his suffering. And then another tells him to repent. And then another friend tells him that only the wicked are punished.

Sound familiar? Job brought this on himself, it was because he was sinful, because he was lacking in righteousness, because he had committed folly and recklessness before God. But we know that is not the case. Job was a righteous man, who was suffering at the hands of the evil one.

And this brings us to the second question of the Gospel. What are our own biases? Would we have been the friends of Job, telling him that he was sinful, that he had committed folly against the Lord God Almighty, that this was his own fault?

The disciples were shocked to learn that rich people would have a hard time getting into heaven. They asked, “Who then can get into heaven?” And Jesus responds, “With God, all things are possible.”

And then he goes on to say, those who leave house, or brothers or sisters or fathers or mothers or wife or children or lands for my sake and the gospel, shall receive a hundredfold now, in this life, and in the age to come, eternal life. In other words, those who trust in God, more than anything else, will see the results of that trust.

But in the meantime, if they have forsaken house and land, family and friends, for the sake of God, we might see them where they are, and not where they are going. We might see them where they are, and not as they will become. We might see them where they are, but not where God will take them.

They may be for now, sitting in the dirt, covered in ashes, scraping at boils, and we might consider that they have brought it on themselves, but we cannot know why they are there, or what God has in store for them in the future.

“Many who are first will be last, and many who are last, will be first.”

When we put our trust in God above all else, when we begin to see people for the potential as children made in the image of God, when we begin to treat people with the dignity due that potential, regardless of where they are now, that is when we begin to see the abundance of life that God has promised to all.

It could be us sitting in the dung heap. It could be us, covered in ashes. And yet, we could be as righteous as Job. 

Wouldn’t we, in that situation, want to be seen and recognized as the Child of God that we are?

[This sermon was delivered at St. Alban’s Episcopal Church in Wickenburg, AZ on October 13, 2024.]