St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church, Owings Mills MD
September 3, 2023
Year A, Proper 17: The Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Exodus 3:1-15
Psalm 105:1-6, 23-26, 45c
Romans 12:9-21
Matthew 16:21-28
The Parable of the Orioles (Or, Remaining Faithful to the Hard Road)
Sometimes – like when I stop by the Parish Hall early on a Wednesday morning and visit with our faithful parishioners making a mountain of sandwiches for the guests at Paul’s Place, or like the other day when I turned into the driveway and saw the sunlight bouncing off the copper trim of our beautiful new church roof – sometimes I ask myself, how did I get here?
In a very real way, that journey began way back in the 1950s, with a Jersey City boy – my future dad - a baseball fan, who rooted for the almost always terrible St. Louis Browns.
Why the Browns, you ask? I really don’t know. I think maybe he just liked rooting for the underdog.
And when the Browns moved to Baltimore in 1954, my loyal dad transferred his allegiance to the Orioles, and has rooted for them ever since.
As many of you know, when my sister and I were little, my family made several trips to Baltimore, which always included at least one Orioles game at Memorial Stadium.
In those days, the players just parked in a lot with no apparent security and, if you got there early enough, you could see them making their way into the stadium, and you could ask them for autographs.
One time, when I was eleven years old, my dad and I were at the stadium early and we spotted the star pitcher Jim Palmer, who happened to be carrying his laundry. I went over and shyly asked for his autograph. He was about to sign but then saw a bunch of other kids running over. He said since he was pitching he couldn’t sign for everybody. So, instead, I got a picture of Number 22, his laundry, and me – a future, though very different, number 22!
(I'm the 22nd Rector of St. Thomas'.)
(And, by the way, Palmer pitched 12 innings that game. Something that would NEVER happen today!)
Although those family trips eventually came to an end, I never lost my interest in, and fondness for, Baltimore.
Fast forward to seven years ago.
I suggested to my dad that we should restart the tradition of those trips, head down to Baltimore, take in an Orioles game or two, see some of the sights, and, most important, spend some time together.
And that’s what we did – and it was great – and became an annual event.
Unfortunately, the revival of our family tradition coincided almost exactly with the total collapse of the Orioles - and the start of the long and painful rebuild.
As many of you know only too well, the new General Manager of the Orioles, Mike Elias, formulated a plan of rebuilding – or, you might say, renewal – that involved nurturing young minor league talent while leaving the major league team – and its fans – to suffer so many ugly and painful defeats.
During our annual trips to Camden Yards, my father and I saw quite a few terrible games, usually surrounded by delighted fans of the opposing team.
It was a hard road, one that required a lot of faith in the plan and a lot of hope for the future. And I bet there was a lot of pressure to choose a quicker and easier way, but, to their credit, the Orioles stuck with this hard road and now are experiencing the joy of new life – so much joy and so much new life that well over 100 of us have signed up to go to the last home game of the season, including that Jersey City kid who transferred his allegiance to the team way back in 1954!
The Parable of the Orioles.
Or, remaining faithful to a hard road.
If you were here last week, you may remember that Peter had a really good day.
Jesus asked his disciples, “But who do you say that I am?”
And to everyone’s surprise, including probably his own, it’s Peter – well-meaning but often bumbling Peter – who gets the answer exactly right:
“You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God,” he says.
Jesus then goes on to declare that Peter will be the first stone upon which he will build the Church.
A really good – even glorious - day for Peter.
And now in today’s gospel lesson we pick up right where we left off last week, and, well, Peter’s glory sure is fleeting, isn’t it?
Jesus describes to his disciples the hard road ahead, “that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering…and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”
Peter is so shocked, devastated, by what Jesus has said that he is unable to hear the promise of new life – the promise of renewal – at the end of the hard road.
Instead, all Peter can hear is that Jesus – his friend and Lord, the one he had correctly identified as Messiah and Son of God – all Peter can hear is suffering and death.
And so Peter takes Jesus aside and he “rebukes” Jesus.
“God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you!”
That’s a strong word, “rebuke.”
And Jesus, he goes right back at Peter – rebuking Peter in return – “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”
Strong words that must have been hard for Peter to hear.
Why did Jesus rebuke Peter?
Probably because Jesus really was tempted to turn away from the hard road of his mission, the hard road of the cross.
And, knowing what we know is waiting for Jesus in Jerusalem, who could blame him?
But, Jesus knows that the hard road, as painful as it is, is the only way to Easter, the only way to new life, the only way to renewal.
And so, Jesus remains faithful to the hard road.
As we know from the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus – and also from the Parable of the Orioles – there are no shortcuts on the hard road to new life, the hard road to renewal.
People in recovery know this – the Twelve Steps that our friend Sam Shoemaker helped to develop – they chart a hard road: recognizing and admitting powerlessness over addiction, taking a searching and fearless moral inventory, making amends for the wrongs done – a hard road indeed.
And our own Baptismal Covenant is a hard road – proclaiming the Good News by word and example – seeking and serving Christ in all persons, loving our neighbor as our self, striving for justice and peace among all people, respecting the dignity of every human being – a hard road, a road we can travel only with God’s help.
A hard road that we are often tempted to turn away from.
A hard road that, fortunately, we travel together.
In two weeks, we will celebrate Renewal Sunday.
It will be a time to celebrate how far we have traveled on our hard road – how we have done the hard work of rebuilding and enhancing both our buildings and our ministries – how we have done the hard work of opening our doors to absolutely everybody – how we have done the hard work of looking beyond our church walls, looking for those who need our help, looking for those we may have forgotten.
Renewal Sunday won’t be the end of the road – just another step in our journey.
And if we remain faithful to the way of Jesus, the road ahead will no doubt be hard.
We may be tempted to turn away.
But, as Jesus – and, yes, the Orioles - teach us, the hard road is the only way to new life, the only way to renewal.
Amen.
Posts
