Are We Number One?

Sermon for 25th Sunday of the Year, cycle B, Sep 20-21, 1997

by Most Rev. Dr. Robert M. Bowman, Presiding Bishop, United Catholic Church

Wisdom 2: 12, 17-20

Psalm 54: 3-8

James 3: 16 - 4: 3

Mark 9: 30-37

As we celebrate Mass here today, at this very moment, a gigantic struggle is underway. It may well determine — no, not the fate of the world, but — who is number one in college football this year. It may also determine who is the number one college football player, the winner of the Heisman trophy. Yes, it’s the game between the Florida Gators and the Tennessee Volunteers. Last year’s Gator win was crucial to their eventual triumph as #1 in the land. It also helped make Steve Spurrier #1, the highest-paid college football coach in history. If the Gators win today, it could very well come down again to the Gators against the Florida State Seminoles for Number One.

How many of you are Gator fans? How many are Seminole fans? How many are for the University of Miami Hurricanes? Condolences to you. It looks like this is not your year.

The quest to be Number One is a great American tradition. In no other country in the world is competition so enshrined as the ultimate virtue. And it doesn’t start in college. High schools, little league, grade schools ... heck, I understand there’s a preschool in Titusville that claims to be Number One in the world in the teeter-totter.

Even our advertising reflects it. "Simply the best." "Be all you can be." "Number one in sales." "Number one in customer satisfaction." "First in its class."

There’s something about being an American that makes being Number One of surpassing importance in our lives. We all want to be number one. That includes me. I’m no different. I, for one, will be extremely disappointed if the Gators lose today and fall from their #1 ranking.

Maybe it’s living in a country which for a long time now has prided itself on being Number One. We’ve been the strongest nation in the world since sometime in World War II. Now, we’re the world’s sole remaining superpower. Our military could take on all the other nations of the world, simultaneously, and win. Our defense budget is almost as much as all the rest of the world combined. There’s absolutely no question. We’re number one.

Among all industrialized nations, we’re number one in child poverty, number one in the gap between rich and poor, number one in unimmunized children, number one in teen pregnancy, number one in deaths by gunfire, number one in poverty among the elderly, number one in citizens without medical coverage, number one in promoting instability, insurrection, tyranny, torture, terrorislm, and murder around the world through the Central Intelligence Agency. (Happy 50th birthday, CIA.) And number one in the percentage of our population in prison. We incarcerate a larger portion of our black population than South Africa did at the height of Apartheid.

But there are things in which we’re not Number One. We were last to agree to a nuclear test ban. We are the last holdout to the Law of the Sea Treaty. Out of 185 countries, the United States and Somalia are the last ones yet to sign the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which would restrict child labor, the use of children as soldiers, and other abuses. And we are the last industrialized nation yet to provide prenatal care to pregnant women, free day care to working mothers, free preventive medicine and immunizations for infants, and a host of other marks of a civilized society. Now the civilized nations of the world, spurred on by the late Princess Diana, have finally agreed to a treaty banning the immoral, indiscriminate horror of anti-personnel land mines. And once again, our country is Number One. We are the first and only country (so far) to refuse to sign the treaty.

The question for us as a nation, as a community, as a church, and as individuals is this: Are we Number One in the things that matter?

Jesus has some interesting things to say about being Number One. He says, "If anyone wishes to be first, he must remain the last one of all and the servant of all." If you want to be Number One, you must be servant of all.

What does Jesus mean by that? Well, first, he was talking to his apostles who were discussing which of them was Number One. In essence, they were squabbling over who would be pope. So, above all, Jesus means this message for me, a descendant of the apostles. My job is not to lord it over you and make you kiss my ring. It’s to be your servant. Every week, I visit a nursing home in West Melbourne. Among several regulars I visit there is my 90 year old mother. Last week, she told me that her toenails had gotten so long that she could hardly get her shoes and socks on. The nurses are not allowed to cut nails. Insurance regulations and all that. Her nails were long, gnarled, curled up, and thick with fungus. So for about half an hour, I sat on her bed, put her feet in my lap, and cut her nails. About halfway through, she said, "This is a heck of a thing for a bishop to be doing." And I thought to myself, "No, this is exactly the kind of thing a bishop should be doing." And if I ever forget it, I want you to remind me.

But the words of Jesus weren’t meant just for me. You’re not getting off that easy. They were meant for our society as a whole, our nation. By Jesus’ standards, we’re number one in all the wrong things. And where we should be number one, in service, we’re last. We want to be master of the world instead of servant of all. That better change; and as citizens, we should make it our job to help it change.

Next, Jesus meant those words for the church, and for our parish community. We, as a group, are to be servants of all — of each other, certainly; but also of others, especially the poor, the alienated, the homebound, and the homeless. In Jesus’ day, it was widows, orphans, and lepers. Who are the lepers today? AIDS patients? Drug addicts? Single mothers? Those who suffer from Alzheimers? We are their servants.

I have a list of people who need help or just need visiting. For our size, we’re doing quite a bit. But we could do much more if all of us were involved.

And that’s the final target of the words of Jesus — each one of us as individuals. Have you inherited the American competitive spirit? Do you want to be Number One? Then you know what you have to do: become servant of all. Now some of you may deny it. "Me? I don’t want to be #1. I just want to be left alone to enjoy my life in peace. I don’t want to get involved."

Too late! It doesn’t matter. Jesus is calling you to be a servant anyway.

You can’t escape it. It’s the way God made us. It’s what we do. Jesus is only reminding us of what we should already know. Life is a team sport; we don’t do it alone. And we can be Number One, because God is on our team. Bring on Peyton Manning. God is our quarterback. He designed the game. He wrote the rules. He drafted you ... in the first round; and He is giving you the ball. So get off the benches, and into the trenches. Become the servant you were meant to be. That’s when Jesus will look at you and say, "Alright! In my book, you’re Number One."

Let us pray.

Lord, we thank you for the game of life. We don’t want to be number one in money or power or glamour. We just want to be first in your heart. We want to be number one the way Mother Teresa did it, by being servant of all. Send us your Holy Spirit to enflame our hearts with your love and help us serve in your name. But, oh Lord, the bench is so comfortable; and it’s so easy to just sit here and let life pass by. Don’t let us do it, Lord. Help us up. Give us a swift kick in the uniform, if necessary; but get us in the game. We love you, and we’re so thankful to be on your team. You, Lord, are truly Number One.

Amen!

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