“Where’s the Beef?”
I am going to date myself at this point… but maybe some of the older adults remember this. Some years ago now, there was a series of successful television commercials featuring actress Clara Peller as a crusty elderly woman who loved to confront counter persons in local hamburger stands demanding, “Where’s the beef?” The point, of course, was that only Wendy’s hamburgers delivered the full quarter-pound of meat on a bun. These commercials were so successful that take-offs on the commercials carried into everyday life. Dissatisfied customers asked salespersons of everything from cars to hair care products, “Where’s the beef?” We even turned to our friends, when they dragged us on seemingly meaningless ventures on empty promises, and demanded, “Where’s the beef?” What is the value in what we are doing? Where is that core product that we are paying so much money to obtain? If you strip away all the fluff – the bun, the condiments – is there anything there at all?
Pastor Bryant, I’m sorry to interrupt, but don’t you think that that is the question that people are asking Christians today? “Where’s the beef?” What makes Christianity different from a dozen other religions or cults? What is it that sets us apart from the crowd? What is at the core of Christianity that makes it worth my attention, my money, and, more than anything else, my time? How would you answer these questions? For you, where’s the beef?
Good question. For many years, I would have said, “Christianity is important because we put our money where our mouth is.” It was Christian charity that built homes in the wilderness… established schools on the mission field… distributed blankets to the homeless in the winter… and even sent doctors into the jungle to restore sight to the blind. I mean, how biblical can you get? But lately, the avalanche of mail soliciting donations for such causes has increased to the point where I cannot decide whether to buy a cow for a farmer in Mali or feed a child in Somalia. I think there are too many choices, but, apart from that, I like the fact that I can do all these things from the comfort of my recliner in the living room. Just open the checkbook, fill out the check, put it in the postage-paid, pre-addressed envelope, and drop it in the mail. Let’s face it, being a good Christian has never been easier.
Pastor Bryant, I think being a Christian means more than just writing checks. If it were just about writing checks, wouldn’t we show a lot more respect for people who can write bigger checks than for those who can’t. Isn’t that what is wrong with our society today… that we play favorites… that we treat rich people differently than we treat poor people?
You’re right. The writer of James does ask us if we treat the poor with the same deference that we show to the rich… or do we offer the wealthy person a seat beside us and ask the poor person to stand by the door? Do we make distinctions about the people we come in contact with each day… depending, of course, on whether the person is important or unimportant in our eyes? He tells us that that kind of favoritism is not Christian. It’s not that the writer of James is against wealthy people or holds them in some kind of contempt… though he reminds us that it is the rich who can make our lives miserable. But he understands that, if money can buy our response to the need we see around us, then it is money, and not the love, compassion, or grace of God that exists at the root of our Christian witness. How can we be a reflection of the Christ who welcomed all to the table, if we show favoritism to some?
Pastor Bryant, you’ve only talked about the rich and the poor, but there are lots of other ways that people show favoritism. I know that movie stars, like Mel Gibson, are paid millions of dollars while the people who work on his movie set make an hourly wage. I know that, right here in Stephenville, football coaches make more money than teachers… and football players are given more privileges than other students. I know that people look down on young people like me who have long hair, while they treat clean-cut guys in starched shirts with respect. Is that Christian?
Wow, those are some great examples of favoritism and discrimination. I recently watched the movie “The Doctor” starring William Hurt for the second time. A more current movie with a similar theme might be “Cars,” though it doesn’t quite deal with the topic in the same way. “The Doctor” is the story of a brilliant, but self-centered, egotistical surgeon who is diagnosed with a growth in his throat… a laryngeal tumor. As he moves from the role of doctor to the role of patient, he discovers that his dehumanizing approach to his patients and the flippant, quasi-humorous remarks he made as a doctor are echoed by the medical staff he meets as a patient. I would venture a guess that many of us have sat in hospital waiting rooms and wondered, as Hurt’s character did in the movie, why the medical staff treats us as if we did not have any brains, or why so many of the treatments we receive are performed by total strangers who have no knowledge of us, our condition, or why the treatment was ordered for us. In the movie, by being a patient in his own hospital and seeing the treatment he gave others through the eyes of a patient, William Hurt’s character learns how to become a more caring, concerned, and even empathetic doctor… just as the little red sports car learns to treat others with respect in “Cars” as well.
I wonder what we would learn about being a Christian if we could be on the receiving end of the treatment that we give to those around us. And, in this instance, I am not just talking about the rich and the poor. In our text today, the writer of James says, “Have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?” Can any one of us claim that we have never looked upon a fellow Christian and thought silently that they were not acting in a Christian manner or living a Christian life? As I look back on my own life, I realize that the times when I was most critical of others were the times when my own faith or actions were weak. In my rush to justify my own life, I looked around to see whether I could compare my life and my actions to the life and actions of those around me. How gratifying it was to be able to find at least one person who was “worse” than I believed I was! And yet, according to the writer of James, that is precisely the time when I was failing to keep the law myself. For the law says that we should “love our neighbor as we love ourselves.”
Pastor Bryant, I’m OK with all that. What really bothers me in this scripture from James is the part where he says that “whoever keeps the whole of the law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.” I don’t think that is fair. After all, we are trying to keep the law. Whatever happened to grace? What happened to the recognition that we are only human and that we will occasionally fail, even in our most sincere efforts?
Well, I don’t believe that the writer of James was telling us that we can never fail in our efforts to uphold the law. What I think that he was saying is that we can’t “pick and choose” the parts of the law that we work to uphold. We can’t decide, for example, that keeping nine of the Ten Commandments is enough and that, if we covet something from time to time, it is OK. No, he says. Coveting is not OK. In God’s eyes, it is just as bad as theft or murder or idolatry, and for us to uphold 90% of the Ten Commandments is not “good enough” to get by. For us to break any of the commandments, even though we keep all the others, just reveals to the world the kind of human beings we truly are… hypocrites… telling the world that we are Christians when, in the crunch, we don’t walk the talk.
So, Pastor Bryant, what are we supposed to do? What does it take to be truly Christian?
Good question. Jesus presented this summary of the law to the Pharisees: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” James, of course, repeats this law, which he calls the royal law. That sounds pretty straight-forward to me: Love God and love my neighbor. And, of course, I recognize that my neighbor happens to be everyone else on the face of the earth… that’s a challenging task, to say the least! And how should I demonstrate that love… the love of God and the love of neighbor? That is another daunting task, but it brings us right to the heart of our text today: for faith by itself, without works, according the James, is dead. God calls us to reach out to our neighbors, in the love of Christ, to provide for their needs. But it is not the big gestures that God seeks from us. It’s the basic stuff. It’s what we do each day to demonstrate this love for our neighbors in our lives. (P)
Pastor Bryant, we’re not adults. What are some ways that we can live our faith? What are some things that we can do? How can we demonstrate the love of God to our neighbor?
My parents tell the story of a missionary who worked with seminary students in Thailand. During the week, he taught them in their classes and, on the weekends, they went into the villages to practice what they had learned. One day, they returned to their dormitory at the seminary to find their seminary professor doing their laundry. It left a lasting impression on them. That this esteemed and exalted man would stoop to do such a lowly task was a greater example of God’s love and this man’s love for them than any class he had taught. It was a turning point in faith and in ministry for many of them. And anybody can do laundry.
Here’s another example. Several years ago, when I worked as a chaplain in the Intensive Care Unit of Seton Medical Center, I came to visit a woman who was critically ill. Two of her friends were visiting her, so I waited outside the room with her husband while they finished their visit. As we stood there together, this man talked to me about lots of things: the work he did with youth on the east side of Austin, the dwindling influence of the church in the life of these youth, the young people’s lack of faith in God, in the future, and, consequently, their lack of hope. He also shared his recent efforts to get service organizations like Rotary, Lions, and Kiwanis involved in his work. It was an interesting conversation. I do not remember how long we talked, but at one point late in the conversation, he reached out and touched my arm. “Thank you,” he said, “for sharing with me the most valuable thing that you have.” I must have looked puzzled, for I had not shared anything with him… I had just stood there and listened to him talk. He smiled at me and said, “Do you know what your most valuable possession is?” I shook my head. “Your time,” he said. “It is the one thing you have to spend that can never be replenished. Today, you gave it to me. Thank you.”
That conversation changed the way that I think about ministry. You see, while Jesus did feed and clothe some of the people of in Palestine, he did not try to feed and clothe them all. But, throughout his life, he was there with them, and was there for them, each and every day. Each day, he reached out to the ones he came in contact with and offered them the love of God and met their individual needs. And, given that he had only three years of ministry, the most valuable thing that he could give them was his time… and that he gave generously. Whether you are young or old, you can give your time to others.
Pastor Bryant…?
Wait, Nathanael, it’s my turn to ask the questions. Can you think of other examples of ways we can demonstrate the love of God?
I think that, when it comes to being a Christian today, we can all learn something from Twelve Step programs. Those program focus on taking one day at a time and do the best we can each day. As Christians, we can do that too… take one day at a time, recognizing that each person we meet is our neighbor and that we are called to love each one as we love ourselves. If we take things one day at a time, relying on God for the strength we need for the task, and greeting each person we meet as the neighbor God has commanded us to love… that, I think, is the beef in the hamburger that is Christianity. And I think, as we work on being better Christians each day of our lives, the size of the beef in our sandwich will grow until no one needs to ask any more, “Where’s the beef?” Amen.