When I worked in Waltham, Massachusetts, just outside of Boston, there was an Italian Restaurant I'd go to every now and then with folks from work. Hanging on the walls of that fine dining establishment were pictures of famous men and women of Italian heritage noteworthy for their great achievements. I'm not talking about lightweights and wannabes like Caesar Augustus, Leonardo de Vinci, and Christopher Columbus. No, I'm talking about people who contributed something so profound to the world that it wouldn't be the same without them. Dean Martin. Sylvester Stallone, in both his roles as Rocky Balboa and Rambo. Frank Sinatra. Joe DiMaggio. Sophia Loren. And yes, Al Capone.
People like to honor those whom they revere.
When staying in Madrid, Spain some years ago, I enjoyed going to what I called bullfighter bars. They were very nice establishments with long dark wooden bars, kind of like a Spanish version of an English pub. What I found most fascinating about them was they typically had one or two walls covered with small framed photographs of famous bullfighters, pictures going back decades. And on the other side of the bar, one or two walls covered with small framed photographs of the famous bulls the bullfighters fought. It was quite astounding to see whole walls covered with framed photographs of famous bullfighters and bulls.
People like to honor those whom they revere.
We see the same thing sort of thing going on across the street. The folks who run the UT Coop are in the process of transforming what used to be a parking lot into a park commemorating famous UT athletes. In the fall the perimeter of the park was lined with statues of UT football players, baseball players, basket ball players, golfers, volleyball players-men and women. I'm not sure where they've all gone but I imagine they'll be back this spring.
People like to honor those whom they revere.
We have our own manner of doing this here at church. Parts of our building are named the Towery Wing, the Appell Room, and the Corliss Library, all dedicated to people who contributed something special to this church. We have photographs of Melanie Wilkenson and the Bukasa family in our Fellowship Hall. We have our stained glass windows that remember and honor people, and today, we dedicated a window to honor our bother in Christ and dear friend, Matt Blackstock.
People like to honor those whom they revere.
The criteria by which we as a church decide whom we shall honor and revere differs from the criteria that the Italian restaurant, the Spanish bullfighter bars, and the UT Coop use when they decide whom they shall honor and revere. I can't imagine we'll be dedicating a window to Rambo, hanging a picture of Dean Martin, a bullfighter, or a bull in Fellowship Hall, or renaming Fellowship Hall the Vince Young room anytime soon.
But it raises the question: by what criteria do we decide to honor and revere folks in our church? By what criteria have we decided to honor and revere Matt? Sure, he sang in the choir for a really long time, but there's got to be more to it than that.
I think this morning's reading from Proverbs provides a good starting point for our answer.
Make your ear attentive to wisdom.
Incline your heart to understanding.
Then you will understand the ways of God.
You will understand righteousness and justice and equity.
Wisdom will enter into your heart, and will be pleasant to your soul.
Let your heart keep my commandments.
You will find favor and good repute in the sight of God and in the sight of people.
Matt, when we look upon you, we see a man whose ear is attentive to wisdom. We see a man whose heart is inclined toward understanding. We see a man who understands righteousness and justice and equity. We see a man whose heart holds fast to God's commandments.
Matt, when we look upon you, we believe with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength that God looks upon you with favor just as we look upon you with favor.
I was thinking this week of some other passages from the Bible that illustrate the qualities we see, the qualities we honor and revere, when we look upon Matt.
Our children picked the Parable of the Good Samaritan. That's certainly appropriate. Martin Luther King, Jr. said of this parable: "The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was, 'if I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?' But…the Good Samaritan reversed the question, 'if I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?'"
That is criteria by which we honor and revere someone in this church. Compassion for the other, especially for the suffering. That is a quality we see in Matt. If I do not stop to help this person, what will happen to him or her? A heart moved by care and compassion for the well-being of the other. Could we even begin to count the people Matt has so compassionately helped throughout his life as a doctor? As a Christian? As a decent human being? And that's what it all really boils down to-being a decent human being with a heart inclined toward love, compassion, and understanding.
Become that, and you will find favor in the sight of God, and you will find favor in our sight.
We heard this morning some words that Jesus once read from the prophet Isaiah.
The Spirit of Lord is upon me…to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, and to set at liberty those who are oppressed.
As John Caputo so wonderfully put it: "To announce the kingdom of God is to bring good news to all those who are poor in spirit and just plain poor, to those who hunger for justice and who are just plain hungry, to those whose minds are blinded by sin and who are just plain blind, to those whose hearts are bent by evil and whose bodies are just plain bent."
I think of Matt as Dr. Blackstock bringing good news through his compassionate presence and his medical skill to poor people around the city of Austin. I think of the People's Community Clinic. I think of Matt the Christian, Matt the decent human being, making sandwiches and serving them at our front porch lunch. Matt serving dinner at freeze night shelter. Matt sitting down and talking to homeless street kids. Matt and his wife Mary advocating for justice.
The Spirit of the Lord is upon our brother Matt, and he has brought good news to many in need of good news.
I thought of another passage from scripture, one that for me highlights a quality that I see in Matt, a quality I admire very much. In the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew's Gospel, Jesus says "beware of practicing your piety before other people in order to be seen by them…when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing."
What I admire so much about Matt is that everything he's done, he's seemingly done without the least bit of desire to draw attention to himself. I really get the sense that Matt didn't accomplish all the things he's accomplished in life in order to receive recognition or reward. Matt goes about his business in a very quiet, very unassuming, very low-key way. Matt never hoped and prayed that one day we'd honor him with a window and that we'd devote a whole worship service to heaping praise upon him. In fact, we tried to do this once before and he wouldn't let us. So I imagine all of this honoring and revering and heaping of praise makes Matt a bit uncomfortable, and I apologize to you Matt if I'm making you uncomfortable. I'm almost done!
It's just that you have to understand, some Italians love Dean Martin, Rocky Balboa, and Sophia Lauren. Some Spaniards love their bullfighters and the bulls they fight. Some folks at UT love their sports heroes.
And Matt, we love you.
And people like to honor those whom they love.
Today we honor you.
Thank you for letting us honor you.
