Of Sneetches and the Spirit -- A sermon

Acts 11, John 14

After centuries of scholastic pursuit of the deep meaning of the Gospel, one of the best interpreters could well be Dr. Seuss. Not that the good doctor necessarily had the New Testament in mind as he crafted his social parables. But so many of them strike so very close to the heart of Jesus' message. And this morning the parable that again comes to my mind is the plight of the Sneetches.

I know that I have referenced the Sneetches before. And yet we are accustomed to hearing familiar parables of Jesus more than once, so why not the Sneetches? But there may be some here not as familiar with the story, so a brief summary is in order.

The Sneetches are a race of beings who spend considerable amounts of time on the beaches. There is nothing to differentiate one Sneetch from another apart from this: some have stars on their bellies and some do not. This contrast leads to much unhappiness and civil discontent. The Sneetches with stars believe themselves to be the best kind of Sneetch on the beach and the ones without stars are inferior, which explains why they do not get invited to any frankfurter roasts.

One day a darkly mysterious character--McMonkey McBean-- arrives and offers to add stars to the Sneetches without. Over time McMonkey McBean drains the Sneetches of all their money in their frantic pursuit to be "better than" the other Sneetches by first having stars, then not having stars, then having stars again. In the end McBean leaves with all the money and the Sneetches are left staring at each other no longer certain who is who.

For our purposes this morning we are less concerned with the business model of McMonkey McBean and more concerned with the Sneetches as obsessed creatures of status. And the reason any of it is important this morning can be found in our reading from the book of Acts. What we are hearing today is Peter's account of the events recorded in chapter 10, of the time Peter received a vision from God to violate central tenants of Jewish faith as a prelude to bringing baptism to Gentiles. Gentiles are anyone not Jewish, and up to this point the Jesus movement has been an offshoot of Jewish practice. Being responsible for bringing salvation to those who were not already Jewish was a big deal for Peter and it did not make him popular with the home boys. When Peter arrived back at the mother church in Jerusalem, he was criticized for eating "with such men as this." Does that sound familiar? The Gospel portrays Jesus as being criticized for the same thing, for "eating and drinking with sinners." In this case, Peter was encouraged by a vision to eat things unclean by Jewish standards. But the menu is not the point. The point is inclusion. How is it, the home church wonders, that something that belongs to US is being given to people like THAT? How is it that we, who have stars, have to associate with those who have none upon thars?

This tension between the Jewish Christians and their Gentile counterparts is also reported by Paul in his own letters. Galatians, which is primarily concerned with this problem, contains a story Paul tells about Peter. "But when Peter came to Antioch I opposed him to his face for until certain people came from James (who was the head of the Jerusalem church) he used to eat with Gentiles. But after he came, he drew back and kept himself separate for fear of the circumcision faction. And the other Jews joined him in this hypocrisy." Who would have thought the early church was just another version of Middle School? And so it goes--factions form, sides are chosen, there are popular kids and not popular kids. Some Sneetches have stars upon thars and some do not. And so it goes.

Yet none of this should surprise us. This tension has never gone away throughout recorded history. We are, it seems, a very competitive species. We compete at everything. And this competition can be useful, helpful. It can promote growth and maturity. It can even be fun. Family game night is really family competition night. Someone has to win the game, right? Where would our culture be without sports? Sports are everywhere. There are people not here today because somewhere someone is competing in a sport. We have four wonderful high school kids who have spent a great deal of time competing--in softball, volleyball, track, swimming, academics, music, theater. They are no doubt better for it. Three of the four are attending school on sports scholarships and the other is a regents scholar in addition to other academic achievements. We learn from winning. We learn from losing. It is our nature to be competitive.

What lies at the heart of competition? What makes competition possible? Scarcity. There can be no competition where the prize is plentiful. Cows do not generally compete for grass. There is plenty for all. What makes a competition a competition is that there is not enough of the prize to go around. In nature the "prize" is enough food and water or sunlight. Not every tree in the forest can survive. Our competitions are rooted in this scarcity. This can be only one record holder in the 100 meter freestyle. There is only one Super Bowl Trophy. There is only one lead in the school musical, one first chair violin, only one Student Council President. For that matter this is only one President of the United States, a fact that generates an incredible amount of competition. There are only so many church goers in town, so churches compete for their attention. We compete for money, for prizes, for market share, for attention, for recognition, for status.....

Which brings us to the dark side of competition. The Sneetches were competing. What scarcity was at the heart of their competition? Not frankfurters. There were plenty of them. Not square mile of beach. Lots of beach. What was so scarce that they had to compete? Only this. Only one kind of Sneetch could be the best kind of Sneetch.

This is the dark side of competition. Healthy competition takes place in the arena of gifts, skills, and some luck, all governed by fairness and good sportsmanship. If we have a foot race, and start from the same position, you will win, because you are faster. If we have a competition involving various kinds of literary theory, I will win, because you won't play because that sounds really boring. But what if we had a competition to decide who was a more valuable human being? What if we competed to determine who had more value as a human being? How would we do that?

Well consider such competitions in our history. Reflect upon race relations in our country up through the civil rights movement and beyond. Reflect upon the encroachment of Europeans into the habitat of the Native Americans and the justifications for eliminating the natives. Consider Germany in the 1920s and 1930s and Hitler's interpretation as to which Sneetches had stars and which ones did not. Although that image is a big ironic, because in Hitler's Germany it was bad to have a star if it was the star of David.

When is competition not healthy? When the competition is rooted in a claim of fundamental superiority--the claim that one human being is superior to another on the basis of nothing more than opinion and the power to enforce that opinion. Competition is wrong when the prize is the value of a human soul.

Unfortunately the Bible is full of such competitions. Remember Cain and Abel, that did not end so well. Remember Isaac and Ishmael? Jacob and Esau? Moses and Pharaoh? How about King David and his sons. Talk about dysfunctional competition in the family.

And the disciples. They argue about which one of them is the greatest. They demand that Jesus do for them whatever they ask. They despise Samaritans and threaten to bring fire from heaven to consume them. But Jesus will have none of it. Whoever is first shall be last, he says. One must be as a child to enter the kingdom. When the disciples threaten with fire Jesus scolds them asking, what kind of Spirit are you of? Which brings us back to our text for this morning.

Because at the heart of the competition between the Jews and the Gentiles is the prize of the Holy Spirit. The question is: is the Spirit in short supply, to be hoarded by the chosen? Or is there an abundance of the Spirit so that it might be freely shared with all? Well, if we want to be special, if we want to be "better than" others, than we want a Spirit that is ours. We want to possess the Spirit so that we can determine, based upon our own prejudicial subjectiveness, who is deserving of it. Or the Spirit could belong to God, and God alone determines to whom the Spirit comes which is, according to the biblical witness, pretty much anyone who seeks it, who claims it, who gives their heart to it.

In John's Gospel Jesus tells his community not to be afraid. I do not give as the world gives, Jesus says. Do not let your hearts be troubled. And do not be afraid. Competition is rooted in scarcity. One prize, one record, one blue ribbon. Bad competition is also rooted in scarcity. A scarcity of love. It is the absence of love that creates the need to be superior. It is the absence of felt love and the absence of love to offer. It is a fundamental pathology to derive one's own self esteem from the injurious treatment of others. But this is how the world gives. This is how the world proceeds. There is a need to be "better than" someone else. I may believe that I am better than you because I am richer, whiter, more male, more straight, smarter, more honored. But that is all an illusion. For fundamentally I am not better than you because I am blessed of the same Spirit as you. And you are not better than me. We are not better than one another. We are children of God. We are heirs to the kingdom. It is the world that wants to separate us into groupings. But Jesus doesn't give to us as the world gives. So let us not be driven by fear and insecurity into the dark regions of social competition. Let us live in the light of Christ's love.

The Sneetches do figure that out. After McMonkey McBean drives away with all of their money and self-respect, they realize that there is no best kind of Sneetch on the beaches. And they have a frankfurter roast together. All of them. That sounds like a beautiful image of the Kingdom of God. Amen.