Standing at the Feet of Your Master

Bring up these images in your head:  Anakin standing before the Jedi Council.  Luke standing before the Emperor on Death Star II.  The icon of the Samaritan Woman at the Well (this is the image included here, in case you don't know it). 

Fr Andrew 

My dear friend, Fr Andrew, was giving a lecture one time and noted that in the classical era, the teacher would sit and the people would stand to hear his words.  How much things have changed.  If a student stands in class now, you can bet his afternoon dance card will be full.  When I give a sermon, I stand at the front of the congregation and watch everyone else take a rest.  My parish is good, but in other places I see people go right for the bulletin, the bottom of the purse for the much-needed linty hard candy, or just plain doze off.  The sermon is there for illumination and to make clear the words of the Gospel lesson to today's challenges. 

Respect and Authority

This position of standing said a lot about the attitude of feelings of the listener.  Who is the biggest smart aleck in the New Testament?  Pontius Pilate.  He sits down to listen to Jesus and then gets all snarky and sarcastic.  Just so you don't misunderstand me, we don't follow his example.  When the woman at the well stands to listen to Christ, it is because she is receptive to the teachers that came through town - and she was even waiting for the messiah.  By the end of the Gospel lesson, she recognizes that the seated teacher is indeed the Christ, the long-awaited messiah. 

Jedi Council

Now let's look at the Jedi Council.  They sit in a circle high above a spire overlooking the capitol city.  While there are clear leaders, there are places of honor and precedence among them.  Yoda, the oldest and wisest master is the head of this august body.  Yet, they have

discussions about the right course to take about certain events.  It is a community of brothers and sisters, deciding things in a collegial manner.  In this, we see the classical make up of the Church.  All of the bishops (the overseers, the wise and learned elders of the Christian community, coming together to try to discern the will of God.  This is evident from the very early days of the Christian community.  When St James (my favorite sent, and I hope you can guess why) calls together the apostles in the first council of Jerusalem.  When they come to the consensus of the elders, in their letter to the faithful they employ these words " For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us…" indicating that it is God working together with His faithful who strive to do his work.

The Emperor's Hideous Throne

But our negative example in our favorite fictional galaxy is Luke standing before the throne of the emperor on Death Star II.  Here, Palps is more like Pilate than Christ at Jacob's Well.  Sidious is not trying to teach or persuade or correct, but to corrupt, destroy and subject

Luke to the Dark Side, to the evil one.  He is a college of one, and that is always ultimately self serving. 

We stand at the feet of the master, Christ Himself, because what He offers us so much more:  Life, and life abundantly.  While he sits next to Jacob's Well, which offers life-giving water, He offers Himself as a drink which will never make us thirsty again:  "Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life (John 4.13-14).”

Who is your master?  What does your master offer to you as a reward for discipleship?