The Reverend Matthew Ichihashi Potts, Plummer Professor of Christian Morals at HDS, and Pusey Minister in the Memorial Church, delivered the following remarks at Morning Prayers in Harvard's Memorial Church on March 2, 2022.
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This is a reading from the 14th chapter of the gospel according to St. John, beginning at the 7th verse.
When Jesus noticed how the guests chose the places of honor, he told them a parable. "When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host. And the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, 'Give this person your place.' And then in disgrace, you would start to take the lowest place."
"But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, 'Friend, move up higher.' Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. For all who it exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted."
He said also to the one who had invited him to dinner, "When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends, or your brothers, or your relatives, or your rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."
Here endeth the lesson.
Today, of course, is Ash Wednesday. And at our noon service today, we will observe Ash Wednesday with imposition of ashes. Also, tonight, at our 8:00 PM student communion service, we will have imposition of ashes. And if you would like to have ashes imposed, I invite you, please, to return for one of those services.
When March 2nd is not Ash Wednesday, it is the feast of Saint Chad. And Chad actually, I think, teaches us something about Lent, about this Lent, and about this lesson. And so, as we briefly postpone our observance of Ash Wednesday until noon, I'd like to tell you about Chad.
Chad was a saint of the mid 7th century from Northumbria. Northumbria was a kingdom in SoutheasternScotland in Northern England, an Anglo-Saxon kingdom. His own name, Chad, is British. And so, he represents something of the merger of these two cultures, the British Celtic culture and the Anglo-Saxon culture.
Some of you who are faithful morning prayer attendees will remember, I preached on Hilda, several weeks ago. This was right about the time of Hilda, when these two cultures were merging, and there was lots of conflict in the church, over whether to practice the Celtic traditions or the Roman traditions.
Chad was a monk, but not of the Benedictine variety. He was a Peripatetic monk, he wandered around and studied the Bible. That was his rule. He, and three of his brothers, founded a monastery, at Lastingham. His brother, Cedd, was the abbot. When Cedd died, Chad was made the abbot. The king of Northumbria appointed a person who followed the Roman rite, to become Archbishop of York. But plague was everywhere in those days. There were not enough bishops to consecrate this m an, Archbishop of York. So he went to France to find some bishops. And he took a long time, and the king got impatient, as the king turned to Chad and said, "Chad, you become Archbishop, because we can't wait any longer."
Chad went and found bishops in Southern England, some following the Roman rite, some following the Celtic British rite, and they consecrated him. And he came back, and started practicing as Archbishop of York, one of the senior bishops in all the land. And then finally, this Roman priest returned. And the king said to Chad, "Give up your post and retire." And Chad did.
This lesson we have from Jesus today, is not one I love, to be quite honest. It's sort of a strategic Miss Manners, isn't it? This is where you sit when you go to dinner. But also most worse, it's also sort of like, this is how you get the better reward. This is how you get people to notice you the right way. I don't have time this morning to parse that, maybe in a Sunday sermon sometime. But this thing that Jesus says, invite the poor, those who cannot repay you; that's what love looks like, doesn't it?
I think about my deepest loves. I think about when my children emerged into this world, and I didn't hold them in my hands and say, "Oh, look, here is one who can take care of me in my old age." I love them just because they were. And at that moment, in their extreme vulnerability, they could not repay me anything that I had to offer, and yet, I was willing to offer them anything and everything. Giving up heirs, putting away honor and prestige, as Jesus calls us to do, is really about loving our neighbor, because it is saying that, your presence here is the gift, not any honor you bestow me otherwise, just your presence.
Lent, which begins today, on Ash Wednesday, is a time of fasting, and I am making some fasts this Lent. Pretty typical ones, I have a sweet tooth. I'm giving up desserts. Trying to give up my phone. We'll see how that goes. But Chad, his example and Jesus today, ask us what it would mean to fast from distinctions, and honors, and exaltations. This is perhaps, an especially pointed challenge to us here at Harvard, for whom distinctions, and honors, and exaltations, are the waters in which we swim. They are the stones from which these marvelous buildings are made. And yet, pull all these buildings down, and Christ would rebuild them in three days, not with any competing or better honors and exaltations, but with a love so deep and so dear, it will endure even the excruciating humiliations of the cross.
Today is the first day of Lent. Today, Jesus sets his face towards Jerusalem and bids us to follow. May we set out after him in humility and in faith.