IN DEFENSE OF TRIUMPHALISM -- SORT OF

The concluding verse of Matthew's Gospel commands us to make disciples of all people, baptizing them in the name of the Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. That is the mission of the Church. There is no disagreement about that. There is a disagreement, however, on emphasis. Roy Poindexter, writing many years ago, asked a rather pointed question. To wit:

           

"Why do we always seem to be trying to guide our thinking by the version of the Great Commission in the gospel of Matthew? In the last chapter of John's gospel is another version. There, instead of a priestly pronouncement about authority, recruitment, liturgical procedures, and triune doctrinairism, is a passionate cry that we prove our love for God by feeding his sheep. The former has too often meant conquest and triumphalism. The latter promises to nourish life, and might be better received by a world that feels exploited. Let's try starting with John's version for a change."

           

Well, okay. I remember years ago in seminary, in the 60's, the decade of social upheaval and unrest, when many of my colleagues were leaving seminary to go into social work. One of my professors, aghast and upset at this mass exodus to work in the inner cities, complained in a sermon: "A priest is more than a glorified social worker."

           

Well, okay. But a priest is also much more than the glorified high priest we were all being taught to become. There has to be a balance between triumphalism and service. All triumphalism and no service leaves Jack hungry. All social action and no triumphalism – here in the form or worship and mission – leaves Jack fat.

           

Jack, and you and I, need a little of both. We are nourished and fed through our worship and our mission not so that we can be self-satisfied, but so that we can go out and serve others and help satisfy their needs. We need to be fed in order to feed sheep.

           

It is easy to become triumphalistic, to get fat, to be self-satisfied. The Church of the 50's and 60's was just such a Church. It did not know how to respond to social unrest because it had been caught up in itself. Today, it sometimes seems the opposite: all the church is interested in is in the social arena. There has to be a balance.

           

The balance is struck when we realize that we gather as a community to worship, study, share, be in community so that we can go out to serve. It is not enough, however, to either worship or serve. Those who are served are also missing something: a community to be part of. We often overlook the fact that the many we are called to serve need more than a helping hand. They need and want to be part of a loving community that will nourish and nurture them as the community itself is nourished and nurtured in worship and service.

           

Triumphalism: "authority, recruitment, liturgical procedures, and triune doctrinism" is one side of the coin. The other side is that "we prove our love for God by feeding his sheep," clothing the naked, visiting the sick and lonely, and bringing them into a community. Both are equally important.