“PRESSED TO IMPRESS?”

MARK 13:1-13

13:1  As he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, "Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!"

2  Then Jesus asked him, "Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down."

3  When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately,

4  "Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign that all these things are about to be accomplished?"

5  Then Jesus began to say to them, "Beware that no one leads you astray.

6  Many will come in my name and say, 'I am he!' and they will lead many astray.

7  When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come.

8  For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. This is but the beginning of the birth pangs.

9  "As for yourselves, beware; for they will hand you over to councils; and you will be beaten in synagogues; and you will stand before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them.

10  And the good news must first be proclaimed to all nations.

11  When they bring you to trial and hand you over, do not worry beforehand about what you are to say; but say whatever is given you at that time, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit.

12  Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death;

13  and you will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

Do you remember the old Nike television commercials?  I’m thinking about the ones that always ended with the words, “Image is everything.”  Those commercials helped Nike sell a lot of shoes and make a lot of money.  The reason why those commercials were so successful is simple.  They tapped into the pressure that out there to impress the people who know you as well as the people who don’t know you.  Image is everything.  So, if you’re smart you’ll wear Nike sneakers, right?

Do you ever get caught up in the game of trying to impress people?  If you do then you can probably appreciate how a woman felt one day when she invited some of her friends from church over for lunch.  She wanted to make a really good impression.  So, she actually hired a maid for the day. Then she pulled her good china out and worked all morning preparing an elaborate spread for her guests.  Unfortunately, while the woman was running around getting everything ready disaster struck.  It happened when she walked into the kitchen and found her dog old “Spot” chowing down on some tuna fish that she had mixed up for sandwiches.  The woman was horrified but didn’t have time to go out and get some more tuna fish.  So, she just took a spatula and add a little more mayonnaise to the bowl.  A little while later the church ladies arrived and everything went just fine except for one thing.  After lunch the church ladies were playing bridge when the maid came in and whispered some bad news in the woman’s ear. “I’m sorry to tell you this,” she said, “but old Spot just died.”  Now the woman was really horrified.  After she regained her composure she called her doctor who told her that everyone would have to go to the hospital to get their stomachs pumped out.  So, that’s what everyone did and the church ladies weren’t too happy when they found out that they’d been served tuna fish that old Spot had been chowing down on.  The woman was thoroughly embarrassed.  That’s why she didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when she got home from the hospital and the maid walked over to her and put her hand on her shoulder and said, “You know I can’t believe that guy never even stopped when he ran over old Spot!”

Do you ever get caught up in the game of trying to impress people?  Herod did.  That’s why he built that magnificent Temple.   Herod wanted people to look at that Temple and be impressed.  He wanted people to look at that Temple and see that he was a rich and powerful king.  Well, it worked with the disciples.  Shortly after Jesus arrived in Jerusalem one of his disciples, who was probably seeing the Temple for the first time exclaimed, “Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!”

The disciples may have been impressed but not Jesus.  Jesus wasn’t impressed because he knew that those stones and those buildings weren’t going to be there much longer.  He knew that it was only a matter of time before the Jews rebelled against the Romans.  He also knew that when that happened the Romans would destroy the Temple and the rest of Jerusalem and that’s exactly what happened 35 years later. 

When Herod built that magnificent Temple he wanted people to be impressed.  I guess you could say then that Herod would have been right at home here in North Reading.  In fact, he would have been right at home in most of our cities and towns.

That’s because a lot of people are doing everything they can to impress their neighbors and the people they work with and their friends at school and even people they don’t know. The pressure to impress these days is unbelievable.   After all, image is everything right?  People care about the car that you drive.  People notice the house that you live in.  People pay attention to the clothes that you wear.  Look at the pressure kids are under to excel at school and in sports.  Look at the megabucks that people spend on weddings and proms and birthday parties.  I remember when a birthday party consisted of ice cream and a cake that your mother made followed by a game of pin the tail on the donkey with a few of the kids in the neighborhood.  Now parents try to outdo each other in their quest to have the most elaborate and extravagant birthday party for their children. 

The pressure to impress is very real.  Now here’s the really strange thing about all of this.  If you’re like most people you hate playing this game.  You hate playing this game that can leave you feeling all stressed out and empty inside. 

I realized just how much people hate playing this game when I remembered a poem this past week.  The poem was written back in 1961 by a woman by the name of Jenny Joseph.  The name of the poem is “Warning,” but most people know it as “When I Am An Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple.”  It goes like this:

Warning! When I am an old woman I shall wear purple

With a red hat which doesn’t go, and doesn’t suit me.

And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves

And satin sandals, and say we’ve no money for butter.

I shall sit down on the pavement when I’m tired

And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells

And run my stick along the public railings

And make up for the sobriety of my youth.

I shall go out in my slippers in the rain

And pick the flowers in other people’s gardens

And learn to spit.

You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat

And eat three pounds of sausages at a go

Or only bread and a pickle for a week

And hoard pens and pencils and beer mats and things in boxes.

But now we must have clothes that keep us dry

And pay our rent and not swear in the street

And set a good example for the children.

We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.

But maybe I ought to practice a little now?

So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised

When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.

This poem has been tickling people’s souls for the past 45 years. Do you like this poem?  I bet you do.  Do you know why you like this poem?  Where a possible answer to that question.  Is it possible that you like the poem because it paints a picture of an old woman who doesn’t care what other people think?  Is it possible that you like the poem because it paints a picture of an old woman who isn’t worried about trying to impress everyone? Is it possible that you like the poem because it touches that part of you that’s tired of trying to impress everyone?

Jesus didn’t try to impress people and he wasn’t impressed by people, like Herod, who went out of their way to try and impress him.  The only thing Jesus cared about was impressing his heavenly Father.   That’s the key right there. 

Which is more important to you?  Is it more important to you to impress the people around you or the God who created you?  When you try to impress the people around you it leads you to a lot of stress.  When you try to impress the God who created you it leads you to the peace that passes all understanding.  When you try to impress the people around you you’re going to end up with a life that has an abundance of things.  When you try to impress the God who created you you’re going to end up with a life that is truly abundant.  When you try to impress the people around you the focus is always going to be on counting your blessings and comparing your blessings with everyone else’s blessings.  When you try to impress the God who created you, instead of counting your blessings the focus is going to be on making your blessings count.  You going to end up living your life in a way that makes you a blessing to others.  When that happens you’re going to realize what Jesus meant when he said, “I have come that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.”

You’ll probably end up doing things that will leave you feeling the same way Dwight Moody felt during a conference that he hosted back in the late 1800’s.  Dwight Moody was a famous evangelist and the conference he hosted was actually held here in Boston. Many of the people who attended the conference were from Europe.  So, they did what people in European hotels did at that time.  At the end of the day they left their shoes outside their rooms to be cleaned and polished by the servants.  They didn’t know that there were no servants like that in America.  So, on the first night of the conference Moody was walking down one of the halls in the hotel when he noticed the shoes outside the rooms.  He didn’t want his guests to be embarrassed.  So, he gathered up the shoes and went to his room where he spent most of the night cleaning and polishing them himself.  Then in the early hours of the morning he brought the shoes back and placed them each room.  None of the guests ever knew what Moody did for them that night. 

I guess Nike was wrong.  Image isn’t everything.  The magnificent Temple that Herod built was eventually destroy.  Someday, the car that you drive will eventually get old and rusty.  Some day the house that you live will be torn down and replaced by an even bigger and better house down the street.  Someday, the clothes that you wear will go out of style and you’ll have to buy all new clothes.  So, it’s really up to you.  You can give in to the pressure to impress the people around you or you can decide that the only one you’re going to worry about impressing is the God who created you.  Amen.

Rev. Dr. Richard A. Hughes

November 18, 2007