Form: der Wegwerfer (sermon)



Coming from Paul’s letter to the Philippians, I shall speak of μορφῇ (form, likeness, appearance) and of substance. You may be seated.

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Terrified of being found out, secretly, carefully, discretely avoiding people who might ask what he does for a living, Wegwerfer boards the Straßenbahn every morning just before seven-thirty at the corner of the Roonstraße. Wearing a gray double-breasted suit, striped shirt, dark green tie, he carries a flat aluminum box, and holds the morning paper, lightly rolled, in his hand. As he takes his seat he opens the newspaper to the financial section and begins to study closely. 

The picture of a dignified, prosperous, well-groomed, highly-educated citizen, he has, among the regulars on the Straßenbahn, come to fill the capacity of arbitrator, he is the quiet settler of arguments, all eyes look to him as the unchallenged authority on history, the arts, international geopolitics, intellectual matters. A gentleman to the core who can be said to have “nice manners,” at the third stop, he rises to give his seat to one of the elderly working women who have got on at the housing settlement, then he stands, continuing to read his newspaper. Wenn die Straßenbahn reaches the financial district, Wegwerfer steps off and makes his way to the corporate office building of UBIA, one of the most prestigious firms in the world, where, entering, he makes his way to his office to begin his work, so highly specialized that he avoids people who might ask, and to whom he would have to explain, what he does for a living.

Saint Paul to Philippians: Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,
who, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God 
as something to be exploited,
but emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave, 
being born in human likeness.

Because there are learned scholars on both sides, I shall not wander across the minefield of advocating either the Humble Example argument or the High Christology argument into which every Bible student is enticed by the Christ Hymn in Philippians Two. No matter what you or I may be sure of, either that Paul is simply calling us to be of the same humble mind, life and godly example as Jesus, or that Paul (quoting a hymn that was popular in the early church) is deifying Christ as shedding godhead to take on human likeness, I am intrigued this morning with language Paul uses in his letter:

that Jesus, 
being ἐν μορφῇ θεοῦ (in the form of God)
shed that, and took on μορφὴν δούλου (the form of a slave)

where μορφῇ, form, is appearance
not substance (or perhaps not yet substance).

Roman Catholicism embraces a Eucharistic theology of Transubstantiation, in which, as the priest says the Mass, by epiclesis, the calling forth, presence, power and work of Holy Spirit and Word, the bread and wine, which never change appearance (form, I think μορφῇ), do physically, in reality, change in substance from bread and wine into sarx (σάρξ, the real physical flesh) and blood of Jesus Christ. And believe (as we may also in our own Anglican waveringly uncertain, slightly different eucharistic theology) believe that eating this, the sarx, Body of Christ and Blood of Christ, we take into our own bodies the real flesh, meat and blood of the Lord’s own body that hung on the Cross of Calvary, becoming part of God in Christ, and God becoming part of us, faithful baptized disciples, who live at becoming Christ 

It’s a beautiful piety of Eucharist that brings the Last Supper into the present moment - - this is that Night, this is that Room, this is that Meal, this is that Bread, this is that Wine, you are There, and He is Here - - even though the μορφῇ, the form, the image, the likeness, (the “accident”), what you see and taste has not changed. But, and I speak seriously, it changes us.

I mean that to be relevant as illustration of difference between μορφῇ, form (appearance, what you see with your eyes) and a reality — [to say “hypothetical,” “philosophical” or “theoretical reality" would be blasphemously offensive] - - so a theological reality in which, by faith, form becomes, is redefined as, and therefore known anew as, transubstantiated, a different existential substance. 

Back to the Philippians reading.

Paul is encouraging us to take on the μορφῇ of Jesus, the form of Christ. And where at first I thought “but not transubstantially,” the more I contemplate the faithfulness of Catholic dogma, or meditate on the earnestness of Paul in Philippians, the more I think, No, Paul does mean transubstantial, because he, Paul wants us to step humbly into the Way of the Cross as our life journey to becoming Christ, that we, baptized, are to become Christ for others as the bread and wine become Body and Blood for us. But Paul also means μορφῇ that not only do we seek and serve Christ in others, “open my eyes, Lord, I want to see Jesus,” but that when others look at us baptized Christians they see Jesus, the form of Christ, such that both image (μορφῇ, form, appearance) and substance  (how we live, who we are, what we do, as in WWJD, “what would Jesus do”) we are the humble itinerant Man of One Substance with the Father who lived his everyday life for others as the example of God, and who finally suffered, bled and died on Calvary, a perfect sacrifice for all: so are we to be and do.

This is the call to us that Paul makes with the Christ hymn. Love, and Sacrifice. And yet, I cannot. I can’t do that, I cannot do it. I do not know what you may see in me, my form, the collar and vestment of a priest, the μορφῇ, a picture, the image of a holy man. If you see Christ, let me disabuse you: I’m a sinner as phony as der Wegwerfer in Heinrich Böll’s short-story. That smooth, well-dressed, mannerly, prosperous-looking, intellectual, promising young executive rides the streetcar every morning, gets off and walks to the back alley door of his basement office where he changes into a grubby smock and works alone sorting sacks of mail. Der Wegwerfer. 

Anonymous, nobody in the company upstairs ever heard of him or would recognize him; he saves the company’s time for workers and executives above, arriving early and sorting three huge sacks of mail into a small tray of official business (which he then gives to his supervisor to send upstairs); and junk mail, which he dumps in the trash bin (except for the colorful travel brochures that he takes home free to peruse and dream). In real life a beggarly, scruffy, unkempt bohemian bum in frayed collar, who swipes packets of margarine and ersatz coffee in cheap cafes, he has taken on the μορφῇ of a professional, a prosperous, wise and wealthy young man about town, a budding corporate executive. In substance, however, he is der Wegwerfer, he avoids people who might ask what he does for a living, because for all that you see, he would not like to admit that he is a Thrower-Away. 

As for myself again, retorting our Collect for last Sunday, I am so caught up in things of this earth, that I am not longing for things eternal. Here I am, made from mud, an earthling, and you also. Sheep of God’s own fold, lambs of God’s own flock, sinners of Christ’s own redeeming, called, as you are, to take on the form, the likeness, of Jesus Christ; and ultimately as our work is done, his holy substance. 

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Sermon in Holy Nativity Episcopal Church on Sunday morning, October 1, 2017, the Rev. Tom Weller. Reader: if you don't "get it," no worries. It took me a while. TW+ 


References

Preaching text: Philippians 2:1-13