Sunday, February 13, 2022
/The Sixth Sunday After the Epiphany
The Rev. Clint Brown
His name was Fleming, and he was a poor Scottish farmer. One day, while out making a living for his family, he heard a cry for help coming from a nearby bog. Throwing down his tools he rushed toward the cries. There, mired to his waist, was a struggling boy fighting for his life. After several attempts, Farmer Fleming finally managed to draw the lad out from what would have been a slow and horrible death. The next day, a fine carriage pulled up to the Scotsman’s humble little cottage and a nobleman stepped out. He introduced himself as the father of the boy Farmer Fleming had saved. “I want to repay you,” said the nobleman, “for you have saved my son’s life.” “No, I cannot possibly accept payment for what I did,” said the farmer, waving off the offer. “It’s what anyone would have done.” At that moment, the farmer’s own son appeared in the doorway. “Is that your son?” the nobleman asked. “Yes,” replied the farmer. “Very well, I’ll make you a deal. Let me provide your boy with the same level of education as my own son and if the lad is anything like his father, he’ll no doubt grow up to be a man we both will be proud of.” And the nobleman was true to his word. Farmer Fleming’s son attended the very best schools and, in time, graduated from medical school in London. He went on to become known throughout the world as the celebrated Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of penicillin. Years afterward, the same nobleman’s son who was saved from the bog was stricken with pneumonia. What saved his life this time? Penicillin. The name of the nobleman was Lord Randolph Churchill. The name of his son? Sir Winston Churchill.
Now, full disclosure, I regret to say that this story, though widely circulated, has been proven to be, almost certainly, unhistorical, but I have never been able to stop thinking about it as an example of just how closely our lives are connected. We never know how far our actions may reverberate or where the tendrils of our influence will reach. One small deed sends out into the universe ripples that can have world-changing consequences. Where would countless millions be without the life-saving boon of penicillin? Where would the course of history be without Sir Winston Churchill? It could be argued that in the late spring and early summer of 1940, when all seemed lost, Winston Churchill was about the only man in Europe equal to the moment, the only man alive who was brave enough – or some would say pig-headed enough – to have resisted the almost irresistible temptation to capitulate to the Nazis.
Whether Farmer Fleming ever performed the actions described in this wonderful story or not, the truth is that even the humblest of us are incapable of walking our life’s journey without adding our own tiny ripple to the stream of life. There is no possible way for us not to bump into one another – not to have some effect on others or leave some evidence of our existence. I think it’s fair to say that all too often we greatly underestimate our place in the great web of life. If you are alive at all you are here because of countless forgotten ancestors who did their living and dying on this planet long before you. It is upon that infinite, mostly nameless and faceless chain that your very existence is predicated. And if you are a parent yourself, you stand in the unique position of seeing your future in the eyes of your children.
When Jesus blesses the hungry, the poor, and the weepers this day and declares woes over the rich, the well-fed, and the merrymakers, he is considerably enlarging who it is we should include in our circle of concern. He is blowing off the doors of private religion and suggesting – demanding – that our faith be not a matter of personal enrichment alone, but, rather, of the kind of inner, spiritual transformation that makes us capable of the kinds of blessings he describes. Blessing in itself is not a reward; blessing is not the ability to receive, but to give. As my mother often says when I attempt to refuse a gift: “Don’t take away our blessing.” We Christians need to be the kind of people running about in the world today who are more willing to give than to receive…and the currency most in demand at the moment, dear people of God, is simple kindness, and patience, and the capacity to find a friend in the face of your neighbor rather than an enemy. So this week, I suggest that you make a special effort to enlarge your circle of concern beyond your own private borders and be a good neighbor. Find a way to inconvenience yourself and contribute something positive into the life of someone else that costs you something. Touch a life and it just may be that you will have touched your own.