“And the word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”

(John 1: 14)

She slapped him when he tried to kiss her. That’s what Eleanor Bold, the heroine in Trollope’s novel, Barchester Towers, did to Mr. Slope, the Bishop’s chaplain, when he tried to kiss her at the garden party.

And as Mr. Slope stood there in the garden, surprised, embarrassed, his red face growing redder, his anger mounting, Trollope says of him that, “he longed in his heart to be preaching at her. ‘Twas thus that he was ordinarily avenged of sinning mortal men and women. Could he at once have ascended his Sunday rostrum and fulminated at her such denunciations as his spirit delighted in, his bosom would have been greatly eased.” Yes, Mr. Slope longed to “take his text” on Eleanor Bold.

There are many folks besides preachers with whom “taking their text” is a favorite pastime — whose “bosoms are greatly eased” at times by “fulminating denunciations.” On occasions such folks may be heard to remark: “You should have heard me take my text on so and so, or on such and such.” Yes, this, for many of us is our customary way of dealing with opposition, with criticism, with failure, with all forms and fashions of sinning, erring, mortal men and women. We “take our text” and deliver ourselves.

Sometimes we take our text to cover up our chagrin at failure, or to compensate for our feeling of inadequacy. Mr. Slope had made a monkey of himself there in the garden of Ullathorne, so he longed in his heart to lecture Eleanor Bold sufficiently loud to drown out the humiliating accusations booming in his own conscience about his unbecoming behavior. Perhaps a little boy knew what he was about when he asked his scolding mother: “Mother, are you fussing at me now because I’ve been bad, or because you lost your temper this morning when you were talking to Mrs. Brown?” Sometimes we “take our text” in an attempt to cover up our chagrin over failure, or to compensate for our feeling of inadequacy.

And then there are other times when we “take our text” on others in response to the personal criticism or opposition that is leveled at us.  It seems so much more natural to us to wade in with a slurring verbal attack directed at the source of our opposition or criticism, than it is for us to go about a quiet, careful searching of our own souls to determine whether or not the criticism is justified — or the opposition warranted.

But I suppose that the place where we all excel in “taking our text” is when we are confronted with the sins of individuals and society, the gross wrongs and injustices and inequalities of our world — the poverty and suffering and misery of humanity. If in our minds we can just fix the blame where we think it ought to rest, view the situation with sufficient alarm, and then vocally deliver ourselves on the evils, injustices, and grievous troubles of sinning humanity — then we have done our due. We’ve taken our text on the subject and spoken our piece. And that is that and we are through.

Too often this has become the pattern of conventional Christian conduct. We have caught the “convention complex” in our churches. Oh, to draw up a set of resolutions protesting all the evils, and leave it at that! It can be said of us, as Trollope says of Mr. Slope, “We long in our hearts to be preaching about it. ‘Tis thus that we are ordinarily avenged of sinning mortal men and women with their grave injustices, prejudices, cruelties. Could we at once ascend our Sunday rostrum and fulminate such denunciations as our spirits delight in, our bosoms would be greatly eased. Walter Russell Bowie has somewhere observed that most modern Christians act as though the capacity for being shocked at evil were the equivalent of positive righteousness.

Taking our text on what appears to us to be wrong and evil seems so pious in us — but is this God’s way? When the Eternal God looked upon an offending corrupt, selfish, sinning world of men and women — He took His text all right, but oh, so differently from the way most of us are accustomed to take our text. Here’s the text God took, as the inspired writer of the Fourth Gospel put it: “And the word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”

Almighty God, the Creator, the Judge and Father of all people — when confronted with our sickening sin, our offending, rebellious ways — when outraged by our scandalous conduct took His text on our condition.  And what was it? Why, the act of the incarnation — the word of God was made flesh, God came to us and companioned with us for our salvation from sin. A righteous and holy God identified Himself with us in our lost condition that we might be saved. “He who knew no sin was made sin in our behalf that through Him we might become the righteousness of God.” That is God’s way of taking His text on human sin and failure.

As St. John was impressed with the incarnation as God’s great text taken in response to human sin and degradation, then St. Paul saw in Christ’s death on the cross a second great text God took on the subject of humanity’s ugly rebellion.

Here is sinful mankind, and here a righteous God, separated by an infinitude of moral and ethical difference. How are they to be brought together? How reconciled to one another? Instead of breathing our fulminations of divine wrath upon His disgustingly rebellious creatures, God in Christ went to death on a cross to bring about a reconciliation — a meeting place of minds and hearts — and a putting away of the old evil which offended.

 “God was in Christ,” Paul wrote to the Corinthian Christians: “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them — that is, not reckoning up their sins, not shouting down their old shame, not marking to our account our sins. God was in Christ on the cross, not lecturing us for our faults, but dying for our sins, identifying the divine life with our erring humanity to the very limit of life laid down. This is the word and will and act of God in response to the fact of human sin. So — God took His text on us — “while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.”

And St. Paul goes further: he says that one of the reasons for Christ’s life and death and resurrection is that we might learn this divine lesson on how to take our text for living our life. Listen to this: “Christ died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him who died for them, and rose again.” Christ died then, to crucify selfishness and self-righteousness in us. One purpose of the incarnation and atonement is to teach us the lesson of where to find and take the true text for our lives.

So we behold the lives of charismatic saints like Francis of Assisi in the Middle Ages, and Mother Teresa in our own day, have taken the text for living their lives from the example of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection as interpreted by St. Paul’s words.

Last Sunday in Philadelphia, General Colin Powell assisted by President Clinton, ex-presidents Bush, Ford and Carter, Mrs. Reagan, Mrs. Clinton, Mrs. Carter and scores of other political and civic leaders from all across the nation launched a Volunteers movement designed to enlist every adult American in attacking our problems of crime, poverty, unemployment, births out of wedlock, failed government welfare systems, public schools that aren’t educating, etc. etc. Volunteers to do what? Why, to choose a better text than mouthing self-righteous rhetoric, and critical political propaganda. But what text?

Years ago when Albert Schweitzer announced his decision to go as a medical missionary to the primitive tribes in central Africa, many of his cultured friends remonstrated with him. Was he not already a professor in a European theological seminary? Was he not already serving God as an ordained clergyman in the church?

One elegant lady said to him: “Why, you will be casting your pearls before swine. The Africans are too primitive to appreciate Christianity. If you must help them, why not give lectures for the benefit of the poor savages?”

In reply to her Schweitzer repeated to her the words of Goethe: “In the beginning was the deed.” She shrugged her shoulders: “That’s out of date. Nowadays, propaganda is the mother of action.”

Confronted with sin and sorrow, the superstition and suffering of disgustingly primitive, disadvantaged people all about us — what to do? Take a text, deliver a lecture, propound political propaganda? Schweitzer felt the inner compulsion to follow the divine example in meeting the world’s need — to follow the way of redemptive love, to identify his own life with humanity’s need at the point of its most grievous want.

Someone has said that perhaps the real reason that Schweitzer’s revolutionary decision stirred up such a disturbance of keen opposition, was that if Schweitzer was right, that Christianity meant just such action, then the inescapable conclusion for every Christian was: “Go thou, and do likewise.”

Monkeys in jungle trees, hanging by their tails from the creeping vines can chatter with scolding voices their disapproval and condemnation at whatever offends them in their native environment — only children of God with the love of Christ in their hearts will volunteer to take their text for life by making their concern incarnate in their very lives — lived out to meet and to transform the disgusting, troublesome, and defeating aspects of human life.

Do we, now and then, like to take our text on this or that? Well, let’s remember God’s way of taking his text on the subject of erring, sinning, offending humanity.  “The word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth”. . “While we were yet sinners Christ died for us”. . “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them.” That’s the text God took.

And here is one St. Paul says we should make ours when we feel like taking our text: “I beseech you, therefore, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

• Scripture Reference: John 1:14-0 • Secondary Scripture References: 2 Corinthians 5:14-21 • Subject : Criticism; Fault-finding; 624 • Special Topic: n/a • Series: n/a • Occasion: Westminster Fellowship Conference • First Preached: 10/17/1948 • Last Preached: 5/4/1997 • Rating: 3 • Book/Author References: Barchester Towers, Anthony Trollope; , Albert Schweitzer