Don Friesen
In 1999 Time Magazine named the "Who's on First" comedy routine "Best Comedy Sketch of the 20th century". ("Best of the Century," Time Magazine, Dec. 26, 1999) It's a routine over a century old, with roots in vaudeville, but it was made famous by Abbott (William Alexander "Bud" Abbott, 1895-1974) and Costello (Louis Francis Cristillo, 1906-1959). If you're not familiar with it, one member of the comedy duo tries to acquaint the other with the various players on their baseball team, and since the players have unusual names – like "Who," "What," "I Don't Know," "Why," "Because," "Tomorrow," and "Today," there's a lot of confusion!
Abbott explains to Costello that "Who's on first, What's on second, and I Don't Know's on third."
"You're the coach and you don't know the fellows' names?"
"I know their names."
"Well, then, who's on first?"
"Yes."
"I mean the fellow's name."
"Who."
"The guy on first."
"Who."
"The guy playing..."
"Who is on first!"
And so it continues, in rapid-fire exchanges, leaving Costello hopelessly confused and infuriated! It's a routine Abbott and Costello performed often, and which has been reprised, updated, alluded to, and parodied innumerable times. Johnny Carson did a variation of the sketch, with an aide to President Reagan introducing, among others, Secretary of the Interior James Watt. A rock-and-roll version of the sketch featured the groups, "The Who," "The Guess Who," and "Yes". The Canadian "Kids in the Hall" did their own twisted version, as did "The Simpsons," who leave no aspect of pop culture untouched.
Who: A Humble but Important Word
The word, "who," is a simple word, a humble pronoun, but it's an important word, depending on the context and antecedent. Later this week many of us will participate in the event, "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?" Who indeed? Dorothy and I have hosted these dinners several times, and one time the suspense lasted longer than usual, when our unknown guests showed up very late, having stopped to do their laundry at a laundromat! Another time our unknown guests showed up at another Friesen household, only she wasn't home!
The word, "who," is a simple word, with only three letters, but it can refer to important things. Who, for example, broke into our church shed this summer and stole our lawnmower? Then again, who would steal a lawnmower! I'd also like to know who made off with the two-volume Oxford English Dictionary missing from the church library!
The acronym, "WHO," is important to those who work for the World Health Organization, as is the word, "who," to those who get named in Who's Who? I only recently discovered that there's also a Who Was Who? publication, although I'm not sure why those who were once important would want attention drawn to their diminishment.
The word, "who," figures prominently in our language: Who let the cat out of the bag? Who pays the piper? It's prominent in titles, like the movie, Who Framed Roger Rabbit? or Who Killed Country Music? – itself a country song – and books: Who Has Seen the Wind? Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Mystery novels are referred to as who-dun-its.
In the Scriptures – which I'm getting around to ... finally – the word, "who," occurs 5,463 times. More importantly, it figures in some pivotal biblical questions, like "Who is my neighbour?" (Luke 10:29) – a question to which our answers carry profound implications. The content you pour into that three-letter word determines how large you draw the circumference of God's love and concern.
Another pivotal who-question in the Scriptures is "Who is wise?" (James 3:13) – a question to which the Scriptures, including our reading from James, have much to say. An even more important question, though not unrelated, is the question, "Who can be saved?" (Luke 18:26) – a question the disciples asked after Jesus told an upstanding member of the community to sell all that he had and give the money to the poor! "But... but... b-b-but Jesus," gasped the disciples, "Who, then, can be saved?" (my paraphrase)
The Gospel Team
The word, "who," is at the heart of some profound biblical questions, and our Gospel reading features another of those fundamental questions. Jesus and his disciples were travelling through the region of Caesarea Phillipi when he popped the question. They had left in their wake a series of numerous miracles and encounters, and so the disciples already had a pretty good idea of who Jesus was. They had witnessed Jesus feeding five thousand people at one sitting, doing it with but the most meagre of provisions. I just hope that crowd liked seafood! They had witnessed people healed, demons vanishing, interest in prophetic activity renewed. Jesus' reputation was spreading, far and wide.
I don't know if Jesus was testing his disciples with his first question, or whether he really wanted an assessment of the public's response to him, but he asked them, "Tell me, who do people say that I am?" (Mark 8:27, TEV) "Some say that you are John the Baptist," they answered; "others say that you are Elijah, while others say that you are one of the prophets." (Mark 8:28, TEV)
Jesus may have been interested in the public's reaction to his ministry, but he soon turned his attention to the disciples, asking them, "Who do you say that I am?" (8:29, TEV) Who do you say that I am? It's a loaded question, with a lot riding on our answer. The answers the disciples gave were not out of the ballpark. Jesus had a message of renewal similar to that of John the Baptist, who had made his dramatic debut just before Jesus. Jesus' activities were reminiscent of ancient prophetic activity, especially that of the prophet, Elijah. Like the prophet, Jeremiah, Jesus focussed on the authenticity and depth of one's spiritual life. Like the prophet, Hosea, Jesus stressed God's faithfulness. Like the prophet, Amos, Jesus' compassion for the poor proved provocative.
When Jesus asked the disciples, "Who do you say that I am?" (Mark 8:29, TEV) I can imagine them hesitating, for like all eager students – which is what the disciples were – they did not want to give the wrong answer! Peter, of course, blundered right in, and guess what? Peter got it right on his first try! "You are the Messiah," (8:29) said Peter. I assume it was the right answer, because Jesus goes right on to elaborate on the meaning of Peter's reply, a future which includes "great suffering," rejection on a large scale, and death! (8:31)
Peter was happy to get the right answer, but he was not pleased with the implications of his answer, and he told Jesus so. (8:32) Whereupon Jesus put Peter in the penalty box! (8:33) I may be mangling my sports metaphors, but if I were to imagine the disciples as a baseball team, it's quite a team Jesus assembled! I can imagine Peter on shortstop, letting one grounder after another go through. I picture Judas as a fumbling catcher, rarely playing because he's always withholding his services to negotiate for more money. I picture the "beloved disciple" (John 19:26; 20:2; 21:7; 21:20), whatever his identity, always wanting to be right next to Jesus, and Jesus having to tell him: "Go play your own position!" I can imagine James and John's mom coming to Jesus and pressuring him to put her sons on the pitcher's mound. (Matthew 20:20-28)
The Church Team
It's also interesting to use baseball imagery to re-think Saint Paul's body imagery. Paul goes on and on about how the Church is like the human body (1 Corinthians 12:12-31; compare Romans 12:3-8), and each body part – eyes, ears, hands, feet, knees and such – has a part to play in making the body function well.
Saint Paul counsels the various body parts to keep things in perspective! "Do not think of yourself more highly than you should," he writes. (Romans 12:3, TEV) Another translation phrases it more pointedly, "Don't cherish exaggerated ideas of yourself or your importance, ...try to have a sane estimate of your capabilities...." (Romans 12:3, PHL) – which is particularly germane to what's going on in our passage from the book of James. There one body part is controlling all the rest! One prima donna body part – the tongue – acts as if all the other body parts are second-string players who are hardly needed; they can stay on the bench.
James compares the tongue to a bit in the mouth of a horse, to a rudder on a ship, or to a small spark that can set acres of forest ablaze! (James 3:3-5) All are small, but their potential for power and destruction is way out of proportion to their size, and unless the tongue finds its place and perspective as a team player, no good can come of its endless chatter!
The story is told of a rather self-important individual who barged into a hospital waiting room and demanded to be seen by a doctor. "Don't you know who I am?" he shouted. The receptionist calmly pressed the button on the public address system and asked the waiting patients, "I have a gentleman here who doesn't know who he is. Can anyone assist him in discovering his identity?" "Don't cherish exaggerated ideas of ...your importance," advised Paul. (Romans 12:3, PHL)
I don't know if Simon Peter had an exaggerated view of himself. Perhaps, but he often did things without realizing the effect this might have on the rest of his team. He was quick with an answer to Jesus' question, but not so quick in realizing the implications of his answer. His answer was loaded with assumptions that Jesus did not share. Jesus' messianic vision was not the usual one. It was deeply rooted in Isaiah 53, based on the Suffering Servant model of messiahship.
In baseball it's okay to steal bases. Base stealers like Ty Cobb are the stuff of legend. Likewise pitchers and catchers who throw out runners attempting to steal a base are lauded. Maybe Peter knew all about the Suffering Servant, but he wanted to de-emphasize those aspects of messiahship. Jesus was not impressed, and he put Peter out in right field!
I'm very familiar with right field. I played there a lot as a kid. The only action out there is watching the dandelions grow! The fact that Abbott and Costello, in their comedy sketch, name all of the baseball positions except right field, tells you something. I didn't mind playing right field; it gave me a lot of time to daydream. What I resented was that my baseball uniform was different from that of all of my teammates. The coach gave me a uniform from about two generations back, so while my teammates wore their crisp, white, fitted uniforms, I was out in right field, dressed in a baggy, drab gray uniform with pants that didn't even reach my ankles! Now, the coach happened to be my father's business competitor in town, but surely he wouldn't have used a child to shame his competitor. If he did, my father never noticed.
Jesus spoke "quite openly" (Mark 8:32) about the pain and suffering that lay ahead. And, if Peter had held out any hopes of shaving some points off the suffering aspects of faith, Jesus added, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?" (8:34-36)
We Need Jesus on First Base!
While our calendar year begins in January, and the Church's liturgical year begins in December, the church year, for all intents and purposes begins the Sunday after Labour Day. We're back from our vacations. Sunday School classes commence. Small groups begin a year of fellowship and study. The choirs begin to grace our worship with their lovely anthems, and so on. And as we look to the year ahead, I would like to offer two reminders if our whole congregation is not to end up in right field!
My first reminder is to keep Jesus on first base. Saint Paul wrote to the Christians in Ephesus, "You are... members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole structure is joined together...." (Ephesians 2:19-21)
Who's on first? Jesus! First base is a key position on a baseball team, and Jesus is key to the identity and mission of our community. "For no other foundation can any one lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ." (1 Corinthians 3:11, RSV)
In one congregation an older couple who had not attended church in years considered themselves an integral part of the church. If anyone contacted them, the husband remarked, "I don't know if you are aware of this, but my grandfather was one of the founding members of this church." Everything was okay with God because his grandfather was a founder of the church. Who's on first in that congregation? Grandfather!
That may not be our situation, but it's easy to supplant Jesus on first base with all manner of things. Soccer. Hockey. Dance. Anything that takes priority over matters of faith. "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God," counsel the Gospels. (Matthew 6:33, KJV) "Strive first for the kingdom of God...." (6:33, NRSV) "Set your heart first on (God's) kingdom and (God's) goodness...." (6:33, PHL) Who's on first? Jesus!
Granted that some mystery that surrounds Jesus. Granted that despite all we know about Jesus – and we know enough to challenge us – that Jesus remains an enigma to us, but that is our lifelong quest as a community of faith: to know Jesus more fully, to love him more dearly – with all of our heart, and with all of our soul, and with all of our mind, and with all of our strength (Mark 12:30), so as to leave his imprint on our character and worldview.
We Need To Function as a Team
A second reminder I would leave with you is that the Church is a team, a team that needs to function as a team. First base is a key position on a baseball team, and a narcissist might want to claim that position, but a narcissist would be reluctant to share the glory of victory with eight other teammates!
The team we call the Church can't afford to have people sitting on the bench for long. We have a lot of work to do. We need a disciplined team, akin to the athletes described by Saint Paul, those who "...exercise self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable one. ...I do not run aimlessly," writes Paul, "nor do I box as though beating the air; ...I punish my body and enslave it, so that ... I ...not be disqualified." (1 Corinthians 9:25-27)
It's imagery that Paul returns to in Philippians, where he writes, "Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; ...I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. ...this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us then who are mature be of the same mind...." (Philippians 3: 12-15)
A congregation functioning as a disciplined team is a wonder to behold. In a few months we will hold Ten Thousand Villages sales at our church, to create employment opportunities for those suffer from unfair trade practises. It's a lot of work, but after years of witnessing the conclusion of the each year's sales, it still inspires me to watch this congregation clean up after the last sale. For an hour or two there is a flurry of activity, resembling a beehive – a congregation-in-motion – sharing the love of Christ in all of its breadth and length and height and depth, so that all may experience the fullness of God. It's inspiring!
And we're on deck!
Let's play ball!