St. Aidan’s Sermons
Winnipeg, Manitoba
The Rev. Canon Dr. Brett Cane, April 17, 2011
Palm Sunday: 8:30 a.m. & 10:00 a.m., Liturgy of the Palms/Palm Procession & H. Communion
The Ten Commandments #10: “Coveting”
Philippians 2:5-11
Opening Prayer:
Lord Jesus, you gave up that which is important in the eyes of the world; help us now, by your Holy Spirit, to hunger only for that which lasts to eternal life in the loving care of our Father in Heaven. Amen.
Introduction
The first Holy Week began in joyful celebration of the entry of Jesus in triumph into Jerusalem. Yet, within five days, that joy was turned to sorrow at the seeming tragedy of Good Friday. There was another event in history, in our time, which was heralded with joy at the beginning of the week and ended in tragedy five days later: the fateful maiden voyage of the greatest ship the world had ever seen, the Titanic – whose sinking occurred 99 years ago this week.[1] The fact that the Titanic exhibit has just closed in Winnipeg is ongoing testimony to our fascination with this tragedy which has become an icon or focal point for our modern age.
The story has been retold and depicted so many times, one of the greatest of these being James Cameron’s poignant film. “Titanic” – made fourteen years ago. At the time it was the most expensive and highest-grossing film of all time.[2] The millions who have watched this movie have been stirred by the interweaving themes of folly and arrogance, love and self-sacrifice. On the one hand, we are drawn to the opulence and style of the wealthy and on the other we are repelled by the vanity and pride that resulted in over fifteen hundred souls being sent to a watery grave. But the major underlying message of the film, and of the disaster itself, is the snare of covetousness. This is of course, the subject of the tenth commandment, “You shall not covet,” and thus of this, the last sermon in our series on the Ten Commandments. As covetousness has to do with desire, the title could be: “Guarding Your Heart’s Desires.”
Lessons from Titanic[3]
For those of you who have not seen the film or need your memory refreshed, the 1997 movie Titanic begins with the story of modern-day treasure hunters who have mounted an all-out attempt using the best technology available to retrieve a priceless jewel necklace which they believe lies in a safe on board the sunken wreck of the Titanic. Their finding of a sketch in the safe leads to the arrival of an elderly survivor of the disaster, the woman in the sketch, who then relates her poignant love-story aboard the ill-fated ship through which the tragic tale of the Titanic unfolds.
By setting the story of Titanic within the story of the treasure-seekers eighty years later, the theme of covetousness is taken up right at the beginning. In their search for wealth, those of the nineteen-nineties mirror, albeit lacking the style and dignity, the possessiveness and arrogance of some of the key characters who sailed on the maiden voyage of what was then the largest moving object on earth, the flagship of the White Star Line, the “unsinkable and invincible” Titanic. As we hear the survivor’s story of that ill-fated voyage, we meet the owner of the ship whose insatiable desire to make headlines and be the biggest and the best, pushes the captain to go against his better judgement and travel at a speed unsafe for ice-berg infested waters. The ship’s architect is over-confident in his creation, flawed though it is in its basic design. The fact that there are not enough life-boats for all aboard confirms the human arrogance that we are invincible and the masters and mistresses of our own destiny.
Covetousness appears in many of the other characters. The upper-class mother of the heroine, having fallen upon bad times due to her dead husband’s gambling debts, has arranged her daughter’s marriage to the son of a wealthy coal mine-owner to ensure their financial stability. She is willing to sacrifice her daughter’s happiness through marrying this possessive, selfish, self-centred, and violent man so she (the mother) doesn’t have to end up as a “seamstress.” The fiancé himself sees his future bride as his possession, something to be owned to boost his own ego and image. Surrounding all this is the opulent lifestyle of the first-class characters and their disdain for those in the decks beneath them.
Why does the drama of the Titanic fascinate and move our present society so deeply? There are many reasons, but I believe there are two main ones. It expresses the tragedy of humanity believing in its own inevitable progress and our love of luxury and secret envy of the rich and famous most of us would like to be. It draws us to itself because we identify with it so strongly. We would have loved to have travelled on that first-class deck (if the ship had not sunk!) and yet we also know the folly of our own covetous tendencies.
Covetousness
What is covetousness? Covetousness is to enviously desire what belongs to another.[4] “It is an obsession with material possessions,”[5] “an inordinate love of the world.”[6] The commandment to not covet addresses “our desire for what we don’t have and our lack of appreciation for or dissatisfaction with what we do have.”[7] It is not a matter of gaining possessions, but the underlying yearning and dependency upon them: “Materialism does not always consist in what we have but in what we hunger for.”[8]
This is the only commandment which deals overtly with the intentions of the heart rather than external actions. It is interesting that God did not choose another sinful thought pattern, such as lust, to focus upon; we feel that would qualify as a far worse one than covetousness. But it is not so. Why? Because “Covetousness is so often at the root of so much else and, in the end, it usually results in sinful words and actions.”[9] Frank McLelland has pointed out that covetousness is a “root sin” because it leads to a breaking of all the other commandments. For example, it breaks the fist commandment because it puts possessions in the place of God; it breaks the second in that money and wealth become idols; the fourth is transgressed because we can not take one day of rest to let go of the insatiable desire to gain wealth; to commit adultery begins with the desire to possess the spouse of another; stealing, taking what belongs to others, is merely the outward manifestation of desiring what belongs to others, and so on.
The basic problem behind covetousness is that you put something other than God at the centre of your life; you do not look to God for affirmation and purpose but to what is around you. From this root spring two sinful tendencies. The first is comparison with others…a feeling of dissatisfaction when you look at your peers – you feel you have not got what others have and you want it. There is jealousy and envy. The second sin arises out of this: because we think we lack what others have, there is “a basic distrust of God’s providence…that he will provide for all our needs…The covetous person is basically not satisfied either with the quality or quantity of God’s provision…rather, he gives way to the base desires of the heart and tries to satisfy that longing with more of the temporal provisions of life.”[10]
Jesus strongly cautions us about covetousness: “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed (or covetousness); a person’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” (Luke 12:15) “The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the person who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.” (Matthew 13:22). We could restate this using the analogy of the Titanic: “Grasping after what the world thinks is important blinds you to the ice-bergs that can wreck your journey through life.” Are you guilty of covetousness?
Jesus Shows the Way
The antidote to covetousness is to know we are accepted by God – that our self-worth does not consist in how we compare with others but in our being loved by him. As we become more aware of his love for us and our calling to reflect that love, we are able to depend less and less upon our possessions and accomplishments to build us up. We become more contented with what we have. We want to see ourselves used to our full potential and to give our best because we know the one who has given his best for us.
Jesus demonstrated all this as he journeyed from Palm Sunday to Good Friday. Jesus entered into Jerusalem in humility – not on a warrior’s charger but a simple donkey. He did not come to claim his rights by power or manipulation, but to give up his life for the sake of others. He laid aside what he had that others might receive. Though he was “in very nature God, (he) did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:6-8). Jesus “came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).
In the movie, Titanic, love leads to sacrifice. In the real life story, there were indeed genuine heroes[11] who gave up their lifejackets or spaces in lifeboats that others might be saved. In real life, too, the owner did escape in a life-boat, but only to commit suicide later. In trying to save his own life, as he had always done, he found he had lost it. As Jesus tells us: “Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.” (Mark 8:35) The movie ends with the young modern-day treasure-hunters discovering this truth as they learn of love and sacrifice. They let go of their covetousness and in so-doing find life and love.
Jesus did not covet and was able to give because he knew who he was – he was loved by God and his worth lay in that relationship. He was then able to fulfil his calling to serve others. The same is true for us. When we look ahead to Good Friday, and see his love for us in dying in our place, paying the penalty for our sins, we see how precious we are to God. Then we look beyond to Easter and the power released through the resurrection. We are given a new life with Christ and a new power to live out his purpose for us using the gifts he has given us.
However, we receive this only when we have gone the route of Palm Sunday and Holy Week. It is only when we give up our efforts to save ourselves on our own terms and reject coveting things we feel will complete us and give us meaning in the eyes of others that we will be able to receive God’s love and new life. Our journey begins by giving ourselves to God to be remade by him and then by giving ourselves in love to others. In this way we guard our heart’s desires and use them to build up his Kingdom.
[1] April 15, 1912.
[2] Cost: $200 million; grossing $1,8 billion (since superseded by “Avatar”).
[3] For some of the inspiration and thoughts in this section, I wish to thank the Rev. Richard Randall, former rector of Cowansville, Quebec.
[4] Leonard Felder, The Ten Challenges. (New York, NY: Three Rivers Press, 1997), pg. 205.
[5] Frederick Catherwood, First Things First. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVaristy Press, 1979), pg. 127f.
[6] Frank McClelland, The Ten Commandments in the 20th Century. (Toronto: Britannia Printers, 1981), pg. 68.
[7] Leonard Felder, pg. 202.
[8] Calvin Miller, Walking With Saints. (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1995), pg. 77.
[9] J. John, Ten Steps to the Good Life. (London: Marshall and Scott, 1991), pg. 115.
[10] Frank McClelland, pg. 71.
[11] E.g. the story of John Harper; see Moody Adams, The Titanic’s Last Hero. (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1997)
