Proper 24 | Ordinary Time 29
Preaching
Lectionary Preaching Workbook
Series VIII, Cycle B
Revised Common
Job 38:1-7 (34-41) or Isaiah 53:4-12
Hebrews 5:1-10
Mark 10:35-45
Roman Catholic
Isaiah 53:10-11
Hebrews 4:14-16
Mark 10:35-45
Episcopal
Isaiah 53:4-12
Hebrews 4:12-16
Mark 10:35-45
Theme For The Day
Jesus wants us to be winners -- but only in the contest of who can be the best servant.
Old Testament Lesson
Job 38:1-7 (34-41)
Out Of The Whirlwind
Having kept silence through the long rounds of conversation between Job and his well-meaning but ineffectual friends, the Lord finally answers Job's complaint. God's answer comes "out of the whirlwind" -- an unmistakable sign of power. Power, in essence, is the content of the divine answer, which says, in effect, "I am the Almighty, and there is no questioning me." On the way to delivering that answer, the Lord speaks some of the loftiest and most moving poetry in the Hebrew language, recounting in intricate detail the work of creation. "Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?" the Lord asks (v. 4) -- repeating the same rhetorical question, in somewhat varying form, for dozens of verses. The Lord never does answer Job's appeal -- not directly, anyway. The answer is something like that of a president who ducks the special prosecutor's subpoena, claiming "executive privilege." Yet the circuitous journey toward an answer turns out, somehow, to be the answer. In a purely legal sense, Job loses the contest: yet, because God is his opponent, the fact that he has heard the divine answer is answer enough. (Note: The Preaching Possibilities section of next week's resource deals with a reading from Job that has some applicability to this week's reading.)
Alternate Old Testament Lesson
Isaiah 53:4-12
The Fourth Servant Song
For comments on this passage, see the resource for Good Friday (p. 109).
New Testament Lesson
Hebrews 5:1-10
Jesus Is Superior To Every Other High Priest
The last five verses of this passage have already occurred in the lectionary, on the Fifth Sunday In Lent (p. 95). Those verses, and the commentary on them, concern the role of Jesus as high priest. Here, the author deals with an implicit question that may be on the minds of his readers, who may be having a hard time reconciling Jesus' role as high priest with the fact that he suffered and died on the cross. The reason any high priest is able "to deal gently with the ignorant and wayward" is because "he himself is subject to weakness" (v. 2). On the Day of Atonement in past generations, the high priest atoned for his own sins, as well as for those of the people. Unlike the high priests of ancient Israel, however, Jesus does not need to atone for his own sins -- he has been made "perfect." Nor does he need to return to the holy of holies again and again -- the sacrifice he has made on the cross is unrepeatable and "eternal" (v. 9).
The Gospel
Mark 10:35-45
James And John Ask Jesus For The Best Seats In Heaven
Following Jesus' teaching about the necessity of giving up all for the sake of the gospel, and his subsequent prediction of his own sacrificial suffering and death, James and John prove they have not yet gotten the message. They approach Jesus and ask him whether he can arrange for them to have the best seats in heaven -- at his right hand and at his left. Rather than answering them directly, Jesus responds with a question, asking these two if they are truly ready to drink the cup that he will drink. Jesus is referring, here, to the cup of suffering that, at Gethsemane, he will reluctantly decide to accept (14:36) -- though James and John do not yet understand this. "Sure, we'll raise our glass with you, boss," they reply -- not knowing what it is they're saying. "Oh, you'll drink it all right," Jesus says, ominously, "but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant ..." (v. 39). James and John have asked Jesus for two tickets to the Sky Box, and after leading them on for a bit, Jesus has admitted that he doesn't actually have any tickets. That hardly matters, though, when the other disciples learn what their two comrades have just asked. They're furious. (In truth, they're probably upset that James and John thought of it first!) There ensues such a commotion that Jesus has to quiet them all with a stern teaching about servanthood: "whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all ..." (vv. 43b-44a). These circumstances are roughly parallel to those in 9:35, when Jesus has come out with a similar teaching.
Preaching Possibilities
The desire to be a winner runs strong in our culture. We're a competitive people -- and getting more competitive, it seems, all the time. Our competitiveness extends even to our children. We pull them out of their neighborhood bike riding and pickup games of softball or soccer, put them in uniform with the names of some business on their backs, and send them off to do battle in organized sports with the children from the next town (not to mention those children's parents, who often get into bitter contests with us of who can yell the loudest).
The desire to be a winner is not unique to our culture. We can see it in the Bible: as in today's Gospel Lesson, when James and John sidle up to Jesus and ask their master a question. "Teacher," they ask, "we want you to do whatever we ask of you."
Jesus must be in a good mood, because he asks them this question in return: "What would you like me to do for you?"
"Oh boy," say James and John to one another, rubbing their hands together in anticipation. "Brother, I think this is our lucky day! (Now quick, before he changes his mind....) Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory." Those Zebedee boys are aiming high. They're asking to be executive vice-president and chief operating officer of heaven, respectively.
But Jesus, who seemed to eager to hear their request a moment before, throws cold water on their ambition. "You don't know what you're asking," he says to them. "Are you able to drink from my cup, or be baptized with my baptism?" It just may be that Jesus understands all too well where he's headed, and what kind of sufferings lie between him and Easter morning. It just may be he knows that the only ones to be granted places at his right hand and his left are the two thieves who will be crucified beside him.
James and John seem to have forgotten the warning their master has just issued. They've clean forgotten his prediction about how he's going to be condemned, turned over for mocking and scourging, and sent to a grisly death. All they can remember is the part about him rising again. Those two have got glory on the brain.
Thomas Long has portrayed this episode, in a memorable passage in one of his books, as though it were an old war movie. Jesus, as he imagines the scene, is the tough, battle-hardened sergeant, about to order his men into combat. They're hunkered down in the trenches, and the bullets are whizzing overhead. The only problem is, the soldiers in his squad happen to be named Moe, Larry, and Curly. Just as their valiant leader cries, "Okay boys, over the top!" and begins to climb out of the trench himself, one of those three stooges pulls on the hem of his uniform jacket. With a goofy grin on his face, he says to his leader, "We have matching ties and blazers, can we sit on either side of you?"
Looking ahead at next week's Gospel Lesson -- the passage that comes immediately after this one, in Mark's Gospel -- we find Jesus and his disciples leaving the city of Jericho. Sitting right there at the city gate, where the way is narrow and there's no way around him, is a panhandler by the name of Bartimaeus. Bartimaeus is blind, and he makes his living off the coins people drop into his cup. When Jesus passes by, he shouts out, "Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me!" ("Son of David" is a messianic title -- it's the first time in the Gospel of Mark anyone's called him that -- other than the demons and his own disciples, that is -- and Jesus has forbidden them to speak in such terms.) Now, though, the secret seems to be out that Jesus is the Messiah: and this blind beggar seems to have a better understanding of who Jesus really is than his own disciples, James and John.
Jesus asks Bartimaeus exactly the same question he's just asked of the sons of Zebedee: "What would you like me to do for you?" Only instead of demanding, "Make me great, seat me at your right hand!" Bartimaeus simply asks, "Rabbi, let me see again." And without a further word, the beggar's eyes are opened and his sight is restored.
Two encounters with Jesus. Two separate incidents in which Jesus asks exactly the same question: "What would you like me to do for you?" Two completely different outcomes: to one request Jesus says, "No," while to the other he doesn't even have time to say "Yes" before the wish is fulfilled. So what's the difference?
The difference is in the nature of the request. James and John are engaged in some pretty blatant self-promotion; blind Bartimaeus is simply crying out for help. James and John, for reasons of selfish pride, are seeking to be elevated over not only their fellow disciples, but every other human being on the face of this earth. Blind Bartimaeus is merely seeking the gift that is every human birthright: the ability to see.
Jesus doesn't have much patience with self-promoters. His word to us, when we seek to exalt ourselves, is the same word he offers to James and John: "... whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all."
This may explain why some of our prayers do not yield the answer we expect. God's not in the business of making winners; God's in the business of making servants. God may intercede in the midst of situations of terrible heartache or difficulty, bringing comfort or healing -- in some cases, even restoration -- but God's not eager to exalt any one individual over others.
Prayer For The Day
There is within each of us, O God, a small but insistent voice. The voice cries out to be recognized ... glamorized ... glorified. The voice comes from a part of ourselves that we wish were not there -- and it has the power to destroy our lives, and the lives of those around us. Give us, we pray, the power to resist that voice. Help us seek after the servant way of Christ. Amen.
To Illustrate
There is, deep down within all of us, an instinct. It's a kind of drum major instinct -- a desire to be out front, a desire to lead the parade, a desire to be first.
What was the answer that Jesus gave James and John? It's very interesting. One would have thought that Jesus would have said, "You are out of your place. You are selfish. Why would you raise such a question?"
But that isn't what Jesus did. He did something altogether different. He said in substance, "Oh, I see, you want to be first. You want to be great. You want to be important. You want to be significant. Well, you ought to be. If you're going to be my disciple, you must be." But he reordered priorities. And he said, "Yes, don't give up this instinct. It's a good instinct if you use it right. It's a good instinct if you don't distort it and pervert it. Don't give it up. But I want you to be first in love. I want you to be first in moral excellence. I want you to be first in generosity. That is what I want you to do...."
By giving that definition of greatness, it means that everybody can be great. Because everybody can serve....
-- Martin Luther King, Jr., "The Drum Major Instinct," a sermon on Mark 10:35-45, preached on February 4, 1968, at Atlanta's Ebeneezer Baptist Church
***
One of the biggest phenomena in modern religious publishing is the little book called The Prayer of Jabez, by Bruce Wilkinson. The book is based on a single verse of 1 Chronicles concerning a minor figure named Jabez. The verse goes like this: "Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, 'Oh that you would bless me and enlarge my border, and that your hand might be with me, and that you would keep me from hurt and harm! And God granted what he asked' " (4:10).
Wilkinson, who wrote the best-selling book, plucks that verse out of context, and uses it to promise his readers that, if they but utter this prayer with all their hearts, God will bless them with the modern equivalent of an enlarged "border," and God's hand will be with them, granting their every desire. It's almost as though he treats God like some cosmic vending machine: roll your Jabez-prayer into the slot, push the button, and out pops whatever you ordered! (It's no wonder The Prayer of Jabez has sold millions of copies in just a few years, and that it's spawned a whole host of spin-off books and related merchandise: it's a very attractive message indeed!)
Would that it were true -- that all we need do is utter a prayer according to a certain formula, and God will automatically grant it! But it's not true: Jesus' encounter with James and John is ample evidence of that.
***
I have learned that prayer is not asking for what you think you want but asking to be changed in ways you can't imagine. To be made more grateful, more able to see the good in what you have been given instead of always grieving for what might have been. People who are in the habit of praying -- and they include the mystics of the Christian tradition -- know that when a prayer is answered, it is never in a way that you expect.... No wonder we have difficulty with prayer, for the best "how-to" I know is from Psalm 46: "be still and know that I am God."
-- Kathleen Norris, Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith (New York: Riverhead, 1998), pp. 60-61
***
There's a story from the life of Albert Schweitzer, the great missionary doctor, that illustrates his true character as a servant of Christ. Dr. Schweitzer was working one day, under the hot African sun, building his hospital at Lambar?n? -- in what was then French Equatorial Africa, but which is now the nation of Gabon. He was struggling to raise a large timber into place, but he couldn't manage it without some help. Looking over, he saw a well-dressed African man standing in the shade of a tree. He asked him to lend a hand.
"Oh, no," the man replied. "I don't do that kind of work. I am an intellectual."
Schweitzer, as it happened, had five doctoral degrees. Before devoting his life to his African mission, he had been renowned both as a New Testament scholar and a concert organist, and had published books in the fields of both biblical studies and music. Wearily, Dr. Schweitzer said to the man, "I used to be an intellectual, but I couldn't live up to it."
***
There is a well-known story about the funeral of Charlemagne, King of the Franks and the first Holy Roman Emperor. As the Emperor's funeral procession arrived at the cathedral of Aix, with all the pomp and circumstance befitting royalty, it was met by the local bishop, who barred the cathedral door.
"Who comes?" the bishop asked, as was the custom.
"Charlemagne, Lord and King of the Holy Roman Empire," proclaimed the Emperor's herald.
"Him I know not," the bishop replied. "Who comes?"
"Charles the Great, a good and honest man of the earth."
"Him I know not," the bishop said again. "Who comes?"
The herald, a bit flustered, could not think of what else to say. But then he responded, "Charles, a lowly sinner, who begs the gift of Christ."
"Him I know," said the bishop. "Enter! Receive Christ's gift of life!"
Job 38:1-7 (34-41) or Isaiah 53:4-12
Hebrews 5:1-10
Mark 10:35-45
Roman Catholic
Isaiah 53:10-11
Hebrews 4:14-16
Mark 10:35-45
Episcopal
Isaiah 53:4-12
Hebrews 4:12-16
Mark 10:35-45
Theme For The Day
Jesus wants us to be winners -- but only in the contest of who can be the best servant.
Old Testament Lesson
Job 38:1-7 (34-41)
Out Of The Whirlwind
Having kept silence through the long rounds of conversation between Job and his well-meaning but ineffectual friends, the Lord finally answers Job's complaint. God's answer comes "out of the whirlwind" -- an unmistakable sign of power. Power, in essence, is the content of the divine answer, which says, in effect, "I am the Almighty, and there is no questioning me." On the way to delivering that answer, the Lord speaks some of the loftiest and most moving poetry in the Hebrew language, recounting in intricate detail the work of creation. "Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?" the Lord asks (v. 4) -- repeating the same rhetorical question, in somewhat varying form, for dozens of verses. The Lord never does answer Job's appeal -- not directly, anyway. The answer is something like that of a president who ducks the special prosecutor's subpoena, claiming "executive privilege." Yet the circuitous journey toward an answer turns out, somehow, to be the answer. In a purely legal sense, Job loses the contest: yet, because God is his opponent, the fact that he has heard the divine answer is answer enough. (Note: The Preaching Possibilities section of next week's resource deals with a reading from Job that has some applicability to this week's reading.)
Alternate Old Testament Lesson
Isaiah 53:4-12
The Fourth Servant Song
For comments on this passage, see the resource for Good Friday (p. 109).
New Testament Lesson
Hebrews 5:1-10
Jesus Is Superior To Every Other High Priest
The last five verses of this passage have already occurred in the lectionary, on the Fifth Sunday In Lent (p. 95). Those verses, and the commentary on them, concern the role of Jesus as high priest. Here, the author deals with an implicit question that may be on the minds of his readers, who may be having a hard time reconciling Jesus' role as high priest with the fact that he suffered and died on the cross. The reason any high priest is able "to deal gently with the ignorant and wayward" is because "he himself is subject to weakness" (v. 2). On the Day of Atonement in past generations, the high priest atoned for his own sins, as well as for those of the people. Unlike the high priests of ancient Israel, however, Jesus does not need to atone for his own sins -- he has been made "perfect." Nor does he need to return to the holy of holies again and again -- the sacrifice he has made on the cross is unrepeatable and "eternal" (v. 9).
The Gospel
Mark 10:35-45
James And John Ask Jesus For The Best Seats In Heaven
Following Jesus' teaching about the necessity of giving up all for the sake of the gospel, and his subsequent prediction of his own sacrificial suffering and death, James and John prove they have not yet gotten the message. They approach Jesus and ask him whether he can arrange for them to have the best seats in heaven -- at his right hand and at his left. Rather than answering them directly, Jesus responds with a question, asking these two if they are truly ready to drink the cup that he will drink. Jesus is referring, here, to the cup of suffering that, at Gethsemane, he will reluctantly decide to accept (14:36) -- though James and John do not yet understand this. "Sure, we'll raise our glass with you, boss," they reply -- not knowing what it is they're saying. "Oh, you'll drink it all right," Jesus says, ominously, "but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant ..." (v. 39). James and John have asked Jesus for two tickets to the Sky Box, and after leading them on for a bit, Jesus has admitted that he doesn't actually have any tickets. That hardly matters, though, when the other disciples learn what their two comrades have just asked. They're furious. (In truth, they're probably upset that James and John thought of it first!) There ensues such a commotion that Jesus has to quiet them all with a stern teaching about servanthood: "whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all ..." (vv. 43b-44a). These circumstances are roughly parallel to those in 9:35, when Jesus has come out with a similar teaching.
Preaching Possibilities
The desire to be a winner runs strong in our culture. We're a competitive people -- and getting more competitive, it seems, all the time. Our competitiveness extends even to our children. We pull them out of their neighborhood bike riding and pickup games of softball or soccer, put them in uniform with the names of some business on their backs, and send them off to do battle in organized sports with the children from the next town (not to mention those children's parents, who often get into bitter contests with us of who can yell the loudest).
The desire to be a winner is not unique to our culture. We can see it in the Bible: as in today's Gospel Lesson, when James and John sidle up to Jesus and ask their master a question. "Teacher," they ask, "we want you to do whatever we ask of you."
Jesus must be in a good mood, because he asks them this question in return: "What would you like me to do for you?"
"Oh boy," say James and John to one another, rubbing their hands together in anticipation. "Brother, I think this is our lucky day! (Now quick, before he changes his mind....) Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory." Those Zebedee boys are aiming high. They're asking to be executive vice-president and chief operating officer of heaven, respectively.
But Jesus, who seemed to eager to hear their request a moment before, throws cold water on their ambition. "You don't know what you're asking," he says to them. "Are you able to drink from my cup, or be baptized with my baptism?" It just may be that Jesus understands all too well where he's headed, and what kind of sufferings lie between him and Easter morning. It just may be he knows that the only ones to be granted places at his right hand and his left are the two thieves who will be crucified beside him.
James and John seem to have forgotten the warning their master has just issued. They've clean forgotten his prediction about how he's going to be condemned, turned over for mocking and scourging, and sent to a grisly death. All they can remember is the part about him rising again. Those two have got glory on the brain.
Thomas Long has portrayed this episode, in a memorable passage in one of his books, as though it were an old war movie. Jesus, as he imagines the scene, is the tough, battle-hardened sergeant, about to order his men into combat. They're hunkered down in the trenches, and the bullets are whizzing overhead. The only problem is, the soldiers in his squad happen to be named Moe, Larry, and Curly. Just as their valiant leader cries, "Okay boys, over the top!" and begins to climb out of the trench himself, one of those three stooges pulls on the hem of his uniform jacket. With a goofy grin on his face, he says to his leader, "We have matching ties and blazers, can we sit on either side of you?"
Looking ahead at next week's Gospel Lesson -- the passage that comes immediately after this one, in Mark's Gospel -- we find Jesus and his disciples leaving the city of Jericho. Sitting right there at the city gate, where the way is narrow and there's no way around him, is a panhandler by the name of Bartimaeus. Bartimaeus is blind, and he makes his living off the coins people drop into his cup. When Jesus passes by, he shouts out, "Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me!" ("Son of David" is a messianic title -- it's the first time in the Gospel of Mark anyone's called him that -- other than the demons and his own disciples, that is -- and Jesus has forbidden them to speak in such terms.) Now, though, the secret seems to be out that Jesus is the Messiah: and this blind beggar seems to have a better understanding of who Jesus really is than his own disciples, James and John.
Jesus asks Bartimaeus exactly the same question he's just asked of the sons of Zebedee: "What would you like me to do for you?" Only instead of demanding, "Make me great, seat me at your right hand!" Bartimaeus simply asks, "Rabbi, let me see again." And without a further word, the beggar's eyes are opened and his sight is restored.
Two encounters with Jesus. Two separate incidents in which Jesus asks exactly the same question: "What would you like me to do for you?" Two completely different outcomes: to one request Jesus says, "No," while to the other he doesn't even have time to say "Yes" before the wish is fulfilled. So what's the difference?
The difference is in the nature of the request. James and John are engaged in some pretty blatant self-promotion; blind Bartimaeus is simply crying out for help. James and John, for reasons of selfish pride, are seeking to be elevated over not only their fellow disciples, but every other human being on the face of this earth. Blind Bartimaeus is merely seeking the gift that is every human birthright: the ability to see.
Jesus doesn't have much patience with self-promoters. His word to us, when we seek to exalt ourselves, is the same word he offers to James and John: "... whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all."
This may explain why some of our prayers do not yield the answer we expect. God's not in the business of making winners; God's in the business of making servants. God may intercede in the midst of situations of terrible heartache or difficulty, bringing comfort or healing -- in some cases, even restoration -- but God's not eager to exalt any one individual over others.
Prayer For The Day
There is within each of us, O God, a small but insistent voice. The voice cries out to be recognized ... glamorized ... glorified. The voice comes from a part of ourselves that we wish were not there -- and it has the power to destroy our lives, and the lives of those around us. Give us, we pray, the power to resist that voice. Help us seek after the servant way of Christ. Amen.
To Illustrate
There is, deep down within all of us, an instinct. It's a kind of drum major instinct -- a desire to be out front, a desire to lead the parade, a desire to be first.
What was the answer that Jesus gave James and John? It's very interesting. One would have thought that Jesus would have said, "You are out of your place. You are selfish. Why would you raise such a question?"
But that isn't what Jesus did. He did something altogether different. He said in substance, "Oh, I see, you want to be first. You want to be great. You want to be important. You want to be significant. Well, you ought to be. If you're going to be my disciple, you must be." But he reordered priorities. And he said, "Yes, don't give up this instinct. It's a good instinct if you use it right. It's a good instinct if you don't distort it and pervert it. Don't give it up. But I want you to be first in love. I want you to be first in moral excellence. I want you to be first in generosity. That is what I want you to do...."
By giving that definition of greatness, it means that everybody can be great. Because everybody can serve....
-- Martin Luther King, Jr., "The Drum Major Instinct," a sermon on Mark 10:35-45, preached on February 4, 1968, at Atlanta's Ebeneezer Baptist Church
***
One of the biggest phenomena in modern religious publishing is the little book called The Prayer of Jabez, by Bruce Wilkinson. The book is based on a single verse of 1 Chronicles concerning a minor figure named Jabez. The verse goes like this: "Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, 'Oh that you would bless me and enlarge my border, and that your hand might be with me, and that you would keep me from hurt and harm! And God granted what he asked' " (4:10).
Wilkinson, who wrote the best-selling book, plucks that verse out of context, and uses it to promise his readers that, if they but utter this prayer with all their hearts, God will bless them with the modern equivalent of an enlarged "border," and God's hand will be with them, granting their every desire. It's almost as though he treats God like some cosmic vending machine: roll your Jabez-prayer into the slot, push the button, and out pops whatever you ordered! (It's no wonder The Prayer of Jabez has sold millions of copies in just a few years, and that it's spawned a whole host of spin-off books and related merchandise: it's a very attractive message indeed!)
Would that it were true -- that all we need do is utter a prayer according to a certain formula, and God will automatically grant it! But it's not true: Jesus' encounter with James and John is ample evidence of that.
***
I have learned that prayer is not asking for what you think you want but asking to be changed in ways you can't imagine. To be made more grateful, more able to see the good in what you have been given instead of always grieving for what might have been. People who are in the habit of praying -- and they include the mystics of the Christian tradition -- know that when a prayer is answered, it is never in a way that you expect.... No wonder we have difficulty with prayer, for the best "how-to" I know is from Psalm 46: "be still and know that I am God."
-- Kathleen Norris, Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith (New York: Riverhead, 1998), pp. 60-61
***
There's a story from the life of Albert Schweitzer, the great missionary doctor, that illustrates his true character as a servant of Christ. Dr. Schweitzer was working one day, under the hot African sun, building his hospital at Lambar?n? -- in what was then French Equatorial Africa, but which is now the nation of Gabon. He was struggling to raise a large timber into place, but he couldn't manage it without some help. Looking over, he saw a well-dressed African man standing in the shade of a tree. He asked him to lend a hand.
"Oh, no," the man replied. "I don't do that kind of work. I am an intellectual."
Schweitzer, as it happened, had five doctoral degrees. Before devoting his life to his African mission, he had been renowned both as a New Testament scholar and a concert organist, and had published books in the fields of both biblical studies and music. Wearily, Dr. Schweitzer said to the man, "I used to be an intellectual, but I couldn't live up to it."
***
There is a well-known story about the funeral of Charlemagne, King of the Franks and the first Holy Roman Emperor. As the Emperor's funeral procession arrived at the cathedral of Aix, with all the pomp and circumstance befitting royalty, it was met by the local bishop, who barred the cathedral door.
"Who comes?" the bishop asked, as was the custom.
"Charlemagne, Lord and King of the Holy Roman Empire," proclaimed the Emperor's herald.
"Him I know not," the bishop replied. "Who comes?"
"Charles the Great, a good and honest man of the earth."
"Him I know not," the bishop said again. "Who comes?"
The herald, a bit flustered, could not think of what else to say. But then he responded, "Charles, a lowly sinner, who begs the gift of Christ."
"Him I know," said the bishop. "Enter! Receive Christ's gift of life!"
