Many years ago, I was actively looking for a house. On one of my Sunday afternoon walks, I found the one.  Monday morning, I was getting ready to contact the listing agent to extend an offer, when one of our accounting clients dropped in to talk. After 30 years of working for one company, Joe received one of those take-it-or-leave-it early retirement packages. He was young….55 years old.

He quickly realized that he needed to earn additional income. He had done all the work necessary to become a licensed real estate agent. But, six months of marketing had not yet yielded a single listing. Joe was discouraged and worried.

I told him about the house I had decided to purchase and asked if he would be my real estate agent for the transaction.  It was a chance for him to learn the ropes without a lot of leg work. He grabbed the opportunity.

A few weeks after closing, Joe stopped by the office again. This time, he came bearing a gift. As I unwrapped it, he told the story of his gift. He had noticed that I collect original art. And so, Joe hired an artist to draw and paint a picture of my new home as a house-warming gift.

By now, I had opened the painting and was staring at it…trying to reconcile what he said with what I saw. The house I purchased, 329 W Pleasantview Dr., was a classic, red brick ranch with white shutters at the windows. But the image on the canvas was a white adobe home. It was, in fact, my neighbor’s home, 331 W Pleasantview Dr.

As I pondered today’s Scripture readings, I wondered, “Who are the saints in these stories? How do we recognize them? What can we learn about sainthood from the characters?"

In the first reading, Yahweh says to Joshua, “This day I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, so that they may know that I will be with you as I was with Moses.”

Yahweh will make Joshua a sign to the Israelites: God will be with his people through this leader. 

Paul’s letter speaks about how hard his team has labored to spread the Gospel. He isn’t bragging. He deflects all of the accolades to God: “We constantly give thanks to God for this, that when you received the word of God…you accepted it not as a human word but as what it really is, God’s word.” 

In Matthew, Jesus says the Temple leaders offer good teaching, but they do not practice what they teach. Listen to them, but do not follow what they do.  The Temple leaders spend their time seeking the limelight. If they do good deeds, it is primarily to gain recognition. If they attend a dinner, they covet the seat of honor. They want to be called “rabbi” but they don’t want to live as a rabbi is called to live.

Jesus states his point plainly: “All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.”

I have often told the story of the real estate agent to emphasize the importance of details. But the reason I remember the story has nothing to do with the error and everything to do with the Nature of the Gift.

Joe was in my home getting my signature on documents. He noticed that my walls were covered with original art rendered by local artists, artists both of us knew through our community work. He went seeking a local artist to paint an image of my house. And not just any artist. Joe went looking for someone who was struggling, like him, to make a living with his craft. 

That kind of giving is thoughtful and humble: He recognized the gift I had given him and he was paying it forward by engaging a starving artist. Joe’s name was not on the painting. His real estate agency wasn’t identified on the frame. His gift wasn’t meant to attract attention to himself, but, boy, did it reflect the character of the one who gave it. 

Joe needed and received an opportunity. He could have pocketed 100% of the commission and taken credit for the finding of his first client. But he didn’t.

Joshua didn’t exalt himself. God chose him and God exalted him.

Paul didn’t exalt himself. He exalted the work God was doing through the Thessalonians and Paul’s evangelism team.

Jesus said, “All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.”

On the cover of our bulletin is the prayer of peace, attributed to St. Francis of Assisi. I chose that image because I think the prayer connects with the character of sainthood described in our readings.

“Lord, make me an instrument of your peace….”.  The author says, here is my life—it is yours. Transform me over and over until I am an instrument of your peace, your love, your hope.

The second verse of the poem is my favorite:

O divine Master,

grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console,

to be understood as to understand,

to be loved as to love.

For it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

This is the prayer of a living saint.

The most daunting thought about the saints of my generation is that I am called to be one of those people too. And so are you. We are called to humility of self and desire for God. We are called to be vessels of grace in this world, in this time, in this place.