R-E-S-P-E-C-T

In 1967 Aretha Franklin put out an album on which she recorded a refashioned version of Otis Redding’s “Respect” from his album twelve years earlier. We tend to know Aretha’s. You might be humming it in your head the rest of the day: “Re re re re respect (just a little bit), respect just a little bit… R-E-S-P-E-C-T, find out what it means to me”.

In the ’70s, beginning with his big break on the Ed Sullivan Show, then on appearances on the Dean Martin Show and the Tonight Show, there emerged the stand-up comedy performer with the stage name Rodney Dangerfield. As you know, his signature catchphrase was, “I don’t get no respect.” As he recalled it, it stemmed from a joke: “I don’t get no respect. Even as a kid, I played hide and seek; they wouldn’t even look for me.” The examples grew and grew. Jack Benny gave him encouragement on this, telling him that his “no respect” thing sits in the soul of everybody. Everyone gets cut off in traffic, ignored, treated rudely, stood up by someone. Benny tells him, “Every day something happens where people feel they didn’t get respect.”

The human being is a social creature; the interaction is a platform for vulnerability. Sadly Dangerfield’s examples of missing out on respect were pale compared to the harsh reality of his childhood in the boroughs of New York. Since we make the journey of life with others, and since we gain so much from feeling respected, on any given day, we might feel at risk.

Jesus and his disciples risked rejection and disrespect throughout their years of ministry. When in his hometown, teaching at the synagogue Jesus astounded all with his message. Some said, “Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands! Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary? … And they took offense at him.” (Mark 6:2-3). Jesus responded with this proverb, “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their kin, and in their own house.” (Mark 6:4).

Jesus then sends the Twelve out in mission, two by two, and warns them that this will be an adventure in which they can expect to be disrespected. He instructs them to travel light, and says, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.” (Mark 6:10-11). They went and they did the work: proclaiming the message of repentance, liberating people from demon possession, and curing many who were sick.

We are left to assume that they also suffered rejection and abuse as well. After the Ascension and the coming of the Spirit, the Apostle John was banished to an island, and all the other eleven Apostles and many other followers were killed. Their martyrdom was the height of being shown no respect. The core of their cause was to represent Jesus, and that would get them the kind of treatment their rabbi himself received. I know they yearned for respect; all humans do. We do. But they and we also find within the hour calling to faith, and the ministry we take up.

We learn from experience, and we learn from our prayer book, in An Outline of the Faith what our principle ministry is. (BCP p. 855) We represent Christ and his Church; we bear witness to him wherever we may be. We carry on Christ’s work of reconciliation in the world. For this, you might be offered respect from some and not from others. Our consideration is for us to respect Jesus for who he is, our Teacher, and Savior of the world. We show respect by responding to his call to us to love and serve. Of course, we get desperate for respect from others; we are deeply wired like that. Still, as Christians, we find our way be to this: What we want, Jesus has got it. What we need, do you know he’s got it? There is so much we should properly ascribe to our loving Savior. Among the many things due to him, remember, all he’s asking is for a little respect.