This sermon was preached for St. Andrew's Episcopal Church on Sunday, September 12, 2021. The text for this sermon is Mark 8:27-38.
This past week the New York Times Arts section ran a story about a new exhibit at the American Kennel Club’s Museum of the Dog. Opening in time for the twentieth anniversary of the September 11th terror attacks, the exhibit memorializes the hundreds of rescue dogs who searched for survivors amid the wreckage of Ground Zero. The dogs ranged from tiny rat terriers to German shepherds and golden retrievers. They and their handlers worked 12 hour days, in some cases for 10 days in a row.
But they found no survivors.
In fact, their desperate search was so fruitless that the handlers had to stage “mock finds” so the dogs wouldn’t get too discouraged.
But the exhibit also commemorates how the dogs served in another way. Anyone who has ever had a relationship with a dog would not be surprised to learn that the dogs became a source of comfort and inspiration to the human rescuers. Folks would stop to pet resting dogs. They even begin to open up and process the horrors they were witnessing to canine ears.
Alan Fausel, the museum’s executive director put it this way. “The search and rescue dogs didn’t rescue any people from the pile. But I think they somewhat rescued the people who were searching.”
The story of the dogs of 9/11 should be a story of failure and death. But told through the lens of love, the story is transformed. It becomes a reminder of hope and courage, and the power of sacrifice.
In our Gospel passage, Jesus has just revealed to the disciples that he is the Messiah, the savior of the world. And yet here he is walking around talking all about how he will be rejected, undergo great suffering, and eventually be straight up killed. I can imagine Peter motioning to him to keep all that defeat and failure on the down low. Why would the Son of Man be blabbing all about how weak and powerless he will be in the face of the local authorities? Who in their right mind would ever follow such a feeble and ineffectual Messiah?
But when Peter just can’t take it anymore and pulls Jesus aside to rebuke him, Jesus rebukes him right back. Jesus reprimands Peter for wanting to hide that the Messiah’s path leads through Golgotha and the cross. “Those who are ashamed of me...of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed.” Like it or not, this is the way the story goes. And it’s the way the story will go for all who truly follow him, too - suffering, loss, sacrifice, and death.
Last week on one of my favorite podcasts, the Rev. Dr. Matthew Potts, an Episcopal priest and Harvard professor, reflected on the difference between love and magic. “Love doesn’t fix everything magically. Love is what we have when things go wrong but it doesn’t keep everything from going wrong…love is the best thing we have to deal with the world as it is.”
The Ground Zero dogs could not fix the towers or undo the destruction. They did not find any survivors.
And we know that if love and devotion was all it took to save someone, the world would look much different than it does. The towers would still be standing. Our hospital ICUs would be empty. We would never have to bury another child again.
We do not have magic, or guaranteed happy endings. But we do have love. We have hugs, and prayers, and late night vigils; wet noses, furry bodies and wagging tails.
There will always be days when that just isn’t enough.
The Museum of the Dog exhibit features stories of other dogs who have actually saved lives, like those famous St. Bernard’s who've been saving people from avalanches for hundreds of years. The museum director says it’s a way to make the experience a bit more uplifting. I don’t blame him. I think there’s a little bit of Peter in that impulse.
But if we are to take Jesus seriously, it is vital that we tell the stories that are not perfectly wrapped up in a bow. It is essential that we do not let the glorious resurrection erase the reality of the cross. Jesus asks us to face the truth of discipleship: we will suffer, we will fall short, we will be unable to save the day.
That is what it is to be Christian. That is what it is to love.
And there love will be, beside us, with us, in us. The best thing we have.
Article: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/30/arts/design/the-dogs-of-9-11.html
The Dogs of 9/11: Their Failed Searches for Life Helped Sustain It by Sarah Bahr. August 30, 2021, New York Times. Photo by Stephen Chernin/Associated Press.
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