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Sermon March 5, 2006 |
Yertle the Turtle and the
Sermon Preached by the Rev. Lynn Czarniecki
First Sunday of Lent,
Matthew 4: 1-11
In his story Yertle the Turtle, Theodore Geisel, known around the world as Dr. Seuss, tells a story about a kingdom ruled by a turtle named Yertle. It seems that Yertle is not happy with the kingdom he already has. He wants more.
On the far
away
Yertle the Turtle was king of the pond.
A nice little pond. It was
clean. It was neat.
The water was warm. There was plenty to eat.
The turtles had everything turtles might need.
And they were
all happy. Quite happy indeed.
They were… until Yertle the
King of them all,
Decided the kingdom he ruled was too small.
“I’m ruler,” said Yertle,
“of all that I see.
But I don’t see enough.
That’s the trouble with me.
With this stone for a throne, I look down on my pond
But I cannot look down on the places beyond.
This throne that I sit on is too, too, low down.
It ought to be higher!”
he said with a frown.
“If I could sit high, how much greater I’d be!
What a king! I’d be ruler of all I could see!”
From:
“Yertle the Turtle” by Dr. Seuss, 1950
Yertle the King is faced with a choice. What kind of king is he going to be and what kind of kingdom will he rule over? How much is enough for him? What a very difficult choice this is for Yertle and for all those in positions of power. Yertle chooses to be a worldly king. He chooses to build his throne higher and higher, by having all the turtles in the pond climb one on top of the other until Yertle can clamor up their backs.
Then Yertle the Turtle was perched up so high,
He could see forty miles from his throne in the sky!...
I’m Yertle the Turtle! Oh
marvelous me!
For I am the ruler of all that I see.”
Then again from below, in the great heavy stack,
Came a groan from
that plain little turtle named Mack.
“Your Majesty, please…I don’t mean to complain,
But down here below, we are feeling great pain.
I know, up on top you are seeing great sights,
But down at the bottom we, too, should have rights.
We turtles can’t stand it. Our shells will all crack!
Besides we need food. We are starving!” groaned Mack.
From:
Yertle the Turtle, by Dr. Seuss, 1950
Mark tells us of a different choice
made by Jesus at the very beginning of his ministry. Rather than setting
himself higher and farther away from his people, Jesus elects to enter into
solidarity with them and the first thing he does is to be baptized by John,
just as they are being baptized. He is called “Beloved” by the Lord and then
ventures out into the wilderness to face temptation. Satan offers Jesus a
chance to rule as a worldly king by offering him earthly powers. Jesus resists
and instead chooses to proclaim the Good News: that the
Each day in our own lives we face a similar choice. What kind of person are we going to be and what kind of world do we want to build for ourselves and our children? Like Yertle the King, I think we often desire to be higher, safer, to have more than we need. We yearn for economic security; we crave some measure of fame; we would like to be more powerful. The voices of the world continuously tell us that we need more and more to be safe and happy. These are human desires and they come from our innermost feelings of insecurity and inadequacy. They affect us not only on a personal level but on a broader societal level. Just as in Jesus’ time, we live in a period where economic disparities, craving for fame and celebrity, and misuse of political power are a reality.
Yet Jesus chose a completely
different kind of kingdom to proclaim. After resisting the human desires put
forth by the devil to rule the world as any human might do, Jesus embarked on
his ministry. In the very next passages of Mark, Jesus chooses his disciples
from amongst the common people and begins healing those who are suffering. The
What happened to Yertle the Turtle up there on the backs of all those other turtles whose lives he was ruining? Well, Mack, the littlest turtle on the very bottom burped! Yes, he burped and this caused such a tremor in the entire tower of turtles, that Yertle’s throne collapsed and down he came into the mud. The action or, in this case, biological response, of one little turtle, brought the whole evil structure down. For us it means that one person, no matter how small or insignificant, no matter how beaten down, can make a difference; can cause a change for the good.
Lent is a time when we can take
stock of our own lives, the path we are on, the nature of our relationship with
God. It is also a time to look at the
bigger world in which we live. Is the society in which we live like Yertle, enjoying power and riches off the suffering of
others? Or, are we ready to confront the worldly powers and demand changes that
bring us closer to the Kingdom that Jesus proclaimed? Are there changes we can make in our own
daily lives that somehow bring us closer to God’s Kingdom? Here at St.
Stephen’s we engage Lent in different ways. One way is our participation in
Lent-A-Hand. Lent-A-Hand gives us a chance to explore new issues and engage new
ministries; to grow and stretch our Christian selves; to become more than we
already are; to become a little like Mack. In growing ourselves and our
ministries we can, like Mack, each make a difference for others in this world
and in so doing we can bring God’s Kingdom to our tired world.
And today
the great Yertle, that Marvelous he,
Is
King of the Mud. That is all he can see.
And
the turtles, of course…all the turtles are free
As
turtles and, maybe, all creatures should be.
From “Yertle the Turtle” by Dr. Seuss, 1950