Ramblings

Justice – 9/18/2011

Matthew 20: 1-16

In December 2010, a joint Harvard University/Google study found that the English language contained over 1,022,000 words and was expanding at a rate of about 8,500 words per year. That may be true, but I know for a fact that the English language does not have enough words to describe the concept of justice.

For example, think about this: the indigenous people of the arctic have 28 different words for "snow." The Inuit language has words to describe snow in almost infinite variety. The words for snow describe its characteristics, its structure, its viscosity, the ability to mold or form it, its reaction to a person's weight to describe just a few.

So, why do the Inuit-Yupik people have so many different words to describe snow? The main reason is that snow is incredibly important in their lives. Survival depends upon their ability to understand the nuances of their environment.

The Inuit-Yupik people are not the only ones. Skiers it seems to me have at least ten words to describe snow. There is powder, deep powder, champagne powder, packed powder, packed, hard pack, wind pack, crust, breakable crust, corn, slush, crud and mashed potatoes. Why do skiers have so many words for snow? It is important, for example in determining technique, equipment, and whether they even want to go out that day.

All of us non-skiers may thinking, "Who cares?" And those of us who live in southern Texas may care less the various names for snow. Rain freezes and turns white. It just doesn't matter. We only need one word for snow.

What's the point of all this talk about snow? Simple, it seems to suggest an important point; the more important a concept it is the more words we will have to describe it. That's why I think there should be more words to describe justice. And why do I know that our English vocabulary is lacking, look at our gospel.

In the parable told in this week's gospel text, Jesus provides an ironic glimpse, an allegory of the difference between God's designs and human desires. Jesus' parable opens a tiny portal of light into the Divine as Jesus incarnates the genuine kingdom of God --- the kingdom of heaven --- by engaging us in his story.

The landowner's generosity is bestowed on these last-hired laborers for a reason known only to him. He does not explain or apologize for the accounting system that lavishes the same wage on everyone hired, regardless of the amount of time logged on the job. The only response the landowner has to the disgruntled first-hired workers is "Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me?"

In the Kingdom of God, isn't God allowed to do what God chooses with what belongs to God? It's true -- sometimes. Sometimes we are in charge, it's our responsibility, and the buck stops squarely in front of us. And although we may grump and grouse about those times, most of us kind of like knowing that we are in control of what is going on and what is coming up next. In fact, we like it so much that we tend to try to take over the reins of control when we are clearly no longer qualified to be running the show. We are constantly tempted to "play God."

So at first glance, our gospel is reminding us that God will not be trivialized down to human-sized aspirations. God will not be domesticated to our fads and fancies. God has purposes and ways that are far beyond us and our reckonings. But that seems obvious, even though we don't always act it. But there is something else in our gospel, besides spirituality 101.

Jesus in this parable is expanding our language for justice. First, justice includes a word we do not often associate with justice --- the word "covet." The parable of the laborers in the vineyard is about the 9th and 10th of the Ten Commandments. While "do not covet" may not seem the most obvious word choices to describe justice, coveting lies at the heart of this parable in a couple of ways.

We covet what God chooses to give to others. And in a relationship covetousness is a problem. The point here isn't necessarily that other folks receive blessings from God that we don't -- that they get more or better or lovelier gifts from God. The problem is that they get the same as us; and they don't deserve it, do they? They are less worthy, or later arrivals, or just plain worse sinners. They don't deserve the same as we get, do they? Not nothing maybe, but certainly not the same. We have a tendency, as the parable aptly illustrates, to covet and to be resentful of what others receive from God.

Second, the additional word to describe justice are actually two words "first" and "last." Notice the flow of the parable as the workers are compensated for their labors: When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, "Call the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first. When those hired about five o'clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage. When the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage. And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, saying, 'These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.'"

The last are literally first in that they are paid first. And the first, who have worked the longest, must also wait the longest to get theirs. But notice as well that the first who are now last do not receive nothing or less, they receive the same, as the laborers themselves say, "you have made them equal to us...." So perhaps it should be said that the last shall be first, and the first shall receive justice.

This parable expands our narrow understanding --- our narrow vocabulary of justice --- reminding us that although we are all equal recipients of God's gifts, we are often covetous, jealous and twisted as to first and last when God's gifts of forgiveness and life are given to others in equal measure.

Why do we need to expand our vocabulary of justice? Just like the Inuit people we live in an environment --- a world that has definitions of justice --- but definitions that are far from the Kingdom of God. If you don't believe me think about what we have come to associate with justice. Justice is whatever is of-my-cause or of-my-understanding. Justice is of-my-nation or of-my-experience. Justice is of-my-body or sex or of-my-species. Justice is to be of-my-generation or of-my-race. Justice is of-my-gender or of-my-class.

Today's gospel is a profound reminder that even in the face of all these other things we associate justice, there is one word in God's reign that outstrips all the others. It is a vocabulary word that lives on in full sight of all the ugliness and evil that lurks among the beauty of creation. The greatest word of all, the ultimate mystery of God's sovereign rule, is the amazing "grace" of God. The main reason the Inuit have a variety of words for snow is that it is incredibly important in their lives. Survival depends upon their ability to understand the nuances of their environment. It is the same for us. Survival depends upon our ability to understand and live out "grace" --- God's justice --- in our lives. Amen.

September 11, 2011

Sermon preached on September 11, 2011 based on Matthew 18: 21- 35.

What do you remember about September 11, 2001? For many of us, it was an unforgettable, gut-wrenching, world-changing day. Many of us recall exactly where we were when the four coordinated suicide attacks began to unfold. On this 10th anniversary of 9-11, as people of faith, we have an opportunity to contemplate, reflect, persevere and endure. I believe all of us --- ten years on --- can testify to our faith being forged --- not destroyed --- on the anvil of human adversity. And what can we testify too? Perhaps --- forgiveness.

It was literally out of the clear blue sky that 19 AL-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four planes. Two of the planes were intentionally crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. Both towers collapsed within two hours. Hijackers crashed a third plane into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. When passengers attempted to take control of the fourth plane, it crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, preventing it from reaching its intended target in Washington DC. Each of us has our memories of that day as that morning began to unfold. Where we were. How we felt. Who we lost. What we found.

Therefore, today's assigned lesson, the lesson for churches that follow the three year Bible readings, is stunning, particularly in the context of this anniversary. Taken from the eighteenth chapter of Matthew, it is one of the sternest passages of the gospels; and it teaches forgiveness as the fundamental basis for faithful Christian practice for settling moral debts. In today's lesson, we hear the famous response of Jesus to Peter's question, "'Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?' Jesus answered, 'I tell you, not seven times, but seventy seven times.'"

Seventy seven times. As many of you know Jesus uses an ancient figure of speech that means an "un-countable numbers of times." Moreover, this word choice points us to another biblical figure who also used the term, but used it in ways opposite of Jesus. In Genesis 4, we read about Lemech, a descendent of the murderer, Cain. Lemech, is a tribesman who lived by blood revenge. It is Lemech who boasts that he is sanctioned to avenge wrongdoing with unlimited violence. In the "Song of Swords" Lemech sings, "If Cain is avenged seven times, then Lemech seventy seven times." Lemech's understanding and practice of settling disputes is that of unlimited vengeance toward ones who have wronged a life.

In polar contrast, if we were to tease out the full meaning of Jesus' response to Peter's question, it would go something like this. When it comes to conflict and to moral offenses, forgiveness is to Christians as vengeance was to Lemech. As unlimited and unrestrained as Lemech was in wielding violence as a way to right wrong, so will the Christian wield forgiveness in unlimited, unrestrained, and even indiscriminate fashion. For this is God's way of curbing the lethal tendency in us all.

Lemech vowed to avenge unlimited times. Jesus commanded his followers to forgive unlimited times. This is to be our practice, our way of being in the world. We are to spread it wherever we go. The power of God is in love and forgiveness, not in vengeance and bloodshed.

Yet, here we are --- on September 11^th --- the day when many of us came face to face with the spirit of Lemech, the horror of a morality of vengeance. It also was the day that we began to learn once again the difficulty of forgiveness. So perhaps we need to ask on this the tenth anniversary, "Can we forgive?"

Indeed, are we even asked to forgive not only the 19 hijackers but the person and organization behind the terror? And can we forgive the Afghani Taliban that harbored and supported Al-Qaeda? Well first, Peter and Jesus are not having a political science discussion. The question instead is a personal one. We do not know why Peter was asking this question. Was there an episode in Peter's life, a persistent memory that could no longer be contained? Was it the words of Jesus before these? Nevertheless, Jesus is unequivocal: We must forgive and forgive -- until it hurts. Forgiveness releases the power of the offender and the offense against us. It frees us to be about our business.

It certainly is not saying that everything's okay. Forgiveness is not absolution or pardon. Forgiveness is necessary because of what it does for us; if it has a constructive effect upon the offender, fine. But that's not the purpose of forgiveness. Forgiveness does not let the offender off the hook; indeed, forgiveness is not about the offender. For example, the late Pope John Paul II forgave his would-be assassin. But he did not immediately lobby for his release from prison. We may forgive the thief who steals from us, but we are not obligated to loan him money.

So, can we forgive? Are we ready to forgive? I suspect that the answer is as varied as all of us. Does that mean that forgiveness is relative, changing and changeable? No, rather forgiveness is personal.

Let me explain. On the morning of September 11, 2001, I was at a cemetery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. As I was saying the words, "ashes to ashes, dust to dust," as I poured dirt on the casket, the first plane hit the World Trade Center.

But let me share with you something about that funeral other than it coincided with this horrific event. The funeral was for an elderly woman. Around the casket besides myself and the funeral home and cemetery personal was the family: a granddaughter and several great grand children with their significant others. There were also a few nieces and nephews and elderly cousins. Yet, there was one person who was not there --- the daughter of the woman who died. You see, years ago this daughter came home pregnant and left the child with her parents after a few years --- never to be seen again. This elderly woman and her husband raised their granddaughter and although they never kept the circumstances of her birth a secret and insisted that they be called grandma and grandpa, this granddaughter always saw them as her mother and father.

Before the funeral I had come to learn some of the circumstances and details of this event. Although not seen, there had been some contact between the daughter, grandparents and granddaughter; especially at moments of change --- weddings, birth of children and the death of the grandfather --- yet there was never complete reconciliation among the grandparents and prodigal daughter and her child.

Nevertheless I can tell you from my vantage point, that forgiveness was discussed, started and in some ways given but that forgiveness was uniquely different for each person. Each person needed to see what forgiveness meant for them self. Although the words of Jesus is for what we strive --- unlimited, unrestrained and indiscriminate forgiveness --- it is also true that forgiveness unfolds uniquely and perhaps quite differently among all of us. In other words, forgiveness has a different meaning for those who lost loved ones in the World Trade Center than for us, who may have only stood by shocked as we watched it unfold on TV. Nevertheless we are each to struggle through the process of forgiveness. Why?

In a sermon at Harvard University's Memorial Church on September 23, 2001, shortly after the terrorist attacks, the late Peter Gomes told the story of Ernest Gordon, who was captured on the River Kwai during World War II. Gomes related that "while in the Japanese prison camp, Gordon and his fellow British captives were initially very religious, reading their Bibles, praying, singing hymns, witnessing, and testifying to their faith. They were hoping and expecting that God would reward them and fortify them for their faith by freeing them or at least mitigating their captivity."

Gomes then shared how Gordon and other struggled because "God didn't deliver and the men became both disillusioned and angry. They gave up on the outward display of their faith; but after a while, as the men began tending to the needs of their fellows --- caring for them, protecting the weaker ones and in some cases dying for one another --- they began to discern something of a spirit of God in their midst. They discovered that religion was not what you believed but what you did for others when it seemed that you could do nothing at all. Compassion gave them their inner strength, and their inner strength gave them compassion."

Forgiveness is a form of compassion and it is not something to believe, but to live out, because in living out forgiveness, we find inner strength and in our inner strength we can forgive. God forgives sin and wrongdoing and our forgiveness is participation in God's larger act of forgiveness through Jesus Christ.

Yes, there will be a time when we all come to be "ashes to ashes, dust to dust." There will be a time when we come to what we do not understand, what we cannot change. It is then when we discover that religion is not what we believe but what we do for others when it seems that we can do nothing at all. Amen.

Church – 9/4/2011

Matthew 18: 15-20

As Christians we do not live in a bubble. So just for a moment let us review some of the critical comments that you and I may have heard about us who represent and are the church. Let us start with the one I believe is most common. "All the church wants is my money. The church may start out gently and nicely but don't worry, they are going to slip into your life and then dip into your back pocket."

Or, some say the church is dull. It is "dullsville" especially liturgical churches like ours; the same prayers and the same liturgies. Come to church, turn off the intellectual engine, sleep right through it, and come back six months later and it would not be any different.

Or others may add, "The people are kind of boring. It is not only the worship service, but church people are kind of boring as well. And besides, the church is a bunch of hypocrites. They are Sunday only Christians. Do you know what that so-called Christian did to me on Monday?"

Then we have this comment; "I can be a good Christian without going to church. I believe in Christianity, not 'church-ianity.' I don't need the church to be religious; all I need is God to be religious."

Others may say, "The church and its teachings are intellectually absurd. Twenty first century people do not believe that stuff. Not only is the church out of tune, but irrelevant in a modern age."

Others declare, "I have been burned by the church. When I needed help, the church wasn't there. Not only are they no help but Pastors are the biggest hypocrites. Or we may hear, "Churches are simply hotbeds for communists; out to subvert time honored family values more interested in politics than life." Or churches are the "bastions of right wing hypocrisy, divided by race, economics and suppressed Victorian sexuality."

It is with these and many other warm and comforting images of the church that we approach the gospel lesson for today. This is only one of two times that the word, "church," is used in the gospels. There is Mathew 16 which we examined two weeks ago when Jesus said, "You are Peter and on this rock I will build my church and you will have the keys to the kingdom."

We also find out about the church in our gospel reading from Matthew 18. However, today's words come to us not as good news, but as just more guilt mixed in with the critical half-truths and untruths of those of us who are the "Church."

With all this in mind, I thought I would take the time to review some basic concepts about the church --- the Greek word ekklesia. There are at least three basic concepts to "Church" that I want to review.

The first theme is that Christ is the head of the church. Now, that concept is not clearly emphasized in the gospel from Matthew, but it is emphasized in Paul's letters. Nevertheless, we need to remind ourselves of that basic concept that Christ is the head of the church. Everything around the church is to be focused on Jesus Christ.

But it is easy as Americans, to add to that and equate Christ with success or failure. For in the criticisms of the Church there is a common assumption that if it is of Christ it must be successful if not successful it can't be of Christ. Successful churches grow bigger and better, with pretty sanctuaries and pretty music and pretty programs and pretty people and pretty preaching and pretty talented leadership. Failing churches are just the opposite: ugly facilities, no programs, poor leadership and inadequate preaching.

However, you may have noticed that Jesus does not give any criteria of success or failure. The only failure --- of you can call it that --- is the inability to reconcile among Christians and even then we are to keep trying --- always striving for forgiveness. In fact, instead of following Christ we as the church can become more interested in measuring ourselves as "successful" or "unsuccessful" rather than being a Christ centered church.

What does it mean to be a Christ centered church? Perhaps we are to remember the words of John the Baptist, "He must increase and I must decrease." Jesus Christ is to increase and we are to decrease. Thus Church is about followers of Jesus Christ who love and suffer with people around the neighborhood and globe. At the heart of all churches is to have Jesus Christ who is the head and to lift up Jesus Christ, so that people are bonded to the beauty, the forgiveness, and the eternal love of Jesus Christ, not to us.

A second important theme to remember is that church is a fellowship of "sinners" --- people like you and me. In the gospel passage for today we realize that the heart of the church is to help each other to deal with our sinfulness. That sinfulness is not whether someone is breaking a rule or not, that is not necessarily sinfulness. Sinfulness in today's gospel is the New Testament Greek word, harmontón. Harmonton is to "miss the mark." Harmontón means misguided beliefs and misdirected behavior. It means missing the boat and appointment. It means missing the ball or the shot. It means misunderstanding and miscommunication.

Church is a fellowship under Christ --- those who "miss the mark." That means that as followers become a kind of family and as church family, we are to help each other with our "misses," our imperfections, our unhealthy patterns, and the way we miss the mark against each other and ourselves. We help each other to grow up and become mature people so we "miss" less and less frequently.

Jesus is suggesting that we are very unfortunate people if we have no one to talk with us honestly about our weaknesses in order to help us mature and grow into wholeness. That is one of the purposes of the church. We are to be like a family who loves each other with loving honesty about our strengths and our weaknesses.

But let us go back to the criticisms of the Church. Because of the way our culture measures success, churches are where religious people are expected to be holier or better or less sinful than other people. Success is where everything is to be clear with no gray --- but that is not a church family.

Martin Luther said a similar thing when he wrote: "O Lord, deliver me from Christian churches with nothing but Christian saints in them. I want to remain in and be part of a church which is a little flock of faint-hearted people, weak people, who know and feel their sin, their poverty, their misery, and they believe in the forgiveness of God." That is what Luther wanted. Nothing about colorful programs. Nothing about great music. Nothing about great preaching. What Martin Luther wanted in a community where faint hearted and weak people who know and feel their need for forgiveness. Why? Luther wanted to be part of a real family, a Christian family, a family that cared for each other.

A third theme is that church is to be a praying family. In the passage for today we heard "Where two or three are gathered in my name, ask anything of the Father and I will give it to you." As many of you, to "ask anything" would seem to indicate the theme of prayer --- having said that --- sometimes if we take the Bible literally, we get ourselves into trouble by the conclusions that we reach. For example, if two or three people gather and pray for the healing of cancer of one particular husband that does not necessarily mean the husband will be healed, simply because two or three Christians are praying for him. That goes back to the original point that we tend into fall into other definitions of success or failure. Pray for healing --- success if healed, failure if not healed. And if we hold to that view, that means that since Christ does not fail that means that the Christian who prayed --- failed.

What today's words do mean is that there is something more meaningful when a small group of Christian people get together and pray. It is one thing for me to pray alone. It is still another thing to pray with a hundred people at worship. It is still another thing to get together with other Christians in a small group and pray for each other.

"When two or three are gathered" sometimes is in a personal face to face conversation. Sometimes it is a conversation over the telephone. At the conclusion of the conversation, we pray for what we have been talking about. There is power when two friends pray together, and this happens in church families whether it is successful or not.

Perhaps that review of three basic concepts of Church was helpful. As Christians, we believe that Christ as the head is reconciling the whole world and each of us to God and to one another. When two Christians take their conflict as an opportunity to practice reconciliation, the Church can stand as a visible sign for the world of what Christ is doing in the world and in, with and through us. Furthermore prayer among two or three is an outward and visible sign of a grace, a critical mass, that we believe is happening in a broader and more mysterious way in the world.

There are lots of communities out there: cyber communities, and social-media communities. There are work-related and school-centered communities. Many of the other communities we are a part fall into as affinity groups -- our kids' playgroups, or a running club, or the folks we eat with in the dining room of our college or elder-care facility. All of these communities are different, and each shares distinct characteristics. But that is not Church.

The criticisms of us as the Church will not stop especially if we get caught up in the game of success or failure. Rather, remember this: God through Jesus Christ is knitting together this imperfect yet Christ-bearing community we call the Church. Let us be at the task of reconciliation and prayer. Amen.

Deals – 8/28/2011

Matthew 16: 21-28

Want to get rich fast? Want to play a wicked guitar without practicing? Want to marry the most beautiful woman, or most handsome man, in the world? Want to write a series of best-selling novels? Want some super powers? Want excellent health?

You might be able to do all of those things and more on your own, but you also might need to ... make a deal with the devil. If you don't know how to do that, check out the internet eHow article on the subject. Here are the quick steps for dealing with the devil: Make an appointment. Hire a lawyer. Aim high. Be specific. Read the fine print. Enjoy the ride while it lasts but be sure to keep oneself in good health. Finally, pray fervently that we can beat the devil at his own game.

Sounds attractive, right? The reason this scenario seems appealing is that in our search for quick fixes, we look for the easy way to an easy life in our unfair world, especially if the personal cost seems so relatively low. One way of getting whatever we desire comes with an attractive payment plan --- nothing up front but everything paid in full at death. The price? Only our immortal and eternal soul, which, if you are really looking for the quick fix solution to fame and fortune, we probably are not using anyway!

This scenario of bargaining with evil can be found throughout history. There are legends in many cultures of people who made a deal with evil. Faust, the protagonist of the classic German legend made famous by the playwright Goethe, exchanged his soul for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures. There is even a term for that based on that play --- "Faustian bargain" --- a sophisticated way to question the rise of a person to fame and fortune who did not seem to pay his or her dues in diligence and hard work.

Musicians are especially associated with the Faustian bargain. Niccolo Paganini, the late 18^th century violinist who many still believe was the greatest who ever lived, played the violin with such force and velocity that one Vienna concertgoer swore that he saw the devil helping Paganini play. That by the way may be the basis for the famous country western song, "The Devil Went down to Georgia" by the Charlie Daniels Band. Then of course we have legendary, early-20th century, Mississippi-delta guitarist, Robert Johnson who likewise is associated with making a deal with the devil down at a crossroads, exchanging his soul for a wicked good ability to play the blues.

It's not just musicians who have traditionally either made deals or were tempted too, however. Most famous of all is the older story of the one to whom evil offered multiple deals … which were all turned down. If anyone had reason to take a deal, it was Jesus, who knew he was facing a horrifyingly painful death if he kept doing and saying the things he had been doing and saying around Judea. If a deal with evil is about skipping the hard parts, Jesus understood that his life was nothing but hard parts, none of which he was willing to skip.

If you remember from last week, Matthew opens this section in chapter 16 with Jesus and the disciples coming into "the district of Caesarea Philippi." You may also remember from my sermon last week that this is significant because Caesarea Philippi, at the foot of Mount Hermon was also known as the location of a large cave were several pagan shrines particularly the one to the Greek god Pan, the half-man, half-goat god of fright --- think of the word "panic." As I mentioned, the cave was also known for its massive springs of water which fed the Sea of Galilee and the Jordan River, but which also led some pagan worshippers to believe that it was the entrance to Hades - the underworld, or the realm of the dead.

Interestingly enough, Jesus uses this place to first question his disciples about the perceptions of him that were out there. "Who do people say that I am?" and "who do you say that I am?" Simon, of course, gets it right. "You are the Messiah," he answers, "the Son of the living God." In the shadow of these pagan shrines, Simon declares that Jesus is the direct agent of the one true and living God, the only one worthy of worship. Jesus, of course, blesses Simon's declaration and renames him "Peter," the rock.

Today our lesson continues from last week. We are not yet to move on, like we want to when we think we got it because Jesus also lays out where he and the disciples will be moving from here: toward Jerusalem --- toward death --- the death of Jesus. As we know later, Jesus will not only be bumping up against the gates of death and the realm of evil, he'll be walking through them.

Peter of course had rightly named him as the Messiah, but Jesus' understanding of messiah was not one of triumphant accolades, throngs of followers and political power. Instead, Jesus defined "Messiah" as one who would save his people through his own suffering and death.

The easy way would have been to play on his popularity and avoid the pain, and the temptation to do so had been with Jesus all along. If you remember as well, evil had met Jesus before, particularly out there in the wilderness before all this began, and offered Jesus the chance to have it all, without any cost to himself. All Jesus would have to do is give up his mission and buy into evil's agenda. As Bono sang it in U2's song "Vertigo," "All of this, all of this can be yours. Just give me what I want, and no one gets hurt."

But remember this continued conversation is occurring when we are still in Caesarea Philippi with pagan shrines all aaround. So what happens next? Peter, fresh off embracing his new fighting name --- Rock --- cannot believe what he is hearing. Suffering? Killed? These are not words associated with a Messiah. Peter points out that Jesus has an opportunity here. Messiah as a king to make everything better does not begin with the one to be king dying. None of that works if you are dead. Peter suggests instead, "Jesus, there must be an easier way and we will help you find it."

Like a man standing at the crossroads, Peter's ready to make a deal. Like Faust standing at the fireplace, pondering his unfulfilled dreams, "There must be a better way?"

Jesus, however, recognizes Old Scratch in Peter's rebuke. "Get behind me, Satan!" he snaps at Peter. "You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things." Jesus has a definite road to take and Jesus will not make a deal with evil to take the easier way out. Rather it is the way of the cross. "If any want to become my followers," he says to the assembled disciples, "let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me."

So by having this conversation in this location Jesus is pointing out the crossroads. One is the road to Jerusalem and the other in a sense is the road back to the darkness and superstition of the cave. Focus on saving your own life and making it easier and we go down the path no light. Focus on giving away our life by going down this path with Jesus, and we will find real life and not the kind that's artificially and temporarily inflated by the attractiveness of a devilish deal.

Jesus is reminding us of the price of our choices. "What will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?" The "them" is us.

I don't have to tell you that every day we are presented with a choice about whose kingdom we are going to follow. "Stand at the crossroads, and look," wrote the prophet Jeremiah, "and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way lies; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls" (Jeremiah 6:16). In our Old Testament, Moses was at crossroads, stay and talk to a burning bush or just walk away.

The choices though are sometimes more subtle. Not everything is as obvious as spam from Nigeria. It is far easier to cut once then measure twice. It's far easier to leave a church then stay. It's far easier to blame a Pastor then challenge our own set beliefs. It's far easier to blame Washington DC, Democrats or Republicans, the rich, the poor, the migrant, the LGBT community, the list goes on. Following Jesus is not easy, but it is the only path that leads to light. Where are people making deals with evil in our families or in our community?

Furthermore, how are we challenging the "gates of hell" so to speak? What are some of the ways in which we can provide an alternative to the devilish deals being offered out there every day? Jesus did not panic when offered a deal. Neither should we.

To "take up the cross" then is not an invitation, for disciples then or now, to start going around looking for crosses to bear. The logic of the kingdom does not have to do with plotting the way to success; we are not to go looking for crosses. Instead, we are to obediently, humbly, give of self for the neighbor and not look for the easy way out, like Martin Luther saw so clearly when he writes in his Freedom of the Christian that anyone who has a partner or a family already has built-in crosses enough.

The choice is always before us, for one way is the cave and the other is to Jerusalem. But there is only one where we shall find our light. Amen.