Heavenly Profits
based on Mark 8:31-38
by Rev. Randy Quinn
Twice a year, the Navy asks me to
take a physical fitness test – we used to call it a “Physical Readiness Test” or
“PRT;” now it’s referred to as “Periodic Fitness Assessment” or “PFA.” The test
involves doing a series of exercises within a prescribed set of standards.
I’ve been taking these tests,
twice a year, for over 30 years now, and what I have learned is that if I invest
some time beforehand, I will do better on the test. If I run regularly, I will
run faster. If I do sit-ups regularly, I will do more of them in the two
minutes I am allowed on the PFA.
But knowing that and doing that is
not the same thing.
And there are many other things in
our lives that are that way, too.
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If we practice our piano lessons, for instance, we
will become better pianists.
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If we spend more time with our families, our
families will be better equipped to meet our own needs as well as the needs of
others around us.
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If we exercise more and eat less, we will not only
weigh less, we will also live longer.
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If we practice our spiritual disciplines
faithfully, we will find ourselves becoming more aware of God’s presence in our
lives.
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If we tithe regularly, we will find that it not
only becomes easier to do it also becomes a more joyful experience to give.
But knowing those things is not
the same as doing them.
That may be why Peter was so
confused, though. He knew that following Jesus was the right thing to do – and
he did it. He gave up his livelihood. He left his family and his home to
follow Jesus. He and a small band of followers made a commitment to Jesus that
forever changed the direction of their lives. Their futures were no longer
based on a successful catch of fish or the market price for their catch; their
futures were now based on the success or failure of Jesus.
They had invested in him. And
Peter was not going to let Jesus simply “throw it all away” by handing his life
over to the religious leaders. His ministry of healing and preaching had been
too successful to consider the end Jesus was suggesting.
So he rebukes him. And in return,
Jesus rebukes Peter because he is thinking the way people do rather than
the way God does. Jesus is speaking about self-denial, not
self-discipline that might lead to self-fulfillment.
Jesus is turning everything
up-side-down (or as one preacher has argued, Jesus really means to turn things
right-side-up).
Jesus is speaking about a dramatic
change in the course of history; one that is revealed by a Messiah who comes,
not to defeat power with power but to overcome power by becoming vulnerable to
it. It was at this point in the story that Jesus lets the disciples in on the
plan. It is a decision point in his ministry – and theirs.
I think it was Yogi Berra who has
been credited with the great one-liner, “When you come to a fork in the road,
take it.”
The problem is that when we get to
a fork in the road we tend to choose based on how we will benefit.
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Going to college becomes a matter of which career
will provide a better financial future rather than asking what God is calling us
to do.
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Spending our free time on a particular hobby or
involved in a part time job to boost our retirement plan takes precedence over
volunteering to serve at a church summer camp or on a mission trip.
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Saving money for our next vacation becomes more
important than ensuring the people in our own community have enough food to eat.
When we come to a fork in the road, we think it’s like the fork we pick up at a
salad bar. We get to choose which items to put on our plate, so we put on it
whatever we like or want. At that point it no longer matters what our mother
thinks we should eat; we put on our plates what we want to eat.
And our diet often becomes
unbalanced in the process.
This passage from Mark’s gospel
suggests that it’s time to allow Jesus to decide what will go on our plates.
It’s time to deny our own desires and seek the will of God in our lives.
In the words of Jesus, it’s time
to take up our own crosses.
The problem is we don’t like the
sounds of that any better than Peter liked it.
But Jesus is simply suggesting
that because we know God holds our future, we should let the future be in God’s
hands. We should not become overly concerned about the affairs of this life but
should invest ourselves instead in being faithful followers of Christ.
And since Jesus’ life ended at the
cross, we ought not to be afraid to let ours end there as well
And while I know that to be true,
and while I am convinced that any other reading of this text is simply trying to
soften its impact or rationalize it into something less demanding, the truth is
that I still don’t like it any better than Peter did.
But Peter didn’t have the benefit
of Easter. He couldn’t see how the story would end, how the death of Jesus was
necessary in order for us to see the world differently.
In a book that I’ve been slowly
digesting for several months now, James Alison suggests that the death of Jesus
is what allows us to see what God intended for us from the beginning – a life in
which fear has no hold on us, a life in which jealousy and envy have no power
over our actions, a life in which we experience true love for God and one
another.
The secret is to willingly take up
our cross.
Now, we need to remember that a
cross is not necessarily the same thing as a burden. Too often people refer to
an unnecessary burden as their “cross to bear” – but that isn’t what Jesus said.
One man tells the story of growing
up in a large family with limited resources.
At meal time, there was only enough bread for each person to have one slice.
Both his mother and his aunt, who lived with them, would take turns eating the
heel, or the crust.
But his mother did so without
saying anything. It was her cross to bear, but it was never a burden.
His aunt, on the other hand,
always took it with a smug attitude, often reminding everyone that she was
taking the crust. “I guess I’ll take the heel tonight.” For her, it was a
burden, not a cross.
Jesus is inviting us into a new
way of living, a way of living that does what is right without regard to the
outcome.
The last time I was at the Kansas
City airport, I spoke briefly with the woman who works at the parking lot toll
booth. I’ve seen her there many evenings on my way home. On that particular
night, she said she was tired, so I offered words of encouragement that included
an acknowledgement that I knew she had several more hours on her shift – I knew
because I normally have a later flight and have seen her there many evenings on
my way home.
I didn’t realize it then, but she
“thanked me” for caring my giving me an extra day of credit on my “frequent
flyer” card.
That extra punch on my card
immediately brought to mind a story that happened to me thirty years ago. I was
a college student, going to school about 100 miles from home. It was close
enough that I often came home on the weekends. One Saturday I decided to go
home – mostly because I was missing my family.
Like many college students, I had
very little money and barely enough gas in my car to get there. But I went. On
the way, I stopped and helped two stranded motorists. One insisted on thanking
me by filling my car with gas, the other insisted on paying me for my troubles.
I told the story of the “miracle”
that I arrived home with more money in my wallet and more gas in my car than
when I had left.
A week or two later, someone who
had heard me tell the story, relayed his own experiences – he decided to try
what I did and helped some people. One took his wallet. The other offered him
a joint.
But even as he was telling me
about it, I realized there was a significant difference in our two stories that
had nothing to do with the outcome and everything to do with our intentions. I
stopped to help out of a concern for other people; he had stopped in hopes of
being rewarded.
When I remembered that story on
the way home from the airport, I began to wonder if the problem with our society
today is that too many of us are unwilling to help people because we are afraid
of what might happen to us. Have we become less willing to deny ourselves? Is
our society suffering because of it?
Like many of you, I used to stop
and pick up hitchhikers; now I pass them by. I used to stop and help stranded
motorists; now I call on my cell phone and try to get help for them.
Jesus invites us to get involved,
to be present to people and with people in times of need without concern for
what might happen to us. Jesus invites us to deny ourselves as we invest in
heavenly things.
So I invite you to join me as I
spend the rest of Lent looking for opportunities to reach out – times where we
sense fear is keeping us from acting, perhaps, and asking God to help us
overcome our fears as we seek to do what is right, no matter what the cost.
There is no promise of a reward .
. . in this life.
There is only the assurance that
Jesus will be with us.
Thanks be to God.
