THE DIFFICULTY OF SAVING YOUR SOUL
(Preached on Sunday, March 8, 2009)
For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? -Mark 8:36-37
There was a pastor who visited regularly with a young person who was suffering from a debilitating nerve disorder. The disorder was such that paralysis was gradually spreading throughout her body. The disease would eventually take this woman=s life. For now she was confined to a wheelchair, legally blind, an din constant pain C a pain that had been somewhat reduced by an extended series of risky operations. When the pastor first visited her, he recognized in her a peace that came from a depth within her, a peace that defied description. There was not an ounce of self-pity in her C there was simply peace. Nor was there some sort of stiff-upper-lip endurance of a bad situation C again, there was simply a remarkable peace. It was astonishing to the pastor, and it drew him back to visit her more frequently than his regular visitation schedule would have been. The two became good friends. She made it comfortable for the pastor to talk about her illness. At one point the pastor asked if it were possible for her to choose between good health and not knowing the peace she had come to know on the one hand, and the illness yet with the knowledge of that peace, what would she choose? She paused a moment. She said that her instinct was to reach out and grab hold of relief from the pain, but she would have to choose, with great reluctance, accepting the illness if this were the only way to the peace with which she had been gifted.
She tried to realize the possibilities in her increasingly restricted life. For example, she tried to make it not from day to day, but from hour to hour. A talking clock in the room announced that it was three o=clock. There was the wan smile of success on her face. The pastor said, AYou made it. Now let=s go for four o=clock.@ They laugh. The pastor then said to her, APlease do not think that this is a cheap or patronizing statement, but I must confess that, in some ways, I envy you.@
Why would the pastor make such a statement? Because he had come to recognize in his friend a wonderful freedom, a freedom he had not encountered in any others, a freedom he had not found in his own heart. He saw in her the freedom that Jesus had come to bring each one of us. Yet, as her illness demonstrates, and as Jesus points out to Peter and his other followers, it is a freedom that is difficult to truly find in this life.
The world has tried to tell us freedom was easy to find. Just focus on your wants and desires, take care of yourself first and foremost, and you will find freedom in life. The world has told us we can have it our way, just reach for the real thing, get a piece of the rock, grab all the gusto we can, and all will be well. If we purchase the right car, the Ain@ designer label, enough insurance, make the right investments, then we will be happy, successful, and free. Of course the false premises are becoming clear. All of the directives from the world around us have proven false in terms of providing true security and freedom. Suddenly, Jesus= teaching that the way to secure one=s life is by letting it go is not sounding quite so crazy. But it is still not easy. It still calls for radical trust on our part in God and in Jesus= teaching as being the way to life.
One day a man went out into his backyard to do some work when he noticed his neighbor doing something very peculiar. He had a rope lying the entire length of his property, a wheelbarrow I his hand, and he was walking back and forth on the rope trying to balance himself on it. ACan I ask,@ said the man, Awhat are you doing?@ AI=m practicing. I thought it would be a really neat thing to string this rope over Niagara Falls and walk over the falls wheeling this wheelbarrow. What do you think, wouldn=t that be great?@ A lengthy conversation ensued, at the end of which the man agreed to go with his neighbor to the falls on the appointed day. On that day, the neighbor started to have second thoughts. AWhat? You can=t get cold feet now,@ the man said. AEverything is set. You can do it. I have faith in you.@ AThat=s great, I=ll do it. Why don=t you get in the wheelbarrow and I=ll wheel you across Niagara Falls!@
To be a follower of Jesus is to answer his call to get in the wheelbarrow and allow him to wheel us across the chasm between the world=s agenda and God=s agenda. You see, the world as it should be, as God created it to be and desires for it to be, is in direct opposition to the world as it is. That=s why God=s agenda is so different from the world=s agenda. Where the world encourages us to be self-centered, taking care of our own needs, wants and desires first and foremost, God calls us to focus on the needs of others. Where the world tells us that we must save our lives first, ensuring our security, God calls us to not worry about our security, but to trust our lives to God=s care and be willing to lose our lives in service to others. Where the world prods us to acquire all that we can and hoard it for our own use, God calls us to release our possessions, understanding that all we have is God=s gift to us that we might be gifts to others. Where the world calls us to strive to be the greatest, God reminds us that we are called to be servants. Where the world supports our feelings of fear and anxiety, God invites us to have faith and courage. Where the world says we only owe loyalty to ourselves, our family, our nation, God calls for our loyalty to God=s agenda for the sake of the world. God=s agenda is rooted in truth, love, and community. To follow Jesus means to commit ourselves to the way of love C loving God first and foremost with our whole lives, holding nothing back, and then, as a result of holding nothing back from God, discovering the freedom to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. Which means, very practically, that we will not do anything to our neighbors, be they friends or enemies, that we would not do to ourselves. It means we will go whatever extra mile is called for from us for their sake, not just for our sake.
This is not something we do by force of will, but rather by surrender. By totally surrendering our will to God=s will, by getting into the wheelbarrow which Jesus if offering us. That is how we find true freedom in our lives. And when we do, in the face of the tremendous difficulty of living in this world, God will do amazing things through us.
The life of Father Peter Quin, a local parish priest in Australia, bears witness to this truth. In 1988 he participated in a Sunday worship in a Uniting Church of Australia (formerly Presbyterian) celebrating their 100 years of continuous ministry. In the worship Father Quin joined the local pastor in celebrating a baptism of a child of Japanese parents who were members of the congregation. Father Quin took the young child and lovingly carried him around the church allowing people to make the sign of the cross on his wet forehead. The Spirit was clearly moving and people were visibly moved. The people all thought they had felt the Holy Spirit so strongly because it had been a Catholic priest carrying a Japanese baby around a Protestant church. But the next day, the local pastor discovered there was even more to the story. At a monthly ecumenical prayer group she shared what had happened the day before in worship. One of the members of the group was a parishioner of Father Quin=s. She told the pastor the story of what had happened to Father Quin=s father, Dr. Bernard Quin. Dr. Quin was a GP in Australia who had gone to the island of Nauru at the request of the Australian government as a medical officer to care for the troops stationed there during World War II. In 1941, when Japan entered the war, Australia withdrew the troop and Dr. Quin and four other Australians decided to stay behind for the sake of the island people. The Japanese overran the island in 1943 and executed Dr. Quin and the other Australians. Now the pastor understood why they had felt the power of the Holy Spirit so strongly in worship C Father Peter Quin had carried that Japanese baby around the church with such love that they knew something special was taking place. When she phoned the priest to tell him she had heard about his father and commented on the way he had so lovingly held the baby, he said, AYou cannot live on hate. Hate destroys life, forgiveness creates life.@ The pastor told this story to everyone who would listen and a couple years later received a phone call from a colleague who shared that he had used the story as part of the previous Sunday sermon. He noticed a man in the congregation becoming visibly distressed as he told it. After worship he spoke with this man and learned that he had known Dr. Quin and others treated as harshly and had carried hatred and anger toward the Japanese all these years. He said that if Dr. Quin=s own son could forgive them, then maybe he could too. Father Quin, by living as best he could by God=s agenda of love and not the world=s agenda of hatred and revenge, provided a powerful witness with his live to many, many people. By getting into the wheelbarrow and allowing Jesus to guide his life, he had discovered true freedom and he brought freedom to others.
It is still a risky proposition. But Jesus is inviting us to get into the wheelbarrow. He is waiting to take us across the chasm that separates us from God. It is the way to true freedom. It is the way to true life. It is the only way to life.