Proper 17 / Pentecost 15 / OT 22
Devotional
Water From the Well
Lectionary Devotional For Cycle A
Object:
For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life?
-- Matthew 16:26
This gospel lesson provides a stark challenge to a trend in our society. As we have grown more affluent in our society, the trend has been against sacrifice. There is a temptation toward hedonism, a desire for the good life, and certainly a tendency to choose the comfortable over the uncomfortable. Along with that is a tendency, even within churches, to want to build a fortress to protect ourselves against all forms of fears.
When Peter heard that Jesus was heading to Jerusalem and that he would "undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes ..." Peter spoke for us. He said, "God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you." When was the last time that a church chose to risk suffering because this was where the faith journey seemed to be leading them? When Jesus responded with one of his fiercest responses recorded in scripture, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things," Jesus was laying a significant challenge at the doorstep of every church. The irony is that despite our fears, we know the underlying truth of which Jesus was speaking.
Even in our secular society, we know that there are few experiences that are so satisfying and fulfilling as finding a cause for which you can make great sacrifice. Whether it is a sports team, defending your country, or identifying with a great project in your corporation, we gain great satisfaction in being able to devote ourselves to something bigger than ourselves. The problem, of course, is that many of our goals, once achieved, fail to deliver their promise to us. Human life needs a cause to dedicate itself to that will not let us down. When Christ offered his followers the chance to "deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me," he was offering them life. To sacrifice is to set apart something we value and to dedicate it to a greater cause. In Christ, we see one who was willing to sacrifice himself for us and invited us to do the same for him that we might experience the full love of God.
-- Matthew 16:26
This gospel lesson provides a stark challenge to a trend in our society. As we have grown more affluent in our society, the trend has been against sacrifice. There is a temptation toward hedonism, a desire for the good life, and certainly a tendency to choose the comfortable over the uncomfortable. Along with that is a tendency, even within churches, to want to build a fortress to protect ourselves against all forms of fears.
When Peter heard that Jesus was heading to Jerusalem and that he would "undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes ..." Peter spoke for us. He said, "God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you." When was the last time that a church chose to risk suffering because this was where the faith journey seemed to be leading them? When Jesus responded with one of his fiercest responses recorded in scripture, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things," Jesus was laying a significant challenge at the doorstep of every church. The irony is that despite our fears, we know the underlying truth of which Jesus was speaking.
Even in our secular society, we know that there are few experiences that are so satisfying and fulfilling as finding a cause for which you can make great sacrifice. Whether it is a sports team, defending your country, or identifying with a great project in your corporation, we gain great satisfaction in being able to devote ourselves to something bigger than ourselves. The problem, of course, is that many of our goals, once achieved, fail to deliver their promise to us. Human life needs a cause to dedicate itself to that will not let us down. When Christ offered his followers the chance to "deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me," he was offering them life. To sacrifice is to set apart something we value and to dedicate it to a greater cause. In Christ, we see one who was willing to sacrifice himself for us and invited us to do the same for him that we might experience the full love of God.
