Sunday: 13th Sunday after Pentecost 16C
Reading: Luke 13:22-30
Preacher: Jack Seymour
Proper 16, Year C 2007
Jack Seymour
St. Paul and The Redeemer "For the bed is too short to stretch oneself on it, and the covering too narrow to wrap oneself in it."
There is a story told of a man who had amassed great wealth. He had never married and had no heirs. He was, however, blessed with a large family that included six brothers and sisters along with a dozen or so nieces and nephews. His family members had not been as fortunate as he in gaining wealth. This fact colored their relationship with the wealthy man to such a degree that the rich man kept his distance from family members for most of his life.
Years of discussion was spent amongst the family as to who would be the man's heir. Complicated estimates were offered up for debate in an endless attempt to discern how much the rich man was worth. Fear was constantly present in the family a fear that the rich man would endow some charitable trust or worse yet leave his estate to his church! Finally, the rich man died and the discussion period was over.
At the funeral, the family members could not keep their eyes off of the rich man's attorney. The attorney did her best at avoiding their eye contact, but in a moment of poor positioning she found herself at the rear of the church surrounded by four of the rich man's sisters just as the body was entering the church for the funeral.
Family members broke off from conversations and joined the four sisters who had cornered the attorney. The eldest sister spoke for everyone in a direct and audible whisper, "OK, how much did he leave?"
As the body rolled silently by, the attorney paused for a moment, smiled, and answered, "He left everything."
Almost every person in the world has an interest in God, at least, every person I'm interested in "hangin with". Certainly, every culture has based much of its structure on presuppositions about how and why the universe is ordered the way it is. Our own nation was founded upon several theological understandings about the nature of God and humankind. We are "endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights" is a profound theological statement.
Within cultures and political structures individuals are often seeking answers to very different faith questions. We risk being completely misunderstood when we assume that what is important to us about the nature of God is equally important to the person sitting next to us. Individuals have different faith priorities in their personal understanding of what is important about God.
I don't wish to lead us into a review of all of these priorities this morning. However, reviewing a few might help to illustrate more clearly what I am trying to say.
Many individuals seek to have a deeper personal relationship with God. The priority of these people is to be "one" with the creator of all things. We often call these people mystics or monastics or contemplatives. Many Buddhists have the priority of being in a state of "oneness with God" as a central priority of their faith.
Some people are seeking first and foremost to have a happier life. They have come to understand that including God in their life "just makes it better". My favorite theologian is a third century Alexandrian named Origen. Origen argued quite successfully to a Greek culture that everyone should become Christian simply because it was a better and happier way to live. Those who seek God in their life because their central priority is a happier life are very present around us today. L, Ron Hubbard and Scientology or Madonna and Cabala along with many self actualizing faith systems or philosophies are all around us. Many Christians choose a church because it is clearly a "good place to be with good people".
A third group of people are those who are deeply interested in how it all works. These individuals must know that God exists and that things are in perfect working order. They strive to study and to understand the nature of God. We call them theologians. Be very careful when you come upon them.
In a way, we are all trying to capture God in the framework of our own life priorities. Or a better way of saying what we are doing is: we are trying to have a relationship with God that is relevant.
In Luke's Gospel, Jesus has been encountering a group of individuals who have as their central priority an all consuming desire to understand God as the divine author of the rules. Repeatedly, they keep trying to trick Jesus with questions designed to maneuver him into saying that the rules are wrong or that he isn't following them. Quite frankly, I am delighted that the Jews persisted, since Jesus' responds to these trick questions has given us a series of parables and stories that have enriched life as we know it.
Today's reading from Luke poses a different type of question. This is not a trick question. It is a genuine one. "Lord, will only a few be saved?" His answer is as genuine and as direct as the question? "Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able."
Jesus uses the metaphor of the narrow door, or the narrow passage, more than on this occasion. Most profoundly is his reference to "the gate" in John, "I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture." We all nervously recall his use of the narrow passage metaphor in Matthew, "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God."
Jesus understands that the spiritual life is not easy. He is not about to prescribe another set of rules for people to live by. The rules are already in place for the Jews. He knows that the spiritual life is available for all people, not just those who have a covenant relationship with God. He is warning the Jews that if they depend solely on their covenant, that they will be on the outside looking in at the feast and that those who have the first covenant with God will be the last to enter into the kingdom. Instead of creating an explicit new covenant, Jesus invites us to be in a new and intimate relational covenant with hime.
The covenant with the Jews is an earthly covenant designed to provide a divine set of priorities for answering the question what is important about God. For the Jews it was: if you follow God's rules God will take care of you. The spiritual life Jesus is calling us to requires something more than this. The covenant, the rules, are not enough.
"For the bed is too short to stretch oneself on it, and the covering too narrow to wrap oneself in it."
We each make our own little covenant with God. We negotiate with God: I will have you as my God if you will make my life happier. I will have you as my God if you let me understand who you are and what the meaning of all of this is. I will have you as my God if you let me feel that I am one with you and that I have meaning in the universe. God speaks back to us as in the Psalm:
Be still, then, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations;
I will be exalted in the earth.
We begin to walk down that narrow passage towards that narrow door by letting go of our own demands for covenant. All that we have and all that we have accomplished seem so inadequate when we face the need to respond to the pain of a friend or the approach of our own end. Jesus asks us to "strive" to enter through the narrow door. He fully understands the difficulty involved. Letting go of our own demands of life and letting go of our demands of God in order that we might be free to respond to the call of God is frightening, not only to ourselves but also to the world observing us.
Reverend Joan B Campbell points out that "Jesus' ministry was clearly defined, and the alternatives to the illusion and temptations of the desert were spelled out. A choice was made -- life abundant, full, and free for all. Make no mistake about it; the day that choice was made, Jesus became suspect. That day in the temple he sealed the fate already prepared for him. How was the world to understand one who rejected an offer of power and control?
Let us pray in the words of Teresa of Avila
May today there be peace within
May we trust our highest power that we are exactly where we are meant to be
May we not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith
May we use those gifts that we have received, and pass on the love that
has been given to us
May we be content knowing we are a child of God
Let God's presence settle into our bones, and allow our souls the freedom to
sing, dance and to bask in the sun AMEN
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