First United Methodist Church, Birmingham, Michigan
November 11, 2001
Scripture: Matthew 16:19-26
I am not a shopper. I am a hunter. When I need a suit, I go hunt for a suit. Upon spotting it, I shoot it….allow them to measure it….tailor it….then bag it….the better that I might walk out and wear it. I don’t want to comparison shop for it, wait for the store to reduce it, or go back home and ponder it. Find it, shoot it and wear it….that’s my motto. A few weeks back, I set a personal record. One suit. One sport coat. One pair of slacks. Two shirts. Two ties. Two stores. Forty minutes. Talk about power shopping.
By contrast, Kris will do more research….make more trips….take more time….save more money….and make better choices. Julie, too. Which is why, when Kris wants to shop, she takes Julie. When she wants to buy, she takes me.
Both of the women I live with have been known to buy two or three of something, knowing that they are going to take all but one of them back. That’s because they want to “live with the decision” for a few days. I have learned that not everything coming into the house is going to stay in the house. Exceptions to this “trial and error” form of purchasing are things sold on “clearance” or clearly labeled “as is.”
You can save a lot of money on an “as is” item. But you also have to be observant, given that the words “as is” mean that there is something a little bit wrong with it….or maybe a whole lot wrong with it. And if you buy it before finding it, the store isn’t going to repair it or rectify it. You’re going to be pretty much stuck with it, given that you underestimated the flaw you saw. Either that, or you overestimated your ability to live with it, once you got it home.
Switch gears for a minute. It has been a long time since I listened to Dr. Laura on WJR. For one reason, they moved her to mornings and I don’t drive much in the mornings. For another reason, she gets on my nerves. As a would-be physician to soul and psyche, she has the worst bedside manner I ever saw. She gives callers (especially female callers) about three sentences….seldom more than five….to state their dilemma. Then she levels them with what she perceives to be the truth of the matter, asking “how could they be so stupid” not to have seen it themselves? I know why she chooses radio counseling over office-based counseling. Because in the office, she’d have a shovel right beside her chair, the better to hit her clients upside the head, under the guise of delivering a wake-up call. And if you do that too many times, somebody’s going to sue you.
But the thing that bothers me about her bluntness is how often she is right. Like a couple of weeks back, when some woman called to complain about her husband. Nothing new there. But her specific complaint concerned her husband’s inability to face a family crisis head-on. Apparently this fellow dealt with painful things by dodging and denying them, even to the point of disappearing when forced to face them. Concerning her husband, this lady said: “You couldn’t ask for a greater guy in good times. Unfortunately, he tends to disappear whenever it gets bloody in the trenches. Shouldn’t he support me, strengthen me and stand by my side?”
Sure he should (said Dr. Laura). But the truth is, he never did. Not with his first wife. Not with you. And from what you told the lady who screens my calls, you knew that when you married him. You picked him off the “as is” rack, but he turned out to be prettier in the hanging than in the wearing. Suddenly you woke up and discovered that “good time Charlie” was never going to be “crunch time Charlie.” So don’t dump him for qualities he’s never had. Just figure that you are going to have to hold your own hand in the valley, and accept him for whatever you saw in him when you picked him off the rack.
“Whack” with a shovel. Next caller. “Bill from Birmingham, what’s on your mind?”
Well, she’s right. What you see is pretty much what you get….in the buying game….and in the mating game. Everybody knows that. Though nobody wants to believe that. Most of us figure that we can take an “as is” garment….an “as is” guy….an “as-is” gal….and make the desired improvements. Which works, once in a while. But I have got to tell you that the “rough” contains more mis-hit golf balls than it does diamonds. So don’t over-trust your powers of transformation. Keep your eyes open. Don’t gaze at life through rose-colored contacts. Everybody out there lies a little….not so much by fracturing the truth as by distorting it….packaging it in a deceivingly appealing light….holding the shadow parts of their personality (well) in the shadows. It was months into my courtship before I ever showed Kris any of my less-desirable qualities. As I recall it, I even washed the car in those days before picking her up for dates.
Eventually, however, there were telling signs she could have seen, had she paid better attention. Maybe she did and took me anyway. You will have to ask her when she comes back from California. By which time I hope you’ll forget. Thank God for people who not only see things “as is,” but buy them anyway.
Which recalls the hymn….one of our favorites, really….that suggests that God shops from the “as is” rack. You know how it begins: “Just as I am, without one plea.” Then we get to the second verse, the one that suggests: “Just as I am, and waiting not, to rid my soul of one dark blot.” Which means that we don’t have to do a spot check (let alone a shirt, shoes, shave or soul check) before God comes rummaging along. Point being, that God buys from both the high and low end of the merchandise mix. Good for God. Better still, good for me.
So what do we do with this story of a very good man who fails to pass muster? He comes to Jesus, suggests “eternal life” as the category of conversation, and then asks what the requirements are. Upon hearing them, he says: “I’ve met them.” What’s more, in another version of the story, he suggests that he has been meeting them from his youth. Wow! Good deeds…. he’s done ‘em. Ten commandments….he’s kept ‘em. Which may even be true. I don’t read that Jesus disputed his claim. If so, his record is not to be sneezed at. I’d trust my church to him. I’d trust my daughter to him. I’d trust my life to him. One could do worse….a whole lot worse.
But the fellow, himself, senses a shortfall in his spiritual development or his readiness for the Kingdom. “What do I lack?” That’s what he wants to know. To which Jesus says: “If you would be perfect….” Ah, maybe that’s the key. I once heard Krister Stendahl say: “Perhaps this little story reveals an ethic required only of a few….those who would go even further with Jesus….dig even deeper with Jesus….hang even tougher with Jesus. Maybe this is for the would-be Eagle Scouts of Christian discipleship….this requirement of possession-selling.”
“Sell it all,” says Jesus. “Give it away,” says Jesus. “Liquidate and disseminate,” says Jesus. And we see the man weighing it wordlessly in his mind. Maybe yes….maybe no. On the one hand…. on the other hand. And then I picture him walking away….slow of step….stooped of shoulder….chin on chest….long of face. Why? Because he can’t do it. He just can’t bring himself to do it.
But the question is: “Why this elevated standard?” Why didn’t Jesus take him as is….work with him as is….see what could be done with him as is? I would have. So would you. It’s a question that has always puzzled me. I confess that I have no answer. I know you don’t like it when preachers lack answers. But I haven’t got one.
You can say that Jesus didn’t exclude him….that the man excluded himself. But why, for this fellow, was the bar set so incredibly high? And you can say (as does most everybody) that the man’s money got in his way. Most of you then quickly add: “Not for me, but for some.” Or, more to the point: “Not for me, but for him.” And you could be right. By all means, separate yourself from this fellow. When reading this text, that’s the first thing I do (separate myself from him, I mean). One doesn’t want the scriptures to hit too close.
Except that Jesus, once the fellow departs, turns to his disciples (including you and me) and says: “Rich people aren’t going to find it easy when it comes to matters of eternal consequence.” Which is followed by this proverb about the inability of camels to pass through the eyes of needles. And, at this point, the scholars can really hang you up. That’s because the “needle’s eye” is not necessarily an opening in a needle for sewing, so much as it may be a low-ceilinged gate into a walled city, requiring bending. But it really doesn’t make much difference. This word about camels and needles is meant to be humorous to the point of being ludicrous. Jesus is making a “funny” here. You’re supposed to laugh. For what the image is saying.…even screaming….is that the entrance of rich people into the kingdom of heaven borders on the impossible.
Which bothers the disciples immensely, given that they (too) have bought into the prevailing philosophy of the day. I’m talking about the philosophy that says: “If you are rich, it is proof that God has blessed you.” And don’t be too quick to relegate that philosophy to the dusty shelves of history. It’s still around. And, to some degree, most of us still believe it. I mean, I believe it…. even though I’m not proud of it. I am rich, relatively speaking. And I overhear myself say (all the time): “My life has been blessed.” But I’m not alone, given that I hear most of you saying that, too. “We have been so incredibly blessed,” you say. The implication being that God has had something to do with the good things that have come your way. But now, in this text, Jesus is saying that the things that grease our way through this life are going to throw up obstacles in the next. Doesn’t sound fair, does it? I mean, if the “big sinners” can be taken as is, why not the “high rollers?”
The disciples are astonished. Not curious. Not bemused. Not mildly intrigued. Not slightly surprised. They are astonished. To their way of thinking, Jesus has set the bar so high that no man (or woman) can hurdle it. Leading Jesus to say: “You’re right. It can’t be hurdled. It’s nigh unto impossible….save for God. All things are possible for God.” God can do what we can not. God can change what we will not. What you see is what you get….today. But as for tomorrow, if God be allowed room to work, some remodeling is possible. Earlier this summer, I told you of my belief that old dogs can learn new tricks….not just because the Yellow Pages are full of phone numbers for dog trainers, but because ours is a gospel of multiple chances and marvelous makeovers. As to how God might accomplish that with rich people wedged in needles’ eyes, I love the line of the late archbishop Richard Chenevix Trench who, in a sermon preached in Westminster Abbey (circa 1850), said: “God solves that problem by taking the money from the man, or taking the man from his money.” In my case, I’m praying for the latter.
God can do things like that. God can do things with our stuff. God can do things with our lives. Assuming, that is, that God be accorded an opening. Which can come at any time. Fred Craddock tells of an early pastorate in Washita Creek, Oklahoma….population, 450 on a good day (450 on a bad day, too). There were four churches in Washita….Methodist, Baptist, Nazarene and Disciples of Christ. Each church had its share of the town’s women and children. As for the town’s men, most of them worshiped at the café. That’s where you could see all the pickup trucks parked….Wednesdays….Sundays….every other day, for that matter.
The patriarch of the café congregation was Frank. Frank was 77 when Fred first met him. Frank was a good man….strong man….rancher….prospering cattleman. What’s more, Frank had history in Washita. Born in a sod house, he survived it….outgrew it….moved beyond it. Frank did not lack for credentials.
Everybody knew that old Frank would never go to church, even though Frank (himself) wasn’t obnoxious about it. In fact, one day he said to the preacher: “You know, I work hard. I take care of my family. I mind my own business. As far as I’m concerned, everything else is fluff.” Translated, that meant: “Leave me alone, preacher. I’m not a prospect.” Which is why Fred and the entire town were surprised (while the men of the café were dumbfounded) when Frank….all 77 years of him….walked down the aisle on a Sunday morning and asked to be baptized.
Within the day, the talk was ripe in the community: “Frank must be sick. Possible heart trouble. Guess he’s scared of meeting his Maker. Never thought old Frank would do that. But you know, when a man gets scared….”
But that’s not the way Frank told it to his preacher on the day after the morning before. His preacher began by saying: “Uh, Frank, you remember that little saying you used to lay on me….the one about how you work hard, take care of your family and mind your own business?”
“Yeah,” said Frank. “I guess I said that a lot.”
“You still say that?”
“Yeah, I guess I do.”
“So what’s the difference?”
“Well,” said Frank, “I guess it took me 77 years to figure out what my business was (and who owned it).”
If you can believe Luke, Jesus got it figured out when he was 12 (about what his business was and who owned it). At least I recall something said to his mother to the effect of: “Didn’t you know that I would be about my Father’s business?” Twelve years old. Imagine that.
Unfortunately, the rest of us are a little slow. Meaning that it takes a little longer. But just when you think it’s never going to happen….just when you think that the old dog you live with (or the old dog you are) is never going to change….just when you finally make peace with the idea that the way things are is pretty much the way they’re gonna be….
God has a trick up his sleeve.
