"The Good Life"
Matthew 16:21-26 . August 28, 2011
From sheep to goat in the blink of an eye. From Rock Solid to Stumbling Block in two short verses. From Simon to Satan so fast it makes your head spin.
You remember. Last week we read the verses coming just before these. Jesus called Simon Peter a blessing and a foundation stone for the Church, said he must have had a revelation from God to have come to the profound understanding of Jesus as Messiah. Jesus said because of Peter's insight into his agenda, he would be able to build his whole movement, his Church, upon Peter. And he spoke of Peter now having the keys to God's kingdom, authority to lead, to decide the future of the movement.
Peter must have felt that he had fallen face forward into the good life. Can't you see Peter's chest swelling with pride? He had left his livelihood to take on a new life with Jesus. He had left the simple comforts of home to take on a tough life on the road. He had left a familiar well worn routine to take on the uncertainties of a whole new life. And, now, finally, the pay off comes as Jesus rewards him with his own set of keys. At last, the good life.
But then it comes - the cold reality: the death of Jesus foretold; Peter's "No way - this will never happen to you"; and the rebuke, "Get behind me Satan! You have your mind only on human concerns, not on the concerns of God." Suddenly the good life doesn't look so good after all.
My parents were not perfect parents, but they were hard working and frugal. Out of necessity they went to work right out of high school, college not being an option. They earned every penny of their modest wages and saved what they could - with one memorable exception. They sometimes gave my sister and brother and me more than they could reasonably afford. Their rationale: "We want you kids to have what we didn't have." They sometimes sacrificed so that they could give us "the good life." It backfired to a degree, for it was tempting for we three who had not grown up with
much to confuse the good life with having things - and plenty of them, and when we wanted them.
Our kids didn't have perfect parents either. Carol's upbringing paralleled my own when it came to economics, and as parents we too often fell into the deceptive trap of wanting our kids to have more than we did. Sometimes we too sacrificed savings, which were not much, to buy them the hottest toys on the market, the latest "must have" item, and thus passed on the faulty illusion of the good life.
As for myself - well, in my youth I begged my mother to stop sewing shrits for me and buying my shoes from a discount store, convinced that the good life, i.e. being attractive to popular girls, was in sporting expensive "bleeding madras" shirts and name brand penny loafers. And as an adult, I can't tell you how many times I've sought the good life by buying a new sleeve of goffballs that will fly higher and farther and like lasers to the hole, or a new computer that will dance rings around my old one, or a new car that will always look new and never accumulate a collection of junk in the backseat. With each purchase, I convinced myself that I was that much closer to the good life. But humbling reality was never far behind. Popular girls still looked the other way, and my golf game remains where it's always been - in the dumpster.
Peter and the other boys were ready for a taste of the good life. But Jesus gives them instead a lecture in God's economic plan. "You want these keys? Then deny yourself. Take up your cross and follow me. Those interested in saving their lives will lose them and those willing to lose their lives for my sake will find them." As theology professor Tom Long says so well, "A life that is spent soothing the pain of the sick, caring for children in need, hammering nails in houses for those without shelter, sharing bread with the hungry, visiting those in prison, and denying oneself may seem like a squandered life in the economy of a self-centered age, but in the storehouse of heaven, it is a lavish treasure."
Some said then and some say now that God's economic plan just won't work. They say that people want to get rid of pain, not take it on. People want to accumulate assets, not give them away. People want to know their own minds, not bother trying to know the mind of Christ. With due respect to Jesus, they argue that the good life is a measure of what we have, how easily we can get what we want, and how seldom we are inconvenienced. They might never say this aloud, but they are confident that God's economic plan is destined for the same resting place as the Titanic. They are in league, Jesus says, with the devil.
Last year, Pat Robertson, the evangelical Christian who once suggested God was punishing Americans with Hurricane Katrina, said that Haiti's earthquake was the result of a pact Haiti had made years ago with the devil. 100,000 people died as the result of a magnitude 7 earthquake, and Robertson said it was God's punishment for Haiti once swearing to serve the devil if he would get them out from under French control.
Shortly after, the Minneapolis Tribune received and printed a letter addressed to Pat from Satan. (Of course it was really written by a ghost writer, Lily Barber Coyle, a Minneapolis playwrite.) Here is Satan's letter.
Dear Pat Robertson,
I know that you know that all press is good press, so I appreciate the shout-out. And you make God look like a big mean bully who kicks people when they are down, so I'm all over that action.
But when you say that Haiti has made a pact with me, it is totally humiliating. I may be evil incarnate, but I'm no welcher. The way you put it, making a deal with me leaves folks desperate and impoverished.
Sure, in the afterlife, but when I strike bargains with people, they first get something here on earth ? glamour, beauty, talent, wealth, fame, glory, a golden fiddle. Those Haitians have nothing, and I mean nothing. And that was before the earthquake.
If I had a thing going with Haiti, there'd be lots of banks, skyscrapers, SUVs, exclusive night clubs, Botox ? that kind of thing. An 80 percent poverty rate is so not my style. Nothing against it ? I'm just saying: That's not how I roll.
You're doing great work, Pat, and I don't want to clip your wings ? just, come on, you're making me look bad. And not the good kind of bad. Keep blaming God. That's working. But leave me out of it, please. Or we may need to renegotiate your own contract.
My Best, Satan
I suggest that we don't give up on God's economic plan too soon. Notice that Peter never had any hope of understanding the good life until Jesus told him to get behind him. That's the only position from which you and I will ever learn about the good life that Jesus intends for us - standing behind Jesus, listening to him, watching his every move, and trusting in God's plan despite the most lively critics within and outside the church.
That brings me back to my parents. They may not have realized that they taught me about the good life not by giving us a stockpile of presents, but by their generosity and willing self-sacrifice. They would literally give the shirts of their backs to anyone who needed it.
I too have learned about the good life in every parish I've served. I saw it at Oliver's house when I paid my monthly visit to this man who took early retirement to care for the woman he loved. She was deep in the haze of Alzheimer's, needed 24-7 care. He did this for 10 years, until her death. Only once I heard him complain - a momentary lapse, only natural, but when I suggested that he consider a group home for her, he quickly recovered with new resolve.
And there was Sid and Jean. They had a meager income in their retirement years and lived a life most would call spartan. They were ambulatory, so they got to church frequently. But if they missed a Sunday, their weekly offering was in the church mailbox by Wednesday. I once suggested to them, "You know, the church is in good shape right now. Why don't you hold back on your offerings for a couple of weeks or so and get some things you need?" The words were barely out of my mouth, when Sid said, "Pastor, never deny a person the joy of giving to his Lord."
And just yesterday, I found a message on my anwering machine from one of our members in a local nursing home - Charles Fuelberg. He wanted to see me. He's been undergoing chemotherapy for cancer. He must be worse, I thought. Maybe he's dying and wants words of assurance. I went to Bluebonnet Hills Care Center. Charles was excited to see me - not because he was sick or dying, but because he wanted to talk about finding a way that he and other residents could help with some of our mission projects: building water wells in Africa, building wheelchair ramps. "We had a Resident's Council meeting, and we decided we need to help. We don't have much money, but we all have a little, and we need to help."
"Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it."
I think Charles and his friends have discovered the truth of those words. Amen
