2nd Sunday in Lent Luke 13:31-35 February 28, 2010
When I was a kid I remember watching the TV show Wide World of Sports, a show that would present the many and varied highlights from the world of sports from the past week. The part of the show that stands out the most vividly was the opening scene where the announcer makes reference to "the agony of defeat' just as some Olympic skier takes a horrendous spill, much like the one Lindsey Vonn took this past week in the Giant Slalom.
Prior to this year's Olympics opening celebration, another athlete suffered one of those "agony of defeat" moments but unlike countless others that have suffered that embarrassment, the Georgian luge contestant did not walk away and was the first fatality since 1964.
The luge contestant had apparently expressed concerns about the safety of this particular track, but he, like his fellow sliders, took on the risk. In the same way, we all accept challenges, which pose some sort of danger, be it social, emotional, or even the possibility of physical harm. Even with the risk, the goal of succeeding in our ventures drives our ambition to go for the gold.
I mention this because in today's Gospel reading we have Jesus about to enter the city of Jerusalem and begin the climax of the Gospel story. In a twist of irony, the Pharisees, of all people, approach Jesus to warn him of Herod. This is the same Herod who was responsible for the beheading of John the Baptist. Rather than turning away, however, Jesus sends the messengers a message to deliver: Jesus was going to continue to cure illnesses and cast out demons, and not even the threat of Herod was going to stop him. In other words, Jesus had a mission to fulfill and nothing was going to stand in his way. He was going for the gold, if you will.
Much like the Olympic athletes many of us have been watching these past two weeks, these athletes may train their entire lives with dreams of competing in the Olympic games, despite the dangers of their craft. Similarly, Jesus' life of selfless acts of saving and healing culminates with his trip to Jerusalem. In the same way that past hazards had not changed his message or direction, Jesus would not be swayed by warnings about a murderous Herod. Athletes risk life and limb for a shot at the gold. Jesus went to Jerusalem knowing that he would give himself as the ultimate sacrifice for us all.
With February designated as Black History Month I was recently re- reading some excerpts on the life of Dr. Martin Luther King. One such reading told about the occasion where Dr. King was preaching in Memphis on April 3, 1968. In his sermon he spoke of an incident that took place in New York City ten years earlier. He had been signing books when a deranged woman stabbed him. The blade came close to puncturing his aorta, which would have killed him.
Dr. King talked about other threats to his life. Then he talked about the parable of the Good Samaritan. When the priest and the Levite saw the wounded man lying alongside the road, then asked themselves: "If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?" But the Samaritan came along and asked a different question: "If I don't stop to help this man, what will happen to him?"
King went on to acknowledge the threat against his life, but he said that they didn't matter.
He said:" Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead.
But it doesn't matter to me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind.
Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place in life. But I'm not worried about that now. I just want to do God's will. And he's allowed me to go to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people will get to the Promised Land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes has seen the glory of the coming of the Lord."
After that speech, Dr. King went back to his room at the Lorraine Motel to rest. The next afternoon, he was standing on the balcony of his room when a shot rang out and killed him.
Dr. King had done what he had come to do. There was work left to do, but others would step up to do what needed to be done. Dr. King had set the nation on the right path. That's what he had been called to do. That was the call from which he refused to turn back.
Life is filled with challenges, some of which pose elements of danger, be it social, emotional, or even the possibility of physical harm. The question is--how do we respond to those challenges? Will we like the Priests and Levites ask the question: "If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?" Or, will we respond like the Samaritan and asked a different question, "If I don't stop to help this man, what will happen to him?"
In the March issue of the Lutheran magazine there are a number of articles related to the January 12th earthquake that rocked Haiti. One of those articles addresses the death of Benjamin Larson, the son of pastors Judd and April Larson, pastors who serve ELCA congregations in Duluth. Ben Larson, along with his wife Rene and his cousin Jonathon were all three seminarians from Wartburg Seminary in Dubuque, IA. The three of them were in the slums of Port-au-Prince during the month of January serving at the St. Joseph's Home for Boys and teaching theology. When the earthquake hit, the three of them were home on the fourth floor of their apartment. After the dust settled Rene and Jonathon were able to able to escape. The last Rene saw her husband Ben, he was steadying himself on the pillar in the middle of an open space about 10-15 feet from where Rene and Jonathon were standing, at that moment he looked safe, but then some concrete pieces began to fall and Ben disappeared in the rubble. Rene, against the advice of others rushed to look for her husband and eventually heard him singing the hymn, "Where Love and Charity Prevail", not unusual since he loved music. Rene and Ben shared a few brief words and then he was silent. On January 28th Ben's body was recovered.
Obviously Ben's story is not the only tragic story that came as a result of the horrific earthquake, but I believe it is important to point out that many others like Ben were not relief workers who went in response to the earthquake. There were a great many who were in Haiti before the earthquake, and who were as surprised as anyone else when the earth began to shake and the walls began to fall. Many were Christians who had gone to Haiti to serve, to teach, to feed the poor; they were people who wanted to make a difference. Many were ordinary people like you and me and some were college and seminary students who felt called, who may have pondered the same question: "If I don't stop to help this man, this woman, this child, what will happen to him or her?"
One more scenario…Vasily Grossman was a journalist with the Soviet army during World War II. Grossman was a Jew. When he learned that the Germans had invaded the Soviet Union, he urged his mother to flee from her hometown in the Ukraine. However, his mother refused to leave, saying that she could not abandon her niece. The German army quickly overtook the town, and Grossman's mother died there. Grossman never forgave himself for failing to persuade her to leave.
The question then arises, should Grossman's mother have fled. Assuming that she could not persuade her niece to leave with her, should she abandon her niece and save her own life?
Did she die for nothing? I'll ask you to ponder that.
Which leads me to ask whether the relief workers like Ben Larson who died in Haiti should have stayed home.
And whether, Martin Luther King should have been satisfied with preaching ordinary sermons in a safe pulpit.
And whether Jesus would have been better off remaining in Nazareth and working as a carpenter. I trust we know the answer to the last question.
Our Christian faith teaches us the life is sacred, and that we have a duty to protect life—including our own lives. But our faith also teaches that the preservation of our own lives is not the highest value. The highest value is loving God. The next highest is loving our neighbor.That would suggest to me that Jesus, traveling on the road to Jerusalem, was exactly where he should have been.
And Martin Luther King, supporting sanitation workers in Memphis, was exactly where he should have been. And Ben Larson, and the many others who were in Haiti feeding the poor, caring for the orphans and the homeless, were exactly where they should have been.
And Vasily Grossman's mother, taking care of her niece, was exactly where she should have been.
All of this raises another significant question:
Where are we supposed to be?
It is unlikely that we will ever have to choose between life and death. And yet, I believe it is safe to say that each of us will in some manner find ourselves faced with smaller choices and challenges:
Living faithfully--or living comfortably.
Living honestly—or living a lie.
Taking care of Number One--or helping our neighbors.
Living Godly lives--or living lives full of compromise.
Those are the kinds of choices and opportunities that we all face nearly every day.
And when they come, and they will come, I pray that we all respond faithfully and knowing that we are in good hands, as well as good company with all those saints that have gone before us singing a hymn to the glory of God. Amen
Pastor Stephen Blenkush
Zion Lutheran
Milaca, MN
www.ZionMilaca.org(Sermon Archive)
