Loving God, although life in your service is never easy, you offer us salvation and love and life in all its fulness. Teach us to find ourselves through Christ and thus be set free to live and to love, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

All through the Summer Olympics, there were references to the pain and suffering that many of the athletes endure. My cousin Adam, writing about rowing, says the following: “The pain experienced while rowing is similar to middle distance running, biking really hard or speed skating. Your legs burn and scream for oxygen, while your lungs wheeze with your heart struggling to transport renewed blood to the complaining body parts. Suffering is the best word to describe how I feel in a race. The after effects of competition are exhausting. My body aches and I have depressed energy and drive for weeks after the event.” [http://www.cbc.ca/olympics/blog/athletes/adam_kreek/a_rowers_motto_i_race_therefor.html#more] He gave this description when he was talking to a group of children about rowing. Of course, a grade 4 student wanted to know why he would do it, then. Why put yourself through pain and suffering?

Adam responds, “I grew to love racing because of the heightened incidence of NOW it brings me. When the time to race draws near, there is nothing else in my mental space but the goal at hand. My nerves are primed and firing. My body is in peak physical condition. My mind does not wander. My soul takes in the beauty of the extreme environment that has been created at the regatta site. The challenge of pushing my limits and reaching a new state of existence excites me.” He does it because, in the end, he finds that the benefits outweigh the pain and suffering.

It strikes me that there were probably many first-century Christians who felt much the same way about following Jesus. Generally speaking, they could expect persecution, pain and suffering. They could expect to encounter opposition at every turn. At the same time, there was nothing in their mental space except living in faithfulness to Jesus Christ. Their nerves were primed and firing. Their bodies were ready to receive whatever suffering might come. Their minds were focused on Jesus. Their souls were taking in the beauty of creation. They were excited by pushing their limits and entering a new state of peace and joy through the Holy Spirit. In the end, they felt that the benefits far outweighed any pain and suffering.

It almost makes me wonder if a little persecution might do wonders for the church here in Canada. After all, the attitude evident in many people seems to be more “comfortable apathy” than anything else, with very little of the single-mindedness and excitement that marked the early church. Perhaps we just haven’t had enough of a workout for our faith. Or perhaps we’ve simply bought into the myth that says that everything should be easy.

Truthfully, living as a follower of Jesus was never promised to be easy. Rather, it might involve suffering and taking up your cross (Mt. 16:21-26). It might involve putting the things of God ahead of the things of this world. It might involve doing what is right rather than doing what is easy. It might involve getting out of our “comfortable pews” and doing things that we’ve never done before! And – it might result in more life than we have ever known before (Jn. 10:10).

When we hear about denying ourselves and taking up our crosses and losing our lives for Jesus sake, it may not sound all that inviting -- just like a place called the “Community Church of Suffering” probably wouldn’t get a lot of new members. However, what if doing these things would actually set us free? Consider this example of somebody who tries to save their life and ends up losing it:

Shirley is afraid. She is afraid of getting hurt. She is afraid of rejection. She is afraid that others won’t like her. Shirley is afraid, and so she protects herself. She avoids anything that might involve pain. She puts up a front whenever she is with people, protecting herself against the judgment of others. She hides her real self, because revealing it might open her up to hurt. She “goes with the flow,” never making any waves or doing anything that might get noticed. She never does anything that might be dangerous, and she is constantly worrying about what others might think. Shirley works so hard to hide herself, protect herself and save herself that she has lost herself in the process. She knows nothing of life in all its fulness, and has actually become so focused on herself that she has become a non-self. Shirley needs to be set free. Shirley needs life in all its fulness.

So... let’s consider Jake for a moment. For many years, Jake was much like Shirley, although he would never admit that he was fearful. He simply put up a good front, never allowing anybody to really know him. The image he projected was one of competence and confidence, yet inside he was feeling inadequate and lonely. After a number of years of searching, not really knowing what he was looking for, Jake encountered Jesus in a different light than he had ever seen him before.

Of course, he had heard some of the same things before. He remembered hearing “the truth will make you free” (Jn. 8:32) and loving God above all else, and dying to self and denying yourself. However, these things only started to sink in when he heard Tony de Mello speak about dropping attachments and dropping anxiety as part of dying to self or denying yourself. Jake realized how utterly attached he was to the opinions of others. He also realized how much anxiety this was producing, as he was constantly trying to project the image that others wanted to see.

As Jake began to realize these things, his focus changed. Rather than constantly comparing himself to others and worrying about what others might think of him, Jake began to focus far more on what God thinks of him. It began to sink in for Jake that as a precious child of God who had been created, redeemed and made holy by God, he was free to live and to love. There would be people who would like him and people who wouldn’t like him. However, he need not find his worth in their opinions. Rather, his worth comes from God, who has declared that Jake – and all others – are worth the death of God’s Son.

Really, both Jake and Shirley are examples of people who tried so hard to save and protect themselves that they were losing themselves – and their life – in the process. However, once Jake stopped taking himself so seriously and focused on God’s perspective rather than on the opinions of others, he began to discover life in all its fulness. Really, it is a matter of being Christ-focused rather than being self-focused.

Now, by Christ-focused I mean the following: One who is Christ-focused knows their value because of what God says and not because of what others say. One who is Christ-focused knows that he or she is a precious creation of God, regardless of what advertisements say about how you need to look or what you need to buy in order to be acceptable. One who is Christ-focused loves God and neighbour and self and acts according to that love. One who is Christ-focused knows his or her own limitations and relies on the Holy Spirit in order to do God’s work. Paradoxically, such a person has set aside being focused on oneself in order to find his or herself and life in all its fulness.

This happens in spite of the probability of pain and suffering along the way. However, one of the things that we discover in this life is that there is never joy without sorrow, or pleasure without pain, or triumph without suffering. Following Jesus will be difficult at times, yet it is ultimately and eternally worth it! Amen.

Lectionary 22(A) Matthew 16:21-28
August 31, 2008
St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church
Pastor Lynne Hutchison

© 2008 Lynne Hutchison  All Rights Reserved