In this morning’s gospel, Jesus is traveling through the villages of Caesarea Philippi when he asks his disciples, "Who do you say I am?"
It’s important to listen to his answer. After he waits for his disciples to
respond, Jesus doesn’t so much tell them who he is, as what he was about to
become.
Let me say that again: Not who he is, but who he is to become and what
he must do in order to become what he was created to be.
He also told the disciples
about the process of becoming that they, themselves, must experience if they
are to be known as his "followers".
Note, please: Not what he is or they are now – but who they must become and how
to achieve it. And that, of course, requires sacrifice of who they are now. For
Jesus, that involves death. For the disciples, it means the death of their
former self and possibly their actual death.
The other night, I was preoccupied with all that is going on
in the world. I couldn't really focus on anything I'm presently reading .
Network television was, for me, just junk - game shows, talent contests,
reruns, and political commentary, the last being pretty much a combination of
the first three.
I decided to watch a British film called, "Me Before You" on streaming TV.
So, I'll say this and get it out of the way: Emilia Clarke
plays the character Louisa Clark. How many here are a fan of Game of Thrones?
I’m not just a fan, I’m a true fanatic.
Emilia is probably best known for
playing the Khaleesi (or Princess), Daenerys Targaryen, a most formidable woman.
She is known as the Mother of Dragons which were born in the fire of her rebirth.
Her intention is to do what she must to become the first Queen of the Seven
Kingdoms. Hers was not a baptism of water, but a transformation by fire.
One of her most famous lines - when she wasn't shouting "Dracarys,"
to make her dragons breathe fire - was the understanding of what she must do to
become Queen of the Seven Kingdoms.
Tyrion Lannister, of House Lannister, tells
her that it is an impossible task. All of her family in House Targaryen is
gone. So is House Stark and none of the others will back her.
She says, “Lannister, Targaryen, Baratheon, Stark, Tyrell: they're all just
spokes on a wheel. This one's on top, then that one's on top, and on and on it
spins, crushing those on the ground.”
Tyrion responds, “It's a beautiful dream, stopping the wheel. You're not the
first person who's ever dreamt it.”
“I'm not going to stop the wheel,” says Daenerys, “I'm going to break the
wheel.”
See also: formidable woman.
So to see her go from that character to the silly, flighty, Louisa Clark in
this movie, with her funky fashion and impossibly silly rage of facial
expressions was, well, difficult. I almost turned it off, but I had paid $2.99
to rent it and I'm cheap so I watched.
I'm glad I did.
Very short synopsis: Louisa is a "quirky,"
irrepressible cheerful, and very kindhearted young lass in Northern UK who
moves from one job to the next to help her family make financial ends meet. Her
whole worldview is tested when she becomes a caregiver for Will Traynor, a
wealthy young banker left paralyzed - a quadraplegic - and deeply cynical from an accident two
years earlier.
He wants to go to Switzerland to be euthanized. She wants to
show him that life is worth living. During their six-month relationship, they
are both changed and transformed. But not in the way you might suspect.
Both
have to lose their lives in order to regain them.
I've been thinking about that movie in terms of the question
Jesus asks his disciples. I've been thinking about how we are not - tomorrow,
or next week, or, for some of us, next year - who we are today. Some of us change for
the good and some of us, well, life's unkindness has left some of us unkind.
Or, grumpy. Or, arrogant. Or, pessimistic and depressed and cynical.
Oh, we have the basic qualities and characteristics that are
part of what is referred to as our "nature" - much of which can be
tempered by how we are "nurtured".
The point is that we are always becoming.
Depending on how
we manage the circumstances of our lives - the curve balls and the strikes and
the walks, as well as the line drives, base hits, and home runs - we become
more or less of who we are and the image God had of us when we were first
conceived in the mind of God.
And, that is the point of our life in Christ: to become more
of who we are as we discover why it is we were born here, at this time, in this
place, for this purpose.
Not all of us have grand purposes – to become
President of the United States, or a research scientist who helps to put a
human on a faraway planet or discovers a cure for a previously incurable
disease. Not all of us will ever be an Olympian, much less win a gold, silver
or bronze metal.
For some of us, it is enough that we have discovered something – a passion, sobriety, a relationship – that
has saved ourselves from disaster or catastrophe.
For some, it is enough that
we exhibit courage and strength and bravery in overcoming, to the best of our
abilities, an illness that may eventually take our lives.
Some of us have
stopped the wheel of patterns of family destruction. Other of us have broken
the wheel.
I don’t know why you come to church. I don’t know your individual stories, but
I see your faces. I have looked into your eyes. I know that if you have loved,
you have suffered. I know that you didn’t get here today to who you are and
what you have become without some sacrifice of self.
You can not become who you are without sacrificing at least in part what you
once were.
Some of us had parents, grandparents, and great grandparents who sacrificed
living with their families in the land of their birth to make a new life in
this country. They never knew – could, perhaps dream but not even imagine – the
life we have now. Their sacrifice was not so much for themselves but for the
dream they had for us before we were even conceived or born.
And that is the point Jesus is making in today’s Gospel. No, we’re not as close
to sacrificing our lives as the first disciples were. No, we are not being
persecuted for our faith as the early Christians were. But, to be a Christian
is to always die – at least a little – to self so that we can become better
followers of Christ.
Being in order to become.
Dying to self in order to more fully live in Christ.
Living this life fully until we are called by God to live fully into the
gift of Life Eternal.
This morning’s scripture tells us that Jesus “called to the crowd with his
disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny
themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”
Many of you have taken up your cross and followed Jesus into this wonderful
little faithful church to become The Body of Christ. The good news is that the
journey did not end when you arrived and became a member of St. Mark’s,
Millsboro. Indeed, by the grace of God, the journey has only just begun.
Alleluia! And let the church say, “Amen.”
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