When I was the age of our acolytes, the miracle of black and white television came upon the scene, and what a thrill it was, for us, who for a long time had listened to radio to programs like “Sgt. Preston of the Yukon” or “The Green Hornet” and let our imaginations fill in the scenes, to at last be able to sit in our own homes and see the same kind of action that previously was only available in move theaters.
If I remember correctly, those screens were about a foot wide.
There were a couple of shows back in those days that I vividly remember.
First, there was “I’ve Got a Secret” with Garry Moore as the host.
Then, there was a spy series called “I Led Three Lives.”
In looking at today’s lessons, the title of those shows came to mind because they oddly enough summarize the scriptures we have just heard.
“I Led Three Lives.”
We might chuckle at the thought of leading more than one life, for, after all, we aren’t spies or undercover agents. But yet: honestly:
How many lives are we living?
Who are we, really?
Are we just ourselves, or have we been molded and shaped by society into someone else.
Do we live one way when we are alone, or do we become someone else when we are in a crowd?
In today’s second lesson St. Paul puts it squarely on the line as to who we really are.
He writes: “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.”
Paul is telling us in no uncertain terms that our true life, the real life that we live, is the life we live in Christ.
Paul is also telling us that we are at every moment, walking in the newness of the life in God.
There aren’t any old ways, there are any good old days, it is always new with the Christ who is constantly calling us forward by saying, “follow me.”
That is why Paul also said “it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives within me.”
That is why Martin Luther wrote that “daily a new person is to come forth and rise up to live before God in righteousness and purity forever.”
So, my brothers and sisters, our true life, our real life, is the life we live in Christ, and each moment is gloriously new.
That is all well and good, but then we come to some rather uncomfortable words of Jesus in our gospel lesson:
“He who does not take his cross and follow me is worthy of me.
He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it.”
If our lives are truly lived in Christ, then there is no way that we can separate the cross from our lives.
As Christ carried a cross, so we are asked to do likewise.
My preaching mentor, Father John Andrew once said: “Jesus approaches us individually and looks into our eyes.
He confronts us quietly, in his solitary testing, for he is himself isolated in his suffering, alone, deserted.
What he wants to know from us is whose we think our life is.
Our own? Lived on our own terms?
Make peace with the fact that the Lord’s life is what he wants us to share in.
Willingness to have Christ’s life given to us is the willingness to let him do with ours what he wants.
It means death to our lesser selves which have been allowed to grow to major proportions.” (Andrew, John G.B. Nothing Cheap and Much That is Cheerful, page 37,39)
Dear hearts it means that the life we experience right here on Sunday morning is the life Christ expects us to live each and every day.
Yes, friends, it is a life of downward mobility in an upwardly mobile world where there is emphasis on being relevant, being spectacular, and being powerful.
It is what Henri Nouwen calls the Selfless Way of Christ.
Incidentally, Nouwen’s middle initials were J.M. which he said stood for “just me.”
It is a life of service, it is a life of giving, it is a life of sacrifice, and, yes, it is a life of cross bearing.
We cannot be true to our real life in Christ if we separate out our life on Sunday morning, and our life the rest of the week.
How easy it is to say “this is my church life, this is my regular daily life, and ne’er the twain shall meet.”
How wide the gap can be between Sunday morning and Monday morning.
Jesus also has some things to tell us about our real lives: “What I tell you in the dark, utter in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim upon the housetops.
So, everyone who acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.”
I wonder if we were brutally honest with ourselves, if we don’t often live out our lives in Christ as if I’ve got a secret.
St. Paul tells us: “For it is the God who said, ‘let light shine out of darkness’ who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, to show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to us.” It is that treasure, the treasure of the Christ within us that we must not keep as a hidden secret in our lives.
Jesus told us at one point that we are the salt of the earth, and, as amazing as it may sound, we are the light of the world, and that we must let our light shine before others so that they can see our good works and give glory to our Father in heaven.
That’s quite an awesome task, isn’t it?
It can be kind of scary to be Christ-bearers in a world that is increasingly secular, increasingly hostile to religion and a world in which conformity can mean acceptance and non-conformity can mean ridicule and even rejection.
Yet, Jesus tells us: “Have no fear of them.
Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?
And not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father’s will.
But even the hairs of your head are all numbered.
Fear, not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.”
Dear hearts, the true life, is a life that is lived without fear….without fear in spite of the dreadful headlines in today’s scary world.
It is also a life that is Christ’s life, and our lives are the means by which his love, his care, and his concern for every human being can be seen.
It is our task to communicate Him to the world.
And, yes, it is a life that is a cross bearing life, but remember, Jesus tells us not to be afraid.
St. Paul tells us: “Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice.
Let all people know your forbearance.
The Lord is at Hand.
Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
I can do all things in him who strengthens me.”
That, dear hearts, is the true life, and the only life that is worth living.
Back to black and white television.
There was another program that was well worth watching and it also summarizes today’s lessons.
The host was Bishop Fulton J. Sheen.
The name of the program: ‘Life Is Worth Living.”
And, dear hearts, it is….for it is the life we live in Christ, and it is a life we will live forever in the eternity of God.
Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church | 1710 Moorpark Avenue | San Jose, CA 95128 | (408)297-0993 | immanuellutheransj@yahoo.com
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |