Collect and Readings for Third Sunday after Trinity – Genesis 21.8-21Jeremiah 20.7-13, Psalm 86.1-10 16-end, Psalm 69. 8-20, Romans 6.1b-11, Matthew 10.24 - 39

The Prayer for today Almighty God, you have broken the tyranny of sin and have sent the Spirit of your Son into our hearts whereby we call you Father: give us grace to dedicate our freedom to your service, that we and all creation may be brought to the glorious liberty of the children of God; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

There is a fundamental paradox in the Christian faith which sounds like nonsense and yet turns out to be true when you try it. This week’s readings paste it up large so that we cannot avoid it, however much we might like to. It is the claim that through death we gain life. How on earth can this really be true?

We all know that our strong life-force, or libido, works constantly for our survival. Our brains use vast quantities of energy in supporting life systems and keeping us alive. There are all kinds of emergency strategies that kick in when anything threatens our survival, and the body is so good at manging these that it all goes on without us noticing, most of the time, and while we are occupied in other ways. Had it not been so, the human race could not have continued for as long as it has, nor succeeded in a fraction of its remarkable achievements. How does ‘taking up our cross’ and ‘losing our life for his sake’ fit in with this?

There is much value today placed on self-confidence and self-assurance, in an effort to help people become their true selves without being vulnerable to abuse or pressure from others. Self-assertiveness is the quality to prize, and any deliberate giving-up of one’s rights is viewed with suspicion and often considered weak and wrong. How does this fit with Jesus’ teaching that whoever gains his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for Christ’s sake will gain it?

We cannot get away from the fact that this is a hard teaching to accept. Jesus wants his potential followers to understand the full implications of commitment. It requires a drastic and complete change of values and direction in life. It can hurt. It is very costly. Jesus wants his potential followers to understand the full implications of commitment. So why would any normal person want to ‘lose’ their life like this by choice?

Jesus’ answer has been experienced and found to be true by many people in each generation. Just as the result of Jesus’ total self-giving in death was new, resurrection life, so the result of us giving up our natural self-centredness is a new sense of life in which we find we are more free to be ourselves than of we had slaved over it. It is the answer of a God who loves and cherishes us.

It is like the difference between a tissue paper flower and an alpine meadow in spring, The kind of fulfilling life we think we are going to gain by accumulating wealth and prestige at other people’s expense, over indulging our tastes, and feverishly totting up as many experiences as possible in case we lose out on anything, turns out to be disappointing and never as satisfying as we had hoped; there is always something else we really must have or try. In comparison, the way of Jesus gives an inner sense of rightness, calm and integrity, which is very richly fulfilling and enables others to become their true selves as well.

Some things to think about:

1. If we think of ourselves as dead to sin and alive to God, how will we react in times of temptation, and when we are despised and ridiculed for our faith?

2. Obviously, God wants us to love the people in our families, so how can we expect them to take second place to God in our lives, especially if they themselves are not believers? (Clue: think of a hosepipe fixed on to the water supply, compared to a water butt. How many buckets could get filled in each case?

God bless

Rev’d Fiona Robinson