Lunch

Reverend Philip Stringer

John 8:31-36

LET US PRAY: O merciful Father in Heaven: You give the knowledge of your saving help -- a comfort to your people. Feed our hearts with your Holy Word, and make our hearts instruments of your glory, today and all days. AMEN

A flyer came in the mail the other day. It was big and colorful, and it stated that “You may already be a winner!” Just scratch off the spot to see if you are a winner!

And what do you know, I WON!

...but there was an asterisk there...

And there at the bottom of the card was “the fine print.” You’re a winner, but it might not be the prize you think. You have to do this or that, come in, listen to the sales pitch, blah blah blah. You all know what I mean.

There’s always a catch. There’s no such thing as a free lunch.

That’s a life lesson we learn early on, and we learn to ask, “what’s the catch?”

Today we are celebrating the reformation of the church, and it seems to me that this life lesson might be a good example of why we celebrate.

The church in medieval Europe had taken the life lesson “no free lunch” to heart. And seizing on the desire of people to “scratch here to see if you’re a winner,” the church taught that you can be a winner — you can go to heaven — all you need to do is..."

Well, there’s the catch. Because what you had to do was an ever-expanding list. The crux of it all was a lot like the postcard I received. The goal of that postcard was to get people to come to their store to buy stuff. The goal of the church was the same: Get people to come under the umbrella of the church to buy their salvation — literally. People were told that they could buy forgiveness and win salvation by giving money to the church.

The reformation of the church was all about re-discovering that salvation doesn’t work that way. You and I don’t buy our way into heaven. We can’t buy forgiveness. We don’t earn salvation by doing good things. We receive these things as a free gift from a God who loves us. It’s a gift. It’s free. There’s no catch. It’s a gift. That’s what Martin Luther pointed out when he challenged the church’s practice of selling forgiveness. And it wasn’t his idea; it was right there in the Scriptures!

At the turn of the millennium Time Magazine made a list of the most influential people in the previous 1,000 years. That is to say the people who had the greatest impact on shaping the course of history.

Number 1 on their list was Copernicus who put forth the idea that the Sun does not revolve around the Earth, but that Earth is a planet that revolves around the Sun. He said that the Earth isn’t flat, and it’s not the center of the universe. What Copernicus “discovered” was actually right there in front of us all the time — we just didn’t see it.

Number 2 on their list was Martin Luther, and like Copernicus, what he “discovered” in the Scriptures had been right there in front of us all along. We just didn’t see it. What he put forth is that you and I are not the center of the universe. And our sins and our good works are not the defining marks of who we are. Rather, God’s love for us — poured out for us in Jesus — is at the center.

Today, a lot has changed. But not really.

In 1956 — the remarkable human ability to talk ourselves into believing anything took on a whole new level of crazy with the formation of the Flat Earth Society. Samuel Shenton, its founder, was a conspiracy theorist who believed (for some reason unknown) that the “authorities” were keeping secret the fact that the earth is flat.

With the emergence of the internet, suddenly lots of people could start convincing one another that the world is flat.

While that is a ridiculous example, the internet — and media sources catering to peoples’ interests — make it easy for people to bypass reason and shape one’s worldviews around whatever idea or conspiracy one might choose. We’ve all seen the examples.

So, if people can be convinced today that the world is flat, imagine how easy it is for us to believe that we can earn our salvation through good works. It’s so easy that we don’t need the internet or biased media sources to convince us of it.

Life-lesson #1 is with us every day. There’s no free lunch in this world. And there’s something in us that loves the security of scratching off that spot to see what we can get — and how we can get it. We want to win.

The idea that we can earn our salvation scratches that itch.

Every Sunday we hear the good news of God’s love for us — and I know that you all are here because you believe it. So do I. But I know that I need to relearn it constantly because … well, you know … there’s no free lunch ...

Maybe — perhaps, it will help if we consider that “lunch” isn’t really what we think it is. Or said another way, perhaps what we want isn’t where we think it is or WHAT we think it is.

Years ago I took up fly fishing and decided to start tying my own flies. There were a number of vises that were specially made for doing this, and looking through the magazines, I picked the one I wanted. The Thompson vise. It was a thing of beauty — polished stainless steel and brass shaped into beautiful curving lines. Its features sounded nice, too. Even though it was expensive.

The owner of the fly-tying shop recommended a Renzetti vice instead. It was pretty boring looking, to be honest.

I chose the Thompson — so he ordered one for me. I used it one day and returned it. It didn’t do for me what I thought it would. I fell for the gimmick of a pretty picture.

My father-in-law used to say that there are two kinds of fishing lures. The kind that are designed to catch fish, and the kind that are designed to catch fishermen. The Thompson vise was the latter.

In Luther’s day, the focus for choosing to do good — the focus for not sinning — was so that you would go to heaven when you die. That was the prize. That was the “lunch” they were working for.

What Luther suggested was pretty much the opposite. The Scriptures teach us that we are justified by God’s grace as a gift through Jesus Christ. The lunch is free.

So, does that mean we can sin-at-will? Why bother following the rules if you can get the reward for free?

Because lunch is more than food on a plate. It’s about being invited to the table. It is an event. A social event. The food is only part of it.

The past few days I have been on Ocracoke Island. I went there on business, but I stayed to fish. This is a good time to fish for speckled trout — or so I read.

I asked a local where I could fish best from the shore. He suggested a few places. I fished for two days and didn’t catch anything.

Yesterday as I was packing up, I saw him again and he asked, “did you have any luck?”

I answered, “no.”

And he said, “yeah, it’s a bit early. The water’s too warm. Come back next month.”

I might go back. But I don’t need to. I’ve been fishing before when I worked hard to catch a fish. But this time, I just set up, sat back and smiled as I soaked in the rhythm of the waves, the sunshine, to gracefulness of birds; the beauty of the shells.

Enjoying the moment is really what I wanted.

When I first spoke to the man to ask advice for where to fish, he asked me, “what are you fishing for?”

I answered, “I am fishing for … fun.”

If catching a speckled trout were the definition of a good day, I failed. But if the definition of a good day is to be peacefully fishing on the beach. Well .., I’m a winner!

We don’t do good works so we will go to heaven. We don’t pray and work for peace because we want to ensure we are going to heaven. We don’t desire good things for our neighbors and for our enemies because we want to impress God.

We do these things because we know that going to heaven is already promised to us. That’s the food on the plate. But fullness of life starts today. Now is when eternal life begins, and we can only enjoy it if we stop trying to earn it and simply soak it in.

AMEN