Reverend Philip Stringer
Mark 9:30-37
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
Measure twice; cut once. My banister aka — “My Hubble.” It was perfectly wrong.
I learned my lesson and always “measure twice; cut once.” Imagine my surprise, then when it happened to me again! I was making shelves for our daughters’ room in our apartment in Taiwan.
Moving there we had taken very little with us. Just some essentials. I had taken a few tools, but you know how it is with tools — I always seem to find a reason to get more — and in Taiwan that generally isn’t a problem. So, I beefed up my tool box with extra things here and there. And I bought a length of board for the shelf. (living in Taiwan we didn’t have a car — so I either walked or took the bus — neither of which is ideal for carrying more than is needed — besides, there was no room to store excess materials in our tiny apartment.
I measured the space on the wall for the shelf brackets. Good.
I measured the distance between the brackets. Check.
I went to my board and measured the proper length. Check.
—AND—
I measured the space and the board a second time — dead on! I’m good to go.
I hand sawed the board to length, sanded it, smoothed the edges, took it to the bracket . . . and it was about two inches too short! Completely useless!. I couldn’t believe it! I measured again and it was about 2 inches short. What on earth???!!!
That is when I discovered that — as it turns out — there is a Chinese unit of measure call the “cun.” One “cun” is equivalent to about 1.3 inches. It is still used to some degree, but isn’t common — It was my luck that I had picked up a “cun” measuring tape at the store. I used it in one room to measure the space and I used the tape measure I brought from home to measure the board. My measurements were consistent …. but they weren’t accurate because I was using two different units of measure!
Measure twice; cut once. And also — make sure you’re using the same unit of measure!
Today the Word of God calls us to think twice about the ways we measure. Too often we are too quick to scribe value — and equally problematic — we are often using the wrong unit of measure to begin with — and when we are reckless or misguided in our judgement the results are predictably disastrous — just like my banister and my bookshelf.
When it comes to units of measure in your life, are you using the correct units? Do you have one standard of measurement for some areas of life and other standards of measurement for others?
We ARE measuring, you know — all day long. It is, after all, how we make decisions. We are choosing between pleasure and pain, happy and unhappy, good and evil, safe and dangerous. Some measurements are easier than others — Should I try to cross a busy street by taking my chances to dodge the cars, or should I wait for the red light and cross at the intersection. That kind of decision is much more cut-and-dry than deciding whether-or-not I support the death penalty, or abortion, or immigration, or social responsibility.
And it goes even deeper than this. Do I even understand my own motives? Do I live my life pursuing the standards I say are important to me, or not? With the financial choices I make. With the opinions I form of others. With my own inner opinions of myself-worth.
We are inundated with a host of conflicting standards from both within ourselves and without — and the result is that we often feel confused, ashamed, uncertain — insecure and perhaps even vulnerable. Like watching the news, living by proper standards can be so exhausting that it seems the easiest thing to do is to just stop trying to figure it out — switch it off — stop thinking about it. Just do your thing, muddle through.
Or another way to get relief — coast. Stop fighting the current and just go along with the prevailing opinion of the day. Might makes right! Value is synonymous with pleasure. Just ascribe to the social standard of what is beautiful; what is success; what is failure; what is good.
When Peter declared that he believed that Jesus was the Messiah, Mark tells us that Jesus, “sternly ordered them to tell no one.” That goes against all of our expectations of rising in power and stature.
Jesus told them that he would, “be betrayed into humans’ hands, and they will kill him and three days after being killed, he will rise again. But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask.” That goes against everything we believe defines victory and success.
As they walked along, the disciples argued amongst themselves about who was the greatest among them. Can you imagine what that was like?
Even the people who believe that Jesus is the Messiah cannot perceive that the standards by which they are living are diametrically opposed to what Jesus is modeling right under their noses!
And then Jesus “took a little child and put it among them.”
That is Jesus’ answer to the question of greatness?
That is Jesus’ answer to all of life.
The other day I made the mistake of weighing in on a discussion on social media. (explain how discussion threads work).
People were talking about coyotes and what a problem they are. The underlying understanding by everyone was that coyotes are bad and should be shot on site.
I pointed out that coyotes perform a critical role in ecological balance, and that instead of demonizing coyotes and killing them, the better solution for keeping your pets safe is to keep your pets restrained and learn to coexist.
Whoa! What a reaction! The flood of vitriol was spectacular. I thought about correcting them for calling coyotes, ”invasive.” I thought about telling them, “I got my biology degree from Valparaiso University. Where did you get yours?,” but I decided, what’s the point? I’m not going to “win” this argument.
What do you suppose the disciples saw when they looked at that child?
In those times, a child was the definition of insignificance. They had no power. No experience. No wisdom and knowledge. They were in fact a burden. They relied on others for everything and were a tax on one’s own freedom and patience. The opinion of W.C. Fields was probably their sentiment as well. “Of course I love children. Preferably medium-rare.”
To them a child was a nuisance. The antithesis of everything they saw as powerful and valuable and important.
That’s what they saw.
But what Jesus saw was different. Like the coyotes in my woods, Jesus saw a person who was simply and only what God had created them to be. The child didn’t even know it — and didn’t even care. Unassuming. Just purely . . . simply . . . doing what they were created to do. Being who they were created to be.
It is important for you to understand that when God looks at you — washed in the waters of your baptism and clothed in the robe of Jesus’ righteousness, God sees only the person whom God has created you to be.
The standard of measure is not your wealth, your wisdom, or whether-or-not you have chosen the winning team. You are not defined as winners or losers by your degrees of sinlessness. Your sins are forgiven — as a free gift — through Jesus Christ. You are forgiven out of love.
Jesus called his disciples — and he calls you and me still today — to see ourselves the way God sees us. Loved. He calls us to see our neighbors the way God sees them. Loved.
He calls us to a life in which there is only one standard of measure by which we order our thoughts and deeds and by which we measure ourselves and others: love.
It is only by this measure that we may truly experience what we have sought from other measurements of money and power and whatever else. It is only by the standard of love that we may truly experience . . . peace.
The peace of the Lord be with you, always!
AMEN
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