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Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Today's Frontline Devotion Friday, March 5, 2004 The Will to Survive |
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Frontline Devotion for
Friday, March 05, 2004, by Mike Martine
Bible text:
Luke 22:14-23
He took the bread, broke it and gave it to them to eat. This is my body. He
took the cup, blessed it, and gave it to them to drink. This is my blood.
It was a meal of unity. The bread came from shared loaves. The wine from the
same cup. It was an intimate act filled with promise and promises. A meal
proclaiming, “All for one, and one for all.” A meal proclaiming the disciples’
acceptance of the gospel mission, and Jesus’ promise to always be with them in
this work.
Did the disciples understand what was happening that night? Probably not. Who
could? They could tell, I’m sure, that something was wrong. Jesus had been
talking about dying for some time now and to hear him using the phrase, “do this
in remembrance of me,” had to be far more upsetting and frightening than
inspiring or theologically enlightening.
It was a meal of all for one, and one for all, but it wasn’t long before the
truth was obvious. The disciples, like a cowardly musketeer that disappears in
the battle, could not hold up their end of the bargain. Judas, of course, had no
intention of doing so. He took the gifts from the hand of his master and ran off
to complete his betrayal.
But the others would fail as well. As soon as the arrest was complete, they
would forget their pledge and their promises. They would put away, hide the
swords of their faith. They would hide, pretend not to know him, and even, for
the most part, fail to come and look upon him one last time on the cross.
We could sit and argue for hours about Charles Darwin, but he was right about
one thing. We want to survive. Every one of us has a will to remain in this life
that surpasses almost every other desire and emotion. And to survive we will
scratch and claw and, sometimes, even turn our backs on the ones we love.
So like Peter, slinking down the alley after the ones who have taken Jesus,
we stay just behind. Just far enough back to be safe, to keep things our way,
and not God’s way. We give a little bit less than we really could to the poor. We keep our needs just a little bit ahead of God’s needs. We keep what we want
for ourselves ahead of what we ought to do to bring the gospel to a hurting
world.
Slinking down the alley, looking for the next garbage can that we can duck
down behind, just in case one of those soldiers looks back. Proclaiming we love
him, but loving ourselves, in our frailty, more.
But there is a sense in which, “all for one, and one for all” takes our
frailty into account. Just as God had done with every covenant with his people,
Israel, Christ makes a promise that our frailty will not fracture our promises,
will not break the deal. The promise is to enter us, to become part of us
through the spirit, through the bread and wine. To strengthen us in faith so
that we might stand up to the crosses presented to us in this world. But more
importantly, Jesus promises to love enough for both of us. To love enough for
him and for you and me. He promises that his love is strong enough to claim us
even though we will fail, time and again, to keep our promise, our part of the
bargain.
Jesus went to the cross knowing we would slink away. He continues to call us
knowing that, often, we will fail to answer. And yet, he continues to rise
again in our lives. He continues to call us and feed us. He even grants us this
time of reflection so that, maybe, we can start to become more like him. So that
we might see, eventually, that love is greater than anything. Even the will to
survive.
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