Easter 4 B

Risking It All

Introduction

Today I want to talk about Risk… about taking chances.

One of the things we forget about in our comfortable pew is the concept that being a Christian entails some risk – or that doing something new involves risk – or that standing up for what you believe involves risk…

What are the things that you would take risks for? Do you usually play it safe or take chances? What do you think God would have you do?

Teddy Roosevelt, one of the great leaders of that smallish country down south of us, once said, “No man is worth his salt who is not ready at all times to risk his well-being, to risk his body, to risk his life, in a great cause.”

This was the way the disciples felt at the very beginning. It was the way Jesus felt. They thought that this whole Christianity thing was worth taking a whole lot of risk for… they thought the people that God loved were worth the risk…

That is what we will explore today.

With the Kids – The Good Shepherd

-           Does anyone have pets? What kinds?

-          What does it take to have a pet? A big responsibility…

-          Jesus said “I am the good shepherd”

o   Takes care of the sheep
o   Feeds the sheep
o   Will even risk life and death for the sheep

-          We ultimately do what we do for love. That is what Jesus was talking about – God’s love for us.

Hanging in the Glebe

Did anyone read the book, “the Bishop’s Man”?

On the surface it is a book about a Catholic Priest in Cape Breton who is called upon by the Bishop to clean up some of the messes left behind when priests do bad things.

But the real story comes from the internal thinking of said priest. He sits alone in his house and wonders whether loneliness drives us slowly crazy. He once seems to have had a brief love interest and is forever battling the demons of knowing he went against his vows. He drinks to forget about his pain and this gives us an insight into why people choose forgetfulness.

I like him.

Do you know that you can buy Bible Hero Action Figures? You should see them… all muscles and righteous anger. Samson with his bulging arms ready to take on the evil lions… If you have the internet go home and Google “Almighty Heroes Action Figures”.

It is kind of funny…. Except… it’s not. It is kinda what I learned in Sunday school. Ok, maybe the heroes of the Bible were not GI Joe, but they were heroes. Larger than life, capable of miracles, above the law, they were not very much like you and me.

They are hard people to live up to.

Even Jesus, although his action figure is a lot skinnier, is hard to live up to, isn’t he? When we hear in the Bible that we should come and follow Jesus, that we should be like him, do we really think we are capable of it?

How about this – the good shepherd who is willing to lay down his life for the sheep, who is able to fight of the lions in the night, who always knows where the good grass is, who would risk life and limb looking for one lost sheep… is that you?

I fear I am more like Father MacAskill from the Bishop’s Man… conflicted about things, wondering about things, trying to do the right thing even though the choices are hard to make….

Ah… but here is the thing. The good father does something. Despite the fact that he is no Saint, he still goes out to confront the people doing wrong. Despite the fact that he does not know what to say, he still goes to be with the family whose son committed suicide. Despite the fact that he is living in a poor area of Cape Breton  he still keeps insisting to the people that they are good honest folk…

He makes a difference because he is willing to risk – because he is willing to put aside all those things about himself that would convince us we cannot possibly help, and then go help.

Now, I personally am a big believer that we need help; that we are capable of much more when we are “filled with the Holy Spirit” so to speak. I think that there is such a thing as divine power, that can sustain us when we could not possibly do it alone.

Can you think of a time when you were really, really afraid to do something, and you said a little prayer, and all of a sudden it seemed like you had the courage to do it? How about a time when you were so overwhelmed or worried and you just all of a sudden got the feeling that everything would be ok?

I truly think that those sort of things happen all the time when we are willing to risk in the first place. We have to be willing to take those first steps, even if they lead into some pretty uncomfortable places… just look at the disciples in our story from Acts, who find themselves in prison; but somehow know that it is the strength of God that has made what they do possible… it was not them alone.

Even the Good Shepherd passage talks about how Jesus knows the father, and the father knows Jesus and that is what makes it all possible…

But again – both the disciples and Jesus always took the first step. It is the fact that they were willing to do something that starts the ball rolling.

And I hate to point it out, but it usually means they get in trouble. We don’t really like people who risk going against the status quo. We don’t really understand people who put other values first and foremost in their lives. We don’t find it easy to be welcoming, and accepting, and loving without counting the cost… none of us do….

But when we risk doing the right thing… we change everything….

There is a story told about a soldier who died in France in World War Two. His buddy’s gathered up the corpse and headed into the village to try and bury the body. When they got to the church the priest informed them that because of the rules, only a Catholic could be buried in the graveyard, but since this man was a protestant, he could do nothing.

The soldiers were uncertain what to do, but finally decided that the best thing they could do would be to bury their friend just outside the cemetery fence.

The next morning, the unit was getting ready to head out so they all went back to pay their last respects. But they could not find the body. They went to the priest, who told them:

“Well, after I saw what you did I spent the first half of the night lying awake wondering about my decision. I spent the second half of the night moving the fence.”

Going Against the Grain

I don’t know… it just seems to me that most of us take the easy road far too often.

I guess I see in these post Easter stories a group of people who were willing to take risks, both large and small…. But we in the church have tended towards the opposite, to playing it safe…

And it is no surprise. The world is becoming less and less concerned with the church. We are on the outside of what is popular and that is probably a chicken and egg thing… because we do not risk the extravagant type of love that Jesus and the disciples did, we have become more and more concerned with keeping the rules, or maintaining the buildings, or any number of things.

I know the way of Jesus matters. I know that the traditions, ideas, and understandings that the church passed down can bring happiness and hope to people. I know that the church has the power to change the world….

But are we willing to take the risks? Are we willing to accept like Jesus?

I think we should.