SCRIPTURE
The appointed lesson for this day is Matthew 16:24-28. May God empower us with believing hearts, so that hearing the promises in Scripture we may have hope.
Then Jesus told his disciples, *Whoever comes after, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who would save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. For what is one profited if one gains the whole world and forfeits one's life [soul]? Or what shall one give in return for one's life? For the One who is one of us is to come with the angels and will then repay everybody for their actions. Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in power and glory.
Today I want to meditate on the verse in today's text, the one referred to in the sermon title: *The Whole World* versus *One's Life*
For what is the profit if one gains the whole world and forfeits one's life?
The King James version is:
For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?
The Emperor Charlemagne, or Charles the Great, reigned around the year 800. He is remembered for many things and is regarded as the ideal Prince of the Middle Ages. He united all of the Christian lands of western Europe, and he also brought about a cultural revival called the Carolingian Renaissance. He gave generously to support the church and he acted frequently in the interests of poor people.
When Charlemagne died, his tomb was not the traditional sculpted form of a body lying in a shroud as if sleeping. He was seated on a throne in official robes. Why, do you think? You might surmise that he was trying to maintain his role as Emperor after death, but he wasn't. There was an open Bible on his knee. One arm was outstretched and his finger pointed to one of the verses in the Gospels. The verse was:
What are we profited if we shall gain the whole world and lose our own soul?
When Christ comes again, before he goes about doing those things we dreamed of a moment ago,
Note: Earlier in the worship service the congregation was asked
to respond to the question, WHAT WILL CHRIST DO WHEN HE COMES AGAIN? Answers
were:
(1) Tear up all the streets and plant gardens, and get rid of the cars.
(2) He will go to the Pentagon and have a major temper tantrum, like he
when he cleansed the Temple.
(3) He will initiate the rule of the saints.
(4) Christ will come back as a woman!
my vision is this. He will gather us all together and ask a question. He will raise the fundamental question of our existence:
In what way have you gained the world? And, was it or was it not at the expense of your own soul?
Did you make the All-Star team? Did you get an Oscar? Did you start as a gopher and climb the ladder until you became the CEO? Did you make good investments? Did you take trips to the islands? Did you buy the latest technology? Did you work at a global charity agency and touch the lives of millions of poor people? Did you devise self-help techniques that touched countless lives? Did you find a cure for a deadly disease? Were your books best-sellers? Did you set records?
If so, you have gained the world!
How is it with your soul?
When Clinton was first running for President, John Gotti said: "Clinton has 43% of the people behind him. Stop any 2 people on the street and one of them will say they like John Gotti. That's 50%. I'm 7 points ahead of Clinton!" He reveled in the limelight.
Having been acquitted 3 times John Gotti was finally convicted and sentenced to life in jail. Locked in a cell alone, he has a TV set for company, and every week he gets a hundred or so letters from admirers from around the world. Did he gain the world? And how is it with his soul? Are the letters from well-wishers bringing peace to his soul?
There's not a one of us who isn't tempted to jeopardize our soul by putting success -- *the whole world* as Jesus said -- at the top of our list of priorities. We are sometimes willing to achieve our success regardless of what this *success* does to us.
I read a book years ago called Doing and Being. That's what this verse is pointing towards. We do and we do, but we neglect the being of our selves. We want to get ahead, to survive, to achieve something and be remembered for our accomplishments; we want to make a name for ourselves. We're ambitious, we climb the ladder, we strive for excellence. We spend our lives doing. But what ARE we? What are we BEING?
Jesus was right to raise the question so dramatically, and Charlamagne was right to dramatize the same question at his tomb. John Wesley used to ask people the same thing, like this: *How is it with your soul?*
So let us reflect on this verse. Let us not lose our soul in the busyness of life, the productivity. Religions have always offered the alternatives: prayer and meditation, mantras and chants, retreats for solitude, pilgrimages, study and reflection, hymn-singing, spiritual exercises, and of course worship. Are we making enough room in our lives for these things? We should be as attentive to our Being as we are to our Doing.
Amen.
