Human Things
Matthew 16:21-28[1]
Our lives are filled with
distractions. I’d say we have more distractions now than ever before, but I also
think there have always been activities to occupy ourselves. We fill our lives
with distractions primarily because we feel, in the depths of our soul, that we
are alone in this world. We may have all the family, friends, and support we
could ever want, but we inhabit a space that feels very much like it has a sole
occupant: ourselves. Most of us are deeply uncomfortable with that sense of solitude.
It feels empty to us; it feels lonely. So we fill up our lives with activities
to distract ourselves from that emptiness.
But the truth of our lives is that
we are never alone. The promise of Scripture is that God is
“God-who-is-with-us.” And the God who is with us is also at the heart of his
very being faithful. That means that God will never “fail us or forsake us.”[2]
God will always be the “God-who-is-with-us.” And because God is also the
“God-who-is-for-us,” we can trust that God loves us, and his love for us never
fails. When we truly grasp these truths in the depth of our souls, we can know
that we are never really alone. That frees us from the need to fill our lives
with “human things” that distract us.[3]
Our Gospel lesson for today speaks
to this. Jesus announced to his disciples that his commitment to God’s kingdom meant
that he would have to go to Jerusalem to die. And then he proceeded to tell
them that if they wanted to be his disciples, they must deny themselves, take
up their own crosses, and follow him. Furthermore, he taught them that the only
way to truly live is to give themselves away for the sake of others. It’s no
wonder that Peter “rebuked” Jesus by saying literally, “May God have mercy on
you, Lord!” (Matt 16:22). The idea is that God in his mercy would spare Jesus
(and them all) from this fate. That’s why it’s normally translated something
like “Heaven forbid, Lord!”
But Jesus knew his path and where
it was leading him. And so he rebuked the rebuke, so to speak. He told Peter,
“you are setting your mind not on divine things, but on human things” (Matt.
16:23). What those “human things” were we don’t know for sure, but we can
probably guess. Many Jewish people in that day expected the Messiah to
overthrow the Romans and ascend to the throne of David. The idea of a Messiah
who would sacrifice his life and die simply made no sense to them. And as James
and John illustrate, it’s likely that the disciples had their hopes set on the
“perks” that would come their way when Jesus took his “rightful place” (in
their minds).
Now, of course there’s nothing
wrong with setting your sights on doing great things. And there’s certainly
nothing wrong with seeking to serve the Kingdom of God. But the problem comes
in when we get our “selves” involved. Our desires to achieve are related to
filling the void we feel our own hearts. We strive to stay busy in order to
validate ourselves in the eyes of others and in our own eyes. And the more
intently we focus on our “selves” the tighter that space that we inhabit
becomes. Finally, we are trapped by the fear of losing what we have convinced
ourselves we absolutely must have in order to be “okay” with ourselves. We are trapped
by “human things.”
But as Jesus warned his disciples,
when we try to “save” our lives in this way we only wind up losing them! When we get trapped in the prison of our own self-interest, our own needs, and our
own fears, it becomes a place that robs us of life itself. All the ways in
which we try to fill the void we fear only close the trap around us more
tightly. The harder we try to cling to these “human things,” the more we
confine ourselves to that trap that robs us of life. We only truly discover the
life that God gives us when we finally and fully understand that God is with us
always, and that God loves us fully forever. When we understand that the
fundamental truth of our very existence is that we are deeply loved by God,
then we can let go all the things we cling to so tightly and open ourselves to
God’s presence. Then we can see all the “human things” we use to fill our lives
for the empty pursuits that they are, and instead find the true meaning of our
lives in the love of God which never lets us go!
In some respects, this is only a
matter of truly finding our way out of our own distractions and learning to
love God with all that we are. When that deep, deep love of God becomes for us
the truth that sets us free, we find that the door to the trap is opened, and
we can live our lives and love those around us and serve God and others with
hearts full of joy. We find our lives when we lose them for Christ’s sake. We
find our lives when we find them filled with God’s love. We learn to truly live
when we let go the “human things” that haunt us and entrap us.
[1] © 2020 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Alan
Brehm, Ph. D. on 8/30/2020 for Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.
[2]
Deuteronomy 31:6, 8; Joshua 1:5; Hebrews 13:5.
[3] Cf.
Henri Nouwen, The Only Necessary Thing,
43-47, 67.
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