As I was studying and thinking about my sermon for today and jotted down and typed down some ideas and I had an interesting realization. A particular piece of music and particularly its words come to my mind more frequently than any other and we are going to talk about that in a moment. As I read the words of Jeremiah and heard his frustration at being rejected and mocked for being a prophet that called for justice to be reflected by God’s people and the words of Jesus speaking about his way of peace, love, welcome and humility being a sword of division. It says in Philippians, “ Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross. Do we not see this humility and the type of unconditional love Jesus and those that are of the same mind as Jesus being mocked, just like good ol Jeremiah, today? Why? Because the way of the cross is seen as foolishness to the world. Here’s some examples: Ghengis Khan said, “The greatest joy for a man is to defeat his enemies, to drive them before him, to take from them all they possess, to see those they love in tears, to ride their horses, and to hold their wives and daughters in his arms.” How about some more contemporary quotes that have made their way to inspiration posters. “It’s not important to win, it’s important to make the other guy lose.” or “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing” or “Win! No one remembers losers.” or “If you don’t play towin, don’t play at all.” or “The person that says winning isn’t everything, never won anything.” or How about Lord Voldemort the evil antagonist in Harry Potter, “There is no good and evil, there is only power and those too weak to seek it.” Which is a fantastic segway over to some popular, best selling reading with over 1.2 million copies and whose advocates claim it has “really helped them out and inspired them.” The book is The 48 Laws of Power. If your ambition is earthly power and you see the cross as foolishness, I can definitely see how these methods could help you achieve it. Listen to the language of some of the laws. never put too much trust in friends, learn how to use enemies, conceal your intentions, get others to do the work for you, but always take the credit, make other people come to you – use bait if necessary, avoid the unhappy and unlucky, learn to keep people dependent on you, use selective honesty and generosity to disarm your victim, when asking for help, appeal to people’s self-interest, never to their mercy or gratitude, pose as a friend, work as a spy, crush your enemy totally, do not commit to anyone, discover each man’s thumbscrew, disdain things you cannot have: ignoring them is the best revenge, think as you like but behave like others, preach the need for change, but never reform too much at once, assume formlessness. And law #42 strike the shepherd and the sheep will scatter The Sheep Will Scatter. Trouble can often be traced to a single strong individual – the stirrer, the arrogant underling, the poisoned of goodwill. If you allow such people room to operate, others will succumb to their influence. That last one had a ring of familiarity to it. That’s because it’s taken from the Bible. Jesus quotes the prophet Zechariah concerning himself, Matthew 26:31 Then Jesus said to them, “You will all become deserters because of me this night; for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ WOW. If you were to write an antithesis to the Gospel of Jesus Christ…here ya go, desire to strike the shepherd is a necessity. Now to that song that keeps showing up, not numerous times but more times than any other piece of music, even my favorite hymn, O Day Full of Grace. The song is called Better Than You by the heavy metal band Metallica. Just a fact about me, I really like many, many different genres of music and enjoy them, from hymns to hard rock/heavy metal with frequent stops in Bluegrass reggae, blues, rap and Dubstep. I like driving beats and aggressive sounds put forth by individuals that care about technique and musicianship, and I love music that is driving and that inspires me to action. That’s why so many athletes listen to music in the locker room and why sporting events feature hard driving music. The song Better Than You is a song that would inspire an athletic team or someone amping up for a competition. So why does this song come to mind? It’s in the public’s eye, enjoyed by many that the church never gets to have a conversation with, and is a powerful illustration in popular culture of our human yearning. Here’s the lyrics without the music: I look at you then you me. Hungry and thirsty are we. Holding the lion’s share, holding the key Holding me back ’cause I’m striving to be Better than you. Lock horns I push and I strive, Somehow I feel more alive. Bury the need for it, bury the seed Bury me deep where there’s no will to be Better than you. Oh, can’t stop this train from rolling, Oh, no, nothing brings me down No, I can’t stop this train from rolling on and on, on No, no, forever holding on. Oh, you can’t take it down, No, you can’t bring it down ‘Cause I’m better than you. What may be great motivation for a team taking the field of competition and many quotes does not mean they translate to good or even decent life philosophies. Bury me deep when there’s no will to be, better than you? However, out of fairness, I believe there’s an interesting use of irony by Metallica in this song because of the message of another song, and these are smart guys. Wish I may Wish I might, Have this I wish tonight. Are you satisfied? Dig for gold. Dig for fame. You dig to make your name. Are you pacified? All the wants you waste, All the things you’ve chased, And it all crashes down, And you break your crown, And you point your finger, but there’s no one around Just want one thing, just to play the King. But the castle crumbled and you’re left with just a name Where’s your crown, King Nothing? We see these examples, good and bad, that exhibit our human inclinations to strive for power and dominance and that point out what we can be left with if this is our focus through life and in our real life, non gameplay, with one another. Contrast the way Jesus met the challenge of being human despite temptation by Satan to assert his power, the taunts of those at the foot of the cross, those seeking to strike the shepherd and all those who consider the message of the cross to be foolishness. St Paul lays down the lyrics in Philippians 2:6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross. Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. We have all sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God. We are called to humble ourselves and be people of the cross. We must acknowledge that our clever sports adages cannot be a roadmap for life, that is if we want to follow the cross of Christ. I’m not ripping on rock anthems, bleacher motivation, huddle electrification and excitement, but I do want to point out that we all to often heed these philosophies in school when our own feelings of inadequacy motivate us to bully another and attempt to climb upward on the backs of others. Is that the way of the cross? Or in your business dealings where our humanity and desire to always win tells us that it’s dog eat dog, eat or be eaten, a sucker is born every minute, or pick one of the “48 Laws” Is that the way of the cross. You know the shepherd was struck. The world succeeded. Law 42’d Jesus to death. Weak, pathetic, underling and what was it? “goodwill poisoned?” But one question to the “successful” Where’s your crown King Nothing? It rests on the head of the one who humbled himself for you. The one who extended grace to the point of giving his life despite our foolish struggle for power. It rests on the head of the one who gave himself not only as a sacrifice for sin but as a model of the Godly life. That earthly crown is perishable, but we hear in first Corinthians 15 a scripture that is found in our burial liturgy, 54When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come to pass: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” 55“Where, O Death, is your victory? Where, O Death, is your sting? And that is a victory for which Jesus actually gave 100%.
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