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Home Page
The Rector's Welcome
Worship
Sermons
Music & the Organ
Newsletter
Schedule & Events
History
Programs & Ministries
Tour the Building
Links
Map & Directions
Monthly Calendar
Home Page
The Rector's Welcome
Worship
Sermons
Music & the Organ
Newsletter
Schedule & Events
History
Programs & Ministries
Tour the Building
Links
Map & Directions
Monthly Calendar
Fr. J. D. Ousley
12 March 2006Rom.8/Mk.8“Wanting What You Want”
In the Name of God: Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier. Amen.
A couple of weeks ago, two television shows competed furiously against each other. And each broadcast was itself a competitionBone was the Olympics, the other was "American Idol."
What would the athletes in the Olympics and the entertainers on "American Idol" have made of Christ's words which we heard in today's Second Lesson? Jesus says, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it."
It's no surprise we hear this lesson during Lent, that season fo the church year when we expect to encounter what scholars call, the "hard sayings" of Jesus. And could there be a saying harder than this one?
While winning and losing both form part of life, there's no question which is preferable. Some people run faster than others, some people are stronger, some people are better singers.
Moreover, competition is built into the human psyche. Human beings want to win. Human beings want to succeed. Human beings strive to obtain any number of different goals.
Even someone who isn't very ambitious will try with all his might to avoid being a loser!
And, in spite of Christ's warning that his disciples will have to "lose" for the Gospel, even churches are affected by our culture's obsession with winning. There are popular preachers in America who actually teach a "prosperity Gospel." These preachers hold that if you follow Jesus, you'll have plenty of food in your refrigerator and a nice car in your garage.
Christians who believe in the "prosperity Gospel" might then feel that the "hard sayings" of Jesus must be re-interpreted — so that "losing your life" means "losing your attitude of not trusting God to help you be a winner."
And I wouldn't disagree with this re-interpretation. Jesus did teach that God gives us an abundance of blessings.
Furthermore, I would agree that in his hard saying, Jesus is talking about dying metaphorically. For in the same passage, Peter is rebuked for thinking of "human things" instead of "divine things." To "lose" one's life is to lose the hold that trivial concerns have over you.
But to say this is not necessarily to endorse the prosperity Gospel. For the problem is that sooner or later people have to admit that they can't get all the success they want.
As a matter of fact, this pragmatic version of Christianity has been proposed and rejected at various times in American history. It's popular for a while, then enough followers come along who don't get everything they want in life, and these followers get discouraged, and they drift away from the church.
And I think it is this ultimate failure of the Gospel of success to satisfy all our needs that should send us back to look again at Christ's teaching. For rather than being disappointed when we don't win the things we try to get, we would do better to ask ourselves what we really want.
This I think is the real question Jesus is trying to get the disciples to ask: "What do I want to gain? What for me counts as 'winning?'"
Philosopher, William Irvine, has recently published a fascinating book which is pertinent to these questions. The book is called, On Desire: Why We Want What We Want; it sketches different ways in which philosophers, religious teachers and scientists have portrayed human desire. I want to share some of those ideas with youBthough they may be difficult for you to grasp, just hearing them instead of reading the book. So here's some "hard thinking" for you!
Anyway, Professor Irvine's basic point is that we will never be happy if we try to satisfy every want that we inherited in our genes or that we acquired in our experience. He notes that, "thanks to our evolutionary past, we are wired to feel dissatisfied with our circumstances, whatever they may be. An early human who was happy with what he hadBwho spent his days lazing on the savannas of Africa thinking about how good life isBwas far less likely to survive and reproduce than his neighbor who spent every waking moment trying to improve his situation."
A contemporary example could be found in the life story of our famous neighbor J. P. Morgan. Morgan was always restless, always "trying to improve his situation."
Acquiring one company quenched his desire for power for a while — but soon, he was looking for another company to buy or control.
The same was true of Morgan's passions for rare books, for Old Master drawings, and for medieval art: once he had bought a priceless work of art, he began looking for another one to purchase.
Now, of course, Morgan's desires had many benefits. Morgan's wealth and power allowed him, on one occasion, to step in and single-handedly avert a catastrophic collapse in the American economy. His art collection provided treasures for the Metropolitan Museum; it formed the foundation collection of the Pierpont Morgan Library.
But that is to look at Morgan's life from our point of view, not his. If Morgan himself had wanted to be happier, he might have looked for ways to reign in his desires. He might have been satisfied with, say, ten Rembrandt drawings — without sending his agents to Europe to try to buy an eleventh drawing!
In other words, as Professor Irvine observes, "the worst way to deal with our feelings of dissatisfaction is by working to satisfy the desires we find within us." For there will only be more desires to come.
This isn't the whole story, of course. A life that never stretched to try to reach new goals would be pretty dull! Satisfying a passionate desire to help poor people can be frustrating to you but it can at the same time be very helpful to others. (J. P. MorganBonce he had amassed his fortuneBwas incredibly generous with his wealth— not least, in his many gifts to the Episcopal Church he loved.)
Still Jesus is right that it's a bad idea to try to gain the whole world at the cost of inner peace. And one way to avoid this trap is to stop trying to gain the whole world! It's better to let go of impossible ambitions. It's better not to want what we can never get.
William Irvine makes this point by posing an intriguing question. You can ask this question to yourself: "Do you sincerely think that a billionaire or a famous actress is happier than you are; in other words, do you think that having that billionaire's money or actress's fame would make you happier than you currently are?"
Most of us would instinctively says, yes; the billionaire and the actress are happier. And Irvine admits that, "It is true that the billionaire and the actress look happy: magazines have such glowing things to say about their luxurious lifestyles. It is also true that the billionaire and actress should in theory be happy: they have what most people want.
"But," Irvine says, "that is not the question. Rather, the question is, are they in fact happier than you? It all depends," Irvine points out, "on how satisfied you, the billionaire, and the actress are with what you've got. If you are more satisfied than they are, then it is entirely possible that they are less happy than you, despite their fame and fortune."
And Professor Irvine concludes, "and since it is unlikely that the billionaire and the actress would have achieved the success they did if they were easily satisfied, it is likely that you are more satisfied than they are and therefore are happier as well."
I don't know if I completely agree with this idea. But it does leave us something to think about. What do we really want? What "earthly things" do we want? What "divine things?"
What do we give our lives to? What would we lose our lives for? What crosses are we willing to bear? What do we ask God to give us? What do we pray for?
What do we really want?
Amen.
And now unto that same God Father, Son, and Holy Spirit be ascribed as is most justly due all might, majesty, power, dominion and praise, now and forever, Amen.