But you're gonna
have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody
Well, it may be the Devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody
Bob Dylan put’s it out there in his song Gotta
Serve Somebody – you are going to have to serve somebody. That was the
question facing us when we encountered the Gospel reading on Sunday from Luke
chapter 6.
Let’s take a look at what Jesus is telling us to
do to make sure we have heard him correctly. Yes, it actually says love
your enemies. Well, I find it hard sometimes to even love those who are
my friends. How about doing good to those that hate you? Well,
there is the idea of killing someone with kindness. That would serve them
right and you might get perverse pleasure of being kind to someone who is not
kind to you and thinking how they would actually hate that as it would really
annoy them.
If someone slaps you on the cheek, are you really
going to turn the other one to be slapped? My reaction would be to want
to hit back or at least make sure I wouldn’t get hit again. Certainly, it
would not be to turn the other cheek – that sounds a bit masochistic.
After all, isn’t that just human nature to want to protect yourself from
harm?
So, it all looks pretty bleak for us Christians
doesn’t it. Do you actually know anyone who has done the things that
Jesus is telling us – no - commanding us to do? Perhaps I can think of a few
saintly people, but I have a suspicion that they probably didn’t live up to all
the requirements laid on us by Jesus in this passage and other parts of
scripture.
Given that, if we are to give up and pack our
religious bags and leave, where are we to go to. Every other part of the
Christian church is under the same obligation to the commands of Jesus
Christ. We could become secular humanists but that leaves us to our own
devices and put us in the self-centered clutches of our egos. If we look
around us, we can see the devastation resulting from people letting their ego’s
take control and run amok. We have some great examples – not good examples
because there is nothing good in what they are doing. They include he who
should not be named just south of us here in Canada – not to mention the leader
of Russia and don’t forget, Israel. There is nothing there that will lead
us to a place which is beyond ourselves and call us to self-sacrifice as we
have in the model Jesus Christ.
So, the question posed by Dylan remains, who are
we going to serve? For an answer – this morning anyway, I want to turn to
Alcoholics Anonymous. Step 6 in the 12 Steps of AA is
Willingness. Step 6 arises from the belief that one cannot get rid
of bad aspects of ourselves that cause addiction without some assistance from a
Higher Power. The individual must also be willing to let those defects go
without looking back. This does not mean you have to believe in the
Christian God in any of its many variations, but you have to admit that you
cannot do it yourself. But how do you decide on what Higher Power you are
going to serve – as Dylan says it could be the Devil, or it could be the
Lord. Is it going to be something which will make you a better
person and the world a better place?
Of course, you may decide that you can serve
something like rationalism or science. However, with that as with many
things you might identify as a Higher Power, you don’t actually give up
control. You pick and choose the aspect of the higher power which still
allows you the illusion that you are in control. IF the higher power is
actually a higher power for good then I suspect that, if you are honest with
yourself, there will be an aspect of that Higher Power that you will object to
and resist. That is probably the sure and certain sign that the Higher
Power is actually that – a higher power which wants what is truly the best for
you and for the world.
Here’s the link to the song which you can listen
to on your journey https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wC10VWDTzmU
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