Cutting & Plucking

Were we to allow the British comedy troupe ‘Monty Python’ to interpret our Gospel text this morning - then we would have to turn to that famous scene from a film called ’The Life of Brian’ when the movie’s main character tries to cross a Medieval bridge and is stopped by a soldier in a suit of armor called ’The Black Knight.’ A sword fight ensues - and the Black Knight gets his arm chopped off. ‘Let us pass!’ demands the aggressor. ’No’ says the Black Knight, ’Tis but a scratch. Fight on, or are you chicken?' The fighting continues until the Black Knight loses his other arm. ‘We shall now pass!’ declares the aggressor. ’No’ says the Black Knight, ’Tis only a flesh wound.’ ‘But the fight is over!’ ‘Oh, then you’ve had enough?' The fighting starts up again, then The Black Knight loses both legs - all the while contending that now armless and legless, his adversary is the coward because he has now walked away from the fight to continue his journey - as The Black Knight declares: ‘Come back here and I’ll bite your legs off!’  Yes, this Monty Python scene may be just as gory, graphic, disturbing, and even comedic as the declarations from Jesus we hear in our Gospel this morning - about losing hands, cutting off feet, and plucking out eyes - But it may also be just as inspiring when we consider that what’s at play here is not comedy or gore - but the notion of focused determination to do one thing above all else. And for you and me - it’s focused determination to pursue the spiritual life above all else. This is one of Jesus’ recurring themes - words of sober encouragement to disciples of all time - to you and me about making our number one priority the health and growth of our spiritual lives. And when we look at this lesson, we get it. After all, Jesus continually tries to hammer it home not just here, but with parables like the lost coin and pearl of great price, that famous quote we all know - seek first the Kingdom of God, and then all these things will be given to you. But just because something’s simple doesn’t make it easy,  that in the great priorities of life, spouse, family, work, keeping safe from covid, physical fitness, travel, entertainment, care for our communities:  Jesus is clear that the most important thing we are to continually have on our minds,  the most important thing to do,  our first priority,  is our spiritual walk,  that we should do all that we can to keep other things from interfering with that,  cutting off and plucking out even really important things that get in the way,  so that our never-ending work is to put God first in all that we do. What does that look like for you and me? What does that mean? How do we make that happen? Are we truly convinced that this is really a good thing? One thing is for sure, keeping focused on Christ and keeping the spiritual journey our top priority, takes real determination. And it's amazing what we can do when we set our minds to something. --------------- In the great state of Maine, there’s a company called Incredibles.  Apparently there are people in Maine who like to smoke marijuana.  However, while smoking pot was recently made legal, getting it delivered to your house is not. And there are a lot of people who smoke pot in Maine who like to get their weed delivered. The Incredibles is a company determined to find a way to do that.  Here’s their unique business plan. Incredibles employs psychics. Since the company could not overtly deliver marijuana to you, it decided that a psychic detective agency could - because they would not be selling and delivering marijuana, oh no, no, but retrieving weed that their customers had lost - for a modest finders fee, of course.  Their copy reads: ‘We have psychics roaming all over Portland, communicating with their deity, their spirit guides, and have religious moments of clarity! We can guarantee to find your lost weed and get it back to you ASAP!" So customers simply contact the company, tell them what kind of marijuana they “lost," tell them where they think they lost it, and the company sends out psychics to find the lost marijuana and then return it to its rightful owner - and don’t forget to tip your driver for the use of their exquisite, extra sensory gifts... Who thinks up these things? Determined people. Committed people. Single-minded people. The suggestion here is not that we turn our church into a marijuana dispensary, but that we should be just as creative, imaginative, and determined about the gospel of Jesus Christ. It makes you and me wonder: If God's holy people were as determined to get the Gospel out, as pot purveyors in Portland to pedal their product, what might the church look like? What if we were truly able to make our great priority the cultivation of our spiritual lives -  to make it our first priority,  that we would do all that we can to keep other things from interfering with that,  cutting off and plucking out even really important things that get in the way,  so that our never-ending work is to put God first in all that we do? I think we need to consider the ways we’re already doing that. ----- One more story, this one about 19th century rubber plantations in the Congo. In 1884, Leopold the Second, King of Belgium decided to do something somewhat altruistic, and took over land in the Congo to colonize it and establish a mission for, among other things, the economic and spiritual benefit of the natives. However, soon he found his plan failing. He was going broke. But this coincided with the time that rubber was coming into high, worldwide demand. And the Congo was the most resource-rich area for rubber in the world. So Leopold recalibrated the mission, and turned the affair, which involved a million square miles, and millions of native Africans, and decided that this project would get very serious about producing rubber - so serious, that the Belgians turned the native villagers, whom they had first sworn to help, into slaves. The atrocities that followed included well-documented incidents of rape, pillage, and punishment, as heinous as anything we heard in the story of the Black Knight.  Millions of people died. And those who lived had no better standard of living than when it had all begun. What finally put an end to the carnage? There was no small amount of help from missionaries.  Christians stood up for justice and told stories. They took pictures, published books, and let the world know about the injustice that was commonplace in the Congo. They did not sit idly by as pain and suffering tore through the land, but they let their commitment to the spiritual life - to following the example of Jesus - lead them. Finally in the early 1900’s the campaign to halt Belgium's domination in the Congo ended - - but the witness of justice-seeking Christians has not. The witness of good people like you and me, who are doing our best to lead dedicated, spiritual lives has not stopped. No, the reason I'm ending with this story is to remind us that we not only know about the difficult road of discipleship, but we take it.  Each one of us here have made sacrifices to follow Christ. We have made choices in how we spend our money, cast our ballots, choose our vocations, and raise our families based on the teachings of Jesus. To a large degree, we are already in-sync with what Jesus calls us to do when he calls us to these places of deeper discipleship.And we are also not alone in wanting to go deeper. You and I know that Jesus is clear that the most important thing we are to continually have on our minds,  the most important thing to do,  our first priority,  is our spiritual walk,  that we should do all that we can to keep other things from interfering with that,  cutting off and plucking out even really important things that get in the way,  so that our never-ending work is to put God first in all that we do. Thanks be to God for what we have done, what we are doing, and what we can do in Christ - may we rejoice in the way God uses us - and prepare with all soberness and seriousness, for the ways God plans to use us from here. Amen.