One of the most powerful moments in motion picture history is the ending of the movie Saving Private Ryan. Private Ryan was an American soldier in WWII post D-Day. He needed to be found and extracted because he had become the only surviving male in his family. So, the Army sent in a team of men to get him out of the combat zone. They all died getting him out.
The final scene takes place in Normandy Cemetery in France at the grave of the soldier who led the mission, Cap. Miller. Now an elderly man, Private Ryan kneels at the grave and reflects on Cap. Miller’s dying words to him, “Earn this.” Ryan says, “I’ve thought about what you said every day of my life. I’ve tried to live my life the best I could. I hope that was enough. I hope that at least in your eyes I have earned what all you have done for me.” He stands up and his wife comes up to him and notes the name on the cross-shaped grave marker. He says to her, “Tell me I’ve lived a good life. Tell me I’m a good man.” Not really understanding what’s going on, she simply touches him on the cheek and says, “You are.”
Private Ryan stands emblematic of the soldiers who came home from the War and the burden they carried to live a life worthy of the men and women who paid the ultimate price, who died instead of them. My grandfather was one of those who lived. He came home and got into law enforcement and retired as chief of police in Waynesboro, VA, a city about the size of Owen Sound. He was a good man. He made “Benson” a name to be proud of. When I look into myself and wonder about how I’ve lived my life, it’s his gravestone that I find myself kneeling at asking if I’ve lived a life worthy of the name he left behind.
If I might rant a bit; we have all been reaping the benefits of the world that men and women like my grandfather came home from the War to build. They saw firsthand just how evil that otherwise good people can be. I mean, how does a person justify to themselves being a guard in a concentration camp. Sadly, time has passed and that generation and its values are now passed. I think we as a culture are no longer appreciative of the sacrifices made for us to live the lifestyle we live. We have forgotten that people had to kill or be killed by people who were deceived and deluded by Fascist authoritarians who disrupted global security and well-being because they lusted after power and simply did not care that people had to suffer and die for them to grow richer. We have forgotten that war only serves to make the very wealthy wealthier. There are no longer eyewitnesses to the atrocities of that war: the Holocaust, nuclear bombs, bombing of whole cities and civilian populations done by all sides, the starvation, children traumatized in fear. That war in particular had a historical lesson that we apparently did not learn: that it is better for nations to work together for the common good of all rather than to seek their own national interests at all costs or worse, being the vehicle through which a handful of sick puppies seek power and wealth by trying to turn the world into a dystopia. We’ve lost our sense of having to live worthy lives…that sense of "Earn it"…and have replaced it with a sense of entitlement that will not end well.
Well, anyway, sorry for that rant. But then again, if I were really sorry, I would have deleted it from the sermon and never said it. So, I guess it was a bit premeditated and it must serve a purpose in this sermon. I’ll get on with that.
Paul in this letter to the Colossians is writing to a group of Christians he did not know, to a church he did not plant. I would conjecture that the church was likely planted by and being pastored by a man named Epaphras who may or may not have been an understudy of Paul’s. For some reason, Epaphras came to Paul and told him of the Colossian Christians and of a particular problem they were facing that was brought to them by some false teachers who appear to have been teaching that you weren’t fully Christian unless you got circumcised and kept the Law of Moses. Epaphras probably thought that a visit or at least a letter from Paul, the Apostle, would help stamp it out.
So, to these Christians whom he has never met Paul wrote this letter and highlighted right at the beginning the most important things they need to concern themselves with. First, in the entirety of this section of the letter we get a glimpse at the world according to Paul. Just like after WWII there was a global sense that the world is now free from some pretty dark and sinister forces, so also Paul paints a picture that God has intervened in his very good creation in, through, and as Christ Jesus and his death and resurrection to deliver and heal it from the power of darkness, a healing being made manifest as churches – Holy Spirit enlivened human communities. The Colossians were one of these many small gatherings springing up all over the world in response to the royal edict (or Gospel) being heralded from town to town that Jesus, the Son of God and the Messiah of the Jews, had defeated sin and death and is the world’s one true Lord and Saviour. This victory was felt and seen through the presence and work of the Holy Spirit whose primary work was bonding and shaping these Christians into a community of strangers from all walks of life who loved one another unconditionally, as if they were family, because they all knew themselves to be beloved children of God the Father just like Jesus. By the presence of the Holy Spirit, they were experiencing an inheritance that was eternal. Paul tells them that God had rescued them from the power of darkness and transferred them into the Kingdom of his beloved Son. In and among them, God was bringing about New Creation, a new world order one could say, in and through Christ Jesus and those who follow him.
With the exception of the Letter to the Galatians, Paul began his letters by stating some things that he was thankful for about the church that he was writing to. If you pay close attention to what he’s thankful for, you will usually find the solution to the problem he sought to address. Two things Paul brings up as the antidote to this false teaching in their midst – Paul says he is thankful for their loyalty to Christ Jesus and their love for one another which is evidence of the Holy Spirit at work in their midst. They will discover God’s will, God’s desire for them, not by keeping the Law, but by attending to their loyalty to Christ Jesus and to their love for one another. “Live lives worthy of the Lord” is the imperative Paul gives that sums it all up. That’s what it is to be fully Christian.
Live lives worthy of the Lord is very applicable to us and our world today, especially we who claim to be disciples of Jesus Christ. In this world where the greatest source of discontent appears to be people not getting the things they feel they are entitled to, live lives worthy of the Lord is the antidote. Love others as Jesus loves you. This discontent is at the heart of how people can be so easily misled, indeed radicalized, into populist authoritarianism that’s just one more unkept promise and lie fulfilled away from the Fascism that my grandfather laid his own life on the line to combat.
The world is in a very precarious place at present. We are at a pivotal point when we who call ourselves disciples of Jesus Christ, who know his love and the peacefulness of the Holy Spirit, who feel the tug of loyalty to him…we need to step up and “Earn it!” – Live lives worthy of the Lord. We must pay particular attention to how we express our loyalty to him. Paul here mentions only one way, one word – love. He used that pesky word for love that’s known in the Greek language as agape. It’s not romantic love. It’s not the love of friendship nor is it the love of family. It is unconditional, selfless, indeed sacrificial love for others. We must put aside our political affiliations and our cultural values be they liberal, conservative, or something else and attend to our loyalty to Jesus.
I’m sure you’ve heard of WWJD, the acronym for What Would Jesus Do. That’s a good place to start, but I invite you to take that to a higher level with WIJD – What Is Jesus Doing? Discern what Jesus is doing in every situation we find ourselves in. I can guarantee that it will likely be compassion-based, heartfelt understanding of a person’s situation and needs. It will involve honesty and kindness. A sense of what to do and the resources for it will be there. There is a harsh realization on each of our parts that we need to come to: I might be the only Jesus someone sees. Therefore, in all things, am I living a life that is worthy of him. Amen.
