Good Monday morning! And a Happy Birthday to my mother, who in celebrating her birthday will start rehab on her broken wrist today. Now that's...not really the way I would choose to celebrate a birthday. Did you watch the Academy Awards last night? Many of us in America watch this awards show, and many also watch the Espy's and the many, many other award shows for people who earn way more than you and I do. Yes, that's part of what I was thinking last night when I watched the first hour or so of the Oscars. These people are paid hundreds of thousands, or even millions of dollars for their performance, and then we watch them get awards too. The other part of what I was thinking was: I assure you they have all the reward they will ever get. I may not have the words of Jesus exactly correct, but we do seem to have something wrong in our world.
When someone performs well at their job, sometimes he or she will get an extra award, but more often than not the only reward is the paycheck. The sad part is that we often think that isn't fair, but we think it in the wrong way. The paycheck we receive should in fact be the reward, but like our celebrities on their pedestals, we want more. We watch as some of the most well-compensated employees on the planet receive awards at shows watched by millions. We go to work and naturally expect the same thing: awards on top of the paycheck. What is at the root of this thing of ours? What do we really want to see?
I think that the world wants to see that ultimate award show where the wealthiest and most physically attractive persons are handed immortality as their reward for a job well done. A graven image of the rarest and most expensive materials will accompany the awarding so that the persons selected can display the image in their homes. People would then come from all over to bow down at the feet of the image in the hopes of that success being granted to crown their own efforts. The world wants its own achievements to take the place of God. If any of us can earn enough, look good enough, perform well enough, and receive that highest of awards... the world will no longer need God, at least according to the fallen thinking lurking deep down in our wicked hearts.
Jesus told us some very opposite things: But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you (Matt 6:33). "So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. (Matt 7:12) Blessed are you when other revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. (Matt 5:11-12) Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. (Matt 6:19) And finally this passage that speaks to us today.
But Jesus called them to him and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." (Matt 20:25-28)
The one who accomplished the most for us, received the least of awards from us. Jesus died on a cross among criminals and in doing so opened the way to salvation. Crucifixions in his day were exactly the opposite of the big award shows on television in our day. Instead of celebrating the best of people, the Romans hung the worst of people on crosses to die and everyone came tramping out of the city to watch. While I agree that celebrating the best (at least according to the world's measure) is better than watching executions for entertainment; where did Jesus accomplish his great redemption?
May God have mercy on us and this world we live in.
Bucky
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