First Priorities

The First Priority Centers Everything Else

Luke 7:51-62

There are certain comedians who have a way of putting things into perspective. Remember the Carol Burnett Show? Carol, with Harvey Korman, Tim Conway, and Vicki Lawrence. They could take such mundane events and turn them into an hilarious sketch;  
A family playing a board game, like Sorry. Carol, as Thelma, keeps having her piece bump back to is home spot. and Vicki, as Momma, seems to take a bit of delight in saying "Sorry." Or Tim Conway as the oldest symphony conductor, shuffling his way to the podium, only to find that he can't step up that high, so he bends down, lifts up a section of the podium, making an impromptu seat. Sitting down, he swings his legs around, stands up, and turns the section down again, all in slow motion, of course. And there is my all time favorite scene from the Carol Burnett Show as they re-enact the movie, Gone With the Wind. Carol, as Scarlett, returns to her beloved home and finds it in near ruins, she also knows that Rhett Butler is on his way to visit, and she has nothing nice to wear. Vicki Lawrence, as her friend, suggests she just hide behind the drapes. Scarlet, however, has another idea. With Rhett waiting at the bottom of the stairs, Scarlet descends the curving stair case with the drapes made into a dress. Only, instead of the beautiful dress you see in the original, here, the dress includes the curtain rods across the shoulders, like major shoulder pads, and the sash around her waist is the curtain tieback complete with golden tassels. Rhett greats her and declares, "Scarlett, that gown is gorgeous." To which Scarlett replies, "Thank you. I saw it in the window and couldn't resist it."

Taking tragedy and turning it into comedy, now that can put things into perspective. And comedy works best when you know what is most important. So much of comedy has the impact of putting down or belittling another. When comedy has as the focus something positive and good and joyful, it helps us to see that even in what may be seen as tragedy there is still something of life and joy and goodness.

Of course, comedy and tragedy were not exactly what was on the minds of Jesus and disciples as they turned toward Jerusalem. In the portion of Luke leading up to today's reading, Jesus was transfigured on the mountain, and Peter was ready to set up camp to make it permanent. Then they came down from their "mountain-top experience" and immediately they are confronted with a boy who had convulsions so bad that his father was afraid for his life. After healing the boy, Jesus predicted his own death. The disciples responded by arguing who would be the greatest in God's kingdom and Jesus drew a child up to himself and said "Whoever welcomes this child in my name welcomes me." Now we learn that Jesus has "set his face toward Jerusalem." Now, there is a singular focus for Jesus' travels, and a singular focus for all of his activities. The disciples still don't understand, but Jesus has time to continue teaching and showing them what is of first importance.

They come to a village in Samaria. Since Jesus was focused on going to Jerusalem, the Samaritans weren't too inclined to pay much attention to him. James and John, full of their own importance, and self-righteous indignation wanted to call down fire from heaven to consume these folks who did not accept Jesus. That would actually be a good "old time religion" response. But Jesus rebukes them. They need to get their priorities straight. Such use of power does not reflect Christ's priorities.

A little further down the road, an eager "disciple wanna-be" comes up to Jesus and declares, "I will follow you wherever you go." This falls in the category of "be careful what you ask for, you might just get it." Jesus warns the eager "Jesus Groupie" "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." Which is to say, "if you follow me you will leave material comforts behind, you will give up domestic security, you will be expected to take up those priorities that keep me focused in what I do."

So they travel on and Jesus calls to another, "Follow me." And this man replies, "I am ready to follow but first let me go and bury my father." I love the way commentators like to explain this, that the man's father has not yet died, but the man wants to take care of his obligation to "honor thy father and thy mother" and then, after his father's death, then he will follow. Perhaps that was the case in Luke's remembering. Or perhaps it was as simple as recognizing that life is full of ritual obligations. Jesus seems rather cruel in his response: "Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God." Perhaps he is telling us all, our ritual obligations, our prescribed activities of worship, our focus on religious activities as our means of salvation are as dead as those who are in the grave, if we are not about proclaiming in word and deed the kingdom of God among those who need to hear and see God's compassion and justice. Ritual obligations are redefined by the priorities of following Jesus.

Finally, another comes up to Jesus and says, "I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home." Frankly, that request does seem reasonable to me. And the commentators have a time trying to explain the intentions of the follower's request and Jesus' response. "No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God." Again, we can keep it simple. Holding on to the past keeps us from looking forward. There are many priorities that compete for our attention. There are many ways that we can spend our time and our energy. There are many relationships that can become the primary focus of our lives. What will be the primary focus? What relationships will reflect in our lives the Reign of God? The priorities we have are reflected in the choices we make. Are we ready to accept the priorities of Jesus' life and ministry?

So, here is my take on today's Gospel lesson. When we are clear about our first priority, other things tend to fall into place. Jesus had set his face toward Jerusalem because he knew that he must experience a humiliating death before he could give new life to those he loved. His first priority was to live out Divine Love for all people, and for all creation.  Demonstrating power by calling down punishment on those who don't accept him does not fulfill that priority. Worrying about one's own comfort and security does not reflect that priority. Focusing on ritual activity and religious piety does not reflect that priority. Holding on to relationships based in the past does not reflect that priority.

Now, for the sake of argument, let us image that we have taken on Jesus' first priority as our own. Let's imagine, if we can, that our first priority as a community of people who worship and work together is this: To let everything we do reflect the living presence of Divine Love for all people and for all creation. Okay, that sounds pretty overwhelming, to let everything we do reflect the living presence of Divine Love for all people and all creation. I'm not sure that it is possible for us to love all people and all creation. But wait a minute, that's not what we are called to do. We are not called to do it all. That's what God does, God loves all people and all creation. The challenge for us is to not retreat from the challenge and to not take refuge in the comforts of mutual fellowship and in the security of our religious services. 

The challenge for us is to so shape our life as a congregation that the city begins to take notice, that they can begin to see through us that God really does love the veteran who prefers to drink with his buddies than attend a stuffy church; Or that God really does love the welfare mom who doesn't know how to lift herself and her children out of the poverty to which they have become slaves; or that God really does love the graduate of Mexico's finest university who has come across the boarder to take minimum wage jobs in Jacksonville so that he can send money home to his family; Or that God loves the middle-class family that is over extended with activities for the kids and expenses of the "necessary" electronic gadgets, and the need for increasing income to make ends meet, who find that they have less time, and perhaps even less awareness to simply be together as a family. We are not called to do it all, but we are called to do something. We are called to do something beyond our mutual fellowship, and our religious services so that the love of God may be evident to those who need it. 

Ok, so picture this: Tim Conway is an elderly fire fighter in firefighter's jacket and gear. Harvey Korman in lying on the ground and Tim is consulting a booklet about first aid. Then you see Tim, still reading his book, stradling the body on the ground and reaching down to do chest compressions. Except, Harvey is lying on his stomach and Tim facing the wrong direction. He reaches down and presses on Harvey's bottom. He looks at the book again, and declares, "Your going to be ok, colors coming back into your cheeks already."

We may not always get it right, but we can have a good time trying.