How many of you have Powerball tickets for last night's drawing? Did you ever ask yourself why you take such a chance on such a long shot as hitting seven numbers? Since so many of us are willing to take a chance, I thought it might be helpful to look at the characters from this morning's readings who took a chance as well.
The prophet Jonah did not want to go to Nineveh. It was a pagan city and not friendly towards the Israelites. The Ninevites surely had no interest in the word of the God of Israel. Jonah knew this and tried to talk God out of sending him, and even tried to run away, when God sent the whale to swallow him and spit him out near the city of Nineveh. Jonah's encounter with God and the whale gave him the courage to finally take the chance and do what God wanted him to do. And through Jonah's ministry Nineveh was saved from the deserved justice of God.
And what about Simon and Andrew? Here are two brothers going about their family business of commercial fishing when Jesus walks by and simply says, "Come after me." The gospel then says this powerful line, "Then they abandoned their nets and followed him." This was their livelihood; this was how they fed their families and would assure themselves of a retirement. Talk about taking a chance! What did Jesus promise them? Only the chance to help in building the Kingdom of God! No money, no 401(k), no health insurance, no guarantees in the things that we value so much in this life: wealth, prestige, power. Jesus promised only the cross, but it was enough for them.
What if Jesus walked in here right now and asked us all to stand and come after Him? Are we so attached to the things of this earth that we, like the Pharisees of Jesus time, would fail to see where it is the He is leading us to?
What is it that is so special about the Kingdom of God? Jesus doesn't promise us that we will be wealthy or powerful in His Father's Kingdom. So what is the special attraction that causes otherwise reasonable people to abandon everything to follow the word of a poor carpenter? When we talk about the Kingdom of God, what is it that comes to your mind? Is it angels and harps, or is it the realization that the special attribute of God's Kingdom is love?
When John tells us of heaven in Revelation, do we recognize what the absence of illness and death, sadness and loneliness is? It is the overpowering presence of love. It is in the knowing that the Creator of all things cares about us more than we care about Him. What does this special attribute mean? God loves me, so what? It means that if God had a cell phone, you would be #1 on the speed dial. If God had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it. It means that if God slept, when He woke up in the morning His first thought would be about you.
As humans, we need to somehow put flesh on God to see what we cannot see. And love is exactly that. We cannot see it, but we know when it is present. It gives off a scent all its own that is unmistakable. When a man and a woman come to this altar and promise to spend their lives together no matter what comes, we witness a sign of what God does for us. When we see a mother holding a newborn child, oblivious to everything around her, we see a sign of God holding us with an even greater attachment.
Somehow Jonah came to know this through his interaction with God and
the whale. Simon, Andrew, James and John sensed this immediately in this
wandering preacher they encountered while getting their boats ready. And
God did not force them. They had to choose. They had to take a chance.
They had to have faith and, my brothers and sisters, faith is sometimes
a very scary and risky thing.
Today we don't have to take a chance. We can leave here and buy or not
buy a Powerball ticket. We can leave here and consciously decide to follow,
or not follow Jesus. When we walk out today, those are our choices. We
can either go fishing with Jesus, bringing the message of love that is
the Kingdom of God to all that we see and live with, or we can go home,
pull up the footrest on the recliner, watch reruns and read the paper.
Take a chance; follow the Son of God whose only message is love when faced
with the crosses of the world.
I want to close with the true story of a man who took a chance. His name
was Artful Eddie O'Hare and he was a lawyer and a gangster in Chicago
during the Roaring Twenties. His life of crime and association with the
Capone mob brought him wealth and power. He had any earthly pleasure he
wanted, but something was missing. Eddie had become the father of a little
boy he called Butch, and in spite of his embracing the alluring life of
crime, he wanted his son to have none of it.
One day he realized that the only way he could give his son the ideal
that he wanted was to turn himself in and make a deal with the government
prosecutors who were trying to shut down the Capone mob. Eddie's decision
to turn traitor cost him his life.
Butch was left with the memory of a father who died out of love for him.
He was determined to be faithful to what his father wanted for him. He
applied himself to his studies, secured an appointment to Annapolis and
became a naval aviator. When the second World War broke out, Butch distinguished
himself for his bravery and self-sacrifice. Eddie O'Hare Jr., Butch, was
awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his taking the chance to
be faithful to what his father wanted for him, not to be a rich and powerful
mobster, but to live by the code of sacrifice and honor.
Today, when you fly in or out of Chicago's O'Hare Airport, remember that
it is named for the son of a gangster who took a chance to do the right
thing. Take a chance not to do drugs and risk ridicule for being called
a goody two shoes. Be chaste in a world that will mock you for it. Leave
the room if someone is showing an X rated video knowing that you will
be called names. Give your time to the poor and disadvantaged in a society
that stresses "me, me, me". Give to charity and spend less on
yourself. Do something daring for Jesus or, to use Mother Theresa's words,
"do something beautiful for God." Be serious about your faith
and take up the cross with Jesus, armed with the knowledge that at the
end of the journey is the Resurrection and the Kingdom of God.
Take a chance with your life, with your love. Jesus did. And when He
walks by you and simply says, "Come after me," do it, and never
look back.
