15 November 2013 - missin' the rescue mission

15 November 2013 - missin' the rescue mission

Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it,
but whoever loses it will save it.
In the Gospel reading today we see a few examples of folks trying to preserve their lives.  The people in the days of Noah insist on "eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage up to the day that Noah entered the ark".  In this insistence on preserving their lives as they know them the miss the one opportunity to be rescued from impending doom: the ark.  The inhabitants of Sodom miss their chance to flee for the same reason.  They are too invested in the way things have always been.  Even Lot's wife cannot fully detach from the past and ends up as a pillar of salt.

In the same way, Jesus warns us to be ready to let go of the circumstances in which we find ourselves so that he can deliver us to something better.

I tell you, on that night there will be two people in one bed;
one will be taken, the other left.
And there will be two women grinding meal together;
one will be taken, the other left.”

But LORD, didn't you give us the circumstances we now enjoy?  Indeed you did.  Yet they are not absolute.  They are meant to give way to things still greater and more lasting.  They are "the perishable" which is meant to be "clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality" (cf 1 Cor. 15:54).  This is true of circumstances both large and small.  It can be something as simple as leaving a prayer group we have long attended for a new bible study to which we feel called.  We can't let comfort and complacency block our opportunities for growth.

It can be all to easy to become comfortable and complacent.  The liability we face is to be too busy with the created things to pay due attention to the eternal things.

For they search busily among his works,
but are distracted by what they see, because the things seen are fair.
But all of these things are ending.  They do not last.  In a sense they are a sinking ship and we are refusing to look to a lifeboat.  We "seek God and wish to find him" but refuse to look beyond our circumstances.  Created things are indeed impressive.  They are so beautiful and display such power that peoples of the past have "thought them gods".  We sometimes treat them as gods ourselves. 

But we must move from "studying the works" to be able to "discern the artisan".  The creation proclaims the creator:

The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.

If we lift our eyes to the source, stability, and summit of all things we won't miss the rescue he sends for us.  The vultures will not feast on us.  Let us join the heavens and firmament in proclaiming the glory of the God who saves us.