Option Having them; Not Having Them
Genesis 17:1–7, 15–16; Mark 8:31–38
Options
There was this movie called “The Legend of 1900”. It tells the story of a newborn baby left behind on a luxury cruise ship in 1900. For some reason, instead of going through the hassle to register his birth on land, they just kept and raised the baby on the cruise ship. They named him 1900. As a young boy he turned out to show exceptional talent on the piano. He got help and ended up as a top entertainment attraction on the ship. He got noticed by the whose who of the music scene at the time. Arrangements were made for him to get a passport, go on land and pursue one of various options as a musician accessible to a man of his talent.
When all was set and done, the whole crew and some admiring passengers watched him step onto the runway to pursue his new life in a big city. Halfway down the runway though, he turned back. He decided to stay put on the ship. To a confident he described his struggle as follows. On the one hand he always longed to have more options. On the other hand, the fact that on the ship there was limited options, gave him a sense of security and calm. The thought of having to choose one out of so many options, going down that runway was just too scary to him.
The cruise ship ceased operations because of the war. The ship is scheduled to be dynamited. A concerned fan suspected that 1900 still finds himself on the ship, went and look for him and found him. He urged him to leave but 1900 decided that one should bear the good and the bad of the options that was handed to you. The film ends sad. 1900 is blown to pieces with his ship.
I heard people telling me and I have experienced having two contradictory thoughts during the pandemic. Some people, myself included, lamented the fact that the pandemic has limited their options. For travel, social engagement, work etc. The same people also reported that their options been taken away, gave them a sense of peace and calm and brought many unexpected good things like quality time with family and exercise. Social scientists say we have too much options and we agree because we all sometimes feel overwhelmed with the choices before us. And yet, we are also rebellious when our options are limited by something. As we get older we get to make peace with the fact that certain options are not available to us anymore and then sometimes we also lament the fact that that is the case. Options… having them or having less of them is a tricky thing!
Having options could be a great thing but so could not having ones. Having options could be debilitating and overwhelming but so can not having them.
Abraham
We do not read that Abraham being discontent and longing for more. In fact, the picture painted of him is that of a man content and patient. We tend to view Abraham as a man lacking because we view him through the prism of the calling late in his life and the fulfillment of the promises God made to him and also through how it got fulfilled after his life. We see him as a man that was grateful and excited to be given a call and promises. That might not be wrong, but it is not the full story.
Abraham was old. He was settled for most of his life and as it is with a person of his age, there were some options he did not need to worry about anymore. God’s call must have been very disruptive. When he first got it at 75 and more so when God added to it at age 99. Like being given the most stressful job at an age where you were looking forward to retiring. God suddenly gave a man who settled into the idea of embracing the fact that he has less options, a whole new set of options and responsibilities. A man who found himself in the lock down we all go through, that of old age, was suddenly let out into a new life with many possibilities and implications. That must have been disruptive to say the least. I have heard many 40-year olds say: “I am too old for this”. Abraham said: “Bring it on.”
Abram’s name used to mean “exalted father”, now it is changed to “father of many”. At 99 it is much easier to play the role of an exalted father than to become the father of many. It is easy for us to say that in the long run Abraham becoming the father of many meant that he was to become an even greater exalted father. That might be true but that is not how it was for Abraham after heeding this call and during his lifetime. It didn’t mean more exaltation. It meant scorn, more discomfort and struggle. It is not hard to imagine his community whispering “crazy old man” when Abraham told them about his calling and the promises God made to him. To become a father to many might be honorable but one thing it is not, is easy. As any father (or mother) will tell you, becoming a good parent takes many options away even though it leaves you with the great one of parenting your children well.
What swayed Abraham to accept God’s call? It couldn’t be comfort or even ambition. It couldn’t be logic or reason. As Paul points out in Romans 4, it was faith. It was not because Abraham was in touch with his needs. It was because God touched his heart and presented him with the option that dwarfs all others. The option to live a life that is about God, other people and even about people that come after you. Faith enables one to leave options, which ones you have and which ones you loose, up to God. It enables us to stay open to God and allow Him to make our lives about more than just ourselves.
Peter and Jesus in Mark 8
So, Jesus gained the trust and goodwill of the disciples. He won them over. Peter overflows with zeal and enthusiasm for Jesus. Jesus is exalted in His eyes. He is the kind of follower anybody wants to have. He dreams up all kinds of options for this Jesus and his future Kingdom (maybe also for himself in it). And Jesus interrupts his assumption about how things works and how things will play out in much the same way that God interrupted Abraham’s. Jesus introduces an option outside of Peter’s frame of reference. Way out. But Peter responded less exemplary than Abraham. In stead of embracing the seemingly impossible in faith, he decides to tell the Son of God, the One through whom all things were created how things are supposed to work. We all love to do that. Peter wanted Jesus to stay exalted rather than to be discomforted by suffering…without which Jesus would have been unable to become the Saviour of many.
Can you see why Jesus’s strong response is warranted? “I got this” is the very opposite of having faith and following where it leads you. Jesus tells Peter that even though he is exalted in the eyes of their small community, He needs to become the “father” (or rather Saviour) of many. And as it took discomfort and struggle for Abraham to go into that destined direction, it will take suffering and death for him.
“To man belong the plans of the heart, but from the Lord comes the reply of the tongue” Proverbs 16: 1 says.
It is what plays out here. Peter reveals his plans, but God has the last say and that puts Peter at a crossroad: His plan or God’s?
Now, you know Peter’s story. He hanged in there for a while but time and again he answers: My plan. By denying Jesus and scattering after his detainment. By hiding behind a closed door after the resurrection. To be fair Abraham’s initial response might have been better but not really his walk. He lied to save his life, unnecessarily so. He made his own plans by having a child with Hagar and that ended in him deserting a mother and child in the desert. Abraham is no perfect man, neither is Peter. But God is El Shaddai, the Almighty One. The one who can use 99-year-old men and know-it-all Peters to fulfill his plans. Abrahams descendants are as many as the stars because it includes not only genetic heritage but all those who was to come to faith in Jesus. Peter who explored other options every second chance he got, ends up embracing being crucified upside down. That is about as optionless-but-at-peace as one could get. Know-it-alls can become God-knows-and-I-trust-his-plans-people.
How about us?
Of course, it is easy to read and still benefit from the outcome of Abraham’s and Peter’s calls and shout: “God’s way!”. We are however no less selfish than they. The good news is God is no less almighty and loving of us than he was of Abraham and Peter. And Jesus was the Way, but he also shows us a way to follow him. To stay on the Jesus Ship in life and death. Jesus defines our call, he maps the journey he has in mind for us with three things:
- Deny yourself. This means to like Abraham, acknowledge that God is more important than you, his plans are better and bigger than yours and there are more people and their futures that matter to God than that matter to you. Denying yourself means to not lose hope in life when your plans get altered or you feel that God’s plans make life more difficult to you. God’s plans are always better than ours in the long run. We should pause to seek them. We should reflect on them and execute them with every ounce of faith we have
- Take up your cross. This is an interesting one. The word “your” is perhaps as important as the word “cross”. Jesus is not calling all his disciples to die on a Roman Cross. He uses it as a symbol of something else. A cross was a torture device that made people suffer. It was for the one carrying it a thing that isolated them from other humans and from God. It was designed not only to physically torture but emotionally and spiritually as well. A person hanging there communicated that this person was rejected by both God and society. By government and religion.
Jesus says here we all have a cross. There is some burden that is similar to the ones other carry that is also personal and unique. Something that makes life difficult. Something that makes you feel all alone. Some people just ignore that thing and it catches up with them when it is too late. Other people dump it on other people and makes it their responsibility to deal with it. Still others get so involved in the issues of others as to neglect taking care of their own crosses. Jesus says these aren’t the best options and introduces a new one: Embrace it, carry it knowing that I carry it with you. Make the very thing that makes you feel alone and divorced from love, the thing that connects you to God and other people. Jesus’s cross was a much heavier one, the ultimate insult to God who revealed himself as Almighty. Jesus turned it into the ultimate symbol of his glory and in Him so can your cross be transformed into something that manifests God’s glory.
- Follow me. Again, this means allow your life to be interrupted. Remain open to challenges, Do not stagnate. Search for Jesus and his purposes in every single thing your encounter. Even when you are 99. If you pick up your cross there is only one option for a happy ending. Move forward with Jesus who knows how to carry a cross to glory
And if you hear this and think to yourself that it sounds impossible to achieve, you are spot on. That is why Abraham laughed when God told him that he is going to have a son and become the father of many. That is how Peter must have felt when Jesus told him how is going to die. His track record of denying Jesus gave no evidence of a man that would willingly sacrifice his own life for Jesus. They probably felt that only if God carries me, can I do this. That is the whole point. Only with Jesus, can we become people who deny ourselves, people brave enough not to dump our cross but to pick it up. People who do not settle in stagnating comfort and self interest but keep on the move as Jesus leads us.
Close
The legend of 1900 ends ever so sad. He goes down with the ship. Him not being open to other options reduced his legacy to a single obscure recording of his music. The legend of Abraham and Peter ends heroic. Yes, in a way they also decided to go down with the ship. But they left a life-giving legacy for many generations to come. They got down from their exalted thrones and become beacons of faith and hope to multitudes way beyond their imaginations. And their ship turned out to be a submarine that resurfaces to life.
So, will yours. Heed the call. Follow Jesus cross bearing. Sharing in His glory, you shall. The faith and grace He has given you will carry you right into His glory.
Amen