Reflections from Boston - Matthew 16:21-26

Matthew 16:21-2 (NRSV)

From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?

Think about this for a moment: Jesus lashes out at Peter because Peter wants to save his life.  Or at least, Peter wants Jesus’s life to be preserved.

We do all kind of things and have all kinds of ways in the world to preserve our lives and keep us safe.  In Boston, the adult leaders put the safety of the youth as one of their foremost concerns. Every day we do things to keep ourselves safe - from eating well to wearing seat belts to driving speed limits, etc.  So does this mean Jesus doesn’t care about our safety?  What does Jesus mean by wanting us to lose our lives for his sake?  Literally lose our lives?  I think probably we know that's not what he's talking about.

Maybe what Jesus is saying is to "forget our lives."  And in the process we find our true lives.  Our true selves.

There were moments in Boston where the everyday cares of my life - and of the lives of the youth in Boston - seemed to vanish.  What we were doing - who and how we were serving - was the only thing that seemed real.  This is what Gandhi's quote means:  we find ourselves - our true selves - when we lose those parts of ourselves that get in the way of who we really are in service to others.

When we let go of the parts of our life that we wear like clothing - the accouterments we have made part of ourselves over the years: the labels that we buy, the jealousies we have, the money and status we seek, the sports teams we worship, we lose our true selves bit by bit.  Finding them again is a bit like peeling back an onion. 

Service to our brothers and sisters is a fabulous way to begin to peel back those layers.  In Boston, I asked the youth in my group if parts of their lives back home seemed distant and unreal while we were in Boston.  For almost all of them, they said that was the case. The layers began to peel back.

Service takes time and work.  It is more than writing a check to your favorite charity, as I heard one youth say last week.  It is getting involved.  What ways can you get involved that you've been thinking about but haven't quite yet started?

Merciful God, help me to lose myself in your service.  Service to you through service to my neighbors.  Peel back the layers, Lord, and help me to find my true self.  Amen.