Epiphany 3 | Year B | Jonah 3:1-5,10; Psalm 62:5-12; 1 Corinthians 7:29-31; Mark 1:14-20 | Christopher Miner
The Lord of the Rings series has been in my life for almost 30 years now. I first remember reading the books in college (I have an interesting story about Frodo, Boston Common, and a disgruntled homeless guy, but that's for another day). One New Years Day my in-laws, wife, sister-in-law and brother-in-law binge watched all three extended versions of Peter Jackson's trilogy. I am not a Stephen Colbert-level geek about the series, to be clear, but I do thoroughly enjoy them, to the point that I will re-read the series once every year or so. It is one of the few sets of books I read purely for entertainment and enjoyment, though there are plenty of lessons in them about power, evil, courage, and many other things. (And yes, the books are better than the movies, as is usually the case.)
The picture associated with this post is a character named Saruman, who becomes one of the main villains of the series. He is a wizard, and as part of his attempt to rule Middle Earth he creates a new breed of orc soldier called the Uruk Hai. In the scene shown here Saruman (played brilliantly by the late Christopher Lee) is talking to his newly created super-soldier, and eventually asks the question, "Whom do you serve?" The Uruk Hai, of course, answers that he serves his creator Saruman.
Each of the lectionary readings this week pose a similar question to us, in their own way (minus the messy business of marching to Helm's Deep and war with Rohan). The passage in Jonah shows the most effective altar call in history, where an entire city of sinful heathens turns away from their sin and repents, and God relents from his plan to destroy them all. (Read the rest of Jonah for the prophet's hilarious hissy-fit response to God's mercy.) The Psalm implores it's readers to trust not in our exertions, righteous or otherwise, to save and sustain us, but only in God, who is a refuge and rock to his people. Paul, in the passage in 1 Corinthians, is imploring the church to focus on the soon return of Jesus over the realities of the present world. Leave behind the old, and lean in to the coming new. And in Mark, Jesus starts his ministry by proclaiming "Turn around!" (This is the literal meaning of what we translate as "repent".) He then calls four disciples to drop what they were doing and follow him.
In each section of the Scripture the reader is shown people who have a choice to make or have made a choice. And those who made a choice, whether the inhabitants of Nineveh in Jonah or Simon, Andrew, James, and John in Mark, all choose to follow the call of God. They all repent, turn around, change their direction and move in a new direction. In different ways and with different words they answer the question, "whom do you serve?" They all answer that they serve the Lord, and they answer with their feet and their lives more than their words.
The readings of the Psalm and Paul's epistle pose the question to us, the readers. Whom will we serve? Whom will we turn to when life is hard or challenging? Whom are we relying on to get us through day-to-day? Whom will we follow and emulate?
I love that this question starts with the word Whom, and not just because I am a language geek. Our choice is about a person, not a thing or an ideal. Do we serve our creator, who made and is remaking the cosmos and everything in it, including us? Or do we serve someone created, specifically ourselves? Do we serve our own wants and desires? Do we, as the Psalm says, put our confidence in our own exertions and robberies over God, who holds all power anyway?
Not to spoil anything for those new to Lord of the Rings, but Saruman chooses to serve himself and his desires for power. He ends up destroying himself and the lives and livelihoods of many others. (In fairness, the books were originally published in the 1940s and 1950s, so I think the statute of limitations has passed for spoilers.) Serving ourselves tends to end up that way, in destruction. Serving God and following him with our words and our lives may result in some hardship (ok, WILL result in some hardship) but it is the way that leads to life. Examples of both these truths abound in the Scriptures, and probably in the lives of people we know.
So, whom do you serve?
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