Village Shepherd

As my family will tell you, with groans, I've always been tempted by shortcuts. I tend to look either for the quickest way to get from A to B, or to veer off on to what appears to be an attractive and unusual and exciting path. And I have an intense dislike of reading instructions!

We've had some interesting results in our time. Many of my so-called shortcuts have taken us miles out of our way, because my sense of direction has never been particularly well developed. Often, when we've been on foot, the "shortcut" has been exceedingly arduous, struggling through difficult terrain, and taking a long time about it.

Short cuts in any area of life are tempting to most human beings. "Get-rich-quick" schemes always attract the unwary, most of whom come a cropper. Illegal scams thrive because it's human nature to have an eye for a bargain, and the difference between a genuine bargain and shoddy workmanship often only becomes apparent after the event.

Mostly, if a short cut doesn't work out, it's a nuisance and inconvenient and may even cost a great deal of money. But just occasionally, short cuts can be really dangerous, and put life at risk. Like the recent Greek ferry disaster, which was apparently caused because someone, somewhere, skimped on safety procedures.

I suspect that spiritual short cuts belong in this latter category. The category of those short cuts that actually put life at risk.

Life is difficult for most of us because to a greater or lesser degree, it's a series of problems, and is therefore full of pain as well as full of joy. There are problems in life, but it's largely in the process of meeting and facing and solving problems that we grow spiritually. The solving of problems calls for courage and wisdom and openness to God, and will develop those characteristics within us. But it can be a painful process.

It's human nature to try to avoid pain, and therefore, to try to avoid problems. There are a number of different mechanisms for avoiding problems, for taking short cuts. Mechanisms which seem to have worked for us in the past, at least occasionally and at least on the surface. And which therefore we turn to again and again. We each have our own particular pattern, and we tend to repeat that pattern throughout life as we struggle to avoid the pain of problems.

One pattern, for instance, is to deny their existence, perhaps by procrastinating, putting off until tomorrow what can and should be done today, because at least that avoids the pain of problem-solving for another day. And they might just go away. Or sometimes, we can turn them into something less threatening by giving them a different name, like calling them not problems but challenges.

Another pattern is doing absolutely nothing in life, so that nothing can ever go wrong and I don't have any problems. If I never make any suggestions or offer my help in any way, then I'm not going to get into any trouble if things don't work out. Nobody can blame me. A bit like the man who buried his talents in a field, because he was afraid of getting it wrong and possibly having to face his master's anger.

Both Jonah and Elijah in the OT, had a running away pattern. They both ran away from God, hoping that physical distance would cause the problem to disappear. And people today run away in many different directions. Like jacking in the job, or resigning from the church, or moving house. Or taking drugs or pills of some sort, or drowning the sorrows in alcohol or sex. That of course, was the pattern the Prodigal Son followed.

The trouble is, as the human spirit avoids facing problems, so it ceases to grow. Rather than growing, it begins to shrivel and to die.

The rich man who approached Jesus in today's story from St. Mark's gospel, was aware of some lack in his own life. He seems to have recognised in Jesus some depth, some new and exciting and vibrant and living quality to life, and he wanted it. But he didn't want the pain of growth. He wanted a short cut.

"What must I do," he asked Jesus, "for my life to be like yours?"

"You know what to do," Jesus replied. "The rules are all there for you and have been since time immemorial. Keep the commandments."

According to St Matthew's gospel, the man procrastinated. He didn't really want to hear about what he should be doing, so he put it off for a bit by saying: "Which commandments shall I keep?" As though it was OK to pick and choose. Perhaps he thought Jesus would wave a magic wand and or place his hands on the man's head, and the man would instantly receive eternal life. Or since he was rich, perhaps he thought he'd buy it.

Interestingly, and rather surprisingly, Jesus ignored the first five commandments, the four about God, and the one about keeping Sunday special, and launched straight into the five social commandments, the ones about community life. Don't kill, don't commit adultery, don't steal, honour your parents and love your neighbour.

Then the man moved into denial. He maintained he'd kept these commandments all his life. He denied there was anything wrong, even though there must have been plenty of poverty and human suffering all around him. In the gospel of the Nazarenes, an early gospel which never found its way into the Bible, Jesus is reported as saying to the man: "How can you say, I have fulfilled the law…when many of your brothers, sons of Abraham, are covered with filth, dying of hunger, and your house is full of many good things, none of which go out to them?"

In the version we know, Mark's version, Jesus didn't question the man's erroneous self-assessment. But Jesus did move out of the comfort zone, the short cut zone, and into the pain zone. "Go and sell everything you have," he suggested, " and give to the poor."

And for the first time, the man was made to face what his priorities really were. For the first time he realised his wealth was actually the most important thing in his life. And he wasn't prepared to face the pain of relinquishing that, the pain of growth, even to gain vibrant and exciting and eternal life. So he engaged in yet another avoidance pattern, he went away.

And Jesus let him go. Made no attempt to persuade him or to cajole him or even to engage him in discussion. For the decision to avoid short cuts and take the long and arduous and painful road, can only be a personal one, freely taken.

Master, what must I do to gain eternal life?

Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter it are many. But the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life. And those who find it are few.


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A Prayer

All-seeing God,

You see into the innermost depths of my being and understand much more about me than I understand myself. You see those patterns of behaviour of which I'm unaware. You know exactly when I try to avoid or evade any difficulties I might have. And although I might hide it from myself, I cannot hide from you my greatest desire.

All-seeing God, when I'm challenged by life's problems, give me the desire to find the help I need. Give me the courage and the endurance to face those problems, and reveal to me my own avoidance patterns, so that with your help I might change and grow nearer and nearer to you. And please, ensure that you are at the centre of my being, that I might find my greatest desire to ne you.

I ask this through the one who knew you like no other, Jesus Christ our Lord.