Brett Blair tells a story about a man who had been driving all night and when morning came, he still had far to go. He decided he had to get some sleep. So he stopped at the next city he came to, found a city park, and pulled into a parking spot in the park so he could get an hour or two of sleep.
It just so happened he had chosen a quiet place on a very popular jogging route. So just as he laid back and was starting to doze off, there was a knock on his window. He woke up. “Yes,” he said.
“Excuse me, sir,” the jogger said, “do you have the time?”
The man looked at the car clock and answered, “8:15.”
The jogger said thanks and left. The man settled back and was just dozing off when there was another knock on the window and another jogger wanting to know the time. “Excuse me, sir, do you have the time?”
“Eight twenty-five!” the man replied. The jogger said thanks and left.
The man could see other joggers passing by and he knew it was only a matter of time before another one asked for the time. Quickly he got out a pen and paper, and wrote, “I do not know the time,” put it on the window, and settled back to sleep.
He was just dozing off when there was another knock at the window. “Sir, sir?” said a jogger wanting to be helpful, “it’s 8:45!” (1)
Sometimes, no matter how hard you try, you just can’t win. You’ve noticed that, haven’t you? It’s true of everybody at some time or another.
We have a term for it, Murphy’s Law: “If anything can go wrong, it will.” And its corollary: “If anything can’t go wrong, it will anyway.” Every field has its own version of Murphy’s Law. For example someone has made a list of Murphy’s Laws of Computers. Here are some of them:
- As soon as you delete a file you no longer need, you’ll need it.
- Installing a new program will always mess up at least one old one.
- You can’t win them all, but you sure can lose them all.
- The likelihood of a hard drive crash is in direct proportion to the value of the material that hasn’t been backed up.
- There are only two kinds of computer users: Those whose hard drives have crashed, and those whose hard drives haven’t crashed . . . yet.
- And finally, anything can be made to work if you fiddle with it. If you fiddle with something long enough, you’ll break it. (2)
[Could I get a hearty “Amen!” from any computer users?]
Of course, some people have more than their share of bad luck. We label them losers. I suppose there is no sadder label that can be attached to someone than that, loser. Maybe you think of yourself as a loser. You’re not, not in God’s eyes. And we need to think closely before we think anyone else is a loser.
David Barber, a Lutheran pastor in Honolulu, tells a fascinating story about a man who bore the label of loser. It was in a newspaper story about those who fail. The focus of the article was centered on a historian who had written a book about people he called, “America’s Born Losers.”
In his research the author of this book came across an institution in the 19th century called the Mercantile Agency. This agency employed informants to file reports on the creditworthiness of their neighbors. According to the author, “It was like a ‘national bureau of standards for judging winners and losers.’”
One such report was filed on a man named William Henry Brisbane. Brisbane was operating a business in Cincinnati in the 1840s. An informant for the Mercantile Agency reported that Brisbane had failed in every occupation he had ever tried, including farming, publishing, and even practicing medicine. The report also predicted that he would likely fail for the rest of his life.
The biggest evidence for this conclusion was the fact that this “loser” had inherited $100,000, which was a huge fortune in those days. Apparently Brisbane had spent most of this $100,000 in a very short time‑‑like many lottery winners today.
But after the author poked around a bit, an entirely different story emerged. Actually William Henry Brisbane had been a successful South Carolina plantation owner. But he had decided that slavery was wrong. As a result he sold his plantation and moved north. But then he felt guilty about leaving his slaves behind. He used the $100,000 he inherited to buy his slaves back and set them free. The Mercantile Agency may have labeled him a loser, but, I suspect, that God labeled William Henry Brisbane as an extraordinary winner. (3)
Think about that story for a moment in the light of today’s text from the Gospel of Matthew. It is a powerful one. Christ tells a story that indicates that when Christ sets up his kingdom there will be some clear losers, in fact they will lose everything worth having. And there will also be some clear winners, people who will have it all. Listen to how Jesus describes who will win and who will lose:
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.” (If you haven’t figured it out to this point, the sheep are winners; the goats are losers.)
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.” (I told you the winners got it all.) But listen to what made the sheep winners: “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
“Then the [winners] will answer him,” (Actually it says, the righteous will answer him, but “winners” will do just as well), “‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you [losers], into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
“[The losers] also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
“He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
“Then,” says Jesus, “[the losers] will go away to eternal punishment, but the [winners] to eternal life.”
That’s powerful. How many of you want to be losers? Let me see your hands. I didn’t think so. How many of you want to be winners? Do you think, in light of this text, that it might be good if we reassess some of our priorities?
We might start here: what does it mean to have it all? A yacht? A private jet? A mansion on the beach?
An e-mail magazine called HELP 4 SUNDAY shared a true story from a
minister named Max who works with the homeless and street people in the Ft. Lauderdale, FL area. Max became friends with one such street person named Archie. Archie has severe gout in each foot and can barely walk. Each day he sells the Ft. Lauderdale paper out on the sidewalk. Selling the daily newspaper is his livelihood whether feeling bad, sick, tired rain or shine, Archie sells those papers. He lives in a little one‑room apartment that rents by the day. He depends on the sales of each day’s papers to pay the rent and pay for the food and utilities.
One day Max met Archie and noticed that Archie had an excited look on his face; he could hardly contain himself. He told Max that he just had to come and see his apartment; he had something to show him. Max was hesitant to go down this darkened area to Archie’s apartment, but he knew he must.
They arrived at the apartment. Archie said that each day he had been saving money. He then threw open the door held out his arms and said, “Look!” And there in this dingy, small one room apartment was a sofa, ripped and torn with all the stuffing coming out but it belonged to Archie. There was a junky little black and white TV, no rabbit ears‑-but a bent coat hanger, and there was even a recliner chair all Archie’s. It was evident that Archie had saved a long time to have anything “this nice.”
Archie looked at Max and said, “I have all I need now.” Can you imagine that? Suddenly, however, Max noticed that there stretched out in the recliner was a big ol’ man-‑a friend of Archie’s. Max recognized him as another street person. Archie didn’t mention him, but as big as he was, it was hard not to notice him.
“Archie, what is he doing here?” Max asked.
And here is Archie’s response: “He needs a place to stay. Now that I have all I need, don’t you think I should share?” (4)
Let me ask you, do you have everything you need? I didn’t say everything you want. Do you have everything you need? Then, friend, you have it all. If you are a follower of Jesus Christ and you have all you need, there’s no way in the world that you could ever be a loser. At least you can’t, if you are as smart as Archie. When asked about the big homeless person on his sofa, Archie answered, “He needs a place to stay. Now that I have all I need, don’t you think I should share?”
I’m tempted to leave you with that question hanging in the air: “Now that I have all I need, don’t you think I should share?” That’s about as haunting a question as you are ever likely to hear. I said I want us to rethink all of our priorities, all of our values in light of today’s text. Let me tell you one more story about winning and losing.
This is a story told by Jim Roberts, a family therapist in Kansas City. Roberts was visiting the fourth-grade class of his son Daniel, where the teacher had organized “a balloon stomp.” Each child had a balloon tied to his or her leg, and the object was to obliterate everyone else’s balloon without letting anything happen to yours. It was every man for himself and each against all. As soon as somebody stomped you, you were “out,” and the child who still had a plump, glistening balloon when everybody else’s hung limp and tattered would have the winner’s glory.
The teacher gave the signal, and the children leapt ferociously on each other’s balloons, doing their best, meanwhile, to protect themselves against the onslaught of others. All, that is, except one or two who lacked the spirit of competition. These were just dismayed by all the hullabaloo, and their balloons were predictably laid waste. In a few seconds all balloons were burst but one.
Then a remarkable thing happened. Another class was brought in, a group of children whom we term “mentally and developmentally challenged.” They were assigned the same game. Balloons were tied to their legs and they were briefed on the rules of play. Said Roberts, “I got a sinking feeling in my midsection. I wanted to spare these kids the pressure of a competitive brawl.” He need not have worried.
At first, these children had only the foggiest notion of what this was all about. After a few moments of confusion, however, the idea got across to one or two of them that the balloons were supposed to be stomped, and gradually it caught on. But as the game got underway, it was clear these kids had missed the spirit of it. They seemed not to mind that their balloons were stomped. In fact, one girl carefully held her own balloon in place so that a boy could pop it, and then he did the same for her. When all the balloons were gone, the entire class cheered in unison.
Think about what happened in that misunderstood game for a moment. In the original game only one child could win. In their version, everyone won! In normal balloon stomping the participants are momentarily alienated from one another (it’s you against me), but as these children played it, the game was an occasion for camaraderie. (4) Which version of the game do you think Jesus would prefer?
If you are sitting there thinking to yourself that this more cooperative approach to this game is somehow un-American, you need to know that business guru Edward Deming, the father of the Total Quality Movement which emphasized the benefits of collaboration, used a similar story to which he added this question: Why does someone always have to lose? That’s a good question. Maybe we could learn something from these mentally and developmentally challenged boys and girls.
This is the day we celebrate the reign of Christ. [In some churches it is celebrated as Christ the King.] There will come a time when Christ will reign over all. And he has already made it clear that when that day comes, everything as we know it will be turned on its head. Those who think they are winners will suddenly find that they are, in fact, losers. And those we so often label as losers will be at the front of the pack. It is because winners understand that God’s plan for the world is what you learned in Sunday School long ago: loving and sharing; looking out for the weak and less fortunate.
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him,” said Jesus, “he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep (the winners) on his right and the goats (the losers) on his left.” Who we believe are winners and who are losers says a lot about where we will stand on the Day of Judgment.
1. www. Sermons.com.
2. Dave and Barbara’s Clean Humor, bigguyhereagain-owner@yahoogroups.com.
3. http://www.lchwelcome.org/sermons/2005/sermon05‑03‑24.html.
4. Robert C. Roberts, Taking the Word to Heart: Self & Other in an Age of Therapies, (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1993), pp. 156-157.