Road of Danger

 

Genesis 15:1-12, 17,18

Philippians 3:17-4:1

Luke 13:31-35

 

            I showed up for work on Thursday morning, fully expecting a quiet day at the office to work on sermons. A group from Luther College had scheduled to use our church that day for some area-wide musical auditions, but with the forecast calling for whiteout conditions, there was no way that was going to happen. Who in their right mind would take to the road on a day like this?

 

            But shortly after I arrived, I was stunned to see the people from Luther show up with their equipment, ready for the auditions. And as sleet turned to snow and the winds raged and I-80 west was shut down at Stuart, singers and dancers began showing up at our door. They drove a dangerous road from as far away as Clive and Indianola to get to this audition. And for the entire morning, our church was filled with incredible music.

 

             The storm was no surprise. We all had plenty of warning. What would make someone take that kind of chance to set out on such a hazardous road?

 

            I had another unexpected visitor that morning. He had just been released from prison in Missouri the previous day after serving a lengthy sentence. He was in need of gas money to get to Provo, Utah. After we were able to arrange some assistance, he headed out into the storm. He knew all about the weather but he was set to go and took off on what was certain to be a dangerous 1200-mile road. What would make someone risk that?

 

            Linda and I have traveled often in bad weather, and so we have a healthy respect for dangerous roads. There was the time we started out from Decorah to Dubuque and within 2 miles of our departure found ourselves spinning a complete 360 in the highway. There was the time driving down a long hill in I-94 when the rain had turned to glare ice without us knowing it, and we slid for more than a half mile, desperately trying maneuver out of the paths of semis in our right until we finally, mercifully, veered off into the median.

 

            We have traveled other roads that were hazardous for reasons that had nothing to do with the weather. This past summer, we took a road that skirted the top of Crater Lake in Oregon. It turned out to be a two-lane road with no shoulder and no guard rail. The outside of the lane we were in dropped off into sheer nothingness. Worst of all, the pavement on the edge was cracked and chunks had broken off and fallen away. I don’t care much for heights anyway. This was the longest 6-mile drive of my life, and I spent as much of it as I could in the other lane.

 

            The one thing these dangerous roads have in common is that I wouldn’t drive them again. It’s just not worth it.

 

            Which makes me nervous about today’s readings. They all have to do with dangerous roads and the call for the people of God to take them.

 

            I suspect these readings make you as jittery as they do me. When Abraham is shown the road that lies ahead of him, a deep and terrifying darkness descends on him. He is told, “Your people will be aliens; they will be oppressed and enslaved for hundreds of years. That’s the road you will have to travel on before you come out into the sun at the end of the road.”

            Paul speaks of the danger-infested road that surrounds him, a prospect so terrifying that he is reduced to tears just talking about he has to face.

            And in our gospel reading from Luke, Jesus is warned of deadly danger on the road ahead. “If you take that road,” he is warned, “your life is in danger. King Herod is planning to kill you. Get away from here. Take another road.”

            But Jesus answers, with a little dig at the king, “Where my work takes me, that’s where I will be going.”

 

            These readings are very disturbing in the context of the book I just finished reading called LOST, about a Jewish man determined to uncover the story of what happened to close family who died in the Eastern Poland during the Holocaust. He finds evidence that two of them were hidden in a cellar by a Polish schoolteacher, while virtually all 6,000 Jews of this town were killed. The fugitives were betrayed, and the teacher who hid them was killed along with the Jews.

 

            The greatest mystery of this story is why would the teacher take that road? Why would she risk her life for a couple of her neighbors, knowing the odds were high that she would be caught? Obviously that is the road that today’s readings call us to take in those circumstances. But the haunting question is, would I take it? What would I do if I were the one faced with that choice of roads?

 

            With that in mind, I ask, What do these readings require of us? Are they telling us that Christianity is a grim and dangerous path? That if we want to live up to the name of being a disciple, then we must forsake all safety and comfort and get out on those dangerous roads?

 

            I would be tempted to think so if not for a point that Daniel Mendohlson, the author of Lost, comes to near the end of his search. A decision like that facing the Poles of that time, whether to protect a neighbor by risking likely death and most likely the death of all your family at the hands of a brutal regime, is too horrifying for us to imagine. That road is so dangerous, says Mendelson, that we dare not sit in judgment of those who did not take it, for none of us truly knows what we would have done.

 

            I believe that is the background against which these readings should be considered. It would be easy to make a blanket statement that Christians are required to lay their lives on the line for what is right at all times for. That none of us should live in comfort and ease or even happiness as long as there are others in this world who suffer. That a Christian must always take the road of sacrifice no matter how dangerous that road.

 

            And there would be two results of such a statement. Either we would all sit here squirming and swallowing a gigantic helpings of guilt for as long as it took to get these readings and this sermon out of our minds, so we could resume our normal lives. Or we would blow it off as an impractical, pious attitude that sounds great but that no one takes seriously.

 

            So I’m going to take the advice of Daniel Mendelsohn about those dangerous roads that confront Christians from time to time.

 

            We are fortunate in that we do not face many of the terrifying dangers that have confronted other believers from time to time, and still do in many places. We do not face persecution.

            Some Christians in this country have a persecution complex and like to talk about how Christians face persecution in this country at the hands of the media, secular society, the legal system, or whatever. That kind of talk is an insult to those who have and who now face physical danger, torture, social derision, or economic loss because of their beliefs. The truth is that in this country, we don’t have that problem. Most people run a greater risk of persecution for stating they are not Christian than for proclaiming they are.

 

            The dangerous roads that we face at present have more to do with moral issues. In daring to proclaim the gospel, we risk going down a road that puts us at odds with what our society, even Christian-dominated society, advocates.

            There are the risks that come with standing up against rampant materialism. There are the risks to standing up against the prejudice and privilege that take hold of a people any time they begin to be afraid.

            There are the risks in preaching peace at time when security and terrorism are at the top of everyone’s wish list. There are the risks in advocating for the poor, the disadvantaged, the unlovable, in a world that equates human value with power and success.

            There are the risks in slowing down and investing time in service and relationship in a world that holds financial security as the ultimate goal of life. There are the risks in trying to focus a congregation on following Jesus Christ in a society that views church as just one more decent choice in being a good civic-minded person.

            There are the risks in calling for commitment in a society that says get everything you want first and give the leftover time and resources if you feel like it.

            There are the risks for young people who take active part in a congregation against the increasing view that church isn’t that important and I can just worship God in my own way.

 

            The dangers are considerable. Sometimes those roads seem just too dangerous for us to travel. Sometimes they are more frightening than we can handle. Even Jesus’ disciples found the road they were call to take too dangerous at times. Rather than condemning people for not taking the dangerous roads, we would do better to listen to Mendelsohn. When a road is truly dangerous, we dare not sit in judgment of those who do not take it, for none of us truly knows what we would do in another person’s shoes.

 

            Now that sounds like I’m letting us off the hook. That I’m saying discipleship is optional. That we don’t have to worry about taking hard and dangerous roads in our lives. That we can always look for the easy, the comfortable, and the safe. In other words, that we can just blow off these readings from the Bible.

 

            And of course, I’m not going to say that. So what do we do with the problem of dangerous roads?

 

            I think we can gain some insight by asking why people occasionally make the choice to take dangerous roads.

 

            There are two factors that influence people to do that: First, how badly do you want to get where that road is taking you? 

           

            The young people who braved dangerous roads to come to the audition did so because they wanted very badly to be part of this musical program. It held such promise to them that they were willing to travel a road that was not safe. For them, not traveling that road would have been the sacrifice; they refused to give up a chance to be a part of something valuable.

 

            The ex-con who came in that day wanted to get to Provo, Utah. He was a man who has had great difficulty coping in society; he recognized his limitations. He needed to get to where stability and support are available to him, and he needed to get there as fast as he could. For him, not traveling that road would have been the greater danger.

            Heritage and legacy meant a great deal to Abraham. He wanted desperately to be someone who made a difference in this world, to be a blessing to the world. He wanted that badly enough that he was willing to risk the agonizingly long and dangerous road that would get him there. For him, not traveling that road would have been the sacrifice.

 

            Spreading the good news of Jesus Christ meant a great deal to Paul. He wanted desperately to bring the message of love and forgiveness to a world torn apart by violence, indifference, and selfishness. He wanted so badly to carry this life-giving message that he risked the perilous road on which that message had to be carried. For him, not traveling that road would have been the unbearable sacrifice.

 

            Healing and bringing new life meant the world to Jesus. He wanted to save as many people as possible, to bring all people together in sharing the world that God created. He wanted that so badly that he was willing to travel a road more than dangerous, a road the led to suffering and death. For him, not traveling that road would have been the most reckless gamble imaginable.

 

            Whether or not we take the dangerous road before us depend on how badly we want what that road leads to.

 

            The second factor is simply, what have we got to lose? In the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, the two main characters find themselves on the run from expert lawmen. They are finally cornered on the edge of a cliff. Far below them, way off in the distance, is a river.

            Butch suggests that they jump.

            Sundance doesn’t want to, the way is extremely dangerous. But Butch points out that they have no choice if they want to escape. If they survive the fall, they will escape, because as Butch says, no one will follow them. “Would you make the jump if you didn’t have to?”

            The answer of course is no.

 

            A lot of us wouldn’t take the dangerous road if we didn’t have to. But sometimes we come to the realization that while we’re awfully confused about a lot of things in this world, the one thing we can trust is that God’s promises are true. It doesn’t matter how safe or easy the alternative road looks; If God isn’t going that way, it’s a dangerous road.

            “He that would save his life will lose it.” We either follow God or we get lost. If God is leading the way through that dangerous road, then, like it or not, that’s the place we have to go.

 

            Those are the questions that come to us when we come to the crossroads and see danger ahead. Where is God leading us? How badly do we want what awaits us if we follow that road? How desperately do we need to take that road?       Like the disciples, our answers may change over time as we grow in faith. But our answers to those questions are what will determine roads we travel.