I am sure that all of you children here
and many of you adults have seen
the movie, Finding Nemo.
In this story,
a father is looking for his son, named Nemo.
Nemo, a clown fish has disobeyed his father
and gets caught by a dentist
and put into the dentist's aquarium.
Nemo escapes the aquarium
and his father finds him in the end.
It is a very cute story
that has many amusing moments in it.
It has this spiritual quality
when you think of God the Father looking for us,
while we are simply trying to find life!
Most of us here today have spent time trying to find life.
It’s not that we are not alive physically,
but as the Bible reading for today says,
What kind of deal is it to get everything you want
but lose yourself?
There is more to life, isn’t there
So often when we finally get what we want or worked for,
it is like winning the game or a championship
It’s wonderful, then what?
The new season starts in several months
and the whole work of winning begins again!
You can’t rest on your laurels, even for a moment
There is a trying to find life that continually haunts us,
measures our present situation
and level the gavel with the verdict
you haven't found it yet.
And the worst nightmare is
that we may never truly discover life
when the end comes,
but simply have gone through the motions of living.
There's a whole way of thinking that you better enjoy it now
before it's too late.
Too late to enjoy,
too late to experience,
too poor to indulge,
too weak to participate in and experience.
All of which means: were trying to find life
and hope that somewhere along the time frame granted us,
we will find life.
Is Jesus calling us to something different
Maybe, for a moment, to give up the many paths to life,
to real living that are thrust in front of us daily.
Listen up to the events in the life of Jesus.
Discover what he says life is about.
Evaluate what he says.
See if it holds water for you or not.
For the disciples with Jesus,
He's their hope,
their star to which they've hitched their present and future.
Jesus has taken over their life in a way
that is the most positive experience they've ever had.
Now he talks about suffering, about getting killed
This is a must do thing for him? Why?
Certainly other alternatives are possible.
Jesus hasn't thought this whole thing through very well.
Can't we his followers prevent this?
Surely this doesn't have to happen
That's exactly what Peter thought,
He thought just like you and I would have thought.
No way, Lord, never, never, never.
This stuff is not going to happen to you!?
Well, after such a loving response to Jesus' plans,
you could expect a word of praise,
even if you had to go through with the original plans.
Some kind of a Thanks, Peter, but no thanks.?
Peter had an insight into life for Jesus,
no doubt, and it didn't include suffering,
pain, or getting life taken from him.
Jesus looked directly at Peter and said,
Get out of my way, Satan!
You are trying to block my path and cause problems.
You're thinking the way people think.
You don't think the way God thinks.
Well, what would you expect?
Peter is a person, thinks like a person,
acts like a person, like you, like me,
Who doesn't want to avoid suffering, pain,
and everything that causes problems in life.
What's so wrong about that?
The only problem is that if we are serious,
really want to find real living in this world,
we are going to have to think like God thinks
and act like he acts!
If you want to follow Me, come after Me,
be known as a Christian, you have to deny yourself,
take up your cross and follow Me.?
whoever wants to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for Me will find it!?
There is it, how to find life.
You find life by losing for life for Jesus.
Putting Jesus ahead of everything else.
Jesus came to seek and to save the lost.
We are to seek and save the lost.
He came so we could have a full life.
He has, he will and he has promised he will,
take care of us and provide for all our needs,
so our needs have been taken care of.
In our culture today,
we think of ourselves a lot.
Look at the cars we drive?
Look at the pace of our lives?
In all our concern for material things,
our physical health, a positive outlook
and good self image,
in all this and more, do we have in mind
the things of God or the things of men?
Did you hear the last part of today's Gospel?
The Son of Man is going to come
in his Father's glory
and he's going to reward each person
according to what he's done.
What do you think that means for us?
Are Jesus' words today an invitation for us
To get on with losing our lives
for Jesus and his cause.
Pouring ourselves out for others.
Even if it means pain along the way.
Following Jesus who came to serve, not be served.
Giving his earthly life as a ransom for us all...
To find eternal life
Are we ready to give up trying to find life?
And lose it, and discover what it means to live?
Deacon Gerry
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