8-27-2023 “How Fragile We Are” Matthew 16:13-20 Pentecost XIII

Dr. John Tamilio III, Pastor

There is a moving song by Sting (singer, songwriter, bassist, and former frontman for the ‘80s British trio The Police), and there is a song by Sting entitled “Fragile.” Its chorus proclaims:

On and on the rain will fall

Like tears from the sky

On and on the rain will say

How fragile we are

We are fragile. Incredibly fragile. We are mourning the death of Sandy Lindquist, because, as many people have said to me over the past weeks, she was a pillar of this church community. But we are also mourning Sandy’s death because it was so sudden and unexpected. Because of this, we are painfully aware of our own mortality and how any one of us could die at any moment.

For those of you who are unaware of what happened, Sandy, who was only 71 (and a young 71 at that), Sandy was in church last Sunday. I spoke with her in the office before church and gave her a hug immediately after worship. Everything seemed fine. Nothing was out of the ordinary. That afternoon, just a few hours later, Sandy was found unconscious in her driveway on Eliot Street. She was rushed to the Good Samaritan Hospital and it was soon discovered that she had a massive brain bleed (a stroke). The doctors said it was grim and Sandy made her journey to her Heavenly home early the next morning.

On and on the rain will say

How fragile we are

At times like this, I hear my mother’s words echo in my mind: the only certainties in life are death and taxes. My mother is only partially right. Death and taxes are certainly certain, but there is something missing from this formula: the love of God. We will get back to that in a minute.

Today’s Gospel Lesson is the story of Jesus asking the disciples who people say that he is. The responses vary: some say you’re John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and still others say Jeremiah or one of the prophets. It isn’t until Jesus redirects the questions and puts them on the spot that Peter gets the right answer. “But who do you say that I am?” Peter responds: “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

This has certainly been one of the biggest questions throughout history. Who is Jesus? Ultimately, we all need to answer that question. Jesus is either who the Bible says he is, or he isn’t. He is either the Messiah or those who followed him pulled off the biggest hoax in history. As many a theologian — C. S. Lewis being one of them — as many a theologian has said, Jesus was either a madman, the Messiah, or the greatest charlatan ever. At the end of the day, he’s one of the three. Some may say, “Isn’t it enough to say that Jesus was a great moral teacher, maybe even a prophet?” No, because he claimed to be the Messiah. His followers and their followers made the exact same claim. He either was or he wasn’t who he (and others) said he was. There’s no way of getting around this question.

We do not have the time to look at all the arguments supporting the various positions people have made, but if we believe what we proclaim, then he is without question the Messiah: the Son of the living God; the Word made flesh; God incarnate.

If he is the Messiah, then a whole host of other powers and attributes are true. Among them is the claim that Jesus, being God incarnate, is love, just as “God is love,” as the First Letter of John declares. Jesus is love.

That love is a constant, never-failing love. It is a sacrificial love.

Back to where we were a moment ago…

Yes, life is unpredictable, and it is incredibly fragile. There are some scholars who say that one of the characteristics that make human beings different than any other species is that we are the only creature who is aware of their mortality. One could say that we are cursed knowing that we are going to die.

But maybe that is a blessing, though. Because we know that we are only here for a short time, we have the ability to make the most out of life. As another musical artist whom I love (Pink Floyd) once sang,

Life is short warm moment

And death is a long cold rest

You get your chance to try

In the twinkling of an eye

80 years with luck or even less

(Some weeks you get theologians and Bible scholars. Some weeks you get classic rock stars.)

As I mentioned, such a reality seems like a curse, but it isn’t. It enables us all to make the most of the time we’ve been given. If you do live for 80 years (and hopefully you’ll live longer), then you are given 701,280 hours of life. If you break it down further, that’s 42,076,800 minutes. Forty-two million minutes! That’s how much time you have to live, but, just as important, that’s how much time you have to love and to be loved; 42 million minutes.

In terms of being loved, 80 years gives you 42 million earthly minutes for God to love you — 42 million minutes to feel (at the core of your being) that you are loved by the God who is love, who created you out of love to love. Forty-two million minutes to be loved by the God who is love, who created you out of love to love.

Yes, life is fragile. Sting is right. Turn on the 6 o’clock news if you have any doubts. Wars, rumors of war, violence, murder, hate, abuse, accidents, natural disasters (like the fires that recently ravaged Hawaii), and so many more unpredictable and unpreventable events are always right around the corner. What happened to Sandy last Sunday could have happened to any one of us. (Our shock is accompanied by fear.) There are no guarantees, other than the love of God. That is the one constant that we have. As followers of Jesus, that constant comes with a command: we are to love just as God loved us. Jesus said that there is no greater love than this.

The cynic will say that we are born to die. The Christian will say that we are born to live, and we are born to love. Make the most out of this gift of life that you have been given. Use your 42-plus million minutes to allow God to love you and for you to love others the same way. For eons, philosophers have sought to define the meaning of life. I think we know what it is. In fact, we know what it is. Amen.