Introduction: The High Dive
It was the summer before I turned ten
that the pressure finally got to me; when I was nine, I had jumped off the low
diving board at the Walnut Hill Lane pool a half mile from our home; and that
was great fun all summer as our friends and my two brothers jumped, dived,
canon balled, and belly flopped our way through the typical 100 degree days of
a Texas summer. The low dive was fun; it was safe – probably only three feet
off the water; easy to climb up and the landing zone was near the ladder to
climb out and line up again for your turn to dive.
But on the last day before school
started, the last day the pool would be open; my older brother James and our
best friend, Mike Fish (or Mac Fish as my wife Amy once heard him say his name
in Texan) decided they were done with the low dive and would now jump off the
high dive. The high dive was enormously high in the air; step after step to get
to the diving board; I imagined at the top that you could see for miles across
the flat Texas landscape; and the wind at the top, it was always windy, might
blow you off and you would die on the concrete slabs around the pool.
Well, James and Mike jumped off one
after the other; nothing too smooth, but they came grinning from ear to ear as
they climbed out got in line to dive again, and beckoned me to join them. No
way, I said, and that’s when the pressure started, a I watched their fun and
began to fear for my life. I thought about it all winter, jumping to my death
from the high dive or facing the taunts and loss of esteem for being a coward
forever. When summer rolled around again and the pool opened, I made all kinds
of excuses to stay away from the pool. It was baseball season and I was working
on my fielding, batting, throwing; whatever excuse I could come up with, even
summer reading;
But when little league ended, there
I was at the pool – it was just too hot. I climbed up to the top of the high
dive twice in the month of July. Only to find myself shaking and afraid; having
to climb back past other boys and girls in line to take the high plunge. There may have been a few hot tears
under the swimming towel by the pool and there was no mercy, especially after our
younger brother, Brad, started doing swan dives and somersaults off the high
dive. He was always a little show-off.
With two days left in the summer, I
awoke to the resolve that today would be the day;
And before even getting in and
getting wet; I marched to the high dive; walked out to the end of the board; shaking,
maybe crying (I’ve always been a big baby) I jumped through the air and landed
safely in the pool. The belly flop didn’t feel all that great, but I had gotten
past my fears and realized that it wasn’t anything like what I had built it up
to be; It was fun – moderately, dangerous
fun; and all that day, my brothers and Mike and our other friends jumped and
dove off either board until we were all exhausted and it was time to go home.
The warmth of victory and triumph
made for some good sleeping those next few nights and some of the challenges
and obstacles that came that year in school were met with a little more
confidence and creativity and a greater willingness to try something new even when it was different or made
me a little uncomfortable and afraid.
Crutches That Keep us From God
I drove by the Walnut Hill Lane
Pool this summer a couple of times on my visits to see my mother and that high
dive was probably all of eight feet in the air. A death-defying leap to a nine
year old still today, I’m sure; but nothing worth the fear and anxiety and
sleepless nights it cost me as a child. Sometimes our fears are just not all we
make them out to be and we choose to sit out from the life that’s before us or we
find crutches that help us get by but keep us from a life that’s really life.
I think that’s part of what Jesus
is about with His first disciples this morning; teaching them the difference
between living their lives with God; or relying on some of life’s crutches that
allow us to get by; but keep us from living all the life and adventure and
peace that come when we live our lives in hope; when we live our lives more
fully with God.
Jesus and His first followers are
in the northern part of Israel in today’s Gospel story; It’s a city called Caesarea
Philippi – a city that contains all the signs of power and all the crutches of Jesus’ day
and our day the worldly power and crutches that distract us from a life lived
with God. From a life lived in hope.
In Caesarea Philippi, there is
money and wealth – it’s a center of commerce; and the signs of prosperity and the
things and the lives that money can by are all around them, dazzling their
country boy eyes with luxuries they’ve probably never seen.
In Caesarea Philippi, there is
power – Roman power. Soldiers; horses; chariots, palaces, fortifications, Roman
administrators; all the trappings and the signs and realities of the greatest
empire on earth.
In Caesarea Philippi there is
religion – ancient religions, Roman religions the signs and practices of the gods
that supposedly gave Rome their empire and have an effect on the every day
lives of the every day person.
In Caesarea Philippi the power and
the crutches of life are all around them; for who has not longed for enough
money to take care of your needs and then some as a crutch that distracts us and
keeps us from living the life that is before us and trusting wholeheartedly in God
and God’s power in our lives;
Who has not longed for the
political authority in our community and our work place to get what we need and what we
want to make life go a little more our way a crutch that keeps us from being
open to God’s way who has not wanted a religion that gives us some kind of
power over God Himself that persuades us that our way is the right way of
practicing religion, perhaps the ultimate crutch for going through life, but only
partially connected to the life God offers us. Jesus knows these are all the
low boards of life, the low boards of the world; adequate for getting by, but
nothing like the thrill of the high dive and the life God is calling us to
live.
So in the midst of all these signs
of power and crutches of Jesus’ day and our own day Jesus asks them who people say He
is. Now please understand, Jesus is not asking for positive reinforcement about
His ministry and who He really is. No, Jesus asks in an effort to help His
followers then and today to choose; to choose in the midst of all the signs of
worldly power and authority, the life of the world or the life with God; the
low dive or the high dive.
And Peter answers first among
Jesus’ followers, that Jesus is the Messiah, God’s anointed, the one who will restore
the fortunes of God’s people; But He doesn’t really know what this means as the
people of God have been longing for a king like David; who would restore the economic,
political and religious power they imagined they wanted as the people of
Israel.
So when Jesus goes on to explain
that He’s a different kind of Messiah who will be betrayed and killed and be
raised from the dead on the third day; Peter rebukes Him. What kind of Messiah would be
willing to die and what kind of kingdom of restoration could Jesus mean.
And Jesus rebukes Peter in return
and challenges His followers to set aside their crutches, to deny ourselves and
follow Him. Not to the low dive or the things of life that make us comfortable;
But to the high dive, where life is thrilling and a little unknown; to a
restoration from our sins and the power of death aand a life lived with God now and beyond death itself. For what
good will it be, Jesus asks, if we have all the power and crutches of the world
if we have all the money and prestige and religion we think make up our lives, we
could have the life with God and the thrill of living our lives to their
fullest in God’s presence and with God’s power at work in us. In Matthews’
Gospel, Jesus says, seek first the kingdom of God and all these things will be
given to you as well; have no fear as you pursue the life lived with God, Jesus
promises because all the worldly needs will be yours, too.
Jumping off the High Dive
Living our lives without fear,
living our lives in hope, begins and continues when we turn our lives over to
God. When we offer who we are and what we’re about to the Lord who made us, who
sustains us, and who promises to be with us always.
It’s a daily decision for everyone
one of us as we set aside our crutches, as we set aside our focus on the things
of this life and turn our focus to God instead; By asking for God’s presence; By
seeking God’s purposes for our lives; By asking God to take away our fears and replacing them with peace and
with hope so that we may live our lives to their fullest measure. You may be
surprised as I have been throughout my following of Jesus that this high dive life is really
all that much different from the low dive life that most of us live; but the
thrill and the excitement and the safety of the life with God are infinitely
more fulfilling and life giving.
So, whether you’re sitting by the
side of the pool looking in on the Christian life or taking a few dives into this
life from the low board; I invite you to ask God to set aside your fears and
try life from the high dive. When you do, you will know a peace that passes
understanding and a life that’s really life.
So, jump in, the water’s fine.
Amen.
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