Life's Choices

A young man stands in front of Jesus and asks Jesus what must he do to inherit eternal life. Jesus asks him if he knows the commandments and the young man responds that he not only knows them, he has done his best to keep the commandments since he was a young boy.
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Jesus responded by saying there was one thing lacking in the yong man’s life. He then invited the young man to sell everything he had and give the money to the poor, and then he would have treasure in heaven. Then Jesus invited the young man to become a disciple. It was a direct divine invation.
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The story relates how the young man’s face fell and he went away very sad because he had great wealth. The disciples were shocked when Jesus told them it was hard for the rich to enter the kingdom of God. It would be easier for a camel to go through the eye of an needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.

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The young man’s face fell. He wanted eternal life but he didn’t want to give up anything in the process. Life is full of decisions. Life is full of difficult choices.
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This past month or so I have been watching the resident squirrel here at the Rectory. He is busy eating acorns from the oak tree that adorns the yard.

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However, if the squirrel is to survive the winter he must make some choices.

First of all, the squirrel needs to know the difference between red oak trees and white oak trees. The difference is possibly Life and Death. The acorns of the white oak do not keep over the winter, but the red oak acorns do - and the squirrel needs to know the difference if he is to survive during the winter months.
Researchers have discovered that given the choice between red acorns and white acorns, the squirrel will chose to eat the white acorns 80% of the time, while choosing to bury or store away the red acorns 60% of the time.
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Also, if the squirrel chooses to eats too many red oak acorns, which produce the best energy, but also have higher levels of toxins, the squirrel may be poisoned.

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If the squirrel chooses to store away the white oak acorns they usually sprout almost right away, so that when the squirrel went to dig them up he would find nothing there as the energy of the acorn has long gone into the root system.

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And so when you see the busy squirrel racing around the yard, and scurrying to the tops of the trees, remember, even the squirrel must make good decisions.

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We all make decisions. You made a decision to come to Church. You made that decision before you went to bed last night. You made a decision what you would have for breakfast, toast or cereal, tea or coffee. You made a decision what you would wear and you will make a decision as to whether or not you will participate in today’ s sermon or whether you will listen or not to the sermon.

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The rich young man in our Gospel Reading was faced with a decision, he must choose his wealth or he must choose to follow Jesus and inherit eternal life. The young man was more committed to his wealth than to having eternal life.

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It needs to be pointed out that Jesus offered an invitation to the young man. It is called the divine invitation. It is a call to become a disciple of Jesus. it is an invitation, not a threat, or a demand, but an invitation to follow Jesus Christ.

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his morning Kristin Byrn Landry is to be baptized into the household of faith. Kristin, according to the Bible, is God’s work of art. God knows everything there is to know about Kristin Byrn Landry. God knowns more about Kristin that even Kristin’s parents. Kristin’s name is engraved on God’s Almighty Hands. The very hairs on Krisins head are number. God knows every thought that this child will have, God knows every word she will speak before those words are even on her lips. God has a plan and a purpose for Kristin - it begins in baptism.

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Through her baptism Kristin Byrn Landry Kristin Byrn Landry will become a member of the Body of Christ - the Church, she will become a child of God, and an inheritor of the Kingdom of God.

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Kristin Byrn Landry’s parents have responded to God’s invitation to have their beautiful daughter baptized this morning and will promise to bring her to Church, teach her the commandments, pray for her and teach her to pray, and to take her place in the life and community of the Church.

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For Kristin Byrn Landry’s baptism to have any meaning, it calls for commitment on the part of Kristin’s parents, God-parents and Grand-parents to see that Kristin is raised in the Church and prepared to become a follower of Jesus.
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Unless we respond to the invitation by way of commitment, we are pretty much the same as the rich young man who was more committed to wealth than he was to his faith or to God
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It is interesting to note that this young man not only knew the commandments, but he perceived that he kept the commandments since he was a boy. Obviously he had been taught them by his parents. Apparently he was a person of faith, at least he was asking the right questions regarding eternal life.
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When Jesus challenged his faith, the young man was no more committed to his faith than the man on the moon. The young man was more committed to wealth.

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As a priest a good many people have sttod at the front of this church and made all kinds of promises on behalf of their children, and many have exchanged vows to each other before God.

No doubt they were sincere when making such promises and vows, however I could count on one hand the number of parents who return to bring their child to God's house as they promised they would and also I can only name two couples who exchanged vows before God in Holy matrimony who still attend church. Life gets busy I guess and we have choices to make God usually gets lost in the shuffle ...... until something goes wrong and life takes a turn for the worst - then God gets a lot of air time. Life, eh?
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We all have choices to make. This morning Kristin’s mum and dad are making a choice on behalf of their daughter. They are making the choice of raising this child in the ways of the Church. Through the commitments of her parents, God-parents and grand-parents Kristin will be an inheritor of the Kingdom of God, a member of the body of Christ, and a child of the living God. Amen and Amen.