When I was a teenager, one of the things myself and few of my mates used to do from time to time was walk the two miles into Hyde, which was the nearest town to where we lived, have a bit of a wander round there, and then walk back home. And as we were going home, if it was open, we’d call in a chip shop, get something to eat, and eat it as we were walking back. On one occasion we did this, as I held my hand out for the change from the money I’d handed over to pay for my chips, the man serving me said,
“I’ll toss you for it. If you win, I’ll give you your change; if you lose, I keep it.”
Well, even as a teenager I wasn’t stupid enough to fall for that, so I asked,
“And if I call right, what do I win?”
He said,
“Your change.”
So I explained to him that this was no bet at all because the change was mine anyway, so I had nothing to gain if I won the bet whereas he, on the other hand, had nothing to lose if he lost the bet. So I offered him another bet: if I called wrong, he could keep the change, but if I called right, he gave me all my money back and I had my chips for free, that way we both stood to win something or lose something. He looked at me for a moment, and then, without another word, slapped my change down on the top of the counter and moved on to serving the next person.
I’ve told you that story because I think when it come to our Christian discipleship, we can sometimes be a bit like the man in that chip shop. We all want to win something, in this case, the reward of discipleship, the resurrection to eternal life, but we’re not necessarily prepared to lose something in order to win that reward. In this case, that means we’re not prepared to do what Christ tells us we need to do to win the reward, if that means losing out on doing what we want to do. We want to gain from being a disciple of Christ, but we want that gain without the risk of it costing us too much, or perhaps anything in terms of how we live our lives.
The 17th Century philosopher, Blaise Pascal touched on this problem in an argument that’s come to be known as Pascal’s Wager. Strictly speaking, Pascal was speaking about whether or not it’s rational to be Christian, or at least to live a Christian life, given that, by logical argument, the existence of God can neither be proven nor disproven. He argued that being a Christian was a game of chance, a bet if you like, hence the name, Pascal’s Wager.
Pascal said that people can choose to believe in God or can choose to not believe in God, and that God either exists or he doesn’t. If a person believes in God and God does exist, they gain infinite happiness; they go to heaven. If a person doesn’t believe in God and God exists, they receive infinite suffering; they go to hell. On the other hand, if a person believes in God and God doesn’t exist, then they receive some finite disadvantages, a finite loss, from a life of Christian discipleship, but no infinite loss; whereas if a person doesn’t believe in God and God doesn’t exist, then they receive some finite pleasure from a life unhindered by Christian discipleship but gain nothing more than that. To sum up, Pascal says,
“Let us weigh the gain and the loss in wagering that God is. Let us estimate these two chances. If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation that He is.”
We could though sum up Pascal’s Wager in this way: if we believe in God and live accordingly, if God doesn’t exist, we’ve risked, and lost, a little. But if God does exist, we’ve risked a little and gained an infinite reward. If, on the other hand we either don’t believe in God, or live as though God doesn’t exist, and God doesn’t exist, we’ve risked nothing and gained something finite. But, if God does exist, we’ve risked nothing and made an infinite loss. In other words, believing in God or not and being obedient to Christ or not, is wagering a finite loss or gain, against an infinite loss or gain.
Strictly speaking, all people, once they’re aware of God, or the possibility of the existence of God, have to play this game. They have to decide what they believe and what they’re willing to wager on being right. But, as Christians, we’ve made that decision. As Christians, we know what the stakes are, we know what we stand to win and lose, and we know what we have to do if we want to win. The trouble is that whilst we want to win this game, this bet, we don’t always want to stake the full amount that we need to in order to win. We can be like people playing cards who want to see what the other person is holding, but we want to ‘call’ them without matching their bet. We want to win without risking too much or, just like the man in that chip shop, without risking anything at all. But we can’t do that. Jesus didn’t give us that option. And that’s really the gist of what he says in this morning’s Gospel.
Jesus says,
“…everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.”
As Christians, we’ve chosen to play this game and we want to win. We know that means we can’t have Jesus denying or disowning us before the Father. We know that to win we have to do what Jesus taught us to do and to do the things he did. But having chosen to play to win, how often do we do and say things that lessen our chances of winning? How often do we do and say things that do deny and disown Jesus? We know that to deny or disown someone is to break off ties with them, to have nothing to do with them, and how often do we do and say things that have nothing to do with the teaching and example of Jesus Christ? Sometimes, as we confessed a little earlier, we do this through negligence and weakness, but sometimes we do this through our own deliberate fault. We deliberately deny and disown Jesus, and yet we still want Jesus to acknowledge us before his heavenly Father. But isn’t this wanting to win the infinite reward without even paying the finite cost?
Later in the Gospel, Jesus goes on to say,
“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.”
Now this is a very hard saying indeed because Jesus is saying that he, and obedience to him is more important than anything else, even our own families. We have sayings don’t we, ‘Charity begins at home’, ‘Look after yourself and your own’. But Jesus is saying that to truly be his disciples, to fully acknowledge him in the world so that he will acknowledge and own us before the Father, we can’t think like that or act like that. If we want to win our infinite reward, the cost is putting him first, before everyone and everything else. The cost is being obedient to him, even if that means making enemies in the world, even if that means making enemies in and of our own families.
In the grand scheme of things, of course, even this is a small price to pay, a small stake to risk, when we consider the game we’re playing and reward we’ll get for winning the game. But from our own human perspective, if this is what winning the game costs us, it seems a very high price to pay indeed, whatever the reward.
And this is the problem we have. We know what we hope to win, and we know what the cost of winning is but from a human perspective, the cost can seem so high that we can’t always bring ourselves to pay it. So we don’t pay it, or at least, we don’t pay it in full. We might do our best and pay what we can, and hope that’s enough, but do we always really do even that?
Do we always do our best and pay what we can, or do we rather pay what we’re comfortable with paying, so much and no more because paying a little more, being obedient to Christ when that means we can’t do what we want to do, might make our lives a little harder than we’d like them to be? And how often to we hedge our bets? How often do we try to keep a foot in both camps so to speak, saying that we believe in God, but living as though we don’t, or at least as though we aren’t sure? And saying that we’re Christians but living as though we aren’t, or are in name only? We can, and often do, do these things through negligence and weakness but we also do these things through our own deliberate fault. And if were honest, isn’t it true that at least sometimes when we do these things deliberately and in full knowledge that what we’re doing isn’t in keeping with our belief in God nor our Christian discipleship, isn’t it because whilst we want to win our infinite reward, we really don’t want to lose out on all of the finite pleasures that might cost us?
As Christians, we’ve made our choice on how we want to play this game. We want to win the game; we want our infinite reward. So let’s play to win. Sometimes the cost of staying in the game might seem to be a bit high and we might be tempted to fold and sit this hand out, or maybe even throw in our hand and walk away from the game, but those are the times when we have to remember what we’re playing for. As Jesus put it,
“Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”
And the life we’ll find by losing our lives for his sake will be our infinite reward, an eternity of indescribable joy and happiness with God.
Amen.
Propers for the 12th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Trinity 3) 25th June 2023
Entrance Antiphon
God is the strength of his people.
In him, we his chosen live in safety.
Save us, Lord, who share in your life, and give us your blessing;
be our shepherd for ever.
The Collect
Almighty God,
you have broken the tyranny of sin,
and have sent the Spirit of your Son into our hearts,
whereby we call you Father:
give us grace to dedicate our freedom to your service,
that we and all creation may be brought to the glorious liberty of the children of God;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.
The Readings
Missal (St Mark’s)
Jeremiah 20:10-13
Psalm 69:8-10, 14, 17, 33-35
Romans 5:12-15
Matthew 10:26-33
RCL (St Gabriel’s)
Jeremiah 20:7-13
Psalm 69:8-20
Romans 6:1-11
Matthew 10:24-39
Parish Church of St Mark Chadderton 