You gotta love a good bargain! A real bargain… I mean who doesn’t want a decent bargain, really…some people even refer to themselves as being “BARGAIN HUNTERS.” (And, they mean it!)
We live in a society that loves “bargains.” Everybody loves a real deal. “Bargain hunters “seem to be everywhere you turn. No one wants to pay “full price” for anything.
That’s why –
People go to garage sales and yard sales and rummage sales…
People search “the classified ads…”
People wait for the sales in our local stores…
People wait for Memorial Day – Fourth of July – Labor Day Sales… People long for the Black Friday sales…to come.
People wait for the annual “Tax Free Weekend…” People check out the MARKET PLACE on Facebook…
Anything to save a few bucks, right?
Everyone seems to love a good bargain
I am reminded of a lady she was brand new in a community (and) was driving down the streets to get the lay of the land. She saw a beauty salon with $7 haircuts advertised. She mused to herself, “How can the other shops compete with a $7 haircut?”
Down the block she saw “another salon” whose ad read, “We repair all those $7 haircuts.” It seems what started out as a deal, really wasn’t and became an “ordeal.”
Bargaining sometimes carries the idea of “bartering, negotiating, or haggling.”
Just like buying a car no one ever wants to pay “the sticker price.”
Although we know the vehicle is already “marked up tremendously,” we feel we have a bargain when we negotiate the price down and hear the car salesperson say “we are doing this JUST FOR YOU.”
Yea, sure you are, but it makes us “feel good” because we think we have saved some money and accomplished something big.
Sometimes we search for bargains in our spiritual life, as well. And THAT, is the case in our Gospel text for today.
There are times in our spiritual lives when we want all the blessings of heaven – but with the least amount of sacrifice possible.
Cheap Grace is it called!
People really do “want to know:” “What is the LEAST AMOUNT that I have to DO… and still get into heaven?”
What do I have to do – to just SQUEAK by? Are there MINIMUMS?
When it comes to our Christian journey and to our lives of faith – there are folks still looking for a BARGAIN.
Just last weekend ‘at the door,’ there was “this guy” who said, I do not ever go to church, I do watch it on TV, that counts for something, right?
This “kind of attitude” has been around for thousands of years, including during the time when Jesus walked this earth.
People want the easy way. The least commitment possible.
The Gospel Writer LUKE tells us in 9:51, “AS THE TIME APPROACHED FOR HIM TO BE TAKEN UP TO HEAVEN, JESUS RESOLUTELY SET OUT FOR JERUSALEM.”
Now Jerusalem was the city and the place where Jesus would ultimately die on the cross.
So when the scripture tells us he was going to Jerusalem “it is saying” Jesus was choosing to go to the place where he would give up his life as a ransom for all.
Jesus refused to take any SHORTCUTS… he refused to look for a BARGAIN- the easy way out…he KNEW what he had to do…and he did it.
Most people had no clue that Jesus was “going to Jerusalem” to give up his life.
For them Jesus was just a miracle worker, a healer, a powerful teacher and preacher…and some said he was “a prophet.”
They thought he was someone who would lead them out of oppression and into freedom.
So “thousands of people” followed him for what he COULD DO for them…that’s “all” they wanted.
The scripture says, “Great crowds were traveling with him.” But the numbers were not what was important …what mattered was “their commitment.”
Jesus actually PAUSES to thin out this massive crowd. His method of doing this was to use “several images and parables” to drive home the point that in order “to be a follower” people needed to be 100% committed to him. There is no other way.
It’s all or nothing…there is no bargaining possible…it is all or nothing…it’s about commitment…commitment of the heart. There is “no cheap grace.”
As for the guy at the door…I hope he comes back…
Amen.