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Pentecost 14 -- Page 209, September 17, 2000
One Free Choice
Proverbs 1:20-33
Ps 19
James 3:1-12
Mark 8:27-38
"Self-actualized" emerged in the past generation as an ideal and term of praise. It conjures up the image of a person who "keeps his head when all around are losing theirs," who "marches to the beat of a different drummer," who belies the obvious fact that most of what human beings do is conditioned from beyond themselves. Is this idea of self-actualization merely an expression of human arrogance, or is it a yearning for a real possibility?
The introduction to the proverbs gives up in advance on our ability to make wise choices because we are so conditioned by willful ignorance, waywardness and complacency.
James warns that the tongue is conditioned from beyond the kingdom of God and is certainly beyond the control of its owner. Yet he counsels control.
The Psalmist praises an environment obedient to God within which the human being is conditioned.
Jesus lives and teaches a life conditioned solely by obedience and self-sacrifice.
Martin Luther thought of the human will as a horse with a rider. The rider is either Christ or Satan. That is how self-actualized he thought people could be. B. F. Skinner, too, would snort at the notion. But maybe there is more to it than just existentialism. Maybe there are a few times and a few ways that we can actually define ourselves over against the world, over against our environment, even over against our fallen natures.
"He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.'" (Mark 8:34) Taking up the cross is the negation of all claims on our lives other than the claim of Christ. It is the setting of one's face, as of flint, toward the reign of God. It is an act of will on our part and a bestowal of grace on God's part. It is perhaps the only act available to humanity that could claim the term "self-actualization." Thank you, brother Martin (Luther).
Victor Frankl died on September 14, three years ago at age 92. In the Nazi concentration camp he found within himself that which was not conditioned by the world. He survived to tell the world that self-actualization is a spiritual gift not an assertion of superiority. Hitler trusted in the latter and died. Frankl believed in the former and lived. Jesus offers, not just to his disciples but to the whole multitude, a life that has meaning, to be his follower. In offering this life to all and sundry, Jesus implies that his listeners have the power to make that choice. It is a self-actualizing choice made possible by the grace of God. It is perhaps our only access to unassailable value, to be conditioned by the cross rather than the world.
Roland McGregor, Pastor
Asbury United Methodist Church, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
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