Proper 23
October 15, 2006

Follow the Drinking Gourd
by Don Hoffman


Mark 10:17-31



We were coming home from a tour of the Holy Land. Our plane had

landed at Kennedy Airport in New York, and the five of us had set off

on what was nearly the last leg of the journey. It was the middle of

the night, but we had dozed on the plane. I drove south and we

dropped one person off at Falls Church, a suburb of Washington, D. C.

From there we four remaining would go west to Tennessee. "Just get

back on the beltway," we were told, "and it's only a couple of miles

to the I-66 exit. You can't miss it." And they gave us a big

Rand-McNally mapbook, with maps for all fifty states plus all the

provinces of Canada. There was even a two-page map of Washington, D. C.



I was tired of driving, so I got into the back seat and closed my

eyes. Tooney took over as the driver. It was nearly dawn. I tried to

sleep, but I couldn't. A light kept shining in my eyes. Finally, I

said, very groggy, "Why is the sun rising in front of us?"



"Uh, oh," said Tooney. Suddenly we were all awake, and realizing that

we were driving the wrong way, the long way, around the D. C.

beltway. We had a big mapbook with all the maps we could ever need.

But we lacked one thing, a sense of direction. A compass. The ability

to tell west from east.



There was another time our family set out to drive across the country

for my parents' golden wedding anniversary. Since it was a long drive

we packed all sorts of things, emergency supplies, and blankets, and

an ice chest for our lunches, and toys for the kids, and a water jug.

And a book of maps, of course. But it turned out that we lacked one

thing, and sure enough, there it was lying on the bed when we got

back home: the big hanging bag with our fancy Sunday clothes for the

party.



A rich man confronts Jesus: "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit

eternal life?" It is obvious that he's aware that something is

lacking in his life. It wasn't a lack of rules. Bible scholars tell

us there were 613 commandments to be followed, plus interpretations

and commentaries. It wasn't a lack of obedience to the rules. The man

is confident he has kept the commandments from childhood. And it

seems that it wasn't a lack of possessions. He had lots of them:

money, perhaps, or acres of land, or a large inventory in the

business. But he knew he lacked something. He knew he needed

something.



Jesus sees the same lack in this man. "Go, and sell everything you

have, and give to the poor (because treasures in heaven are more

important than treasures on earth) and come, follow me."



But he can't do it. He can't give up his possessions. We speak of

possessions as things we own, but sometimes our possessions possess

us. And we become possessed. Controlled. Handicapped. The rich man

needs just one thing, but to get it he has to give away everything

else. "Come, follow me," Jesus says. But he can't. He can't leave his

belongings behind.



I've told you before that being Christian, having faith, means being

able to leave home without taking the furniture along. Here was

someone with too much furniture. He couldn't leave it behind. He was

unwilling to trade it for the one thing he needed.



Recently I've had it pointed out to me that this is one of Mark's

healing stories. This man is asking to be healed by Jesus. Of course

he doesn't get healed, because he won't swallow the pill. "You lack

one thing." Jesus diagnoses this as a deficiency disease. The man is

lacking some essential nutrient, some important vitamin or mineral.



You remember how, three centuries ago, sailors on long sea voyages

would start to show bruises on their skin. Their gums would go soft.

Their hair and teeth would fall out. Their mucous membranes would

start to bleed. They would become depressed, immobile, and eventually

die. It was called scurvy.



A captain in the British Royal Navy, James Lind was the one who first

proved it could be treated with citrus fruit, and the British sailors

were soon called "limeys" because their ships carried barrels of

lemon or lime juice, and the officers would insist that everyone

drink it. The one thing the sailors lacked was ascorbic acid, vitamin

C, and the citrus juice provided that one thing, and cured or

prevented the deficiency disease.



Every human being who has ever lived has a lack. Every one of us has

a deficiency  disease, lacking the minimum daily requirement of that

one essential nutrient. And every one of us is seeking that nutrient.

Some are seeking carelessly and without much interest. Some are

seeking passionately, eagerly. Some have given up hope. Some are

telling themselves they have it, clutching jealously onto one

substitute or another, not letting themselves become aware that it is

only a placebo. And some are kneeling before the Savior, "Tell me

what I must do to inherit eternal life."



I'm about to change the image here. Our other scripture this morning

is about the word of God, living, active, sharper than a sword. Some

people think the word of God means the Bible, although the Bible

itself suggests that Jesus is the word of God. Some people think they

have a road map to God, while other people are using a compass. But

maps can go out of date so easily. In two thousand years the terrain

might change; old towns might disappear, new communities arise, new

roads constructed and old bridges washed out. But the compass

direction never changes. You might have to detour, but it doesn't

matter, because the compass will get you back on course. We're better

off if the word of God is a person, not a book, a compass, not a map.



So Jesus is telling each person kneeling before him: I am your

compass. Throw away everything that might hold you back and come,

follow me, your compass. This one thing you lack, a sense of

direction. The one essential nutrient: a life oriented on Jesus

Christ.



*[A party of mountain-climbers were hopelessly lost in the Alps. One

of them studied the map for some time, turning it up and down,

sighting on distant landmarks.



   Finally he said, "Okay, see that big mountain over there?"



   "Yes," said the others eagerly.



   "Well, according to the map, we're standing on top of it."



I don't see why it has to be mountain-climbers. It fits all of us.]*

We need a sense of direction. We need to know the way to eternal

life. We need a divine compass. And Jesus tells us that he is that

compass, that we should follow him. Throw out everything that might

hold us back. Give away all the furniture that keeps us at home.  For

some it is money, stocks, bonds, real estate; for some it is drugs,

for some it is social position, for some apparently it's even family.

One time Jesus even says, If your hand is preventing you from

following me, cut it off! If your eye is preventing you from

following me, gouge it out! Whatever holds us back. Whatever keeps us

from the one thing we need. Give it all up, throw it away, and face

to the divine north.



During the slavery days a hundred fifty years ago there was a dock

builder who traveled down the Mississippi, contracting with the

plantation owners to build a dock for each plantation with the help

of the local slaves. But while they worked he would teach the slaves

how to escape and use the underground railroad to go north to

freedom. He couldn't give them maps, and many of them couldn't read

to use the maps. But he embodied the directions in a song, "Follow

the Drinking Gourd." The drinking gourd, of course, was the Big

Dipper, a constellation of stars in the sky. As the earth turns, the

Drinking Gourd in the sky seems to turn, too, but the last two stars

in the lip of the dipper always point to the North Star. Whoever

follows the drinking gourd is going north. North away from slavery

toward freedom.



       Think I heard the angels say,

       Follow the Drinking Gourd,

       Stars in the heaven gonna show you the way.

       Follow the Drinking Gourd.



       Follow the river till the clouds roll by,

       Follow the Drinking Gourd.

       Keep on moving, better look to the sky.

       Follow the Drinking Gourd.



       There's a good day coming and it won't be long.

       Follow the Drinking Gourd.

       All God's children gonna sing this song:

       Follow the Drinking Gourd.



Not that slaves have all that much, but the little they had was left

behind. Nothing could be allowed to interfere with their goal. There

was one precious thing they lacked, freedom, and they would follow

their heavenly compass till they reached their true home. And there

is one thing we all lack, our one essential vitamin, the God-shaped

hole in each one of us. Forget all the stuff that lies behind us.

Strain forward toward what lies ahead. Whatever stock market gains

you had, count them as loss because of Christ. Let's follow our

heavenly compass until we reach our goal.



       Follow the Drinking Gourd,

       Follow the Drinking Gourd,

       Keep on traveling that muddy road to freedom!

       Follow the Drinking Gourd.

(Comments to Don at crestnch@televar.com.)
Creston Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Creston, WA, USA