At the beginning of the service I asked the question, “People of God, why are you here?” And you responded, “We have come to give thanks to God. We do not go to church. We are the church.” I picked that up from the Master of Sacred Theology thesis by my colleague, the Rev. Johanna Rehbaum. She, in turn, got it from someone else. It may seem like a cute little question, but it gets at a deeper point. Why are you here? There are probably as many answers as there are people here. But it is worth asking.
It has become a common belief in our culture that all religions are just different branches of the same tree. Additionally, it is a common belief that you can be a moral person without Christianity; in fact, without any religion at all. Atheists can quite easily be highly moral people.
There’s also a widespread belief that when you die you pretty much automatically go to heaven. The qualifications for going to heaven are that you were a good person and lived a good life.
So, if all of those things are effectively true, then we need truly ask ourselves, why are we here? What’s the point of it all? Indeed, the majority of people in this nation today will not think one thought about the resurrection of Jesus or Christianity at all. It’s just a secular holiday of baskets filled with candy, egg hunts, and a brunch with your family.
It is not my place to judge who goes to heaven or how you get there. That is God’s work and God’s business. I won’t pretend to know. But what I do know is that our society’s understanding of all of these things are simply wrong.
Why are you here? Because you know that there is much more going on than morality or every good person being rewarded for their good behavior by God and given eternal life.
It is Easter Sunday. We are celebrating the resurrection. You can’t get to the resurrection of Jesus without him first dying. If you can simply be a moral person on your own, and if good morality gets you to heaven, then what was the whole point of the crucifixion? I’ve never actually seen it, but I understand that in the 1960s a newspaper comic was created depicting Jesus on the cross. The caption read, “If I’m okay and you’re okay then what am I doing hanging up here?”
That’s an important realization. It also gets at why you are here today.
There is something much deeper than morality at work here. For indeed, an atheist can easily be a highly moral person. The deeper thing is the nature of evil.
Evil is not something that polite people talk about. The idea of evil is not a socially acceptable one. That is one of evil’s greatest tricks – to convince people that it doesn’t even exist. We prefer saying things like someone is acting out of ignorance, or someone is being motivated by fear. We would not call it evil. Or we define evil as some deeply and profoundly insanely immoral act. But all of this is wrong.
Evil has no problem with morality. In fact, evil loves highly moral people. Evil also loves people who are good. They fall into evil’s hands very easily. Evil loves it when people think, “I can be good and moral without Christianity, and without any religion at all.” Evil says, “Why waste your time going to worship on Easter? Wouldn’t it be time better spent relaxing, or doing something entertaining, or spending the whole day with your family. Or even better yet, why not spend Easter doing a community service project? That would be truly good indeed!”
Yes, evil loves good morals. Evil easily convinces people that morals are an end unto themselves. Evil easily convinces people that goodness is an end unto itself, and that it is the fundamental quality God is looking for in humanity.
You see, evil’s real intention is to convince you that you can live a good, virtuous, perfectly fulfilled life all on your own. That was the basic trick that we find in the Garden of Eden stories when the serpent says, “God knows that when you eat of the [forbidden fruit] your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
It is a very clever promise of fulfillment.
The truth is that we are not okay. The truth is that we all fall into evil’s traps. We are quite ready to believe that we can be our own selves apart from God. We let possessions, and earthly security, and social status become the places where we turn for fulfillment. Ironically, as we think we are free to do to as we choose and be our own selves (as long as that self doesn’t appear to hurt anybody) we actually become slaves to evil. That slavery might take the form of greed and destruction and death. There evil is obvious. Evil doesn’t care about that. But what is far more often, and what evil really likes, is a life of good morals; but brokenness from God the creator. I am certain that far more death, hurting, and destruction happens in this world in the name of good morals than by overt evil.
Easter is a grand holiday celebrating Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. But you cannot get to Easter without going through Good Friday. Evil leads to death. On Good Friday God conquers the power of evil by innocently accepting a horrific death. In so doing, God breaks evil’s grip. Evil is caught a bind of its own creating. And only God can do it. For we are too sinful, too apt to turn somewhere other than God for trust.
Today we read the Easter scene from Matthew’s gospel. It is almost comic in several regards. How strange is it to have soldiers guarding the tomb of a dead man so that the dead man’s followers, all of whom fled at his arrest, do not somehow find courage and come back and steal the corpse? And how strange is it that when the angel descends these guards – fully alive – Matthew tells us they are so afraid they become like dead men. Isn’t it funny that the men outside are dead and the man inside is not dead? Meanwhile the two women who have come to the tomb to mourn are indeed afraid, but not that afraid.
But the women are also in for a surprise. Isn’t it surprising that Matthew depicts the angel rolling back the stone and the women see that that tomb is empty? Is Jesus a ghost? But then where is the body?
The women follow the angel’s instructions and they go and tell the disciples that Jesus will meet them in Galilee. Along the way they encounter the resurrected Jesus. His first word to them is “Greetings!” It’s not a grand pronouncement or profound. It’s like a playful “Good morning!”
But then there’s Galilee itself? Why would Jesus meet the disciples in Galilee? Well, that’s where Jesus’ ministry began, so it makes sense to wrap things up there. But why would God choose to work in an uneducated, unimportant, unsophisticated place like Galilee in the first place?
These are all fun twists and turns. But in the midst of them there is a subtle thing. Unfortunately, it usually gets lost in translation. The angel’s words to the women are, “I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. He is not here, for he was raised.” Do you note the subtle difference? In Greek the crucifixion is in the perfect tense. The resurrection is the simple past tense. What that means is that while the resurrection is an event in the past, the ongoing reality, even on Easter, is that Jesus is the crucified one.
Why are you here? Because, whether you’re conscious of it or not, you know that you are a sinner. You know the power and subtlety of evil, which tells you that you can be a good and moral person without faith; and that all good people go to heaven.
It is our recognition of the power of evil that we see defeated by God in the crucifixion that then draws us authentically to God. We desire God’s love. We want God’s acceptance. We want the wholeness of being that only comes from God. We know that everything else is a lie.
Then resurrection becomes a miracle. Only when we recognize that God made us whole right from the beginning, and that God always holds us securely in that wholeness even when we wander off or fail, that we can truly love God.
Could eternal life really be all that good if you’ve spent your whole earthly life trying to discover yourself apart from God? Could eternal life really be any good at all if it is just perpetual self-determination? Can you really enjoy a resurrected life and not crave being loved by the one who created you in the first place? For if you exist and are not loved securely and absolutely then it sounds more like hell than heaven.
People of God, why are you here? Because we are sinners who easily fall into evil’s traps. But we know that our all-powerful and all-loving God has suffered death so as to defeat evil at its own game. And in so doing show us love. It is anticipation of that eternal love that we can truly rejoice and live in freedom.
Monday, April 6, 2026
April 5, 2026 Easter 6:00 Worship Matthew 28:1-10
It is early in the morning and we are probably still more asleep than awake. For the 10:30 service I have created, what I hope, is a deeply profound and inspiring sermon. But even if it does turn out to be that, at this point in the morning we are not ready for deeply profound. Let’s have a bit of fun instead. The resurrection story that Matthew tells us in his gospel is both deeply profound and also light hearted, if not even a bit silly.
Imagine yourself in the role of one of the soldiers tasked with guarding Jesus’ tomb. Would you consider it to be a cake job? After all, what could possibly happen? This man Jesus came from Galilee (of all places), along with a rag tag bunch of uncultured uneducated hicks, in order to celebrate the Passover holiday. Apparently Jesus got a bit miffed when he arrived and caused a stir in the temple. He continued to stir the pot until the authorities felt that he had to go in order to keep the peace. But Jesus kept slipping out of their hands. That is, he kept slipping out of their hands until one of his closest disciples decided to sell him out. From there Jesus was arrested, and could have been left go. However, Jesus stuck to some delusions about being the Son of God and so he was put on trial and executed. When his closest and most devoted followers saw that they all fled. This idea that they might somehow suddenly find some courage and come back and steal the body is silly.
But maybe you would have been offended to be asked to guard the tomb of Jesus. If I were a ranking soldier in charge of security assignments you can bet I wouldn’t put my best men in charge of Jesus’ tomb. What could possibly happen? As I just described, the threat is insignificant. I’d put my lowest and least soldiers on the job. So perhaps the guards felt insulted by the assignment.
So you guard the tomb knowing full well nothing would happen. Then just as the day is dawning two women who were followers of Jesus came to mourn at the tomb. Of course who cares about these women? They are no threat. They cannot overpower an armed guard! They only dare to be there because they know there is no threat to them for doing so. Whereas a man might be called a co-criminal and also arrested, women were of such low status that they didn’t matter. The two women come and you scoff at them for their sentimentality and mistaken devotion.
Then things take an unexpected turn. There is an earthquake as an bright shining angel descends from the sky and rolls back the stone. You’ve probably heard me say many times that it is not accurate to depict angels as sweet little cherubs with wings and harps. As the Bible describes them angels are fearsome warriors. They cause absolute terror in all who encounter them.
You’re so scared by the presence of the angel that you start shaking uncontrollably. Our gospel reading makes the funny observation, “for fear of [the angel] the guards shook and became like dead men.” Ha, so much for your bravery!
How conscious the guards are isn’t clear, but the story takes a bizarre twist. The angel rolls the stone back and the tomb is empty. How could that be? One dead corpse was placed in the tomb. The tomb was sealed with a massive stone. Now, the stone is rolled back and there is no body! Where did it go? What happened to it?
You as a guard are probably more afraid than ever. It was common in those days for jailers to be held so responsible for keeping their prisoners contained that if a prisoner escaped the jailor would be executed. It was a sure way to prevent corruption in prison guards.
Now what about this case? What is going to happen to you when you let the prisoner escape on your watch? Or even more embarrassing, you were charged with guarding a dead guy… and despite being dead he managed to escape! What’s your commanding officer going to think?
Even if somehow you are not punished for your failure, how are you ever going to live it down that you were so inept at guard duty that you couldn’t keep a dead guy from getting out of his tomb?
Next week in worship we’re going to learn what happens to those guards so we’ll leave them in that predicament for the moment. We’ll turn to the other playful twists in the story.
These simply lowly women followers of Jesus are certainly terrified by the angel but they don’t shake uncontrollably. Let’s be clear, this is not about women being braver than men. It’s subtle, but Matthew’s Greek text makes it clear that it is God who caused the uncontrollable fear in the guards. Meanwhile God does not cause such fear in the women. They will be the witnesses of the empty tomb who will carry the message of the resurrection to the disciples.
There is an odd thing in the angel’s instructions. He tells the women to tell the disciples that Jesus has left and that they will meet him in Galilee. Why Galilee of all places? The obvious answer is that Galilee is where Jesus began his public ministry and where they all came from. But why would God choose to do any work in Galilee at all? Galilee was no place. Nothing significant ever happened there. No one important came from there. Perhaps we could say that the Town of Victor is an important place. Oh, to be sure it does not play a major role in national history and it isn’t on the news, but it does have a high end shopping mall, a great school district, nice neighborhoods, many fine homes, some excellent golf courses, and many things to offer. Whether Victor gets national attention or not, it is still a place of significance. How about the Town of Galen, New York? Is that anywhere? Do you even know where Galen is? The heart of Galen is the Village of Clyde. But who cares about it? So what? There’s no shopping, no culture. The schools are probably adequate but nothing special. If the Town of Victor is ‘somewhere’ then the Town of Galen is ‘nowhere.’ It would be as if Jesus decided to begin his ministry in Galen. And now after the resurrection he’s going to meet his disciples there again.
God works in mysterious and unpredictable ways. Burly soldiers outside a tomb are scared to the point of being like dead men. A stone is rolled back and instead of a corpse we find the tomb empty. Women are tasked with heading to the middle of nowhere to begin the world-changing ministry of Christianity.
And with one more playful twist, the women meet the resurrected Jesus on their way to meet the disciples. They are able to touch him. They take hold of his feet. He is no ghost. Exactly how he, a solid body, got out of that stone-sealed tomb is a mystery.
Even Jesus greeting to these women is playful. He does not start off with some grand theological proclamation. He simply says, “Greetings!” Or it could be translated as, “Hi!” Or, “Good morning!” It’s playful. It’s familiar. It’s the way friends would causally greet each other. Jesus repeats to the women what the angel said – tell the disciples to meet him in Galilee.
The resurrection of Jesus turns many things on its head. It’s playful, warm, and perhaps even a little silly. I imagine Matthew smiling as he wrote it.
We too are reminded that the task of following the resurrected Jesus will involve playfulness, warmth, and even some silliness. Oh sure, there are plenty of hardships. Many things will not go well. Many things will have to be endured. But it is not all serious somber work. It is God’s delight to invite us to be his messengers. Though we may not be told to travel to Galilee to meet the resurrected Jesus, we are sent out to let others know of God’s resurrection triumph. Death is defeated. It is not the end. So the true celebration can now begin.
Imagine yourself in the role of one of the soldiers tasked with guarding Jesus’ tomb. Would you consider it to be a cake job? After all, what could possibly happen? This man Jesus came from Galilee (of all places), along with a rag tag bunch of uncultured uneducated hicks, in order to celebrate the Passover holiday. Apparently Jesus got a bit miffed when he arrived and caused a stir in the temple. He continued to stir the pot until the authorities felt that he had to go in order to keep the peace. But Jesus kept slipping out of their hands. That is, he kept slipping out of their hands until one of his closest disciples decided to sell him out. From there Jesus was arrested, and could have been left go. However, Jesus stuck to some delusions about being the Son of God and so he was put on trial and executed. When his closest and most devoted followers saw that they all fled. This idea that they might somehow suddenly find some courage and come back and steal the body is silly.
But maybe you would have been offended to be asked to guard the tomb of Jesus. If I were a ranking soldier in charge of security assignments you can bet I wouldn’t put my best men in charge of Jesus’ tomb. What could possibly happen? As I just described, the threat is insignificant. I’d put my lowest and least soldiers on the job. So perhaps the guards felt insulted by the assignment.
So you guard the tomb knowing full well nothing would happen. Then just as the day is dawning two women who were followers of Jesus came to mourn at the tomb. Of course who cares about these women? They are no threat. They cannot overpower an armed guard! They only dare to be there because they know there is no threat to them for doing so. Whereas a man might be called a co-criminal and also arrested, women were of such low status that they didn’t matter. The two women come and you scoff at them for their sentimentality and mistaken devotion.
Then things take an unexpected turn. There is an earthquake as an bright shining angel descends from the sky and rolls back the stone. You’ve probably heard me say many times that it is not accurate to depict angels as sweet little cherubs with wings and harps. As the Bible describes them angels are fearsome warriors. They cause absolute terror in all who encounter them.
You’re so scared by the presence of the angel that you start shaking uncontrollably. Our gospel reading makes the funny observation, “for fear of [the angel] the guards shook and became like dead men.” Ha, so much for your bravery!
How conscious the guards are isn’t clear, but the story takes a bizarre twist. The angel rolls the stone back and the tomb is empty. How could that be? One dead corpse was placed in the tomb. The tomb was sealed with a massive stone. Now, the stone is rolled back and there is no body! Where did it go? What happened to it?
You as a guard are probably more afraid than ever. It was common in those days for jailers to be held so responsible for keeping their prisoners contained that if a prisoner escaped the jailor would be executed. It was a sure way to prevent corruption in prison guards.
Now what about this case? What is going to happen to you when you let the prisoner escape on your watch? Or even more embarrassing, you were charged with guarding a dead guy… and despite being dead he managed to escape! What’s your commanding officer going to think?
Even if somehow you are not punished for your failure, how are you ever going to live it down that you were so inept at guard duty that you couldn’t keep a dead guy from getting out of his tomb?
Next week in worship we’re going to learn what happens to those guards so we’ll leave them in that predicament for the moment. We’ll turn to the other playful twists in the story.
These simply lowly women followers of Jesus are certainly terrified by the angel but they don’t shake uncontrollably. Let’s be clear, this is not about women being braver than men. It’s subtle, but Matthew’s Greek text makes it clear that it is God who caused the uncontrollable fear in the guards. Meanwhile God does not cause such fear in the women. They will be the witnesses of the empty tomb who will carry the message of the resurrection to the disciples.
There is an odd thing in the angel’s instructions. He tells the women to tell the disciples that Jesus has left and that they will meet him in Galilee. Why Galilee of all places? The obvious answer is that Galilee is where Jesus began his public ministry and where they all came from. But why would God choose to do any work in Galilee at all? Galilee was no place. Nothing significant ever happened there. No one important came from there. Perhaps we could say that the Town of Victor is an important place. Oh, to be sure it does not play a major role in national history and it isn’t on the news, but it does have a high end shopping mall, a great school district, nice neighborhoods, many fine homes, some excellent golf courses, and many things to offer. Whether Victor gets national attention or not, it is still a place of significance. How about the Town of Galen, New York? Is that anywhere? Do you even know where Galen is? The heart of Galen is the Village of Clyde. But who cares about it? So what? There’s no shopping, no culture. The schools are probably adequate but nothing special. If the Town of Victor is ‘somewhere’ then the Town of Galen is ‘nowhere.’ It would be as if Jesus decided to begin his ministry in Galen. And now after the resurrection he’s going to meet his disciples there again.
God works in mysterious and unpredictable ways. Burly soldiers outside a tomb are scared to the point of being like dead men. A stone is rolled back and instead of a corpse we find the tomb empty. Women are tasked with heading to the middle of nowhere to begin the world-changing ministry of Christianity.
And with one more playful twist, the women meet the resurrected Jesus on their way to meet the disciples. They are able to touch him. They take hold of his feet. He is no ghost. Exactly how he, a solid body, got out of that stone-sealed tomb is a mystery.
Even Jesus greeting to these women is playful. He does not start off with some grand theological proclamation. He simply says, “Greetings!” Or it could be translated as, “Hi!” Or, “Good morning!” It’s playful. It’s familiar. It’s the way friends would causally greet each other. Jesus repeats to the women what the angel said – tell the disciples to meet him in Galilee.
The resurrection of Jesus turns many things on its head. It’s playful, warm, and perhaps even a little silly. I imagine Matthew smiling as he wrote it.
We too are reminded that the task of following the resurrected Jesus will involve playfulness, warmth, and even some silliness. Oh sure, there are plenty of hardships. Many things will not go well. Many things will have to be endured. But it is not all serious somber work. It is God’s delight to invite us to be his messengers. Though we may not be told to travel to Galilee to meet the resurrected Jesus, we are sent out to let others know of God’s resurrection triumph. Death is defeated. It is not the end. So the true celebration can now begin.
April 3, 2026 Good Friday Matthew 27
You may or may not be familiar with what is called, “self determination theory.” Whether you’re familiar with it or not, the title is pretty self-explanatory. It is the psychological study of what gives a person’s life a sense of purpose and meaning. There are three main tenants. One, is the idea of autonomy. You have freedom to do and to choose as you wish. Two, is the idea of competence. You develop skills and become good at something. Being good at something gives you a sense of value. And three is relationships. None of us lives as an individual. We all rely upon others and the society at large. If no one likes us, or said differently – if everyone hates us – it impacts our sense of self. We want to fit in. We want to have friends. Having a supportive community around us sends us the message that we are likeable and good.
Self determination theory can be helpful for human resource departments, and mid-level managers who are interested in making sure employees feel like they are valued and being treated well. You can easily imagine that you’ll work more faithfully and diligently for an employer who helps you to feel good about yourself than you would for an employer who makes you feel like you are a disposable commodity who is to be used up and then discarded.
In the hands of a competent and caring manager self determination theory can help him or her assign tasks based upon what they know will be most meaningful to any given employee or team.
Self determination theory can also be seen as a tool to help youth and young adults plot out a course for their lives that will be fulfilling. It can help them match their innate abilities with society’s needs in a way that everyone benefits.
A problem with self determination theory is that it leaves no place for God. Or perhaps I should say that it would consider God and religion as just one of many factors that should be considered in giving a person a meaningful life. The idea would be that if religious beliefs and practices help to fulfill you then you should be allowed to have them without judgment. But similarly, if you do not find religion helpful for self determination, then you should be free to not do it and feel no social pressure for your self-fulfilling choices.
Self determination theory runs into catastrophic problems if you look at it from the point of view of Christian theology. Consider the Bible’s storyline. In Genesis chapter 1 we find a creation story. God creates the universe in six days and puts it in order. All is well. In Genesis chapter 2 we find a different creation story. God creates a garden and puts a man and woman in it. All is well.
In Genesis chapter 3 we find that the man and woman make history’s first experiment of self determination theory. They decide they can find self fulfillment on their own terms.
Consider this. There are 1189 chapters in the Bible. Things are going well for humanity for the first two chapters. The remaining 1187 chapters are all about what a hopeless mess humans are! Every time we put self determination theory into practice we make a mess of things!
Consider the Good Friday stories about Jesus from the point of view of self determination theory.
Remember that one of the tenants of self determination theory is relationships. Well, Jesus’ twelve closest followers all desert him when he is arrested. One of them, Judas, actually sold him out for cash! The Jewish leaders don’t want him. They determine he should be put to death. They hand him over to Pilate. Pilate, the government authority, questions Jesus but Jesus gives no answer. Pilate decides to let the crowds determine Jesus’ fate. He gives them the choice between Barabbas and Jesus. The crowds choose Barabbas. So Jesus is rejected by them as well. The soldiers mock Jesus and beat him. Jesus is getting no fuzzy relationship feelings there. Certainly the soldiers who nailed him to the cross were against him. And then, according to Matthew’s gospel, even the two criminals crucified with him also taught him. Jesus can’t even find relationship among the criminal element.
Jesus will get nothing in the way of relationships for self determination theory.
How about the competence of Jesus? What was he good at? Shouldn’t you find fulfillment by doing what you are good at? Jesus can preach, he can heal, he can perform miracles, he can bring people back to life. Yet he does none of those things in his own self-interest. Jesus will get nothing by exercising his competence for self determination theory.
Then the third tenant of self determination theory, autonomy. Can Jesus not do what he wants? Does he not have the power to do as he wants, to chart his own destiny according to his own desires for prosperity and longevity? Do you not find self fulfillment by doing what you want in life?
Remember what Jesus says when he is arrested at Gethsemane? One of his disciples takes out a sword and cuts off the ear of the high priest’s slave. Jesus says, “Put your sword back into its place; for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.” And then he says something very interesting, “Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will send me more than twelve legions of angels?” Twelve legions of angels would be an army of 72,000. At the time of Jesus that would probably have been bigger than the entire Roman army. Rome could have thrown all of its might against Jesus, and if Jesus had wished to exercise his autonomy he could have commanded forces to destroy them all.
Jesus will gets nothing for exercising his autonomy from self determination theory.
What is going on with this? It’s it absolutely ironic that the exact thing our society, our culture, and our psychological experts say is the path to self-fulfillment is entirely opposite what Jesus does and what our faith teaches?
This is one of the deep mysteries of our faith.
Here is the key. I do not want to overtly condemn self determination theory. I do not want to suggest people will find fulfillment by being miserable and friendless. But in and of itself it is a path to death and destruction; not only of the self but of society as a whole. We have too many people running around consuming far too much and accomplishing nothing but being exhausted and wasteful.
And ultimately, self determination theory cannot lead to resurrection.
Jesus did the exact opposite of self determination theory for our sake and out of love for us. Jesus knows how tempting that theory’s tenants are for our lives. He knows that we will fall into its traps. And while he does not condemn it outright, he reminds us that it is not an end unto itself.
Love of God, and knowing that God alone creates us, loves us, and values us is what makes us fully alive.
So let us not be afraid to die to the ways of this world so as to ultimately live the promise of the resurrection.
Self determination theory can be helpful for human resource departments, and mid-level managers who are interested in making sure employees feel like they are valued and being treated well. You can easily imagine that you’ll work more faithfully and diligently for an employer who helps you to feel good about yourself than you would for an employer who makes you feel like you are a disposable commodity who is to be used up and then discarded.
In the hands of a competent and caring manager self determination theory can help him or her assign tasks based upon what they know will be most meaningful to any given employee or team.
Self determination theory can also be seen as a tool to help youth and young adults plot out a course for their lives that will be fulfilling. It can help them match their innate abilities with society’s needs in a way that everyone benefits.
A problem with self determination theory is that it leaves no place for God. Or perhaps I should say that it would consider God and religion as just one of many factors that should be considered in giving a person a meaningful life. The idea would be that if religious beliefs and practices help to fulfill you then you should be allowed to have them without judgment. But similarly, if you do not find religion helpful for self determination, then you should be free to not do it and feel no social pressure for your self-fulfilling choices.
Self determination theory runs into catastrophic problems if you look at it from the point of view of Christian theology. Consider the Bible’s storyline. In Genesis chapter 1 we find a creation story. God creates the universe in six days and puts it in order. All is well. In Genesis chapter 2 we find a different creation story. God creates a garden and puts a man and woman in it. All is well.
In Genesis chapter 3 we find that the man and woman make history’s first experiment of self determination theory. They decide they can find self fulfillment on their own terms.
Consider this. There are 1189 chapters in the Bible. Things are going well for humanity for the first two chapters. The remaining 1187 chapters are all about what a hopeless mess humans are! Every time we put self determination theory into practice we make a mess of things!
Consider the Good Friday stories about Jesus from the point of view of self determination theory.
Remember that one of the tenants of self determination theory is relationships. Well, Jesus’ twelve closest followers all desert him when he is arrested. One of them, Judas, actually sold him out for cash! The Jewish leaders don’t want him. They determine he should be put to death. They hand him over to Pilate. Pilate, the government authority, questions Jesus but Jesus gives no answer. Pilate decides to let the crowds determine Jesus’ fate. He gives them the choice between Barabbas and Jesus. The crowds choose Barabbas. So Jesus is rejected by them as well. The soldiers mock Jesus and beat him. Jesus is getting no fuzzy relationship feelings there. Certainly the soldiers who nailed him to the cross were against him. And then, according to Matthew’s gospel, even the two criminals crucified with him also taught him. Jesus can’t even find relationship among the criminal element.
Jesus will get nothing in the way of relationships for self determination theory.
How about the competence of Jesus? What was he good at? Shouldn’t you find fulfillment by doing what you are good at? Jesus can preach, he can heal, he can perform miracles, he can bring people back to life. Yet he does none of those things in his own self-interest. Jesus will get nothing by exercising his competence for self determination theory.
Then the third tenant of self determination theory, autonomy. Can Jesus not do what he wants? Does he not have the power to do as he wants, to chart his own destiny according to his own desires for prosperity and longevity? Do you not find self fulfillment by doing what you want in life?
Remember what Jesus says when he is arrested at Gethsemane? One of his disciples takes out a sword and cuts off the ear of the high priest’s slave. Jesus says, “Put your sword back into its place; for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.” And then he says something very interesting, “Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will send me more than twelve legions of angels?” Twelve legions of angels would be an army of 72,000. At the time of Jesus that would probably have been bigger than the entire Roman army. Rome could have thrown all of its might against Jesus, and if Jesus had wished to exercise his autonomy he could have commanded forces to destroy them all.
Jesus will gets nothing for exercising his autonomy from self determination theory.
What is going on with this? It’s it absolutely ironic that the exact thing our society, our culture, and our psychological experts say is the path to self-fulfillment is entirely opposite what Jesus does and what our faith teaches?
This is one of the deep mysteries of our faith.
Here is the key. I do not want to overtly condemn self determination theory. I do not want to suggest people will find fulfillment by being miserable and friendless. But in and of itself it is a path to death and destruction; not only of the self but of society as a whole. We have too many people running around consuming far too much and accomplishing nothing but being exhausted and wasteful.
And ultimately, self determination theory cannot lead to resurrection.
Jesus did the exact opposite of self determination theory for our sake and out of love for us. Jesus knows how tempting that theory’s tenants are for our lives. He knows that we will fall into its traps. And while he does not condemn it outright, he reminds us that it is not an end unto itself.
Love of God, and knowing that God alone creates us, loves us, and values us is what makes us fully alive.
So let us not be afraid to die to the ways of this world so as to ultimately live the promise of the resurrection.
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