Finish this saying: “Finders ___________. Losers ___________.” The blanks of course should read: “Finders keepers. Losers weepers.” This traditional saying means that if you find something like a $20 bill on the street, you get to keep it. And if you were the one to lose that $20, well, too bad for you. You can cry about it, but because of your carelessness, you don’t deserve to get back what you lost. This is often how our cutthroat world thinks. If you want to get ahead in life, the world says, you better pay attention, work hard, and take all you can get, wherever you can get it.
As usual, Jesus turns worldly wisdom on its head. He says: “Finders weepers. Losers keepers.” What exactly does that mean? Let’s find out as we listen to the words of Jesus. (Read the text.)
Our sermon text is a continuation of our Gospel lessons from the last couple of Sundays. We heard Jesus urge his disciples to pray for God to send willing preachers to announce the message of salvation. He then pointed to those very same disciples and said: “Now go! I am sending YOU to preach the good news of salvation. And with the power I give you, heal the sick. Raise the dead. Proclaim peace.”
How do you think your life would change if Jesus gave you the ability to heal the sick? Don’t you suppose you would become an instant celebrity as you give grandpas and grandmas the strength to walk again without a cane, as you fix a newborn’s heart and cure the mother of four from her cancer? If you could do such miracles, would you ever have to buy a meal in this town again? Wouldn’t the people you help be grateful to you?
Like preschoolers who can’t wait to try out new playground equipment, the disciples must have been eager to rush off and try out their newfound ability of being able to heal the sick and preach peace. But Jesus said to them: “Hang on a second, there’s more you need to know. Some people are going to reject you for preaching that forgiveness comes only through faith in me. They may even persecute you for teaching that there is a definite right and a definite wrong way to live. Even your own family might turn their back on you.” That’s what Jesus meant when he said: “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35 For I have come to turn ‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother…a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’” (Matthew 10:34-36)
“I did not come to bring peace on earth,” Jesus said. But how does that square with how the prophet Isaiah called Jesus the Messiah the “Prince of peace” (Is. 9:6)? Or how the angels outside of Bethlehem at Jesus’ birth were moved to sing: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests” (Luke 2:14)? And didn’t Jesus himself once say to his disciples: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you…Do not let your hearts be troubled…” (Jn. 14:27)? What does Jesus now mean when he says: “I did not come to bring peace, but a sword” (Matthew 10:34)?
To be sure, Jesus does give us peace. He gives us peace from a guilty conscience by declaring our sins forgiven. Jesus gives us peace as we face death, for we know that thanks to his resurrection, death will not be the end of us either. But we will only enjoy this peace when we put our trust in Jesus and no one and nothing else. Those who think that they are decent people already and don’t need Jesus will not enjoy this peace. Neither will those who insist that following Mohamad’s and Buddha’s teachings are also acceptable ways to get into heaven. They aren’t, says Jesus.
Nor will we always enjoy peace now when we lovingly rebuke family members for not walking in the path of God’s Word. Grown children may tell us to mind our own business when we point out that their live-in arrangement is not God-pleasing. Extended family might accuse us of being narrowminded when we refuse to worship at their churches where false doctrine is taught. But Jesus wants us to understand that following him does not mean peace at all costs. It means following him at any cost—even at the cost of losing friendships. Today Jesus calls us to be faithful followers, not fence sitters. (Eric Roecker)
That was also the point of Jesus’ enigmatic saying: “Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.” (Matthew 10:39) Finders weepers. Losers keepers. If I would rather keep good relations with the people around me than follow Jesus, I may find acceptance and a temporal peace. But I will lose eternal life, and in the end will be the one weeping. If instead I lose my reputation, my job, my family relationships all because I refuse to deny Jesus and his Word, I will nevertheless keep my life…for eternity. Finders weepers. Losers keepers.
Love Jesus more than I love my family? Does this sound extreme? Not when you consider how Jesus is the source of life, both now and into eternity. When a doctor tells her patient that he has to go in for dialysis three times every week, no one says the doctor is being harsh. She is simply stating the facts. The patient MUST go in for these treatments or he will die. That patient now has a new priority. He must “love” the dialysis machine more than anyone or anything else on the day of the dialysis appointment. No matter how hard his family or friends plead with him to attend a baseball game or party or golf outing instead, he must put his dialysis treatment first. Even if his own daughter schedules her wedding on the day and time of his needed dialysis, he must beat down his desire to skip the treatment and attend the wedding. Of course he’d rather be at the wedding with his family than being tethered to a dialysis machine, but it is a matter of life and death. (Eric Roecker - adapted) So it is with Jesus. Only tethered to him do we have eternal life and the certainty of an unending joy. Love him more than you love anyone or anything else.
Jesus himself knows how difficult and painful it can be to put God before everything and everyone else. If he just would have toned down his sermons, the chief priests wouldn’t have come after him. If he would have not pointed out the greed of the pharisees, they wouldn’t have hated him so much. But Jesus was not swayed by their rejection and the pain he would endure on the cross as a result. He did not give in to the temptation to take the easy route. He always loved God first. He did this so that you and I would get the credit for what he did—so that our divine report card would come back with straight A’s, so that our heavenly performance review would show only “stellar and exemplary work.” (Joel Vogel – adapted)
If the disciples hesitated to go out into the mission field after Jesus spoke these words about a sword rather than peace, we don’t hear of it. It seems that they went out and boldly preached God’s Word. Oh sure, they did stumble along the way. Peter denied knowing Jesus because he didn’t want to face the ridicule of a servant girl, and more to the point, of being identified with Jesus so that he would suffer execution too. But when he was brought to repentance, and when the Holy Spirit filled him on the day of Pentecost, Peter was for the most part a bold witness—not caring what others thought of his message. Peter preached courageously, proclaiming Jesus to be the only way to heaven, warning against sexual immorality, teaching husbands and wives their proper roles in marriage, urging slaves to submit to their masters. Peter preached the whole council of God to a world that didn’t want to hear it because he cared about his listeners and knew that without faith in Jesus, they would not enjoy true peace.
None of us may be as bold as the apostles. We may not travel the world to start churches as they did. But did you notice what else Jesus said in our text? He said to his disciples: “Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. 41 Whoever welcomes a prophet as a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward... 42 And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.” (Matthew 10:40-42)
Supporting God’s work like when you encourage your pastor and your Early Learning Center staff, taking care of your family because you want to show them the love of Jesus, even giving a cup of water to a fellow believer—Jesus counts all this as if you travelled around the world starting churches like the apostles did!
Sure, the world might see you as a loser if you don’t become famous or rich, but Jesus says that such “losers” will be the “keepers.” For those who stay tethered to Jesus and serve him faithfully and humbly, putting him before everyone else—it’s such people who will get to keep their lives forever. May we remain among those faithful believers. Amen.
SERMON NOTES
When Jesus sent his disciples out, he also gave them the ability to heal the sick and even raise the dead. And although they were also to proclaim the peace of forgiveness, what warning did Jesus give them?
How could Jesus, the Prince of peace say that he did not come to bring peace but a sword?
What exactly did Jesus mean when he said: “Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 10:39)?
Love Jesus more than I love my family? Why is that like a patient “loving” his dialysis machine more than anything else?
Although we may not be as bold as the apostles, how can we still be just like them in regard to our work and in regard to the “reward” God promises?
