May 16, 2010 | 8:00 a.m.

Fortune-tellers, Earthquakes, and Belief

Jocelyn C. Cadwallader
Pastoral Resident, Fourth Presbyterian Church

Psalm 90:1–5
John 17:20–26
Acts 16:16–34

“And let everyone who hears say, ‘Come.’ And let everyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift.

Revelation 22:17 (NRSV)

The deer came into the field.
I saw her peaceful face and heard the shuffle of her breath.
She was sweetened by merriment and not afraid,
but bold to say
whose field she was crossing: spoke the tap of her foot:
“it is God’s, and mine.”
But only that she was born into the poem that God made, and called the world.

Mary Oliver
“More Beautiful Than the Honey Locust Tree
Are the Words of the Lord”

My best friend and I were at a café the other day, and it came time to order our lunch. We were consulting with the waitress about which dishes she would recommend. My friend was between the bleu burger, which was a tempeh burger with bleu cheese and such on top, or the black bean burger. Her primary question was “What is tempeh?” The waitress didn’t have an easy time describing it and concluded her stilted description with an “I don’t really like it.” I had a roommate in college who was a vegetarian and would eat lots of tempeh and tofu and such and I affirmed the waitress and suggested to my friend, whose tastes I know, that she probably wouldn’t like it either. She responded by saying, “I don’t tend to get things I don’t understand, so I’ll go with the black bean burger.” I went with the burrito, and in the end, we both enjoyed our choices immensely. Yet regardless of our enjoyment of our respective meals, my friend’s quote struck me as relevant to this morning’s theme: “I don’t tend to get things I don’t understand”—and it’s easier to not even try.

Paul and Silas were walking to the place of prayer when they encountered a slave-girl. She had a “spirit of divination within her,” and her owners benefited from this. They made money off of her ability to be a fortune-teller. People would pay her owners to have her tell them their future, tell their fortune, perhaps seeking the easiest way to take their next steps in life, rather than simply learning, living, and seeking the path ahead. Paul and Silas encountered this woman along their walk to the place of prayer.

She was a woman on the street, hollering out what she saw in their lives, whom she saw them as, as they walked by her. I can’t help but see this scene out there on Michigan Avenue, when a person, whom I perceive as homeless and perhaps mentally ill, is crying out the words they need so deeply to share on the street. Usually I just walk by. I don’t stay to listen to what they are saying. I don’t stay, and if they follow, I simply ignore them. If I don’t react, maybe they’ll stop talking to me; maybe they’ll make eye contact with someone else and begin to follow them. But Paul had a different reaction.

This woman cried out, and it annoyed Paul. He was walking with his friend—they were peacefully walking to the place of prayer—and this woman was bothering them by following them around, hollering out what she believed was right. And Paul got so annoyed, he turned around and exorcised the spirits to come out of her so that she would leave Paul and Silas alone! That is certainly not a reaction I would think to have myself! But Paul did what was easiest for him. He was annoyed and he did what he knew, not necessarily what was best. You see, he didn’t take into consideration that this slave-girl was still a slave and now would be useless to her owner. He didn’t think about the consequences that woman would suffer if she would no longer be able to make money for her owner. He didn’t think about the consequences or what might be best. He simply did what was easiest for him, and as we see in the story, we see that, as the scene unfolded, maybe he learned what was best.

What’s easiest isn’t always what’s best. For example, it’s easier to not take the trash out or to not clean your room or do the dishes, but if you don’t do those things, the trash piles up, the dirt collects, and eventually all the dishes are used and there’s nothing left to eat on. It’s easier to not fold the laundry, and even choices as simple as cleaning, or choosing not to, affect those around the individual who wishes not to clean. And then there are more significantly impacting decisions to make. For example, it might be easier to stay in an unhealthy relationship rather than wade through the messiness of a breakup. It’s easier to make a snap decision rather than consider all the outcomes to make the best decision for the community. It’s easier to benefit the few rather than make a sacrifice and consider the many. And there are several reasons why we chose to do the easier thing.

Perhaps it’s selfishness, or perhaps one of those reasons is fear. For example, the character Emma, in the TV show Glee, was motivated by a fear of being alone. In the first season of Glee, we saw a relationship blossoming between the guidance counselor at McKinley High School and Mr. Shuster, the Glee team’s coach. However, he is married and is expecting a child. They both know that a relationship will not work out between the two of them, and responsibly they are intentional about not crossing any lines. He works on his marriage while she seeks other relationships. All the while, the football coach, Ken, is in love with Emma, and he asks her to marry him. Emma is not in love with Ken. In fact, she barely likes the man. But she knows he’s a good man and she fears being along for the rest of her life. So she accepts his proposal for marriage, because it’s easier to just know whom she’s going to be with for the rest of her life rather than wait to see what other opportunities may happen. Her fear motivates her to make the easier choice, even though that might not be the best choice. Fear is a strong motivator.

Paul and Silas experienced an encounter that, at first glance, was thought to be an aside. Paul made an easy choice: he chose what was easiest for him, and the consequences turned this aside into a main event for them. In exorcising the spirits from the slave-girl, someone’s livelihood was threatened, and as he and Silas were outsiders in their culture, the two of them were punished according to the law for not taking the wider community into consideration. And it seems they learned their lesson—at least for a little while. We see later that when the earth quaked and the doors of the prison opened, the prisoners remained, recognizing the freedom to make their own decision with others in mind as well. Did Paul and Silas know that the jailer was going to kill himself had they run out? I don’t know. Perhaps they didn’t, but at the very least, they recognized that there were going to be negative repercussions if they left. It would have been easier for them to leave—they would no longer be in prison, they would no longer be prisoners—but they stayed, because that was the best decision to make, not simply the easiest. And in that decision, not only did they reap the benefits of liberation in making a good decision themselves, but the jailer also reaps that benefit. The jailer, seemingly a prisoner to the sole identity of his occupation, on the brink of killing himself at the prospect of failing at his job, is liberated to understand anew his identity as a child of God.

Author David Forney helps us to understand that

God’s intention is that we may be one, as the triune God is one. The Gospel reading [this morning] is Jesus’ high priestly prayer, telling of God’s intent that all be one. “As you, Father, are in me and I am in you,” says Jesus, “may they also be in us.” It is this relationship among the three persons of the Trinity that epitomizes Jesus’ desire for us and that raises the question, what does this intention look like in the life of believers?

How does this relationship amongst the Trinity impact us and what might that impact look like for us?

Our scripture lesson this morning provides for us an image in the progression of Paul and Silas and in the salvation of the jailer. Through them, we witness how God brings healing, wholeness, and unity to his life, witnessing to what it means to move towards becoming completely one. It looks like being in a relationship. It looks like taking into consideration those around oneself. It looks like not giving into the fear and making better decisions rather than simply the easiest ibes. It looks like what’s easiest isn’t always what’s best. Amen.