06/14/26 Precisely

1:57 I'd like you to have a seat so uh this weekend i i have a sister one of my older sisters is currently actually in the middle of this the weekend she's currently running a 200 mile trail race right now um which is just so cool i just like so difficult so hard um and just i think about this whenever i've been i've been she's been training for it for a really long time and so uh this whole season she's been training for it. I've been bragging on her and everyone, they hear it. They're like, wow, that's crazy. And I'm like, yeah, yeah, it's fine. But I think it's so cool. I just, I, so difficult. I look at that and I think, man, I could never, and that's what everyone says. The 200 mile trailways, she's running the whole thing. I could never. And I think about this, whenever we come upon something that seems so daunting, so intimidating, someone says, I'm going to run a marathon or, or I'm doing ultra or I'm going to climb, you know, some kind of mountain. We say, I could never do that. Or maybe something like intellectual, that sense of I'm going to learn to do. I'm learning a new language or I'm writing a book. I could never do that. Maybe it's even something that you see. You hear about someone doing something heroic. You know, in the moment, they ran into a burning building or something heroic like over time, they're caring for their sick child or caring for their aging parent. You just think, man, they're so good. They're just so giving. I could never do that. Again, we sometimes see that and we're like, man, that's so inspiring.

3:22 But then we look at ourselves and we're like, and again, we come to that conclusion. That's amazing. That's incredible. That's great. But I could never do that. And the reality is probably, we might be right, right? I don't know that I could run a 200-mile race. I can't. And maybe I couldn't. I don't know if I could take care of someone that long, like some of you have done. Maybe I can't. Maybe I couldn't. I'm thinking about that, especially in light of today's gospel, right? So today's gospel, this is the end of chapter 9, the beginning of chapter 10 of Matthew's gospel. And if you read back in chapter 9, before this, in the same chapter, one chapter, Jesus has done a bunch of stuff. One is there's a paralyzed man with his four friends, and Jesus forgives his sins and then heals the paralyzed man. Then there's a 12-year-old girl, right, the daughter of Jairus. She's dead, and Jesus brings her back to life. There's a woman who's suffering from hemorrhages for 12 years, and she's healed.

4:17 There are two blind men, and they're both healed. There's a mute man who's also possessed by a demon. And not only is he healed, but he's also, the demon is driven out. And then it says today's gospel. So all these healings, all these incredible things. And then we start with today's gospel, where it says, Jesus' heart was moved with pity. He saw the crowds. And so he says, okay, beg the master to send out laborers for his harvest, to send out other people for the harvest. and I just am wondering if the apostles are listening to Jesus and going like, okay, yeah, and then what? Like, we're gonna send out a bunch of people to do what? Am I just gonna breathe on them? Like, am I just gonna kind of wave my hand over them? I'm gonna just like pat them on the head and then they're their possessed person. Like, you're gonna send out laborers for the harvest. What in the world are they gonna do? Because they don't, why? Because they don't have the ability.

5:09 They don't have the power. They don't have the strength to do what Jesus is doing. They don't have the strength to do much of anything, really. Think about this. They could look and say, man, I could never. They don't have the strength. There is a popular sitcom. I don't think I've ever watched a full episode of it. It's called The Big Bang Theory. There are a couple of spinoffs in The Big Bang Theory. One of them is called Young Sheldon. So it's like Sheldon Cooper. It's one of the characters in Big Bang Theory. Here he is as a kid. There was a scene in that TV show, Young Sheldon, where he's a kid and he's talking to his mom. And his mom in the show is pretty faithful Christian, kind of a deep South Baptist kind of a situation. and at one point, his mom has some kind of crisis of faith and so young Sheldon comes, this little kid comes out onto the porch and he's very into science. He knows a lot, right?

6:03 And his mom lets him know that she's struggling with faith and he asks her, so you don't believe in God anymore? And she says, now this isn't something for you to worry about. I'm going to figure it out on myself, on my own. But Sheldon, her son is like, but maybe I can help. He says, maybe I can provide you a fresh perspective and she says, I don't think so. And he just starts, he says,

6:27 did you know that if gravity were slightly more powerful, the universe would collapse into a ball? She says, I did not. He said, also if gravity were slightly less powerful, the universe would fly apart and there would be no stars and no planets.

6:48 She looks at her son, she says, what are you doing? with this? And he said this line, he said, it's just that gravity is precisely as strong as it needs to be. If the ratio of electromagnetic force to the strong force wasn't 1%, life wouldn't exist. He asked, what are the odds that that would happen all by itself? So that argument he's presenting is what's called the fine-tuning argument, which is pretty good. It's not necessarily a slam dunk argument for God's existence, but it does point in the right direction. But I just want to highlight the thing he said. Gravity is precisely as strong as it needs to be. that our universe is precisely as strong as it needs to be.

7:44 I think there's something so good and so powerful, something so beautiful about that to realize. Here's God has made this universe. He's made gravity precisely as strong as it needs to be. And the question I want to ask is, is there anything else like that? Is there anything else in our life, in our experience that's like that? And I would maintain this. I would maintain that grace is a lot like that. Let's go back to the gospel. If you're one of the disciples and you're going to be sent out like Jesus, imagine we'd say, I could never. Like, I could never be sent out like Jesus. I could never do that. Because, I mean, I imagine at this point they've listened to Jesus enough that maybe they could repeat what they've heard him say. Maybe they could add some insight. Maybe they had some jokes, you know, like some new presentation of Jesus' material. But Jesus didn't send them out to repeat what he said.

8:39 He didn't send them out to be insightful, didn't send them out to be clever or creative. He sent them out and he told them to do five things. One, proclaim the kingdom of God. But then he goes on to say, also, cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, and drive out demons. Now, if you asked any of the apostles, yeah, do you have the ability? Do you have the power? Do you have the strength to do any of that? The answer would be absolutely no. I don't have the strength. I came across this man. His name is John Lennox. John Lennox is a professor of mathematics. He was emeritus at Oxford. He was also a philosopher of science and a Catholic apologist. And he's from Northern Ireland. He was telling the story of meeting a man who had suffered in the Soviet gulags for seven years. Here's what he said.

9:30 Just pretend I have an Irish accent because it sounds even cooler. He says, because he uses the word like chap. So he says, I remember one chap who really in a sense humiliated me. John Lennox at this point is telling the story. He's an old man. I remember one chap who really in a sense humiliated me if I'm open about it. He's a very short chap for a site. And he told me he'd been put in the gulag for seven years because of his faith. he's teaching young people and he looked up at me and he said you couldn't face that could you he said I was so embarrassed and yeah I said I looked at him and said no I couldn't and then he smiled John Lennox said I'll never forget his smile and he looked at me and he said nor could I then he said you know I discovered something And so what was that?

10:24 He said, well, when I went into the gulag, I would faint at the sight of my own blood if I cut myself shaving. And I saw things there that no man should ever have to see in terms of gratuitous cruelty. But you know what he said? He said, I discovered that God comes in and acts in the situation, not before it. God comes in and acts in the situation, not before it, and John Lennox said, and that struck me for all of my life. Because it resonates with what Jesus said to his disciples when he told them they'd be brought before courts, they'd be persecuted, and they would know in that hour what they were to say. It also resonates very, very much with this exact moment in the gospel, in this moment in the gospel where Jesus is saying, you're gonna go out and you're gonna do for others what I have, you've seen me do. And what happens?

11:15 they were given the amount they needed. They were given the exact grace that they needed. Romans chapter 5 is the second reading today. It's probably one of my favorite readings in the entire Bible. Our St. Paul says, God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. That we were reconciled to God through the death of his son. That we have to realize this, if we're open to it, God gives us precisely the grace that is needed. If we're open to it, God gives us precisely the amount of grace that we need. here's a question do you believe that like do we do we actually believe that do we believe that that i know this i know that god will act in the situation even if he doesn't act before the situation i believe that god will give me precisely the amount of help that i need do you believe that i know i believe god will give me precisely the amount of grace that I need to survive any moment, any trial, any test, even if survival means failure or even if survival means seeming failure.

12:29 I know I've talked about Lord of the Rings quite a few times, but it's really good. You know the story. The story is the whole saga is they have to destroy the ring, the one ring. It's a symbol of the corruptive power of sin in this world. And so the ring bearer is a Christ figure. One of the Christ figures is Frodo. And so you have Frodo. He's given one mission. The mission is carry the ring to Mount Doom and then where it can be destroyed. And it's, again, the story's massive. There's epic. Takes three movies for Pete's sake. But he journeys and he carries the ring.

13:03 There's a moment where he can't go on. And what happens then? Well, then his friend Sam carries him. He's given the strength that he needs in the moment. but then something happens. He gets to Mount Doom. He gets the precipice of like being willing to, being that place where you can throw the ring into the lava and it'll be into the fires of Mordor and then it'll be destroyed. And I remember when I first, I watched the cartoon when I was a kid. I remember being so disappointed because here's the guy that you're cheering for the whole time. This is Frodo. This is the one. And he gets there and he doesn't do it. He gets to the end and he holds onto it and he claims it for his own. and he's not gonna, he's gonna walk away with it. And then another character, Gollum, comes out of nowhere, and then he attacks Frodo, takes the ring, bites it off his finger, and then falls to his death. And when he falls to his death in the fires of Mordor, he also inadvertently destroys the ring.

13:58 And it's one of those things, I remember being so disappointed because I'm like, well, Frodo failed. I remember looking at this guy thinking he didn't have the strength he needed. Or did he? you know this was such a such a disappointment not just for me but also for many many people they talked to jr tolkien the author about this and and they said like no frodo was supposed to be the hero how come he failed and i love this because tolkien wrote in response to this he said this he said i do not think that frodo's failure was a moral failure he said at the last moment the pressure of the ring would reach its maximum impossible i should have said for anyone to resist certainly after long possession. Months of increasing torment and when starved and exhausted, Frodo had done what he could and had spent himself completely as an instrument of providence. He produced a situation in which the object of his quest could be achieved.

14:56 His humility with which he began and his sufferings were justly rewarded by the highest honor and his exercise of patience and mercy toward Gollum gained him mercy. His failure was redressed. He went on to say, he says, we're finite creatures with absolute limitations upon the powers of our soul and body, structure either by action or endurance. He said, moral failure can only be asserted, I think, when a man's effort or endurance falls short of his limits. And the blame decreases as that limit is closer approached. we can only say it was a moral failure when our effort or endurance falls short of our efforts.

15:42 And lastly, he said, Frodo undertook his quest out of love to save the world he knew from disaster at his own expense, if he could. And also in complete humility, acknowledging that he was wholly inadequate to the task. His real contract was only to do what he could, to try to find a way and to go as far on the road as his strength of mind and body allowed. And he did that. his only task, the only invitation was to do all that he could was to get to that point and then what's called a happy accident in fact, Tolkien invented a word called eucatastrophe which means happy accident a catastrophe that's also good where here is this accident where Gollum comes out of nowhere and the mission is achieved you So Frodo is not a failure any more than you and I are failures when we try with everything we have and fall short.

16:44 Frodo got as far as he could. Frodo got as far as he needed to go. Frodo got precisely as far as he needed to go and precisely as far as he could go. he may have wanted more like we want more, but he was given precisely the strength needed. And this is the last thing.

17:09 We know the apostles, the disciples, they could not hope to ever be able to do what Jesus had asked them or told them to do. They couldn't ever hope to be able to do what he told them to do until he sent them. They couldn't hope to do what he asked them to do until they were given the strength. They could not possibly hope to be able to do what they were told to do until they had to do it. And that's us. Because they're the model for all Christians. That Jesus gives precisely the grace we need. Jesus gives us precisely the ability we need. Not less, but also not more. By God's grace, he makes us precisely as strong.