Pentecost 15c - conclusion

Deuteronomy 30:15-20; Psalm 1; Philemon 1; Luke 14:25-33

Sarah Beth, my Tuesday night yoga instructor, always invites us into more advanced poses with “if you so choose.’ Of course what she assumes is that a choice can be made when instructed to keep forearms on the floor and with arched back lift feet up and over the head so that feet and forearms are pointing in the same direction aka the Scorpion pose. I so choose every time. It’s my body that is “just say no.” The lessons for Pentecost 15c are about choices and the consequences that follow. The children of Israel about to enter the land can keep the Lord’s commands which will lead to life and prosperity or choose to disobey which will lead to death and adversity. The psalmist can sit in the seat of scoffers and perish with the ways of the wicked or meditate on the Law of the Lord and be like a tree planted by the water. Philemon can accept Onesimus as a brother for the sake of Christ and receive the refreshment of restored relationship or have Onesimus put to death and lose his friend and mentor Paul. The crowds following Jesus can pick up the cross and follow which will mean going where Jesus goes or hold onto all the things of this world and let Jesus go it alone. Of course all that assumes that choices can be made when like my scorpion pose the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. On the other hand there was a day when I began my practice that even the simplest of poses were beyond the ability of my “if you so choose” but having so chosen consistently the body that was weak is stronger and I am closer to the day when my scorpion will no longer sting me.