Owned by a Carpenter
Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with
dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on
you unexpectedly like a trap.
Luke 21:34
In the movie ‘The Last Crusade’, Indiana Jones is commissioned
by the antiques dealer, Donovan, to find the ‘Holy Grail’, the cup Jesus
supposedly used during the Last Supper. Unknown to Indi, Donovan is actually a
Nazi sympathizer, sent to find the chalice as a national treasure. But Donovan
wants it for himself, believing it to have the power of everlasting life. Indi is
eventually coerced into accepting the challenge due to his father’s capture at
the hands of the Nazis.
Fraught with danger and intrigue, Indi leads them through
the booby trapped temple to the cup. Once there, they find a table full of
chalices, guarded by an old knight. The knight warns Donovan’s assistant, Elsa,
to “choose wisely” as only one of the cups will provide everlasting life; the
others will bring death. She chooses a magnificent golden chalice and hands it
to Donovan. He dips the cup in the basin, drinks…and dies. The night glibly
says, “He chose poorly.”
Indi, desperate to save his gravely wounded father, surveys
the remaining chalices and chooses a simple cup; “A carpenter’s cup” he says.
He dips the cup, drinks…and lives! The knight remarks, “You chose wisely.” Indi
runs to his father, tips the cup to his lips, then pours water from it over his
father’s wound. The elder Jones is instantly healed! The movie ends with them
barely escaping with their lives.
†
Making impulsive choices can have grave consequences.
Donovan assumed the visually stimulating chalice possessed eternal life. He
drank and died, lead astray by opulence.
Beauty and seduction have a way of enticing us and dulling our
reasoning by introducing an air of carelessness. If we submit to the desire
under these circumstances, we will choose poorly.
Jesus, in today’s text, warns us to be on our guard against
the things of this world. The best way to do that is to think like Indi; look
for what would be owned by a Carpenter. If He wouldn’t own it, leave it alone.
Prayer
“Help me see things
for what they are, Lord Jesus, and to use the Holy Spirit’s strength to make
the right choices. Amen.”
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