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, led 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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