Owned by a Carpenter
June 16
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.
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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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