The Tribune

By Rev Canon S

Sebastian Campbell

“People work harder for earthly rewards that last a few years than they do for heavenly ones that last forever.”

A PRIEST was hosting a retreat for inmates in a federal prison. One of the talks dealt with Jesus’ teaching about revenge. To illustrate Jesus’ point, the priest told the story of Jackie Robinson, the first black athlete to play in the Major Leagues. When Branch Rickey signed Jackie to a Dodger contract in 1945, he told him, “You will have to take everything they dish out to you and never strike back.”

Rickey was right. On the field pitchers brushed Jackie back with blazing fastballs; he was thrown out of hotels and restaurants where the rest of the team stayed and ate. Through it all, Jackie kept his cool. He turned the other cheek. And so did Branch Rickey, who was abused by people for signing Jackie.

The priest ended the story by asking, “Where do you think black athletes would be today had Jackie Robinson and Branch Rickey not turned the other cheek?”

After the talk, a prisoner said to the priest: “That’s a nice story, father. But why didn’t you tell why Rickey and Robinson turned the other cheek? It wasn’t for love of God. It was for love of money.

Rickey turned the other cheek because he had signed up all the black athletes in the country and would make a fortune if Jackie succeeded. And Jackie turned the other cheek because if he succeeded he would make a fortune, too.”

The priest thought to himself for a minute: “If the prisoner’s right, then he’s just shot my nice little story right out of the water.” But then the priest thought: “Hey! Wait a minute! If the prisoner’s right, then my story makes an even more important point.”

It’s the same point Jesus makes in Luke Ch 16:8: “The children of this world are more prudent in dealing with their own generation than the children of light.”

Or to put it more simply: “Worldly people work harder for worldly rewards that last only a few years than Christians do for heavenly rewards that last forever.”

In other words, if the prisoner was right, then Rickey and Robinson were more willing to turn the other cheek for the sake of money than you and I are willing to do it for the sake of God.

A few years ago, a French communist newspaper addressed the following remarks to French Christians: “Your gospel is a much more powerful weapon than is our Marxist philosophy of life. Yet, we will defeat you in the long run. How can anyone believe in your gospel if you refuse to live it out in your lives, if you refuse to sacrifice your time and your money for it? How can anyone believe in your gospel if you refuse to dirty your hands for it?”

The point of these remarks cuts deeply into each one of us. And the reason it does is because it’s true in so many, many cases.

And that brings us back to the point Jesus makes in Luke Ch 16: Worldly people are more willing to sacrifice for worldly rewards than Christians are for heavenly rewards.

Communists are more willing to sacrifice for the spread of communism than Christians are for the spread of Christianity.

This raises a question, why are worldly people more willing to sacrifice for worldly rewards than Christians are for heavenly ones? Why are we ourselves more willing to sacrifice for worldly rewards than we are for heavenly ones?

Why are we more willing to treat strangers kindly for financial gains than we treat our own family for heavenly ones?

Of course, we can’t answer that question in a general way. There is no general answer to it. There is only a personal answer. We must each answer for ourselves.

In today’s Bahamas we are challenged with corruption in every sphere of life. One Commission of Inquiry from the 1980s reports that dishonestly rocks us to the very foundation. The criminal element never takes a break. It works overtime, plotting its nefarious deeds. Much energy is invested by the immoral and unethical in their blatant and brazen attempts to rip people off. Many contractors are known to be on the stop list, having left many Bahamians in pain. We view with suspicion so many who sign contractors and flee their commitment, whether they are air condition contractors, technicians, salesman, etc. These crooked elements are always plotting for the next victim. Do they ever sleep?

If only Christians can learn from their investment to their commitment. They are always on the job. Today’s Bahamas is in trouble. Teachers are not safe; students are being stabbed and killed while in uniform and on school grounds. Murder is up by 50 per cent. For this the politician has no answer. We must stop searching for false comfort in political rhetoric. Our answer lies within ourselves and a renewed commitment to lifting high the standards of Jesus Christ.

Remember the good old days? There was a great human investment in people. We invested in our children and resources in our Sunday schools. Youth groups were in high gear, such as Boys Scouts and Brigades. Youth bands and choirs and so many precious adults gave themselves to our youth of yesterday. Probably every church could have boasted of such a human investment. In those “good-old-days”, no teachers were attacked, no blood was spilled on school grounds, the murder rate was down, families were happier and stress as a characterisation of society was unthought of.

We must take the blame for today’s messed up-society. Christianity has been reduced to a cross around our neck as jewellery. The vast majority of Christians only practice the faith on Sunday, maybe in the morning time. We must invest more if we are to counteract today’s malady.

Are we less willing to sacrifice for a heavenly reward than we are for a worldly reward?

How many more must suffer and die before we wake up and use the great resources. God has given us for the building up of his kingdom. Christians should never give up in good works. We are to be long-distance runners, generating heat and thus making things happen. We must learn from non-Christians to invest heavily into our commitment so that things may happen. Lukewarm Christianity is a scourge on our land.