Put the Big Rocks In First

Sermon-Year B-6 Easter May 17, 2009
The Cloud of Unknowing, "O God, our great companion, lead us ever more deeply into the mystery of your life and ours, that we may be faithful interpreters of Life to each other, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen."
The story is told about Steven Covey, (the management consultant and author-the 7 Habits guy) who was teaching a course on ‘Time Management’ to a group of company employees. In front of him on a table was a large bowl, and next to the bowl was a pile of several large rocks, and two buckets. He proceeded to take the large rocks one by one, and place them into the bowl. Having done that, he turned his attention to one of the buckets which contained a quantity of smaller pebbles. He placed the pebbles into the bowl, along with the large rocks, so that the pebbles fell down into the spaces between the rocks. He did all of this without saying a word, and then paused.
By this time, the students in the class were beginning to see what he was doing. He asked if anyone knew what he would do next. Someone suggested that the other bucket might contain some sand. Sure enough, it did, and he continued by pouring the sand from the second bucket into the large bowl until the sand reached the top. Some of the students were about ready to hear what profound lesson he would teach them from this simple demonstration, but he had not quite finished. He took one of the buckets, filled it with water from a tap at the front of the room, and poured water into the large bowl until it was just about to overflow.
He then stopped, and asked the question that the class were waiting for. “What lesson about time management can we learn from all of this,” he asked.
After a pause, one student raised her hand, and said. “I think it teaches us that it is amazing how much you can fit into the time that you have”
Steven Covey smiled and said “That’s pretty much the opposite of what I want you to learn from this. Actually, what it teaches me is the importance of putting the big rocks in first!”
Putting the big rocks in first. Seems simple, doesn’t it?
If you try to put the little rocks, or sand or water in first, there will be no room for the big rocks. To fill up the bucket, you have to put the big rocks in first.
Our lives are like the buckets. So often I try to fill my life up with the sand or the water or the little rocks-and have no room for the important stuff.
The gospel story continues today with Jesus still in the upper room, still giving his final teaching to his friends, the night before he dies. He’s trying to put in the big rocks. One of the rocks is this-calling them to be his disciples was easy. For them, living out their lives as his friends will be murder. I under stand this in a much lesser degree. I am currently trying to resurrect friendships from decades ago. It was easy to make friends-maintaining friends, sustaining friendships, that has been very hard. Making friends is easy-keeping friendships takes a lot of work.
Jesus, in a sense, is releasing his disciples. He’s telling them that now they can choose which way they go in life. They don’t have to be his followers any longer. Now they are grown ups-not children, and they can decide as friends which direction they take. BUT, and it is a big but, if they are going to be his friends, they will have to live out his commandment. His one and only commandment. They will have to choose to put this one rock in the bucket first. They will have to love one another.
“There is an ancient legend about the last days of John the Evangelist, the gospel writer. He lived to a great age and became so feeble that he had to be carried to meetings of the faithful. There, because of his weakness, he was unable to give a long sermon, so at each gathering he simply repeated the words, “Little children, love one another.” The disciples, weary of hearing the same words over and over, asked him why he never said anything else. And to them John gave this answer, “Do this alone and it is enough.”
How often do you measure your life? How successful you are, how much you have achieved? I tend to think we do it every day. I think in small ways we are constantly looking at our buckets to see how full they are. Sometimes we judge by how secure we feel, or how healthy or maybe by how much we have-perhaps how happy we are, or the amount of accomplishments . I think we spend a lot of our lives trying to fill our buckets, or assessing them. Jesus tells his friends, the only thing that will matter is how much you love. And I think there is one more thing that Jesus leaves UNSAID: -he doesn’t say that what we are willing to die for will show what we really care about. He doesn’t say it, but I think he implies. What we are willing to die for, he tells us, is what matters. Or better yet, what we are willing to live our lives for, will say what we really value. Jesus is getting ready to leave his friends, and he wants them to ask what they want in their buckets.
This reading today is pretty clear, 17”I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another. “
I was the chaplain on call this week, and we had a particularly sad death. Back at the fire station I was meeting with the firefighters and police officers who had been at the scene. You have to understand that these people are rescuers, their whole lives are a testament to this verse, 13”No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” They train and prepare and work all the time on saving people’s lives. And one of the first responders, the man who had worked especially hard to save a child’s life said, “I always tell people that I can fix anything but a broken heart. But today I couldn’t.” It was a very poignant moment. And later as I thought about it, I thought, maybe this is the only thing we really can fix-a broken heart. Maybe loving each other is the only thing we really can fix.
We all have a bucket that is our lives. We select what we put into them. Choose the big rocks first. Decide on what is important, and all the small rocks and sand and water will follow inevitably. Jesus makes no bones about what is his large rock-12“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”
And as John the Evangelist said“Do this alone and it is enough.”
John 15:9-17
9As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. 10If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. 12“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. 16You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will=2 0give you whatever you ask him in my name. 17I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.