Many of the famous quotes from Martin Luther King, Jr. have been remembered this week but one of the less famous ones is also one of the most applicable for our approach to relationships with others every day, and it makes for a great “before and after” puzzle on Wheel of Fortune. King is quoted as saying, “We may have all come on different ships, but we’re in the same boat now.” Add that quote with the question, “now what?” and we have our Wheel of Fortune “before and after.”
It’s true for our nation that, except for Native Americans, our ancestors arrived on these North American shores by many different ships and for many different reasons but now we are all here together – in the same boat! Now what? What choices do we make in living our lives side by side with our American neighbors?
One way to approach the question is to ask, “If we are in the same boat, what kind of boat is it?” I think an answer to that question is that we are in the boat christened (oh, the irony of that term in this context!) “Sinners All!” Yes, everyone we meet is in the same boat with us – we are all sinners – we keep turning our backs on God and his desires for us! Paul wrote about this to the Roman church as he detailed the sins of Gentile culture in Romans 1 to the likely cheers of the Jewish folks in the church only to turn in Romans 2 to hit the Jews between the eyes with, “You have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else…you do the same things!” All of chapters 1 and 2 lead up to his famous declaration in chapter 3, viz. “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” All of which begs the question again, “Now what?” What choices do we make in living our lives side by side with fellow passengers of the ship, “Sinners All”?
One way is to turn our backs on the folks that we deem “more sinful” or “sinful in ways other than our sin.” When we lived in western Kentucky near the Land Between the Lakes, we did a lot of fishing with our friends there. One of them had a thing he’d say every time we were on his boat and the fish were not biting. He would jokingly declare, “Well, we must have a Jonah on board, someone’s got to go!” And, sure enough, it is often easier to cast another sinner out of the boat until, of course, we remember who we are! Paul and Jesus help us to get better focused:
“Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance:
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners –
of whom I am the worst.” 1 Timothy 1:15
“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even
look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said,
‘God, have mercy on me, THE sinner.”
Luke 18:13
Yes, that is the scripture’s approach to our same-boat-ed-ness – embrace the truth that I am a sinner before I try to cast another sinner from our boat.
So, again, the question keeps coming, “now what?” What choices do we make in living our lives side by side fellow sinners? The writer to the Hebrews gives us some great help in answer to our question, viz:
- Keep holding on to Jesus to help us know how he wants us to navigate our relationships. He is the one who gives us, “sinners all,” the hope we need for life in the boat. Hebrews 6:19 puts it to us this way: “[In Jesus] we have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.” And…
- Keep reaching out to share our hope in Jesus with the rest of the sinners we meet in the boat. Hebrews, again, describes the way we are to approach folks each day: “Make every effort to live in peace with all people…See to it that no one misses the grace of God” (12:14-15)
Yes, the “Ship of Zion” is to be a ship hauling the most precious of cargos – God’s grace!
So, with thanks to Dr. King and a nod toward Pat Sajak and Vanna White we have a puzzle to consider today and every day: “We are all in the same boat now what?”
In the Love of Jesus,
Tony Tench