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Luke 9:20-25: Journey

Luke 9:25: “What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” (Mark 8:26, Matthew 16:26). Do the ends justify the means?

Recently I read an anthology of sermons by the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. There was one point he kept coming back to that really resonates with me. His opponents accused him of being a communist. When people pointed out to him that, as far as the USA was concerned, many of his causes were communist ones; MLK would reply that he differs from the communists in one key way. “Lenin”, he said, “believed that the end justified the means.” As a Christian I can never believe that the ends justify the means because God reminds us that the means are the end – what you do on the journey reveals who you are in the end. This is true. 

For example if we want to end violent oppression by violently throwing off our oppressors then in the process we will find that we provide the violent oppression for someone else to throw off. Violence breeds violence. The ends do not justify the means. As Gandhi, whom MLK loved to quote, said, ‘an eye for and eye makes the whole world blind.’ If we want the world to see the truth then we need to help our adversary see, not pluck out his eye. If we pluck out his eye he may do the same to us and we will both be left a couple of blind bullies. Gandhi, like Tutu and Mandela after him, is a great example of helping our adversary to see. A society at peace with its former oppressors was created in a way it never would have been through violence. The means of violence always brings the result of violence. The means of peace is what brings the result of peace. And Jesus is the Prince of Peace.

Do the ends justify the means? No, the means are the end. Oswald Chamber says, ‘God is not working toward a particular finish - His purpose is the process itself.’

If we walk along the path of sin hoping to reach holiness we will be sadly disappointed. Conversely if we never walk towards sin, we will never arrive at sin.

He who walks in the darkness does not see the light and she who walks in the light does not get lost in the darkness.

This is true in our relationships with each other and it is true with our relationship with God. Jesus and Salvation isn’t about a destination, an end of going to heaven when we die; Salvation is how we live with God from today unto eternity; it is a means, a way of life. So, can we do evil as a way to try to enter heaven? No. Do the ends ever justify the means? No. The means, which is ultimately our very relationship with our neighbour and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, is all that matters. He is with us and He wants us to journey with Him both now and forever. And that is the means by which we can each live the most blessed life both for now and forever.


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