In my opinion, one
of the bravest phrases in the English language is “…and let the chips fall
where they may.” Believe it or not, that phrase has nothing to do with dropping
potato chip crumbs into the sofa cushions. It actually originated in the world
of logging. When you chop down a tree using an axe, pieces of wood – the chips
– scatter every time you hit the tree. But while you are cutting, you don't really
care where those chips land. Your job is to stay focused on the task at hand — chopping
down the tree. The phrase has come to mean accepting the consequences of taking
an action that other people aren’t going to like very much. People say “…and
let the chips fall where they may” when they’re going to confront the boss, or
write a stinging letter to the local newspaper about city council, or join a
group that’s protesting the inflated profits of Wall Street banks. Whatever it
is that they plan to do, someone is going to take offense at them; and they
know it all too well.
No one in the Bible
ever used the phrase “…and let the chips fall where they may.” It’s a fairly
modern thing to say. But the spirit of that phrase is there, over and over
again. When Queen Esther resolved to plead for the lives of her people, she
said, “I will go to the king, though it is against the law; and if I die, I
die.” Let the chips fall where they may. When Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
were threatened with being thrown into a fiery furnace unless they worshipped a
golden idol, they replied, “…we will not serve your gods and we will not
worship the golden statue that you have set up.” Let the chips fall where they
may. And when Gabriel came to the Virgin Mary and told her that she was to be the
mother of the messiah, although it involved an out-of-wedlock pregnancy and
scandal for her family, what did she say? “Let it be with me according to your
word.” Let the chips fall where they may!
Jesus word from the
cross, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit,” is representative of his
life that was lived by a man who had the very same philosophy of life. If he
had known the phrase, “Let the chips fall where they may,” I’m convinced that
he would have used it. Jesus knew that he would face opposition as he taught
the people, reinterpreting the Law of Moses. He went nose to nose with the religious
authorities again and again. He challenged their wealth and political power,
and condemned the religious traditions that oppressed the very people they were
supposed to care for. He called them a den of snakes, coiled and ready to bite
anyone who stood in their way. He compared them to painted tombs – beautiful on
the outside, but full of rot on the inside. He even accused them of locking
people out of heaven with all their rules and regulations. As Jesus confronted
the religious authorities with their behavior, chopping down the tree of
religious corruption, he let the chips fall where they may. The only way he
could have done that is by giving his life into God’s hands. He trusted that
God would be present with him no matter what happened.
I wonder if he
said, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit” on that first Palm Sunday morning.
Surely he committed his life to God on that day, knowing that by the end of the
week, the chips would fall in a very difficult place for him, indeed. Jesus’
ride into Jerusalem on that day was nothing less than a radical political
statement. It was a breathtaking action that both offended the Jewish religious
leaders and alarmed the Roman authorities. That first Palm Sunday took place at
the beginning of Passover week, the most politically loaded time in the entire
Jewish calendar. Passover celebrates the miraculous deliverance of the ancient
Israelites from their Egyptian oppressors. Jewish tradition claimed that when
the Messiah appeared – the one who would free them from their Roman oppressors
– he would ride into Jerusalem by the east gate to the city, by the gate called
Beautiful. Every Jew who knew the scriptures knew what to expect. The prophet
Zechariah had written that the Messiah would arrive in Jerusalem “humble and
riding on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” By riding into the city where and when
and how he did, Jesus was claiming to be nothing less than the Messiah, the
rightful king of the Jews. The only trouble was that the Roman emperor Caesar
was the political king of the Jews; and he wasn’t about to allow any peasant
from Galilee with a rag-tag bunch of followers to threaten his power. The
Temple authorities knew what would happen when the Roman authorities got wind
of Jesus’ action. He and all his followers – and quite possibly all the Jewish
religious authorities – would be arrested and executed. And so, some of the
Pharisees in the crowd told Jesus to keep his disciples quiet. “Teacher, order your disciples to stop,” they
said. But Jesus answered, “If these were silent, the stones would shout out.”
His attitude is clear. “I have done what I have done. Let the chips fall where
they may. Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”
Now, you might be
thinking that it is quite a relief that we aren’t in Jesus’ position here
today. We don’t live under an oppressive Roman government . We practice our
religion without any threat of arrest. We enjoy freedom of speech, and we can practice
any religion that we like, as long as we don’t break any law while we’re doing
it. We don’t have to worry about being persecuted for taking a stand. Do we? Unfortunately,
if we are serious about following Jesus Christ, then sometimes we do. In every
time and in every place, from Jesus’ time to ours, Christians have felt called
to take unpopular stands, and to let the chips fall where they may.
All the way back in
the time of the early Church, Peter was dragged before the Jewish high council and
was told to quit preaching about Jesus. Peter said that he wasn’t about to stop
preaching about Jesus; because he had to obey God rather than men. Father, into
your hands I commit my spirit. In the year 1517, Martin Luther nailed 95
statements to the door of the church at Wittenberg, Germany – protests against
Roman Catholic practices of his day. He was hauled into court, and was ordered
to deny his beliefs and swear obedience to the Church, he famously replied,
“Here I stand. I can do no other.” He might have added, “Father, into your
hands I commit my spirit.” In our own time, Martin Luther King, Jr. endured all
kinds of abuse as a result of his stand on civil rights. It is said that one
evening, he sat alone in his kitchen after his family had gone to bed for the
night. He considered the abuse that both he and his family had suffered –
fire-bombs, bullets through his windows, and death threats. Was it worth it?
Should he give up his quest for civil rights for all Americans, both white and black? His decision wasn’t easy; but
once he made it, he never backed down. He was chopping down the tree of
discrimination, and he wasn’t about to stop! The chips would fall where they
may. Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.
During the rise of
the Third Reich prior to World War II, the German theologian Dietrich
Bonhoeffer wrote, “Who stands firm? Only the one… whose life [is] nothing but
an answer to God’s question and call.” In every time and place, God calls
faithful Christians to make a choice between what is right and what is easy. It
may concern something very small – a family member, for example, who insists on
telling offensive ethnic jokes. Or it might concern something much bigger – the
threat of arrest for offering aid and sanctuary to illegal immigrants. Whatever
it is – whatever the issue, whatever the circumstances – Jesus calls us to
stand firm on behalf of the Gospel, and to let the chips fall where they may.
On this Palm Sunday, Father, into your hands we commit our spirits.
