[There is an interesting idiom in our Hungarian language: when one gives advice to another, or expresses an opinion about something, but is not completely convinced that it applies to the other person in the same way, he is obliging, as he says, to leave open the possibility for the other person to consider what he accepts. In such cases we say: of course what I have just said is not scripture! In other words, it is not absolutely valid. Maybe I was wrong... Well, what I have just read from the words of Jesus: yes, it is scripture! Jesus' words, however astonishing, are always deadly serious. There is never any exaggeration or oratory in Jesus' words, which he says just to make them more interesting or appealing, but he always means what he says. For example, when he says that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle... or: 'Even the hairs of your head are all numbered: this is not an exaggeration, - it is true! It is absolute truth. Likewise what I have read as a basic dictum: "What profit is it to a man if he gain the whole world, but harm his own soul? Or what ransom can a man give for his own soul?" I would very much like us to understand this quite literally! Jesus is not saying this to say something big, so big that something can be bargained down! No! Jesus sees things through very different eyes than we do. He knows clearly, clearly, precisely that one human soul is more precious than the whole world! And if Jesus says so, then it is so! One human soul is more precious than the whole world.It's as if he holds a scale in his hand: on one side is the world, the whole world without any limitation, on the other side is the soul, not all souls, but only one soul, mine alone, or yours alone, or the soul of the person you are angry with; and now he says: which do you think is more precious, which is worth more? Nay, it is not even the whole soul, but only some damage to that soul. It's like when a crystal vase is damaged, cracked in a barely visible way, but it can still remain in the room to decorate it. Perhaps no one will notice that it is cracked... And Jesus says: such a small crack, such a small damage to the soul is more damaging than any other loss, even the loss of the whole world... Shocking!
But Jesus confirmed this truth not only with his words, but also with his own life. Remember, for example, the story of his temptation? The satanic temptation only required a tiny little space in his soul, just enough to turn stones into loaves of bread. It's no big deal, really, it's understandable that a hungry man would use all his power to finally get some food - it's just that such a miraculous act would not have served the glory of God, but only Jesus' personal benefit. So it would have been only a very small deviation from the line of Jesus' divine mission, a barely perceptible crack in his soul. That is why this thought was a satanic temptation... And Jesus could have done it, it would have been humanly justified, and no one would have seen it... Yet Jesus said: NO! And when the satanic temptation offers him the whole world, that is, worldly power instead of servile humility, worldly pleasure instead of suffering obedience, then Jesus says in no uncertain terms: NO! Get away from me Satan! So if the satanic power is so precious to the soul that it is willing to offer the whole world for it, then surely this soul is far more precious than the price offered for it!
Later on, Satanic temptation tried once more to damage Jesus' soul: when He spoke of His sufferings, of the need to mock Him, to have Him killed, and Peter, with his human anxiety, as it were, stood in the way: "God save me, Lord, this cannot happen to you!" then the temptation in Peter's words is again driven away: Behold, only a hair's breadth of temptation, only that I choose the easier solution; only that I do not take the risk and suffering of my task; only that I know I should do something else, but I do not, it is difficult, too difficult, I cannot bear it! The soul is damaged! And if there is a crack in the glass bell, however thin, it will never sound clear again! Now do we understand why Jesus says: "What shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, but hurt his own soul? Or what ransom can a man give for his own soul?" Because He knows that the greatest loss is the damage done to one's soul! If a man loses his money, it is certainly a great loss. If a man loses his spouse, whom he loved very much, he has undoubtedly lost a great deal. If one loses one's health, that is also a great loss - but if one loses one's soul, one has lost everything! "For what profit is it to a man, if he gain the whole world, but damage his own soul? Or what ransom can a man give for his own soul?"
What then is the world, and what is that soul? When I say "world", let us not immediately think of something bad! No! There are many good things in the world. Perhaps I could put it this way: the world is everything that will pass away. For example, friendship: it can be a very good thing, but it will pass. Love can be a very beautiful and good thing, but it too will pass. Or money, wealth can be a great thing, if you have it, but it will also pass away. It leaves you. Or all the achievements of technology: these are great things, how nice to have a car, washing machine, television, calculator... But all these things are also ephemeral: there is a limit, death, through which nothing can pass.Well, on the other hand, the soul is a collective term for everything that remains, that has eternal significance, that part of our human life that remains even when everything else has been abandoned, has passed away! The soul is that mysterious something in us by which this 60-70-80 kilos of flesh and blood and bone becomes a living person, a person who is conscious of his responsibility before God! The soul is that something which makes you not something, but someone: a person, a human self, a man responsible to God for everything! It is precisely the man who is also responsible for the impermanent. A person responsible for the ephemeral good, for friendship, for love, for your car, for your money, for your body, for your words spoken long ago, for your deeds. This person of responsibility, this is the one that will last. That is the soul! So let us understand the word of Jesus when he says: For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, but harms his own soul? Or what ransom can a man give for his own soul?
Now, it is by no means a question here of giving up the world, all its achievements that make life easier and more pleasant. No! It is not even about not trying to win the world! But! Let us try! We have a divine command to do so: Rule the earth! It is not wrong for someone to have a car, or the means, or the opportunity to go on a nice trip abroad, or to have a nice home, or to have a nice body, or to have fun with friends. No problem! It's a good thing! Yes, try to win the world - but never at the cost of damaging the soul! Never to the detriment of the soul! Let us put it this way: never at the risk of peace of mind, of a good relationship with God!
"He harms his soul," says Jesus. For example, there is a family. Its members loved the church, the Word of God, the Lord's Supper... Then they managed to save up money for a car. That's okay. It's a good thing. But now instead of church on Sunday, they always take their car on a trip somewhere. Don't get me wrong, I don't mean to say that you're only a Christian if you go to church. But if he regularly misses the great gatherings of the church and God, sooner or later he will damage his soul without even noticing it! So again: it is not a question of not having a car! Have one! But without damaging your soul.
Or television, for example! It can be a very good thing. But if the members of the family are always watching television when they could be together, sitting silently next to each other, and slowly stop talking to each other because they don't have time because of television, then the whole family is doing immeasurable damage to their souls. We don't even realize that while we are gaining something from the world, we are doing so much damage to our souls!
Of course, there are more serious cases. Let me give you an everyday example from the Bible. King David was a chosen child of God, a blessed servant. What so often happens to him happened: he fell under the spell of the beauty of another man's wife. In the throes of passion, he was determined to have that woman for himself. He had won her at last! He had achieved the long-awaited happiness of love. But what had he lost? Listen to how he laments after winning the world he had so longed for: 'Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a strong spirit. Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with a spirit of obedience." (Psa 51:12-14) Is that happiness worth the loss of purity of heart, strength of soul, peace of mind, appearing before the face of God, the Holy Spirit of God, the joy of grace, the willingness to obey? Just ask David, and the Davids of today, is it worth so much spiritual damage for a Bethsabee?
The whole of humanity is in danger of slowly winning the whole world, but of doing more and more damage to its soul. We have conquered heaven, but we have lost heaven. We are increasing the power of the machine more and more, and losing the soul more and more. We have gained incredible power through the discovery of the atomic secret, but we have made all existence on earth uncertain and fearful. Especially today, when the horror of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima is being remembered in churches across the country. Today, the words of Jesus are particularly relevant: 'For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, but harms his own soul? Or what ransom can a man give for his own soul?"
Let me emphasize again: the fault is not in the atom, not in television, not in the desire for love, not in machines, in other words: not in the world! It is in the soul, in not caring about the spiritual damage we do to ourselves or to others! But it would be possible to live with this "world" without harming the soul. But everything is more important to us than that particular "soul"! We treat that soul, what remains, with such unheard-of carelessness. And so our soul's vitality diminishes, the sound of the glass bell grows fainter and fainter, the crack deeper and deeper. And then suddenly we find that our prayers are not answered, that our hearts become restless and restless, that our most precious possession is lost: our life, our eternal life.
But everything, everything leaves us. Everything we have tried so hard to win - everything! And the soul remains, naked before God! I've been in that situation twice in my life: nothing is important anymore, only my soul, how I stand before God! Disembodied, without friends, without money, without my doctorate, without all the things I have won in the world: alone, naked, ME! My naked self! A wretched, damned soul! And then it struck me with shocking force how right Jesus is when he says: "For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, but he is damaged in his own soul? Or what ransom can a man give for his own soul?"
Yes: what ransom can a man give for his soul! What would not a young girl give for her lost purity! What would not a sober man give for peace and love to return to his broken family life! But what can he give? He has nothing! Only a condemned soul! It's all he has! But who needs that?!
Well, somebody needs this! The damned soul! The cracked soul. The broken soul! There is Someone who will pay anything for such a damned soul to be His! All of it! - And that Someone, Who so desires the damned human soul, is none other than the Lord God Himself! Incredible as it may seem, it is also Scripture that "God has not redeemed us with perishable things, gold or silver, but with precious blood, as of His spotless and undefiled Lamb, Jesus Christ" (1Pet 1:18). So now your soul is even more precious! It has cost God the holy life of Jesus! And the wonderful thing is, whoever is willing to give his own damaged soul to God, Who bought it for him at the price of Jesus' blood: he will suddenly find with joy that this precious divine hand can repair the damage, can remove the cracks and cracks, so that the glass bell will be whole again, will ring clear, will ring joyfully!
Yes, it was for your soul and mine that Jesus took up the cross! That is why we must then take our own souls and the souls of others even more seriously, and value them more than the whole world!
"For what profit is it to a man if he gain the whole world, but hurt his own soul? Or what ransom can a man give for his own soul?"- This is Scripture, because it is the word of Jesus! No exaggeration - absolute truth! Do you believe Jesus? If so, you will always know what to do!
Amen!
Date: 9 August 1964.
Lesson
Zsolt 51,1-14