NECESSITY

“Martha, Martha, …You are troubled and upset about many things, but only one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:41-42

In the interesting if not, somewhat forgettable movie “Three Kings” Major Archie Gates (George Clooney) asks his co-conspirators a simple, yet profound question. He says, “What is the most important thing?” One soldier (a sergeant) says, “respect,” Gates replies, “too dependant upon other people.” The second soldier (a private) says, “Love.” Gates sarcastically says, “a bit too Disney Land don’t you think.” His staff Sargent says, “The will of God.” Archie say, “close, but the most important thing is necessity.” According to Gates, a person will of necessity, do what is in his own self-interest at any given time. One must admit that this sounds a just slightly cynical.

His philosophy seems to work well initially. That is until the confrontation forces him to make the choice of driving away with millions in gold, or preventing the murder of an entire village. In good dramatic fashion, he chooses the latter. He is as asked by Sargent Troy, “what happened to necessity?” To which he responds, “It just changed.” His self-interest did not change, for they still take the gold.

An old expression says, “Necessity is the mother of invention.” However, it seems to this writer that there is broader question to be considered. How does one determine necessity? Archie Gates defines necessity as whatever happens to be in his own self-interest. This sounded good in theory. However, when the reality of life and death became the choice, and it was not even his own life or death but that of the innocent, then necessity changed. In this case, self-interest gave way to what merely appears to be the interest of others.

This behavior is typical of existential and humanistic philosophies. Those whose foundation is built upon ones self-interest. He could no longer feel good about himself if he left those people to die. Gates, in good humanistic fashion comes to a compromise. He takes the villagers and the gold. Necessity in this circumstance is still based upon self-interest, with just the token appearance of compassion and mercy. They still take the gold and continue to try to find a way to keep it.

What if we, however, consider the possibility that necessity is not doing what is in ones own self-interest. What if just for the sake of discussion, necessity is rooted in the interest of God not self-interest. The only problem left to solve in this new equation is what is God’s interest? A difficult question, but one would hope not one that is insurmountable. Can one redefine necessity in this way?

As Shakespeare said, “there is the rub.” Since humans are now and have always been singularly self-absorbed and always looking out for their own self-interest they tend to super impose their own interest in most circumstances. They frequently call it the will (interest) of God. Human beings it seems often find the need to reinterpret God’s will in view of ones self-interest. It is a simple matter to rewrite the story or reprogram the computer to achieve the desired results, which we redefine as necessity.

In the absence of a clear, audible voice telling us the specific will of God, we extrapolate, infer, insinuate and formulate what the will of God is in a given circumstance. This is done in whole or part simply based upon fragments, bits and pieces of information, our own self-interest and of course the ultimate test of God’s will, prayer (it is amazing to me how often the answer to our prayers are what we longed and hoped for all along). We conjure from this steaming cauldron the unseen forces and spirits to divine as if by magic the will of God.

In the end satisfied by such glorious visions, we give it the stamp of approval overwhelmingly certain it is the God’s will. A new preacher. New leadership. A new (“Better”) you. The blessing of financial prosperity. A new facility. A new program. A new husband or wife. A new job in a new town. How much of it is little more than Archie Gates interpretation of necessity (self-interest)? In the end they all get what they want and live happily ever after. That is after all the American Dream. Which we all know is synonymous with the teaching of Christ, isn’t it? This is the message we hear from the pulpits of this nation on “any given Sunday.”

Invention becomes the mother of necessity. In our self-fulfilling prophecy, we do what is in our own self-interest out of necessity (we say). We frequently do this because we believe, truly believe it is in God’s interest. And so we discover the power and weakness of belief. It is belief that proclaims the existence of God and the rejection of the existence of God. Belief creates activist and pacifist, the martyrs and the indifferent, the militants and the apathetic. In this environment, belief determines necessity. We rewrite the story and call it God’s story. We are true believers. We believe and that belief becomes Necessity.

Bob