Have you all heard about ‘The Greater Fool Theory’?
It is quite a simple theory. A person does something that at first seems to be rather foolish. Yet the person does what seems foolish because the person by doing so encourages other people to do the same.
And if the person succeeds in convincing other people to do the same foolish thing, the person might gain from it, making the foolish act not as foolish at all.
Does it make sense? Well, the two most well-known examples where ‘The Greater Fool Theory’ is at the very foundation are what is known as a Pyramid Scheme and the Crypto Market. I would like to go into detail with the latter.
In the Crypto Market a person pays an amount to get something that in the end is not worth anything. This seems rather foolish. Yet by paying for that something – this could for instance be a Bit Coin – other people might be tempted to do the same.
What they all bought still in the end is not worth anything. The only value of what they bought is what people are willing to risk paying for that something.
And as we can see. People are willing to pay a lot. Last time I checked a Bit Coin cost approximately 80.000 CAD. I year ago, a Bit Coin cost approximately 40.000 CAD. What an investment! Still though, an investment in something as fragile as someone being a greater fool than you.
Why talk about this theory today? Because I kind of think that it is something that we are warned against in today’s Gospel Reading.
In today’s Gospel Reading we have come to the part of the Gospel, where the Disciples of Jesus have followed him for some time. By now they should be ready to go out into the world and proclaim the Gospel by themselves.
Only thing left for Jesus to do is to give the disciples a little peptalk. And today’s Reading is a part of that very peptalk.
In the peptalk Jesus tries to comfort the disciples by telling them that “A disciple is not above the teacher, nor a slave above the master.” Something that at first might not give a lot of comfort.
At first, we might listen to the sentence and think as we often do: What kind of nonsense is this. In a hierarchy for sure a master is above a slave.
Yet, we are not to understand what Jesus says in the way we often do – with the hierarchy in mind – what we are to understand is that the destiny of the two – the master and the slave – is the same.
At least both go through life living in time and its shift between good and bad. Something that we heard about in today’s Old Testament Reading. Hence, master and slave are equal – equal in destiny.
This is how the Gospel Reading is to be understood as a peptalk giving comfort to the disciples – even to us today who are proclaiming the Gospel as well. We have nothing to fear because we share destiny with our Lord who – despite his suffering – was raised in glory. Something that we can expect to be as well.
A lot more could be said about the details of this but let me get back to why I talked about ‘The Greater Fool Theory’ in the beginning of my sermon, and why I think we, in what I said above, are warned against dealing with matters using the theory.
Well, just by looking at the title of the theory – The Greater Fool – it kind of becomes obvious. ‘The Greater’. According to the peptalk of Jesus, there is no one who is greater. We are all equal. At least through faith in both destiny and worth.
But the theory depends on this very ‘greater’. A ‘greater’ fool. And by being dependent on this, it is not aligning with what Jesus tells us in today’s Gospel Reading.
In his peptalk to the disciples the focus of Jesus might have been giving them comfort. Inspiring them to take upon them a task that is not at all easy.
But in a way I also think that Jesus tells them how the relationship between master and slave gives them a certain kind of responsibility. A responsibility that we as current time proclaimers have as well.
In short, the responsibility is that we – whenever we deal with fellow humans – do so as equals. We should never raise ourselves above those who we deal with. Nor should we lower ourselves I suppose.
And, as an equal part of something we should never run away from any kind of responsibility connected to that something that we have been a part of.
This I believe we have a strong tendency of doing. Starting already from when we are young:
“I am not to blame; he was the one who started.” I have no idea how many times I have said this in the school yard. A lot.
“I am not hired to do this; you will have to talk with my boss or someone else.”
“I was only hired to do the job, not to think it through.”
Now, I am not saying the above to make everyone feel bad about how we have not fulfilled the command of Jesus. That we are not fulfilling his command is quite natural I would say. After all, we never will be as good proclaimers as he was.
Rather I am saying the above to make us fully understand how wondrous a proclaimer Jesus was, how merciful his everlasting love for us is.
And then I might be saying it to inspire us to do better next time we are in a situation where we might have preferred to run from our responsibility.
I am about to end my sermon, but before I do so, I would like to quote one of my favorite fantasy characters that says something similar as Jesus said in today’s Gospel Reading.
The character said it in a very different way. Maybe though in a way that to some are easier to follow. The character that I would like to quote is Jedi Master Obi Wan-Kenobi from the Star Wars franchise.
In the first movie made in the franchise Obi Wan-Kenobi is sitting together with the hero, Luke Skywalker, and the anti-hero, Han Solo. Luke and Han are discussing how, why, and whether they should take it upon themselves to save the princess.
You do not need to have seen the movie to understand the quote, nor do you need any further information about the actual scene. The quote – or rather the question – Obi Wan-Kenobi asks them – and the wisdom within – easily stands for itself.
He simply asks them: “Who’s the more foolish, the fool or the fool who follows him?”
And with that said. I would like to end my sermon. A sermon that has not only been about how we – in mercy and pain – shares destiny with Jesus, but also how we always will have a responsibility when we are dealing with other people.
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.