Not Too Late

“Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’” (Luke 13:24-25, ESV). There are some famous brothers in history. Two of the more infamous brothers were Frank and Jesse James. They were both legends in their own time, though Jesse is better remembered today because of his more dramatically violent death. The two Missouri brothers drifted into a life of crime after serving in Confederate guerilla forces during the Civil War. They began robbing banks in 1866, and their bold and impudent style won them a good measure of popular admiration. After the brothers murdered two innocent men during an 1881 train robbery, though, the state of Missouri came to its senses and offered a reward of $5,000 each for the capture of Jesse and Frank. Shot down for reward money in 1882 by one of his own gang members, Jesse achieved a false but enduring reputation as a martyr in the cause of the common people against powerful interests. One Kansas City newspaper mournfully reported his death in a story headlined, "GOODBYE JESSE." Had Frank suffered the same fate, no doubt he too would have achieved martyrdom and been the subject of popular songs like the "Ballad of Jesse James." However, Frank wisely preferred long life to martyrdom, and he turned himself in a few months after his brother was murdered. Prosecutors were unable to convince juries that Frank was a criminal, and he was declared a free man after avoiding conviction at three separate trials in Missouri and Alabama. Entering middle age and having grown weary of the criminal life, Frank James was not so foolish as to tempt fate and the watchful eyes of Missouri law officers by resuming his old ways. For the next 30 years, he lived an honest and peaceful existence, working as a race starter at county fairs, a theater doorman, and a star attraction in traveling theater companies. In 1903, he joined forces with his old criminal partner Cole Younger to form the James-Younger Wild West Show. Frank retired to his family's old farm in Missouri, where he died at the age of 72 in 1915. As I thought through the story of the James’ brothers, I recalled Jesus’ story in our reading this morning. While it is never too late to change your way of life as long as there is breath within you, there is an end to God’s patience. Death brings judgment. We all have an appointment with god to answer for our lives. Only one answer is sufficient. Without faith in Christ and his atoning work applied to our lives, there is no hope of entrance into the kingdom of God. Grace is the only answer. Frank James realized his folly in life and turned away from his old life. If you’re reading this, it’s not too late for you either.