The Price of Being and Knowing

              The Price of Being and Knowing
John ll.47-53
Intro: There are extremes to which a person will go in order "to be."
Van Gogh had to paint, Mozart had to write music, Napoleon had to conquer, each in order "to be". Alfred North Whitehead one of "the most brilliant mathematicians of our century finally turned to philosophy in order "to be'' A man marries a woman, couples have children, in order "to be". Sometimes in the twisted turns of one's mind in order one person "to be" the life of another must be taken. Most murder are committed by someone close to the -victim, well-known to the victim and sometimes dear to the victim.
"To be" is the exact opposite of saying, "I'd rather die." It is rather saying "in order for me to live here is what I must be."
"To be or not to be" is certainly one of the crucial questions of our times. Extraordinary investments of time and money, energy and talent are spent in this drive to be. An American Family seen on educational tv focuses on a family in their everyday life. Lance plays out his fantasies in order to be; the father must live beyond his means and border on failure in order to be; the wife and mother finally sues for a divorce in order for her to be. To be somebody is a drive we all share in, for better or for worse,
There is a price to be paid for being. One's life-time is given. One spends his psychic energies, the labor of his body, the nervous energy of his soul, for "to be" is the goal of existence. This hungering, driving experience begins with the child.
Then there is the experience of knowing about what it is "to be." For each of us can ask the question what is my drive "to be" becoming? What am I becoming. Bringing answers to this question creates self-knowledge. What is becoming of me? is sometimes a cry of despair, but long before it was a cry of despair it was latent waiting to serve as the basis for self -understanding.
There is a price to be paid for such self-knowledge. Sometimes the price is paid to the psychiatrist, sometimes to the bar-tender, sometimes to the travel agent, and sometimes the price paid is a complete change in life-style. The price of one's life, a life that is note repeatable, one that can be shortened, sometimes lengthened, enriched, impoverished, it is that life that pays with itself for such self-knowledge.
I. Caiphas-Jesus.
A. Development.
1. Caiphas wears clerical garments which mark him as a religious man, He is in full charge of the Sanhedrin—an occupation not unlike being president of the Council of Bishops. He is addressed in manner related to his office- high priest. Not unlike the ecclesiastical titles of Reverend, bishop, and sometimes doctor,
2. If he had been told as a boy that one day he would grow up to be High Priest, he would not have believed it. All he wanted "to be" was a helpful servant of God. With the zeal and naivete of youth his eye was single, his purpose clear, his direction unwavering.