September 5, 2010 (23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time)
Rev. Brett Hendrickson
1. If these were the only words we had from Jesus, we would have a very different idea of who he is. Most of us think of Jesus as merciful. He’s a healer and a miracle worker. He’s the Son of God who gives of himself to save and redeem us. He’s the King of Heaven sitting on God’s right hand welcoming us to the eternal banquet at the end of our earthly life. But then, in passages like the one we hear from Luke’s gospel this morning, Jesus suddenly is speaking words to his followers that are as hard as nails. He seems almost unreasonable in his stridency. He says, “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple.” These are incredibly hard words! What are we to make of them? How in heaven’s name can the Lord of love and mercy, the one who is always trying to draw us together into a community of faith, say these hard, divisive things? Well, I’ll say up front that most Bible scholars and commentators try to lessen the impact of these words in some way. They either say that the Aramaic word for “hate” had a more benign meaning than the English word. Or, and this is more common, they say that Jesus was exercising poetic hyperbole to make a very serious point. These kinds of interpretations help us get our heads around Jesus’ words, but we must not forget that Jesus said something very demanding—very serious.
2. I don’t want to bury the lead too much—I think the point of Jesus’ words, and the point of this sermon is that being Jesus’ followers—his disciples—demands everything we’ve got. Rev. Alyce McKenzie remembers a story from her childhood that sounds awfully familiar—perhaps you had a similar upbringing: “When I was growing up, my dad was big on perseverance proverbs. ‘Winners never quit and quitters never win.’ ‘When the going gets tough, the tough get going.’ He even had a picture over his desk in his study of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry’s battle flag that flew over the USS Niagra during the Battle of Lake Eerie in 1812. It read ‘Don’t Give Up the Ship.’ …Growing up we were never allowed to quit anything. That’s enough to make you think twice before you join the marching band.” It’s a good lesson for children, and maybe for adults too: If you sign up to do something, see it through, do not give up. Of course, there are times in our lives when quitting is appropriate—sometimes we start things that become too harmful or just don’t make sense to continue with. But the basic point stands—don’t sign up for something unless you are ready to commit to it.
3. Jesus is looking around at the crowds that are following him around. He sees people that are in the crowd for a lot of different reasons, and one senses that he feels distinctly suspicious that many of these people are fair-weather friends. One has to wonder if he may also look around the Christian churches today, gathered this morning, and wonder the same thing. So he decides, with hard words, to make clear to all of us following him that there are serious ramifications of being his disciple. One commentator has said that this passage is “the fine print” of being a Christian, and that once you’ve heard it, you can’t say that you haven’t. The fine print of Christianity is that being Jesus’ follower must be your number one commitment in your life.
4. Once you know the fine print, that being a Christian can be nothing less than all-consuming, then Jesus invites you to get out your calculator and make some prudent calculations. He gives a couple of examples that, unfortunately, continue to be relevant in our modern world. First, he mentions a contractor. The wise contractor does not start a building project until he first calculates whether or not he will be able to complete the job. Otherwise, he’ll be stuck with a half-finished eyesore and be the laughingstock of all. To drive the point home, he makes another example in the area of warfare. What military leader would lead his troops into a war without first being next-to-positive that he could win the conflict? Even if you’re not a contractor or a military general, you get the gist of what Jesus is trying to say. When you say, “Jesus, I will follow you,” when you agree to be a member of Jesus’ church, when you make promises at your own baptism and at the baptism of others, you commit yourself to something that hopefully you have made provision to carry through.
5. So, how would we make this tally? When we were examining this incredibly demanding fine print, how would we calculate what Dietrich Bonhoeffer called the “cost of discipleship”? Well, what do you think it requires to be a Christian? Let’s start with the baseline. You need to come to church to worship with your fellow Christians pretty regularly. You need to serve others in some way. You need to give of your time and talent. You need to pray. You need to study. Ok, that already can seem like a whole lot in busy lives. But after Jesus’ words that we need to forsake everyone, even ourselves, to follow him, that we need to take up the cross, even these tall orders do not seem quite tall enough. There are more difficult tasks. We must turn the other cheek. We must forgive those who harm us. We must give the coat off our own backs. We must go the extra mile. We must love our enemies. Perhaps there’s even more. Perhaps we cannot move through our lives keeping our religion separate from politics, or from our family life, or from our work, or from our school. Jesus suggests that we need to give up all our possessions. More hyperbole?
Have you ever done those little thought experiments where, with friends, you say: “If you had to give up one of these for the rest of your life, what would it be? Would it be chocolate or red wine? Would it be french fries or pancakes? Would it be movies or books? If you had to choose just one of the pair, which would it be? In the context of Jesus’ terribly hard words, in the context of the fine print, which would it be: following Jesus or anything else?
6. By now, if you’re like me, you are realizing that you are not going to be able to do this thing. If I have to give up all my possessions and put my family in 2nd place and live out my faith in every arena of my life without fail, then, no, I can sincerely say that I am going to be found wanting.
But the good news (and there is always good news!) is that all these commitments are not the price of a ticket into Jesus’ company. Jesus is inviting all of us now. We don’t need to be perfect disciples to join in. That’s right. Total commitment is not the price to follow Jesus, it is the inevitable consequence. If you stay with him on the way to the cross, if you never leave him, if you make him first in all, the consequences could be hard indeed.
7. But you will not be alone. Thanks be to God, when we follow Christ and take up the cross with him, we are given the Church. I’m talking about the Church with a capital C. This is the congregation of the faithful that goes beyond the congregation of First Alton. It’s the Church of all those who have read the fine print and signed up anyway, those who know full well that their priorities will never line up with the priorities of the world. You know, the priorities that say it is fine to go to church on Sunday and not think of it again until next week. Or that say that it is fine to spend all kinds of money on clubs and property and luxuries and give some spare change to the church. Or that say that some people are better than other people on this earth because of their citizenship or class or race or gender. Or that actually think that poor people deserve to be poor because they lack what it takes to be well-off like us. Maybe we’d like to be members of a Church where everyone was like us and had the same sophistication or money or background or family that we had. But that’s a Church that is ignoring the hard words from today’s gospel. That is not the Church that Jesus is giving us. Jesus is giving us a Church made up of all those other disciples who have agreed to give their all. Jesus is giving us a Church that is ruled by the priorities of his cross. It’s not an easy place to be, but it is the only place to be.
Let us pray: God of all people, give us the courage and strength to follow where you lead us. Help us to find our value, our identity, and our purpose in you and in no other. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
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