Sermon for September 4, 2016
Now large crowds were
traveling with Jesus; and he turned and said to them, "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. Whoever does not carry the
cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, intending to build
a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has
enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able
to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, saying, `This fellow
began to build and was not able to finish.' Or what king, going out to wage war
against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able
with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand?
If he cannot, then, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation
and asks for the terms of peace. So therefore, none of you can become my
disciple if you do not give up all your possessions."
Our gospel reading today is
not an easy one. I have to admit I took
a serious look at the other lessons to see if I could get out of preaching on
Luke today. I like the text from
Jeremiah and it was very tempting to craft an entire sermon around the potters
wheel with, what for me, are wonderful images of how people and whole nations are
formed, deformed, and reformed. And that
we have choices that influence what our pot will look like in the end.
But that quickly got me to the
reading from Luke. The reading from Luke
is about identity. It is about the
choices we make that influence how we are perceived and how we love our
God. But I will tell you this reading
from Luke is not one that I would want to put on a sign outside our doors with
the hope that it would pull in people.
It is a little piece of Luke that needs to be explored and wrestled with
not used as a slogan.
Thankfully you will be happy
to know that Jesus really is not asking you to hate your family. Jesus never asks us to hate one another. It is – as happens from time to time – an
issue in translating into english. It is
hyperbole that is meant to get our attention but it really is more about who do
you love more rather than who do you hate.
The transliteration of the bible by Eugene Peterson – The Message – translated
it “Anyone who comes to me but refuses to let go of father, mother, spouse,
children, brothers, sisters – yes, even one’s own self! – can’t be my disciple.”
Still not an easy passage but it gets us closer to the point.
The point is who are we. What are our identities? Ones identity was very much wrapped up into
family - particularly in the first
century when Jesus walked around Israel.
The family unit is how you survived.
It is how you were known. Family
was a key element of your identity.
Perhaps for some of us it still is.
Certainly when we attend large familial gatherings you will here people
say things like “Oh- that is Rik – son of Ron and Ruth.” But in this post-modern world I wonder how
true this notion of family being the key to ones identity still rings true.
But certainly what is still
true is that our choices certainly define who we are. And Jesus is asking the crowd that is
following him around to make a hard choice – And to be clear the crowd is
following him because he is doing amazing healings and saying amazing things – they
are not necessarily because they are ready to do the really hard work that
ushering in God’s reign of love will take.
SO Jesus is telling them they need to make a choice.
They need to make an informed
choice because when the world as one knows it is turned upside down people get
angry. People like to be in charge –as
we certainly hear right now in this crazy presidential election season. But a prudent person Jesus says – will sit
down and figure out the cost. What does
it cost to follow Jesus? What does is
cost to help usher in God’s loving reign.
Jesus tells us it is going to
be expensive. It can cost us
everything. There is a cost and it needs
to be weighed. It's
hard for us to understand the need to make one choice these days. We all have multiples identities, multiple
networks. Many of us have jobs that take
sacrifices, or families that take sacrifices.
Most of us would say that we don’t have to pick just one thing. We can do it all. We can have the prestigious job, do sports,
go to the gym, belong to the men or woman’s chorus. We can arrange our schedules around soccer,
golf, or bike riding – to name just a few.
We don’t get this choose one thing that Jesus is asking us to do in this
reading.
And we can decide when to go
to church. Unlike back in the 1950’s
church attendance is no longer the expected thing. Probably Sunday morning soccer with the kids
is more of the expected thing. And if we
look around we can see that. You all
made the choice on this holiday weekend to come here. You could be rafting down the American River
or attending Gold Rush Days in Old Sacramento – or perhaps close by attending
the Sacramento Anime festival next door.
But you are here.
Church is no longer seen as a
necessary step towards getting into the right club. For most of us and for most of society Church
is no longer the expected norm. And
maybe that is ok. We really don’t need a
bunch of country club members who come to be seen. We need people who will count the cost. Who will make sacrifices to help usher in God’s
loving reign.
We don’t need people to attend
church. We instead need people to follow
Jesus. We need people to let go of the
American Ideal of the rugged individual.
We don’t need any more “me” people who don’t see the poverty and hunger
at their very doorsteps. We need people
who can see the hungry and the hurting and offer them something.
We need people who are willing
to turn society right-side-up again. We
need to build a society that embraces the other. Where the great command to feed the hungry,
clothe the naked, to visit the sick and those in prison is at least as
important as the Sunday soccer game or the Sunday brunch group. And that takes sacrifice and will cost
us.
Jesus is asking us to recognize
that following Christ is expensive. We
need to make our choices based on following him. Not on which is the best soccer club or the
best place to eat lunch.
Oh…and I can tell you the best
place to eat lunch in this town. It is
right here on Wednesdays. It starts with
the gathered saints for a noon Eucharist where all are welcomed and continues
with a wonderful meal served in the parish hall.
You will be sure to meet
Christ if you come to lunch here on Wednesdays – that I can promise you. I can also promise you that the Christ you
meet will not look like the Christ portrayed in the stained glass windows. No the Christ you will meet will be
hungry. Hungry for food and hungry to
have someone to sit down with in community.
You will get a glimpse of the hunger and the hurt that is in the shadows
of our world. A hunger that we are called
to feed. A hurt we are called to mend.
And you can really find those
who hunger and thirst any day of the week on just about any street corner. I see it all the time. I see homeless youth walking past my house
with their bedrolls at 5:30 in the morning.
Surprised that I greet them with a “good morning”. I see it when I walk to church from my office
on Wednesdays. There is a hunger that
needs to be fed. And we are called to do
the feeding.
The reason to come to church
is not to be saved. That has already
happened. Getting into heaven is not about doing good works and coming
here. That is not what the Gospel
reading is talking about. That is not
what Jesus is saying.
The Gospel reading is about
discipleship. It is about following
Jesus and helping to bring in the reign of God’s love. And if we are really going to follow Jesus
that we need to be prepared to make some sacrifices. We need to be prepared to make feeding the
other a priority rather than a nice charity.
We need to work in the systems that keep people oppressed – both
actively and when we decide who we will
elect to represent and lead us.
Being a disciple is not
easy. But the rewards are great. When we see the light shine in someone’s eyes
when they are served a home cooked meal by members of the Altar Guild and their
helpers we get a glimpse of God. When we
listen to the hardships and offer a place of refuge to the homeless we will
hear and see God.
And I will repeat that you don’t
have to do any of this go earn salvation.
Salvation has already been offered freely by God and is there for
us. What you will get is a foretaste of
the heavenly banquet. What you will get
is the Joy of helping turn society right-side up where people are loved and
cared for. The cost may be great but the
reward is great as well. That reward is –
in short – seeing God’s reign come to fruition in our own time.
Amen.
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