C Lectionary 23 – September 8, 2013 (ELCA 25th
Anniversary Sunday)
Text: Luke 14:25-33
Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Grand Prairie, Texas
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Grace and peace be to you, from God
our Father, and from the Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.
So, we’ve spent the whole summer
working our way through several of the epistles together, and now we are back
to looking at the Gospel of Luke. We find ourselves today in chapter 14 and
here is some context: Jesus is out and about, fully immersed in his earthly
ministry. Large crowds surround him, for he is extremely popular with the
people as a healer and a teacher.
As a teacher, he does what many
teachers do in using different literary devices to get his point across. One of
his most commonly used devices is, of course, the parable. Another one, which
we find in today’s selection from Luke, is one called “hyperbole” – or using exaggeration to make a strong point. And
the strong point he is making in today’s lesson is all about counting the cost of being one of his
disciples: what it is that we must set
down in order to pick up the
cross.
He uses some very strong wording
here: “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.”[1] I
was told regularly by my mom and stepdad never to use the word “hate” – it’s
such a strongly negative word. If I’m honest, it makes me uncomfortable that
Jesus uses it here. Hating people – especially those that I’m closest to –
seems pretty unchristian, when we come right down to it.
Except that, for at least some of Jesus’ listeners in the First
Century, choosing to follow him was tantamount to choosing to hate their own
families. There were some who left family businesses, for instance, to follow
him. Imagine it: instead of choosing a nice, steady life of working in the
family business, some of them walked away, choosing instead to follow an
itinerant teacher. I can hear the rest of the family now: “Why are you doing
this to us? Do you hate us?”
For us, in this room, we typically rejoice
when someone is baptized. We typically celebrate when someone decides to become
a part of this or another faith community. But in the First Century, especially
during the time of Jesus’ earthly ministry, some of these early disciples of
Jesus made totally life-changing decisions in order to follow him. Decisions
that did not cause rejoicing or celebration – but that instead, caused great
pain and division.
It’s all part of what some set down in order to pick up the cross.
When Jesus talks about carrying the
cross, he is not talking about some beautiful piece of jewelry, lovingly
handcrafted by an artist, or a cross hanging on the wall. He is talking about
an instrument of death. Jesus’ listeners would have been thinking in those
terms, too – and so he is saying here that the cost of following him might be
quite high, indeed – the cost might be their very lives.
For us in this room, following
Christ is not – generally speaking – a life-threatening proposition. It might
not even be a particularly life-changing proposition. And the cost of following
Jesus, at least for many of us, is not literal
hatred of those around us – who, by the way, in other parts of Scripture,
we are told to love and honor.
The cost of following Jesus is a
total re-ordering of our priorities, so that he is at the center – at the very
center of everything we do. Jesus wants disciples who follow him in all things
and on all days – not only at church activities, and not only on Sunday
mornings or Wednesday evenings. And, living our lives this way, our worldview
changes, so that Jesus is always present in our vision.
One person I’ve gotten to know a little bit is a writer by the name of Becky Durham. She lives in Kentucky – we’ve never met in person, only online – but sort of like pen-pals, we share things with each other from time to time. I came across this wonderful piece of writing of hers the other day, entitled “Worldview” and I will share part of it with you:
“I’m someone who often suffers, unnecessarily, from guilt. I feel guilty all the time for all kinds of reasons.
I feel guilty if I talk on my cell
phone while I’m driving…
I feel guilty if I skip something
I’m supposed to do–work, a meeting, church, etc.
The other day, I felt guilty
because I posted something on my blog, looked back at it and the content and
realized: Hey, I never mentioned Jesus! What do people think when I write a
whole blog and don’t mention Jesus? Do people think that maybe I’m not much of
a Christian or Christ isn’t a priority in my life?
So when I had this moment of guilt,
I started thinking about my blog. And then I started thinking about my
life. To me, this is where my worldview becomes relevant.
I’m a Christian. It’s not an
activity that I do or how I spend my time on Sundays. Christianity is my
worldview. When I encounter other people, I’m called to treat them as though I
were encountering Christ. When I make decisions, I make them as I consider what
Jesus might do in the same situation or as I consider the teachings of Christ…
Everything I do, everywhere I
stand, everyone I meet…I do so as a follower of Jesus.
Sometimes, I’ll be explicit about
this and tell you all about it. Other times, I don’t say a word about Christ,
but I hope that you can see God’s love and light at work in my life. I also
hope you always understand that I’m a sinner, well aware of the grace that
makes me wholly a child of God…”[2]
Our lives must be centered on Jesus so that, wherever we find ourselves, whatever we are doing, we know, first of all, that Jesus is there with us, and secondly, that others are seeing Jesus because of us. In centering our lives on Jesus, it means we’re going to make some choices in terms of how we order our lives. It means we’re going to come to worship; read the Bible – either on our own, or together, or both!; give generously and live generously. It means we’re going to pray for others; love others; bless others – even those we find it hard to love and bless! It means we’re going to be of service to others but also be willing to receive love from others. It means we’re going to have to set some things down in order to pick some other things up.
Here’s the kicker: sometimes, we’re
going to mess it up. Sometimes, we’re going to kick Jesus out of our worldview
and focus on something or someone else instead. But we are the children of God,
saved by the grace of God.
Empowered by the Holy Spirit, may
we keep the cross of Jesus always before us, remembering his life, his death,
and his resurrection to be our salvation. For he himself is our peace.[3]
Amen.
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