Vicar Brett Wilson - 15th Sunday after Pentecost – 9/5/10 – Luke 14:25-33
The other day I was on 222 and I was stuck in traffic. Two miles of standstill traffic, inching along for about 30 minutes until we finally passed the accident that caused it. Just a few minutes into sitting still in the hot car, my patience started to wane. I looked over to my left and saw in the car next to me two women in the front seats, probably the mother and grandmother, of the three rambunctious kids in the backseat. I thought, my, that's some patience, I wonder if they ever get really frustrated.
And not that any of you would ever say anything like this, but maybe you parents or kids can picture this setting, in a car. Parents driving in the front seat, kids in the backseat, and they are just plucking the parents' last nerve. And the parent reaches the breaking point, whips around, and says something like - “If any of you say one more word, I'm going to turn this car right around and we're not going on vacation this summer!” Teachers, parents, maybe everyone has made these kind of ultimatums with harsh words. I know I have, and they weren't my proudest moments. Saying these things, it's not so much about action as about shock.
Jesus' words we read today are shocking. If you're not shocked, you're not awake. It's harsh. Just like the parent in the car, Jesus has crowds of followers behind him, and maybe just like the parent driving, just got really fed up. Maybe Jesus felt that they didn't understand all that he had been telling them. Perhaps they are only focusing on the blessings and is forgetting that Jesus has said (back in chapter 9) he will undergo great suffering, be killed, and on the third day rise. Jesus has already told them at least once, that they must too take up their cross daily. So now, maybe they needed reminding and Jesus spins around and shocks the disciples, and us, with these words:
“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. 27Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. 28For 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? . . . So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.”
Can you imagine the looks on the followers' faces? How do you feel when you hear these verses? Jesus gives his followers, us included, a wake-up call. This is when the disciples realize that following this man, this God, isn't all rainbows and sunshine – there are hard words here. First, let's set something straight – Jesus is not asking us to hate anyone. This, as well as the comment on selling possessions, is part of a much larger discussion Jesus is having with them about priorities and about how discipleship shapes how we live.
So then what is Jesus doing here? Jesus is shocking us out of our self-centeredness. Jesus is waking you up to say – these words, this gospel, this cross that I am going to – it's not just a story – it changes who you are. Jesus changes your life whole life by this relationship with him.
Jesus gives us instructions for the Christian life as a gift, for a full life, but God is not saving you because of your actions. Only God's mercy saves us. Jesus' harsh words mercifully snap us out of our selfishness and make us consider our priorities. New parents talk about how everything changes – how the child becomes the center of your life, no longer yourself. And Jesus wakes us up with these harsh words that it's not all about you, that you cannot do it on your own. It's not all about you, but God is all about you. God is after all, the parent here. God is also all about your neighbor and each person around you. The parent who sent the son to go to his cross so that bearing our cross means that we live lives through the lens of faith.
Bearing your cross doesn't necessarily mean suffering or being called to something specific like religious work or some life set apart. That was Jesus' cross, and not one that we could ever carry as sinful people. After all, in the Greek text and every other translation I could find, it says carry his own cross. You are not called to be Jesus but to carry out your own role and hence reflect Jesus' love. To walk bearing your cross as Christ calls you to, yes, that life has its costs. But ultimately Jesus died for you so that even while discipleship calls us to a costly life, Jesus has already paid all the costs, on the cross. As Lutherans we find great comfort in the cross – because it is the greatest symbol of God's love and mercy for us. We find comfort in that bearing our cross is found in our everyday lives – wherever we reflect God's love or see faith and the Holy Spirit shaping ourselves and those around us. Loving your neighbor. That is bearing your cross. This is God's work in you daily, in whatever your role or job may be in life.
When you as Christ Lutheran give of what you have for the people in Haiti to have basic needs met and schools rebuilt, that is bearing your cross. The cross is an unlikely symbol of God's mercy, but it means that we find God acting in unexpected places. In that traffic the other day on 222, amidst everyone's collective frustration, two cars in front of me a man got out of the passenger side of the SUV, and walked around to the back of the car. I thought – come on – what is he doing – and then he got behind the SUV and started to push. I watched the scene for not more than a couple seconds, before three other men from nearby cars jumped out and helped the man push. Right there on the highway, there were people bearing their cross, showing love to their neighbor.
Whether you work in construction, education, at home, in food service, or if you're out of work, wherever you are, there you bear your cross. No one job or role in the body of Christ is better than another or more capable of bearing your cross. The arena for Christian service is our everyday, common life. Daily life is the Christian life. Martin Luther writes about a man doing the diaper changing as a part of Christian service, that a man shoveling manure in a barn for his job is bearing his cross, as is a woman fixing a girl's hair in pigtails. The neighbor you are to love begins in your family, then your jobs, then society. Jesus walks with you in all these things. This is your cross – and by showing Christ's love in the everyday of your work, you lift high the cross of Christ, the love of Christ proclaim. Amen.
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