I have always found it ironic that we
preachers love to preach to big crowds even though the person we preach about
often said and did things to thin out the crowds. Just when Jesus seemed to be
building up a large following, he would go against every church growth
principle by saying or doing something that would turn people away.
Take
today’s Gospel reading for example where Jesus lays down the gauntlet by
talking about the cost of discipleship. He talks about hating your mother and
father if you want to follow him. Yes, he uses the word, “hate.” Thank goodness
that this scripture doesn’t fall on Mothers’ Day.
This
scripture has always bothered me. And so I thought, well, maybe the word “hate”
in the Greek language really doesn’t mean “hate” in the way that we understand
the meaning of that word. So I looked up the Greek word that Jesus uses here
for the word, “hate,” and guess what it means? The Greek word is “miseo” which means,
“hate.”
No
help there. Unfortunately, our English bible translations got that translation
right.
If
there’s any loophole at all, it is that Jesus is using the literary device
known as hyperbole where he is using exaggeration to startle his listeners. My
guess is that many of us did raise an eyebrow or two when we heard this
scripture read for us just a little bit ago. And that’s good, because that
means Jesus got our attention.
Sometimes, the bible hits us right between the eyes because it says
something that runs counter to what we thought it was going to say. How can
Jesus tell us to hate when his whole life was about loving God and others? He
wants to get our attention that if we truly want to follow him, we need to love
him more than anyone or anything else in the world. That’s what he’s saying
here.
Just
after that shocking statement, Jesus hits us hard again when he talks about
carrying a cross. The shock value of that comment has lost its edge since we do
not live in the 1st century when that word had a very specific meaning
related to the Roman Empire. Unlike today, jewelry stores in 1st
century Israel would not have sold bright and shiny silver cross necklaces.
The
cross was the public instrument of death that was used by the Romans. It was a
very gruesome and torturous means of capital punishment in that time period.
Nothing would have been more shameful than to be forced to carry your own cross,
your own instrument of death.
What
is the purpose of Jesus using this shocking language of the cross? He wants the
crowd to know that if they really want to follow him, it won’t be easy.
It
will mean that we will suffer with Christ. It will mean that we will need to go
the second mile. It will mean that we work for justice for the poor. It will
mean that we love our enemies, that we listen to the lonely, and that we care about
those who are forgotten in society.
And
then Jesus uses one more subtle, but graphic way of explaining what it means to
be one of his disciples. He says that it means that we are to follow him. Now,
that doesn’t sound like a bad thing. Who wouldn’t want to follow Jesus, right?
That’s why this big crowd is following Jesus in this passage of scripture.
Luke tells us that large crowds were following Jesus. They’re following Jesus
because they saw him as a celebrity figure.
He’s
been healing people and performing miracles. He’s been the trending story in
their Facebook news feeds. And now, they want to be in the Jesus parade,
because Jesus’ fame has been spreading to all the towns and villages.
What
this crowd doesn’t know is what Jesus knows. There won’t be any trophies for
the best looking float at the end of this parade. No, this parade will conclude
with Jesus sacrificing his life for the sake of the world. It won’t be pretty.
Jesus
wanted the crowd to know that if they really want to follow them, they will
need to live in two worlds at the same time. They need to live in the world as
they know it, but they also need to live in the new world that Jesus was
establishing on earth, a world in which God’s love is extended to everyone.
It’s
not easy to live in these two worlds at once. Maybe you’ve heard of this prayer
that someone shared. It goes like this:
Dear God,
So far today I have done all right.
I haven't gossiped.
I haven't lost my temper.
I haven't been greedy, grumpy,
nasty, selfish or overindulgent.
I am very thankful for that!
But in a few minutes, Lord,
I am going to get out of this bed,
And from then on,
I'm probably going to need a lot more help.
Amen.
Can
you relate to this prayer? I have often believed that the most important part
of the worship service isn’t the singing, or the prayers, or the sermon, or the
offering.
The
most important part of the worship service is really the benediction when we
are sent out from this place to actually live out our faith in the real world
of politics, work place challenges, and conflicting opinions. That’s the hard
part about our faith.
When
you pray for God to grant you patience, watch out, because you will probably
find yourself behind an overly slow car when you’re running late for an
appointment.
When
you pray for God to help you to be more understanding, that’s when you will
read a post on Facebook that stretches the truth.
When
you pray for God to grant you peace, you just might end up having one of those
days when nothing seems to go right.
Jesus wants us to be his disciples in the real world. He wants us to
follow him when we worship in a beautiful sanctuary on a Sunday morning, or
when we’re waiting in a long line at the BMV on a Thursday afternoon.
Unfortunately, Jesus doesn’t give us the option of following him just
one day each week. He calls us into a 24/7 discipleship that will often be inconvenient.
Being
a disciple of Jesus means that we are always living in two worlds. As we go
through our week, we are to be consciously aware that our behaviors, our
actions, our thoughts, and our conversations, are to line up with who we claim
to be on Sunday morning.
We
are in a season right now that I dread every four years. It’s the presidential
election season. It’s the season where we often become more passionate about our
political parties than we do about being followers of Jesus. Contrary to
popular belief, following a political party is not the same thing as following
Christ. I know that this is a radical thought for some, but it needs to be
said.
When
I read scripture, I notice that Jesus steps on Republican toes just as much as
he steps on Democrat toes. Jesus is an equal offender of our political
leanings. The same is true for Independents.
Yes,
let’s be informed citizens, and yes, let’s have discourse and conversation
about the future of our country, but no, let’s not belittle, or dismiss people
simply because they do not agree with us politically. This isn’t just about
national politics. It also relates to how we treat each other regarding church
politics.
Every four years, the United Methodist Church holds a General Conference
where clergy and lay delegates from all around the world gather to vote on
issues that relate to matters of faith.
This
past May, our own West Ohio Bishop, Bishop Gregory Palmer delivered an
inspiring episcopal address at the beginning of General Conference reminding
the delegates who were gathered there to see each other as fellow children of
God in spite of our many theological differences, particularly around the issue
of human sexuality and LGBT legislation.
A
clergy friend of mine who attended General Conference as an observer, told me
that there were a lot of “Amens” throughout the large convention center during
the Bishop’s very moving sermon.
My
friend then told me, that a few days into General Conference and after the
delegates had been debating some of these controversial issues, that there had
been incidents of delegates getting into heated arguments with each other
outside of the plenary sessions.
In
just a few short days, people had gone from shouting, “Amen” during the opening
sermon to hurling insults toward each other, not all of the delegates, but
some. Oh, how quickly we forget, even those of us who are inside the church,
that Jesus calls us to follow him, and to always remember that we are living in
two worlds, the world that is around us, and the new world that God wants to
create in and through us. How quickly we forget.
So
it’s no wonder that Jesus goes to great lengths to get our attention with this
scripture this morning. He wants us to know that following him is not always
going to be easy, especially, when Jesus’ ways run counter to our ways.
Maybe this is where our Old Testament lesson from Jeremiah comes into
play in this discussion. The prophet reminds us that we are like clay that God
as our potter shapes and reworks so that we can become God’s vessels to bring
about the kingdom of God here on earth. Our scripture concludes with these
words:
“Turn now, all of you from your evil way,
and amend your ways and your doings.”
Whenever we find it difficult to follow Jesus
by taking up our cross, by going the second mile, and by loving our enemies,
just remember that God is our potter, shaping and molding us to be his people.
I give thanks to God for followers of Jesus who show me what it means to be
shaped and molded into the image of God.
On
this very day, fifteen years ago, a member of the
congregation I was serving at the time, lost her brother in the 9/11 attacks.
He worked in one of the Twin Towers there in New York City. This church member loves the Lord, loves her
church, loves her country, is very patriotic, and she believes in justice. But
she also is a woman of tremendous faith.
Barbara hasn’t allowed this terrible terrorist act to turn her into bitter person. Instead, a year after her brother died, she and her family traveled to an impoverished community in Mexico to build a home for a needy family in loving memory of her brother. This is how she responded to 9/11. Instead of anger and bitterness, she used her energy to go after a new dream of serving others.
I can’t help but to think of her today, and what she must be feeling on
this fifteenth 9/11 anniversary. How can she not have some anger and
bitterness? She’s human. Today is a
difficult day for all of us.
But she, like all followers of Jesus, live in two worlds. Barbara is a
follower of Jesus who is seeking to pursue her dream of a world where all
people have a place to live and have enough food to eat.
Barbara would say that the reason she has been able to overcome this
terrible evil and loss in her life is because she is a follower of Jesus. She
is a follower of Jesus who told us that living in two worlds wouldn’t be easy.
But she has chosen to turn the other cheek, to go the extra mile, and to make
this world a better place, when she has every right to be bitter and resentful.
She would tell you that she is no saint, simply a follower of Jesus.
When we become utterly dependent upon the grace of God, when we live in
partnership with Christ, when we listen to the promptings of the Spirit, then
we find our way to hope.
God carries us when we cannot carry any more crosses. God nurtures us
when family pressures have drained us dry. God keeps seeking, finding, and
forgiving us when we get buried in anxious living.
God helps us to live in the way of Christ, with compassion, an
alternative to the jungle of selfishness around us, with generosity, an
opposition to the marketplace of greed, with love, treating people as friends
and not problems to be solved.
Jesus is demanding, but he is also loving, caring, and forgiving. The
one who demands everything also give us everything – meaning, purpose, comfort,
and joy. Costly discipleship is not easy, especially when the world makes
counterclaims, but the question becomes for us,
“Are we willing to live in two
worlds at the same time; the world that we see around us, but also the world
that God wants to fill with peace and justice?
And the really difficult thing
about all of this is…
If we truly want to be a follower of Jesus, that’s a question we need to
answer every single day.
Living In Two Worlds
Small Group Questions
Luke 14:25-33
September 11, 2016
In Luke 14:25-33 Jesus 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." Jesus uses the word, "hate" in this passage not to suggest that we should literally hate our family members, but to get our attention in showing that he wants us to make him first in our priorities.
Share a time when you have you found it difficult to follow Christ instead of following the ways of the world. What helped you to keep Christ first in your life through that experience?
Jesus calls us to live in two worlds, the world we live in everyday, and the world that God is seeking to create that is filled with love, forgiveness, peace, and good works.
What helps you to live in these two worlds and remain a faithful follower of Christ?
Pastor Robert shared a humorous prayer that is meant to remind us of how difficult it can be to live in the two worlds of our everyday lives and the world that God wants to create as we seek to keep Christ first in all that we do. Here's the prayer:
Dear God,
So far today I have done all right.
I haven't gossiped.
I haven't lost my temper.
I haven't been greedy, grumpy,
nasty, selfish or overindulgent.
I am very thankful for that!
But in a few minutes, Lord,
I am going to get out of this bed,
And from then on,
I'm probably going to need a lot more help.
Amen.
Share how this humorous prayer can help you to be a more faithful follower of Jesus Christ as you begin your day.
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