Based on Lk. 14:25-33
Sermon for 14 Pentecost, Year C
By Pastor Garth Wehrfritz-Hanson
Jesus always seems to have a way of shocking
people into reality. He knew our human condition so well. He knew that a lot of
times we don’t listen or learn anything unless we are shocked; or made to feel
uncomfortable; or given a struggle or challenge.
You might call today’s gospel “a shocker
par excellence.” “If any one comes to me and does not hate her or his
own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and
even her or his own life, he or she cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not
bear his or her own cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple.”
These words, taken literally, or at face
value, are shocking enough to make even the greatest saint (and especially the
literalist interpreter of the Bible!) feel
uncomfortable and want to run in the opposite direction! It seems so strange
for Jesus to use that word HATE in reference to our spouse and family. After
all, he was always preaching and teaching love, wasn’t he? Love your neighbour,
love God, love yourself, love even your enemies. I rather doubt that Jesus
really wants us to take the word hate here literally, at face value.
However, I do know that Jesus wants us to
be loyal to him first and foremost above everything and everyone else. Hence,
these words of Jesus and his method of teaching them, may be best understood as
hyperbolic in nature. This may very well be Jesus’ way of saying to us: “I know
how weak you are. I know how easily you can fall away from me. I know that you
are always tempted with the sin of idolatry—you can fall into the trap of
worshipping and loving your spouse and family instead of worshipping and loving
me. I don’t want you to do this. I want to protect you from this. That’s why
I’m shocking you into reality.”
I know a woman who was raised a Lutheran.
She was confirmed in the Lutheran Church. When the time cam for her to be
married; there was some tension between herself and her spouse-to-be; who was
raised in a fundamentalist Church. Even though he was not as active in his
Church as she was in hers; he reluctantly agreed to be married in the Lutheran
Church. After they were married, occasionally they’d attend the Lutheran
Church. Then, as time went on, they petered out altogether. The woman made no
effort to remain loyal to the faith in which she was raised. In this case,
spouse and family really is number one priority—over and above Christ.
The words of our gospel today come as a
warning to us all. We are to remain loyal to Jesus. He is to be number one
priority. Do we love, trust, value, and serve him more than anything or anyone?
That’s the question he addresses each one of us and collectively as a
congregation. He shocks us into reality: “Whoever does not bear his or her own
cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple.”
Jesus was always the practical realist. He
never promised people an illusionary utopia or a Shangri-La or a castle in the
clouds. He never led people into following him without them first carefully
realizing how costly it would be for them. The greatest things in life are
costly and involve much commitment and self-sacrifice and suffering.
In modern times, it was the Lutheran
theologian and pastor, Dietrich Bonhoeffer who profoundly understood this and
lived it out completely in his own life. In his book, The Cost of
Discipleship, he said: “When Jesus calls a person, he bids them to come and
die.” Ironically enough, Bonhoeffer actually brought the meaning of these words
into living reality, when, in 1945, he died a martyr’s death. The cost of
discipleship for Bonhoeffer and for anyone who calls him or herself a Christian
can be nothing but a cross. The cross reminds us that if Jesus is worth living
for because of what he has done for us; then he is also worth dying for. It’s
not easy to be a Christian disciple, but then, it never was. We will face
difficulties; we will experience sufferings; others will reject us. We will be
tempted and attracted to seemingly better and easier lifestyles. Anyone who
lives in today’s Western world especially, cannot help but be attracted and
tempted—since there are countless ways and means of being preoccupied with
pleasure, success and a life of comfort and ease. I have even noticed newspaper
advertisements where churches have abandoned the cross for pleasure and
success—“Come to such-and-such a Church, where Christianity is fun and easy!”
Whenever the Church down through history
has become too successful and popular by worldly standards; it has always
proved to be a sign of decay, which quite often led to some sort of tragedy. On
the other hand, whenever the Church has faced hardships and persecution, it
usually has grown and matured in the faith. Many Christians that I’ve known who
have gone through tough times have told me that it helped their faith to grow
and mature. Without hardships, sufferings, and challenges, we can very easily
become bored, stale, apathetic and indifferent. Jesus knew that. That’s why
it’s necessary for him to shock us into reality—like he does in our gospel
today. He wants us to bear our cross, take risks and get involved.
We all appreciate, beyond telling, how
loyal someone is to us when we face tough times. That’s the kind of loyalty
Jesus expects of us to him and his Church. It’s a loyalty that’s patient,
constant and willing to make sacrifices. It’s a loyalty that will not retreat
or give up when under stress or resistance. It’s a loyalty similar to that of
Bishop Polycarp who was asked by the Roman authorities to curse Christ and
swear allegiance to the Emperor Caesar. Polycarp answered him like this: “Eighty
and six years have I served him (Christ), and he has done me no wrong; how then
can I blaspheme my king who saved me?” The Romans then proceeded to burn him at
the stake, but Polycarp remained loyal to Jesus right to the end.
If our faith in and love for Jesus is our
greatest treasure and more valuable than all-else; then we will be loyal to him
and his way. We will bear our cross and make sacrifices for his sake and the
sake of his realm. May he grant us faith and strength to be loyal to him, to
bear our cross and follow in his way.
I would appreciate it if you could sign my Guestbook.
Sign My Guestbook View My Guestbook
This page has been visited times.