Our home page
Who we are
What's New
Fellowship
Youth programs
Interesting links
For the visitor
Site Map
|
Sermon Archive - September 6, 1998
Pastor Danielson
|
Luke 14:25-33
Luke's travel narrative, began several weeks ago and continues in today's
reading with the pointed observation that "large crowds were traveling with
Jesus." Aware of the throngs, Jesus turns to them and utters a hard to accept
challenge, which can have no other effect than to diminish considerably the
number of "wannabe disciples" in the crowd.
"Whoever comes to me," he says, "and does not hate father and mother, wife
and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my
disciple." (v. 26).
Simply, coming to Jesus and hanging-out with him, as the multitudes were, is
clearly not the same thing as discipleship. Then, evoking the image of the
prisoner condemned to death on a Roman cross and compelled to carry the cross
or crossbar to the site of his execution, Jesus drives his point even closer
to home:
"Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple" (v. 27).
Taken out of context, this troubling passage directing disciples first to
"hate" and then to die a horrible death is disturbing even to contemplate let
alone act upon. However, viewed within the context of a discussion of "the
cost of being a disciple," it is much easier to understand. And, lest its
meaning be lost upon his audience, Jesus provides two examples of what it
means to count the cost.
The first is of a man who counts the cost of construction before building a
tower. By such careful reckoning, the builder avoids littering the landscape
with an unfinished tower.
The second example is of a king who considers going to war with 10,000
soldiers against an opponent with 20,000. If he goes to war under such
conditions, he must be confident of victory, or else he seeks the alternative
and "sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace."
The point is this: If the demand of Jesus to love him more than family and
life itself seems hard, the disciple has a better chance of not failing if he
counts the cost at least as carefully as the "worldly tower-builder" and the
"warrior-king." In other words, if we really think this "discipleship
business" through, from beginning to end, we can avoid building a spiritual
tower that is a few bricks shy and avoid fighting a spiritual fight a few
soldiers short and, in the end, achieve our spiritual goals.
I should tell you, that some scholars doubt the Lukan account's veracity,
arguing that Jesus would never suggest that anyone hesitate long enough to
count the cost of discipleship. After all, if one takes the time to count the
cost, he or she might not choose to follow at all.
On one point scholars can agree, that the Greek word translated as "hate" in
this passage is not the same term we use to imply "anger" or "malice;" rather,
the word refers to the need to "walk away from a given situation." Jesus is
saying, "Be prepared to walk away from, or to cut, your family ties and focus
only on strengthening your "faith-ties." For, in the final analysis, a true
disciple values his relationship with Christ over his relationship with
family. We are not to despise our loved ones, but we are not to cling to them
either. Furthermore, Jesus' call "to carry the cross and follow him," is quite
simply a call to accept challenges, risks and sacrifices instead of seeking
comfort and ease.
This past spring, while traveling with Sally in the East, I began each day by
picking-up a copy of USA Today. One morning, in Baltimore, I read and clipped
an article about a person who was in a very real sense paying full price to
follow Christ.
Eleanor Boyer of Somerset County, New Jersey, revealed the strength of her
"faith-ties," her self-discipline, and generosity by way of a single
remarkable act. What did she do? She gave up, "walked away from," 8.5
million dollars.
Eleanor is the "73-year-old woman who, just about a year ago, won the New
Jersey State Lottery and created a sensation by saying she'd give the money to
church and charity ---and she has ---quickly and irrevocably! She seems to
have taken literally Jesus' call to "walk away from" whatever might "get in
the way of" discipleship. Explains Boyer: "I have my pension and Social
Security. I have everything I need. Why let the money sit in the bank till I
die?" Which explains why, according to the USA Today article, that three weeks
after hitting the jackpot, she signed over $5.9 million to her parish, which
has 2,800 families, an elementary school and a high school. Since then, she
has been giving what's left to various charitable organizations in Somerset
County, to needy individuals in her neighborhood, and a little to three
nephews ---her only close relatives.
Has she kept any for herself? ---not that anyone can notice. "She still
drives the same faded yellow 1969 Chevy Malibu with the peeling white vinyl
roof, still wears the same sensible shoes, beige trench coat and mustard
velour hat, still lives in the same gray house where she was born in 1924."
("Eleanor Boyer's Generosity Provides Inspiration for Many," USA Today, April
10-12, 1998).
While some Christians would question Eleanor Boyer's participation in the
lottery in the first place, you certainly have to admire how she handled her
winnings!
Whatever the interpretation of the specific words of the text before us, they
are intended to convey the seriousness of God's call and are deliberately
aimed at thinning the ranks of the casual and the curious who were following
him then and would be following him later. In other words, there are no timid,
lazy Christian disciples ---no lazy boys ---or girls.
The perfect segue into, you guessed it, a La-Z-Boy story. Did you know that
the latest in the line of La-Z-Boy recliners is called the McKinley, as in
Mount McKinley. I didn't until a recent Tribune article announcing the April
3rd 1998 death of Edwin Shoemaker, who invented the rocker-recliner and is
honored in the American Furniture Hall of Fame as the "Father of Motion
Furniture." The "McKinley, as you would imagine, is very large and, the
article continued, "it is far easier to sink into than lift yourself out of."
Now, please don't jump ahead of me. . . I'm not sure where I'm going with
this, but neither do you. What makes the McKinley deserving of its name and
its $919 price tag is what's hidden under the right armrest. Lift up the heavy
pad and there it is, a sleek, black console equipped with telephone, answering
machine, push-button controls for the recliner's positions and a place to plug
in your computer modem. "You can live in it, literally," says Alan Cantor, a
furniture store manager quoted in the article.
Well the article, factual though it may have been, coupled with the death of
Edwin Shoemaker, seemed at first glance to be in bad taste. But then, there
followed a disclaimer of sorts. Yes, Mr. Shoemaker, age 90, did in fact die in
a La-Z-Boy, but it was not the new, hard to get out of, "to die for," McKinley
model. The afternoon of April 3rd, Mr. Shoemaker had settled into one of his
earlier model La-Z-Boys for a nap and never woke up.
To be perfectly honest, I don't know why I went down this road, but here I am
and I might as well go the rest of the way. As hokey as it sounds, Christians
are called to climb, not into La-Z-Boy's "Mount McKinley;" ---we are called
to climb Mount Calvary of the "Cross!" We are called to "walk away from"
anything and every thing that would keep us from "paying full price!"
Jesus says that no one would build a tower or march into battle without first
estimating the full cost; ---the same is true of discipleship. But what
exactly does it mean to pay full price, as we follow Christ. We are, each in
our own way, called to strengthen faith-ties, practice self-discipline, and
show selfless generosity. We are challenged to be "full-price followers," not
"deep-discount disciples."
AMEN.
|
|
|
|
