September 9, 2007 - Elizabeth Gibbs Zehnder

Luke 14:25-33

I grew up in a family as the eldest of three daughters. My sister Barbara was only a year and a half younger than me and my memories of our childhood are filled with stories of me trying to convince her to do what I wanted her to do…If she got more of the 100,000 candy bars for Halloween, I would wax on eloquently about the delicious whipped chocolate filling of the 3 Musketeer bar (of which I had a surplus) and try and convince her to trade. I would stretch and shape and pull the truth to change her perceptions and inspire her to reach the conclusion I desired. I was good at it and as a result the doll with the red gingham dress was mine, I landed in the front seat for road trips, I got the bed by the window in the room we shared…

I know how to spin the message. If I was going to try and convince you to be a disciple of Jesus – I would most definitely NOT use this passage. Clearly Jesus was not giving the crowd the glossy hard sell on the upside of being a disciple. Luke repeats Jesus’s formula three times in the passage – whoever does not ___dadada, they cannot be my disciple. It doesn’t make for a great brochure for the life of the disciple. – Jesus isn’t sugar coating the Gospel here.

As we enter into this morning’s text we need to remember that Jesus is often cryptic - His teaching was so bold and so challenging to the religious establishment that he often hid the core of his message in plain sight by using metaphor, parables and stories.

So, in addition to Jesus walking the earth and teaching about 2000 years ago, and in addition to the lack of tape recorders and transcripts of the speech and in addition to the fact that when Luke did write this down he wrote about what Jesus had said in Aramaic in his own language of Greek, which we translated into English – in addition to all of those things that can thwart our understanding, Jesus admits that he was talking in code – crafting his words to pierce the hearts of some and fly past the ears of others.

Because we want to be among those who’s hearts are pierced by Jesus’ words, let’s tread carefully as we wrestle with this passage a bit and find out about being Jesus’ disciple.

We can start with his opener: “Who ever 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.” What kind of family values are these?! Jesus leads with if we don’t hate our parents, spouses and children we can’t be his disciple.

When we hear the word “hate” it conjures up images of parents yelling ‘til their red in the face and teenagers punctuating the end of their argument by slamming their bedroom door.

Actually, the phrase that Luke uses here “to hate” is a Semitic expression meaning to turn away from, [i] It describes a turning away from the network of relationships, the obligations and loyalties that our relationship with our families and friends create. Jesus is saying that his disciples need to go beyond making Jesus central in their life, disciples must also redefine their network of relationships and obligations and loyalties in light of Jesus and the Gospel.

In our everyday lives, today as well as back in Jesus’ day, we live from a location of identity that is described by expectations and hooks. We know who we are by what other people expect from us. Eva expects me to help her with her boots, prepare her food, come when she cries out in the night – I know that I’m her mother. The soccer coach expects me to make a team banner and throw a party for the team – I know that I’m a parent of a kid on his team. I get hooked in when Tim wants to spend all of Sunday afternoon working on house projects – I know that I’m his wife.

Some times I find my self being so many things to so many people that its like an endless Virginia Reel and I am in that traditional American square dance continuously extending my hand to the next partner that swings down the line, passing them by and reaching my hand out to the next – it takes the full measure of my attention and energy to meet other’s expectations of me, there isn’t space or imagination for reaching out beyond the narrow circle of my dancing partners. Its hard for me to leave the dance. You know the train wreck that ensues when someone gets out of line! If I don’t meet the expectations and obligations, I feel other’s anger and disappointment. I feel their rejection.

Some describe the journey of discipleship and spirituality as dying to all of these selves, a dying to all of our identities, a falling through our many selves to come to the core of who we are, free from hooks and expectations. Free to step out of the line of endless partners. Freed then to serve the one who has called us.

Jesus goes on to say “Who ever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple”.

As people who have read the bible, we know what happens in the final chapters of Luke, its easy for us to jump to an understanding about carrying the cross that relates to the sacrifice that Jesus made when he carried his own cross to be crucified. Actually scholars speculate that “carry the cross” was a saying that refers to the Roman practice of executing criminals by crucifixion, “carry the cross” was a way of describing someone who was clearly done with their obligations of this world and who was moving on to the next.

My grandad’s become a bit like this in the last year or so. He’s 93 and he’ll tell you, he’s not interested in doing things to please other people – not in a mean way, but he’s clear about it, I’m 93, I don’t have much time left, so I’m not going to waste my time, so he does what matters most to him.

Jesus is wanting disciples who aren’t busy pandering to everyone, he wants people who are clear about their priorities.

So taking in the picture that he is painting – To be my disciple you need to order your life in a way that reflects your commitment to God.

And then “none of you can be my disciple if you don’t give up all your possessions.”

Ok, this is definitely not the way to sweet talk us in to being disciples. I know that we have more things than our sisters and brothers did in Galilee in 28 A.D. Please, we have more stuff than our sisters and brothers who built this church! Just look at the closets – Tim and I have lived in old buildings – 1900, 1923 and without fail the closets are like postage stamps! New construction is all about the storage space, walk in closets, kitchen pantries. We have a lot in the way of possessions. And they are nice. Its great to have clothes for every occasion and phones to call whoever, whenever, wherever we want, cars to take us where we want to go, but we also know how our possessions can start to possess us. How sometimes our hands and hearts are so busy tending and protecting what we have that we are unable to see or respond to someone else’s need.

So here is Jesus being radical guy. He’s certainly not wooing the large crowd that is following him. He is shockingly blunt about what is needed from us. I imagine what it was like to be there that day. To be in the crowd and have my involuntary gasp join the collective gasp each time he punctuated his thoughts with “who ever doesn’t hate their family, carry the cross, give up their processions, can not be my disciple! as we all took in his jolting descriptions of discipleship.

Clearly Jesus wasn’t about building the membership at the Christian Country Club or creating a global society of well mannered people. He is going for something deeper, something that radically departs from what has gone before. Jesus is calling for a redefining of all of our relationships – our relationships with our families, our processions even our relationship with life itself. Its not that disciples don’t have those things, its just the order in which they hold them. This isn’t a trendy, superficial endeavor. You better count the cost, says Jesus, see what it is going to ask of you to follow me, and if you are serious about it.

So yeah, at this point, I would work my way to the front of the crowd and after Jesus finished talking I would try and tap him on the shoulder and ask for him to help me understand.

As I think about what we know about Jesus, about how he cared so deeply for people, It doesn’t line up for him to be saying forget about people, just focus on me and God. It seems like its more an orientation that he is describing. Like in Tennis, when you line up to hit the ball from the baseline. Its all about planting both feet perpendicular to the net so that your whole body can lend strength to your swing. Jesus is describing disciples as being firmly rooted in relationship with him first so that the whole of that relationship can be brought to bear as we then reach out to those around us.

So it still feels mysterious at best, irritating at worst. It’s a lot to sort out this hating our families, carrying the cross and giving up our possessions in order to be Jesus’ disciples. May God bless us as we wrestle and grow in God’s word to us.

Amen.

[i] Fred B. Craddock, Interpretation, Luke.John Knox Press: 1990. Page 181-182