A Sermon preached on Sunday June 22 (Pentecost II) at St. Augustine's, Wiesbaden
Jeremiah 20:7-13, Romans 6:1b-11, Matthew 10:24-39, Psalm 69:8-20
It has become quite
trendy for priests and pastors to want their flocks to become disciples, rather
than members and to be critical about the concept of membership. A member is seen
primarily as someone who joins an organization for his or her own benefit,
often a group of people who have the same interests, stamp collecting or
breeding rabbits perhaps, and who too often are very alike in their background:
ethnic, cultural, or social. Or a member is someone who pays dues to an
organization for a particular service, an association like the AA, the AAA or the
ADAC. And that is not what being a Christian is about.
I agree, it isn’t, but
being a member is also a biblical concept. Just think of Paul and of the idea he
introduces in several letters of how individual Christian are different,
diverse, but mutually supportive members of the Body of Christ: “For as
in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same
function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ.” (Romans 12:4-5) Now that’s
not a bad definition of membership at all and I have no problem with you considering
yourselves members in that sense! And as you know this church is also
organized as an association, a Verein,
of which we are all members. Many of you attended yesterday’s Special General
Meeting of the Verein as voting
members. As long as we remember that we were a church long before we
organized ourselves as an association and that the latter is just a legal
vehicle that serves our ministry and mission as Christ’s Church, then I have no
problem with that form of membership either.
Nevertheless as
Christians we must also be disciples. What does that mean? This morning, in
Matthew’s Gospel, we heard Jesus explaining some of what it means to his
disciples.
A disciple is first and
foremost a pupil. I studied Latin at school – a long time ago – and when our
teacher came into the classroom at the beginning of the lesson we all stood up
(it was as I said a long time ago) and had to greet him with the words “salve magister,” greetings teacher, to
which he would reply “salvete discipuli,”
greetings pupils. Our Sunday school children, who we will recognize later in
the service, are therefore already disciples. They are willing and excited to
learn about God and about God’s saving acts. That is what God expects of all of
us too, that we are always willing to learn more and to grow in the knowledge
of God’s love.
A Christian disciple is
also totally committed to his or her teacher or master, that’s not me or any
other priest or leader by the way, the only person we can ever be totally
committed to is Jesus. In a classical Jewish disciple/teacher (rabbi)
relationship, the pupil would move on to another master when they felt that
they had learned enough. But not here, the pupil is never above the teacher
because Jesus is not only our teacher, but also our abiding Lord. For the
prophet Jeremiah the commitment to God and to God’s mission was so strong that
he felt overpowered by it. The message was as compelling and irresistible as a burning
fire within him.
But what do we do with
this knowledge and total commitment? We pass it on. We tell it in the light and
we proclaim it from the housetops where everyone can see and hear us. Disciples
are called to a mission of fearless, public, and powerful proclamation. And
sometimes we will need to be fearless when we speak the truth. Poor Jeremiah had
to proclaim violence and destruction and suffered rejection even from his
closest friends who, so the prophet tells us, were just waiting for him to
stumble. Our message is not a message of doom, but a message of joy and hope.
It is the Good News of a God of love and life. And yet when we preach peace
when others call for war, when we hold up sharing and serving rather than just
personal success and achievement, and when we speak out for compassion rather
than competition we will also know derision and rejection.
Jesus does not hold
back with the costs and risks of discipleship. If others call him Beelzebul, the prince of demons, what
will they call his followers? I believe some American TV and radio commentators
have called Pope Francis a socialist, which is I suppose at least as bad as the
prince of demons! Jeremiah was in his own words “a laughingstock,” mocked by
everyone.
Another side effect of
following Jesus was, and still can be, division, even within families. When
Jesus says that he has not come to bring peace, but sword, he is not calling
for violence or for the use of real weapons. “Blessed are the peacemakers,” he
says and means in the Sermon on the Mount. But tension and division can be the unintended
and yet unavoidable result of the uncompromising proclamation of God’s kingdom
and of our absolute and unconditional allegiance to God and to God’s Son. In
Jesus’ day family, tribal, and clan allegiance was often a value above all
other values. But not for Christians. The only values above all other values
are God’s values and the only family to which we owe unconditional allegiance
is the family of Christians, which knows only one condition for membership: to
acknowledge Christ before others.
In Jesus’ day someone
who took up the cross was already as good as dead, as he was on his way to the
place of execution. And while Jesus’ call to take up the cross and follow him
is metaphorical, in the sense of dying to the world and to the self, for many
of his followers the consequences were anything but metaphorical. Unfortunately
I can give you a long list of people for whom since then the cross they took up
when they followed Jesus and proclaimed his message in the light and from the
housetops was also the cause of their death.
So discipleship is
tough, dangerous, and difficult. Would you choose Jesus over father, mother,
brother, or sister? Many good people
have refused to do. Many people also fear the consequences, and some of the
original disciples must have done, or Jesus would not have seen the need to
tell them not to be fearful. The positive effect of being a disciple, and fully
committed to God’s kingdom, is freedom from fear. In his letter to the Romans,
Paul reminds us that in Baptism, that moment when we become members of the
Church and followers of Christ, we are “buried with Christ by baptism into
death.” But, he goes on to say, “if we have been united with him in a death
like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.” We
trust in the promise of a God who is in control of the smallest things, like a
sparrow. Jeremiah’s despair and depression turn into confidence when he feels
God’s presence like a warrior protecting him from his persecutors. And we have
the promise of life and love. Total allegiance and commitment to Christ also mean
total identification with Christ and that is what gives us the desire and the ability
to try and live a life like Christ’s with all that entails and promises. Those
who lose or let go of their previous lives, or lifestyles, for Christ’s sake,
find a new, better, and eternal life in Christ.
You see, I need
neither disciples, nor members. It’s neither my choice, nor my doing when
someone becomes one both despite and because of all that being a disciple
means. Jesus wants disciples and calls you to become one and it is Jesus
will support you, sustain you, and protect you on that path. It’s all in the hymn
we just sang before and after the Gospel,[1]
just take another look at those simple, yet profound words:
I
have decided to follow Jesus,
Though
no one join me, still I will follow,
The
world behind me, the cross before me,
No
turning back, no turning back!
Amen
No comments:
Post a Comment