A Sermon preached on September 4th,
Pentecost XVI at St. Augustine’s, Wiesbaden
Deuteronomy
30:15-20, Philemon 1-21, Luke 14:25-33
I have often
thought that Jesus could have done with a good marketing and communications manager.
How an earth are you going to attract any followers with a message like we
heard today: “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. Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my
disciple.” Join me and you will lose your family, money, and even your life ….
Any takers?
This sounds like a
completely different message to the one we heard in the reading from
Deuteronomy: “If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God … then you shall
live and become numerous. … But if your heart turns away and you do not hear,
but are led astray … you shall perish.” We call this the Deuteronomist history
or theology: if Israel followed the way of faithfulness, then they would be
blessed and prosper; if they followed the way of disobedience, especially by worshiping
false gods, they would be cursed and would suffer. The trouble is, unless you
really believe that bad things only ever happen to bad people, that it doesn’t
work that way. Bad things happen to good people. Walking in God’s ways, and for
us following God’s Son does not guarantee worldly success, good health, and
certainly not wealth.
Jesus’ message is a
sort of a health warning, or full disclosure we might say. Unlike say a politician
standing for election or a salesperson, who will promise lots of benefits if we
just choose them and their product, Jesus has nothing to sell. He is on a
mission that while very beneficial for us all in the long run, it is the
mission to reconcile humanity with God and with one another, can be very
dangerous in the short term. Especially for those called to follow Jesus and to
help him establish that state of reconciliation that we call the kingdom of
God. So he does not want people dropping off on the way. He does not want people
taking risks without being prepared for them. His call is serious and he
clearly feels, rightly, that many of the large crowd do not know what they are
letting themselves in for. That is why we have these two parables about being
prepared, about being able to finish what one has started. And that’s why he
uses such stark and frankly frightening words and phrases like “hate,” “carry
the cross,” and “give up all.”
But being fully
prepared is only one part of the message, the other is being fully committed to
becoming and being a disciple. To be committed to Jesus meant being willing and
ready to leave your family, which in Jesus’ day when family ties were paramount
could easily lead to the accusation of hating them. To be fully committed meant
being willing to give up possessions. Peter, James, John, and Andrew all gave
up their property – their fishing business – to follow Jesus. Others,
especially the female disciples did not give up their possessions but used them
to help finance Jesus’ mission, they used their possessions selflessly. Giving
up possessions can also mean simply giving up our dependency on them, giving up
our worship of purely material success, in fact giving up what in the language
of Deuteronomy is called bowing down and serving other gods.
Julian will soon
to be the newest Christian and for a moment one of Jesus’ youngest disciples.
On his behalf his parents and godparents will also be asked both to give up
things and to commit him and themselves to Christ. When I ask them to renounce
Satan and the spiritual forces of wickedness, to renounce the evil and corrupt powers
of this world, and to renounce all sinful desires that draw them from the love
of God, I am asking them to never let selfish desires for wealth or power or
privilege to get the better of them. That may sound easier than giving up all
material possessions, but it isn’t. It will only work if we have something else
to fulfill our desires, something else to be committed to. And that is Jesus
and all that he stands for – his unlimited love of us, our desire for
fellowship with him. This commitment to him is total – not because it excludes
our love for father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, but because
it stands over them. Jesus’ love for us is in fact the very fount and source of
our love for others.
The former Archbishop
of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, seems to write books faster than I can read
them. His latest work, entitled “Being Disciples: Essentials of the Christian
life” [1] is about discipleship.
He calls it “a state of being.” “Discipleship is about how we live; not just
the decisions we make, not just the things we believe, but a state of being.” He goes on to say “what makes you a disciple
is not turning up from time to time. It’s not an intermittent state; it’s a
relationship that continues” and it is a relationship that will change us for
the better if we let it. This is the relationship Julian is beginning today,
and the relationship we will all affirm when we renew our Baptismal Covenant.
Jesus doesn’t need
a good marketing and communications manager, he needs people who follow him with
conviction, and love, and joy. That is why he has had and continues to have so
many takers for his message, so many followers.
And actually the message of
Deuteronomy is not so different after all, nor can it be, the Old Testament is
as much part of our Holy Scripture as the New – interpreted through the lens of
Jesus’ life and teaching. Bowing down to and serving the false gods of worldly wealth,
power, and privilege is the path of destruction and death. Loving the Lord your
God, and God’s Son, walking in his ways, and observing his commandments is the path
to true life. And it is the path we will now accompany Julian on.
Amen.
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