Sermon 15th Sunday after Pentecost

September 9, 2007

15^th Sunday after Pentecost

Luke 14:25-33

Now large crowds were traveling with him; and he turned and said to them, ²⁶Whoever 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. ²⁷Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. ²⁸For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? ²⁹Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, ³⁰saying, 'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.' ³¹Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? ³²If he cannot, then, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. ³³So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.

(This sermon was given while holding an infant who would be baptized later in the service, and was a conversation between me and the boy.)

The Cost

Gavin, this is such a great day for you. It’s an exciting day that, while you may not remember it, you’ll always feel it…you’ll always know it.

But Gavin, as one who is about to take on the mantle of “disciple,” I have a question for you: What does it cost? What does it cost to be a disciple of Christ? Does it cost at all?

Now, I know it’s silly to ask you that, you can’t answer. So I’m going to answer my question for you: Yes, it costs. But what does it cost?

A friend of mine from college went to visit a new church over Easter break one year, and I remember him telling me about it. It was a smaller, new church that had just started up. It met in a movie theatre, with the pastor standing in front of that big screen as different things were projected on it: music lyrics, pictures to go with the sermon, contact information, all sorts of things.

I asked him how it went and he said, “It wasn’t a very good worship experience.” I asked him why and he said, “Well, it was Easter Sunday and they didn’t even mention the Resurrection. The sermon wasn’t well thought out and tried too hard to be hip. The music, although fast and loud, was kind of theologically shallow.”

“Well,” I said, “I guess you probably won’t go back there.” “I don’t know,” he replied, “I might.” I was puzzled. “Why would you go back if the service wasn’t very worshipful for you?” I asked. “Well, they took down my name and address, and sent me a box of donuts the next day. It might be worth it for the free donuts.”

I think this is sometimes what we think the cost of a Christian life is today. We just might have to sit through a bad sermon, knowing that there are donuts after church. We might have to delay our Sunday morning coffee until after services. We have almost a consumer view of Christianity, where we pick and choose, weigh benefits and detriments.

Or worse yet, I think some of us don’t think there is a cost at all. We’re like those who were disciples all too willing to be involved with Palm Sunday, but who wouldn’t stick around for Good Friday. They think this Christian life is only about waving palm branches, shouting Hosanna’s, eating donuts after service, and going home.

But that’s not what being a disciple of Christ is all about.

It’s all about God and God’s never ending love for us. It’s all about the reign of God, God envisioning a new world, a new way of living with each other. It’s all about the cross and the empty tomb, that place where God says to us, “It’s too costly for me not to be in communion with you.” Where God comes down to touch us, break those chains, that bondage that sin has on the world, and bring us to a new way of living with God and each other.

And the Christian life is also about doing the work of God in the world, of being the voice of God for the voiceless to the powers that oppress God’s people. That is also part of this Christian life. That part is our response to the empty tomb, to God’s yes to humanity.

You know, in today’s Gospel reading, Jesus is really asking his disciple’s, “Are you ready? Are you ready for the cost of following me?”

Because, Gavin, Jesus knew what would happen once he entered that city. He knew that this ministry that he’d been doing: battling greed by giving to the poor, healing the sick even though it broke the rules, eating with beggars and harlots even though it was against the hierarchy of the time, battling sexism by instructing women in the Torah, battling racism by engaging the Samaritan woman. He knew that this ministry was going to put him on trial. Sure, they began with Palm Sunday. But when they figured out that Jesus wasn’t going to use power to overturn the government, but rather was going to use peace and acts of goodness, they rejected him, and Good Friday came all too quickly. And so here, before they get there, he asks his disciples, “Are you ready? Are you ready for the costs of following me? God loves this world so much that it is too costly not to do these things, so are you ready?”

And the disciples weren’t ready. They weren’t ready to keep vigil with him in the garden, they weren’t ready to get arrested with him; they weren’t ready for Good Friday. Their answer was, in effect, “No. It’s too costly.”

But they didn’t know the rest of the story. They didn’t know that Good Friday would not be the final word of God, the final work of God. Good Friday was God breaking the power of death and sin once and for all, but the disciples didn’t know that, couldn’t know that until Easter morn. And on Easter morn a different reality was begun, where we heard God’s final, “Yes. You are too precious to me, too costly to me to not be healed, and fed, and given worth, and given love, to be saved from this sin.” And God’s final “yes” is the best news of our lives. God did what those disciples, what humanity could not do: God came in solidarity with God’s people, broke the chains of sin, and rose from the grave to tell us about it. That is a resounding “Yes” that God has a new way of living and being with us, and that we should have a new way of living and being with each other.

So, I ask again, is it costly to be a disciple today? The uncomfortable answer is, it should be. It should be because there are people who still live under the power of greed, and hunger, and sexism, and racism, and all other “isms” that oppress this world. When we speak to the racism of today, to the sexism of today, to the fact that the sick go unhealed, that the hungry go unfed, that greed still runs our society, there are costs.There are still some in this world today who do not want to hear it, who reinforce those caste systems, those systems of oppression, and who will want to crucify us for speaking in such a way, for healing in such a way.

We’ll be put on trial. Not a formal trial, mind you, but a trial of the streets, a trial of people’s judgments and opinions.

When you are on trial, remember God’s yes to stand in solidarity with God’s creation, God’s Easter morning, empty tomb “Yes.” Its an affirmation that continues to say, “Yes, even when people don’t want to hear the reign of God has come; Yes, even when this world might leave us behind as we fight those things which oppress this world; Yes, even if we are left friendless, without possessions, without anything but a crossbeam, God is still working in the world to bring us to Easter morn!

God is always saying yes when the powers of this world say no, God is always throwing off those systems of violence and hatred that work in our world.

We know the end of the story, God’s final “yes” to the whole of humanity, and that’s why we must speak against these powers in the world. It’s part of being a disciple of Christ. It’s part of knowing what God in Christ has done for humanity. It’s our response to God’s love, God’s “Yes” to us.

You know, we don’t have to hate our families, give up all our possessions, and carry a crossbeam to be a disciple of Christ. But we do have to face the cost, the cost of speaking as Jesus did, loving as Jesus did, healing and feeding and being with each other as Jesus did. Some won’t want to hear it. Some won’t want to give up greed and power and corruption. Some will want to put us on trial and hand us a cross beam in return for our loved ones, family, dignity, and possessions.

But remember the good news, God in Christ has brought a new reign that cannot be silenced and must be proclaimed, even if its costly. The very stones would cry it out were we not to speak it. It’s a reign where power is not in oppression but in humility. Where the power is not in greed, but in sharing bread and wine. Where the power is not in the disciples’ answers or our answers, but only in God’s “yes” to us.

Amen.