13th Sunday after Pentecost

The Bible is an endlessly surprising, sometimes rather odd, book. It’s kind of curious, isn’t it, to celebrate (as Christians often do) the fact that Jesus tells us to love our enemies and to bless those who persecute us and yet this same Jesus, in today’s lesson, advises HATING our parents and spouse and children! It’s like the song from Sesame Street: “One of these things is not like the others; One of these things just doesn't belong…”

“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.” (Luke 14:26) It just seems to go so much against everything that we experience Jesus to be. The healer, the teacher, the one who reached out to the outcast. Homewrecker just doesn’t seem to fit with all that.

So, it becomes one of those moments from the Gospel that we conveniently forget about. Until it comes up again in the lectionary three years later. Even the writer of the Gospel according to Matthew seems to have a little trouble with this scene, and softens Jesus’ approach. In Matthew’s version (10:37-38) Jesus says, “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me.”

The writer of Luke wants to make a bold statement, and certainly does so. But I think the author overshoots the mark a bit because we hear that sentence, "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”, and we’re so taken aback by it that we fail to hear what follows it.

And that’s a shame, because it’s the second sentence that helps us to better understand the first: “Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” Jesus does not call us to abandon our families. What Jesus does call us to do is to reject the ways in which society typically defines us.

"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. So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.” In other words, because you have chosen to call yourself a disciple, therefore allow yourself to be defined neither by your lineage nor by your standing, your possessions, or the lack thereof. Instead, allow yourself to be defined by the cross and your relationship with Christ.

It’s an admonition that’s just as important and just as radical today as it was then. Think about it. When somebody asks who you are, what are the things that start going through your head. What’s the order of your mental checklist? Your name. What you do. Who your parents are. Who your kids are. Where you live.

But what about faith? When we think about ourselves and our identity, where in the pantheon of defining characteristics does faith fall? Where does discipleship come into play? What does it mean to be defined by the cross? It means that “child of God” is the first thing that crosses our minds and tumbles from our lips when somebody asks us who we are. After that, everything else falls into place. Of course we continue to love our parents, our children, our spouses. Because that’s part of discipleship.

If you ever spend any time at all in Bible study with others, it doesn’t take long to realize how much of our interpretation and understanding of scripture is personal. Two people can look at the same portion of scripture and come up with two very different understandings of that text. Often, it’s two sides of the same coin. And the same is true for what Jesus has to say to us 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. So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions. It’s very easy to look at that and to see it as being harsh and demanding; all law, entirely devoid of the Gospel. Or we can look at the coin from the other side and see it as a declaration of freedom.

If we allow ourselves to be defined by the cross, as Christ calls us to do, we are freed from the pressures of the world around us. Jesus presents us with the opportunity to walk away from our enslavement to the world and the expectations it places upon us. In the epistle for today, Onesimus cannot simply stop being a slave. He first must be released by Philemon, in order to be free. If we are yet slaves, it’s because we have chosen to be slaves, because we’ve already been freed from our bondage to this world by God.

In Jesus’ day, to be under the sign of the cross was to be under the sign of death. The call extended to us by and through the cross of Christ is to live in such a way as to make clear that we have put to death the things of this world. To live under a cross is to engage in a form of living death, of sacrificial living for the sake of others and of the Kingdom of God. When we learn live under the cross, to live in full awareness of the Kingdom of God we can begin to understand why Jesus makes such a radical declaration. As important as the things of the world can be, our possessions and the personal security they represent to us, our relationships and the emotional security they represent… None of them carry the ultimate value we get from the Kingdom of God and the higher calling we now have to live as the body of Christ in the world today. The incarnation, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus prove one thing:  that God knows that salvation and a cosmic turn-around for the better will never bubble up from within this world.

In order for the world to be saved, something else is required. An infusion of something divine. Something from the outside. Jesus was that divine infusion. His love, grace, mercy and humility — through which God’s powerful love was made known to the world – is what saves us. And when we allow ourselves to be defined by the cross, when we live our lives as children of God, that infusion of God’s love continues through us and our ministries. And the results can be remarkable.

Our purpose is to see to it that we behave in such a way that the Kingdom of God happens in the lives of those around us. When we provide a place of welcome here for all people, regardless of race, gender identity, sexual orientation, or age, the Kingdom of God happens. When we provide those same people with opportunities to do ministry, to participate in the life of the Body of Christ, the Kingdom of God happens.

When we provide relief to those in need, through Lutheran World Relief, our own Grace Bags, or the Souper Bowl of Caring, or any other organization for that matter, the Kingdom of God happens. When we gather supplies for schools that are in need, the Kingdom of God happens. When we reach out to those who are mourning, with words of comfort, or simply with our calm presence, the Kingdom of God happens. When we can do those things without first thinking about what it means in terms of our stature within the community, or our standing in the eyes of our friends and family…

That’s what the Kingdom of God is about. That’s what it means to live as a disciple. That’s what it means to take up the cross. That’s what it means to allow ourselves to be defined by the cross. That’s what grace looks like. It isn’t always easy. And it never comes cheap.

When we insist on a Jesus who dispenses justice when we’ve been wronged, so that we don’t’ have to forgive, that’s cheap grace. When we love in order that we might be loved in return, that’s cheap grace. When we insist upon a life of reciprocity, I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine, that’s cheap grace. When we remember the sins of others, while asking God to forgive ours, that’s cheap grace. When we choose cheap grace, we choose a cheap Jesus. One who refuses to challenge us to live as disciples. One who validates us and our beliefs.

Not all crosses are literal. Not everyone is a martyr. But each of us has had times in our lives when we have been faced with the challenge of doing what we wanted to do vs. doing what our faith called us to do. Jesus, of course, doesn’t call us to abandon our children or abdicate our responsibilities. When we give up our life, Jesus returns it to us, but with a difference: What we get back from Jesus is a cross-shaped life. A life in which service and bringing relief to those who are in need mean more than the sum total of all that the rat race has to offer.

Jesus calls us to discipleship, and it is a counter-cultural call, in small ways and in much more important ways. For countless Christians over the centuries, following that call to discipleship has been at the cost of their lives.

The reading from Deuteronomy, like the one from Luke, offers both a challenge and a promise: “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him” (Deuteronomy 30:19-20). Choose life. It’s a radical call in a world so complicit in death. If there’s any doubt of that, just look to the horrible frequency of mass shootings in the U.S. and the callousness in many quarters towards refugees. It is a radical call in a world that also tries to numb the pain and the fear of death with endless distractions—entertainment, material possessions, digital devices, drugs. 

Choose life. Because that’s what it means, after all, to follow Jesus. “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it” (Luke 9:23-24). The way of discipleship is the way of life, real life. It’s a life that does not deny the reality of death but instead overcomes it through the power of resurrection. And that is good news that the world needs to hear.         

AMEN