September 5, 2010 reading:
15th Sunday after Pentecost
Luke 14:25-332
One of the books I refer to when I’m teaching an introductory course in pastoral ministry is called Family Ties That Bind. Not to be confused with Erma Bombeck’s “It’s funny because it’s true” book Family — The Ties That Bind … and Gag! The first book is about self-awareness and growth through what’s called “family of origin work.” In light of today’s gospel it seems both authors, Ronald Richardson and Erma Bombeck, are right. Family ties tie us down, bind us, even gag us. Jesus calls us to break all bonds. “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.”
When Jesus says, “hate,” he doesn’t mean “despise.” He means, “turn away from.” He means, “leave behind.” We don’t like those words. He goes on to speak of carrying the cross. That tells us two things. These words were written down after the cross became the central symbol of Jesus’ life and work. These words spoke to the life and mission of his disciples a generation after Jesus travelled the countryside with his first followers. If we only imagine Jesus saying these things to those first disciples, we have to picture them scratching their heads. We have to hear these gospel words echo among the first congregations of the church — the church Luke wrote for. In that context these words give meaning to the struggle and loss, the hard choices so many who followed this new Way had to make.
Through Luke, Jesus speaks here to people who have already paid the high cost of discipleship. Jesus says, “If you still cling to what’s behind you, you can’t be my disciple. If you’re weighed down with what was, and not able to carry the full weight of my mission, you can’t follow me.”
I don’t suppose we like those words any better! What have you or I given up for the sake of our discipleship? What sacred things have we turned away from in order to follow Jesus? What thing of real value have we sacrificed so we could take up the cross? We may happily hate the TV preachers and their gospel of prosperity. But our idea of the good life is closer to Joel Osteen, in his astrodome church than to Dietrich Bonhoeffer in his cold prison cell. We like to think there’s a righteous medium between excessive wealth and dire poverty, joyful prosperity and suffering sacrifice.
Jesus doesn’t think so. Apparently, the only balance he’s concerned about is how the cross rests on our backs. I don’t like this any more than you do. After all, you and I hold, and are held, by a lot more than the first and second generation of disciples ever were. Jesus’ words helped them see loss as gain. We’re not likely even to think of losing anything for Christ’s sake.
“So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.” We know many of our ancestors in faith left a lot behind. Not always by choice. Many who still had stuff shared it freely with their sisters and brothers in the new household of faith. Leaving behind, letting go, and passing around were late first-century acts of discipleship. What early 21st-century cognates can we creative preachers come up with on Sunday morning?
What do you and I depend on to sustain our sense of identity and worth? What do we trust for security in life? Is it where we were born, and to whom? Bank balances and retirement plans? Things we have, do, and are that mark us as mainstream, majority, normal? The tight circle of people we love, and who love us? None of these is evil. None of these will last. Any of these can tie us down, bind us, and even gag us.
