10 - 10 - 05 - Sermon - Year C - Pentecost #15 - Luke 14
The Cost of Discipleship from Luke 14
Now large crowds were travelling with him; and he turned and said to them, ‘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. For 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? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, saying, “This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.” Or 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? If he cannot, then, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.
--- Sermon---"The master! He is here! Speak master!
Go away!
How shall we go away!
Just go away!
Give us a sign! He has! He brought us to this place!
No I didn't! You followed me here!
Master, we've travelled many miles, and there is no food on this high mountain!
WHat about those bushes over there?
A miracle! A miracle!
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This scene from the movie “the life of Brian,” and is one of Monty Python’s most brilliant scenes. It displays the enthusiasm of a crowd of people looking for a Messiah… they look so hard that... they missed what their Messiah is actually saying… Don’t want to spoil it… but Brian is not the Messiah.
This mirrors perfectly todays text. I truly do believe that a good satire will get to the heart of the matter.
Brian, having been mistaken for the Messiah flee's from a group of people who had declared themselves his followers. They follow him up a mountain, and Brian comes upon a hermit who hasn't spoken in 18 years.
As Brian attempts to hide with the Hermit in the hole, he steps on his foot causing the hermit to call out in pain, and thus… after 18 years, the hermit has spoken.
The followers quickly find Brian and the hermit. The followers are so entrenched in their belief that Brian is the Messiah that they continue to call out "The Messiah!" "We have found the Messiah". The harder Brian tries to prove he is not the Messiah, the more they believe he is.
They take all of his words out of context, and believe that everything he does is a miracle for them… as if the Messiah has come and will now give their personal desires... their own wants come to the front and they will not hear anything different from Brian...
From him pointing out that there are some Juniper bushes to eat, to his causing the hermit to speak after 18 years… these are the miracles they hold onto. They believe what they do… and the Messiah Brian has a difficult time changing their minds.
And when the crowd turns on the hermit as an unbeliever, and carry him away to be killed… Brian calls for them to stop… but they do not hear… they know what they are looking for… and no matter what… they will find it in Brian.
Even when Brian shouts a curse at them... they are only slowed for a moment in their excitement of what it means to be with their Messiah.
“Go away!”… and they respond “Where should we go to?”… but they never do leave.
This is what is happening in out text today.
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These crowds of people are joyous... they are following the Messiah, and they are having a good time... and to this group of enthusiastic followers Jesus is trying to drive home the message of the cross. The message of what it's going to mean to be a disciple. It’s not all parties and miracles. It’s not political power and comfort... it is a cross.
First, the hate stuff... Hate your father and mother, wife and child, brother and sister, yes... even your life.
Hard words to hear... confusing words to our modern ears... but hate is the closest thing we have for the words spoken. Jesus is using a semitic saying to try to tell the people that following him is going to cost them everything. To "Hate" in fact means to "Turn away from" to "Stop using" and... in that day… to the ears of the people who first read the gospel of Luke, to become a follower of Christ detached you from social standing... probably caused all sorts of problems in your family as you publicly starting living in a different way... it made you seem like a bit of an odd duck for wanting to follow the ways of such a person as Jesus. Not so different now really.
Jesus doesn't intend for us to hate, but does intend that we know the cost of discipleship... to know that some things are not going to have to be left behind... it's not something that can be done halfway. It's something that costs everything... which is where the cross talk comes in. It’s going to cost Jesus everything. And this is the message that Jesus is trying to get through to his enthusiactic followers who are looking for a low cost, quick fix when what Jesus is offering is a new Kingdom, a new creation.
Jesus is not offering a slightly revised way of thinking to give you a better and happier life... Jesus is showing a cross... and his way is the way of the cross... more precisely... the way too the cross...
It’s a wonder anyone ever followed this new way.
And since that time until now... Christians have gathered for worship under the cross of Christ. The cross that shows the cost of discipleship.
Discipleship to Jesus is going to cost everything.
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And we modern disciples are not so different from the original hearers. In fact... when I read the examples Jesus gives of counting the cost of discipleship I see that we are as likely to succeed at this discipleship as those early followers.
Jesus asks; “Who builds a tower without knowing the cost?”
Well... the world is covered in half built towers...
And I’m sure this question hits home for anyone who ever tried to build a house on time and on budget. Does anyone really believe that when the contractor gives an estimate it's going to be accurate? When the final estimates of the new Hospital in Edson come in, does anyone really believe that it's going to come in on time and on budget?
This is the human condition. We start towers and projects with no idea of what the final cost is really going to be... always life is going to throw some new curve ball into the mix, and many of our towers will go unfinished, or metaphorically, all our best intentions of building up our lives do not add up... there is always shortfall. It’s a leap of faith to start any major project… It’s a leap of faith to get out of bed in the morning.
But this is what Jesus calls for… to count the cost of discipleship and realize what it’s going to cost… and from everything that Jesus says and does it becomes clear that the cost of discipleship is going to be:
One life.
And I don’t mean Jesus one life… although that’s part of it too… I mean your one life… and everything that you own and are… all of it is factored into the cost. ((()))
On one hand this is terrifying… but on the other… it’s amazingly liberating!
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We can only imagine what it would have been like to hear these words from Jesus lips... we can only imagine what it was like to follow enthusiastically during the day, and then... in the evening sitting around the fire... try to sit down and figure out what Jesus might have meant by his words of 'death' and 'cross.' We don't get to be those people who wonder what is happening in the story next.
Who we are are the disciples that hear the story in the context of knowing the whole story of death and resurrection… and from here figure out how to live our lives under the cross of Christ…
Robert Capon re-writes this passage this way… He thinks Jesus is giving a hard sell:
Jesus says: "Listen, I don't want to waste your time here. What I'm laying out for you is not only the best offer of salvation you've ever seen; it's the only one that will actually work when you get it home. This is the real thing, not some $27 fake Rolex Oyster you can pick up on the sidewalk in NewYork. But unfortunately, even with my spectacularly low overhead, it'll still cost a bundle. How much? Well, J.P. Morgon said, 'if you have to ask, you can't afford it.' But that was about a yacht, which you could get along without; what I selling, you really need. So I say, 'You better ask how much, because you don't want to be handed a bill on one of you tightwad days and find yourself looking around for a cheaper outfit to deal with.' How much does it cost then? Everything you've got. The works. The whole farm. With no picket money left over."
So the cost is one life… and when you think about it… you have to give that one life up anyway… in fact… the idea of giving away all of your possessions is at first terrifying… but you have to do that anyway… that day is coming when all that you have all that you are is simply a memory and as we say on Ash Wednesday “Dust to Dust, Ashes to ashes”
And so the cost of discipleship is incredibly high… but really… it’s the exact cost that you’re going to have to pay anyway.
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And so we come to what is really happening… All this talk of cost... and counting the cost and making sure that you know what your are getting into before you buy all comes to us right now.
We are sitting in this church on this day and we gather around this cross. This cross who’s original intention was to publicly humiliate, painfully torture, and ultimately kill those who opposed the the human authority of the day.
And now… we wear crosses as signs of hope. We bless each other in baptism, marriage, life and death with this sign.
And here is where it finishes…
Jesus point is not that discipleship is expensive… the point is that ultimately it is liberating.
It costs you everything you have… one life… something that you had to give up anyway…
But after this price is paid… we are given liberation from all the things that ultimately end in death… and this is part that is so hard to believe… where we are unable to count the cost of discipleship, the cost has already been calculated for us. Our lives have already been given and claimed. The end result is assured.
Each of us has one life to give… and that life is claimed by God through the death and resurrection of Christ… that life is claimed in baptism as we die to our sins and rise from the waters as a new creation… each life is the exact payment needed for life in the Kingdom that God is bringing into reality. Each life is now set free
And this is discipleship… hearing what God has done for us… figuring out what God is doing to us now… and joining in with our one life… to live freely in the Kingdom, fully assured that the price has been paid. Freely engaging the world that God is redeeming.
Amen.
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