September 4, 2022 - The Thirteenth Sunday After Pentecost - And They'll Know We Are Christians By Our Love

Jesus 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." These are verses from today's Gospel, Luke 14:25-33

Our Call Committee prayer for this month was prayed by the congregation today and ended with "And they'll know we Are Christians by our love." taking inspiration from John 13 34-35 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” 

"...hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself" and "As I have loved you, so you must love one another." Are these two sayings of Jesus about Christian discipleship mutually exclusive? 

Reading further Jesus elucidates on the topic further which may help us understand what he is communicating, "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."

Elucidating the challenges of discipleship further, Jesus draws comparisons to two other initiatives: building a tower and undertaking a military campaign. Both of these require advance assessment of available resources and capacity. These analogies, compared to being a disciple,are an odd mix of faith, love, property and battle. How should a person estimate the cost of their future discipleship? Jesus feels builders dare not begin structures they cannot finish, and a ruler should yield before battle if the adversary enjoys an overwhelming advantage. 

Yet judicious decision-making in these cases is not truly analogous to calculating the costs of discipleship. Concerning the illustration of building a tower: how could any disciple assess in advance whether they have the resources to stand firm in the face of social ostracization, incarceration, torture, or the threat of execution? 

Remember that in all four Gospels, Peter learns in advance about an upcoming moment of betrayal—his threefold denial of Jesus—and nevertheless will prove unable to avoid that heartbreaking renunciation of allegiance to his Lord. Concerning the illustration of battling a stronger adversary: how could Jesus’ followers hope to overcome the legions or even what internal, soul battles may lay ahead for a Christian disciple?

Pastor Nick felt this was Jesus inviting us to be shaped by God and not rely on our own devices and plans. We should get out of the way because God's grace will support us, in so far as it is possible. Becoming transformed into disciples and living new lives will not happen because of us. Jesus may also be pointing out that there are risks to being a Christian. This could be a cautionary warning against the thought that being Christian will lead to future prosperity or help us as individuals to achieving goals we may have for ourselves.

Jesus words point to the folly of following any rules and exhortations to becoming disciples. Our natural response to these words about hate may be to say nobody can, or should, behave this way. Following this, or rather the impossibility of following this gives us equal footing with one another. By this standard no one can judge if anyone around them, or themselves, is a disciple.After all, if any of us don't understand, after all Jesus' teachings, he does not want us to just hate all our relatives and life itself; Jesus cannot truly be in our hearts, regardless of whether we claim we are followers.  

Pastor Nick quoted Fredrick Douglass about the need for justice and redress that dovetails with what Christians hope regarding change in the world. We have faith that God's kin-dom is coming and that God is working in life and within us for a better world. The future does not come merely through our plans or how we wage battles but rather what God does through us.