We often imagine
Jesus as a kind and gentle person. Most
pictures of him depict mercy, acceptance, and love. The picture we have in the Gathering Area of
the Risen Christ by the Seashore, depicts him grinning with friendliness. And then we imagine this kind and gentle
person meekly being arrested, condemned and executed in a horrific
fashion. It is all so tragic. That is, until of course, the resurrection on
Easter. Then we have the loving man back.
But those images
of Jesus don’t begin to cover it. We are
all complex people. We have different
moods at different times. We have a mix
of ideas and motives. Sometimes we are
happy and sometimes we are sad.
Sometimes we are patient and kind and sometimes we are short tempered
and rough. Why would we expect Jesus to
be forever meek and passive?
Even so, we think
we are supposed to be kind and gentle. I
suppose it’s because we want that same thing from other people. We aren’t usually rude and harsh. If you’ve ever broken up with someone I
assume you did it gently. You may have
even rehearsed what you were going to say.
And you said things like, “I don’t want to hurt your feelings…” Or, “It’s not you, but me…” I assume you’ve never said, “I woke up this
morning and decided you’re stupid. Go
away. I don’t care if I never see your
face again.”
Maybe it falls to
you to give people their job evaluations at work. It’s not fun when you have to give a person
bad news, or maybe even fire him or her.
You’re anxious and wish you didn’t have to do it. You start off by listing their strengths and
making them feel valuable. And maybe
with flushed cheeks and embarrassment do you then broach the problems and
issues. Even when someone is guilty of
gross misconduct we don’t like to be mean.
I doubt you’ve ever said, “You’re a totally worthless moron. Clear out your work area and go home. Oh, and if the door does hit you on the way
out, I’ll be glad!”
Of course there
is a difference between being rude and being straightforward, but when being
straightforward feels rude we try to mix in as much kindness as possible.
So when we read
in the gospel that James and John want to bring down curses upon a Samaritan
village that rejected Jesus we expect Jesus to say something like, “Now guys,
God is merciful. You need to work on
changing those negative thoughts into positive opportunities.” No. We
don’t know what Jesus said, but just that he rebuked them. Not exactly nice.
Then we encounter
three people who could be disciples. The
first one makes what appears to be a good and sincere offer of devotion, “I
will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus
replies, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man
has nowhere to lay his head.”
It’s impossible
to know what’s really going on here. We
just don’t have enough information.
Biblical scholars I’ve read all believe the person’s offer to follow
wherever he goes was more like a idealistic enthusiasm, and not a solid
commitment. Jesus then bluntly points
out a hard truth. He has no home, no
security, and no comforts. God even
provides for the wildlife better than Jesus is, and will be, receiving.
Have you ever
hiked up a mountain? A hard steep ascent
is somewhat thrilling. It’s challenging
and it’s full of anticipation. But if
you have miles of boring walking before you even get to the foot of the
mountain you start to wonder if the view from the top will be worth it. Following Jesus on this journey to Jerusalem
may very well be a lot of tedium and boredom.
The next person
we meet is someone Jesus invites into discipleship. The text says, “To another he said, ‘Follow
me.’ But he said, ‘Lord, first let me go and bury my father.’ But Jesus said to him, ‘Let the dead bury
their own dead; but as for you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.’”
Once again, we
are short on details. We want to know
more so that we can understand Jesus’ words better. Most interpreters spiritualize this. They say that what Jesus really meant was,
let the spiritually dead bury the dead; but as for you (who are implicitly
being given the chance to be spiritually alive) go and proclaim the kingdom of
God.
I suppose those
scholars know Luke better than I do, but I find that lacking. I often find the thoughts of commentator Joel
Green to be more intriguing. Green
suggests that Jesus meant it literally, “Let the dead bury their own dead.” Which is, of course, impossible.
Jewish burial
customs of the time had a twelve-month mourning process. When a person died his or her body was placed
in a tomb, often a cave or hollow dug in a hillside. The body would be sealed in there for a year
while the body decomposed. Then, after a
year the tomb was reopened. The bones
were collected and reburied in an ossuary or “bone box.” Joel Green suggests Jesus words mean that let
those already dead in the family tomb rebury their own dead.
Again, this is
impossible. But it is Jesus’ response to
this man who has made an excuse why not to follow Jesus. He has family obligations. He needs to stick around to rebury his
father’s bones.
Keep his
situation in mind as we look at the next person Jesus invites, “’I will follow
you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home.’ Jesus said to
him, ‘No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom
of God.’”
Again, harsh
words. But again, Jesus has invited
someone and that someone has an excuse for why not to follow. Surely this person doesn’t have to walk out
on the spot and leave his or her family uninformed as to what their going to
do. The key is that it, like the
previous situation, is attempting to delay obedience in light of other
obligations.
The words are
harsh but the message is clear. Devotion
to Jesus must come first. It cannot be
one of several good things a person does, with each good thing competing for
attention. Sometimes I think we
Americans these days exhaust ourselves with all the good stuff we have to keep
up with in order to maintain the idea that we are good people.
How often do
“good things” get in the way of true discipleship?
And let’s make it
interesting, and just as real as the obligation of honoring the remains of a
dead relative. Most churches will say
that Sunday morning is a time for worship.
It is a time that must be venerated and set aside above all other
obligations. It sounds like
righteousness. But is it?
Laura Daly, the
dean of the Southern Tier Conference, tells congregations, (I’m paraphrasing)
“If you haven’t had at least half a dozen visitors come to your church in the
last year because you have Sunday morning worship then you can’t claim your
Sunday morning worship is serving the kingdom of God.”
Ouch. But true.
She isn’t saying their worship is invalid. She’s saying that preserving the Sunday
morning time slot tradition is no longer serving God’s kingdom. It’s time to move the worship time or put
your key evangelism efforts elsewhere.
This is the kind
of challenge Jesus is giving.
You’re probably
sick of hearing me talk about us living in times that churches are
declining. But I don’t think it’s that
the church has lost touch or headed down a wrong path. I think it’s a wake-up call. We can no longer fool ourselves into thinking
that a culture that has built itself around a surface of Christian practice is
actually doing God’s work. It may
be. Or it may not.
Last week when we
read about the Transfiguration the voice from the cloud said, “Listen to him,”
meaning Jesus. That goes for today
too. God is not limited to traditions
and practices. The way of following God
and discipleship does not follow patterns.
There are no formulas. And every
time we think there is one, we are definitely wrong.
But God does not
call us to cruel and harsh tasks. God
does not cause our lives to be hurtful, empty, and broken simply for the sake
of it. God would free us from everything
that entraps us. God would free us for
adventure. So, obligations to family
brought about by traditions, and the trap of ever needing to protect ourselves
from every possible liability, and the enslaving need to keep people happy with
us, and many others, can all be removed.
The world has so
many many ways of entrapping us. God
would free us. May your faith give you
the courage and the creativity to be truly free.
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