What's It Gonna Be?
Luke 14:25-33
Our passage is within a section of Luke’s teaching that has Jesus preparing for his time in Jerusalem where betrayal, beatings and a cross await. This is one of those biblical texts that isn’t easy to hear, plus if we use simplistic theological thinking we end up with a crazy understanding of God and the purpose of being Christians. I think Dana had one of these kinds of passages when she preached here back in August. These kinds of texts are difficult.
Jesus is using hyperbole to startle his audience out of complacency. To be a disciple, Luke has Jesus saying, one has to hate one’s family, hate one’s life, pick up the cross and give up everything one owns. If we read this passage literally, then we become not people living by grace called to make the world a better place. Instead we become hateful, focused on “me against them”, and have no resources to support ourselves.
But if we look a little deeper we discover this is one of those texts that must be held in tension – tension between the call to follow Jesus as our ultimate mission and the specifics of how that is lived out in our individual lives. Some scholars read this parable of the king going to war as a way to thin the casual follower out of the disciple herd. Rather than getting stuck in the particular examples Jesus used, we can get a clear understanding of the overarching theme of this section – following Jesus is costly. Those dabbling in discovering their faith mission may be scared away by the enormity of the task. We are being called to a radical make-over that requires new priorities. Re-prioritizing our lives means many of our assumptions are called into question. All of those places where we had previously placed ultimate meaning (relationships, possessions, “the good life”) lose their primacy in our lives. Even though it feels that way in this passage, scripture is not saying that family or life or possessions are bad – simply they are not what have ultimate worth.
I researched several sources to see how others have interpreted these strange passages and what I found was everything from, yes being a Christian means making Jesus lord of your life so you should despise everything else, to Jesus didn’t really mean hate like we think of hate. The truth is that nobody knows for sure what this passage was trying to communicate by using this particular example so we must always weigh any individual text against the framework of the broader message. When we do that, then clearly, the one thing we do come away with is that we are called to different priorities than others and shifting priorities is costly.
We see this re-prioritization happening in our midst as a church. When we choose not to fall victim to “bumper sticker” religion, when we take up the cause of those who are labeled “suspect” by the powerful of our culture, when we refuse to hide in closets simply because being out makes someone in our family uncomfortable – that requires re-shuffling the priorities of one’s life. This is always a difficult prospect and not for the faint of heart.
Anyone who has “come out” in a hostile environment understands the costs of being true to the higher ideals of one’s self. It is not easy or simple to buck the assumptions, priorities and even dreams that others hold for us when a more perfect knowledge of our true selves as GLBTQ people seems to shatter those former illusions. Some have had their families interpret their truth-telling as “hating the family.” To be true to one’s self means holding the family in contempt is the subtle or overt message.
Anyone who has fought to recover from an addiction understands the enormous costs of living a sober life. There are always temptations to slip “just this once”. There is that pull that would drag us back down to the depths that we know to be dead-end roads. But we know there has to be something better for us out there.
This week we will mark the anniversary of the terror attacks on September 11th. In the face of such meaningless violence often in the name of God, and continuing to reverberate around our globe, the tugs of hopelessness and despair can be strangling. Was this really about religion and if it was, is that how we want religion to impact our world?
These and many other life experiences have compelled some of us to search for answers that make sense. It is what brought many of us to church in the first place. Sometimes we needed a God to rescue us from ourselves. Sometimes we just needed a safe place to contemplate the future. Sometimes we needed something to kick us in rear and open our eyes to the obvious. What we discovered, eventually, is that God was with us all the time and is that higher power which allows us to break free from chains that bind, which enables us to choose the nobler path, and which makes it possible to live as free and hope-filled people. We find this reality deep within our spirits.
In the great epic tale “Lord of the Rings” two tiny hobbits, Frodo and Sam, discover something like this within themselves. They are on a journey to return the ring (the precious) to the place where it can no longer do any harm to them or to their world. It has been a long journey with many strange encounters and they have to find something deep inside themselves to compel them forward. [DVD “Lord of the Rings: Twin Towers” Chapter 50, 24425-24638, CVLI #501443140]
That ability to recognize what is truly important for us – what has ultimate value – is what instills a sense of optimism – of hope. It is an ideal that draws us out of the mire that would threaten to trap us. If we take anything from this passage of scripture, I would suggest it be that living up to the highest ideals of our faith is not easy and doesn’t happen quickly. It takes years of patience, persistence, hope and courage. Yet it is by far the better road to the future for it is the one that inspires, it is the one that ennobles and it is the one that helps us make the world a better place for all of us.
Sources:
www.homileticsonline.com Grunting Allowed, September 2007, commentary.
http://www.kencollins.com/jesus-03.htm Family Values?
DVD “Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers”, CVLI #501443140.
http://www.sharpened.net/reviews/moviereview.php?Lord_of_the_Rings_2