About 15 years ago, I got
a phone call from my mother. I had just
gotten back from my second trip to Haiti and my mom wanted to relay- a supposed
conversation she had had with God. Now Supposedly,
God had told her that I wasn’t supposed take any more trips to Haiti. My mom had never been real keen on my traveling to Haiti given the all the
dangers of traveling in third world country.
And in some way she was right it can be somewhat dangerous to travel to
Haiti. It is a politically and
economically unstable— is prone to have place where there are pockets of
violence. It has mosquitoes that carry diseases that can kill you like Malaria
and Dengue fever.
To be honest-I get bitten
more in my backyard in Norfolk—than I did in Haiti.
Mosquitoes, violence—what
about the food and water borne illnesses –we always traveled with anti-biotics
because someone was always sick. I ended
that conversation that day by telling my mother that God was going to have that
conversation directly with me. Traveling
to Haiti entails some danger and a little bit of sacrifice.
The Gospel lesson today
has Jesus speaking about incredible sacrifice.
Jesus says that “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.”
And if that is bad
enough--He will end today's passage by saying you will have to give everything
away to be a disciple.
Hate? Hate Father? Hate Mother, sister brother?
Hate our children?
This is out of the same
mouth of the man that said you must love your enemies and pray for those who
persecute you? Out of the same mouth that said to love our neighbors as our
ourselves.
Seems just a tad bit extreme.
And perhaps not meant to
be taken literally.
I want to teach you a Greek
word Miseo. Miseo is the Greek word that stands behind the
word Hate in our English translation-Miseo doesn’t really mean hate, but Miseo
probably means to love a little less. So
rather than hate—I think Jesus is talking about the ordering of
priorities.
Obviously we are dealing
with hyperbole here, but even if that’s the case it doesn’t diminish the fact
that Jesus demands something of his disciples-- disciples—will have to
sacrifice, disciples might find themselves in dangerous situations, disciples will
be put in situations when they have to think of the other first.
In so many areas of our
lives we already sacrifice. We sacrifice so that our children can have great
opportunities in their lives. We sacrifice in order to have or maintain a
certain standard of living. We sacrifice in order to succeed
professionally. And I think Jesus is
simply getting in line and saying there will be in time when you follow me—that
may entail a little bit of sacrifice- you may entail giving of yourself.
Throughout the gospels
Jesus talks not only about sacrifice for his disciples, but also he speaks
about heavenly rewards for the faithful—when we follow, when we sacrifice—there
are indeed benefits.
Let me say this--The
benefits are not about getting God to let us into heaven when this life ends
because we are really—that is already assured, the benefits are not about
earning God’s love—no God already loves each of us without exception regardless
of how much or how little we do for the kingdom. But there are treasures—benefits when we
follow Jesus-when we work for the kingdom.
What about the sense of
peace and comfort we sometime get when spend quiet moments in prayer? Is that not a benefit?
What about when we open
our wallets in generosity or when we share by donating our time—don’t we get rewarded
by join God in God’s work of transforming the world from the nightmare it often
is into the dream of God?
What about when we engage
in moments of Sabbath—don’t we find refreshment and energy to be our best
selves?
What about when we open
our hearts to forgiveness don’t we find that if often healing when we let go of
anger or wishing that something wouldn’t have happened.
There are benefits to
following Jesus.
I would like to end with
the words of Emilie Townes commenting about discipleship—she writes “There is
no driftwood in discipleship, as we are called to live lives of complete
devotion to God. Jesus reminds us in today’s passage… [she writes] that
following him means that we cannot be shallow or uncommitted believers.” [1]
Folks I don’t know about
you—but I don’t think I will ever get to the point where my life is lived in
full and complete devotion to God—and maybe the path of a disciple is one who is
increasingly is trying to get his or her priorities straight, trying to live a
life of complete devotion.
So I leave you with this
question.
What one thing can you
do—that may mean you living a life more fully devoted to God? What one thing can you do?
My guess is that whatever
it is-- it will probably take a bit of sacrifice.
AMEN
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