Third Sunday after Pentecost
Text: Luke 9:51-62
Pastor Jean M. Hansen
Lately there have been a series of videos on Facebook, perhaps you’ve seen them, in which a man is parenting his teenage son, although the viewer never actually sees the son. In one, the son is asked to do some reasonable tasks in preparation for visitors who are coming that evening. His response is that he’s busy “doing something” (he’s in his room, surrounded by technology). When his father insists that the tasks need to be done immediately, before the guests arrive, the son repeats that he’s busy, and that the father should do the tasks instead of wasting time talking to him about it. Of course that doesn’t go over well, so the father insists even more strongly with additional comments about consequences, at which point the son mutters, “I can’t wait until I move out of here.”
That’s when the Dad proclaims, “There’s no time like the present!”, and brings out the suitcase. In the end, the son realizes that the cost of doing so – for essentials like the internet and cell phone, not to mention food and shelter - is more that he can handle and he becomes more willing to do what was asked of him. It’s a reminder to count the cost before committing ourselves to anything!
Perhaps that example can help us grasp today’s Gospel lesson in which the reader is told that Jesus has set his face toward Jerusalem. Here’s a detail that you may not remember except that I’ll keep reminding you of it. From now, until the end of October, we are on our way to Jerusalem. All of the Gospel readings for four months, which encompasses 10 chapters occurs within that journey. Having “set his face”, Jesus is single-minded in his purpose, which will lead to Jerusalem and the cross.
Let’s focus our attention on the last six verses of the text where the warnings to count the cost begin. When a would-be disciple proclaims, “I will follow you wherever you go,” Jesus reminds him to count the cost; his disciples will not have a fixed home, in the traditional sense. They will be on the road, going from place to place, sometimes being rejected, as was the case in the Samaritan village mentioned in the first part of the passage. They will be out of step with the patterns of this world, where even nature gives its creatures a home. Jesus and his followers were not of this world; so, count the cost.
Next, Jesus calls another to follow, and the response is, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father,” to which Jesus responds, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Remember, in that culture, to bury one’s father was to honor him and was one’s duty. Why would Jesus respond so curtly to someone who was grieving?
And when the next person commits to following Jesus, but wants to say good-bye to loved ones first, which seems to be a reasonable request, why does Jesus make the shaming statement, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God?” Surely grief over loved ones and loving one’s family are not forbidden to followers of Jesus?
This, my friends, is a hyperbolic Gospel passage, which is an exaggeration made to stress the message. Obviously, God can and does work through people who have homes, who pause their lives to arrange and attend funerals and have attachments to loved ones. But, we also are called to a radical commitment to the Gospel, and being a follower of Jesus should make a significant difference in our lives.
Jesus is warning us that there are always justifiable excuses to put off the claims of discipleship. Other important matters compete for our attention. Delay is dangerous because if we wait until conditions are just right, that will never happen, and our resolve to commit will be lost. Just like there’s always something that keeps us from regularly exercising our bodies, there’s always something to keep us from exercising our faith and being committed followers of Jesus.
Yet, the concept of taking something on with focused commitment is not foreign to us. People do it all the time, for good and for ill. Consider, for example, Candace Lightner whose 13-year-old daughter was killed by a drunk driver. She may have never given it a thought before that terrible event, but afterward she founded M.A.D.D. (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) because she felt “compelled to confront the problem of drunk driving, singularly, passionately, determinedly, for the rest of her life, at all costs.” (1)
At all costs … that’s our ultimate goal in following Jesus. Doing so is costly; we must go into it with our eyes open, counting the cost, because it shifts our direction and priorities but is also life and world transforming.
Here’s a sideways illustration of the point from pastor, professor and author Barbara Brown Taylor. She wrote that if a person in the church loses a job, it would not be unusual for the pastor to call that person and offer sympathy and prayer. But what if this occurred: “Suppose that a pastor one day got wind of the fact that a certain member of the congregation had gotten a big promotion at work along with significantly more pay. And suppose the pastor then called this person and said, ‘Charlie, I’ve heard your news and so I was wondering if it would be OK if I came by sometime to pray with you about this. I’m concerned about the temptations this new venture may throw your way as well as what it may do to your ability to serve here at church. So, I’d like to pray for God’s strength for you in the face of this new success.’” Probably we would be taken aback by that phone call, but as Pastor Brown Taylor notes, that’s only because we cordon off parts of our lives from the total claims Jesus makes on us. (2)
Following Jesus is a work in progress in the midst of our ordinary lives, which means that it should be shaping our decisions, not as a possible guide to what we do, but as the only way.
Jesus has set his face toward Jerusalem, and nothing is going to keep him from his destiny, not unwelcoming Samaritans, not his own disciples seeking revenge with fire from heaven, not uncommitted potential followers. He wants us to have the same attitude about following him; our faces are set, we are aware of the cost and, yet, we go, proclaiming the Kingdom of God with our lives and our words. AMEN
(1) “Sundays and Seasons Preaching”, Year C, 2019, pg. 191, Daniel Ruen, 2018 Augsburg Fortress
(2) “Luke 9:51-62 Commentary” by Scott Hoezee, June 26, 2016, www.cepreaching.org