To listen to the sermon from Sunday July 01, 2007 preached by The Reverend William R. Nesbit, Jr. click here.
St. Charles' Episcopal Church -- St. Charles, IL
The Fifth Sunday After Pentecost -- Proper 8 – Year C
Sunday July 1, 2007
1 Kings 19:15-16, 19-20 -- Psalm 16:[1-4] 5-11 -- Galatians 5:1, 13-25 -- Luke 9:51-62
Rev. William R. Nesbit, Jr.
In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen. For the next three weeks we will be hearing lessons about the cost of discipleship.
These stories from the Gospel of Luke begin after Jesus, Peter, James and John have come down from the mountaintop after the transfiguration. As Jesus and the disciples have been walking along the road, Jesus has cast out a demon, and I suspect the disciples have been whispering about what happened on the mountaintop and the amazing powers of their Lord.
As often happens with people who gain power quickly an argument arose among them as they tried to figure out who was the most powerful. And so, as the disciples argue among themselves they miss the change that has come over Jesus. It is time to go to Jerusalem. The narrator shares this new reality with us so that we know, but the disciples don't have access to this information. They haven't got a clue. "When the days drew near for Jesus to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem."
This one sentence is filled with foreshadowing and clues to the change that has come over Jesus, and to what lies ahead on the road. "When the days drew near for Jesus to be taken up (crucifixion, resurrection, ascension), he set his face (like flint) to go to Jerusalem (the city of glory; the city that kills the prophets)." The end of Jesus' ministry on earth... is beginning. From here on out his teaching will take on an urgency in addition to the "edgy-ness" that we find throughout the Gospel of Luke.
When James and John, the two "Sons of thunder," ask permission to call in an air strike on the Samaritan town that had rejected Jesus, he rebukes them, in his action reminding them that the message he brings is not about punishment and zealous or even righteous condemnation. It is about love. This is a hard lesson to learn. And it is even harder to teach for it cannot be truly taught by force or threat.
To be a disciple of Jesus is not a position of power, it is a position of grace. In the next part of the story Jesus drives home, both to us and his disciples, the high cost of discipleship as he warns his disciples of the folly of conditional or qualified following in a series of encounters. One who follows Jesus can expect no perquisites. Indeed there will be times when even the basic needs of life will be missing. To be a disciple is to be totally reliant on God's grace. There will be times when the demands of discipleship will conflict with the demands of home and family. When that happens, true disciples must be ready and willing to leave home and family behind.
In the final encounter described in our Gospel this morning, we hear an echo of the story of the call of Elisha, our first lesson for today, as Jesus emphasizes the radical difference between the Gospel and the Law. Where the Law allows Elisha the time to return and tie up, or more correctly eat up his loose ends, the imperatives of the Gospel make no such allowance. As disciples we cannot wait for a convenient time; the time is now! The time is always now. The good news cannot wait. Ever.
If these stories make you uncomfortable, then you have heard them correctly. To be a follower of Christ is to never be wholly comfortable in the world. It isn't easy being a disciple of Christ. It never should be. Being a Christian is a sacrificial ministry, and even more importantly, it is a ministry we are never fully in control of. And often we are nowhere near in control. Paul says, "through love become slaves to one another." To be a slave is to be radically out of control of your life; to do the will of another not because you think it's a good idea, but because you have no choice.
To give up your own desires for another is never an easy thing. It is the hard work of marriage that some couples never master, to the detriment, and sometimes destruction, of their relationship. Paul calls it "crucifying the flesh." It is truly a hard path to take. If we are to find this way and live this way we will need a constant guide. Have no fear, we have been sent a guide by a loving God. That guide is the Holy Spirit, given to us as the first fruits of salvation. To live by the Spirit is to be guided by the Spirit.
Yes, the path is hard, but the signposts along the way are clear. They are the fruits of the Spirit; the generous harvest of a life lived in the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Follow these and you will never stray far from the path. Strive for these and you will never go wrong. For such it is, says the Spirit. You will show me the path of life; in Your presence there is fullness of joy, and in Your right hand are pleasures for evermore. Amen.