Sermons
A Message by the Rev. Harvey G. Throop
Palisades Presbyterian Church
San Diego, California
April 26, 2009
{Confirmation/ Commissioning Sunday}
Journey Into the Unknown
(Luke 9:57-62 )
"As they were going along the road, someone said to him, ‘I will follow you wherever you go.'"
(Luke 9:57)
On this special day when we have received members of the Confirmation/Commissioning class into church membership, I thought it an appropriate time for all of us to think together again about the meaning of this step, the taking of which we always celebrate with great joy!
Whenever Jesus called people to follow him, he was calling them to an exciting journey into the unknown. That's a reality we oftentimes forget!
It's easy to get the impression that for many people, joining the church is not that big a deal -- just something nice, predictable and purposeful to do when you get to be a certain age. But, of course, it is much more than that! To put it simply, to join the church is to accept Christ's call to discipleship! But what does that mean?
It is one thing to admire Jesus from a distance – it is a far different reality to follow him as a full-fledged disciple.
A few years ago, I was with a group of individuals who were sharing their personal faith history. One person said that, for the first few years of her life, her family attended a Baptist church, but they had never joined. Eventually, her mother declared that it was time to join the church, but they weren't going to join the Baptist church. When she asked her mother why they wouldn't be joining the church they had been attending, the mother said, "We do some things that the Baptists don't believe in, so we'll have to join a Presbyterian church."
So, by whose rules do you and I have to abide in order to follow Christ?
In the Scripture lesson read a few moments ago, we were reminded again about the experience of three would-be disciples as they considered following Jesus. But much to our surprise, instead of being warmly welcomed into that group of followers, these three would-be disciples were questioned, cautioned and, from what we can gather, discouraged from pursuing their attempt any further.
The first of them came up to Jesus, according to Luke, and volunteered, "I will follow you wherever you go!" How noble his offer sounded. But Jesus seemed a bit skeptical of the individual's motives, so he cautioned: "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man has no where to lay his head." Why did Jesus say that?
It may well have been that this particular individual had been following the activities of Jesus with great interest and decided to jump on board and become a part of this new, exciting and popular movement. This individual thinks discipleship is going to be a popular life -- lots of crowds and attention -- the whole bit. But Jesus puts out a caution flag. He tells the person that discipleship is not going to be easy! There will be no place to call home. It's going to be difficult at times.
But, of course, we all know that. Here in the church, it's easy to be a follower of Christ. We share very similar values and convictions. Nobody pokes fun at you. You've got lots of friends and support! But away from the church -- at school, at work, at social events, parties and elsewhere -- it's not always so easy. Your values are going to be different from many of the people you're around. So are things you believe and, yes, perhaps even your language. Jesus knew it would be that way for the first individual he encountered on this particular day. And so Jesus questions, "Are you really sure you want to follow me? You better first count the cost!"
Soon afterwards, a second person shows up and, this time and Jesus is the one who initiates the conversation. He says, "Follow me." And the person says, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father!' And Jesus says, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God" (Luke 9:60).
Now, don't misunderstand this scene. What this individual is saying to Jesus is not, "Dad had a heart attack and died last night and won't you let me first attend his funeral." It's not that at all. Rather, he is saying, "Lord, I'll be GLAD to follow you, but there are certain things I want to do first. My father is getting along in years and it won't be long until he's gone. Let me stay with him until the time comes when he dies, and then I'll look you up and see if I can make the necessary arrangements to follow you."
You see, the trouble with this person was that at the very moment he responded to Jesus' invitation in the affirmative, he really stopped wanting to follow at all. He was saying, "I'm interested, Lord, I like what you're doing, I'm behind you all the way and one of these days, I'm going to roll up my sleeves and get in there with you, but you've got to give me a little time for some other things first." Well, anybody can say that. And time eventually runs out.
Jesus says to this individual, "Well, if that's the way it has to be for you, then you might just as well forget it." There was a certain urgency about the things Jesus needed to accomplish and if a person was not willing to get to work immediately, Jesus had do move on.
Well, there's a sense in which the same thing is true for the church in our day. There are lots of things we need to be accomplishing in the name of Christ in our world today, but how many of us take our sweet time in getting around to doing that work? Jesus wants us to get with his program now!
I like the way the great German theologian and Christian martyr, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, once wrote: “When discipleship is offered on one's own terms, it ceases to be discipleship. It is, rather, a program of one's own arranged to suit oneself.”
You see, the trouble with this would-be disciple was that at the very moment he responded to Jesus' invitation in the affirmative, he really stopped wanting to follow at all .
A third person comes up to Jesus and says, "I'll follow you, Lord! But first, let me say farewell to those at my home." Or, in other words, let me bounce it off my family and friends and make sure that it's okay with them.
Peer pressure has always been around! To be sure, it was there even at the beginning! In many ways, it's natural for us to want the support of our families and friends before we commit ourselves to certain activities. But sometimes, we need to take the initiative instead of waiting for others to act first.
Jesus was telling these three individuals some very critical things about what it means to be his follower. He wanted them to read all the fine print before they signed on with him.
When he says that he has no home, he means that the person who would follow him must be willing to move away from security, away from that which is known, away from all notions of what makes for a happy life, and move into uncharted territory.
When he says that the dead must bury their own dead, and that his followers must go and proclaim the kingdom of God, he means that the person who would follow him must “seize the moment!” -- take advantage of the opportunity now.
When he says that you cannot plow a field and look backward at the same time, he means that following him demands concentration, focus and the will to move into the future without regard for what has been in the past.
Most of us, when we hear the demands of discipleship in such direct terms, are not so sure we want to be part of it. We are convinced that following Jesus -- not merely believing in him -- is really demanding. Only the best among us really want to give in to what he demands.
I think it's interesting to note that Christianity began as a youth movement. Most of the original disciples were probably only in their twenties when they began. They weren't old men with long gray beards.
And Jesus chose twelve of them to follow him. Interestingly, there is no evidence that Jesus chose them because they were brighter or nicer than other people. They weren't. In fact, the Bible suggests that they were constantly missing the point and arguing with each other over who was the greatest. In fact, when you get right down to it, their greatest qualification seems to have been, simply, that they were willing to follow and make a commitment.
And there were great differences among them. On the one hand, there was Simon the zealot or radical -- the fiery nationalist. At the other end was Matthew, the tax collector. There was Peter, who was impulsive, aggressive and energetic and there was John -- meditative, thoughtful and prayerful. There was Andrew, a man of great faith and Thomas, the doubter. In short, the first disciples were a microcosm of what the church was to become.
Jesus chose people who were convinced that the only hope for this world rested in the acceptance of God's rule in the minds and hearts of people everywhere. He chose people who weren't looking for a task that would be easy, but those who would finally be willing even to lay down their lives for the sake of Christ. Jesus chose people of promise, people of loyalty, people willing to trust and willing to risk.
It's interesting, isn't it: the nature of that invitation and the conditions of that discipleship haven't really changed!
You and I represent the only way by which Christ's work will ever get done around here. We're the ones who have to do the kind of service that others may not do. We must care about those whom others will not bother with. We must serve where others will not serve. We must love others as much as we love ourselves. And by “loving,” we mean looking out for their best interests. We must stand up for certain causes and values for which others may not stand up.
To be a disciple of Jesus requires that we learn to live the way Jesus lived. If you ever want to learn how best to do something, find someone who does it well and then learn from that person. A disciple of Jesus is one who trusts that Jesus knows how to live better than anyone else.
I hope that each of us will work diligently at our discipleship to Jesus. I hope that each of us will work to make this church what it should be. God has given us creative minds and lots of ability. By our commitment to Christ and through our efforts and by God's direction, I believe we can accomplish those things that God has given us to do.
