Help us, gracious God, to love in you all
things and above all things ☩
in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the reading from Jeremiah, we have that wonderful image of God as the potter and us as the clay. Psalm 139 speaks of the intimacy and profoundness of God. And Philemon is the only Biblical book with only one chapter – so preaching on an entire book is rare opportunity. For the last week and a half, I’ve been trying to plan a sermon about one of those three texts.
But
the text from Luke has been like a giant standing in my path – I wanted to find
a way around it, but nothing was connecting. The Spirit knew that not only do I
need to wrestle with this text, but that through me and Luke, she has something
to say to you. First, I’m going to offer what I think this passage is about.
And then I’m going to talk about how Jesus makes that point. And then we’ll
conclude by considering what these difficult words of Jesus mean for us today.
So,
what is this all about – hating family, taking up a cross, planning for
building and war, and giving up our possession? The broad topic that Jesus is
speaking about is idolatry and allegiance. The phrase “cannot be my disciple”
is where we see this. The word “cannot” makes it sound like it’s not allowed,
as if there is some rule where Jesus is going to reject us because we love our
family.
A
better translation would be “you are not able.” It’s not that we aren’t
allowed, it’s that we’re not capable. It’s about idolatry and allegiance. When
Jesus says, “Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me,” he’s giving us
the key to read this entire section. When he says “follow me” he’s using a
formula that was used by the prophets of Israel to describe allegiance. Another
way of saying “follow me” would be to say “come after me” or “go behind me.”
Think about kids at school walking down the hallway. There’s a line leader. That
person who knows where the class is going and leads them there. The kids in the
back of the line don’t even necessarily know where the line is going, but if
they follow, they’ll get there. But imagine that there are five-line leaders –
well, that’s chaos. It means that maybe half of the students will get to the
cafeteria for lunch. Or, even worse, what if every student in the class decides
that they will discover their own path and go on their own journey? Most will
never find our way there.
This
is what the passage is about. For generations, the prophets had been warning
the people about going after false gods. For most of us, believing in one god
is enough of a challenge, so we’re not particularly worried about following Baal,
Poseidon, or Venus. But we need not call something a “god” for it to be idolatry.
An idol, or a god, is just what we put at the center of our life. It is the
motivating story by which we live our lives, the set of values that determine
our priorities, the motivation that shapes our desires. And even the most
ardent atheist, in this sense, has a god.
In
these sayings, Jesus is not necessarily saying that family or possessions are
evil, rather he is making it clear that there is only one true God, and if we give
any of our allegiance to other things, even good things, we will not be able to
follow him because we’ve anchored ourselves to something else. These sayings
are about the proper ordering of our loves and devotions.
What
it boils down to is only Jesus can be the load-bearing foundation of our lives.
Only Jesus can be the Lord of our lives. This isn’t to say anything negative
about fathers, mothers, spouses, siblings, or children – but they are not able
to be the center of our lives. Even the most devoted spouse will disappoint us
at times. We all immediately recognize that the phrase “perfect parent” or
“perfect child” is an oxymoron. We are all imperfect, flawed, and wounded
creatures. If we put our meaning, purpose, and identity in mortal and imperfect
relationships, we’ll always come up short because we simply can’t bear such a
heavy load.
And not only is it
unreasonable to put our family at the very center of things, but it’s also a
terrible burden to place on someone else. We all struggle to keep ourselves on
track, but being told that we’re also supposed to fulfill, complete, and give
joy to someone else – that’s not just impossible, but downright oppressive.
These words are
about loving God first, which is what enables us to truly love our family and
ourselves. To be clear, I’m not saying that if you’re not sure about God or
lukewarm in faith that you can’t love your spouse or your children. By no means
is that the conclusion to draw from this. But what Jesus is saying is that by
being devoted to him above all things, we are then freed to love others in ways
that cannot even begin to imagine. Instead of loving our spouse or children for
the roles they play in our lives, we can love them for who they are. Instead of
expecting our spouse to fulfill us or asking our children to give us purpose,
we can simply love them for who they are, not for what they do for us.
This is exactly
the point that St. Paul makes in his letter to Philemon. He says that Onesimus,
who was a slave, is to be received, through Christ, no longer as a slave, but
as a beloved brother. Jesus transforms, deepens, and perfects all of our
relationships. But if we are less than fully committed to Jesus, then we are
not able to receive the fullness of his grace and there is no other
relationship in the world that can lead us to the peace that passes
understanding or the hope that makes all things well. Following after Jesus and
giving our full allegiance and trust to him frees us to grow in love beyond
what is humanly possible.
As
to how Jesus makes this point – he makes it quite strongly. Is “hate” a
hyperbole intended to catch our attention? I don’t know, you’ll have to ask
Jesus about that. But what I do know is that there are a lot of places in
Scripture where “love” and “hate” are used comparatively. Hatred does not
necessarily imply negative emotions or ill-will. In the language of Scripture,
if one thing is identified as the beloved, then all others, by contrast, are
referred to as the hated. It’s not that we are supposed to have animosity for
the people who are our parents, spouses, or ourselves, rather it’s that we are
to hate, to reject, the claims that those roles place on us. It is an
exhortation to free ourselves from the attachments that pull us away from God. So
instead of worrying about whether or not we are a good enough spouse, or if our
children are good enough, instead we put the fullness of our love with God
where grace, mercy, and love grow in abundance.
And the same thing
is true for our possessions – the things that we try to collect, or measure our
status by, or seek pleasure from become impediments to following God fully.
This isn’t to say that we all need to take vows of poverty and become hunters
and gathers who don’t have a thing to our name, but it is to say that we have
to be ready to give up anything that keeps us from God. It’s not wrong to own a
car, but if we find that our car becomes more than a tool and starts to become
an idol, then Jesus would say that we need to get rid of it. Or it could be a
house, bank account, the contents of your closet, or hobbies. In and of
themselves, none of these things are bad, just like family is not bad. But when
they put claims on us, when we end up serving them instead of God, when we
spend more time and energy worrying about those things than we do praying or
serving those in need, then we have to reject them as the idols that they have become.
Then
Jesus speaks about the cross and says that we are to take up ours and follow
him. The cross is about shame, it is about giving up worldly visions of
success, it is about death. And this is where the next two metaphors are
helpful – of someone embarking on a construction project wanting to make sure
they have the funding and the materials to complete the task, or of a king
going out to battle and needing to know if they have the resources to win. Put
more simply, Jesus is saying that there is no such thing as “halfway” when it
comes to discipleship. We aren’t a parent, a member of a civic club, an
employee, someone who enjoys gardening, and a follower of Jesus as if following
Jesus is one priority among many. No, in the same way that a half-built tower
is worthless and a half-sized army will be defeated, halfway discipleship gets
us nowhere.
The
cross makes sense of this reality because there is no such thing as partially
taking up our cross. No one is half-crucified. Either we follow Jesus or we don’t.
Either we are united to Christ’s death and raised with him in the newness of
Resurrection life, or we aren’t. Either we’re living or we’re dead, no halfway.
And if we’re living for earthly priorities and relationships, then we are dead
to the radical way of grace opened to us on Easter morning. But if we know
ourselves to be as good as dead to the world, then we are alive in Christ and
are able to receive more perfectly the gifts that we are given such as our lives,
relationships, and callings. The passage is about having Jesus as the center of
all things, and we do this by having God not as one priority among many, but as
the essential thing which gives meaning to everything else.
Lastly,
what does this mean for us? What does it mean to say that Jesus, and Jesus alone,
can be the center of our lives? For one, it’s about our hope. Not what we hope
for, but what we hope in. If our hope is that we achieve certain things, are
viewed in a certain way, or have specific experiences, we’ll come up short. Because
even if we check off every item on our list, there will come a day when we all
will come face to face with death. Jesus gives us the promise that he is our Good
Shepherd and that even though we haven’t earned it, even though we take our
last breath, we shall always be alive in his love.
This
radically changes things – it liberates us from living for awards, success, promotions,
or reputation. The only hope we have for all things being redeemed, restored,
and perfected is in Jesus Christ, and, thanks be to God, that is exactly what
Jesus promises us and invites us to experience as we follow him.
Another
way to have Jesus at the center is to have a holy rhythm to our lives – to make
sure we are intentional about stopping to be aware that we are in the green
pastures of his grace and drink from the still waters of his love. It might be
a rosary, contemplative prayer, Moring and Evening Prayer, or Scripture reading,
the trick isn’t how we do it, it’s that we make the time to receive the gift of
Jesus’ presence with us. Likewise, the same thing is true for how we use our
money. Simply put, if our budgets are not impacted by Jesus, then we will not
able to experience the freedom that Jesus gives us from the pull of money. I
can’t tell you how much you need to give for your financial situation to be
impacted, but you do.
One
last way that we can put Jesus is at the center of all things is to work to realize
and remind ourselves that we don’t have to put Jesus at the center, he’s
already there. We need only to see this and live as if it is true. Jesus is the
one who took up his cross so that our salvation would not depend on our ability
to do so; Jesus is the one who forsook himself for our sake; Jesus is the one who
considered the cost and showed us the depths, the beauty, the fullness of God’s
love for us on the cross. So instead of striving, agonizing, or chasing after our
purpose or identity, we can enjoy what we have been given in Jesus: everything.
