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September 9th, 2007—15th Sunday after Pentecost
Readings: Jeremiah 18:1-11; Psalms 139:1-5, 12-17; Philemon 1-21; Luke 14:25-33
Life is hard. In just a few days we’ll be remembering the anniversary of the tragedy at the World Trade Centre. All these years later the horror wrought ‘in the name of God’ by terrorists is still fresh in our cultural consciousness. Television shows set in New York, from “CSI: New York” to “Rescue Me” and movies like “Reign over Me” and “World Trade Center” deal with the painful aftermath of individuals whose lives were shattered by the hatred and violence manifested on that fateful day. All those touched by this tragedy carry the weight of their pain with them. And in fact all of us who have experienced loss of some kind recognize that past pain bears ramifications in the present.
The mention of the name of a child lost prematurely, the memory of a marriage shattered by betrayal, the sting of present realities not meeting past expectations, all conjure up within our hearts sadness and even mourning. Sometimes the pain we carry causes us to have an unhealthy dependence on those who are still in our lives—we cling to the relationships we have, even smothering those we love, because we are afraid we might lose them too. We often feel that life has short-changed us somehow so we grab onto the little comforts we have—sometimes they’re things like old furniture that should have been thrown out years ago but it’s just too ‘comfortable’ to get rid of. And sometimes it might be momentos and souvenirs that serve as reminders of happier times. Sometimes it may even be that glass of wine that we ‘have’ to have every day as a way of calming the nerves. How tightly do we cling to our ‘little comforts’?
The experience of pain and hardship is universal across humanity over time and reaches into the past to Jesus’ day. Our gospel reading finds our character, this Jesus from the town of Nazareth, going about his regular routine of teaching and performing miracles. The narrative moves from periods of Jesus preaching to large crowds to speaking privately with his small group of friends, the disciples. On this occasion Jesus is traveling with his disciples when he notices a ‘crowd’ of people beginning to follow him.
To help better understand this story it would be smart for us to think about who most likely made up this crowd. Were they likely the rich elite of society? Well, it might have consisted of a few of the religious elite who were intrigued by Jesus’ earlier teaching in the synagogue and they wanted a closer look at him. But most likely it was a ragtag group who could be found wandering the streets or shopping at the market. Think of the people you’d meet walking downtown in the Soo or at the Station Mall. You’d meet professionals, people on their breaks from working retail, and you’d also come across some street people—people who are ‘down on their luck’, people with drinking problems, addictions, and mental illnesses. People who all carry their own baggage of hurts and problems. These were the people Jesus met every day.
So why….why would Jesus be so harsh with them? When we read the words of this reading how can we not picture Jesus as a stern, cold-hearted task-master?
“Whoever comes to me and does not hate mother and father, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes even life itself, cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” (Lk 14:26-27)
Harsh words Jesus! Here there are people who are desperate for healing, who have heard the stories of the Christ’s miracles and are given genuine hope, perhaps for the first time. Maybe they’re hoping to finally move forward in their lives, to find meaning and purpose again after enduring personal tragedy. But Jesus throws cold water on their hopes.
Why would Jesus dash cold water on their enthusiasm? Why couldn’t this be one of those occasions where Jesus says something like, “Come to me all who are weary, and I will refresh you?” Why couldn’t he have said something along the lines of “I love you and am happy to see you, come hang around me whenever you like, I’ll always be waiting?”
I think there are two major keys to unlocking what this passage is saying to us today.
The first is understanding what Jesus means by the word ‘hate’. When we think of hate we think of it as a strong, negative emotion—if we truly hate someone we might wish them harm, or we would at least never want anything to do with them. The mention of their name might cause our stomach to turn and our mind to race with thoughts of how awful this person is. But in the ancient Semitic world of which Jesus was apart, the word ‘hate’ had a different connation. It wasn’t so much an emotion, but rather denoted a state of detachment. Relationships were at the centre of this culture’s matrix of meaning so to be separated from someone would be a very undesirable state—and it not following society’s hierarchy of values, with familiar relationships at the top, could be interpreted as someone ‘hating’ their family.
But what it means to us today is that Jesus is telling the crowd that they have to be in a state of detachment from any relationship or any behaviour that would come between them and God. He was identifying the fact that human relationships must always be secondary to the relationship between the Creator and his creation. He was pointing out that we must let go of our unhealthy coping mechanisms and distorted relationships if we want to find true healing from the one who loves us so deeply.
And this leads us to the second key to understanding this passage—we can only understand Jesus words if we recognize they come from a God of love. Our Psalm today talks about how while we were still in our mother’s womb the Creator was at work shaping us, caring for us, and destining us for life with Him. Our Jeremiah passage is the beautiful image of God as a loving potter who skillfully and carefully takes a slab of shapeless and useless clay, that’s us, and turns it into something beautiful. If you’ve ever seen a skilled craftsperson at work, whether it be a painter, sculptor, songwriter, or woodworker, you know that great energy and care goes into turning raw materials into something beautiful.
What a wonderful way of expressing how loved we are as God’s creatures. He was at work within us before we were even born and continues to work with us, even when we’re stubborn and deserve a good thumpin’ at times! If we understand that Jesus was truly God and was active in our creation (as John 1 tells us), then we know that everything Jesus said and did was out of love. And if we assume that Jesus loved the crowd as he loves us, and that he knows what’s best for us even when we don’t, then we can understand that Jesus’ call to give up everything and follow him is for our benefit.
We need to know that living lives of trying to please everyone around us will not result in anyone being truly happy. We will learn that a life of self-sacrifice and living to please God before anything else is truly the best way to live.
We will learn the same lesson that Punchinello learned in our children’s story this morning: When we stop giving so much attention to what people and society say to us and instead listen only to what our Loving Creator says to us, we will be truly free. Jesus says, “Those whom the Son sets free are free indeed.” He is faithful to free us from all that holds us in bondage. From every pain ever felt, every lie ever believed, and all the guilt that clings to us, Jesus sets us free of them all.
When Jesus is challenging us to count the cost of following him he is calling us to give up everything so that we can gain everything our loving Creator would have for our lives.
If you’ve never experienced God’s love for yourself, never really known in your heart as well as your mind that God loves you, that you are special, and that God sees you as his beautiful creation, then I invite you today to ask God that he would show you his love. It could happen in our intercessions when we talk to God…it could happen when as a priest standing in for Christ I declare your sins to be forgiven in the Absolution, it could happen as you sing the words of one of our hymns today, or perhaps it could occur as you approach the alter to receive not simply a sip a wine and a wafer, but to receive God’s greatest gift of love ever given, his Son Jesus’ life.
If this idea startles or puzzles you, that God would personally love you and would have you know this love, you are not alone. But I invite you to explore this claim I’m making here this morning…talk to someone you trust about it…One of the best ways I’ve ever heard of for people to explore this claim and many of the claims we Christians make is through taking the Alpha course. It’s a way to come and ask questions, coming only so long as you wish, and where you get a chance to give your opinions on many subjects.
Let us be reminded today that the same hands that knit together our DNA, gently shaped our inner parts and grafted our joints together, were also nailed cruelly to the cross. “For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works (and that’s you and I!); that I know very well.” (Ps. 139:13-14) Amen.
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