Is it worth it, to follow Jesus?

The Rev. Robert P. Travis

Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost Sermon  – 8 and 10:30am Eucharist Services, Church of the Ascension, Knoxville TN

RCL  Proper 15 Year C 8/18/2013

1. Scripture Text: Isaiah 5:1-7, Psalm 80:1-2,8-18, Hebrews 11:29-12:2; Luke 12:49-56
   
   

Sermon Text:

So the first thing that came to mind,

when I read that Gospel this week,

was a feeling of relief,

I kind of thought, “So Jesus prophesied,

that it would be OK not to get along with my mother-in-law!”

I don't think the division I've experienced there,

is what he was talking about,

but maybe in some ways it is.

Now I just want to tell you,

what Jesus says here is one of the harder sayings for me,

in the Gospel of Luke.

This time Jesus is not showing us joy

and happiness.

He doesn’t act like the Buddy Christ (thumb’s up).

He tells us that he’s stressed, and impatient for

his mission to be accomplished,

and he criticizes those following him who just don’t get it.

Some preachers reading these passages,

will avoid dealing with the hard sayings

of Jesus entirely.

But much as I would rather talk about

some nicer things, it seems to me,

that I must talk about division.

It's hard to avoid division in our world today.

This week, the issue of division

weighs on me for many reasons.

My next door neighbor is from Egypt,

and refers to himself as a Muslim.

So I hear of the heartache that he and his wife,

are suffering, on behalf of his family

still there, with all the news about

fighting and killing, between those who

as muslims should consider themselves brothers.

One frustration he told me,

is that the news keeps referring to The Muslim Brotherhood,

behind so much of the violence.

And he feels just using the word “Muslim” in that organization's name is no longer accurate,

since their actions are not peaceful,

as muslims should be.

According to him, the word “muslim”

translates into “peaceful surrender.”

Which of course does not have

anything to do with violence.

So I see what is going on with my neighbor,

and even though I am not directly involved,

it strikes me that our own violent divisions as Christians,

are not too far back in our own history.

In fact my own grandfather's dad, was a child

when our family was run out of Tennessee in “the

affair at Travisville,”

one of the first conflicts here in the Civil War,

or the War of Northern Aggression.

(depending on how you look at it)

One person I talked to about this passage,

said this statement of Jesus about the divisions between

family members that he would bring,

reminded her of that great and tragic

period of our common history.

I remember that too,

as some of the most moving aspects

in my reading about that war,

were the stories of brother fighting against brother.

And of course, at that time,

most of those fighting,

would have called themselves Christian,

and some on both sides even invoked the name of Jesus,

as a reason for their fighting.

But the divisions Jesus is talking about,

which he says he came to bring

were not those violent, political divisions like war.

Even though some have used this passage,

and the parallel one in Matthew about the sword,

to justify war in Jesus’ name.

But really how would it be possible,

to see Jesus teaching us to fight or kill each other

when he taught us so many ethical values,

which challenge us to ever greater peace,

like loving our enemies,

and turning the other cheek when attacked?

What he is teaching us,

is that there is something greater at play here,

than we can reconcile,

or pacify,

with our own human desires for stability.

There is a truth,

that Jesus embodies,

that will not be tamed,

that is so true, and so compelling

it causes division between generations

with even the closest family ties that we form.

My neighbor has seen that too,

because we talk to him about Jesus,

and he recognizes at least what it would mean

to become a follower of Jesus.

His family would turn against him,

he fears, even disown him.

And when he told Jackie that,

she said she understood,

and that Jesus did too,

and she referenced this very passage.

Jackie knows of that division as well,

since her mother, (my mother-in-law)

is not a Christian,

and her religion,

open-minded though the Ba’hai Faith professes to be,

requires that when Jackie became a Christian,

her mother had no choice but to disinherit her completely.

Now, really, it is hard to be cut off from your family.

And Jesus recognizes,

that what he is preaching and asking of people,

is going to cause division

between parents and their children.

This is something we learned more about recently

from the women at The Next Door,

when we brought our Alpha Course to them.

Most of them are recovering from addictions of various

sorts, and many told us how hard it is,

to live a new life, free from addiction,

when their families and their closest friends,

were a part of the system that enabled their addiction.

For many of them, living a new life

means separating from those very people they love,

or risking relapse.

Anyone familiar with addiction

knows that this family division,

and separation from friends

is a necessary part of recovery.

And it is one of the hardest things to accomplish

on the road to sobriety.

But when a person has discovered that truth,

she must decide, whether following the truth,

is worth the division that it will necessarily cause.

What Jesus said, is a radical change,

from what Jewish people

thought their messiah would say,

one commentary I read,

stated that “The prevailing Jewish opinion

of that time, was that when the Messiah came

the Jewish nation would immediately be led to victory

over all their enemies, and that after this they would enter

into an untroubled Elysian life.”

If you saw the movie Elysium,

as I did last week, you have a good visual,

of that idea of an untroubled existence

for a people who set themselves apart from others.

But Jesus corrected that notion,

and recalled for his people the fact,

that God had called Israel to be a light to the nations,

to bring his salvation to all,

not to be unified within their own nation

saved politically and militarily,

and then rest in security from those they conquered.

In the first three readings,

we heard over and over,

God's displeasure with his people,

with the way they just didn't get it.

And how even those who were righteous,

were not allowed to see more than a glimpse of what God had in mind, until Jesus came.

And even when Jesus came,

the true messiah,

so many faithful Jews were disappointed,

that his message and his life

were not to bring the messianic peace they hoped for,

but more division,

until the second-coming

when he will finally bring about God's justice

and peace on the earth.

Some refused to see him as the messiah for that reason,

and some of God’s people continue to refuse him.

“For many he will be a stumbling-block.

While some will choose His side,

others again will choose against Him;

and those who choose him will be hated and persecuted by the others even in the most intimate home circles.”

Another difficult image Jesus presents us with today,

is his bringing fire to the earth.

This fire Jesus mentions does two things,

it destroys those who are combustible,

and it purifies those who are not.

That means for some Jesus' message and life

is painful to bear,

even seeming to destroy their lives,

and for others it is purifying,

helping them become purely what they are meant to be,

and for many,

including myself,

it is experienced as both,

sometimes destructive,

and sometimes purifying.

I find that how I experience Jesus’ message and life depends entirely on my own perspective.

When I want to do things my own way,

it seems that God is destroying those hopes.

When I want to follow him,

I see the excess and distraction being burned away from me as a blessing.

It is exciting to follow Jesus,

and there is no lack of important and wonderful work to do,

whenever one seeks to follow Him.

The writer of Hebrews helps us see

how awesome and exciting

were the lives of those people who have sought to follow

God with their whole selves

in past generations.

What they endured for the sake of their faith,

when they encountered the truth,

they gave up so much,

but not in vain.

They sacrificed because on seeing the truth,

they knew it was worth it.

Like those recovering from addiction,

faced with division in their families,

know that sobriety is worth it,

the new life is worth it.

And we see that the people who have made

these difficult choices,

for the sake of faith,

are too many to number,

they gather like a great cloud of witnesses,

urging us onward,

cheering as we run with perseverance the race

that is set before us,

telling us to lay aside every weight,

and the sin that clings so closely.

Sometimes the weight and sin,

are as close as our own family members.

What Jesus' message is not,

is comfortable, and pacifying.

The peace that he brings is not easy,

it is compelling, and demanding.

It causes a burning in the heart,

a purifying of our lives.

But when you find the truth,

the truth that will set you free,

even when you know what sacrifice it will take

to stand up against what is wrong,

and to walk forward it faith.

Is it not worth it to follow Jesus?