1 Kings 19.15-16, 19-21                                                                                                        Carol A. Solovitz

Psalm 16                                                                                                                 Pentecost 5C

Galatians 5.1, 13-25                                                                                                              July 1, 2007

Luke 9.51-62

Faithful Following

 

Silent Prayer before Worship:

For freedom you have set us free, Lord Jesus.  For freedom you designated leaders for the nations to preserve liberty and justice for all people.  Living as your faithful followers, we pray for the strength and courage to proclaim the gospel of deliverance through word and deed.  In the name of Christ, Amen.

 

We’re going to start today’s sermon with a little poll.  How many of you are wearing a cross today – necklace, pin, etc?  Please raise your hands.  Did you know that in 1995, it was reported that the Church of England’s Easter advertising contained no reference, in picture or words, to a cross, and simply showed Jesus uttering, “Surprise!” on Easter morning.  A bewildered ad executive said, “The cross is arguably the best-known brand logo in the entire world.” An official of the church-run Advertising Network which placed the ad explained, “[The cross] carries too much baggage.”  What?! Too much baggage?  Are Christians embarrassed by the cross?

We cannot be embarrassed by the cross – our Christian logo – even if it carries too much baggage.  In recent years, other Christian groups – from conservative to liberal - have questioned the use of the cross as our logo because the cross was an instrument of torture. “Would you wear an electric chair around your neck if Jesus had been executed by that method?” they ask.  It’s a provocative question, but it also reminds us of the power God gives to the Church, to take what is evil and ugly and change it to good for the sake of the Gospel.  We cannot be embarrassed by the Good News the cross proclaims – that Jesus suffered and gave his life so that we might have our mistakes erased and gain eternal life in Heaven.

A story is told of the famous violinist Fritz Kreisler, who was being entertained by a wealthy family.  One evening after dinner everyone gathered in the living room, and the woman of the home sat at the piano.  Her husband brought out a beautiful Cremona violin and handed it to Kreisler.  The great violinist examined the delicate instrument and began to play.  For over an hour he and his hostess filled the room with beautiful music. When Kreisler handed the violin back to its owner, the man refused to take it, saying, “From now on the instrument belongs to you.  You are the one who can bring out the best in it.”

            In the same way, Christ is the one who can bring out the best in us.  He also puts the best meaning into an instrument of torture and assures us that we should not be ashamed of the cross on which he died. 

However, we realize that not everyone will receive the cross – nor will they receive Christians – with love and enthusiasm. Think about this… How many of us pretend we are not home when we see two nicely dressed people carrying books or pamphlets and ringing doorbells in the neighborhood?  There can be many reasons why we dread answering or decide not to answer at all; most of them have to do with prior experience.  We just don’t feel like arguing with someone who has different ideas about religion.  Two family stories about door-to-door evangelists: 

A.  My grandmother would invite them in to visit.  When they began to quote Bible verses to justify their religion, she would open her own Bible and say, “Now I seem to remember that there was more to that passage than you quoted.  Let’s just read the verses before and after that one.”  After awhile, they would realize they couldn’t win, and they’d give up and leave.

B.  Her father, my great-grandfather, who was a preacher himself, was said to meet the witnesses at the door and say right away that he didn’t want to talk to them.  Once, they asked if they could leave some tracts, and he said that would be just fine, as long as the “tracks” pointed away from his door.

Another thing to ponder… How do you think we would come across to others if we were out ringing doorbells?  What about if we asked someone to come to church with us?  What if we tried to tell an acquaintance what we like about our church?  That’s a tough thought for Lutherans:  Our ELCA Bishop Mark Hanson says that Lutherans tend to invite someone – even a close friend or relative – to church once every 17 years!!  Now that’s embarrassing!

In today’s Gospel, Jesus sends his disciples ahead of him to ring doorbells, to let the people of the village know that Jesus was on his way.  There was a problem, though:  The disciples went to a village of Samaritans.  Jesus might have been open to Samaritans, but they had no interest in welcoming a Jew on his way to Jerusalem.  The disciples James and John wanted to burn down the village, but Jesus simply turned and went on his way.  He had no time for a hard-hearted people. 

On the flip side, there were other folks who asked to jump on Jesus’ bandwagon.  The excitement of his presence caused one to say, “I will follow you wherever you go.”  Jesus replied, “Are you sure?  Let me tell you what is involved.  This is no luxury tour.  There are no deluxe accommodations.  Even I have no place to lay my head.  You had better consider your decision very carefully, because I demand faithful following.”

    He called others to join him, and they agreed, but only after they took care of other business.  Each had just one thing to do first.  To Jesus, that indicated that they would not be faithful followers. They weren’t ready yet.  Jesus knew that there would always be one more thing to do before they made a full commitment to him.

Have you ever been to a revival?  I loved going to revivals with my grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins in West Virginia and southern Missouri.  Most revivals lasted 4, 5, 8 or 10 days.  Sometimes they were called camp meetings or tent meetings.  There was lively and inspiring music, exciting preaching, altar calls, baptisms every day for people of all ages, lives dedicated to following Jesus wherever he called.  Unfortunately, for many of the folks, including me, the zeal wore off after the roar and thrill of the revival was gone.  Distractions, desires of the world, and mundane reality took over again.  It became clear that following Jesus was not as easy as it first looked.  Soon, our Bibles would be set aside, it became more attractive to sleep in on Sunday morning, and we would say, “Maybe I’ll stick with it next year.”

Jesus did not lie to us; following him faithfully is not easy.  Jesus had a crowd gather wherever he went, but for them to keep following was a challenge, especially at the end.  When Jesus was being tried by Pontius Pilate and then crucified, followers fell away in droves, and there were faithful few left at the foot of his cross in Jerusalem.  

God has always required much of believers, from Adam and Eve to the prophets to the disciples and to us today.  And there is always the question, “How do we know when we are faithful followers of Jesus?”

In Galatians 5, St. Paul tells about the fruits of hearing and heeding the call of the Spirit: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Generosity, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control.  These are the riches of faithful following.  These are riches not gained the easy way, but by taking the hard road of Jesus, by risking the scorn of our neighbors and the security of material goods, by believing so strongly in the love and faithfulness of our Lord that we dare to set aside other priorities in order to follow the One who gave his life in order to save ours.  It is a tough order, but it is the faithful following that Jesus asks of us.

Let us pray:  O Jesus, we believe that you are the Christ, the anointed one of God, who makes salvation and peace possible in this our world of pain.  May we celebrate the freedom you give us to follow you and, in your holy name, lift our voices in songs of praise and thanksgiving; Amen