Jesus
said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests;
but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head."
- Luke's Gospel outlines three small glimpses of Jesus' attitude about those who would be his disciples. These are among the “hard sayings” in the Gospels, those sayings that are hard to understand and even hard to hear.
- Sayings like "Let the dead bury their own dead” and "No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God." are really hard to hear. Often they make us think, question ourselves, and even wonder if they are the Good News. We can dismiss them or refuse to see them, but we cannot deny that they are there and that we are often confronted with them. Reinterpreting them to get us “off the hook” does them a disservice as well.
- They are examples of what is referred to as the cost of discipleship. That would be a good place to start. I'd like to tell you a few stories regarding discipleship, to teach and maybe make you laugh and think a bit since it is a holiday weekend.
- The first story develops around my wife's old boss. This fellow owned the travel agency Beth worked for and in conversation one day, he told Beth how easy Christians had it. He was Jewish and fairly strict in his observance... except when it came to bacon-lettuce-and-tomato sandwiches. He said something like “You Christians have your salvation handed to you free. We Jews have to work for ours.” I might argue with him on some of his theology, but I can't argue with his view of grace.
- The second story is longer, so I'll cut it down somewhat. I've told you a little of what life was for me in my monastic days. I've talked about the farm work, but that was only a part of one year. Depending on our duties, we rose between 5:30 and 6:00 in the morning, had morning prayer in common most days, ate breakfast, and were at work or on class by 8:00. Many places had mid-day prayer or worship at noon, but some had Holy Communion late in the afternoon. Dinner and evening prayer followed. Meals were usually simple and sometimes we'd cook for ourselves, but not always. We shared three or four cars among 20-25 men. We didn't always have much money; In seminary, I received the princely sum of $23.50 a month for things besides health care and clothing. Of course, we were celibate and that can get quite lonely.
- In another case, a friend of mine retired from the Lutheran ministry and became an Orthodox priest. He voluntarily keeps the “Black Fast” over half the year, which means no meat, no fish, no eggs, no dairy or oil.
- Enough ancient history. As you can see, there are quite a few ways to practise discipleship. “Discipleship” is always linked to “discipline”; in fact, the words have the same root. That leads us to the question: how do we as Lutherans in this day and age practise discipleship?
- Do we let the dead bury the dead? Do we have no place to lay our heads? Do we never look back on we put hand to plow? Is there something distinctive about how we are called to follow Jesus?
- There is, and it is something we share with all other Christians. The genius of the Lutheran understanding of the Christian faith is the emphasis on grace and -believe it or not- flexibility. Add to that the idea that we find our holiness and our holy calling in our daily lives. This doesn't downplay the importance of sacrifice or of callings to particular service like the pastorate or other ministries. Nor does it deny that God can work in particular ways in each of our lives. It just upholds the value and holiness of the ordinary. Since we are saved by grace through faith, our role in the world becomes that of rejoicing in what God has given and proclaiming that salvation in our words and our actions.
- We are disciples and we know the cost in living our lives as they are. We cannot escape the cost, and in fact, we embrace it. What we've been given is worth the cost. We know the cost in following the one who has said to us “Follow me.” That following has led us right back to where were are and everything ordinary has a new meaning and value in the new, clear light of salvation.
- We're still getting used to this idea of salvation. We fail and are forgiven. We remain disciples, learning the discipline of the kingdom of God, whether we are worthy of it or not. The sayings from today's Gospel reading remind us that following Jesus is not always easy and discipleship is not all sweetness and light. There are demands; there is a cost and it is collected daily.
- The cost is only our whole lives. And considering what we've received and what we are called to, it's worth it. What we're called to is nothing less that to reflect and share the life we've been given in Christ, sharing in word and action. With that in mind, I'll close with this short quote from Meredith Gould I found recently about our discipleship in an age of instant communication:
Christ
has no online presence but yours,
No
blog, no Facebook page but yours,
Yours
are the tweets
through
which love touches this world,
Yours
are the posts
through
which the Gospel is shared,
Yours
are the updates
through
which hope is revealed.
Christ
has no online presence but yours,
No
blog, no Facebook presence but yours.
(Meredith
Gould, the Social Media Gospel)
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