16th Sunday after Pentecost ---- 8 September 2013

(Today was the beginning of Sunday School for St. John's, so there were special prayers for the teachers and students, and for the entire congregation because the whole congregation serves as student and teacher by word, action, and example. At least, that's how I see it.)

Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

• We all know the exclamation: “What in the world was that?” This phrase usually accompanies some confusing, shocking, or just plain surprising sight. If we see it in front of our eyes, it is almost as if we can't believe those eyes; it's too amazing. If we see it out of the corner of our eye, like a bird whizzing by or a basketball coming at us on the edge of our vision, it doesn't matter what it is. We just can't see it right and it surprises us. We might say out loud “What in the world was that?” I've had that sort of reaction when I saw an unusual piece of agricultural equipment passed me on the road, when a small bird zipped by my head, or when something out of the ordinary flashed through the night sky. We could say other things in such situations, but for today, we'll leave it at that.
• With all that goes on around us, whether locally or more world-wide, we may wonder what in the world is going on. There are things beyond our understanding because of their complexity and because of the possible consequences any action may bring on. The situation in Syria is an example. What's going on there is not a simple story in the least. What's going on in our weather and our environment is not a simple matter either. There are days when the situations and their troubles simply boggle the mind.
• We may also wonder where solutions are and if they're are solutions. We wonder what will lead us out of those troubles.
• In short, we wonder what in the world will save us?
• We could look to our thoughts, our actions, our possessions, our desires, and even our faith.
• Our thoughts cannot save us because our thoughts are part of our self. Our thoughts can sometimes lead us to despair or to rebellion against God. Our actions are often disordered, selfish, and self-directed; more clearly said, we tend to do what we see as best for us, despite everything else. This is the original sin, the sin of Adam – in short, “I know better than God.”
• Possessions? Our possessions often own us far more then we own them. We may spend more on protecting our possessions than we did on the items themselves. We might even treasure them more than life itself, whether our lives or others' lives.
• Our desires? They often go hand-in-hand with our thoughts, leading us to pursue things, situations, relationships that are ultimately not good for us. Again, back to the original sin.
• Our faith? This is an odd one because faith is so very important to discipleship. Yet if we trust in our faith to save us, we are trusting in ourselves, first and foremost. Faith can become a deed, a possession, a trophy to show how good we are, and if that is the case, it takes us in the wrong direction.
• We've been taught that there is nothing in this world that will separate us from the love of God that comes to us in Christ Jesus and that is one way of speaking about salvation.
• Another, more prickly way of speaking of salvation is found in today's Gospel, which talks about the love of God in quite a different way: Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. This is the message we hear in today's Gospel.
• “Carrying the cross” as the way of discipleship is not something of this world. The suffering involved in the cross is something of and in this world, but the meaning of that suffering is not.

• In today's Gospel reading, Jesus speaks of what discipleship costs using two parable of knowing and accepting the cost of a decision. The man building a tower and a king going to war will consider what their plans could cost them before proceeding with their plans. Jesus goes on to say “none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.” Earlier in our reading, he says “"Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple.”
• These are hard sayings, sayings that some commentators say are full of exaggerated language. The truth remains that following Jesus will have a cost. That cost could be misunderstanding, ridicule, mistrust, exile and loneliness, and even the shedding of blood. Yet it is the taking up of the cross and following Jesus – in whatever way the cross might be found in our lives- that is the inner character of discipleship. How it looks on the outside is almost anyone's guess, but the embracing of the cross is the real mark of discipleship.
• This carrying the cross is our participation in the salvation we have received through Jesus. In an upside-down Gospel way of being, the cross is a sign of the love of God. This love enters our world in the act of creation, in the sustaining of creation, and in the act of redemption. It is the answer to the question, “What in the world will save us?” It is the lived answer that says “nothing in this world and nothing in your possession or control will save you. It is simply God's grace – unearned, unmerited, coming to us in our world and our lives in unexpected ways.
• This teaching about the embracing of the cross has neither popular or easy. Yet it is the saving Word of the Gospel and style of our lives as Christians. It is the rock of our faith and the still-point in the ever-changing storms of our lives. We might not understand it fully, but it is what we can believe in. Remember though, the words of the British writer, G.K. Chesterton: “Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried.”

Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.