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Sunday , June 27, 2010

Fully Committed, or Not?

Luke 9:51-62

Reverend Richard E. Allen, Jr.

“I will follow you wherever you go.” (Luke 9:57, New Revised Standard Version) So says someone, whose name goes unrecorded in the gospel, as he sees Jesus on this long road that eventually ends in Jerusalem and on the cross.  Presumably, we don’t know the name of the curious soul who blurts out his intent because, well, he – or maybe she – doesn’t live up to the promise.  And who could blame her – or him?  After all, it’s a big commitment.  And ultimately its costly for Jesus followers:  none of them dies of easily, nor of old age.  No wonder, Luke notes for his church and for us, the promise not kept:  “I will follow you, [Jesus], wherever you go.”  (Luke 9:57)

Jesus himself asks a lot, really.  Our lesson today ends, “Another said, ‘I will follow you, Lord. but first let me say farewell to those at my home.’”  But Jesus answers harshly:  “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:61-62) Jesus is a bit intense.  No wonder that one this verse is called one of the “hard sayings” of Jesus.  Hard?  Intense?  No question.  Jesus asks a lot here:  If you really want to follow, then drop everything, and do it.  Follow.  Or not.  But only a total commitment will do.  Yes, this is a hard saying.

Such a commitment seems strange to us, I suppose, because we are used to equivocation, to balance, to fairness, to seeing all sides, and to doing our best to make sure that every side of every issue is represented.  I wonder, sometimes, if our lives aren’t both shallow and bland because we so cautiously stay in the middle.  Passion is suspect because it tends to command too much energy.  None of us wants to give to only one cause; we all see the good in giving time and energy and donations to many causes.  Sometimes when I mention tithing, somebody will begin adding up their financial support to all manner of good causes outside the church.  After all, we DO want to be fair.

And Jesus hardly seems fair in his response to the one he calls, and who seems to say, “Yes, I’ll follow.”  But, Luke notes, he has another commitment that gets in his way:  “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”  (Luke 9:60)  It seems a reasonable request.  In the middle of World War II, my father was sent home on leave from his ship in the Mediterranean when his father, my grandfather suddenly died.  Even the US Navy, in the midst of the war, found a way to do without my dad for a few days.  Doesn’t Jesus understand about life’s emergencies, the need to adapt, the need to balance work and family?

The question, of course, is one of priorities, and Jesus understands that those followers truly committed to the kingdom of God will show themselves precisely at the moment when other, competing demands arise.  Here’s the truth:  Families, jobs, and any number of emergencies hit us regularly, if not daily.  And regularly, if not daily, we have to decide what is important.  Sometimes, we have to discern what in our lives is MOST important. Jesus knows that his own invitation will take the highest priority for his disciples – or it won’t.  At the beginning of today’s lesson, Luke says, “When the days drew near for [Jesus] to be taken up, [that is, crucified], he set his face to go to Jerusalem.”  (Luke 9:1) He had set his own priority; he needed around him only those who shared that priority.  He needed followers who, with him, had only one priority:  the kingdom of God.  So that when Jesus says, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead, but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God,” he’s not being cruel so much as he is being clear.  Either the kingdom of God – the holy realm for which Jesus gives his life – is our priority, or it’s not.

This came clear to me one night years ago, at one of those nearly endless church meetings where everyone had an opinion about how to accomplish a goal, but very few had and investment in doing much actual work.  We were trying to get some teachers, perhaps, or chaperones for a youth trip.  One of the church’s endless small projects that seem like someone should support – as long as it’s someone else. Naively, for I was merely the young associate pastor at the time, I voiced both wonder and frustration at the difficulty in accomplishing what seemed a minor task.  Especially, I noted, when the church had so many gifted people had given their commitment to Christ and to the holy task of furthering the kingdom of God.  (See, I wasn’t above a bit of manipulative flattery; the senior pastor used it all the time.)  One woman spoke up to defend herself and the others in the room:  “Look,” she said, “You need to understand.  Church projects aren’t the only things that demand our time.  There are so many worthy causes.  We belong to the PTA and the Choral Society and the Neighborhood Improvement Association and a host of other groups.  There are only so many hours in a day.  We love the church, but the church can’t expect too much of us.”

And I could see that she was right, of course.  It was only fair.  Who was I to ask her to make Christ the center of her life?

As I thought about that meeting, I’ve come to this answer.  I was her pastor.  And as her pastor, the best I could do for her, not just for our church, was to remind her that Jesus asks for commitment, but he asks for more.  Jesus our Lord asks to BE our Lord.  Jesus asks that we make not merely “a commitment.”  Jesus asks that we make to him “the” commitment of our lives. 

Jesus our Lord doesn’t want us to give a part of our hearts, a part of our lives, and a portion of our service.  Jesus calls us, after all, to give as he plans to give in Jerusalem:  his best.  Indeed, on the cross in Jerusalem he gives his all.

In Spain recently, we saw so many wonderful places, including many glorious churches. I was moved by the paintings and the sculpture that graced the churches to tell the story of Christ, and the silver and gold accoutrements of the faith that gave witness to the devotion of generations.  One thing that struck me was that they held nothing back:  even in the darkest corners, successive generations had generously given their best, their finest, their all.

And why not?  Jesus asks every generation not merely for a commitment to follow.  Jesus asks for the commitment to follow AND for the equally necessary commitment to make following him our highest priority.

The church often settles for less than that.  I’ve been known to accept partial commitment to Christ, from myself and from others.  But not Jesus. 

Jesus wants fully committed followers.  Today’s lesson reminds us that he won’t settle for less than that.  Even now.  Even from us.

Amen.

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