Sermon for Sept. 5

Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Sept. 5, 2010
Luke 14:25-35
Salt is good

In the name of Jesus, amen. Today’s Gospel lesson is the Gospel of the Lord? For people who do not like to read the Bible, who believe that the Bible is out-of-date, irrelevant, and of absolutely no worth, today’s worship is for them. (But they wouldn’t be here, would they?) The Bible lessons are right up there alley. God is setting before people life or death, blessing or curse. That’s it. That’s the choice. And Jesus lets the crowd know that if anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and siblings and even his own life then he cannot be my disciple.

Bible doubters and God-deniers would hear those lessons and say, “There’s proof that God’s Word is of no value. Hate your parents? Hate your spouse, your children, and your siblings? God’s Word is ridiculous. Why give that book any credence at all? Do you foolish Christians believe that to be God’s Word?”
Christians breathe deeply, exhale, maybe even look down and say, “Yes. We do believe that is God’s Word. And we love God’s Word, cherish it and pray for God’s strength to keep it.”

“Even that?” we are asked.

“Especially that.” we respond.

What Jesus told the crowds and what we heard this morning is one of those Gospel lessons where we want to put a question mark after the Gospel acclamation- This is the Gospel of the Lord? It’s not the soft, cuddly Gospel we like to hear. It is not Jesus the Good Shepherd. It is not “Come to me all ye who are weary and heavy-laden and I will give you rest.” It is not “Let the little children come to me, for of such is the kingdom of God.”

Jesus speaks of discipleship. Jesus speaks of cost. Jesus speaks of hate and love and salt.

Today’s gospel is of Luke and this section shows Jesus doing some traveling. The Twelve are with him. Other disciples are with him. Great crowds are with him. And together they are heading to Jerusalem. Jesus has been told that forces are aligning against him and that he should not go to Jerusalem, but Jesus has resolutely, steadfastly, set his face toward the holy city of David. Jesus knows where He is going. Jesus knows why he is going where he is going. And Jesus will not be stopped. He will not be deterred from his destination.

And so Jesus starts talking about hate. There is a lot of emotion and feeling involved with that word. Think of all the things and people you have hated in your life, and don’t pretend that there are none. Now think of all the things and people you don’t care about. That is harder to do. You have no feeling for something or someone you don’t care about. But if you have feelings for someone, positive feelings or bad feelings, you spend time thinking about them. “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.”

In order to be a disciple of Jesus, a student of Jesus, a learner of Jesus, what is being asked? Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and strength.

This concept of hate is not unfamiliar in the Bible. Perhaps the most memorable example is from the patriarch Jacob. He had two wives- Rachel and Leah. Rachel he loved and Leah he hated. Jacob didn’t despise or detest Leah. Jacob didn’t wish her ill, or ask God that a safe would drop out of the sky on Leah. Jacob loved Leah less. Jacob loved Rachel more and he loved Leah less.

Jesus asks the crowd, those who are listening and learning to Jesus, to love the Lord, to follow the Lord, to submit to the Lord. If you put parents, spouse, children, or siblings in front of the Lord, then you cannot be a disciple of Jesus. All of that is First Commandment stuff.

“You shall have no other gods before me, in front of me, in place of me” says the only true and triune God. God gives us that command because he loves us. He loves us. And God wants us to enjoy the relationship that He has begun in our lives in the blest baptismal waters. That relationship works like this. God is God, we are not. God is creator, we are created. God is redeemer, we are the redeemed. God is forgiver, we are the forgiven. God is love, we are the beloved. God is giver, we are the receiver, the one’s given to. Look to the altar, to the table the Lord has prepared and you see the relationship of God at work. You are invited to come forward, in need, in want, in hunger, and God gives, God supplies, God fills, and God satisfies. It was last Sunday that we sang, “You satisfy the hungry heart, with gift of finest wheat. Come give to us, O saving Lord, the bread of life to eat.”

In living with the Lord, in learning from the Lord how to keep the Lord in the center of our life, what do we realize? We see our love for parents, for spouse, for children, siblings, coworker, neighbor, and stranger blossom, grow and flourish. Loving the Lord and making him the center gives us the strength to love in the genuine and sacrificial way that all the other people in our lives need. It takes a strong level of sacrifice to love your wife or your husband. It takes a strong level of sacrifice to love your children. It takes a strong level of sacrifice to love your brother and your sister. You know that. You live that reality.

When we love the Lord more than all the others that are in our life, we discover how the Lord enables us to love the people around us. You love the Lord and thus you love your child enough to spend time doing their math flash cards. You love the Lord and thus you love your spouse and put their needs ahead of your own. Loving the Lord more fills us up to lavishly love the people around us and show that we are disciples, students, and learners of Christ.

We love the Lord. We love our families. We take up our cross. These are things the disciples of Jesus do. These things are not always pleasant. Love can be painful and it can be filled with times of tears and trial and tragedy. The cross you pick up might be filled with splinters that lead to sadness which brings struggle and then ends in sorrow.

This is the Gospel of the Lord? Take your bulletin home with you today and re-read the Collect of the Day, re-pray that prayer, let that prayer bless and enlighten you. Look at what we ask the merciful Lord to give: Grant us courage to take up our cross. Courage is required to be a disciple. Courage is needed, but that is not the only thing.

Merciful Lord, grant us strength to take up our cross. Courage and strength go together. And God grants it! God gives, because that is what He is- giver.
And this makes us salty. Salt seasons and it preserves. Loved by the Lord, forgiven of all our sins, cleansed and redeemed in baptism, strengthened and sustained in Holy Communion, we season and preserve the things around us. We season our workplace by what we say and don’t say, but what we do and don’t do. We preserve our families by how we operate with them. We season the stranger we interact with and the classmate we learn with. This, this saltiness, this love, this mercy of the Lord, is the Gospel of the Lord. SDG