A Sermon
by
The Rev. Jeffrey Long-Middleton
Bradford Congregational Church of the United Church of Christ
September 4, 2022
“What Are We To Do?”
“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.”
Luke 14:26[i]
Wow! This is a hard reading, one that I find unexpected. Did you come into church this morning expecting to hear that if you want to be a disciple of Jesus you have to hate your family? I doubt is. We go from:
“Jesus loves me,
This I know,”
to:
“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.”
That’s a problem. Indeed, this whole passage is a problem. Not only does it seem too draconian, we simply are not going to do it. I have not and I will not, literally carry the cross. It may be true that I sometimes don’t like my family, but I have not and will not ever “hate” them. Finally, I’m not going to sell all that I own. I’d be homeless and my family, too. So, what are to do? We say we love Jesus. We say we want to follow Jesus. We meet each Sunday and proclaim Christ’s message. But we readily admit that we aren’t going to “actually” do all He suggests. So, again, What are we to do?
It seems to me we have two options. First, we can dismiss these troubling words. We can say they are “inauthentic” that they are the creation of the author of Luke and not really said by Jesus. This would remove their status and authority. But this is a dangerous proposition. Are we to take this course of action every time we don’t like what Jesus is saying? And how does one determine which saying can be dismissed and which are to be retained? The second alternative is to take a wider view of scripture. Fact is, this is not the only place where Jesus seems at odds with common sense. Matthew 5 offers another example:
27“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to go into hell.
If we took Jesus literally, we’d look like a remake of Peter Pan — Captain hook without a hand, pirates wearing eye patches. I don’t know a single person who would follow the admonitions in Matthew 5:27-30. And if this is true, can we not also suggest that the words of our text are not to be taken literally? I know that for myself, I can’t take these passages seriously if I take them literally. But that leaves us with a question, “If they are not to be taken literally, what is Jesus trying to communicate?
Actually, I think the message is clear. Namely, “God first. All else second.” If we with that as our guide, our lives would be shaped by the following standers:
- Revenge has no place in the Kingdom of God. I have been hurt enough by the action of others that I must remind myself of this principle. I can live trying to calculate when I have bested my foes. But this is no way to live. It makes me small and robs my life of joy — not to mention that it is opposed to the way of God. Imagine if revenge was God’s driving force. We killed God’s only begotten Son. If God lived out the calculous of revenge, we would be swept away. Revenge has no place in the Kingdom of God.
- Forgiveness reigns irrespective of the offense. There is not a person here today who has not needed to forgive. You already know the power of this principle. Without it, we are doomed. But the affront of the Kingdom of God is that forgiveness is extended independent of the original offense. This is a high bar for us to reach, but it is the bedrock of our faith.
- Kindness abides. There is no place for making others feel small. Christ did not just die for you. Christ died for us all and when I cause another human being to feel small, I deny the gift Christ gave to us all.
I close with a warning. Who we are is what we embrace in our heart. This is why Jesus is right in saying, “God first. All else second.” Let God be your guiding star and you will find your nobility. In the end, faithfulness is more about the strength of one’s will than it is about one’s beliefs.
We began by asking, “What are we to do?” Put God first and else second. Let us pray…
[i] Luke 14:25-33
25Now large crowds were traveling with him; and he turned and said to them, 26“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. 27Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. 28For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? 29Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, 30saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32If he cannot, then, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace.33So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.