SCRIPTURE: Luke 14: 25-33
TEXT: 33So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions. THEME: Count the cost of life with God to live in a differently looking community. INTRODUCTION I am so glad to be back on Maui. Getting off the plane and waiting curbside, the West Maui Mountains greeted us, “Maui is really beautiful!” Our trip to the mainland was very different from our other trips. With COVID, Monkey Pox this was the first time in two years we ventured to California. Hearing about the TSA wait lines at our airport we rushed around trying to get our Precheck approvals before we left. It works really well when everyone in your party has it. We were disappointed that somethings were not as good as they were the last time, we were in California but at the same time we discovered a few new things, like “double double, protein style, animal style.” burgers at “In n Out Burgers”; Lettuce wrapped burgers, grilled with mustard, added pickles and no bun. You can’t always reduplicate past experiences, but we can have rewarding new ones. This seems to be what the lectionary readings from the gospel of Luke is about. The people Jesus encounter at this stage of his ministry had been contending with what ‘Life with God’ was about but now are trying to discover, anew, what life with God is like according to Jesus. SCRIPTURE It seems that Jesus turns all of a sudden (knowing that he is being followed) to address the crowd. Life with God is not about, who you are related to, what race you are or where you grew up (he uses the words of hating your mother, father, sister, brother, spouse and children to express this). If this is what you are clinging to, then don’t follow me. The People of God, Jesus is bringing forth, is a paradigm shift from how things have been. It is more about your commitments, what you think and how you treat others than who your ancestors were or what your religious involvements have been. And with any commitments, there are consequences, responsibilities, obligations, and costs to them. Isn’t this interesting he uses the counting of the cost of building a ‘tower’, and not a house, or a shelter. A tower is not a basic need, but for a view, a Look out, a defensive structure, for fire protection, or as a support for a tram ski lift. Anyway, something big, gaudy. It will either becomes a wonder of the world like the Great Wall of China or a colossal Failure like a Frankenstein; a person who creates something that brings about his or her ruin. Just like Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine. I’m sure things have not gone as he anticipated. He did not accurately count the cost of the invasion, public opinion on the world theater, or the strength and resilience of the Ukrainian people. He is not acting in a way consistent with commitments to God. In contrast, his concerns are his own and no one else’s. I suspect what he wanted to accomplish could have been done through diplomacy and negotiations. Not with a show of force or absolute control but with covenantal agreements. When this is all said and done, Putin will still have to negotiate some kind of treaty for peace and be held accountable for war crimes against humanity. For God, one human life lost is too much of a price. The cost is too great for the kingdom of God. So, maybe this is foreshadowing how Jesus’ colossal failure was a tremendously loving way to prevent the collateral damage of all of our souls. This is a flip side to the way we have been thinking about the Kingdom of God, heaven, eternal life and life with God. What Jesus is offering is not a way for us to possess eternal life or heaven, but a way for us to live with God and with others. It’s going to be a crowd, diverse, multi-cultural, multi languages, rainbow, and colorful. “33So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.” APPLICATION If we are to live with God, we can’t help but live with others who are also committed to God. What is the cost to living in the crowded community of God? Let’s start with what we get with ‘life with God’. We have a chance to be transformed in ways that God wants us to change, we have the opportunity for a new way of being, our minds are opened to radical ideas that could make positive differences in other peoples’ lives. Our communities would care for others, lives lived with meaning, we would have life beyond our gathering and possess things to share as blessings and renewed relationships with forgiveness. Our stewardship of resources would help those in need, which includes a stewardship of each other, healthy practices and friendships that become our family. The cost to living in this way is to give up the markers of materialism and greed, for those of humanity. It is that same template of seeing the world with either its goal as being money or humanity. It’s not that money is bad, but when we are not the steward of it, then it can control us and become our master. We must always see the humanity of a person no matter what state they are in. Practices of respect, dignity, self-control, patience, kindness, gentleness generosity, peace become the fruits of our actions. As love and joy well up inside of us. CONCLUSION When we were on the mainland, we decided not to go to Disneyland because of our concerns with COVID and Monkey Pox. As a compromise we decided to go shopping at Downtown Disney outside of the theme park. When we got there, we had to pass through Disney security and surrender a glass water container and Leatherman multitool to be part of this community. As we ate on the lanai of the bakery, we could count the number of people who were wearing masks compared to those who were not and felt better about our decision not to go into Disneyland because it could very well have been a spreader event for us. Some of the good fun events from the past were pale on this trip. But we had a new experience like eating at a Korean Soft Tofu restaurant in Gardena that was GREAT! Letting go of our cherished possessions, gives us the opportunity to have new experiences living into new ways with God. From the time Jesus ministered in Samaria to his to journey to Jerusalem for the last time, he is expanding the understanding of who can be part of the people of God. It is more about loving God and others than it is about our ancestral roots. The People of God will be from everywhere not just one area. The People of God are made up of all races. The system of temple worship is too small for the crowd of People and worship, God is bringing about. Our commitment to live for God comes with commitments, consequences, responsibilities, obligations and costs that we gladly bear for being able to be new in Christ.
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