During my first year of internship at Phinney Ridge, we were recording all of our worship services to view with the congregation together on Sunday morning. One week, the pastors decided that we would do a procession from outside the building, through the narthex, and into the sanctuary. Being the intern, I was tasked with carrying the cross. The large, heavy, metal and wood processional cross. After several takes of trying to get this procession right, while we were resetting the cameras yet again, I set the cross down and said, “this cross is heavy!” To which my supervisor sassily responded, “That’s what Jesus said too.”
All joking aside, Jesus gets serious with the gathered crowd in today’s Gospel about what it means to be his follower. ‘If any of you come to me without turning your back on your mother and father, your loved ones, your sisters and brothers, indeed your very self, you can’t be my follower. Anyone who doesn’t take up the cross and follow me can’t be my disciple’ (Luke 12: 26-27). What happened to Jesus, the relational rabbi?
I use the NRSV translation when I lead Bible studies at Foss and the language was even more intense, things like we have to hate those people and even hate our lives. While the language is strong, I think that Jesus is trying to do two things here: break down the false barriers we have created for ourselves to expand who is considered to be in our circle of family and loved ones, while also preparing his disciples for the harsh reality that they will face in the world. Jesus is emphasizing distancing oneself from the things in which people took meaning, i.e. their relationships and possessions, because as followers of this political rebel, Jesus’ followers were putting themselves at risk to be arrested, injured, or even killed. They would have to be prepared to say goodbye to life as they knew it because their lives would not be the same once they started following Jesus. It was not a question of if their lives would be transformed, but when.
Jesus’ words to the crowd gathered, while they seem conditional on the outset, I think could also be a warning that the path of discipleship is difficult. After all, this section of Scripture is usually given the subtitle “the cost of discipleship.” Yet, Jesus does not say that people cannot be his followers, he doesn’t say that the path of discipleship is impossible, and he doesn’t say that these people will be left completely alone in their journey. Instead, Jesus is encouraging the people listening to think about what they are really willing to give up because I can’t imagine that they would enjoy walking away from their families and possessions to follow Jesus around the country only to decide in a week or two that it is too difficult, and they would rather go home. He doesn’t want them to commit to this way of life and then realize that it isn’t what they really wanted to do. I don’t think what Jesus is saying here is a threat, but a promise, that even the impossible will be possible through God. People can leave behind the structures and things that have been the only things that have given them meaning in life and find life everlasting in God. I think Jesus wants to make sure that people aren’t being coerced into being his followers but have really discerned what that means for their lives. Even with discernment though, that doesn’t mean that it will be easy for the people following Jesus or the people they leave behind.
One of my favorite books, and the selection for our first ever Book Club gathering this fall, is The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd. Without giving away spoilers, since I hope that at least a few of you will read it with me, this fictional book tells the story of Jesus’ ministry from the perspective of Jesus’ wife. With familiar Scripture stories getting a whole new perspective, it opened my eyes to why Jesus is saying this about walking away from family and possessions to the crowd. Because in the story, he himself has to walk away from his family and his home every time he leaves to travel and preach, while his wife remains home worried about him and his safety every step of the way.
So, while we talk about following Jesus today, we have to think about what that means in our times. We are not leaving our houses and families to literally walk with Jesus in his teaching but following Jesus may still have a cost for people. Despite all of the cries of Christian persecution in our country, we are still the most powerful and influential religious group. What we give up following Jesus is different than what the crowd gathered in the time of his life did, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t still difficult because I think one of the things that we need to give up as a larger Christian group in the United States is the sense that our country is a Christian nation, and a Christian nation only. But ,we are also called to share about our understanding of Jesus too so that one group does not have a monopoly on telling the world about who Jesus is, especially when their understanding of Jesus is in direct contrast to our understanding of who Jesus is. We are called to follow Jesus and tell about the life-giving, grace-sharing, trouble-making Jesus who ate with the outcasts instead of pushing them away further and healed on the Sabbath even when people protested against it. We are called to give up our silence, even when that feels hard to do and pushes us out of our comfort zones. It calls us forward in faith, not just for our own sakes, but also for the sake of future generations, that they do not just hear one version of who Jesus is and to help protect them from harm because of others’ versions of Jesus.
It connects to the reading from Deuteronomy today, in which the Israelites are preparing to cross over into the land promised to “Sarah and Abraham, Rebecca and Isaac, and Leah and Rachel and Jacob.” (Deut. 30: 20). As they prepared to cross over into the land, it was reminded to them that God was setting before them the path of life if they loved God and followed God’s commandments, not only for their sake, but for the sake of the future generations. God is reminding them of the promises that God made with them, and the promises that they have made to God. Connecting ancestors to the present day to future generations. It is a reminder that God is faithful to the promises that God made to Sarah and Abraham, Rebecca and Isaac, Leah, Rachel, and Jacob. While they did not remain alive long enough to see the promised land, God has remained faithful to the promise by bringing their ancestors to the land. Yet, God does not promise to do everything for them. They are not given this land without being entrusted with responsibility of their stewardship in and of the land. God is reminding them that this is a reciprocal relationship, not just a relationship where God gives them whatever they want.
I think that in some ways, this is what Jesus is reminding us of today as well in the Gospel. Jesus’ very existence reminds us that God remains faithful to us, yet Jesus is asking the people what that means to them. Is it something that is going to change their lives and bring them into deeper relationship with God or are they going to continue on with their lives as if nothing happened. Jesus asked the crowd gathered that day, but is also asking us, what does this relationship mean to you? What is it worth to you? Is it worth more than all of these other things that have given you value in this world?
The path that Jesus lays out before the crowd is a difficult one, full of unknowns and possible dangers. Not all of the people gathered that day will be able to drop everything and physically follow Jesus, but that doesn’t mean that they are not able to be in relationship with him still. I think about all the homes that he visits, the meals and hospitality he receives. Our discipleship journeys do not all look exactly the same, nor should they. But, what matters is how we respond to Jesus’ questions about what does he mean to our lives. Only you can answer what that means for you. But know that Jesus is there every step of the way, even when the cross feels too heavy to carry.