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When I was traveling home from a school trip to Saudi Arabia a few years ago I was sitting next to a businessman and after about 4 hours into our 10 hour flight, when boredom struck for both of us, we found passing the time through conversation to be quite pleasant. We had a lot in common and I enjoyed his company learning about the country and culture I had a just visited. It was within the 5th hour that he asked if I was a Christian and if so, why did I believe in three gods. Three gods? Then I realized he was referring to the Trinity--the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. What an easy misinterpretation and misunderstanding--one I had not even considered.
There have been many misinterpretations or misunderstandings of the teachings in the Bible. There are also quite a few different interpretations of scripture in general, which is why we have so many denominations.
Today’s scripture is one that cannot be misinterpreted because it is painfully clear. Jesus says that ”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.” Hate. there is no getting around the word. Why would Jesus use such a strong and painful word like hate in reference to our families and even this life that we have been gifted with? It is such a contradiction to his command to love God and love neighbor. But it grabs our attention. It's inescapable and something that we cannot ignore. And that is Christ’s intention.
He wanted the crowd to understand the magnitude and seriousness of what it means to embody a life of discipleship. Discipleship is where we become like Christ and by working on being like Jesus we develop a more intimate personal relationship with Christ. And this personal relationship with Jesus also lead us into having relationships with one another that are grounded in the love of Christ and allow us to share the gospel to the world--”make disciples of all nations.”
But attempting to be Christ like is so difficult and messy when we are up against people and things every day that challenge us to not live into our call of discipleship. Just watching the news can stir up angst and frustration.
Jesus doesn't sugarcoat or simplify these challenges of discipleship.
We could say that this strong statement to hate and to carry one’s cross, is not meant to discourage us but to prepare us of the hardships of living out true Christian discipleship in our lives.
It Christ’s love for us and that crowd that leaves us with those powerful words of preparation and warning.
So, is Jesus really telling us that to be in relationship with Him and living a life of discipleship that we must hate our family?
No, Jesus is calling us to love those around us and the things we put value in--less than God. Jesus is not saying to not love our family or have values but that all of those things come second to our relationship with God. God has to be first for us to be capable of being disciples--to be able to face the world we must be grounded in our faith and love of CHrist. We do this through prayer, scripture, worshiping in community and our relationships with one another.
Because if we are not grounded in that love of God, then we can become distracted and compromised by other relationships that can cause us to not put God first, and then we cannot fully live into our call of discipleship.
God has to come first. On social media I see people put “God, family, country or God, family, football.” God is the first priority.
That can be easier said than done when we have a sick family member or upset in the home. It can be difficult to put God first or pray or make time for worship when what we see in front us might seem more urgent or necessary to tend to. Yet God is there as well and God puts us first.
When we put God first and fully love God and as Jesus says in the gospel-- become disciples and carry the cross--when we do this everything else can fall into place. Being disciples for Christ allows us to be better people for those around us. It puts our hearts set on Christ.
Famous 20th century evangelist and teacher, Oswald Chambers, wrote that “when a man’s heart is right with God the mysterious utterances of the Bible are spirit and life in him. Spiritual truth is discernible only to a pure heart, not to a keen intellect. It is not a question of profundity of intellect, but of purity of heart.”
Thus, when our hearts are focused on God and our passionate devotion of God--we experience the scriptures, those around us, and life with more love and compassion.
It is this love that we will need to pick up the cross. We need the love of Jesus and to embody that love to be disciples and to carry the cross--that holds the hope, peace and promise of the love our savior Jesus Christ. The cross is heavy. Being a witness and example of the love of Jesus can be an arduous endeavor and discipleship can come with a cost.
Jesus says that to carry the cross (putting God first) can threaten relationships especially familial ones causing there to conflict and unrest. If we are loving God first, our priorities change and shift in a way that can be difficult to those who demand our attention and time.
The cost of discipleship is also what Jesus wants us to be aware of because again it can be these relationships that distract us from doing God’s work in the world.
Yet not all costs of discipleship are negative. We can lose pride and ego and deceit. Carrying the cross gives us the opportunity to realize the other burdens that we are carrying in life.
It could be painful relationships that don’t spiritually feed us or it can be our own guilt and shame. We could be carrying the struggle to forgive someone.
Discipleship as Jesus describes us forces us to lose our possessions even things we emotionally and spiritually possess that are weighing us down and making it difficult to carry the cross.
What has been weighing you down? What has been your cost? To live a faithful life have the decisions you’ve made cost you friends or family or careers or education?
What has been weighing our world down?
When I think about examples of discipleship today I think about Georgetown University. A Jesuit institution with a painful past of selling slaves in 1838 from Maryland to Louisiana to pay off the university's debt. The university’s association and involvement in the slave trade called for the formation of a working group to figure out how the university should respond to their history.
The group decided that Georgetown University would provide the descendants of 272 slaves in the school’s past with the same privileges as any legacy applicants in the admissions process, meaning that they will be given preferential status when applying just like those who have made generous monetary donations.
A cost of discipleship is acknowledging our own past mistakes in order to truly love God and neighbor now. This is also a gift of discipleship. To carry the cross one must know what else they are carrying to make sure that the cross is lifted high.
Georgetown University’s acknowledgement of it’s painful past allows the school to continue the needed conversation of racial reconciliation and provide educational opportunities for the ancestors of the 272 slaves. To live out the commandment to love God and love neighbor.
Just like Paul in the epistle for today--his discipleship was through acknowledging Onesimus as a human being--a brother in Christ and no longer a slave.
Discipleship is transformational. We are transformed by the love of God. We are not to hate. We are called to be disciples of the love of Christ even when it is so impossible and we are faced with all the costs and their weight.
But the costs are worth the love and transformation.
Georgetown is transforming how it embraces its past to have a more reconciliatory future. Paul puts the love of God first to embrace his call to discipleship and breaks the cultural norm of slavery and accepts Onesimus. Showing us how putting God first--puts our hearts and the hearts of our neighbors in order. Our discipleship is transformational as we carry the cross of justice, love and peace in this world.
It can be a struggle everyday but I am reminded of one our famous hymns:
Here I am Lord, Is it I Lord?
I have heard You calling in the night.
I will go Lord, if You lead me.
I will hold Your people in my heart.
Amen.
The Rev. Jessica E. Sexton
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