Rev. Ron Sumners
February 18, 1996
At this point in Luke's Gospel, Jesus has traveled the length and breadth of the Roman Province of Judea preaching a new style of life. He has told the common people how important they are in the sight of their Heavenly Father. He has told them how much they are loved by God. He has told them that they will inherit the Kingdom of God, that the rich have already received their reward. He has spoken out against the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and the value system of the religious leaders who rank strict adherence to the letter of the law above all else, even when it conflicts with higher human values. He has given the down-trodden and oppressed a new hope and a sense of their own worth. Some of them now believe that Jesus is the great liberator, the promised Messiah who, when the time is ripe, will lead them out of Roman bondage and restore the ancient glory of Israel.
But, in today's Gospel Episode, the people are hearing a different Jesus. As He looks ahead and sees looming ever closer His passion and death on the Cross, Christ seems to be taking a harder line. He wants to dispel all ideas about Himself as a political and military leader. He wants His hearers to realize that if they really want to follow Him, if they really want to be His disciples, they must prepare to make some hard choices.
There is a wonderful story of an elderly woman in a nursing home who was faced with a very hard choice. Being a rabid baseball fan, she had been following the World Series, then in progress. She was happy to learn that the deciding game would be televised at three p.m. However, three p.m. was also the time scheduled for church services, to be conducted by a yet unidentified clergyman from the neighboring community. Consequently, our elderly baseball fan was faced with an extremely hard choice because she was a deeply religious woman as well. Finally, the moment of decision arrived. "Are you going to attend Church services or watch the World Series game on TV?" she was asked. "I haven't decided yet," she replied, "It all depends on who is pitching and who is preaching."
Luke tells us how Jesus spoke to a large crowd about hard choices to be made by anyone who might be seriously considering His invitation to follow Him. Among other things, Jesus said, "If anyone comes to Me without turning his back on his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters, indeed his very self, he cannot be My follower" (Luke 14:26). We need to reflect on what that should mean to us.
One of the reasons we have come here today is that we want to become fulfilled persons - complete persons. We want to be able to accept ourselves with integrity. We want to be able to see and appreciate the unique beauty of our own individuality. We want to be able to love other people without taking life from them. We want to be able to call forth their unique beauty and their unique gifts and not feel threatened when we see them coming to their fulfillment. We want to be people like that. And what Jesus is saying is that in order to achieve this wonderful style of life we must let the Living God come first in our lives. We need to let the Living God come rule over our lives. And we must begin to relate to ourselves and to others within this context.
I know that many of us are turned off by the word "rule.” We want to be free! We hear it everywhere these days. We don't want anyone ruling over us, even God. It becomes a kind of "hang-up" for those of us who have yet to discover this incredible paradox: the only way we will ever be truly free is to let God rule! If we only will do that, then the freedom is given to us to be who we really are - the person God created us to be. This is the kind of value system that Jesus is talking about.
Many of you have read the classic novel, The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorn. In the story, a young woman named Hester and a young minister named Arthur fall to sexual sin. The community learns of the episode but only one of the parties, the woman, Hester, is identified. This does not deter the Nineteenth Century puritanical community from meting out public punishment. Hester is forced to wear a letter "A" on her person, forever branding her as an adulteress. Arthur, meanwhile, suffers the torture of the damned because his pride will not let him confess his guilt. The story is one of contrast between this self-righteous, judgmental, rejectionist community and this woman who has to rebuild her life and has become a beautiful person, dedicated to a ministry of love and compassion.
One of the most striking aspects of this story is the little girl who is born of this adulterous relationship. She named her Pearl. The reason was because the little girl was the most precious thing in her life. And that is both beautiful and tragic. I've had parents tell me that their children are the most important things in their lives. I've had wives and husbands tell me that their marriage is the most important thing in their lives. I've had people tell me their career was the most important thing in their lives. And all of this is tragic. There is only one "Pearl,” and that is the loving presence of God ruling over life.
When we let this come into our life, then our relationship with our daughter, our son, our husband or wife, our job, our career, our concern about the world, how we are to vote, what the future is to be . . . all of these things take on meaning that they can have in no other way. That is why Jesus tells us that we cannot be His followers until we have first turned our back on everything else.
There is the story of a young army officer in World War I who had graduated as a second lieutenant a year ahead of time because officers were needed badly. This young man, who had barely begun to shave and looked even younger than he was, was assigned to command a platoon of seasoned, combat veterans. It was still dark the first morning he called out his new command. He called the platoon to attention and, immediately, a voice from the rear ranks rang out with a passage from the book of Isaiah, "And a little child shall lead them!" "The man who said that take one step forward," the Lieutenant commanded. Whereupon the entire platoon took one step forward. "As you were," said the young officer. The men took one pace back and things returned to normal. That evening, as was the custom, members of the platoon checked the company bulletin board to learn what they were to do the next day. The following notice appeared, signed by their young commander: "Members of the Third Platoon of Company A will fall out tomorrow morning in full field equipment for a thirty-five-mile hike. And a little child shall lead them, riding a GREAT BIG HORSE. Follow me!"
"Follow Me," Jesus bids us. Follow Me into the Kingdom of God. Follow Me, and place yourself, without reservation, under the Kingship and rule of the Father. Follow Me and you will see how everything your parents and relatives and friends and teachers and colleagues have done for you through the years, everything that has happened in your life, comes together in this glorious right time. Jesus said, "The Kingdom of God is now!" Now is the time to get it all together under God's rule - your physical and emotional well-being, your relationships and your job and your concern about the world out there. It's all there ready to take on new meaning in your life because God rules over you now. This is what makes life exciting and beautiful and good. Jesus bids us, "Follow Me," not from up above somewhere, or way out there somewhere or even form a Great Big Horse. Jesus comes right into our midst to extend His invitation to you and to me. He stands beside us, arms outstretched and ready to receive us; always. Follow Him into God's Kingdom of unspeakable love ... now!
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