Sermon on 26th June 2022, Trinity 2 with Holy Baptism

Today Aoife is to be baptised and begin her journey of faith.

It’s a decision that her parents, Lou and Robb, are making for her. They are setting her upon a particular journey. As Aoife grows older, she will need to decide for herself whether to affirm this faith in the sacrament of Confirmation. Children, particularly during teenage years, often go through a time of rejecting what they parents think and believe. And this often includes questioning and sometimes rejecting faith. It can make parents feel very uncomfortable when this happens. But it’s a really important part in maturation. It’s so important to give children and youth the liberty to question faith, to critique, to pull away, even reject.

Each journey is unique so we can never predict the contours of Aoife’s spiritual journey. But if we were to step back and think about how we might describe to Aoife what the Christian path looks like, we probably wouldn’t use today’s Gospel reading.

Jesus would have made an awful marketing executive. In describing what it means to follow him, he doesn’t hide the small print at the end. He often seems to push potential customers away.  Luke records four interactions between Jesus and his would-be followers and each offers us a challenging bit of truth-in-advertising about the kingdom of God. 

First, some Samaritans refuse to welcome and listen to Jesus. And what do his disciples want to do about this…. They want to call down fire from heaven. You get a sense that the disciples have some development areas! They will learn that Jesus’s call is to bring life not death – even, and this is the key point, even to those who reject and insult us. Following Jesus means practicing forgiveness and forbearance, never retribution and revenge. What matters is whether love or hatred ultimately governs our hearts. I don’t think we are in danger of burning down villages. But a question to ponder…. are we in danger of leading with anger rather than love when people disagree with us? 

Next, someone approaches Jesus and says, ‘I’ll follow you wherever you go’.

I wonder what this person thought that would involve. Perhaps he thought it would mean excitement, recognition of being close to a famous teacher, perhaps a position of power and influence. Jesus responds with something like, ‘You have no idea what you are talking about’. I’ve nowhere to lay my head. This journey isn’t going to be comfortable. In fact, its going to lead to trial and death. Do you really want to follow me?

Today, in our comfortable lives in the West, we forget that the true cost of following Jesus, for millions of Christians in other parts of the world, is one of persecuted. Many thousands of Christians die every year. If faith is meant 'to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable' (Amy-Jill Levine), I wonder whether our faith has become too comfortable. That’s the uncomfortable challenge in following Jesus.

Others approach Jesus. ‘Let me bury my father.’ Jesus responds, ‘Let the dead bury the dead’. Gulp!

‘Let me first say farewell to those at my home’. Jesus retorts: ‘You’re not fit for the Kingdom of God if you put your hand to the plough and look back.’ Ouch!

We not meant to take from these encounters that family, culture, social norms aren’t important. But following Jesus is going to shake things up in our families and friendship circles. Following Jesus challenges the status quo. The point is that Christian discipleship requires a degree of detachment from every other commitment we have.

This is a hard uncompromising Gospel reading.  It’s confrontational.  It’s demanding. It’s offensive.  Jesus asks us to surrender absolutely everything, and he does so without apology. Are we still interested? 

And yet Jesus knows how deep calls to deep within our restless souls. He knows that something within us aches for a life of purpose, a life of meaning, a life where God’s love for us overflows to embrace others. This is the journey Aoife is beginning today.

And this is the life of the Holy Spirit within us.  

Jesus says these hard words because he knows that our hearts cry out for transformation.  For renewal.  For resurrection.  Nothing else we buy will suffice.  Nothing else the world sells can compare.  So Jesus bids us to come and die.  So that we can really live.  

Reference:

Truth in Advertising, By Debie Thomas. Posted 23 June 2019.