Are you a disciple of Christ?

Sermon for Pentecost 3, 2022, delivered at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Louisville, KY

Text: Luke 9:51-62

Elijah is walking down from a mountain where God has told him to go find his successor as a prophet of God. Eventually Elijah comes across Elisha, who is plowing a field. Elijah says “Follow me,” to which Elisha replies “Let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you.” Elijah replies with “if you must, but I am calling you now.” Later on, Elijah hears that the Samarian king Ahaziah had fallen and been seriously hurt. Ahaziah sends his messengers to ask the god of the city Ekron if he would survive the fall, and Elijah tells the messengers that he won’t because he doesn’t follow God. Ahaziah takes offense at Elijah’s words, and orders a company of 50 men to bring Elijah to him. Elijah refuses to go, and the company is killed by fire raining down out of the sky. These are the stories that Jesus refers to in the Gospel passage this morning, one being where he rejects the suggestion of his disciples to call down fire from the sky on a village in Samaria. The other is when a young man asks to follow him, but first he wants to go home to say goodbye to his family. Jesus makes Elijah’s point more clear, saying that no one, like Elisha, who wants to make one last visit to home is fit to be a follower. Jesus rejects Elijah’s violence, keeping with Jesus’ teaching of non-violence, but he agrees with Elijah on responding to God’s call without hesitation. That leaves me wondering why Jesus is teaching the disciples about Elijah and Elisha. What is he getting at? For both Jesus and Elijah, it’s about discipleship, what it is, and what it means, and the commitment needed to be a disciple. Where Jesus parts with Elijah is in building up the kingdom of God on Earth rather than tearing it down with destruction from the sky.

Jesus’ vision of discipleship sounds harsh, saying that the dead should bury the dead, and there is no room for saying our farewells, or bringing a small part of the past with us because we need that blanket of comfort. For us as his disciples today, that means that love of the world, which is the human built societies and the material things gets in the way of discipleship. The kingdom of God is about people and how they live according to their faith in God and Jesus. Jesus is saying that if you want to be a disciple, you have to put the world and your way of living in it behind you and not look back. There is no room for saying “Just a moment Jesus,” no place for “can I bring along the fear of what I don’t understand?” or “can I bring along the laws that enforce my own beliefs?” or “can I bring my guns?” Being a disciple is not about forcing our experience of God on others, because if we take on that role as the Jesus police, we take on the moral responsibility of those who suffer under our assumed authority. It is not for us to judge and call down punishment on those who go against what we think is best for them, or to expect them to conform to our own vision of the kingdom. To do so is to be rebuked by Jesus for assuming that as his disciples, we claim the moral high ground. To be a disciple is to be one who brings the Gospel, the Good News to the world to build up the kingdom of God in it. To be a disciple is to serve the needs of the least, the last, to be their voice when no one else is listening. To be a disciple is to be called to a discipleship of humility, and service, meeting people where they are in their lives, not where we think they ought to be.

The commitment to be a disciple of Jesus is not something that comes second to our wants, or is only done when it’s convenient to our life. It’s the other way around where discipleship comes first and at unexpected times, like on a city bus. We have to be ready to act and say “I have to do something about this” while the moment is fresh, and we’re not yet overrun by something else  requiring our attention. Jesus is saying that we have to spread the Gospel in the moment, and not wait for the perfect time that will never come, or wait for an invitation that is never extended. That makes being a disciple hard, like not having a place to sleep, as Jesus puts it. His harsh tone in the gospel is not because of the requests to take care of worldly cares, but because sometimes being a disciple can be a harsh experience. His followers can’t expect any easy time because they will be shunned, ridiculed, and threatened for calling out injustice and holding people to loving each other as they love themselves. He’s asking them in so many words “Are you sure you want to do this? Will you be faithful to me and not deny me?”

The disciples learn that they are not to look at the world through the law, but through love, not punishing or imposing, but showing God's love as the person of Jesus. Jesus presents this and the commitment to that love as an either/or choice, either bury the dead or follow me; either go see your parents or follow me. There is no room for second-guessing or indecision Jesus tells us. But sometimes there is indecision, there is second guessing, and they are not always because we are afraid of the requirements of our faith in him, or because we hesitate to commit to following Jesus wherever he leads us. There are times when doing something hard like burying the dead is to follow Jesus, because that is the work on Jesus’ behalf that we are called to do. The indecision can be part of our discernment, when we listen hard to understand where we are called to go and what we are called to do. The same can be said for second-guessing, not as “Jesus isn’t calling me because I’m not worthy” but “Did I hear the call right? Is this what I am called to do?”  

This is different from not being willing to do everything that we are called to do as disciples. In the case of indecision, it’s because we’re finding out where our voice is best heard. But when we excuse ourselves because we don’t want to rock the boat or challenge the accepted conventional wisdom, that is when we can’t be part of the kingdom of God. We have to be honest with ourselves when our unwillingness, our hesitation, our second-guessing is from fear, resignation, or disinterest instead of from discernment. We exclude ourselves from the kingdom because we don’t see the faith that God has in us, or we don’t see our worth as God sees, or we don’t hear our voice as God hears it. We say “Just a moment Jesus…” because we don’t want the sometimes harsh life of a disciple. When we choose our priorities over Jesus’ call, that is when the dead must bury the dead and we remain with family, and nothing is accomplished.

We don’t have to be perfect to be disciples, and God in God’s love for us doesn’t expect us to be anything other than our true selves. What’s expected of us is to be true to our faith, and trust God that the work in the future will be worth leaving the old life and the past behind. The growth we will experience and the good we will do are greater than the costs of discipleship, a commitment to a different, holy way of life. Don’t look back at what you know, don’t look over your shoulder at what is familiar, but look ahead to what needs to be accomplished in the future. Walk in faith with who it is that calls you to be a disciple. Do not be afraid to be a disciple who is always looking forward to bring Jesus and his teaching to the world. Don't be afraid to love our neighbors as ourselves.