Sermon for Matthew 10:24-39
June 22nd 2008
This past week I had the wonderful opportunity to spend time with seven of our confirmation kids at Lutheran Hills. The morning hours they were stuck with me, where I was to teach them something important about our faith. But what? Where do I begin?
So I said to myself, “Self since we are a church that teaches that God promises to come to us through Word and Sacrament, sure God can come to us anyway God chooses, but over and over God promises to come to us and work on our behalf through the Word and Sacrament, the Word of the Holy Scriptures, would it not be wise for our youth, and our not so young to know and understand what is found in that word?
So each morning we started with stories from the Bible. All kinds of stories. Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David and Goliath, Daniel and the Lions Den, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and then moved to the miracles of Jesus.
What we noticed quiet quickly was that in all of the stories the characters found themselves in seemly impossible situations. Predicaments that from our perspective would be absolutely hopeless. Life that had become quite complicated.
This part of the story we could all relate to rather well. That’s pretty much how life seem to work, in and out of impossible, hopeless predicaments and situations that complicate the heck out of living.
In Jasper Indiana we lived in a farm house, on three acres, surrounded by hundreds of acres of farm land, so we had cats, lots of them…at one time eight. There was one in particular I was rather fond of and that was a large gray tomcat named Smoky. Smoky was in charge of keeping all the unwanted evil, sometimes large unwanted evil critter away from our house.
Poor Smoky seemed to get in some type of fight every single night. He was missing part of both ears. His eyes were swollen shut most of them. Weekly the furry little creature would come home limping with cuts over most of its cat body. I sometime really felt sorry for poor ole Smoky.
But them it hit me. Am I, are you really that much different than poor ole Smoky. I mean poor ole David, I do spend a lot of time trying my best to keep the evil critters out of my life with not all that much luck I must say. Sometimes I feel like my ears have been half chewed off, my eyes don’t see as clearly as I wish, and by the end of the week I come limping home from all the life fights that have left me felling like poor ole Smoky.
Why does life have to be so complicated and full of predicaments with seemingly hopeless situations?
Yet what we learn at camp, what we learn through the Bible stories is that this difficulty in earthly living is a reality for all people, even the ones who following the One God. Poor ole Jeremiah, in today’s reading, one of God’s greatest prophets says, “I have become a laughing stock all day long; everyone mocks me. All my closes friends are watching for me to stumble.” Poor old David, one of God’s greatest servants and kings writes, “I have become a stranger to my own kindred, an alien to my mother’s children. Those who sit at the gat murmur against me, and the even the drunkards make songs about me.”
Poor ole Smoky, poor ole Jeremiah. Poor old David. Poor ole me.
Like in the biblical stories for church camp, the readings today, and our own life story one can see pretty quickly the difficulties that arrive from simply being—being not a cat like Smoky—but a human being. What we need is something, or someone who will just make all these life fights just go away and bring us peace.
Yet Jesus speaks to us this morning by saying, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.”
So much for an easy way out uh?
And believe it or not these were some pretty serious words. Jesus was interrupting long term beliefs, ways of life, even culture. For this life-saving faith, this belief in One Almighty, Powerful, Merciful, Forgiving God of Justice to get off the ground, and come to life, people could not simply continue along casually. They had to make tremendous sacrifices—sacrifices that cut to the core of one’s being. “Whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me.”
And get this your cross to bear is not your illness, problems, predicaments, complicated and seeming hopeless situations. No! These are unfortunately because of our turning away from the gospel, part of being human.
Your cross to bear is what you freely chose to give up, to honor, to sacrifice, to glorify in the name of God almighty, like Jesus freely choosing the cross to save you. Our purpose in life becomes to continue the work of Jesus, daily, not casually just on Sunday, daily working toward the benefit of others. And if you begin to live in this manner, there are many who will turn against you.
The problem in our society is that we have become a people who focus upon the Theology of Glory—a casual in vogue religion that demands nothing and promises everything—instead of a society that lives the Theology of the Cross. In the theology of Glory questions are discouraged, answers are given—a straightforward type of belief that silences all argument, silences all doubt, and in my opinion silences humanity.
The Theology of Glory claims if we simply believe—remembering even the demons believe—if we believe and try to live a decent life, God will love me—God will love you no matter what—but if we just say we believe and live halfway decent casual life God will bless me with a peaceful, good life here on earth. On what planet are these people living?
No wonder people are so frustrated with religion—this version doesn’t work. And I have a sneaking suspicion over the next few years matters are not going to improve, but get increasingly more complicated. Going to church on Sunday morning does not get rid of all the evil critters in your back yard. With this theology of Glory you will still go through the week like poor ole Smoky all beat up.
Martin Luther writes very passionately the following in opposition to this Theology of Glory. Listen very carefully while it is deep, it could be life changing. “God made Himself small for us in Christ. In so doing, he left us our freedom and our humanity. He shows us His heart, so that our hearts could be won.
When we look at the misery of our world, its evil and its sin…we long for divine intervention, so that the world and its demonic rulers might be overcome. We long for a king of peace within history, or for a king of glory above history. We long for a Christ of power.
Yet if He were to come and transform us and our world, we would have to pay the one price which we could not pay: we would have to lose our freedom, our humanity, and our spiritual dignity. Maybe we would be happier, but we would also be lower beings. We would be more like blessed animals than human beings made in the image of God.
Those who dream of a better life and try to avoid the Cross as a way, and those who hope for a Christ of Glory and attempt to exclude the Crucified have no knowledge of the mystery of the God and humanity.”
Now, now if we return to the beginning of this message and go back to confirmation class where we are studying the Word of God, the stories found in the Bible, which should become part of all of us, we may actually begin to have a little knowledge in the mystery of God and life itself.
If we go back to the seemingly impossible situations, predicaments that from our perspective would be absolutely hopeless, while yes we learn that life becomes quite complicated for all people, even God’s servants, but we must also gather into our souls, our being the miraculous salvation for each of these Biblical characters, and notice one very important common theme.
All these characters had one thing in common. All these individuals in the Bible did not buy into the theology of Glory—a casual religion that requires nothing and promises everything. These characters placed God before everything—their family, friends, wealth, power, status.
And for these Biblical characters who sacrificed everything there was nothing, nothing that would overcome them—not floods, giants, lions, fire, sickness, pain, even death.
For this life-saving faith, this belief and trust in One Almighty, Powerful, Merciful, Forgiving God of Justice to make a difference in the world, to make a difference in our lives, we can not simply continue along casually. The characters of the Bible had to make tremendous sacrifices—sacrifices that cut to the core of their being. So do we! “Whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me.”
In closing there is a short camp song we sang quite often this week, and I think it may be appropriate at this time…it goes like this…..
I don’t want a be, I don’t want a be a casual Christian.
I don’t want live, I don’t want live a lukewarm life
Cause I want a light up the night, with an ever lasting life
I don’t want a live a casual Christian life.
