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Jeremiah 18:1-7
1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 "Come, go
down to the potter's house, and there I will let you hear my words." 3 So
I went down to the potter's house, and there he was working at his wheel. 4 The
vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter's hand, and he reworked
it into another vessel, as seemed good to him. 5 Then the word of the Lord came
to me: 6 Can I not do with you, O house of Israel, just as this potter has
done? says the Lord. Just like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my
hand, O house of Israel. 7 And I work on you. (NRSV, NLT combined)
Luke 14:25-35 25
Now large crowds were traveling with him; and he
turned and said to them, 26 “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. 27 Whoever does not carry the cross and follow
me cannot be my disciple.
28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first
sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete
it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and
is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, 30 saying,
‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31
Or what king, going out to wage war against
another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten
thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 If
he cannot, then, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and
asks for the terms of peace. 33
So therefore, none of you can become my disciple
if you do not give up all your possessions. Salt is good; but if salt has lost
its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is fit neither for the soil
nor for the manure pile; they throw it away. Let anyone with ears to hear
listen!
The Good News…of our Lord!?
Happy Rally Day!
We thought we would jump hook, line and sinker into
the new program year with some very intense words from Jesus in the gospel of
Luke—phew! No peace, love and sunshine
readings for us this Rally Day Sunday morning!
Truthfully, when I was a kid, this bible story
kind of terrified me. I’m all about
being a disciple of Jesus—but this business about hating my mother, father,
siblings and husband and hating life itself did not impart the peace that
passes all understanding on my heart. Nor
did this insistence on giving up all of my possessions. It still doesn’t. My first response is bah! how do I
just soften story this so we can go outside and eat some ribs and play some
games and be together and keep it easy? But softening the gospel is not really
my jam.
A logical look at the gospel of Luke reminds us
that clearly not all of Jesus’ beloved disciples are on the hate-your family/
hate-life train, or abject-vow-of-poverty train. Look at Mary, Martha
and Lazarus who minister from their home.
Look at Susanna and Mary Magdalene who follow Jesus with Joanna, a
member of the wealthy King Herod’s family. Or Joseph of Arimathea who has the
resources God needs to provide a tomb when Jesus needs to be buried. Look at all the festive meals and banquets that
Jesus hosts with all sorts of people in the gospels.
As I grew older, I began to understand that the extreme
language that Jesus uses has a little bit of exaggerating zing in it. It’s meant to snap us to attention. It’s meant to offend us with its’ harshness. But offend us about what?
So, I think it’s fair to say that many of us are
busy folks. Teachers and families with
students are feeling it. I know my September is suddenly very full. Some of us here this morning are career-minded
people who put in long hours on the job sometimes with significant travel. We
sacrifice and work hard in order to secure a certain future, keep the business
afloat, or advance in the field. Some of us here give up a lot of time for
kids’ traveling sports or dance teams or activities. Others of us sacrifice hard-earned money to
join a gym or get a personal trainer. Please know that I don’t criticize these
choices. I sacrifice a ridiculous amount
of everything for my own two children (they basically function like little gods
in my life)… I mention these choices and commitments of ours because they point
to the things that are priorities for us.
And in our bible reading for today, Jesus is explaining that Loving God
and our neighbor should be a priority. Actually, Jesus says, it should be the
priority that grounds the way we live our lives. Jesus is so emphatic, so passionate about it,
that it’s offensive.
You know? (I want to say to Jesus) Jesus: The
whole “hate your family,” “hate life,” “give up everything” is not really your
best marketing campaign to get people into the faith. But Jesus making a point
with these words. He’s asking for our commitment to life of discipleship. He’s
asking for us to be all in.
More and more psychological research indicates that
we sacrifice for the things we really value highly. And Jesus is calling us to
place a high value, a high cost on following him as disciples. A life of
discipleship is more than a set of beliefs that we learn in confirmation class
or attending church on Sundays. Being a disciple is subscribing to a lifestyle that impacts every
part of our lives: how we spend our money; how we interact on social media, how
we treat our family, friends, neighbors and coworkers, and how we use our
time. Living as Christian disciples impacts
how we treat the environment and how we treat people on the margins. Over the long arc of our lives, it shapes our
character, ethics and values. Living as
disciples means opening our lives to be used by God to transform the world and
that is no small thing.
Like any healthy relationship—for example, a
marriage, a friendship, a connection with a sibling—Our relationship with God should
be challenging us to grow, change, and reach our roots deep down into the earth. But we have to be open to how God is leading
us to grow.
A friend of mine told me that sometimes, when a
comedian is doing warm-ups, the crowd will literally just be sitting there with
their hands folded across their chests and their responses guarded, kind of
like they’re saying to the comedian, “C’mon, prove yourself,” or “entertain
me.” This makes the comedian’s job super hard, if not impossible. This is the actual “tough crowd.” The comedian will then say to the people, “Look.
We’re here so you can have a fun night, work with me. You see, the
comedian needs an attentive, responsive audience for their act to work.
I can’t help but think about all the ways that we
sit there with our arms crossed only mildly attentive, and unable to receive from
God or other people. We hold on to
things that keep us from growing as disciples. How can we give up everything that we possess,
everything that possesses us—our pride, our pace, our greed, arrogance and
privilege so that we can be open to the movement of the Holy Spirit in our
lives and in the world?
Melissa Meyers tells the story of being at the
state fair this summer and seeing a potter throw a pot on her wheel. She watched as the potter molded and worked the
clay and after some time, she had created this beautiful piece. Someone asked the
potter when she was going to fire it saying they might like to buy it. The potter looked at the piece and smiled and
said, “well this piece isn’t going to be fired, it’s not good.” And she crushed
it. Some folks were angry and frustrated that they had stayed to watch
something be created only to see it destroyed. Some laughed at the absurdity of
it. As the crowd dispersed, Melissa went
up and asked the potter about it. The potter responded: “oh the clay just
wasn’t cooperating tonight. If I’d fired that piece, it would have shattered. So,
since it didn’t want to work with me. I’ll leave it for now and I’ll come back and
work it again later.”
“So the clay has a mind of it’s own?” Melissa
asked the potter.
And the potter responded: “Oh sometime it does. Sometimes
I want it to be a bowl and it wants to be a plate. Sometimes I want a large mug and it wants to
be a small mug. Sometimes it doesn’t want
to do anything at all. You just have to
listen to it as you’re working it. You have to be patient. You have to love
the clay into what it needs to be,” she said.
In the reading from Jeremiah I shared with our
kids earlier, God says, Go to the potter’s house…Can I not do with you, O
house of Israel, just as this potter has done? …Just like the clay in the
potter's hand, so are you in my hand, and I work on you, O house of
Israel.
When the clay and the potter come together and
work together, something beautiful can be created for the sake of healing, for
the sake of the kingdom, needed in our world.
We are in God’s hand, alive with the power of the
Holy Spirit, called into a transformative journey of discipleship. Where is God leading you?
Blessed be the journey.
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