"Why We Can't Call Ourselves Christians Anymore" Our passage this week is Luke 14:25-33 .
As I begin reflecting on the passage today I am surprised at how concerned Jesus is about people looking foolish and doing really foolish things. He has been on this tack for much of Luke 13 & 14. It seems to me Jesus' real concern is what this foolishness will do to disgrace this new Christian community that is beginning to form.
In one instance Jesus tells a parable of a gardener who is not wise enough or diligent enough to cut down a non-producing fig tree in his garden after it has not produced in three years (Luke 13:6-7).
In the next story Luke tells how the leaders of the synagogue are so pathetically dense that they try to convince the people that the law of not working on the Sabbath should trump Jesus' compassionate healing of a poor woman that has been crippled for 18 years (Luke 13:14). How in the world did they think this argument would fly with people who had just seen a broken and useless life made whole? In a later story (Luke 14:3-4) Jesus heals again on the Sabbath and the leaders seem to have learned enough to keep quite though there disdain for him is still evident.
Luke adds a story about some people knocking on the Lord's door asking for safe refuge acting like they were old buddies (we ate and drank with you...) and how the Lord of the house called their bluff and left these phonies where they belong, weeping in the cold outside, when through the window they can see Abraham and the gang living it up around the banquet table. (Luke 13:25-28) Now these folks missed chance made them more than fools.
Last week I preached on a passage where those who push to the front tables at the banquet feast will be put to shame (disgraced) when they are escorted by the host to the back of the room where they belong. (Luke 14:8-9) Just because they think they were more important than everyone else does not mean they are.
Now this week's passage contains two examples of possible foolish moves that Jesus shares with the large crowd of possible disciples who have begun traveling with him.Jesus' approach here it to say: "not even you are foolish enough to do this", are you?
The first example is of a farmer who starts to work on a tower to protect his land. Jesus reminds the people that if the builder can't finish what he started the unfinished tower will be a memorial to his foolishness for everyone to see.
The second example is of a King who, when he realizes his army is badly outnumbered by his enemy, seeks terms of peace rather than suffering by his people. This move assures he will be honored by the people who depend on him and so avoid the dishonor that would come from a misguided military decision. (acting on his ego and not the common good?)
I think that as Jesus speaks to the crowd of possible new disciples he is giving them/us a warning. Watch what you do because when you look foolish you make the Church of Jesus Christ look foolish as well. I have been using the word foolish but the examples Jesus uses are of a tragic foolishness that has profound ramifications for followers, for the helpless of society and the image of the Church of Jesus Christ in the world.
Let me give an example.
Our middle daughter is very active in world mission. She has had the opportunity to travel in African and China sharing the Good News by teaching, sharing music and prayer support. Not long ago she told me that she and her friends are no longer introducing themselves as Christians instead they are now saying they are "followers of Jesus." She says they are doing this because the word Christian has such a bad connotation in so much of the world. What a sad commentary. What Jesus was warning them about has happened. Our foolishness is proving tragic for the cause of Christ in the world.
For me these passages calls me to look more carefully at my own life. How is my life reflecting the goodness, justice and love of the Gospel of Jesus Christ? I am inclined to look at my life in a very individualist way. I think these passages call me to look more carefully at how my actions reflect on the greater community.
As I move toward Sunday I am taking a new look at my actions and how they reflect on the good name of Jesus the Christ in my family, my neighborhood and my world.
PS. I can't stand it. I didn't want to go here but the contrast of the good and wise king in our passage today and the missteps of our present US government seems so obvious to me. What a great warning to a (so called) Christian Nation.
Who ever thought we could beat an army of terrorist with a conventional military use of force? Yesterday I heard a report on NPR about a secret gathering of representatives from Northern Ireland and South Africa sharing the lessons they learned in the peace process with leading Sunnis and Shia from Iraq. They even signed a document they call the Helsinki Agreement, which they hope will be a first step toward ending the sectarian violence in Iraq.
Now that is move that would make a great parable for Jesus. I just hope some people in the church were responsible for this secret peacemaking gathering. We should be...
Reporting from this small place in a very big and complex world...
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