Finding Faith ... in the freedom of following Jesus

EDITOR'S NOTE: On Oct. 23, 2021, I was ordained as a minister of word and sacrament in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and installed as pastor at Faith Lutheran Church in Wolverton, Minn. I also served the same church for four years from October 2017 to October 2021 a synodically authorized minister. The journey together these past four years has been an amazing one, full of learning, growing and a deepening of my theological mind. This sermon took place on June 29, 2022.

This week's gospel: Luke 9:51-62

A Samaritan Village Refuses to Receive Jesus

51 When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. 52 And he sent messengers ahead of him. On their way they entered a village of the Samaritans to prepare for his arrival, 53 but they did not receive him because his face was set toward Jerusalem. 54 When his disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” 55 But he turned and rebuked them. 56 Then they went on to another village.

Would-Be Followers of Jesus

57 As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” 58 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” 59 To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” 60 And Jesus[c] said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” 61 Another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” 62 And Jesus said to him, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

The message:

So, one thing we know for certain by the end of tonight’s gospel is that living a life that follows Jesus isn’t as easy as one thinks it is … is it?

Take for instance, when James and John get miffed at the Samaritan village for not welcoming Jesus. … For not laying out the red carpet for their rabbi who is traveling to Jerusalem.

Because after all, it was just an expected rule to offer hospitality to traveling strangers in the first century.

So, James and John’s reaction is stark!

“Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” they ask Jesus. … In other words, shouldn’t they pay for their slight of the Messiah?

But what does Jesus do? … Well, he refuses to fuel their anger, and instead … he rebukes them! He gets after them for their petty nonsense. … And then Jesus just kept on walking.

“Oh, OK, they don’t want to receive me? … I’ll just move along.” … And that is the first of tonight’s lessons in what it is like to be a follower of Jesus.

Next, down the road, another disciple says, “I will follow you wherever you go!”

And Jesus, the wise teacher, says “OK, you think you’re going to follow me wherever I go? … Then heed this warning: Even the animals have a place to go in my Father’s creation. … Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests,” he says.

“But look at me … I am the Son of Man -- God’s only son -- and this village just sent me packing down the road.”

“You see, there is nowhere for the Messiah to even lay his head. … So what do you think that means for you, those of you who are going to follow me anywhere? … Are you ready for this? Do you know what you’re committing yourself to?”

And that was the second of tonight’s lessons in what it is like to be a follower of Jesus.

So, what comes next?

Jesus asks another of his disciples to simply follow him, and the disciple’s response is: “Ahh, sure, Jesus, I would love to follow you. … But there’s this one, little task I have to accomplish before I do. … You see, I have to look after burying my father.”

Maybe surprisingly to some of us, Jesus’ retort is: “Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”

Similarly, to the follower who wants to first go home and say goodbye to his loved ones at home before continuing on with Jesus, he tells that disciple: “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Whew … Are you starting to get the fuller picture about what it means to be a follower of Christ?

I mean, in what probably comes off as sounding harsh, Jesus essentially says, “Look, there are going to be a lot of good excuses that we keep you from getting out into this world to proclaim gospel. … But when you commit to this life, there are no excuses. … You’re either the Lord’s … or you're not!”

And there you have the third of tonight’s lessons in what it is like to be a follower of Jesus.

So what do you think, Faith Family? … Are you ready to step up here tonight, sign on and leave with Jesus never to look back?

Because, as we have learned, the bar is high! … Maybe too high for many of us!

After all, there is no smiting our enemies just because we don’t like them or they’ve offended us.

And much of the world won’t accept you for who you are as a follower of Jesus, and so you may often be lonely.

Finally, there are no excuses. Jesus lays out the ways in which we are to follow, and there are simply no earthly excuses that are acceptable to keep us from our Father’s heavenly expectations.

Faith Family, as we learn in tonight’s gospel, Jesus offers us an entirely different way of living. … In fact, he beckons us to it.

And make no mistake, the kingdom of God is far more excessive and radical, and demands so much more of us than this early kingdom ever will.

And God, nor Jesus, is apologizing for that.

So what do you think? … Any takers? Who wants to sign on tonight?

It’s a lot to think about isn’t it …

A co-worker of mine at The Forum stopped by my office today. She is an ardently faithful person too, and she knows about my journey to be a pastor, and she’s really interested in our church here because of it.

So, she walks in and after the obligatory opening small talk, she says, “So, whatcha you preaching on tonight?”

Well, I just happened to have my bulletin sitting on my desk because I was finishing up the planning for service tonight.

So I held it up and naively said, “Oh, it’s the gospel … Luke 9 … you know we follow the lectionary, and I try to preach to that as often as possible for continuity of the larger biblical story.”

Right away I could tell that wasn’t the answer she was looking for.

“Oh, I was just curious,” she said, with a quizzical look on her face. … And then it struck me.

“Oh,” I said, “You were wondering if I was preaching on abortion tonight.”

And there was a quiet shake of her head, yes.

“To be honest,” I told her. “I’ve given it a lot of thought, and I’m not entirely sure what I will say about it, if anything. … Because sometimes the hardest pastoral conversations are best one-on-one versus me beating folks over the head with a Bible from the pulpit.”

Satisfied with that, she left.

But after the co-worker left, I dwelled on tonight’s sermon and the gospel even harder, and I realized that while it doesn’t give us any clear insight specific to the difficult topic of abortion, this particular gospel absolutely gives us a way to live through the seemingly unending divides that continue to drive a schism through our larger body of Christ.

We just have to go back to tonight’s first lesson that taught us that no matter what, even if the offending party denies us a place to rest … or whether they disagree with our position on abortion, we do not get to call fire down from heaven to obliterate them. … To smite them.

That is absolutely not the way we live in Christ.

Second, being a follower of Christ demands that we work through this issue in a different way than those with earthy values.

And the way we do it as followers of Jesus is always love first. … Love to those whom we disagree with. … Love to those in the incredibly difficult position of considering abortions. … Love to those who have had abortions. … Love to the unborn and those who are born, all the same. … Love to those who condemn those who have abortions. … Always love first. Always.

I don’t pretend to have all the moral answers to abortion, but I know this, I’m going to try to love my way through this challenging time. … Because I don’t believe there is any other way to do so when you’re a Jesus follower.

And that may mean that it could get quite lonely for me, with no place to rest. … Just as what happened to Jesus.

Finally, there’s no excuses either. If you’re going to follow Jesus, there’s no falling into the traps that many want to set when it comes to difficult issues like abortion. … Those with agendas on all sides of the issue would like nothing more than to give you an excuse to wander off the path of following Jesus. … But in the gospel tonight he reminds us, there are no excuses. We’re either following Jesus, or we aren’t.

Faith Family, it is true that Jesus doesn’t make it easy on us to follow him on this path. … But once we’ve accepted his invitation, there also is freedom.

And as the front of your bulletin says: “This is the freedom to not be imprisoned by anything that would keep us from the fullness of the life God has given us. This is the path of life.”

And this is the Good News for this Wednesday, the third Week after Pentecost, June 29, 2022.