100711 - Radi-Call

Yr C ~ Pentecost 5 ~ Luke 9:51-62
One night I had a wondrous dream. One set of foot prints there were seen. 
The foot prints of my precious Lord but mine were not along the shore. 
But then some stranger prints appeared.  I asked the Lord, “What have we here?

These prints are large and round and neat but Lord, they are too big for feet."  
"My child," he said in somber tones.  "For miles I carried you alone. 
I challenged you to walk in faith but you refused and made me wait. 
You disobeyed, you would not grow; the walk of faith you would not know. 
So I got tired, I got fed up and there I dropped you on your butt. 
Because in life there comes a time when one must fight and one must climb. 
When one must rise and take a stand…or leave your butt prints in the sand."   
 
Today’s Gospel reading falls into the category of “the hard sayings of Jesus”. He bluntly challenges his would-be followers with memorable one-liners like: “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has no where to lay his head.” “Let the dead bury their own dead.” And, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
 
I can’t imagine these kinds of sayings made Jesus very popular. But then, he didn’t really seem to care about being popular, did he? Jesus cared about being holy. And he wants that for his followers too. But it begs the question, “What do we want our religious leaders to say to us?” Do we want to hear hard sayings? Do we want to hear the truth? 
 
Or do we want sweet and frothy little “Chicken Soup for the Soul” stories to warm our hearts and make us feel nice? Do we want a prosperity gospel like gets preached on TV that says if you follow Jesus you’ll get everything you want in life? (A better job, a new house…a sailboat!) What do we come to church to hear? What do you want from me? Or better yet, what do you need from me? Maybe what we want is the problem! What does God want for us? Before I launch into my sermon each week what are the words I pray? “May we be challenged and convicted…” – Because I don’t want any of us to be making butt prints in the sand.

 
Jesus gave hard sayings because they represent the real truth of the faithful life. To be a follower of Jesus is an all or nothing proposition. It’s not like following your favourite sports team. We can’t follow Jesus like we follow the Toronto Maple Leafs, or your adopted World Cup country. Even the most avid follower of a sports team gets to turn off the TV at the end of the game and go on with life relatively unchanged. Following Jesus is a much bigger deal…
 
Martin Luther said, “A religion that gives nothing, costs nothing, and suffers nothing, is worth nothing.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “When Christ calls a (person) he bids (they) come and die.” Not much chicken soup there. The call of Jesus is not like any other call we might hear. His call is a radical call – a “radi-call”, if you will.
 
In today’s reading Jesus sets the call to discipleship above every other duty, whether care for self, care for the dead or care for family. His words are harsh. He demands that the priority of service to the kingdom be set above every other priority. 
[Q] “Can I just go and bury my Father first?” 
[A] “Let the dead bury their own dead.” 
That’s harsh! Scholars suggest that what this is really about is the difference between being physically dead and being spiritually dead – because if you’re spiritually alive you are reborn, and therefore never die. It’s radical!
 
 Jesus says, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” That’s a farming image that means if you’re plowing and you start to look back that you’ll go off track. But it’s setting the bar incredibly high. “The radical demands of discipleship require that every potential disciple consider the cost, give Jesus the highest priority in one’s life, and, having committed oneself to discipleship, move ahead without looking back.” [NIB, IX, 218]
 
A radi-call requires a radical commitment. That’s what Jesus lived! That’s what preachers have been preaching ever since. So why do we still have butt prints in the sand? Maybe it’s because there’s something that we keep holding back from God. We want to follow – we agree to follow – but we withhold something that prevents us from going “all in” – some aspect of our life that we know isn’t consistent with the radi-call of Jesus but we just can’t let go of because we feel it would cost too much.
 
“Ivan the Great was the tsar of Russia in the Fifteenth Century. A brilliant military strategist but he was so consumed by his campaigns that he hadn’t taken time to marry and produce an heir to his throne. His advisers searched for a suitable wife, and it was agreed that Ivan would marry the daughter of the King of Greece.
 
“The King was delighted and the marriage was agreed to on one condition – Ivan must become a member of the Greek Orthodox Church.  Ivan indicated he was willing to do so and a priest was sent to Moscow to instruct him in Orthodox doctrine. Then, accompanied by his palace guard – 500 of his most skilled soldiers – Ivan made his way to Athens.
 
“Upon arrival, Ivan’s soldiers, always loyal to their leader, asked if they could also be baptized. After a crash course in the Orthodox faith, they too were ready for baptism.  As was their custom, the baptism would be by full immersion. Imagine the scene: 500 soldiers and 500 priests wading into the Mediterranean for baptism, the soldiers decked out in full battle gear and the priests in their black robes and hats!
 
“Now, however, another problem presented itself.  The Church did not allow professional soldiers to be members.  If they were to be baptized into the church they would need to give up their occupation.  This was unacceptable to Ivan and his soldiers, so a compromise was reached.  As the priests baptized each soldier, he reached for his sword and lifted it high above his head.  Then he’d be baptized – all of him, except for his fighting arm and sword.”
 
“Yeah, yeah, I’m totally into this God thing – except for this one little part of me – but that’s ok, right?”
To which Jesus replies, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” Jesus’ radi-call is unyielding and uncompromising. Is it hard? You bet it is. But that’s not a bad thing – in fact, that’s the only reason it’s worth doing.
 
There’s a movie called A League of Their Own about a group of women who come together to form a professional baseball league in the United States during the war. Near the end of the movie after all the hardships and ups and downs of the season the star catcher’s husband returns from the war and she decides to leave the team just as the playoffs are starting. The manager confronts her and tells her if she walks away now she’ll always regret it. Her final complaint to him – “It just got too hard.” To which he answers, “It’s supposed to be hard…The hard is what makes it great.”
 
Answering the radi-call of Jesus is hard – but the hard is what makes it great. You know, we always assume when we read or preach today’s passage that the would-be followers of Jesus who seemed to be making excuses said “no” to his test and went away in disgrace. But it doesn’t say how they responded to the challenge. Maybe they said “yes”! 
 
Maybe people aren’t turned off by high expectations – maybe they’re turned on by them!
“This is so good it’s worth giving your life to!” If you demand a lot of people they’ll either turn away or go all in – if you demand little of people they’ll give little – period. Maybe that’s where the mainline church has gone wrong over the decades. We’ve demanded little, and gotten what we’ve asked for. 
 
A missionary society wrote to Dr. David Livingstone in Africa and asked, “Have you found a good road to where you are?  If so, we want to know how to send other men to join you.” Livingstone wrote back, “If you have men who will come only if they know there is a good road, I don’t want them.  I want men who will come if there is no road at all.”
 
Of course faith is hard – the hard is what makes it great! Faith requires a radical commitment. Of course it does! I challenge you to name one great thing in life that doesn’t require radical commitment! We know all about radical commitment. Being a musician requires a radical commitment. Being an athlete requires a radical commitment. Being married requires a radical commitment. Being a parent requires a radical commitment. (apparently, so does being bacon!)
 
But here’s the thing. A radical commitment doesn’t mean it’s not totally and completely enjoyable!!!! It can be both – in fact, the things you’re most willing to be totally and radically committed to are probably the very things in your life that bring you the most pleasure and joy! For example, it takes countless hours of practice and years of work to become a fine musician – but every time you play is an absolute expression of love and joy! Your radical commitment is the key to your bliss. A Christian should never wear the requirement of being radically committed to following the Way of Jesus as a burden – it’s not! – It’s an incredible life-giving blessing! It’s a radi-call to a joy-filled life of communion, compassion, and connection!
 
Do you know why I think so many people find Christianity a chore? – Because they only do it half-heartedly. They show up on the occasional Sunday morning and think they’re done. If they gave their whole heart to it their spirits would soar!
Can you imagine what kind of musician you’d be if you only worked at it half-heartedly? – or what kind of athlete, or whatever? What kind of partner are you if you treat your relationship as a chore? What kind of follower of the Way of Jesus are you if you treat your faith life like a chore? But when you give your whole heart to it – when you withhold nothing – when you let go of those things that you think you just can’t let go of – you’ll find something greater than anything you could ever imagine. You’ll find God.
 
Jesus was harsh because he knew that a half-hearted commitment is no commitment at all.   Obviously people were attracted by his radical call. By his “radi-call”. He set the bar incredibly high and they lined up to jump. In the very next passage in Luke’s gospel Jesus sends out 70 followers to spread God’s message of presence, forgiveness, and love. 70! There weren’t just 12 crazy guys who bought in to what Jesus was offering – there were many. 70 willing to be sent – to answer Jesus’ radi-call. 
 
It can’t be half-hearted. Nothing can be withheld. And it has to happen now! Not later, not soon, not someday, not when you get around to it, not when all the other important stuff gets done – now. There’s a breathless urgency about Jesus’ radi-call. Something this big has to be first – the most important thing – the very centre of your life – and you shouldn’t waste another second without it.
 
Let me finish with a really Radi-Call question.  Is your faith clip-on or pierced? Both are styles of earrings but what it takes to wear them is profoundly different. A clip-on earring sits on top of your skin, it leaves no marks, it causes no discomfort, and no one can tell just by looking at you whether or not you’ve been pierced.
 
Pierced earrings, on the other hand, drive through your skin, it leaves a visible sign whether you’re wearing an earring or not, it is bought with discomfort, and all can see that you’ve been pierced. A pierced ear requires more commitment to the project of ear fashion. At the beginning of the process it requires careful attention to make sure the piercing stays clean.
 
Of course, a piercing can grow over – but only if you let it – and it can get infected – but only if you neglect to care for it. And truth be told, clip-on earrings never look as good – they try to be beautiful but usually they only ever manage to be costume jewelry.
 
I'm afraid too many Christians go to clip-on churches to exercise a clip-on faith in a clip-on community.  Aren't we called to be pierced?  Isn't that what made Jesus' life so convicting, that the Word of God and the Way of Transformation utterly pierced him and defined him?   I wonder what a clip-on cross would be like?...
 
Friends, as you sail the Cs of Communion, Compassion, and Connection, may the radical call of Jesus pierce your heart and soul and bring you deeper joy and grace and meaning and purpose and shalom than you have ever dared to wish for or imagine. Amen!