PROPER 18-C, September 9, 2007

One of the reasons why Jesus attracted so any followers, I think, is that he talked about what the people knew and understood. He spoke their language. He used images and metaphors they understood. He was a common man who spoke in a common language. His message was always clear and to the point.

Take today’s Gospel main point. The people to whom Jesus was speaking knew what he meant about carrying a cross, building a tower and going to war. Many had seen those condemned to death by the Romans carrying their own cross to their own Calvary and the excruciating pain those cross-bearers suffered in the process. They had seen or heard about others who had begun a project they could not finish and the embarrassment that failure caused them. Their own Jewish history was filled with stories about arrogant kings who went to war unprepared and were soundly defeated.

Jesus could not have been any clearer when he told the people what it meant to be a disciple of his. He did not downplay the commitment involved nor the suffering they might have to endure were they to cast their lot with him. Jesus was nothing but honest with the people because he had to be. His mission and his ministry demanded total commitment from those who would follow him.

Even more, Jesus did not demand more of others than what he was demanding of himself, as we know from what followed, namely, his own cross-bearing and death. Jesus used the starkest and plainest language he could, painted the clearest pictures possible, so that those who heard him understood his message. As we know, most of them did – and walked away. His demands were simply too much, too difficult, even too painful.

What is interesting is that those who did hang around and stay with Jesus up to the very end, the Apostles, were the very ones who just did not get it. They never gave up the belief that following Jesus meant not commitment, cross and suffering but rather power, prestige and wealth. It took Jesus’ death to get them disabused of those false notions. Fortunately they did hang around, witnessed the resurrection and finally got it. We know the rest of the story.

It is not easy to be a disciple. In fact it can be very costly. Thus, one would be a fool not to add up the cost ahead of time. Jesus says as much here. He does not want just anyone to follow him even though he wants everyone to do so. He wants followers who want to be followers and who fully, or at least as fully as possible, understand what it will mean to become his disciple. He certainly does not want those who will make only a half-hearted effort or who hang in there only until the going gets rough and then back off.

Thus, our Gospel question for today is "Why does it cost so much?" Why does being a disciple of Jesus demand so much of us? Perhaps a better question is "Why are we so oblivious to the real cost?" The truth, I believe, is that we are truly unaware of the real cost of discipleship, what it means and what is being asked, even demanded, of us.

For the past four years now we have had as a theme for our life and ministry "Matthew 25…and all that jazz." Simply put that means that each of us individually is and all of us collectively are to always be prepared to use whatever gifts and talents with which we have been blessed by God to seek and see and serve Jesus in everyone we meet, especially the last, the least, the lost and the lowly of this world. That’s wonderful, isn’t it, if I must say so myself?

The truth is, these are only words. It does not mean anything if we do not do something. Knowing what it means to be a disciple, knowing the cost, is essential. Paying the price is what discipleship is all about. The problem for us today in this world of ours, this truly global village, is that the cost seems almost overwhelming and the task impossible.

This weekend as a parish we are emphasizing the Millennium Development Goals. There is an insert in your bulletin that gives a brief description of the eight goals as well as some examples of what each one of us can do to help our world reach those goals. Now I know there are those who argue that these are political goals in that they have been endorsed by all the member nations of the United Nations. The fact is that they are simply Matthew 25 explicated, concrete examples of feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, taking care of the sick and so forth.

Yet, again, the goals seem so insurmountable, so costly, so difficult. And they are. They are. But that does not mean they are unattainable or that there is really not much any one of us can do to make attaining those goals a reality. Individually and even collectively as a parish what you and I do will not make much difference. That is true. But to do nothing, to assert that the problems are too large, too costly, too impossible is simply a cop out. In fact, it is to add to the problem.

You and I have been blessed, abundantly blessed, and we know it even if we fail to admit it. We may even think we deserve it. We don’t. As Jesus reminds us elsewhere, to those to whom much has been given, much is demanded. It is relatively easy, we assume, to be a disciple of Jesus blessed as we are. Yet, as Jesus reminds us at the end of today’s Gospel reading, it is only when we give up all our possessions that we become a disciple.

Give up all our possessions, are you crazy? Who’s going to do that? Certainly not any one of us here this morning. That’s demanding too much. If that’s the cost of being a disciple of Jesus, forget it. The question is, "Is Jesus speaking in hyperboles just to get our attention or is he demanding of his disciples something very few would give?"

The answer is both. The statement does get our attention. The fact is that we human beings have always been attached to our possessions. They have always been a measure of our self-worth. That’s the way it has been since Day One and will be until the Last Day. It is because we are so attached to our possessions that so few have so much and so many have so little. That, too, is not anything new. That, too, has been the way it has been since the very beginning.

As disciples you and I have been called to become less possessive and more giving: more giving of our time and talent and treasure to those who have been less blessed. While we may not be asked to give up all our possessions, we are asked to become less possessed by our possessions. Again, Matthew 25: we have been so blessed by God so that we can do the work of a disciple. Feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, fulfilling the Millennium Development Goals are only examples of how we can become less possessed by our possessions.

The truth is is that it does not cost us very much to be a disciple unless we think that what we have is truly ours. In fact, it is not. In fact, our possessions, even our very lives, are gifts from God to be used to live a godly life and do godly deeds. We know that. May we continue to do that. And with God’s grace and the love and support of one another, may we do even more, both individually and as a parish family.