"Hate your Family! Walking in Discipleship" - Sermon for Pentecost 16, Sept 4th 2016

Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ who walks with us in discipleship.

            Jesus needs to take a couple marketing courses, because when it comes to getting people to follow him, he doesn’t do all that great of a job. A couple of weeks ago when Pastor Andy was here, a similar story happened, he got this crowd following him and then he turns to them and says that Father will be turned against Son, Mother against Daughter. Today he again gets this big crowd following him in our text and what does he talk to them about? If you want to follow me, you have to hate your family, bear your cross, and give up all your possessions. Jesus treats things sort of the opposite way than most big televangelist do. It’s not if you follow Jesus you’ll get rich, it’s to follow Jesus you have to get rid of your stuff. Hearing this doesn’t really make you want to say, yeah, I want to get involved in that!

            This is not a good marketing campaign for his movement, so what is Jesus talking about? It can be summed up as the cost of discipleship. If you really want to delve into this I have copies of the book of the same title written by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Lutheran Pastor who died in a concentration camp during World War 2. What Dietrich talks about in his book and what Jesus is talking about here is not marketing, but a reminder, or maybe even a warning about what it means to truly be his disciple.

            Now, we tend to take the bible very, very seriously, which is good because it’s a thing to be taken seriously, but it means that we often read things as being said very, very seriously, but sometimes they are not meant in a serious sort of way. The bible uses exaggeration, metaphor, simile, examples, and parables that aren’t based on real things and real life. This is an example of Jesus using hyperbole. Hyperbole are statements that are exaggerated beyond normal reason and not necessarily meant to be taken literally, but the meaning behind them is to be taken seriously. So, here, when Jesus says hate your family, bear the cross, sell your possessions they’re extreme examples of what it means to be a disciple, they aren’t requirements, but Jesus mentions them because there are very really truths in them and being a disciple.

            Hating your family. If we read through the whole of the gospel we find many times where Jesus talks about family, but that is very seldom how we think of family. Throughout his ministry Jesus is redefining what family means, especially compared to the family system of his time. If you think family is important now, it was even more so then. Family was the thing, you lived your whole life with family, you worked the family job, you had everything arranged by the family, and you arranged everything about your life through the family. But, when Jesus talks about family, he expands this far beyond our and their understanding. It’s not hating your family, it’s if you want to be a true disciple, at times your personal family can’t be the most important thing. What needs to be the important family thing is looking out for all those others around us that are need, that Jesus says are just as much a part of our family. Love the elderly in our community and congregation as much as you love your own parents. Love the stranger, the addict, the lonely, the prisoner as much as you love your own brother or sister. Love the children in your community who need school supplies and clean clothes as much as you love your own children. There are times when we need to put our own conveniences aside and step up. Be it teaching Sunday School, caring for the church grounds, helping with social time after church, care for those in need in our community, visiting the sick and needy.

            Let’s jump to the last item, give up your possessions. Just think about how much our culture and we ourselves put value upon our things and our money. How much time and energy are put into things, versus being put into the mission of God? What are things in our lives that keep us from serving God like we should? That keep us from doing all those things for our “family” like we should?

            Taking up our cross. Straight away, Taking up your cross is never, ever about accepting or tolerating abuse or hatred from someone else or from yourself. In cases of abuse, never use the phrase well, that’s just your cross to bear, or that’s just my cross to bear, Jesus’s command to us is to work to ease each others burdens, and that includes from abuse and suffering. What taking up the cross means is self-denial. Pastor Eric Fistler says this, “Discipleship calls us to self-denial - not in a destructive way, but in a way which puts forgiveness, love and justice above our own self interests and even self preservation.” To put the needs of others first and foremost.

            All of this discipleship talk, of expanding family, reducing the pull of possessions, of being willing to put the things of God first and foremost, is all about trusting in God. Jesus is asking us, What is keeping you from following me completely? What things, tasks, obligations, guilt, prides, overwork, goals or failures are keeping you from being a true disciple of Jesus? Are you willing to let those things go? Why or why not?

            Pastor Emilie Townes in a commentary says, “our need to acquire, our yearning for success, our petty jealousies, our denigrating stereotypes of others, our prejudices and hatreds, and more...These possessions keep us further and further away from the Christ like walk to which Jesus invites us in discipleship.”

            This is not an easy text, because discipleship is not an easy thing, following Jesus is not always an easy thing, and Jesus wants to be very clear about it. He doesn’t take the marketing approach of sugar-coating everything, he takes the pastoral approach of letting us know the hard truths, but also telling us that he walks with us in this journey of discipleship. This is hard at times, but we are never alone.

            Things like death occur, families are hurt, and broken, and torn apart, possessions are lost, hatred occurs, but God is with us in the moment. Christ always calls us forward.

            I close with a prayer by Mother Teresa.

People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered.  Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.  Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies.  Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you.  Be honest and sincere anyway.
What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight.  Create anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous.  Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, will often be forgotten.  Do good anyway.
Give the best you have, and it will never be enough.  Give your best anyway.
In the final analysis, it is between you and God.  It was never between you and them anyway.

Amen.