Can you afford to be a Christian, here?

Luke 8, Counting the Cost, Hating Father and Mother; Sermon from September 9, 2019,

Can you afford to be a follower of Jesus Christ here? Our gospel lays before us a really interesting challenge. It reminds me a little bit of Bill Murray. Thank you for playing. Bill Murray from Ghostbusters, Caddyshack, Groundhogs Day. Bill Murray, the actor is known for showing up in public in some really crazy places and unexpected, and shocking people. There’s a top 10 list of the 30 cameos that Bill Murray has done in real life, showing up at people’s parties and washing their dishes. There’s another one where on Times Square at McDonald’s, a guy is coming out with french fries when he sees a hand reach in from his periphery vision, take a french fry and eat it, and as the guy looks up, he sees Bill Murray. And Bill Murray looks directly back at him and says, “No one will ever believe you.”

Bill Murray was crossing the street, coming out of Central Park one day and apparently people also caught a hold that it was Bill Murray, and this was at the height of his fame. And as the crowds start joining in, they’re going, “It’s Bill. Bill. Bill Murray. Bill Murray. Oh, Groundhog’s day Bill Murray? Yeah”. And Bill knows how to work a crowd. Bill knows how to address hordes of people, and by this point he had dozens of people sort of skipping along out of Central Park following him. He crosses the street, turns around and yells, “Hey, are you following me?” And they all said, “Yes,” and I think he said, “Go home.”

Today, Jesus is being followed by a large crowd, and Jesus probably is wondering, what do they all got in their minds= not unlike a famous person wondering who are all these people who have come along to hear what I have to say? And Jesus turns around, and much like Bill Murray says, “Hey, are you following me?” “Ah, not on Twitter. Thank you.” Are you following me, says Jesus.

And almost as if he’s challenging a large crowd, he uses some unusual language that challenges even us as a crowd today. Unless you hate, boy, that’s a strong word, it’s not a word we usually allow in our household. When one of the kids says, “Oh, I hate that”, or “I hate so-and-so”, we would say that’s not a word to use. Hate is a strong word. And it may not be exactly what the Greek has in mind in the original version of Luke’s gospel, that’s probably true, but it gets to the point that Jesus was making, unless you set up values that are greater in following me than in following even those relationships you think are most meaningful unless you hate those in your immediate family. What, Jesus? That’s kind of crazy. And then he does use a word that is not used anywhere else in the new Testament. It’s a word that only shows up here not long after the hate language. Jesus says, “Will you count a cost? Cost. What does it cost to be a follower of Jesus?

Maybe he’s looking to winnow out the crowds a little bit, perhaps. Perhaps he’s looking for those who really will follow him, not just up the mountain for some bread and fish, but follow him up the mountain to Calvary where life is going to get very costly. So, can we afford to follow Jesus Christ here? And if that makes you a little uncomfortable, that’s a good thing. It makes me very uncomfortable. We are talking about making a sacrifice. Jesus is asking us to make sacrifice. And looking around the room, I am pretty aware that most of us in this room have made sacrifices beyond measure for our families, for our friends, and for one another in this very room. So I am not unaware of the level to which Saint Michael and all angels, you as mortal angels, have already made sacrifices in the name of Jesus Christ and for the sake of all that he is calling us into, yes. But what are the areas that you reserve not for Jesus? What are the areas that you say, “Yeah, I’m not going to pay that to God. I’m going to keep that back for myself. I’m not going to share that.”

Traditionally, we are talking about giving in the church of our time, our talent, and our treasure, and I have never been more humbled as your pastor, as any priest would be to see the level of talent that some of you give behind the scenes or the amount of time that I have seen given behind the scenes. And yes, it would probably make you blush to know what other angels in this church give of their treasure behind the scenes, not just for the church but for one another. That might actually make us a pretty good place to share the cost of following Jesus. You may actually be able to afford following Jesus here and you probably already are expending that cost.

Now before I get in trouble with the theology police, I’m not talking about earning our salvation. That is a free gift. What we talk about in terms of cost is what is that gift we have been given and what do we want to give, or what are we being asked or demanded to give to participate in what we have been given? Sacrifice, whether time, talent, or treasure, is always the giving up of something of value for something of greater value. Sacrifice means giving up something that we think is important for something of greater importance.

Let me tell you how this worked in one church I was at 20 years ago. Most of you know that I like to speak, I like to hear the sound of my voice, I love doing the readings, and as a former actor and trained a speech giver, I wanted to be part of a large church lay readers guild. This was a church in South Florida that was known for these most amazing portrayals of the gospel passion on Passion Sunday. You get an idea where I got the idea for St. Michael’s fore, but you couldn’t just say, “Hey, I’d like to sign up to be part of these readers”. You actually had to try out. They actually had an audition day to see if you were allowed to be one of the readers. Well, I got my best speaking voice on, I studied the scriptures for what I was going to read, and I got up and I read most gloriously.

It took about five or six days before I got a call from Rich Gerundo, Rich was head of the lay readers guild. He calls me up, he says, “Matthew, I just want to let you know, congratulations you have been accepted into the lay readers of the church”. I said, “Thank you so much. I’m very honored”. He said, “Well, our first meeting will be in two weeks on Wednesday night at the church at seven o’clock.”

Now, in those days, Melissa and I were the parents of three small children, I was working most nights teaching college and our evenings were really, really precious. Not to mention we were just tired. Did I mention we were parents of three small children? And I said, “Rich, thank you so much,,” and of course I’m thinking I’m already a marvelous speaker, I don’t need any training. I said, “Rich, thank you so much for the honor. Unfortunately, I work most evenings and that Wednesday night is not going to work for me to attend a training of the lay readers”. Silence. Pause. The next thing Rich says is, “Oh, I’m so sorry Matthew. This sounds like it’s not the ministry for you at this time”. “Oh, I think I can make it. I think my calendar is free, I’ll be there.” There was a cost to participating in a ministry of the church.

Now, if we had auditions for every ministry at St. Michael’s, I think there would be three of us up here, but it does begin to set the bar for what God is asking for us to give in our time, our talent and our treasure. And psychologists are also telling us that when we make a sacrifice, we do value what we are participating in more.

Let me tell you something you get for your sacrifice of time, talent, and treasure. When you count the cost and you say, “Yes, I am a follower of Jesus Christ here”, let me tell you what you get. Deuteronomy says you get life, you go into the new kingdom, you go into the new world, you get life. Philemon, if you were listening closely to the second reading, you get a new family. When Jesus starts with saying hate those of your most immediate area, he is undermining what we might think of as traditional family values, but it’s because he has reconstituting a new family among us.

It’s interesting that our children upon baptism don’t just become our children any longer, they become our siblings in Christ, which is another familial relationship that in some ways supersedes the relationship of our family relationship. We say that the waters of baptism are thicker than blood. You’ve got a new family by sacrificing the things that you thought were most important, you find those that are even more important. And we are called to behave and treat one another like family. Sometimes we even fight like family and disagree like family, but that new life that God is knitting together in us as the people of God at St. Michael’s is his people, is his family, is greater than the sum of our parts in this room.

Can you afford to make a sacrifice here? Oh yes. Can you afford the cost? Oh yes, and here you are doing it on excellent soil. Here you are making an investment in a place where Christ is alive. And there are others in your midst making that sacrifice and counting that cost. Continue to do so, sisters and brothers. And if you’re wondering about the areas that you haven’t yet shared of time or talent or treasure, be assured this is a great investment.