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Michael A. Tanner

Holy Comforter Church | 173 sermons

June 2010

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on 2 Kings 2:1–2, 6–14, Ps 77:1–2, 11–20, Luke 9:51–62, Gal 5:1, 13–25more »
by Michael A. Tanner
about Following Jesus, discipleship, Trust
tagged Proper 8C

Sermon

"Follow me?"

2 Kings 2:1–2, 6–14, Ps 77:1–2, 11–20, Luke 9:51–62, Gal 5:1, 13–25

“Follow me,” says Jesus.  “Leave your boats and your nets.  Leave that enormous catch of fish.  Leave your family, and follow me.”  Simon Peter, his brother Andrew, and their fishing partners, James and John, leave everything and follow Jesus.
“Follow me,” says Jesus, and Levi, the tax collector, leaves everything and follows Jesus.
Others follow too, many others, great crowds.  They come to hear him or to be healed.  They come for loaves and fish.  Some, however, come to evaluate him, to see how he measures up.  Jesus fails their tests:  He welcomes everyone.  He eats with the wrong people.  He is lax about the Sabbath and careless about who touches him and whom he touches.
In spite of these indictments, following Jesus seems the thing to do.  The crowds have rendered their verdict, and it overwhelmingly favors loaves and fish and healing.  
When crowds come, Jesus does what we expect.  He welcomes them.  He heals them.  He feeds them, and he teaches them.
Quite regularly, however, Jesus does the unexpected.  
For instance, when Jesus raises the widow’s son, he gives him back to his mother.  He does not say, “Follow me.“
When he forgives the sinful woman who washes his feet with tears, he says, “Go in peace.  Your faith has saved you.”  He says the same to the woman with chronic bleeding.  He does not say, “Follow me.”
After Jesus rescues the Gerasene from a legion of demons, the man begs to follow Jesus, but Jesus sends him away to tell others how much God has done for him.
Just before today’s Gospel lesson, there is a stranger casting out demons in Jesus’ name.  The disciples try to stop him because he is not, as John puts it, “following with us.”  Jesus’ reaction is astonishing: “Do not hinder him; for whoever is not against you is for you.”
Now, let’s review what we have just heard:  Sometimes Jesus says, “Follow me.”  Sometimes, he says, “Go in peace.”  Though he welcomes the crowds, he does not say to them, “Follow me.”
If you don’t find Jesus’ behavior inconsistent and confusing, you are sharper than I, or you aren’t paying attention.  Today’s Gospel magnifies this confusion about the call to follow Jesus.
Let’s start with the second part of the reading.  As Jesus goes along the road to Jerusalem, two people approach and say, “I will follow you,” and to a third, Jesus says, “Follow me.”
To the first, he says, “Foxes have holes, and birds have nests, but on the road to Jerusalem, I have nowhere to lay my head, and neither will you.”
To the second, who would postpone following to bury his father, Jesus says, “Let the dead bury their dead, but you, go, and proclaim the kingdom.”
To the last, who asks only the permission that Elijah gave Elisha – to say goodbye to his family – Jesus replies, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for God’s kingdom.”
You may well be wondering if Jesus cares whether anyone follows him.  Our wisdom tells us to be gentle, to make joining – following – easy, to emphasize the benefits, not the hardships.  Jesus seems to be on a different planet.
Then, there is the incident in the Samaritan village.  You may recall from many sermons that Jews and Samaritans despise each other and have for centuries.  Both claim to follow Moses, but disagree over whether the true temple is the one in Jerusalem or the one in Samaria.  Most the time, they simply avoid each other.  Jews traveling between Galilee and Jerusalem go out of their way to bypass Samaria.  Those who dare pass through find Samaria hostile, even dangerous.  When Jesus sets his face toward Jerusalem, he ignores this feud and takes the route through Samaria.
The Samaritans know he is coming, for he has sent messengers, and they know he has set his face to go to Jerusalem.  So great is their hatred of Jews and Jerusalem that they refuse to receive Jesus.  Maybe they are peeved because this new Elijah does not honor their temple.
James and John propose a solution: fire from heaven to consume these Samaritans.  They too remember Elijah, who more than once called fire from heaven to consume his enemies.  Their deeply engrained hostility toward Samaritans, along with zeal for their way of following Jesus, explains their eagerness to use fire.  Jesus, however, rebukes James and John, as he has rebuked demons.  Then, Luke says abruptly, they go on to another village.
Jesus makes no effort to persuade these Samaritans.  We understand that one who teaches love of enemies would refuse to destroy his enemies, but why does he not try to persuade them?  Does he not care whether they follow him?
This question runs through our entire meditation: Does Jesus not care whether we follow him?  Is he content to leave a world in which some follow and some do not?  Why does he not use every means to capture humanity in the net of the kingdom?  Why does he not use his power to compel followers?  Why does he call some and send others on their way?
Jesus’ detachment from the fruit of his labor confuses us.  We know that it’s not because he doesn’t care for us.  No one has ever cared more, for he has borne our afflictions and our sorrows.
We are confused, I suggest, because we do not trust God as fully, completely, and utterly as Jesus does.  He teaches us to pray for God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven, and he fully trusts God to answer that prayer.
His trust leaves the horizon for God’s action up to God.  Yesterday and tomorrow are as full of God’s grace as today.  In God’s time, God’s will will be done.
His trust bars anxiety over where we worship God.  Jerusalem or Rome, Canterbury or Atlanta, temple, synagogue, cathedral, or closet – in all places, God’s will will be done.
His trust excludes suspicion over party, sect, or denomination, race, language, or nationality.  In all peoples, God’s will will be done.
Does it matter then whether you or I follow Christ today, in this place, and with these people?
To this question, Christ might answer, “Follow me,” or “Go in peace.”
Or he might ask,          “What is your heart’s desire?  Is this your prayer: ‘Thy will be done on earth as in heaven’?”
Let the people say, “Amen.”

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