Not What You'd Expect

There was a family who was struggling with their son. He was in the army and was serving his country well. He came home each time that he was stationed in his home and he would do what any good son would do by helping around the house and caring for the rest of the family when he wasn’t working. Obviously those things weren’t the things that they were struggling with. Those were the things they appreciated about their son and were glad hadn’t changed about him. However, one day when he came back from a tour he started to share with him family about a new religion he had heard about from some missionaries he had met.

At first the family didn’t seem to mind, but then he began to keep talking about this faith he had encountered. This is when the family became worried. Finally he opened up to them that he believed in this new faith and had not just heard about and but had put his faith in this new religion. That was the final straw for the family. They couldn’t believe this and they couldn’t sit around and let him throw his life away. They tried to explain to him that this religion was actually a cult and it wouldn’t be good for him and they certainly weren’t going to convert. They tried to explain to him that he was giving up the faith that everyone held dear and was following. None of it seemed to convince this young man and so the family eventually had to reach a final ultimatum. It was either his family or this cult.

It pained this young man but he had such strong conviction about this new faith that he said tearful goodbyes to his family and walked out the door to which he was told he would never be welcomed back if he did. This young Roman soldier had left his family behind and as he walked out the door his father shouted out to him, “You will be persecuted for your faith in this Jesus the Christ.” The young Roman soldier kept walking and never saw his family again.

This is just one story of many that occurred during the early part of Christianity. I think we often hear the more uplifting stories in the book of the Acts of the Apostles where it tells us that entire households were baptized in the name o fJesus, but there must have also been stories like this where families did not all agree about accepting this new faith into their house and it divided entire households. And the father in the story is right. This young man, if he continued to share his faith would have been persecuted because he no longer believed in the Roman gods, and he no longer believed in polytheism but monotheism which was something that the Jews did. Faith in Jesus for some people seemed to come so easily like the 12 disciples and others, but other times it was painful and difficult and sometimes as we talked about last week, some people just couldn’t do it.

Think about Nicodemus and how he came in the middle of the night to go see Jesus. He didn’t go in the middle of the night because he was proud and confident of what he was doing, but he did it because he didn’t want anyone to know what he was doing and who he was seeing. He didn’t want to be kicked out of being a leader of the Jews and be persecuted for meeting with Jesus.

There was also Joseph of Arimathea who was disciple of Jesus. We hear about him in all four of the Gospels and each one gives us a little bit of information about him. We know that one describes him as rich and a disciple of Jesus. Another tells us that he was a member of the council which means he was part of the Jewish leadership. Another tells us that he was a disciple of Jesus, but that he did it in secret because of the fear of the Jews. It is in John’s gospel that we hear that both Joseph and Nicodemus that prepared Jesus body with spices and wrapped him in cloths and put him in the tomb that Josephus had purchased for him. These two men had their faith in secret because of the fear they had for their lives, but they also saw how Jesus came from God and they had to follow him.

I know we don’t like to talk about verses like what we hear in Luke about Jesus coming to cause division, but for the early church and in parts of our world today, taking the call to follow Jesus and putting your faith in him could cause a great division. It really could cause a family to come apart and cause them to no longer talk to each other. Jesus knows that even though it is his prayer and desire that everyone would come to believe in him that not everyone will come to believe in him and that is going to cause division and hurt and pain among family and friends. People need to be prepared for that division.

These two men had their faith in secret because of the fear they had for their lives.

We also need to take this passage in context of the stories we have been reading the last month or so. I will only briefly touch on this because I mentioned it last week also, but Jesus is headed to Jerusalem for his final journey and people are making excuses as to why they can’t follow him right now. Jesus saying that there is no right time to follow Jesus other than right here and right now. Even if it causes division in your family. Even if i causes you to have strife with the government.

Following Jesus for the first time or the millionth time can cause us to take a stance on things that can be divisive. Maybe it makes us question the things we thought were important, but then Jesus helps us to see that maybe we are on the wrong side of the argument because it isn’t was Jesus wants for us or others. That is not peace, but it is following Jesus and it is living out the gospel. Doing what is right isn’t always easy and it isn’t always peaceful. BUT doing what God calls us to do no matter how painful or difficult or divisive is what we should be doing.

We have been called to live out the gospel and sometimes that can be difficult for people to see what that looks like. But I do know that through the life of Jesus he calls us to love all people and to bring about justice for all those people and that it is God who gives us justice and who loves us even when we feel we are unlovable. God is always to the one who first offers us all the blessings in this world and in the world to come. May you share your baptism knowing all the blessings and promises that God offers though it and how that love is for all people. Amen.