Proper 18C (Luke 14:25-33)  09-05-2010

When my family and I moved from the Chicago area to Alexandria, VA, we searched for the familiar among the unfamiliar of our new surroundings to soften the transition. As we thought about our new home, we realized that Alexandria is the home of T.C. Williams High School, which was familiar to us from the movie “Remember the Titans.” The movie was released approximately 10 years ago and is a popular sports movie about a high school football team. The story deals with the racial integration of the team and the challenges faced by the coaches and the young players. The players and coaches face the difficult road of coming together as a team, both on the field and off, yet they must live among the pressures associated with the society of Alexandria, VA in 1971…a society with the cultural norms that had yet to fully embrace the idea of racial integration.

This morning in our Gospel lesson we hear of the large crowds following Jesus as he slowly makes his way toward Jerusalem. The large crowds prove the popularity that Jesus has attained, making him as popular and as well known as a modern day sports figure of our time. And as is often the cause with famous people, the people have made some assumptions about Jesus and have formed their own opinions of him and what their life should be like as one of his followers. However, Jesus takes some time to address the large crowd and tell them his understanding of what their lives have in store for them: “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, even life itself, cannot be my disciple.” (Lk 14:26)

Jesus’ description of discipleship is full of words that are difficult to hear…and the examples of building a tower or a king going off to war does not ease the difficulty of his message. The author of Matthew’s Gospel account has a similar passage from Jesus’ teaching, “Anyone who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me…” (Matthew 10:37) But the author of Luke’s Gospel account does not choose to soften the message for us – Luke’s account delivers the stark contrast between God’s mission in the world and popular culture with full force…unedited. The Greek word “hate” that Luke uses is not meant to imply hostility or extreme dislike, but the word is meant to shock the ears of those who listen and teach that a faithfulness to God may require a thoughtful and carefully considered detachment from the norms of society…the norms that have been passed down from generation to generation…through father and mother, sisters and brothers.

The call for service in God’s mission to the world is real and present to us, but so are the demands that this service requires of us. In prayer we draw close to God and are strengthened, but our challenge is to find time for conversation with God. In discernment we open our minds and become aware of our gifts for service, but our challenge is to faithfully discover and develop our talents. And in community we serve each other and grow in God’s Spirit, but our challenge is to make ourselves available to others.

To pray with God, to discern our gifts for ministry, and service to others in our community are wonderful things, but in our busy world and with our hectic schedules our challenge is often to find the time. Our challenge is to put down the priorities of our culture and take up the priorities of God. Our challenge is to set aside the personal pleasures of this world and pick up the cross of Christ. Jesus said, “Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” (Lk 14:27) But what is the cross we must carry? For each of us, the cross may look different and throughout our lives the cross of discipleship will change. The way of the cross is our journey beyond the challenges that separate us from God and from each other.

The challenge for the Titans football team was to move beyond the issues of racial integration and see each other for who and what they were, as people, and become a united and successful team. The movie captures the rocky road of that journey and the eventual success of the team as VA state champions. The movie was a success, even though some movie critics did not like the movie, saying the plot was simply a predictable, feel-good story and that if the team never won the championship the movie would have never been made. Perhaps some of their criticism is true, but for those who lived through the real story of racial integration the outcome was anything but predictable and much of the journey did not feel so good.

As Christians traveling the way of the cross, our journey is anything but predictable and certainly some days are more challenging than others. However, we are blessed to be children of God and brothers and sisters in Christ. And if we accept the challenge and walk with Christ we shall be his disciples.

AMEN.