As Evan Garner and I discussed this passage yesterday, he said a preacher could stand up and say, “Would you rather me tell you that Jesus is wrong or would you prefer that I tell you to give up all your possessions?” This question raised from the Good News leaves very little room to sit on the fence. And, as much as I want to find some place to hide within Jesus’ challenging words, I am finding that “there’s no shade in the shadow of the Cross” to quote Sufjan Stevens. So what do we do both as preachers and as ones who want to follow Jesus?
When I first moved to Decatur, I joined the crossfit gym. The very focused, high-energy, and countercultural atmosphere made it appealing to me. I had to take beginner classes before I could officially come to regular classes. When I finished learning how to do Olympic lifts, how to recover through eating well, and some of the crossfit jargon I felt ready to begin my life as a cross-fitter. For weeks I was sore. I was tired. I felt like I did not have clue what I was doing. Eventually though I got the hang of what I was doing and even improved my weight lifting, speed, and overall fitness level. A few months later though I realized I was not really recovering. I kept being tired and sore. Then, I heard first hand stories from others at the gym about their injuries, and after some consideration I stopped going to the gym. I could not cut it as a crossfit disciple.
I have no shame in my decision to quite that program. I love running. I love exercising in other ways and would suggest I am as healthy now as I have been since graduating from college, but what the crossfit experience taught me is that sometimes disciplines are too difficult for us to follow. Even my journey with Jesus sometimes causes me to wonder, “Am I really cut out to be a disciple?”
Jesus puts out there three different criteria in this passage that are criteria for becoming his followers:
1. You must put discipleship above all other things, even to the point of hating father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, even life itself.
2. You must be willing through your discipleship to even take on great suffering by picking up your cross.
3. You must give away all your possessions if you are to be a follower of Jesus.
God’s love invariably extends to all of us. Jesus’ loving sacrifice brought all of Creation to God, and we have no say in whether we opt in or out of this love. However, being a disciple seems like a very different thing than being the subject of God’s love. All of us get included in the unconditional love of Christ. All of us though may not be willing to take on the disciplines of following Jesus. Through this passage we are forced into weighing the costs of becoming a disciple. We are challenged by Jesus to either keep walking or go home. We cannot sit on the fence.
But unlike going to a crossfit gym in which we are weighed down by the choice to keep going, I would say there is freedom in choosing to follow Jesus as his follower. When we prioritize the Kingdom's values we do not automatically hate our families. However, following the Kingdom's goals of love, forgiveness, inclusion, justice, and faith will simplify our lives, even when our families may complicate it. Self-sacrifice and even knowingly taking on suffering for the sake of the Kingdom of God gives us a purpose that extends far beyond our own selfish ambitions. Finally, giving away things that we own will allow us not to be owned or weighed down by earthly obsessions.
Being a disciple is not a fence-sitting vocation. Rather, we are challenged to do something hard, but more worthwhile than anything else imaginable. We may not accomplish it overnight and we certainly cannot do it alone, but God calls each of us to walk more closely to Jesus in the way of Christ!
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