Deacon Terry Gatwood: A Confession from Luke 14

Sermon delivered on Trinity 15C, Sunday, September 4, 2016, at St. Augustine’s Anglican Church, Westerville, OH.

If you prefer to listen to the audio podcast of today’s sermon click here.

Lectionary texts: Jeremiah 18.1-11; Psalm 139.1-5, 12-18; Philemon 1-21; Luke 14.25-33.

In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

What does it cost to go down this road? What is the price that must be paid to go on this journey? Now that we’ve counted up all the assets of the Kingdom, we hear the call of the Lord to know the liabilities. “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.”

But, Lord; I do not understand. How can hate be a part of your kingdom plan? Aren’t you the one who has fed us with the loaves and the fish? Are you not the one who has healed the man of dropsy on the Sabbath day? What about the great feast to which you have called us? Do we not get to eat with you there?

This task you have called us to, to bear a cross; this is torture! Pure torture! This is how the ruffians are put to death. Yet, you have called us to it; how shall we keep such a command?

Is this a question of my love and devotion for you, O Lord? Are you asking what I would be willing to give up in following you down this road? What must I do, Lord, to stay with you? How harsh is this really going to be? Will it hurt? Am I going to lose friends, and even family relationships in this journey?

My love burns for you, but I am afraid. I am afraid that in my devotion to you these things will happen. My heart hurts to think that I would have to give up such relationships. Surely you’re not telling me to just leave them behind, are you? Or are you asking me to love you so much, to be devoted to you with such a passion that, by comparison, my love for you makes my love for others, although not weakening but strengthening as I love and serve you more and more, seem as if it’s hate. Surely that’s what you mean! You’re being hyperbolic. That you are the center of all things, as would only be fitting for the One who created all things by a single word, and gave life to the living with a breath! Praise to you, my Lord! Help me to love you to the utmost! Help me to bear my cross with joy, following in your footsteps to the Place of the Skull, that I might inherit the Kingdom in which you have prepared a place for me!

My Lord, I know that you know me better than I know me. You know all of my days before I even walk through them. You knew me before I was even knit together in my mother’s womb. You see all things, O God, and know my words before I even form them. Give to me the words I need to praise you and to tell of your love for us. Who am I? Who am I that you would want to know me, to see me, to hear my words? I cannot even comprehend how great and wonderful you are, and your love toward me. It is far above me, and I do not fully understand. But nonetheless, you have chosen to know me, and to love me, and to call me to walk this path with you. You have chosen your people, our ancestors, Israel; you shaped them and through them came to us as a Savior; our King has come, and he walks among us! And where the Church goes you, Lord Christ, are walking. For it is you who has ordered our steps to begin with.

So this road is ahead of us. It’s not always the easiest way to go down. There are those who would do evil on it; you have spoken most severely against it. Lord, spare us from your wrath. You are the one who has called us, and may we ever follow you as you have shown us. May our hearts be clean, our lives be righteous. May we keep in step with the call you have given to us.

Lord, we are counting the cost; help us count the cost. You have not hidden the plain facts of what a life spent with you can mean. It can mean difficulty; it can mean pain; it can mean that we lose everything. You have even called us to renounce all that we have, all that is not you at the center of our lives, that you might be the true Lord of our lives. For you are the Lord, whether we take the time to recognize it or not.

What is it, at this time, you are calling me to do, O Lord? How shall I start loving you in a manner worthy of the calling I have received? How do I count the cost adequately enough to know what kind of war it is you are leading me into? Lord, may I sit down and consider what it will be like living in this world as a disciple of yours, and ponder what all these things mean. Help me to know what my intended purpose is in this calling that when I sit down to consider these things I know what kind of tower you wish me to build in my life for you, and that I have the wherewithal with which to build it. For it is you, O Lord, who has built us into one Church, laid on the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, and it is you who is our Chief Cornerstone; you keep us living stones in our proper places. As you have considered what the cost was to build your Church in the world, and your Kingdom that has and shall come, may I consider all things in this light. You are my tower and my refuge. It is you to whom I come for my help and my deliverance. Give me shelter, Lord, when the times get rough. Protect your servant. Help me to be willing to carry my cross, and to renounce all things that do not bring you honor and glory in my worship of them, because it is false worship and they are not you.

Glory to you, Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Most High; Glory to your Father, God Almighty; and Glory to your Holy Spirit, who has come to bind us together, to sanctify us, and to lead us, your Church, down this costly road. May I be blessed, may I love with a love that is new and stronger every morning. May I take up my cross and follow after you. And when I fall, Lord, please help me up. Give me healing for my wounds, and strength in my inner person to continue walking behind you, God who has placed your hand on me. You are truly with me, and have your hand upon me, and know me in my innermost depths. Help me to love.

May in my following I bring you all the glory, honor, and praises due your name, for calling me to such a path. It seems daunting, but you, O Lord, are there. You already know the way home. And, even with fear of what hardship may be ahead of me, I will follow, I will love, I will be yours because you have made me so.

So this cost, this price to walk down this path, for me, for your whole Church, might seem steep from a cursory glance. It looks like it’s going to be filled with all the pain and hardship that could possible present in our lives. And sometimes, I suppose, Lord, it does. But it isn’t without joy. It isn’t without happiness. It’s not without your blessing upon us for our good, which is what you work all things for the good of. You have loved us enough to pay the price in full on Golgotha for our salvation, and that is enough to strengthen us for the road that lies ahead. You, Jesus, are enough to make it all worth it.

All glory, and honor, and majesty be unto your name, through the ages of ages. In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.