Year C, Pentecost 13
Luke 14:25-33
Like
many of you, I was disturbed to see the images of Hurricane Dorian battering
the Bahamas and I was of course worried for the people of Florida and the
Carolinas. But I have to confess, I
wasn’t that worried. I wasn’t overly concerned---until we were in the path of
the hurricane and suddenly I was glued to the news because it had the potential
to affect me, my family and the people near and dear to my heart. While that is not a noble admission, I don’t
think it’s particularly shocking to hear someone admit that they are more
concerned about things that directly affect them than those things that have no
direct effect on them. Humans are
innately self-centered. Our primary
concern is our survival and the survival of our family. While that is normal, it’s not particularly
Christian. To be Christian, is to care
for all people, especially those in need.
This
Gospel text today is painful. I have had
two Sundays off preaching. The last time
I preached, Jesus announced that he had come not to bring peace, but
division. Now Jesus is telling the crowd
that is following him, “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and
mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself,
cannot be my disciple.” If Jesus was trying to recruit more people to his
mission, that was a serious misstep. There
are some things in this Gospel text I can explain that might make this reading
a little more palatable. But to be
honest, it’s not supposed to be a comfortable reading. While there are all kinds of Bible passages
that bring comfort and solace, this is not meant to bring comfort. Jesus was
many things—but he was not—a people pleaser. He was a truth teller. Some of those truths got him killed.
I
often think of this text when people reference family values in the context of
the Bible. The way we think about family
values now has very little to do with what Jesus taught. It’s true that hate is probably not the best
translation. To hate is a Semitic
expression meaning to turn away from, to detach from.[1] In using the word hate, Jesus was not
suggesting that we have a disdain for our family, or even a mild dislike. When Jesus told people they had to hate their
family and even their life—he meant that family was no longer to be your
priority. Jesus was very clear on what
was to be the priority of his disciples---following him. When a disciple asked to bury his father
before following Jesus, Jesus told him to let the dead bury the dead. Jesus did not typically give people time to
get their affairs in order and then follow him.
The 12 apostles left their homes and family. Jesus
left his home. While he certainly had a
loving mother who he cared for, that love was rarely described in the Gospels.
Earlier
in the Gospel of Luke Jesus was speaking to another crowd. Someone told him that his mother and brothers
were there and they wanted to talk to him.
He replied, “My mother and my
brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.” On the one hand, I would think that would
have been fairly painful for his family to hear that. On the other hand, this is the same boy who
walked away from his parents at age 12 and went to a temple. When his parents found him 3 days later he
replied, “Why were you looking for me? Of course I would be in my father’s
house.” Now this is not to say that
Jesus was cruel or uncaring to his family. I am sure he was a loving son. But for him, family was bigger than those related
to him by blood. His family was all
those who heard the word of God and did it.
At its essence, that is what Christianity is—it is the
creation of a new broader family. We are
no longer merely linked to those we grow up with or those we know, we are
linked to all Christians everywhere. There
are other places where Jesus implies we are linked to all people regardless or
faith, but here, Jesus is talking about his followers. That would have been a revolutionary idea at
the time, because the Jewish faith was very focused on the family. Those were your people. You even married your cousin. Jesus was
essentially saying that families no longer had borders.
So what does that mean? Does that
mean we have to love our families less?
Of course not. But it does mean that
God calls us to shift the way we think of our families. There is no limit to our ability to
love. It’s not like we have a certain
amount of love or compassion and we can’t possibly spare more. God calls us to expand the circle of those we
care for, those who we consider family.
Having an adopted son who doesn’t look anything like me, and
has a completely different lineage than I has shifted my understanding of
family. It has not led me to believe
that color or culture doesn’t matter. Quite the opposite. What it has done is
opened my eyes to different groups of people and different issues, because now,
they are mine. You don’t have to legally adopt a child to
understand that. Families come in all
kinds of glorious shapes, sizes and colors. In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians
he wrote, “(God) destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus
Christ…. to
the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.”
We are not merely children of God, we are adopted children of God. We are a mishmash of race, sexual
orientation, differing physical and emotional abilities, age, gender---you name
it and our Christian family has it.
Typically when a storm passes us by, our initial reaction is
to give a sigh of relief and then sometimes thank God that it spared us. But the thing is, often when we miss the
worst of a storm, it’s because the storm hit somewhere else. Obviously we cannot control where a storm
hits, but that doesn’t mean we are powerless.
When you find yourself thanking God for sparing you, your property or
people you love, consider those who were effected and try to give something,
even in a small way. With this hurricane, it might be giving to Episcopal
Relief and Development or any one of the many organizations that provide
assistance when disaster strikes.
Because the thing is, we are one big family. This whole world is one family. We take care of our family.
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