Deuteronomy 30:15-20 • Psalm 1 • Philemon 1-21 • Luke 14:25-33
Jesus and Moses both are at similar points in the stories we hear about them today. They have both undergone a long journey, a journey they had never ever dreamed of taking, but a journey to which God had called them. Both stand on the cusp of the next big thing that God is about to do. Moses stands with the Israelites on the cusp of their entrance into Israel, the promised land, but he finds it important to stop and preach these final words after they have traveled 40 years in the wilderness, and before they enter this new land: “See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity…I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses.” (Deut. 30:15, 19) It’s as if Moses is saying, “Do you realize what is in front of you, what an opportunity is here for you? Do you know what God has done for you, and the responsibility you have been entrusted with, as you enter into the promised land?”
Jesus also has a crowd following him, and he also finds it necessary to stop, turn around, look back, and preach these words that ask his followers to take seriously the road that lies before them: “Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple…None of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions…” (Lk. 14:27, 33)
We hear these words today as we also stand at a moment of transition, as we stand on the cusp of the next big thing God is up to. Summer is quickly giving way to fall, and the days of vacation, of rest, and of leisure, are quickly fading way as we now face choices about what our commitments will be as we enter this fall. We stand at the cusp of the new beginning of the church’s programming year starting next Sunday, with Sunday School and Adult Bible study and Faith & Film nights all on the horizon. As we hear these stories of Moses and Jesus, God is also asking us to take seriously the path that lies ahead. What do we want this season of our lives to mean? What priorities will shape the kind of people we will be? What kind of disciples will we become?
As we stand at on the cusp of this new season, as we hear Moses’ call to choose life rather than death, and, as we wonder how can we possibly answer Jesus’ call to give up everything to follow him, where can we look to for guidance? One thing we can do is look back, and see what God has done to bring us to where we. This can give us some sense of what God will be up to as we look at our intentions for our discipleship on the cusp of this new season. Moses does this very thing of looking back, as he preaches to the Israelites while they stand at the river Jordan, ready to cross over into the promised land. Moses reminds the Israelites, God’s faithfulness is what got them to where they are. God brought them out of slavery; God led them through the wilderness; God provided them with food to eat and clothes on their back and sandals that did not wear out. (Deut. 29:2-6) For Moses’ tribe and for our tribe, God’s faithfulness in the past gives us testimony to the God who will continue opening a way in front of us that leads in paths of liberation, paths of righteousness, paths of reliance upon God for all the means necessary to “choose life.” (Deut. 30:19) From Moses we learn that although we don’t know what the future looks like, God will be faithful, as God has always been, as we step forward in faith into the future.
So as we look back, where has God been at work in our lives, and in our world? How have we been transformed in ways that give us clues as to what God will be like as we consider what paths our discipleship will take? Well, as part of this body of Christ, we have been chosen and blessed with a community, a home, where God changes us from wanderers, going from one experience to the next, seeking thrill after thrill, to becoming a part of something bigger than ourselves—a part of this body of pilgrim disciples, who may not know where we are going, but who together have a thirst for the goodness of a merciful Lord and for putting that goodness into action. As part of this body of Christ, God has also changed us from being people defined by what we buy, to being defined by the character of our lives, and by the care with which we tend to our relationships. Looking back, we also see a God who has restored us to people who are not forgotten, who are not fragmented by the quickness of the pace of modern life, or by the transitoriness of a world that’s always on the move. In this room, God places us into a story that goes back way before we were born, and in here, God connects us with an ancient tradition called Christian Lutheranism that still breathes life into our faith a real, relevant way.
So looking back, dear people, God has been so faithful, in so many ways! God has done all this in ways we have not deserved. But God in God’s graciousness has continued to choose life through us. That faithfulness is what will lead us into the future, and that faithfulness is what summons us.
Jesus stands ready to lead us into that future. As Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem, larger and larger crowds are following him. Luke says that Jesus “turned and said to them”, meaning that he was out in front, and he literally had to turn around in order to address them. With his words, Jesus himself turns towards us first, so that we can turn today not to the crowd of popularity, or to the crowd that’s following Christ because everyone else is. As Jesus turns towards us today, we are reminded of the faithfulness of a God who has always continued to choose us, and turn towards us. And so we can truly turn today back towards Jesus himself, even as it may thin the crowds, and even pull us from what others may tell us is more important.
When Jesus turns towards us, it changes us. We are unconditionally accepted. We belong. We are no longer alone. But is that it? Is that all that it’s about—what we receive from God? God also expects a lot of us! God expects that acceptance to make a change in our lives. And that’s what being a disciple is about. First, being a disciple is about Jesus faith in us; and second it is about Jesus calling us beyond who we are to be more than we ever thought we could be. That order cannot be changed; and neither of those two can be separated from one another.
One of the heresies in our Lutheran tradition that can sometimes get in the way of our discipleship is how often we forget about the second of these two interrelated aspects of discipleship. We can so easily fall into expecting quite little of ourselves. Do we realize how little we expect of people to be an active member of United Lutheran? Constitutionally, all that is required to be an active member in good standing here is to commune at least once every two years. This is also true at most Lutheran congregations. Now that’s not a bad place to start. But there is so much more we are called to be—because when Christ when turns us around, he re-turns us again and again to his love that joins with our hearts and that sets us on fire again and again to share in what he is up to in the world, which is bringing new life out of what was dead.
So as we stand at this cusp of all that lies before us as summer turns towards the activities of this fall, Jesus turns to us again to renew both God’s faithful promises that accept us and also that also expect us to give our all as disciples. May we take space in these days as we prepare to cross over into the places Jesus is calling us to, to discern intentionally where our discipleship is leading us. Picking up the cross, and shaping a life that reflects Christ will look different for every one of us. May we say “yes” to those commitments that may challenge us to grow in ways that may be unfamiliar or unforeseen for us; and may we also have the courage to discern when to say “no” to those opportunities that will take away from growth in the areas we have chosen. Whatever future lies in front of us, God’s faithfulness will continue placing us in the long reaching arc of an ancient story where Christ turns to us unconditionally, and invites us to turn towards him, letting go of all that lies behind, so we can continue our journey, and find our way to the home God has prepared for us. Amen.
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