Sixth Pentecost, Proper 8, 2005

Two fellows from down Franklin County were in an argument about which one made the best moonshine.  They decided that the only way to settle things was to send a sample to the Ag Department at Virginia Tech to be tested.

They bottled up the two samples, sent if off without any explanation except to have it tested, and waited about a week for the results.  One of the home-brewers got an official looking letter, and he couldn’t wait to get down to the other fellow’s house.  They opened the letter and read: “Gentlemen, it is safe to work your horses, but don’t stand too close to them.”

We don’t always get the answers we expect.  Sometimes that has to do with the way we frame our questions and sometimes it has to do with the quality of our questions.  And sometimes the answers are totally confusing; no matter how we ask the questions.

The Gospel for this Sixth Sunday after Pentecost presents us with some confusing, demanding words from the one whom we call the Prince of Peace.  The questions had to do with how best to do the will of God.  Jesus said to his disciples, then and now, “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.”  He goes on to talk about the divisions that his coming might cause in families, both immediate and church families.  At first glance these appear to be harsh words, pointing to realities that might contradict that designation as the Prince of Peace.  We must search hard for what is meant here and look faithfully for the Good News.

It does seem to be the case that total neutrality before the Christ of God is impossible.  We may not always wish to see it, but the world is always divided into those who accept Jesus as the Christ of God, even if those same people do not accept his Lordship over their lives, and those who do not see Jesus as the Incarnate one.

When some great cause emerges, it is bound to divide people.  There are those who answer the call to service and those who wait or join the opposite cause.  Jesus reminded his followers, then and now, that accepting the call to discipleship is a radical decision.  Perhaps, sadly, that has become a social obligation in our culture and not a recognition that we have joined a subversive movement.  Before deciding to join we probably need to remember that God is Christ offers certain things to each one of us.

First, we are offered a choice.  By the grace of God, most of us have never had to choose between following Jesus the Christ and remaining in our family of origin.  Many have had to do so.  Bishop Nathaniel Garang talked about the young Muslim boy who was converted to the Christian faith and was, subsequently, disowned by his family.  To them he was dead, there was no chance of reconciliation, and to follow Jesus meant he turned his back on the first twenty years of his life.  That young man began his studies aimed at the Episcopal priesthood.  I pray that we may never have to choose God over family.  But, please remember that we pray that petition every week when we say the Lord’s Prayer, at least in the contemporary version, when we say, “Do not bring us to the test.”  Remember also, that if such a time does come, we must always choose God.

Second, we are reminded that discipleship always means a cross.  We really don’t have a faith without the cross.  Crosses are not imposed upon us from outside.  The randomness of life, fate, may well place burdens on us, but that is never the same thing as crosses.  Crosses are always voluntarily chosen.  As we bend the knee to some cause of Christ in the world, we take a cross upon ourselves. 

The people of Jesus’ day knew well what crosses were.  When the Roman General Varius, had broken the revolt of Judas of Galilee, he crucified 2000 Jews and placed the crosses by the wayside, along the well-traveled road, for all to be reminded of his power and authority.  Politically imposed burdens continue to be the means many governments use to keep people in line.  Lord Acton was right when he said, “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”  Efforts to remove checks and balances in democratic societies need to always be resisted.

Crosses, on the other hand, are the attempts many are making in this day and time to help people rebuild their lives and their countries.  Crosses of faith are brought about by sacrificing personal ambitions, the ease and comfort that might be enjoyed, the career that might be achieved, the selfish dreams that might have brought riches and glory.

No doubt, taking on the voluntary cross of discipleship means we must sacrifice our will, for no Christian can ever again do what they please, but what God in Christ please for, in, and through them.  In the Christian faith there is always a cross, precisely because Christianity is the religion of the cross.  Without going through the cross we will never experience resurrected living.

Third, we are invited to be a part of an adventure.  Jesus taught his disciples, then and now, that those who sought to save their lives would lose them and those who lost their lives for his sake and the sake of the Gospel would save them.  There can be no policy of safety first in the Christian life.  The person who seeks first a life of ease and comfort and safety may well get those things, but they will never be truly happy.  We are sent into the world to serve God and those whom God places in our path.

Sometimes we are lulled into thinking that only those who make some great contribution to the betterment of humankind are living the truly genuine Christian life.  We forget that it is the simple acts the Jesus calls us to offer in his name.  Things like cup of cold water, a tithe of our weekly grocery bill given to Bedford Christian Ministries, a gift to the UTO, or Boys’ Home, or Episcopal Relief and Development, a gift of time or money to help stop domestic, child, or elder abuse brought so close to home last week just down the street, or a visit to a shut-in member are the actions that Jesus said would be rewarded.

Never forget!  A simple act of giving a cup of cold water or allowing a car to enter the highway in front of you can be taking on a voluntary cross.  Smiling as one of the residents of the Elks’ Home totters across to the bank or the little old lady counts out her change to pay for her purchase at the drug store, being consistent in giving the Bedford wave to those around us, are things that may change someone’s whole day.  You may literally save someone’s life and never know it.  It okay that you don’t know.  God knows and Jesus said that those actions would be rewarded by the Father in heaven.

So, dear friends in Christ, remember to bend the knee and take up the cross.  There are so many waiting to be carried.  It is the act that saved the world.  It remains the most revolutionary act we can perform as we ready ourselves for the days ahead.  If we want the world to be any different than it is now, that is what is will take.  Taking on the voluntary cross also helps avoid confusion.  Amen.