September 9, 2010

"Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple." (Luke 14:25-26)

I'm not sure if the jingle is still in use today, but back in 1982, a nationwide advertising and publicity campaign was launched by the Isaly Klondike Company with the tag, "What would you do for a Klondike bar?" If you have seen or heard the commercial, then the tune is probably stuck in your head right now - and I apologize for that. I am personally not a huge fan of ice cream treats - they don't really do much for me - so my answer to the question has always been - not much - I wouldn't do very much for a Klondike bar. In our Gospel Lesson for this upcoming Sunday, Jesus spells out what we need to do - to what lengths we need to go - if we are to be considered one of his disciples. The question we need to ask ourselves is, "what would you do to be a disciple of Jesus?" The understood thought that comes before the Klondike bar question is (considering how good they are and what they do for you) "what would you do for a Klondike Bar?" The understood thought that comes before the disciple of Jesus question is (considering how good he is and what he has done for you) "what would you be willing to do to be a disciple of Jesus?"

I don't know about you, but for me there is one word that Jesus uses in these couple of verses that rings in my ears - the "H" word. Many families that I know, don't even allow the word "hate" to be in their family member's vocabulary. And here we have Jesus telling us that we need to hate what most people value most in life - even more than their precious "stuff" - we need to hate the relationships with those who are closest to us. And then Jesus throws in the one thing that often trumps the value we place on "stuff," and even sadly often trumps the value we place on our relationships with others - as he includes "me, myself and I," in the list of things that must be hated in order to become a disciple of Jesus. Of course we aren't supposed to go around literally hating everyone and ourselves - there are countless other passages from Scripture that instruct us to love one another, which would contradict the hate modus operandi. But we are to love God so much more than we love even our closest loved ones, that relatively speaking, how we love our loved ones is actually closer to hate than it is to love. Jesus tells us we are to 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." (Matthew 22:36-40) The second command is like the first, but it is far inferior to the first and greatest command. In Luther's "what does this mean" to the "first and greatest commandment" - we are told "we should fear, love and trust in God above all things." the "all things" includes even our closest relationships. "What would you do to be a disciple of Jesus?" Would you love him so much more than you love everything and everyone else that is most precious in your life, that relatively speaking, it appears that everything and everyone else is hated by you?

Before we answer the question, let's consider what Jesus has done for us. As much as our closest loved ones care about us and would do anything for us - there is still one thing that they cannot do for us - they cannot make our relationship with God right. Only Jesus could do that. After sin created a barrier between God and man, Jesus was faced with the question: "what would you do to redeem these fallen people?" Jesus responded in the most extreme way - his actions matched his extreme love for us. Jesus left the perfection of heaven to come into this imperfect sinful world to become like one of us. And then after 33 years of wrestling and resisting every sinful temptation that he faced, as he lived a perfect life in our place, Jesus even was willing to die for us - and his death was NOT of natural causes - it was a gory painful death being crucified on a cross. Jesus' actions clearly answer the question regarding what he would do for us. "[Jesus], being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross!" (Philippians 2: 6-8) Jesus did all this for us, so that we could have a right relationship with God.

What would you do for a Klondike bar? My answer is - not much. What would you do to be a disciple of Jesus? Considering what he has done for us - we should love him so much that it appears we hate everything else that's important to us. Jesus deserves more than the love that's leftover after we love everyone else - he deserves the first fruits of our love. He deserves it, and he demands it, if we want to be one of his disciples. When we consider and survey what Jesus has done for us, this shouldn't be a difficult command to follow - we will want to love him most. Unfortunately, the good we want to do we often do not do, but the Good News is that Jesus' obedient life and sacrificial death on the cross paid for our sins of omission too - like the times when we fail to love him most. Out of thanks for paying for all our sins, including the times when we fail to love Jesus to the extreme, we will want to do our best to give him what he wants from us, which is our all when it comes to love. "Were the whole realm of nature mine, that were a tribute far too small; Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all." CW 125:4