See the Kingdom of God Every Day
Since chapter 9 in Luke Jesus has turned his face toward
Jerusalem. Despite the fact that he knows what will happen once he arrives
there. He recognizes that proclaiming the kingdom of God threatens already
entrenched systems of power: in this case the political regime of Rome and the
National and Religious regime of Israel, both of which regimes have authorities
located in Jerusalem. Jerusalem, which for Israel, is considered to be the
center of all creation – the center of the universe and beyond.
Along the way we read of people traveling with him – some
out of interest for their own sake, and others keeping an eye on him for those
authorities garrisoned in Jerusalem. This, in a sense, makes them disciples – a
disciple is one who follows a new teacher, master, Lord, leader of a movement. Jesus
addresses them once again in chapter 14:25-33:
“Now large crowds were traveling with Jesus; and he
turned and said to them, "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. Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be
my disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit
down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it?”
It is difficult to get past the word ‘hate’: unless you hate
father, mother, wife, children, brothers and sister, you cannot be a disciple.
If that is not enough, a disciple needs to be ready to carry the cross to
follow him – which Roman crosses lined the roadways of the Empire with examples
of those who, like Jesus, challenged the authority of the Empire, of Caesar,
who was worshipped as a god. Then Jesus says to consider the cost to follow him
on this journey the way anyone does before beginning a builiding project,
public or private.
The martyred saint, theologian, and disciple of Jesus,
Dietrich Bonhoffer, wrote an entire book on what he called The Cost of
Discipleship. Dying in prison for attempting to assassinate Adolph Hitler,
he understood what Jesus was saying that day on the road to Jerusalem, on his
Journey to the Cross – once one is committed to the Good News of the Kingdom of
God, one has to make a choice – an existential choice – toward a radical new
understanding of one’s self. As the former slave trader John Newton realized
that shipping human beings across the Atlantic was wrong wrote, “I once was
lost, and now am found, was blind, but now I see.”
Neither Jesus, Bonnhoffer, nor Newton hated their families.
Yet, all three of them discovered a new sense of self that transcends family,
tribe, and even nation. All three became citizens of a larger family dedicated
to the love, compassion and justice of God’s Will, or what Jesus understood as
God’s Kingdom.
I believe what Jesus is saying to those traveling with him
is something like, “Take a moment to consider the cost of continuing this
journey. I’m involved in a mission of compassion, acceptance, and love for all
people, no matter what family, tribe, nation, or station in life they may come
from. Those who continue the journey will not be liked by all people. But you
will become God’s Beloved Beloved Children. It depends on a commitment to pick
up and carry the cross daily – not once or twice, but every day. I know no
other way to be what my Father has called me to be – one who reaches out to all
persons, especially those who are suffering and those who are outsiders. For
all of us are outsiders miraculously called to be God’s people first and
foremost no matter who we are, or who we think we are.”
He had said much the same thing as he began the journey to
the cross back in chapter 9:23-27:
Then he said to them all, “If any wish to come after me,
let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For those who want to save their life will
lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit them if they gain the
whole world but lose or forfeit themselves? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words,
of them the Son of Man will be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory
of the Father and of the holy angels. Indeed, truly I tell you, there are some
standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God.”
He is saying that we, anyone, all of us, can see the Kingdom
of God every day if only we will pick of the cross of mission, follow him, and
open our eyes to what is happening as he and his disciples reach out to others.
I once was at a conference leading a room of people in
singing Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God. In the front of the room was a
table of people who were from a deaf congregation, and an interpreter led them
in signing the song in American Sign Language. Pretty soon one person at a time
in the room behind them began to join in signing the song, until pretty much
everyone had entered their world. The interpreter urged them to turn around.
The expression on their faces, their smiles and their tears, was as powerful a
vision of the kingdom of God I have ever seen. The joy in that room was
palpable to overwhelming! We had all seen the kingdom of God before “tasting
death.” Because the kingdom is here, now, for those who follow Jesus.
The cost of discipleship need not cost us our life – but it
most often means being open to enter into the lives of others who are
different, or suffering, in need, lonely, hurting, and in any way whatsoever in need of being touched by Jesus.
At the end of the day, Jesus says it is not about hate, it is about the cost of
loving others – all others – as you love God and family.
The result of true discipleship is that we can see the
kingdom of God every day if we commit ourselves to carry the cross, and to seek
God’s kingdom, in all that we say and all that we do. Amen.
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