June 30, 2013
Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at the First Chinese Baptist Church in San Francisco.
Today is literally the middle of 2013, 181 days are over and there are 184 days left. We are in our summer mode. Two weeks of Day Camp has already happened. Our Summer Series begins next Sunday. And our mind is focused on an upcoming vacation or at least, a slower pace at work. But for some reason you are here on a summer Sunday in June.
As a preacher, I know that anybody preaching on Jesus has got to use some discretion. No preacher ever got hurt for quoting Jesus on “consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin.” But there are other words of Jesus, when spoken over a summer-time focused, complacent congregation, that feel like all work and no play.
So when there is a collection of Scriptures that we could choose from to preach on, we might avoid the more challenging, the more demanding ones and choose a nice word to preach. We might sugarcoat it so that you might not turn away and never come back. After all, it is summer!
The church that we attended in Pennsylvania used to have a slogan that says, “Open Minds, Open Hearts, Open Doors.” The purpose for this is to attract many to our church. I’m all for drawing more toward the church but some people reacted with words like, “These are all very attractive and welcoming words, but they never mention Jesus.” When a church consultant replied to the comments, he said, “Our research has shown us that the word, “Jesus” is a turnoff for many in our target audience. Better stick with the sweet and sentimental.”
Jesus’ word may be the word of life, but they’re often too tough for nine out of ten average self-centered Americans. For the most part, you want to hear a prosperity gospel. You would rather that I preach the Prayer of Jabez, “Increase my holdings!” than to castigate the rich. You prefer that I coddle the rich and desert the poor in our cities and the impoverished countryside.
Toward Jerusalem
In today’s Gospel lesson, Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem. And we all know that when Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem, he’s not going on a summer vacation. First, someone comes up to Jesus and said he would follow him wherever he goes, but apparently, he was not ready to leave his home because Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” Sounds like this would-be follower wanted to have a confirmed hotel reservation before going on any further.
Then someone comes up to him and says, “I’ll follow you but first let me go bury my father.” After all, doesn’t one of the Ten Commandments tell us to honor our fathers?
Jesus responds, “Let the dead bury their own dead; come with me and preach the Kingdom!” Jesus is not saying to disrespect those who have died, but rather he seems to be saying to us to not dwell over such things when the dead are already with God and start focusing on what’s ahead for you
Then finally another says, “I’ll follow you, but just let me say goodbye to my dear family.” After all, don’t we believe in family values?
Jesus says, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the Kingdom of God” which means no one who worries about such mundane and ordinary matters ought to try to be his disciples. Jesus is not into multi-tasking; he wants you to do only one thing and that is to follow him.
Hard words! No wonder many, like the rich young man, went away sadly. But what surprises me is that you are here. Despite all the good reasons for turning away, staying back or going in another direction, you are here. Many have turned away, but you, dear ones gathered here, have turned toward him.
We wonder if Luke recorded these tough words of Jesus in order to judge us or to discourage us from following Jesus. Many, according to Luke, upon hearing the tough, demanding words of Jesus, turned away from Jesus, refused to follow. Let’s face it, if you had reasons like needing a place to stay or attend a funeral especially since it’s your father’s or take a few seconds to say farewell before going on a long journey like going to missions in Thailand, you would say that those are pretty reasonable excuses. But Jesus didn’t think so.
Following Jesus
Today’s social media feeds allow friends to follow you as you go through your typical day. If you are writing a blog, or hosting a blog, you want to have as many “followers” as possible. Our son, Greg is very much into such social media by having people “Follow Greg.” One time I click his blog on and I saw him eating a muffin while driving to work! Why? I ask!
Following Greg is a piece of cake or muffin. But following Jesus is tough.
The great Baptist theologian James McClendon said that when he was twelve his mother told him, “It’s time for you to make a profession of faith and be baptized.” McClendon replied, “Mama, I don’t feel I want to be baptized yet.” She replied, “I don’t care what you feel, you go tell the preacher that you have accepted Jesus and want to be baptized.”
So he went. His Baptist preacher said, “So, you want to be a Christian? Well, you know that if you are baptized it means that you promise to listen to Jesus and to do whatever he tells you. He might tell you to go to Africa and preach the gospel to the cannibals. He might tell you to get on a boat and go to China. We’ve had two hundred Baptist missionaries killed in China. Jesus might tell you to do that.”
McClendon said that either the pastor didn’t know anything about the perverted mind of a twelve-year old male or that he knew everything about the perverted mind of a twelve-year-old but his reply was, “This is great! Where do I sign up? I didn’t know being a Christian would be this much fun!”
I think that’s what the Thailand Mission Team said when they were presented with the opportunity to travel to the rural hill tribes in Thailand. When this challenging and demanding opportunity came to our church to trench along the road and to lay down water pipes, to mix and pour heavy concrete, to build latrines, to sweat and deal with mosquitoes and the possibility of malaria, the 18 people must have said, “This is great! Where do I sign up? I didn’t know being a Christian would be this much fun!”
Following Jesus as his disciples has never been easy. Following Jesus is not trying to attract lots and lots of people to come to our church for a sweet and sentimental experience of having “Open Minds, Open Hearts, Open Doors.” Following Jesus is to hear him say to us hard, disruptive, but life-giving words. When we hear these tough and adventuresome words, we respond not with the normal, “I can’t do that!” but rather with a hearty, “Here I am, send me!”
Set His Face
In our lesson for today, the passage begins with “When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.” Setting one’s face is a common idiom in the Old Testament that denotes an individual’s resolve.
Jesus has set his face toward Jerusalem knowing what fate is waiting for him there. He is no passive victim of state-sponsored violence. But he has resolutely decided to go, knowing that it means a certain death. He didn’t have to go. He resolutely decides to go.
Jesus is not simply a victim of evil and violence; he is the strong warrior marching resolutely to engage the enemy. Rather than being portrayed as a victim, he is the potential victor.
Setting his face toward Jerusalem, Jesus did not permit anything or anyone to distract him from his mission. Whenever he met individuals who were preoccupied with other matters, even these would-be disciples along the way, Jesus kept his focus with his face toward Jerusalem.
What is your Jerusalem? Where is God calling you to put your life on the line, letting go of all the things that you feel are that important to follow him? Those who went on the Thailand followed Jesus and set their faces on Jerusalem.
If you were to set your face on something worthwhile, what might that be? Could it be to stop what you are so busily doing day after day so that you can do something new and transformative on a new day?
As you know, I pray that I have been faithful to the Lord by setting my face toward Jerusalem. Honestly, my Jerusalems have been to come to San Francisco and to this fine church two times. My Jerusalem was going to Valley Forge and serve there for 20 plus years. And now God has added another Jerusalem for me and that is to set my face on the American Baptist denomination to serve as its President for the next two years.
When the Methodist Bishop William Willimon was the chaplain at Duke University, he attended a campus meeting one night when Teach America was there to recruit students. He went to see and listen to what all the fuss was about. He got to the auditorium where about 200 students were gathered.
A woman arrived from Teach America. She stood up, looked out at the gathered students, and said, “I don’t know why I’m here tonight. I can look at you and see that Duke is a first-class university. I know that this is a “BMW school.” You are all smart and ambitious. You can go on from here and get jobs on Wall Street, in government and industry. And here I am trying to talk you into throwing away some of the best years of your life teaching in some of the worst schools in the country for about $20,000 a year. We had two of our teachers beaten to death last year in their classroom! I can tell by looking at you that none of you are interested in that. So I won’t keep you. But if by chance any of you think you’re up for this, I’ve got these brochures and you can come up here and get one. Meeting’s over.”
With that those students jumped up and, pushing and shoving one another, mobbed the front and began fighting over those brochures. And Willimon sat there thinking, “The woman’s good.”
It just maybe that we are really eager to make a real difference in the world with our lives but no one has invited us to do this. Maybe we have grown so accustomed to the “good life” of living in San Francisco where the rents are too high and houses are too expensive that we have this feeling that we have done our part and let others do the work.
We might not consider ourselves as would-be disciples but regardless of what our age or stage of life might be, perhaps we have too much house to care for or too many people we know who have health problems demanding our attention or too many relations that we can’t possibly get away to set our faces toward Jerusalem.
Jesus would say to us, “No one puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the Kingdom of God.”
This is indeed a tough text for a gentle warm summer Sunday like today. But Jesus is calling you to follow him today and if you are ready to hear his hard words, let us say, “Here am I, send me! Take my life and use it for your kingdom.”
Let us pray.
Forgive us, Lord, for the times when we lag behind in our life as followers of your Son. Forgive us when we give lip service instead of serving with our hearts. Forgive us when we falter because it is expected of us to not follow through instead of serving with passion. Stir within us a yearning to be more that we are, and create in us an enthusiasm so burning that others might see the light of Jesus the Christ in us. Amen.