Know the Payee

Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost - September 9, 2007

We had a great time last Sunday, didn't we?

We walked through that scene when Jesus came to the house of Sam Pharisee.

We saw that Sam was busy erecting barriers between himself and the others beneath him on the social scale.

We saw how Jesus utterly rejects and kind of social score-keeping.

The important thing is not which seat we get at the Lord's table, but the fact that Jesus makes room for one more and one more, and you and me.

It is a free gift, quite unexpected in this

you-get-what-you-pay-for world;

it is like the wind that picks up all of a sudden and smacks you in the face with a $100 bill as you are walking along.

Wow! We would tell everyone about what has just happened, wouldn't we?

It would be time for a party, for celebration, for acknowledging that a gift has been received.

In just that way, we are here today to celebrate in word and sacrament.

The gift has come and is coming and will come to us...out of the blue.

Let's have a party.

And then Jesus moves immediately to this speech today about the cost of discipleship.

“Who would start to build a tower without calculating how much it will cost to finish it? A half-built tower will bring derision.

Count the cost.

Who would willingly use an adjustable rate mortgage without calculating what will happen when the rate goes up faster than one's income?

Apparently a number of homeowners are getting squeezed these days in this situation.

Count the cost.

So about now we may be getting a bit cynical.

Last week it was all free grace; and this week it is the catch, the hidden trick.

Last week we got free grace;

this week we get the bill,

or at least it may seem that way at first hearing.

Imagine how popular Jesus would have been as word of how he handled Sam Pharisee got around.

“Wow! This Jesus is something! He really gives it to those hypocrites.

Let's tag along and hear more of what he has to say!

The crowd swells and surges after him, and then Jesus turns and say sharply to them:

“Whoever does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brother and sister, and even life itself cannot be my disciple.”

“Give up the stuff you claim to be your own possession, and follow me.”

And the crowd begins to drift away.

They begin to count the cost, and decide that getting too close to Jesus was going to be too expensive.

Let's be upfront and honest.

This group of people which Christ calls together as the church is nota social group in which a person can pay a few dollars is dues and be haphazard about everything else, and still have the head of the church remain happy.

This is Jesus; this is discipleship we're talking about here, and it is not easy.

What is it going to cost?

Everything, absolutely everything and everyoneincluding the dearest of family...

your whole life is what it will cost.

Before each of us turns away in dismay or disgust, listen just a bit more.

Lest that seem too much to pay, I would remind you that “your whole life” is what each of us will end up paying anyway.

It will either be to Jesus or to something else.

Because in the end, we do have to give up possessions, family, and life itself.

|;It isn't a question of whether or not we'll eventually have to pay the piper;

it is only a question of which piperwe pay! :|

A cynical student was having an argument about a particular national policy decision, and in the course of the argument remarked: “There's nothing worth dying for,” to which his companion replied, “Then in the end you will die for nothing.”

Each of us is going to pay;

we must let go of all of these precious things.

What will we be giving up for our life?

As we take hold of Christ's free gift of grace we hear his voice,

“Take up your cross and follow me.”

We give up our willfulness, and receive back a life remade.

But the world has trouble hearing and believing that this is true;

and the crowds melt away from Jesus, 2,000 years ago in Israel, and right here today.

There was a man by the name of Oscar Romero who had a chance at a great career. He came from a well to do family, and had many advantages.

He was ordained a priest in El Salvador, and rose to archbishop.

The military approved his accession to that post because of his old family ties and the assumption that he wouldn't make trouble.

But something happened after he took that high-ranking post.

He began to see the plight of the poor of his country and how unfair many of the policies were in his land.

He began to speak out and urge people to change the old ways in which things were done.

The military became less and less happy with him and finally decided that he had to be removed.

One day during Mass, he spoke this way:

“You just heard in the Gospel of Jesus that one must not love oneself so much as to avoid getting involved in the risks of life that history demands of us,

and that those who try to fend off the danger will lose their lives.

But whoever gives himself out of love for Christ to the service of others will live!

I have often been threatened with death, but as a Christian, I believe in the resurrection.

Martyrdom is a grace of God that I do not believe that I deserve.

But if God accepts the sacrifice of my life, let my blood be a seed of freedom, for the liberation of my people and as a witness of hope for God's future.”

Moments later a gunman appeared at the church door and murdered the archbishop as he stood at the altar.

Oh yes, the crowds will melt away from Jesus, and from any who would follow Jesus, and may become deadly angry with Jesus and those who follow him.

But, as Archbishop Romero and the saints of every era have known, what matters is the one to whom our lives will be paid.

Will it be to the lord of darkness, or the Lord God?

We make that decision a thousand different ways every day:

--How do we use our money?

--How do we praise God with the things he has entrusted to us?

--How do we help our neighbor in his every need, as the Catechism urges?

--Does that written document we call a “will” reflect our faith?

--Is some earthly good to come from what that document says?

--When we are challenged to use some part of our time in the ministry of the congregation... in Bible study,

a committee,

a task force,

a service project, worship leadership,

taking a flower to a shut-in,

telling a neighbor about the joy you know as a follower of Jesus,

or whatever,

do we in effect say

“No, I have another master

TV, football, golf, soccer

personal comfort, or something else.

It is sad how foolish we sound.

Count the cost.

If we don't, we'll look and sound like all the rest of the self-centered world around us and there will not be much point in bothering with church.

But if we do count the cost (and even more importantly) know the payee, the decisions that we make may be life-changing, for ourselves and for those around us.

When we shop, do we want something that is all flash and glitter but will break before we get it home; or do we want something that will last?

When we receive the banquet invitation from Jesus, let's treat it as the honor it is, for it comes from the Lord God

who has decided to be faithful to us,

who continues to give good gifts,

who invites us to use them well.

When we count the cost, here is something that finally is worth the price. Amen.

Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.