Year C Proper 15 Hard Truths

 Year C Proper 15, 14 August 2022

St. James the Less Episcopal, Ashland, VA

“Hard Truths”

Collect: Almighty God, you have given your only Son to be for us a sacrifice for sin, and also an example of godly life: Give us grace to receive thankfully the fruits of his redeeming work, and to follow daily in the blessed steps of his most holy life; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Hebrews 12:1-2 (a portion of today's reading)

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.

Luke 12:49-56

Jesus said, "I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; they will be divided:

father against son

and son against father,

mother against daughter

and daughter against mother, 

mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law

and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

He also said to the crowds, "When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, `It is going to rain'; and so it happens. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, `There will be scorching heat'; and it happens. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?”

Friends, this Sunday is a inside the family conversation. Jesus is speaking plainly, honestly, and shockingly frankly to most ears. It may sound like Jesus needs a Snickers, but it is much more than that. What he says does not fit the mold we may have of Jesus of Nazareth. He speaks of how his teachings will be confrontational and divisive. And remember, there were times when he overturned tables as well as welcoming children. 

Truth is often a hard pill to swallow.

Sometimes our mental images are far more comforting than reality. And our denial may let us slip back into our prejudices and bad habits, friends, it is not where we really want to reside. Who wants to live in a lie?

We often forget that Jesus was murdered for political reasons, his teachings were dangerous and he needed to be silenced and his “divisive movement” must be quelled by the religious leaders that be in the precarious balance of powers they shared with the Romans who were occupying their state. To keep what little they had, they had to pay an expensive price. What is the life of one man to maintain the way things are?

To the Sanhedrin, the Jewish religious congress, obviously that this was worth it. Jesus’ prediction came true.

His message, if we really do what he calls us to do in the Gospel, not what we think it says, but truly says, is as shattering to the status quo today as it was then. 

Despite the current debates to the contrary, there is right and wrong. There is good and bad. There is Evil in this world out to undo the Kingdom of God. Every single one of us, not just the clergy or super-religious amongst us have the responsibility to discern. We all must do the work of discernment, listening to the prompting of the voice of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Think of it like Jiminy Cricket if you have to, or that still small voice while the world is in uproar, but each and every one of us are given the opportunity every day to “choose this day whom we will serve.” We are given the opportunity to choose the right, and turn away from the wrong. The high road or the low road, we all choose our path.

In the early church, in their baptismal practices before infants and children were baptized, the new initiates would gather in the predawn hours beside a stream or river of flowing water. They would get into the chilly waters, and as the sun cracked over the horizon they would turn and renounce the darkness, and turn back and embrace the light. Then they would be baptized into Christ. Claiming and residing in Christ in a lifelong commitment. Some of that language remains in our baptismal promises.

Even today, in countries where Christianity is not the norm or predominant, many are fine if their relatives are curious and attend a Bible study or church service, but if people are baptized, they understand that this is serious, a game changer. They understand the words of Jesus that there will be division.

“Father against son

and son against father,

mother against daughter

and daughter against mother, 

mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law

and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

Somewhere along the way we have allowed our faith to become cultural, and I have seen images where people have drawn Jesus with American flags, or even worse, with a gun. Nothing could be further from the Jesus of Scripture than images like these.

Like the Hebrew prophets of old, Jesus knew that things were not as God would have them. Like Isaiah called out the hypocrisy of those who considered themselves righteous in Isaiah 5, just a little bit further down from today’s reading:

Woe to those who drag iniquity along with cords of falsehood,

    who drag sin along as with cart ropes,

who say, “Let him make haste;

    let him speed his work

    that we may see it;

let the plan of the Holy One of Israel hasten to fulfillment,

    that we may know it!”

Woe to those who call evil good

    and good evil,

who put darkness for light

    and light for darkness,

who put bitter for sweet

    and sweet for bitter!

Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes

    and shrewd in their own sight!

Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine

    and valiant at mixing drink,

who acquit the guilty for a bribe

    and deprive the innocent of their rights! [vv.18-23]

Jesus came to promote the Kingdom of God. Not his religion. Not the Empire. Not the Emperor. Not the Right to bear your sword. Jesus came to reframe our world, and have us step up into the reality of the Kingdom of God. A place of Grace. A place where all are welcome, no matter what has come before. A place divided from the way things are in this world. Jesus knew that his way of thinking, and living, and this message would drive a wedge into hearts and minds, and our society itself.

Jesus said, "I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; they will be divided…

The way I read this is not that Jesus wants division, but he wants the Kingdom so badly that he knows the outcome. Don’t put the cart before the horse. The horse is the Kingdom of God, and the cart that follows is division. Treating people with Love and Grace goes against the power structures that were, and are still today. The hard truth that Jesus says here in Luke is not past tense. It is as true today as when he said it.

For so many outside the Church, they can almost see the divisions and the hypocrisy better than we can. When people claiming to follow Christ talk about needing jet airplanes or fancy cars or luxury items it is disgraceful. 

While I was traveling recently it made the news in England about the preacher in New York who was doing an online service and was robbed at gunpoint for a million to a million and a half dollars in jewelry that he and his wife were wearing. Not supposedly these two people are followers of Jesus who only had the robe on his back when he died, and even that was taken and gambled over by the soldiers at the foot of the cross. Surprisingly enough, when we landed at Dulles, the customs official who welcomed us back into the country asked if I had heard about it while I was in England. He brought it up when he found out I was a priest. He then mentioned that his uncle was the NYPD detective on that case. I told him that I would pray for his uncle and I have. I also encouraged him to have his uncle look into the minister who had a million plus in jewelry. That sounds more shady to me than the robbery.

Friends, we preach a message of love and sacrifice. Of life change and eternal reward. Of turning the other cheek and generosity. Of humility and prayer. Power, and Privilege, and Prejudice are not choices we can make when we are truly following Christ.

And none of us, not a one of us, especially me, gets it fully right on this side of heaven. There are and will be logs in our eyes as we slowly attempt the conversion of our hearts on our road to heaven. That is why we gather for encouragement and strength, for correction and confrontation, for reconciliation and absolution in our divided and divisive path into the Kingdom of God Christ brought about. There are many shoulders of the faithful that we are standing upon, and the world is slowly shifting to that final day when all shall be revealed and the Kingdom will come in its fullness. That is why the preacher in Hebrews can encourage and strengthen us with their admonition:

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.

Ashland is a train town, and an old standard that was actually a hit again in my teenage years echoed through my brain this week preparing for today. 

People get ready

There's a train a-coming

You don't need no baggage

You just get on board

All you need is faith

To hear the diesels humming

Don't need no ticket

You just thank the Lord

So much truth there. I need to let go of the baggage of this world and get on board. Do I have the faith to do so? Or will I let it go by? Ponder that friends. Jesus’ promises confront and welcome still. Amen