Sermon, September 7, 2025

The Gospel                  Luke 14:25-33

Now large crowds were traveling with him, and he turned and said to them, ²⁶ “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. ²⁷ Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. ²⁸ 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? ²⁹ Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, ³⁰ saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’ ³¹ Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? ³² If he cannot, then while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. ³³ So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.

The Sermon

What must we give up as Jesus’ disciples for Creation? Possessions, habits, privileges, comforts, wealth (Lk 14).

On threads, I saw a post from a woman who has not purchased new clothing for 8.5 years. Not a thing. People were questioning how she managed this

              Not tuned into the ever-changing fashion

              Caring for her clothes gently (no dryer, hot water, etc.)

It elicited quite the discussion. People talked about purchasing better quality clothes to begin with, having a few classic pieces to mix and match, not buying fast fashion, buying from smaller stores to support the local economy. Lots of great ideas to reduce one’s overconsumption of apparel, if that’s a problem for you. I admit I felt some guilt as I had just taken advantage of end of summer sales to replace a pair of sandals that were too stretched out for me to wear.

Anyway, I don’t remember her reason for the moratorium on clothes buying. It may have been an economic protest to the then and now current administration. It may have been frustration with fast fashion and current styles that didn’t work for her. But mostly it was an effort on her part to stop contributing to the overconsumption and waste prevalent in American consumerism.

This post also got me thinking about my own spending habits and reminded me of how I spend my money (and time and talents) testifies to what I really values as Christian, to how I live out my faith.          

No doubt about it this is a hard passage to read. There are three words or phrases that stop us cold: Hate, take up your cross, give away all your possessions. Let’s think about them.

Hate is a strong word and lots of us get hung up on Jesus telling us to hate the ones closest to us and even our very own lives. What happened to love God, love neighbor, love self, love enemies? This saying would appear to contradict everything else Jesus teaches about loving others. That is the first clue: Jesus consistently preaches love for others, so “hate” must not mean what we usually think when we hear the word “hate.”

When we read this passage at midweek worship, one of the versions of the Bible read “Love me more than” instead of hate.

You know me, nerd that I am, I had to do a word study.

I went to Bible Hub, because it displays each verse in a variety of versions on one screen (I mention Bible Hub, in case anyone every want to compare versions). Hate was the predominate translation. But some versions said things like:

·       CEV and Good News Translation: love me more than

·       God’s Word Translation: are not ready to abandon

·       World English Bible: doesn’t disregard

·       Aramaic Lamas Bible: does not put aside

·       Mace Translation: he that cannot abandon

·       Spanish translation: does not sacrifice love for

·       NLT and Worsley Nt: by comparison hate

While the Greek word miseo does mean “hate,” in the Christian Scriptures, the New Testament, miseo is used to indicate a choice: elevating one value over another. The crowds around Jesus would have been used to rhetoric that used binary thought: love and hate as paradigm responses of discernment,

·       the wicked to hate discipline, justice, and knowledge

·       the righteous hate wickedness, injustice, gossip

They would have understood that Jesus was using hyperbole to emphasize the extreme seriousness of what he was teaching.

Take up your cross: Jesus is heading to Jerusalem, and the closer he gets the blunter he becomes. He knows he’s going to the cross. He will take it up willingly. The crowds don’t know this. To them, this is a horrific statement. No one would willingly take up that despised Roman symbol of torture, humiliation, and death.

              BTW – I cringe every time someone uses the phrase “that’s just my cross to bear” when talking about something rather trivial. No Grizelda, it isn’t, it’s just a part of life. In taking up the cross, Christians, following in the footsteps of Jesus, deny themselves, lay down their self-interest and lives, so that God’s will is done on earth as it is in heaven. It’s a heavy thing to take up the cross, and Jesus says there’s no laying it down.

Give up all your possessions – that one may be the hardest for us to hear. We get our clues of how to interpret this passage from two encounters in Luke: Zaccheus and the rich young ruler. Jesus commends Zaccheus’ generous pledge to give half of what he owns to the poor. But the ruler is told to sell everything! The difference is heart: Zaccheus was already giving to the poor. The young guy however valued his possessions over God. What would Jesus say to us? Maybe “Reject greed, hording, and over-consumption. Embrace giving, sharing, and work that all may share in the abundance of God.

Now that we’ve thought about those hard words, let’s rephrase Jesus:

If you want to follow me, there will be times you will need to make a choice:

God over family.

God over comfort and convenience

God over wants and keeping up with the Jones

God over self interest

God over money

God over security

God first and foremost

I read another post this week that said “Christians have dual citizenship. Their primary citizenship is in God’ kingdom. Everything else is secondary. When there is a choice to be made, Christians must always choose in favor of God’s kingdom.”

As citizens of God’s kingdom – note I didn’t say Kingdom of heaven, because God’s kingdom is not a someday, far off place, but the reality we live in now – As God’s citizens, choosing God and God’s priorities means making those choices that preserve our natural resources, that reverse or limit damage to earth and her creatures, that generously consider how our consumption impacts other’s livelihoods and access to the bounty God has provided.

There is a cost to every choice. As disciples of Jesus, we are called to consider the cost, and choose God, choose life. As Ghandi once said: “Live simply, that others may simply live.”

The theme of Seasons of Creation this year is Peace with Creation. Reverend Jacynthia Murphy, a priest from the Anglican Church in the Province of AH-oh-TEH-ah-ROH-ah (Aotearoa), New Zealand & Polynesia writes in her commentary on this passage:

Just as discipleship requires sacrifice, peace with creation calls for intentional choices—reducing waste, living simply, and prioritizing sustainability over convenience. Jesus urges thoughtful planning and wholehearted dedication; likewise, ecological restoration requires long-term vision and deep resolve. True discipleship today includes caring for our common home, embodying peace with creation through disciplined, compassionate, and countercultural environmental action.

Jesus asks us: What are you willing to give up for God? I came to lay down my life so all may have life and have it abundantly. I’ve counted the cost, and I willingly paid it. How about you?