The Journey of Discipleship: "Follow me."

This is the sermon I preached this weekend at a local retirement village. You'll see that it fits the context.
Blessings!
SB


I’ve always enjoyed travelling. Before I began training for ministry I was a teacher, and this has given me some wonderful opportunities to travel.
• Taught Chinese – students to China (things go wrong – broken bones, lost passports, stolen passports etc)
• I’ve also taught in England and travelled around there – as well as using holidays to drive around Europe – (more adventures - stolen purse, losing my mother etc)

What I like most about travelling is that it provides a wonderful opportunity to learn about ourselves – how we deal with difficulties and challenges. We learn about who we really are. We meet amazing people. I’ve made friends whilst travelling that I stay in touch with many years later. Travelling provides opportunities for growth and our development as people.

In today’s reading Jesus too is going on a journey. This reading is the turning point in the gospel: Jesus is now heading towards Jerusalem. We who have read the whole story know exactly what that journey will mean: it’s the journey towards death on the cross, resurrection and return to the father. In the face of what he knows is the inevitable end of his journey, Jesus is determined – he “sets his face” to go to Jerusalem.

This is the journey that Jesus calls his disciples to join him on. The journey to Jerusalem and ultimately the cross.

The first thing that happens, as in any good travel story, is that Jesus sends his disciples on ahead to find a room for the night. The disciple enter a village of Samaritans, but find no welcome there. It’s probably not surprising that a Samaritan town won’t receive him – we know that there is long term animosity between the Samaritans and Jews from other stories in the bible. James and John don’t take this lack of hospitality very well and decide ask Jesus whether they should retaliate – call down fire from heaven to destroy the village. Their response to this slight is way out of proportion –to wreak havoc in the town, destroy lives and families because they wouldn’t offer them a bed.

In response, Jesus rebukes them. The issue is not just the destruction of the Samaritan town, but their whole mindset.
They are not displaying either the love of God or love of neighbour. They are mindlessly escalating a simple rejection into catastrophic reprisal. Instead, Jesus’ response is simply to move on to another village. Jesus, who will later uses the animosity between the Jews and Samaritans as a way of broadening out the idea of who can be a neighbour – who it is that we should show love, care and compassion to, uses this opportunity to teach the disciples another lesson. Rather than escalating a simple rejection and lack of hospitality into a monumental fight – the disciples are instead to move on to another town, to “let it go”, to keep their eyes on the journey ahead. “Don’t lose focus,” Jesus might be saying – “we’re heading for Jerusalem.”

As they continue on, they are met by three people who are considering following Jesus. The first, who voluntarily approaches Jesus is told that following Jesus is to have a life where there is nowhere to lay their head. The journey to Jerusalem and the cross is a difficult and perilous one.

The next two people are actually called by Jesus to: “Come and follow me.” Both are willing, but make excuses – there are things at home that need to be dealt with. The first has an apparently reasonable request: he needs to bury his father before he can follow Christ. The second wants to go and say farewell to those at home. Jesus tells them in no uncertain terms that they are to leave everything behind to follow him.

Did you notice that we are not told how any of these three potential disciples respond to Jesus? Did the first young man return home to bury his father? Did the second go back to get his parents approval? The gospel does not tell us – perhaps because this is not important. Because it isn’t the individual situations of these potential followers of Jesus that matter, it isn’t the point of the story.

If we get caught up in the nature of what the two men want to do before they head off or whether or not they actually end up following Jesus– we miss the point. Because, if we think about our own lives we do the same thing as these young men all the time, don’t we? There’s always something more pressing, more important to do. “Just hang on a sec, I need to ….” is a pretty common response to those we love, and to Jesus.
Because in truth, the things that matter to us always seem to be reasonable and sensible excuses, just as the responses of these men seem reasonable. What Jesus is saying here, is that nothing is more important than following him. There is nothing we should do first before we step out to follow him as disciples. To do so is to be spiritually dead. To follow Jesus is to be spiritually alive. To follow Jesus is to choose life – eternal life, in all its richness and fullness. Jesus isn’t saying: don’t care for your family, don’t meet your responsibilities – what he IS saying is that nothing, nothing, is more important than the life of faith and following him on the journey.

What is the journey that Jesus calls the disciples on like? Is it a cushy simple– it is not one of comfort and rest – but one where there is “nowhere for Jesus, the Son of Man, to lay his head.” To be a disciple is a difficult and costly journey.

So what does this mean for us today? Is this a journey that we can go on? If so, how? Well the first thing to say is that this is not a physical journey of travel, but rather one of spiritual pilgrimage – a call to follow Jesus is a call to enter into relationship with the living God who creates and sustains us.

The nature of a call to discipleship is different for all of us:
• for some it involves overseas missionary work,
• for others ministry in the church,
• for some it’s the intimate ministry of pastoral care: offering a cup of tea and a listening ear for someone in distress. Being prepared to spend time being present to another person in their time of need.
• Or maybe it is the ministry of prayer: praying for the world, for those who suffer, for those whose needs should be brought before God.
• Perhaps a ministry of hospitality: allowing others to experience something of the inclusive love of God.

Whatever the ministry, the journey that we are called to go on is a life long journey, one where our relationship with God grows and changes as we grow and change.

The nature of the activity that takes place may change over the course of our lives, but the invitation does not – nor does our need to continually respond to God’s calling diminish.

The other important thing to say is that we need tools for the journey. Just as a traveller does not set out without sturdy footwear, a good back pack and waterproof clothing, neither can a spiritual pilgrim embark on a journey of deepening relationship with God without the right equipment. The tools of the disciple on the journey are prayer, reading the bible, worship and fellowship with other Christians. These provide sustenance and the nourishment necessary for growth on the way.

So, as I said at the beginning, I love travelling. The thrill of new experiences and sights to see is wonderful. But perhaps the most exciting journey of all is the one that Jesus calls us to go on. A journey to Jerusalem: a journey with difficulty and hardship along the way, but a journey whose ultimate destination is to enter into the rich and abundant life of God.