For quite some time, Jesus had been wandering through the land teaching and doing acts of kindness and healing. For quite some time, he had been confronting the religious establishment that seemed to be more focused on the outward forms of religiosity than on the inward state of the soul and outward deeds of compassion. All this had won Jesus quite a following.

The passage we read this morning begins with the statement that there were large crowds traveling with Jesus. It is safe to assume they were enthusiastic.

But Jesus wanted more than travel companions. He wanted more than a crowd to cheer him on. Jesus knew that enthusiasm is like the flame of a fourth of July sparkler. It is bright; it burns a lot of energy quickly, for a short time it produces dancing light, but it does not last long. Jesus knew that for the long haul the people needed something more than enthusiasm for a charismatic leader.

We understand his concern. Who of us has not been like the people in this crowd—persons who have had some sort of meaningful, personal religious experience, and as a result of that marvelous mountaintop experience have enthusiastically traveled for awhile with Christ? Perhaps we have even enthusiastically invited others to join us in this journey. But then as the journey grew long, as the trials and troubles of the journey began to mount, as the cost of following Jesus became more obvious, as other claims on our lives began to make demands, little by little we fell farther and farther behind until at last we were left behind, and our mountaintop experience was an increasingly vague memory.

Enthusiasm burns bright. It is wonderful. But it is not enough. It is not enough because, like the sparkler, it does not have staying power.

What is needed is solid commitment. As wonderful as it is to believe Jesus is the Messiah who speaks the truth, and does the deeds of God, as wonderful and exciting as it is to celebrate and cheer God’s grace, what is needed is commitment to Christ. What is needed is long-term commitment to live lives shaped by the tough and tender love revealed in Christ.

Jesus wants more than groupies who cheer and applaud what he is doing in his ministry. What he wants is disciples to commit themselves to being in ministry day in and day out throughout their lives.

Each of us live in a network of many loyalties—to family, to career, to dreams, to nation, to friends, to organizations, to causes, and the like. Our lives are tangled with all sorts of commitments. So much so that it is not unusual for us to trip over conflicting loyalties and get all tied up in knots in tangled commitments. In the passage we read today, Jesus was calling people to commitment, to be his disciples and telling them what this would cost them. Choices have to be made. Everything cannot be in first place. Everything cannot be our top priority. Everything cannot be our top loyalty. We have to chose what is our primary commitment. This is what Jesus was calling for in the passage that was read.

That passage begins with a statement that can be troubling. Jesus said: "Whoever comes to me and does not hate [the members of his or her family and even life itself] cannot be my disciple." On the surface this statement appears to be a huge contradiction of everything else Jesus said and did. The basic theme of Jesus’ message throughout all four Gospels is that we are to love God and love others as we love ourselves. He even told us to love our enemies. Now, suddenly, he seems to be telling us to hate everyone in our family and even hate life itself.

Of course, those of us who have been around churches for a while can guess what the problem is. The word that is translated as "hate" is a word that does not have a good equivalent in English. Listen to what Fred Craddock, a New Testament scholar, wrote about this: To hate is a Semitic expression meaning to turn away from, to detach oneself from. There is nothing of that emotion we experience in the expression: "I hate you."

The problem Jesus was addressing in this statement is a problem many of us have. I know I do. It is the problem of being so fused with the members of my family I am like an emotional Siamese twin. Am I happy? Wait. Let me check to determine whether or not each member of my family is happy. Is my life worth something? Wait. Let me check to determine whether or not each member of my family is doing okay. The problem Jesus was talking about is the problem of having our identity and self-worth swallowed by our family relations. The problem Jesus was talking about is the problem of parents letting go of children and children letting go of parents. The problem is that we humans tend to worship our families more than we worship God.

We are to worship God. When I speak of worship, I am not simply referring to participating in services such as this. When I speak of worship, I am talking about what we live for, what we center our living around, what we look toward to give our lives meaning and worth. What do we worship? Where do we look for meaning in our lives?

The problem is not that families are bad and we should abandon all our kin. The problem is we should not allow family or children or parents to take the place of God. The problem is not that family is bad. Having family is a marvelous gift of God’s love. The problem for many of us is that we take this good gift of the family and we begin treating it as if it were God. The problem is we begin to be more concerned about what pleases various members of our families than about what is pleasing to Christ. Our problem is we start living as if what we really worship is this good gift from God called family or children or parents.

In this passage Jesus was telling us to quit worshipping our families and the wants, fears and desires of each member of our families. We are to center our living around what God wants. What Jesus was saying does not in the least way undercut or deny the responsibilities we have to and for one another. He was simply saying to me and to you: "Your primary identity is not that of being a son or daughter; it is not that of being a husband or wife; it is not that of being a parent or grandparent. Your primary identity is being a child of God; you, each of you is a special, unique, once in all creation child of God. Each of you is God’s child; and the primary commitment for each of you is to be committed to God, not to other persons created by God."

Of course the passage deals with more than just our tendency to worship our family or members of our family rather than God. Jesus was telling the crowd and is telling us, that to be his disciple, we need to be aware of the cost of discipleship and be willing to pay the cost. Jesus was saying that to follow him, to be his disciple involves commitment to follow him, even when following him leads us to crosses of our own.

In this passage, Jesus was trying to be bluntly clear. Being a disciple of Christ calls for commitment. There is a cost involved. We have to make choices, and among them is the choice about what is the basic priority in our living. Where do we really look for meaning? What is it that really gives our lives direction and purpose?

The context of the passage we read today is that Jesus knew he was on his way to Jerusalem, and he was rather clear about what that probably meant for him. He was trying to be open, clear and honest with the large crowd of enthusiastic followers. He suspected the crowd assumed that they were part of a wonderful inauguration procession. He suspected that they did not fully realize that following Christ is about much more than receiving the benefits of God’s grace; it also has to do with living our lives so that we are instruments of God’s grace. He suspected they thought that following him was going to make their lives safe from harm with fewer problems and increasingly good times. He suspected their real commitment was not to him, nor to the grace of God and the will of God, but that their real commitment was to their families, to their financial security and in all this, to themselves. Jesus was not trying to be harsh. He was simply trying to be clear, open and honest.

He was saying to them and to us: "If you want to be my disciple, pick up your cross and follow me to whatever is your God-given Golgatha." He was saying: "Commitment to me and my way of life is not merely another commitment to add to your other commitments. Loyalty to me and the Gospel is not merely another loyalty to add to your other loyalties. Commitment and loyalty to me is to be the central commitment and loyalty that shapes all other commitments and all other loyalties."

We live in a network of loyalties and commitments. The question is which ones take precedence? When our basic and primary commitment is to Christ, that commitment reshapes and redefines all our other commitments and loyalties.

God, help us make our primary commitment be to Christ. Enable us to allow that commitment to reshape and redefine all our other commitments. Amen.

Pastoral Prayer:

God, help us to pray. It is so easy for us merely to go through the motions, to mouth words or to day dream while others mouth words. Help us to pray. Enable each of us to be open with you, honest with you and in the process to be honest with ourselves. And in the midst our talking enable us to be open to you, to be able to discern what you are saying to us.

God, hear us as we thank you for the multitude of blessings we have received. (pause)

God, there are persons in this congregation or who are in some way related to this congregation who have special needs of which we are aware. (list prayer concerns)

And God, for all others who have special needs this day, we pray that they be made sensitive to your presence and able to draw upon all the resources your grace provides.

God, each of us has all sorts of concerns or worries or problems. Some of them are very personal; some of them are related to our families; some of them are related to concerns within our community or within our state or nation or in regard to the world at large. God, you know our concerns. Help us in the midst of our situations. Enable us to discern what you want us to say and do, and then enable us to say and do it.

Enable us to live the prayer Jesus taught us. "Our Father …"