Grace Is Free But Not Cheap

Dr. James Mayfield

Tarrytown United Methodist Church

September 4, 2004

Text: Luke 14:15-33
God's grace is free, but it is not cheap. Imagine yourselves carrying a lot of bundles. Then someone comes to you with a gift, a marvelous, magnificent gift beyond price. It is yours. But you have to put down the stuff you are carrying in order to receive it. It is yours, but it is impossible for you to receive this gift as long as your hands are full of other things. You have a choice to make. either put down what you are carrying so you can receive the gift, or hang on to what you have and pass the gift by.

This is what the story we read this morning is really all about. Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem , and he was attracting a large crowd, but it was clear they did not understand. They were following him not because of who he was but because of who they thought he was, who they hoped he was. They followed him with enthusiasm, believing he would get rid of whatever they wanted to be rid of. He was going to make their lives easier, safer, happier. They were not following Jesus to serve him. They were following him because they believed Jesus would get rid of all their troubles and make life be the way they wanted life to be.

Jesus was aware of this, so he said something that sounds terribly harsh to our ears. Jesus said those who do not “hate” the members of their families cannot be his disciple. What was he saying? On first reading our literal English translation appears to declare that Jesus is telling us to violate the very commands he has given us. Are we not to love our family members as we are to love neighbors or even our enemies? “To hate” is a Semitic expression that means to turn away from, to detach oneself from. It was an expression that did not carry the emotion we experience and mean when we say: “I hate you.” Jesus was talking about what we call “detachment.”

Jesus knew it is impossible for any of us to be the persons God created us to be as long as what others feel shapes what we feel, as long as what others think shapes what we think, as long as what others do shapes what we do. The loss of self in such unhealthy relationships is what we have come to call being codependent. When we are codependent, we live as if we are emotional Siamese twins, with no identity or lives of our own. We spend our energies either trying to conform to the desires of someone else or we exhaust ourselves trying to make someone else conform to our desires. To receive the gift of living now and forever in harmony with God, we have to let go of whatever prevents us from receiving what God is offering.

In this passage Jesus confronts each of us with questions about our most basic loyalty. And it is not just codependent relationships that so fill our living we cannot receive what God is offering. We can cling to our possessions so tightly we cannot receive what Jesus is offering. We can be so focused on the blessings we call “ours” we do not even see our blessings as gifts from God but view them as what we deserve, what we have earned.

Do we love the gifts we have received more than we love the One who made them possible? Are we so possessed by family, friends and our possessions we are unable to live the life God intends us to live? Both being codependent in our relationships and being possessed by our possessions block our ability to be the persons God created us to be.

When my faithfulness to God is inhibited by my relationship with others, I am unable to follow Christ, unable to be the person God intends me to be. When I am possessed by my money, so that I am unable to share as God intends me to share, I am unable to follow Christ, and unable to be the person God intends me to be. When I am so consumed by my job, so possessed by my work that I am insensitive to the needs of persons around me, I am unable to follow Christ and unable to be the person God intends me to be. When I have no identity apart from my child and my sense of worth is totally tied to the joys and successes of my child, not only am I unable to be the person God intends me to be, I am making it more difficult for my child to become the person God intends my child to be. When I my sense of identity is fused with my parent, my sibling or my spouse, I am possessed by that person, and unable to follow Christ and be the person God intends me to be. When I am unable to let go of “whatever,” I am in bondage to “whatever.”

Jesus was clearly aware that as long as we are codependent in our relationships and possessed by our possessions we are unable to follow him and be the persons God intends us to be. Underneath all this insight is a common sense truth. This truth is that we cannot finally possess property or persons. Sooner or later, we have to let go of both. Finally, we have no choice in the matter. We may fight it, deny it, cause as many delays as we can, but sooner or later, whatever or whomever we are trying to hang on to will no longer be ours. If it is not the rigors of life that take it away from us, then it will be the final reality of death that does.

This tough passage we read is about like Jesus throwing water in our face trying to wake us to reality. To live as God intends, following Christ, we cannot be codependent in our relationships and we cannot be possessed by our possessions. And the reason why is, that following Christ inevitably involves us in carrying a cross. “Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple,” Jesus said.

And what is the cross we are to carry? Jesus was talking about something other than the fact we may not sing well, or may not look the way we want, or our sinus problem or even our cancer. The cross Jesus was talking about is more than our limited abilities or our health problems.

The cross Jesus was talking about has to do with the consequences that come when we love God with all we are and have and express that love in loving our neighbors as ourselves. This is the love that causes us to become involved in doing what needs to be done both in terms of mercy that reaches out to heal those in pain and becoming involved in works of justice to get rid of what is causing the pain. The cross Jesus was talking about has to do with the fallout that comes when in our striving to help those in need, we go against what is currently popular and discover we have even upset our friends. The cross Jesus was talking about has do to with what it costs us to do what is right.

Today we celebrate Holy Communion once again. In this sacrament we are reminded of what God has done. God's love has been freely given, but it has been a very costly gift. God in Christ experienced what it is to be human, and suffered the worst we humans can do -- and why? Because God loves us. For reasons beyond our understanding God wants us to live in relationship with him both now and forever. This marvelous gift of grace is free. This gift of being in harmony with God, this gift of living now and forever with God, is a gift beyond our ability to earn or purchase. Grace, the gift of God's love that enables us to live as God intends is free. But God's gift of grace is not cheap. And what is more, there is a cost involved in our accepting it. We have to put down the stuff we cling to in order to receive and embrace it. And having received it, the way of Christ like love sooner or later becomes the way of the cross. Grace is free, but it is not cheap.

God, thank you for the gift of grace that enables us to live as you intend us to live. Help us be willing to pay the price involved in accepting your gift. Amen.

Pastoral prayer:

God, on this Labor Day weekend, we thank you for those whose labor provide us food and clothing and shelter. For those who labor to provide us not only with the education we need to earn a wage but also with an education that teaches us to think; for all those whose labor expands the boundaries of human knowledge and for those whose labor in the arts expands our sensitivity, we are grateful. We give you thanks for those whose labor brings us laughter and entertainment. We are grateful for all who work to change what is wrong, to preserve what is right and to make justice possible for all persons. And we are especially grateful for those who willingly go in harms way on our behalf – those in the military, the firefighters, those in law enforcement. We are grateful for those who work to bring healing to body and mind and for those who labor to bring healing in relationships. We thank you for those who labor to keep garbage from burying us, for those who do the essential work of cleaning that protects us from disease. For all those who are willing to carry the burdens that come with trying to serve the public and whose labor contributes to our well-being and the well being of our society, we give you thanks. For all those whose labor serves us in some way, we are grateful. All this we pray in the awareness of Christ and his labor of love on our behalf. Amen.

INTERPREGATION…, LUKE by Fred B. Craddock, John Knox Press, 1990, page 181.