SERMON, PROPER 18C, DEUT. 30:15-20, LUKE 14:25-33

One of the tag lines for the movie Forrest Gump was, "Run, Forrest, run!!" And run he did. He ran. And he ran and ran and ran, running almost all across the country. In the course of his running, he attracted quite the crowd until there was something like hundreds, if not close to a thousand, people running with him. And as near as I could tell, most of those people followed him because lots of people were following him.

When I was a kid, my favorite team was the Dallas Cowboys. Men with names like Staubach, Pearson, Garrison, Hill, Lilly, Too Tall, Waters and Renfro were my heroes. I bled blue, white and silver. But in the 1972-73 season, the Miami Dolphins went undefeated and won the Super Bowl. That following season, I became part of the large crowd that jumped on the Dolphin bandwagon.

The same thing is happening with Jesus. He's on his way to Jerusalem. People have heard about this preacher who can cut down the hypocritical religious leaders and the healer who works miracles. They've heard about him and they want to be near him. They want to jump on that winning bandwagon and follow along with everybody else, just like the people who ran with Forrest Gump and just like me when I became a temporary Dolphins fan.

It's important to note that Jesus didn't call or invite these people. Nowhere in this passage does he invite them to become his followers. Here's something interesting about that: in all but two cases in Luke (and then one is debatable), every person Jesus invites to follow him does so, and every person who attempts to follow Jesus of their own volition is dissuaded from doing so. Jesus knows something about us. He calls us to follow him when we are ready to hear it. He calls us when we are ready to begin putting God first in our lives. Those who want to follow because it's the popular thing to do, or because they want to be in control of who they follow and they because they want to set the conditions of their following, will be sorely disappointed.

And that brings me to today. Again, in almost all cases, those who ask to follow are met with stiff opposition. No one who looks back is fit for the kingdom. Sell all you own and come follow me. Whoever comes to me and does not hate father, mother, wife, children, brother, sister, cannot be my disciple. Those are harsh words. What is Jesus saying?

In this context, hate doesn't have the connotation we give that word. If it did, this one verse would wipe out an entire body of scripture urging us to love our selves, neighbors and enemies. But we can still use this word hate and hopefully get at the idea Jesus is putting forth.

When we hate something, what we are saying is that we want no part of that something. During a breakup, if you hate your ex-boyfriend you don't want him creeping back into your life. My daughter hates certain foods and she will turn away from them. So then, when Jesus says to hate all these people, think of it as turning from them towards Jesus, or of not allowing outside loyalties to stand between you and God.

And this goes back to the Old Testament lesson: "but if your heart turns away and you . . . are led astray to bow down to other gods . . . you shall perish." Moses was warning the people not to let outside influences creep into their lives; to turn away from them and remember to put God first. In other words, know the cost of discipleship.

This is why if we wait for people to walk through our doors we will fail. Those people hear things about taking up your cross, daily sacrificial living, selling possessions, hating family members, and it scares them. This is why Christianity is relational.

If we meet people where they are, if we get to know them on their level, if we relate to them what this means to us, if we invite them, then they have someone to guide them and use as an example. Then they can see what this is about and it may not appear so scary.

Discipleship is hard work and sometimes harsh words are necessary to convey that. Our goal is to bring all people into God's loving embrace and make them guests at his heavenly banquet. But never forget that our goal isn't numbers based and our goal isn't how many people we've saved. Our goal is to make disciples of all nations. And, as I said, discipleship is hard work.

We don't' want tag-along followers who get excited at the numbers on the bandwagon and run to join. We don't want people running after us like those following Forrest Gump for no apparent reason. We don't want people switching team allegiances because of our winning record.

What we want is to invite people to join us. We want people to think seriously about why they come through those doors. Harsh words, but it's not about hating anybody. It's about realizing that the gospel takes precedence and that it has the power to redefine our loyalties.

Jesus is inviting you. Are you ready to turn?