27th June 2010 - "A calling that’s never Far, Far Away"

Usha Hull - St Mary's and St Michael's
Luke 9 51-62

I’d like to take you on a journey of imagination to the Kingdom of Far Far Away. Those of you who are fans of the Shrek movies, myself among them, will know that the Kingdom of Far Far Away is peopled with characters from fairy tales and nursery rhymes. Today in our Kingdom of Far Far Away, the good citizens have formed a team to play in a major World Football Tournament. But there are problems right from the start.

The three little pigs, for example, are putting all their energies into a constant power struggle, vying with each other for pride of place. Pinnochio declares his absolute commitment in a flowery speech, but as he does so his nose grows longer and longer, because although he professes undying fidelity, he is telling porkies, and he’s secretly planning to sneak off halfway through. The fairy godmother is determined to be part of it all, not because she sees it as a worthwhile project but because she wants the power and the glory, so she’s busy brewing up some spells. Donkey spends all his time criticising what others are doing and dictating to them, rather than concentrating on what he should be doing. Puss in Boots looks adorable but does very little actual work.

Similarly, Prince Charming is spending most of his time on his fancy hairdo rather than on his fancy footwork. Cinderella would like to be part of the action, but only on her own terms. And Shrek, the team manager, is behaving like a true ogre by bullying everyone in sight, rather than seeking to get the best out of the players. Not unsurprisingly, the Far Far Away football team loses and is sent home in disgrace, not at all like our own England football team who thankfully are still in there with a chance, at least till this afternoon.

If these examples of behaviour sound vaguely familiar it’s because we have all come across them before, sometimes even in a church near you. Absolute commitment to a cause which requires self sacrifice is something we often find difficult. Similarly, recognising the worth of those around us and working together as disciples is one of the things we often have great difficulty in coping with, yet this is precisely what our Lord asks of us in today’s Gospel reading.

In today’s reading the Lord has set his face towards Jerusalem and to certain persecution and possible death. And in the passage that follows, he teaches us about the true cost of discipleship. It’s never going to be easy, we learn. In fact it’s going to involve rejection, it’s going to mean total concentration on the task at hand, it’s going to require absolute dedication.

We begin with the Samaritans, a people mentioned several times in the course of the Lord’s ministry. In the time of our Lord, the Jewish people and the Samaritans were at loggerheads with each other, they hated each other. The hostility was such that very often, Jewish travellers between Southern Judea and Galilee chose to walk around rather than through Samaritan territory, even though this made their journey considerably longer.

Not so our Lord, who is moving steadily and resolutely to Jerusalem to fulfil God’s plan for him. There may be several reasons why he decides to go through Samaria. Perhaps, by doing so he is showing that God’s message is for all people in all places, perhaps it is his desire to break down barriers between people and creeds, or he wishes to bring about healing of this ancient rift. The Samaritans, however, refuse him hospitality, because he is one of the pilgrims travelling to the temple at Jerusalem whom they deeply resent as they have their own rival shrine on Mount Gerizim.

James and John take this rejection as a personal insult and want revenge and retaliation. They want fire from heaven, they want to strike down those Samaritans on the spot. James and John were, after all, known as the Sons of Thunder and seem to be young, hot-headed and ambitious. But their reaction is understandable. When we ourselves suffer rejection our reaction often follows a similar pattern. Hurt and often bewilderment is usually followed by anger. Sometimes we want to make the person who has made us suffer also feel the pain. We want them to know that we are not to be taken lightly. We want them to realise the full extent of their folly.

The Lord, however, decides to just move on to another village. And here is a lesson about the true cost of discipleship, that once we set our lives resolutely towards the will of God we too must learn to move steadily on to fulfil our part in the Kingdom, no matter what the hurt and the rejection we meet along the way. And that we must do so without recrimination or our own desire for revenge.

And so in his journey towards the Cross and Jerusalem, the Lord teaches us, that real love doesn’t seek out its own purposes or satisfaction. He makes it clear that being a disciple is not simply professing a set of beliefs about him but a calling to follow in his way of life, a way of life which is far from easy and which is always about self sacrifice and seeking the Kingdom.

Following this passage there are three encounters with would-be disciples, and in each case the Lord makes it clear that there is a cost involved. The first man shows his readiness to follow Jesus but the Lord’s reply shows that this man has not thought through what this means, has reckoned without the hardships, the poverty of Christian living. The second man would like to bury his father first. Here, the Lord makes clear that to follow him means that we set his way of life above our own preferences, and that he is always to be the first priority in our lives. The third man offers his services, but with conditions. To him Jesus points out that the Kingdom has no room for those who look back when they are called to go forward.

So in other words, what the Lord is asking of us as disciples is this: think it through, put the Lord first and don’t let anything get in the way.

After all, which one of us prefers to be second best, the alternative, rather than the first choice? The Lord certainly doesn’t. Who among us would settle for leftovers when we could be invited to the feast? Our Lord too wants the best that we can give. Just as you can’t be partially pregnant, with true Christian discipleship it’s all or nothing, with no compromises, no half measures, no saying ‘I’d like to follow you Lord, but not yet.’ The British author George Douglas was to ask the question, ‘Why always, “not yet”? Do flowers in spring say “not yet”?

The Lord never compromises on the love he gives us and he asks no less from us. In his book ‘Mere Christianity’, CS Lewis shows a deep understanding of what total commitment to the Lord is about. He writes, ‘The terrible thing, the almost impossible thing, is to hand over your whole self, your wishes and precautions, to Christ. But it is far easier than what we are all trying to do instead. What we are trying to do is remain what we call “ourselves”, to keep personal happiness as our great aim in life, yet at the same time to be “good”. We are all trying to let our heart and mind go their own way, centred on money or pleasure or ambition, and hoping, inspite of this, to behave honestly and chastely and humbly.’

And he goes on to say that a field sown with grass seed will produce only grass. If it is to produce wheat it must be plowed up again and sown with wheat instead. This is a seemingly obvious fact, yet one that we often ignore when we let our own wishes and precautions come in the way of our total commitment to the Lord. We cannot, as the Lord has said, serve two masters. We cannot put our hand to the plough and look back. We cannot put all the excuses we can think of in the way of discipleship. We cannot be half-hearted in the service of one who gave not just his whole heart but everything he had in the service of God his father, and his whole life for us. Instead we must plough as God intends, with all the patience, the self sacrifice, the generosity, the humility and ultimately all the true joy that a truly Christian way of life entails.

To end, let’s go back briefly to the Kingdom of Far Far Away. Here, a stranger has arrived and is interviewing for newly vacant positions for the Far Far Away football team. Although the rewards promise to be absolutely heavenly, the job description makes no bones about what it’s all about and it’s certainly not going to be easy. Save

Candidates will need a great deal of love and commitment to set aside their differences, and work with and for each other. They will require a lot of humility and wisdom to realise the difference between being merely involved and totally committed. They will need patience and hard work, and strive always to bring out the best in all the other team members through sacrifice on their own part. Sometimes they will meet with rejection and pain. In fact, at all times it’s going to need their utmost dedication and single mindedness. And often they might have to journey alone in what to others will seem like a thankless task. Unsurprisingly, there are very few takers for the positions.

But that is just in the land of Far Far Away, or is it?

May we, who are called to discipleship, face its challenges and work together with love.

Amen.