Pentecost 5

Pentecost 5 Luke 9:51-62 Follow me.

Jesus invited all to become his students. And, all who asked to be his students he asked to go and proclaim the Kingdom of God

There is an urgency in Jesus’ command “follow me.”

The immediate urgency is in Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem. His time is short. His death is near. The Plan of Salvation is coming to its fulfillment. From a worldly perspective, there is so much more still to teach his disciples. They still don’t understand. There is so much more to teach those who are coming to Jesus looking for answers. They still don’t understand that Jesus just doesn’t have the answer he is the answer. They still don’t understand that Jesus just doesn’t point out one way to find God. Jesus is the way God finds us.

Many are trying to discredit Jesus. Others are seeking a way to kill him. He knows they will succeed. This is part of the Plan of Salvation. This is Jesus offering himself to humanity with the full knowledge that humanity is lost in separation, sin and death. Humanity is not looking for what Jesus offers. Humanity is looking for the quick fix. Jesus offers eternal life.

Peter had declared Jesus to be the Christ then asserted his desire for a savior without the cross. James and John had seen and experienced the love and compassion of Jesus yet still wanted to destroy a Samaritan village when it failed to receive him. People were coming to Jesus for many reasons and with many expectations. Few heard the message Jesus brought. Fewer still had the desire to accept the message.
Still, Jesus proclaims the Kingdom. Still, Jesus models the new way of living that he offers all people through his own choices and actions. Still Jesus instructs his students and his followers: follow me.

The Kingdom of God not in the external world of politics, economics and war. The Kingdom of God is not about who is in charge. The Kingdom of God is not in submission to laws, rituals, or institutions. The Kingdom of God is the new life Jesus gives us.

That new life is a gift we can only receive by faith. The faith is not a blind leap into the dark. The faith is in a person, Jesus himself. Jesus cried out to the people of Israel two thousand years ago and continues to cry out to the peoples of the world today. His cry is: follow me. Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Come and receive the gift of God.

The proclamation Jesus gives for us to share with the world is that God permanently and irrevocably united his divinity with our humanity in Jesus Christ. In Jesus, God overcomes sin and death. In Jesus, God transforms sin and death back into love and life. It is a new life. It is a life of reunification with the Father and transformation in the Holy Spirit.

God doesn’t wait for us to find him. God makes himself known to us and available to us in Jesus Christ. The Kingdom of God is not a puzzle to be solved or a reward for sincere effort. It is a gift. The gift is Jesus. The gift is the new way of living God reveals in Jesus Christ and makes available to us in Jesus Christ.

Jesus said the Kingdom of God is within you. It is that place where the Holy Spirit lives within us. It is that place where the Holy Spirit gently, persistently and patiently invites us to change.

More than any other aspect of Jesus teaching, change is central. It is also the most threatening. What makes this change possible to consider is the person who invites us to change. Jesus is the fullness of divine love and holiness. Jesus is the compassion of God inviting all people into a new relationship of faith, hope and love. Jesus tells us and shows us that the change comes from the personal relationship God initiates with us in Jesus Christ.

Many in Jesus’ day had something they needed to leave behind before they could accept the gift Jesus gave them. Many were too burdened with possessions or expectations to receive the gift. The greatest burden is the burden of separation from God. The most weighty of all possessions is sin.

Jesus’ call to follow him is a call to surrender our pride of separation. It is a call to yield our possession of our sins. These are choices we can only make from deep within our soul. There is no law or ritual or religious practice that can substitute for this choice. The reward is not in power, possessions or prestige. The reward is the relationship that produces the new way of living.

Such a call was incomprehensible to the people of Jesus’ day. The disciples began to understand it at the resurrection. They received clarity on the day of Pentecost. But, the record of scripture is very honest. It took them all of their lives to grow into the relationship with God that Jesus offered. It took their entire lifetime to yield their old way of thinking, and their old way of behaving.

The Kingdom of God becomes real to us with a profession of faith in Jesus Christ. The Kingdom of God becomes more present to us each day of our lives through worship, prayer, Bible study, service to others.

The Kingdom of God is our personal relationship with God the Father, through God the Son, by the indwelling Presence of God the Holy Spirit. That is why eternal life begins here and now at the baptismal font. Eternal life is not a reward or a right it is a gift. The gift is in the relationship.

Jesus invites us all into this new relationship. The new relationship produces a new way of living. We live into the relationship as we make a conscious choice to open our minds and hearts and wills to the transforming power of Divine love and holiness.
As soon as we enter into the relationship Jesus asks us to follow him. As we make a real choice to fulfill Jesus’ instruction we grow closer in our relationship with him. He slowly reveals to us where we need to make changes in our attitude and actions. He slowly reveals to us what we need to unlearn. He slowly reveals to us what old habits of behavior we need to surrender to him so we can be free to live life more joyfully. He waits patiently for us to unburden ourselves of the heavy weight of those sins that possess us.

As we change so our character changes. As our character changes so the message we proclaim in word and action broadens and deepens.

The key to the new life in Christ is the desire to grow in our friendship with Christ. Jesus knew his disciples were far from perfect but he sent them into the world any way. Jesus knew they would only mature as they stepped forward in faith one step at a time one day at a time. The same is true for us.

Where ever you are in your spiritual life is where Jesus meets you and invites you to follow him. He stands before us and he goes before us. He is the light of light that shows us the path forward.

As you follow Jesus into this action, the Holy Spirit will be with you to help you and to encourage you. As the Holy Spirit reveals Himself to you in your choice to follow Jesus, so He will offer new gifts and new transformation to equip you to accomplish God’s will for your life.

Religious people sometimes struggle with knowing God’s will. God has revealed his will in Jesus Christ. We can know God’s will as we grow in the gift of God in Christ. The gift God offers us today in the message of Jesus Christ is: follow me.