Anabaptist/Mennonite look at commitment September 29, 2013 Covenant signing Sunday. LK 14:25-33 The weight of discipleship

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1 Sermon Anabaptist/Mennonite look at commitment September 29, 2013 Covenant signing Sunday LK 14:25-33 The weight of discipleship Luke 14: Now large crowds were travelling with him; and he turned and said to them, 26 Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. 28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, 30 saying, This fellow began to build and was not able to finish. 31 Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 If he cannot, then, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. 33 So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions. 1

2 We have come to our final week of our series on commitment and covenant; this week we turn our focus toward what it is that the Mennonite or Anabaptist tradition might have to teach us about these concepts of commitment and covenant. As we try to explore what Mennonites or Anabaptists have to teach us about commitment, I have to again say, I do not think I have anything nice and smooth to say this morning; nothing that is too easy to hear, or simple to do. But instead, the difficult reality that all covenants call us to: daily attention, daily vigilance, daily work. The Anabaptist/Mennonite story is the story of people trying to be faithful to the life and teachings of Jesus Christ a simple, largely uneducated people, who tried to take the words of Jesus seriously and, in most cases, literally. So, if we try to look to this heritage for an easy metaphor of commitment, we will not find it. One of the first things I think of when considering Mennonites and commitment is that, not too long ago, many Mennonite congregations only took communion once a year. This is not because they did not think it was an important ritual, but rather because they took it so seriously. In those years, before taking communion, the Bishop would go around to each member of the congregation to make sure that they were in right relationship with God and in right relationship with the others of the congregation. If there was a grudge or some unresolved matter between two people in the congregation, those people were not to take communion until they had reconciled. While most Mennonites don t practice this anymore, likely because of some bishops that might have abused that power a bit, what we see here is a group that took commitment to community utterly seriously. It has been said that sometimes Mennonites have worshipped the value of community as a god. While we do not want to mistake community as a god, we can see in this statement how much our tradition has emphasized community. 2

3 And our theological ancestors from the Reformation, the Anabaptists, when we look to them, we do not find an easy metaphor for commitment and covenant. We have this whole book here, the Martyr s Mirror that has been on our alter table this month, it is a book filled with people who were so single-mindedly committed to their faith that they chose death over renouncing their belief in Christ. This record of thousands who were put to death by other Christians because they believe one should be baptized upon their confession of faith, after they were old enough to commit to Christ. So, we do not meet an easy illustration of commitment from these theological ancestors. The passage from Luke that we just read, this passage on hating our families, this was an important passage to many early Anabaptists. We know that the Reformation was aided greatly by the invention of the Printing Press, but most of the first Anabaptists were poor and books expensive. So, as they could not afford a Bible, Anabaptists were known for carrying a paper of scriptures with them known as a concordance. They would hide these concordances in their boots or shoes, that way they would have some scriptures with them wherever they went. They could read and memorize these scriptures. This is one of the passages that was sometimes found on these concordances an important passage to these Anabaptists that were on the run. While this passage was important to some of our theological ancestors, it is a difficult passage for our modern ears, we are not sure what to make of it. I think most of us, when we read or hear these words about hating our family, we assume Jesus must be speaking figuratively or using some hyperbole. As a country that equates Christian faith with family values, we are pretty certain he cannot be too serious here. 3

4 In reading these words, Barbara Brown Taylor concludes that, we can be fairly certain that Jesus would not have made a very good congregational pastor. So much of the job depends on making it easy for people to come to church and rewarding for them to stay.if Jesus were in charge of an average congregation there might be 4 or 5 people there on a Sunday morning, and most of them would probably not really know what they were getting into. Jesus, as a congregational pastor, would greet newcomers by saying things like, Good morning, welcome to our church - are you absolutely sure you want to be here, are you sure you want to follow this way of life? It will take everything you have, and if you do it well, it might even get you killed, or at the very least thrown in jail (Barbara Brown Taylor). In Fresno, we had a little Mennonite Pastors group that would gather monthly for lunch and this was one of the things we would often talk about was, whether we were asking too much of people in our congregations, or if we were asking too little of them. In a culture where we all feel busy, where we get much of our self-worth from feeling that we are busy, were our congregations shrinking because we wanted too much of a commitment from people? Or, were we not asking enough, were we not letting people know that what our congregations were offering was of a high value something worth sacrificing for. In this passage, I think it is clear what Jesus would say on the matter. And so, to this difficult passage, I can add some context to these words of Jesus', I can try to give a little nuance to this idea of hating our family but I do not think it really softens the message too much. 4

5 I can tell, for instance, that Jesus was using a type of figure of speech that we do not use anymore. In Jesus day, the way you stated a preference was by pairing two things and saying that you loved one and hated the other. It did not have anything to do with an emotional feeling of actually hating something, but was rather a matter of stating priorities. If I said, I love the biking and hate hiking, it would not actually mean I felt a deep hostility toward the walking around in the woods, but simply mean that if I had my choice, I would rather spend an afternoon biking than hiking. So, this might help our ears feel a bit less offended, but still, the message is about making the kingdom of God a priority over our families not a simple thing. I can also tell you that these words would likely not have offended those who first read them, in fact, they probably would have been words of comfort. The author Luke is writing to a community of people who are likely already estranged from their biological families. In Luke s time, it was the custom for whole households to adopt the faith of their heads. Everyone in the house was compelled to believe what that person at the top believed (most likely a male) so spouses, children, servants, donkeys everyone was to follow the beliefs and religious practices of the head of the household (Barbara Brown Taylor). So, if one person in the house, be it a child, a spouse, or even a slave, elected to become a follower of Christ it was nothing short of mutiny, it was an act that separated one from their family. To claim Jesus as Lord over Cesar was an act that could get the whole family in trouble, it would cast suspicion on the whole family. So, to many of these first Christians, these words were words of comfort because they were separated from their families their choice to follow the life and teachings of Christ had separated them from their families. Likely, reading these words of Jesus was comforting to them normalizing for them it let them know that Jesus anticipated such a situation as theirs; being cast out of their families was not something that was their fault, but rather it was something to be 5

6 expected when making such a focused commitment. I think this is also why this passage was so important to the early Anabaptists who also were separated from their families by their choice it spoke comfort to them and helped them renew their commitment to following Jesus. But still, while interesting, I do not think that knowing this makes the commitment that Jesus is asking for that much easier. I think the plain truth that we don't want to hear is that Jesus is asking for a total commitment; a life lived with God s kingdom as our priority. Jesus is asking for us to call him "Lord", meaning that we swear our primary allegiance to the life and teachings of Jesus: not to proclaim Cesar as Lord, or America as Lord, not to proclaim Capitalism or Money as Lord, not to claim the Boise State Broncos or Nebraska Cornhuskers as Lord, not to claim being busy as our Lord - not even to proclaim our own mother or father, husband or wife, as our primary allegiance or focus in this life. This is not an easy thing Jesus is asking of his followers of us. I do not think I can offer any great resolution for us about this passage. I could try to make it sound easier and smoother, but I do not that would be being faithful to what I hear Jesus saying to us here to me. Instead, I can only say sit in the discomfort. I can only offer you what I try to do with such passages, to try and live with the discomfort. Not trying to pass over such passages or ideas quickly saying they are not meant literally, but to sit in the discomfort for awhile to live in the discomfort. -To allow that discomfort to shed some honest light onto our priorities. -To allow such a passage to help us reflect on those things that keep us from living a passionate life, the possessions that make us comfortable, that make us want to stay 6

7 right where we are. -To share our discomfort with others, to be honest with it. -To listen to how other followers of Christ have tried to live with the call to such a commitment. In these words, Jesus is not threatening us. No, he is loving us, as usual refusing to lie to us, refusing to make his way sound easier than it is. He wants us to know very clearly what it costs so that no one follows him under false pretenses. He wants us to know that a passionate and fulfilled life does not come without cost, without sacrifice. And, at the same time, promising us a fuller life than we could ever imagine. So, let us sit in both the discomfort, and the promise of these words. Let them have their way with us. Let them blow through our lives and nudge us to release those things which hold us captive so that we might have new life and have it abundantly. Amen. 7

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