IS IT TOO MUCH TO ASK?
A sermon by the Rev. Dr. James G. Kirk
Harundale Presbyterian Church
Text: “Let them deny themselves…and follow me.” (Mark
First
Second
During the recent officer’s retreat, the speaker distributed a cartoon that shows the preacher with a big dollar sign obviously asking the congregation for money. The response of the congregation is pretty much what you’d expect. Some of the people are walking out of the service. Those in front are holding their ears. Some are looking away in disgust. There’s no one who seems to appreciate what the pastor has to say. You’d wonder how the artist would illustrate the disciple’s response to Jesus’ comments this morning.
Jesus is pretty blunt about what he has to say. To begin with Peter’s annoyed him. When Jesus predicts the crucifixion and the resurrection Peter doesn’t want to hear it. So, he takes Jesus aside and tells him how he thinks it ought to be. Which is exactly the opposite of how it’s going to be, and Jesus has no problem letting Peter know if that is what he really believes then he’s going to be of no use to Jesus.
Then he
turns to the disciples and tells them what he expects from them. Right now there’s more than 200,000 troops
stationed in the
At the same time, we hear how the terrorists are recruiting Muslims willing to give their lives as suicide bombers, and they are being quite successful. Scores of young men are being trained to sacrifice their lives to defeat the American satanic evil. So, the concept of giving one’s life to save it is nothing new. Read through history and you’ll hear how leaders of all kinds have asked their followers to make sacrifices. Sometimes the sacrifice means time and training; sometimes it means total commitment. Lately, we’ve heard more and more that it means giving one’s life on behalf of the cause.
So, we shouldn’t be surprised when
Jesus tells the disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny
themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” Jesus is simply doing what
leaders have done throughout history.
He’s doing the same thing that George Bush asks of his troops. He’s doing the same thing that Hussein asks
of Arab fundamentalists. However,
there’s a very big difference between Jesus, Bush and Hussein. George Bush is commander in chief of those
200,000 troops in the
Jesus, on the other hand, answers to God alone and speaks for God when he tells the disciples to follow him. Many here will remember when there was the draft in this country. Every male at that time, when he reached 18 years of age, had to register for the draft. During any kind of threat to this country they would receive a letter from the draft board that they were being called into active duty. It would normally last three years, but those three years they were to give to their country unless, for some reason, they could get some kind of deferment.
Many people didn’t like the draft. Some said it was unfair to those unable to get a deferment and that it favored the more educated as over against the poorer segments of the country. However, what it did was take a cross section of the country and teach them respect for authority, a sense of humility, and a good dose of responsibility. Those in favor of the draft today say that many of those characteristics are missing in this new generation.
There are scores of people today who’ve never had to answer to anyone. They don’t respect authority or institutions that expect them to be responsible. They feel a certain sense of entitlement which they think is due them. Even in worship, those who do take organized religion seriously, come to the worship service to be entertained. To give themselves and their lives to God is foreign to them. They’ve never been asked or told to give themselves to anything or anyone in their lives.
Schools today are beginning to require their students to do community service as part of their graduation requirements and that could be a good thing. I personally feel that universal conscription of some kind should be required. It wouldn’t necessarily mean entering the armed forces. It could be a year or two of community service or something done on behalf of the nation. What it would do would be to teach every generation that it is their responsibility to give something back to the country which gives them so much freedom.
All of that is by way of saying we have to take seriously what Jesus asks his disciples. “If any want to be my disciples…let them deny themselves and follow me.” Next month, the Stewardship Committee is going to hand out the time and talent brochure. It lists all of the activities Harundale offers and requires to keep this congregation a vital witness in the community. Each year people have the opportunity to list where they will serve, what their interests are and how they can give of their time and their talents on behalf of the congregation. It’s a small way each of us has to take seriously what Christ asks of his disciples and commit ourselves anew to follow him.
Many times people join the congregation fully intending to become active and to get involved. We see them in worship for a few weeks and then we don’t see them anymore. The reason they leave is that no one took their commitment seriously. We didn’t get them involved in a way that would help them to become a part of the congregation. Nationally, there’s a statistic that says if you don’t get someone involved within the first six weeks after they join you’ll lose them, and that’s unfortunately what’s happened to many of our members.
This Lenten season is a good time to hear anew Christ’s call to discipleship, “If any want to come after me let them deny themselves…and follow me.” It really isn’t too much to ask, since he goes on to say, “whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.” It’s well worth the effort!
Thanks be to God,
Amen