Cost of Discipleship - Luke 17 - Proper 22 C

Cost of Discipleship

Tony E Hansen

Sermon based Luke 17: 5-10, Psalm 37, Habakkuk 

Opening prayer

Increase my faith? Why do the apostles ask Jesus this question?

If we look at the opening verses of Luke 17, Jesus tells them to be on your guard and to rebuke offenders, but “if there is repentance, you must forgive.”

The apostles asks to increase their faith for doing this. Why? Because forgiveness is not an easy thing to do especially when we have been personally been hurt and harmed by someone .  Our faith in people , in a person, can be literally shattered to a point that it impacts more than just that person or that situation.

Even more so, we do things in our lives that we feel proper and respectful because we believe we are to get rewarded. 

Jesus here challenges us and these proper notions. Jesus challenges our priorities.  What would expect things be done for us before we are willing to do the right things? What is the cost of discipleship?

That is transactional thinking.

We do that with people and we do that with God. Unfortunately we do even less. 

When we pray, we arrive with a wish list but rarely do we come with what we do for the wish list to be granted.  Even if we did, is that really what God is to us?  A vending machine where one can order what they see and think they want, pop in a coin, and presto I have what I want.

That isn’t how faith works. It is something more than seeing before believing.  It is something more than a selection from the market counter and haggling over price. 

Faith is things unseen, unknown, and untouchable and faith is something that can grow from the size of transactional idea into a way of life. 

What we do with faith is like mustard seed but we plant it, tend it and nurture it to grow. We have faith that it will, in fact, grow - even during hard times. That is when need faith the most. 

We forget that when times are good, and we forget to thank God for the good times. 

When we practice faith in the good times, when times are bad, we have muscle memory and a path through what ails us.

Yes faith takes practice because when we need it is when we need it the most.

That won’t say it is easy, but the point of faith is not ease and knowing. Precisely opposite!

It is what we don’t know. It is unequivocal trust in the divine and that trust is not in vain. Incidentally, where is your trust? In the machines and algorithmic designs?? 

We are commanded to do God’s work and to be God’s face on Earth without question and without guarantee of reward. We are to forgive even when we don’t think it is deserved. We are to extend grace even when it feels futile or exhausted.

Faith is not transactional, for faith by itself is beyond any transaction. Faith doesn’t need a market, a buyer and seller. Faith is letting be that which we don’t know all the answers and assuredly, we do not. 

In that way, we grow beyond what we think we know and want or think we need, but allow God to be what we need - not just a convenience store checkout with our expectations. We realize our limitations as people and we realize capabilities by not forcing. 

To think otherwise, is to think small, “less than” and in terms of coins in a purse. To have transactional faith is to put God in a box for one to open on occasion like some memorabilia or keepsake. There is more to God than that. There is more to faith than nostalgia or memories.

A bill is coming due and what are you going to do to pay?

We do the work , we live the life and we forgive. The bill is coming due for your soul that is not in money or broken ideas. It is a way of living and being with our neighbors. It is living with he love of God - not just because we say cute words or raise our hands at the good moment. 

That is the cost of following Jesus. That is the cost of discipleship.

What is good about that is that grace is freely given and the love of God and forgiveness is always available to us.

Faith in God is understanding that and understanding that the cost of discipleship is a blessing rather than a burden because we get some much more than we ever could put in.

That Beloved is…

Thanks be to God