Sermon for September 13th

I’ve noticed that we often have a lot of sign up sheets here at Saint Peters. We have sign up’s for the Bake Sale and for the Food Sale. We volunteer for council positions and for various programs that are offered each year. Today, I’m looking for volunteers who would like to suffer and be killed for their faith? Jesus said, “The Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again . . . if any want to become my followers,” he said, “let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” Do I have any takers? Should I put up a sign up sheet? Or not.

In the broadway musical, Rent, a musician named Roger falls in love with an erotic dancer named Mimi. Each of these characters is already infected with the AIDS virus when they meet. As the show progresses, Roger eventually breaks up with Mimi when he becomes jealous after finding out who her last boyfriend was. But it is more than jealousy, we find out, that is causing Roger to leave town and leave love behind. Roger’s best friend asks him, “Are you really jealous, or afraid that Mimi’s weak?” Mimi did look pale, Roger says. “Mimi’s gotten thin,” Mark presses, “Mimi’s running out of time. Roger’s running out the door.” When Mimi confronts Roger herself, after overhearing this conversation, she understands what is happening, whether Roger cares to admit it or not. Mimi says to him, “You don’t want baggage without lifetime guarantees. You don’t want to watch me die.” Loving Mimi meant experiencing suffering and death. That’s certainly not what love looks when you are trying to sell Romance novels.

When death is in the air, most people would rather just leave than stand by and watch helplessly, especially when they know they will be next. Jesus said, “The Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again . . . if any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” I’m going to die, Jesus says. And not only that, I’m going to suffer. It won’t be pretty. And if you follow me, you will be next. Do I have any takers? Should I put up a sign up sheet? Or not.

We have forgotten what it means to follow Jesus. But you may say, Well, all you need is love. Jesus is love. God is love after all, right? That’s it? But if Jesus was simply “love”, then why did everybody want him killed? I mean, why isn’t everyone a Christian today? Who could be against love? What does it mean to follow Jesus? Have you ever asked yourself that question? Why were the twelve disciples killed for their faith so long ago? Why are Christians around the world still killed today? If Jesus is simply love, and nobody could be against love, then why was he crucified? Why does he say that we have to take up a cross?

Did you know that the Romans, the ones who were in power at the time of Jesus’ crucifixion, were actually very tolerant people? Even loving people? The ones that massacred so many of the earliest Christian followers were very much into love themselves. Why would they have been against the Christians? What was it about Jesus and his merry band of followers that was so awful that they had to be killed? What made it so hard to be a follower of Christ at the beginning while it seems so darn easy nowadays? Why were they all killed while we sit here comfortably in church today? What’s changed? What’s the difference? The laws? The people? The message?

The sociologist Rodney Stark explains that the worst crimes against the young Christian church occurred not because the Romans wanted to convert Christians to some other belief but because they believed that Christians were for all intents and purposes, atheists. You see, when the early church began, there were many, many other gods, shrines, philosophies and beliefs in Rome and the people could tolerate them all. Just because you worshipped Mithra didn’t mean that you couldn’t also worship Zeus. The more gods the better in fact! And don’t think for one instant that there wasn’t already a god of love.

But when the Christians came along, THEY would only worship their ONE God rather than the thousands of Greek and Roman gods. While the rest of the Greco-Roman world was tolerant of pretty much anything you could imagine, Christians were known by how they acted. And it was more than that they were known as Christians by their love. They also followed the commandments of God and this set them apart as well. Along with their fascination for the forgiveness of “so-called” sins, they were so intolerant that they would not worship any other gods, or follow other beliefs, or accept any other philosophies. And so what happened is what the historian Ramsey MacMullen calls “toleration gone mad”. In order to stay as tolerant of religions as possible, the people of Rome had no choice but to kill the atheistic Christians—it was that simple. We have forgotten what it means to follow Jesus.

Have you ever seen that show on MTV called, “Pimp my Ride”? Before there was “Cash for Clunkers” there was “Pimp my Ride” a show dedicated to taking an old car and making it look and act like a hot rod. Immense subwolfer speakers, shiny new rims, video game console for the passenger or a mini bar in the back seat. You may have heard me say this before, but I'm going to say it again: you can pimp my ride, but don’t pimp my Jesus. Don’t tell me that Jesus is love and forget that Jesus came to free us from our sins. Jesus is love, but we so often do not love. Don’t make Jesus into a shiny new doll that everybody should want to hold and forget that your crucified and risen Lord lives with nail holes in his hands and feet because NO ONE wanted him. Don’t believe for a moment that being a Christian means a lifetime of glory—Jesus says, “If any want to be my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” Being a Christian involves suffering. And that doesn’t just mean suffering through the woes and perils of everyday life like everyone else. Sometimes to be a follower of Christ means to suffer for what you believe. Sometimes it even means that you will deny your own pleasure, your own best interests, for the sake of pleasing God and serving your neighbor.

We have forgotten what it means to follow Jesus . . . or have we. Perhaps we have not forgotten at all. Perhaps we realize only too well that if we truly follow Jesus there is only one path that is open for us: a path of tears, a path to a cross. A path to eternal life. Yes, but a path that has to go through death as well to get there and that doesn’t sound like so much fun. Perhaps this is why it is so much easier and desirable to just be spiritual rather than faithful.

To be spiritual is to follow whatever god, or philosophy or way of life that you choose in whatever way best suits you just like for the Roman people. To follow whatever path you want up the mountain of faith. To be faithful to Jesus is to follow a path already walked down by many others before you. And while the spiritualist imagines great wonders up there in the clouds, the faithful follower of Christ knows what is coming up around the bend: suffering, death, a cross and, yes, then, eternal life. Who wouldn’t want to skip church and just sleep in. Ignorance is bliss! But Jesus says, “Those who are ashamed of me and my words, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.

Are you ashamed of Jesus? Are you ashamed of his words? Are you ashamed of being called a Christian? Why are you ashamed of what you believe? I’m not saying that you are the only one, Jesus’ disciples were all ashamed of their Savior. For goodness sake, even good ol’ Peter didn’t want Jesus telling everyone about the suffering and death involved. But realize this, no matter how ashamed of Jesus you are, he is not ashamed to run after you and give you his words of love again and again no matter how often you refuse him. No matter how much you despise his words, when we ask for forgiveness Jesus will forgive you, even though you and I do not deserve this kind of love. No matter how far away you go looking for glory and a pimped up Jesus, the path to the cross is always near to you. And though that path is full of suffering, embarrassment and even, eventually, an inglorious death, to follow Jesus is to know the way, the truth and life. Jesus said, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves, and take up their cross and follow me.” Do not forget what it means to follow Jesus. Amen.