To be used by God's love

 

Luke 14: 25-33
New Ark United Church of Christ, Newark, DE
September 4, 2022

Photo of a handpainted sign that reads "Racism is a pandemic".

Whenever Jesus says the hard stuff—and let’s face it, a lot of what Jesus said is hard stuff—I think it’s important to remind ourselves once again who this Jesus is. Remember that we are repenting, turning away from centuries of racism, White supremacy, and imperialism. First and foremost, this Jesus is not White. This Jesus is Indigenous, Asian, Black, brown. This Jesus is fat. This Jesus is poor and disabled. This Jesus is a drug user. This Jesus is queer and trans. This Jesus is aging out of foster care. This Jesus is neurodivergent. This Jesus lives with mental illness. This Jesus is a refugee and an immigrant. This Jesus is unhoused. This Jesus is everything the dominant culture is not.



It's important to remember this because when this Jesus says that to be a disciple we need to turn our backs on our parents, our families, our friends, our lives, this Jesus has had to live through this. Indigenous Jesus was forced off their land. Black Jesus was taken from his home and his people. Queer and trans Jesus was kicked out of the house. Immigrant Jesus was separated from her mother at the border. Poor Jesus was fired for taking too many bathroom breaks. Old Jesus had to divorce her husband so Medicaid wouldn’t take the house.



The second thing to remember is that the purpose of the cross was shame, humiliation, and the threat of death. People were often crucified on heavily traveled roads. Crucifixion was reserved for enemies of the state and for those who escaped enslavement, as a public way of deterring anyone else from following suit.



This Jesus wants us to know up front what we’re in for if we are to be a disciple, that we will be in solidarity with folx who bear shame and humiliation every day, who live in the shadow of death, who are disconnected from support and community.

Paraphrase of Romans 8: "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither the things that bring us pleasure, nor that which shames, neither threats from the state, nor any structure of dominance, neither the legacies of harm freshly unfolding, nor any that are still to come, neither the days when life feels unlivable, nor the days when loving ourselves comes easy, neither doctrines of hate, nor pastors who condemn, neither respectability politics, nor bigots, nor bullies, neither fatigue, neither regrets, nor having zero f*cks left to give, neither the struggles we cannot yet name, nor the ones that always seem to stay the same, nor anything else in all of creation, will be able to separate us from Love." 
enfleshed.com

When this Jesus says we cannot be a disciple unless we give up our possessions, I think it also includes those things which possess us, own us, everything that uses us to uphold an unjust system. Things like our privilege, whatever privilege we have, our desire for security and certainty, our definition of what success looks like, our expectations that we will be effective, our fear of failing. And to the world, the cross of shame and humiliation looks like failure.



Remember Jesus’ main selling points: in following this Jesus we may be happy, or we may not. We may be empowered, or we may not. We may have more friends, or we may not. We may have the answer, or we may not. We might be better off, or we may not. When we follow this Jesus we may be worse off in every way we use to measure life. This Jesus invites us to follow keeping in mind the cost because this Jesus says it is worth giving up everything we have; in that we will learn to love well.*



The goal is not to keep the Church alive but to keep the mission alive, and that mission is every day showing up to be used by God’s love. Imagine if every day every human being started the day asking to be used for Love’s sake and not count the cost. The most important reason we practice self-care is so we can fill the well of unconditional love and then immerse ourselves in it so we can pour it out on others disconnected and excluded from such love.



Unconditional love, what we churchy types call grace, is undeserved, unmerited, and unlimited. If love is not unconditional, then it is something else, less than what is offered to us at this Table. Love is not like pie. More for me does not mean less for you. More for you does not mean less for me. Psychiatrist and theologian Gerald May wrote, “Love is the power that births and grieves, the laughter that fills the heavens, the tears that water the earth. Love is the energy that fuels, fills, and embraces everything everywhere. And there is no end to it, ever.” Unconditional love is so radical you don’t even have to believe in God in order to live in it. Because if you did have to believe, it wouldn’t be unconditional, it wouldn’t be radical, it wouldn’t be as amazing as the old song says.



But as it is in another old hymn, love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all—another way of saying unconditional. Which can sound pretty scary and exhausting these days—my soul, my life, my all. No matter what, this Jesus would have us be in solidarity with him and love those he loved. Fear shrinks but love expands. Fear punishes but love restores. Fear holds a debt, but love forgives it. Fear restricts and exploits and oppresses but love encourages, inspires, reassures, raises, and emboldens. And it is being used by this love worth everything else that we are liberated and come to new life—the resurrection of God’s people.  Amen.

*From It's Really All About God by Samir Selmanovic

Benediction – enfleshed.com



Go forth with the assurance that new ways of being are possible.

Systems of exploitation have crumbled before and can crumble again.

Solidarity blooms all around us.

Let us love and labor towards liberation and joy.