Sermon Notes, Proper 8C
Elisha said, "As the LORD
lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you."
Jesus said, “Follow me.”
Elijah about to be
taken up in the whirlwind.
Reward for his persistence:
I felt a bit like Elisha
past week on my first ever bicycle tour in Ohio, riding 45-50 miles a day,
which I mostly spent trying to follow
the really serious biker in the family, my big sister, Helen.
·
On the
flats, fairly easy
·
Downhill,
with my greater weight, I’d get ahead
·
Uphill
-- and there were many – was another story
o
Me
trying hard to keep up as she cruised on.
o
Me slowing,
sometimes stopping, out of breath.
o
Helen
got ahead, out of sight;
o
Eventually
stopping so I could catch up.
Still my persistence
paid off –
·
Big
sister more than glad to tell me how to bike better – so I learned
·
On call
to my brother-in-law: “Jack did well” - high praise among competitive siblings
·
I felt
stronger and rode better as the week went on.
·
And I
had fun.
Though I didn’t
follow Helen nearly as closely as Elisha did Elijah,
my
persistence in following even as poorly as I sometimes did was well worth it.
In Gospel, Jesus is more
than emphatic on the importance of following him closely:
Nothing is
to come between master & any would-be followers:
Jesus’ demand that
followers stay close is absolute.
· Not: “I will follow you –
but only this far.”
· Not: “I will follow you – but only if I can do
this first.”
·
Not: “I will follow you – but only if I set the
terms.”
Jesus call to follow is
a call to be completely available, no strings attached, no fingers crossed.
Elisha’s persistence
in following Elijah would measure up to Jesus’ demand.
Mine following of my
sister would not.
And, truth to be
told, neither does my following of Jesus in my daily life.
Maybe same is true
for you, too.
Maybe, for you, too,
Jesus sometimes is out of sight.
Maybe, you, too, are
intermittent, at best, in closely following Jesus.
*******************************
What are we to make
of this, given Jesus’ demand about following?
More importantly, how
can we begin to follow more closely?
·
First,
we can take brief comfort we’re not alone:
12 disciples who
left all to follow Jesus, but later:
§
1
betrayed him
§
1
denied him
§
All
bailed out when chips were down.
Same true of all
who’ve sought to follow Jesus – we are not only failures in following.
Knowing this can help
us with the next step:
·
Be
brutally honesty w/our self & w/Jesus about:
o
Our
failure in following
o
Our
resistance to following as closely & as unreservedly as he wants.
Paradoxically, to
admit this actually brings us closer to Jesus.
As in all
relationships, telling the truth about one’s self to the other –even painful
truths – increases intimacy.
One of my mentor’s
principles of prayer: Tell the truth.
To say to Jesus,
“I’m not ready to follow you as you ask” is real prayer –
Brings us closer
to Jesus and gives him something to work with.
Also gets us ready
for next step:
·
Name
specific area of life where you resist following Jesus.
o
some
aspect of work, perhaps, or family life;
o
taking
on some new ministry in the world or the church
o
taking
care of ourselves;
o
making
time for prayer and allowing ourselves to be vulnerable in that time.
o
letting
go of a long-held destructive habit or long-nursed resentment;
o
how we
vote, how we spend time, and for may of us, money.
Whatever that place of resistance is for
you,
·
Name it
·
Tell
Jesus just how much – or how little -- you are ready to follow him in that part
of your life,
·
Then
ask for his help in making a change.
If you mean it –
maybe even if you mean it only a little- chances are good Jesus will respond (he wants
you to follow!) and your life will change:
·
Likely
in unexpected ways
·
Possibly
in challenging ways
·
Always
in ways that will make you more whole – as biking those Ohio hills did for me.
Jesus demands that
we follow him as Elisha followed Elijah so that God’s purposes may be fulfilled
in us as they were in Elisha.
God has many
purposes in this world that will be fulfilled the more closely we follow Jesus.
And one of those
purposes is that we will become more whole.
Still, in the end,
its not about us, its about God’s work.
Jesus wants the
Reign of God to be realized fully.
That is why he is
so demanding in his call to follow him without reservation, as Elisha followed
Elijah.
But even if, for now,
we follow him only as well as I managed to follow Helen up those Ohio hills,
trailing behind, my leader sometimes far ahead and out of sight, Jesus can work
with that, if we will ask for his help.
The Rev. Jack Zamboni
June 27, 2010