June 26, 2022 Discipleship 2 St. Andrew Church Rev. Anne McAnelly
First Lesson: Exodus 4:10-17
10 But Moses said to the Lord, “O my Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor even now that you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.” 11 Then the Lord said to him, “Who gives speech to mortals? Who makes them mute or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? 12 Now go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you are to speak.” 13 But he said, “O my Lord, please send someone else.” 14 Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses, and he said, “What of your brother Aaron, the Levite? I know that he can speak well; even now he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you his heart will be glad. 15 You shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth, and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth and will teach you what you shall do. 16 He indeed shall speak for you to the people; he shall serve as a mouth for you, and you shall serve as God for him. 17 Take in your hand this staff, with which you shall perform the signs.”
Second Lesson: Luke 9:51-62
51 When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. 52 And he sent messengers ahead of him. On their way they entered a village of the Samaritans to prepare for his arrival, 53 but they did not receive him because his face was set toward Jerusalem. 54 When his disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” 55 But he turned and rebuked them. 56 Then they went on to another village.
57 As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” 58 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” 59 To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” 60 And Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” 61 Another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” 62 And Jesus said to him, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
I’m too old.
I don’t have the money.
I am not smart.
What will people think?
It’s too hard.
I’m not good enough.
I’m shy.
Do any of these sound familiar? Excuses we tell ourselves when we can’t seem to get
something done, heck stories we tell ourselves before we even start a big project. Excuses are
woven into our lives from the little white lies we say to get out of something, to gigantic
corporate excuse we have all just lived through, namely COVID 19 that has given us an excuse
to not do just about everything.
For over five years I have wanted to write a book. It’s working title, The Theology of Adoption,
One pastor’s journey. I have taken writing workshops, share in monthly writing group, have
ideas of how to structure the chapters. But no book has been written. I have lots of excuses. I
don’t want to sit at a computer after work. Who will read it? I don’t have the time. But all of
those are simply excuses I tell myself. What are the excuses you tell yourself? Do they focus on
a certain project or person? Or have they kept you from doing a lifelong dream?
Jesus has been doing what he was made to do, sharing the gospel of God’s kingdom. But now he
is turning his face towards Jerusalem, no longer heading out into the world but rather focusing on
the place of his final chapter- the place where he will die for our sins. This journey takes up 10
chapters in Luke’s gospel, so this process is vital to who Jesus is and his mission. Jesus is
resolute in purpose. Yet in the moment of this transition what do you hear? Read Luke 9:51-62.
Did you hear the excuses? Their excuse to not follow Jesus. “First let me bury my father” or say
goodbye to my family. These seem reasonable enough. But that is not how they feel in this
passage. Something else is going on.
Let’s look at the story about the Samaritans. As you know Jews and Samaritans do not get
along. But Jesus sent disciples ahead in hope of receiving lodging and sharing the gospel. But
Jesus is not received. The reason stated is because Jesus’ face was set toward Jerusalem. His
attitude, his focus, was on where he was going and what lay ahead, not on the Samaritans. This
reminds us that our attitude makes a difference. There are times we can not do something for
legitimate reasons and our attitude of expressing those reasons makes a difference. You know
what I mean. Someone texts at the last minute saying they can’t make it without remorse or
explanation, feels very different then when someone apologizes and makes an effort to
reschedule with you when something comes up. The disciples’ over reaction also teaches us
something. Yes, we could get mad when we are rejected or turned down, but it is not our place
to judge them harshly, as the disciples did. Besides I don’t think you or I could command fire to
come down. Just kidding.
In response to their judgmental attitude one commentator wrote, “When his disciples want to
finger-point, Jesus instead requires them to examine their own life commitments, calling all who follow him to order their priorities so that their lives are radically free to follow him (Working
Preacher, Amy G. Oden).
Three things to note, having faith and following Jesus is 1. more than just words, 2. it is a
priority and 3. it faces the future. Following Jesus is more than just words. The disciple
proclaims he will follow Jesus, heck he is already following, so please note these are not new
disciples. Yet Jesus responds with a reality test because following Jesus is hard. Heck they were
just rejected by the Samaritans. So Jesus makes the point that discipleship is more than words,
and it will cost you. Foxes and birds have homes, but if you follow Jesus, you will have an
itinerant life. Moses struggled with following God when he knew what it might cost him.
Excuses fly, I am not eloquent, slow to speech, and slow of tongue. This after God has told him
to go three times and he is still there standing before God. But then we get to the heart of it.
Moses says, “Send someone else.” Oh, he does it nicely, remember attitude matters. He says,
“O my Lord, please send someone else.” He sugarcoats it, but now we are getting to the real
concern. Excuses often hide the real problem. Moses did not want to go.
I have been wanting to remodel my kitchen for a long time. But I have not made it happen. I
have lots of excuses. But I recently realized the real problem is that I am afraid I will do it
wrong, fear and pride are blocking me. Yet finally seeing where I am stuck, I hope will help me
to move forward. Excuses might hide a deeper concern. When Moses finally shares with God,
God provides a resource, an answer in his brother Aaron, who is good at speaking. But if we do
not get honest about what is really going on and just keep hiding behind excuses, faith solutions
are hard to come by.
Jesus says, “Follow me” and hears from another disciple, “Let me bury my father.” What could
be more important than that? Why does Jesus take issue? Jesus knows that we can put off doing
things for a whole host of reasons. We usually lead with the best reason, but that is just the tip of
the excuse iceberg. This exchange gets at how you prioritize following Jesus. What parts of
your life take precedence over your faith and following? Family, security, belonging, pride.
“We must ask: To what am I attached today that keeps me from following Jesus fully and
freely?” (Working Preacher, Amy G. Oden).
Finally, a disciple will follow Jesus after she says goodbye to her family. To that Jesus gives an
agrarian answer. If you have ever seen a tractor, you know the goal is to till straight lines to
plant the seed. But if you look back you will likely veer to the side as you twist. Much like
happens when you look over your shoulder on a bicycle. Here is good advice given to a novice
who looked back and plowed snake lines, “You have to look at the other end of the field and
focus on a tree or something. Keep the center of the tractor focused on that tree. You will never
plow a straight line if you are always looking back.” Jesus is telling us to face the future, much
like he is setting his face to his future in Jerusalem. If we are always looking back in our lives,
we will not see what God is calling us to do in the future. Thomas Rhett has a country music
song that goes, “The day you stop looking back girl, is the day you can start moving on.” In the
church we often think of the good old days and want to go back to them. But Jesus is reminding
us of the good news of the gospel is ahead of you. The joy of your salvation is in front of you,
not behind. A Christian farmer summarized this passage like this, “Unless we focus on the tree
(the cross) at the end of our field, we will only plow a crooked path that no one can follow.
Keeping our eyes fixed on the goal and refusing to look behind at our past mistakes (and there
were many) will produce godliness and a field where a harvest can be realized in abundance”
(Armstrong International, 1.09)
Jesus is asking us to let go of the past. Let go of excuses and prioritize our discipleship in him.
Let us transition with Jesus, our journey is one from excuses to harvest; from looking back to
plotting a course with God into our future. Jesus lived with a singularity of mind and purpose to
save us from our sins. Can we follow without excuses, prioritizing Jesus as we face our future
together? Amen.
