The Very Rev. Randy Hollerith: Discipleship
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Good morning. I want to talk to you today about discipleship and I want to begin with a very specific premise.
- Being a disciple of Jesus is not about saving one’s soul and then working to save the souls of others. God saves souls, we don’t.
- Being a disciple of Jesus is about being commiQed to Jesus’ work in the world, not in order to save souls, but in order to join with Christ in saving the world.
I’m going to let that sink in for a moment. Does that sound like heresy to you, or do you resonate with that premise? When I was a teenager and just beginning to really wrestle with my own faith, I always thought that what I needed to do to be a good Christian was to believe certain things. To believe that Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead and that through his death and resurrection he made it possible for me to go to heaven. If I believed, then I got my ticket to heaven punched and my job as a disciple was to help others believe the same things. Well, to make sure there is no confusion, I do believe that Jesus died and rose from the dead and that his resurrection destroyed the power of sin and death. I think it’s all true. But I also think that being a disciple of Christ involves a whole lot more than believing the right ideas and getting others to do the same.
Brian McLaren, one of my favorite Christian writers once wrote, “On one Christian path, the wider and more well-traveled path in my observation, Jesus did some great things— so that we will never have to. Whereas Jesus served, suffered, and died, we get to be happy, forgiven, and blessed, and then go to heaven where we will, basically, eat cake forever.
In this approach, there is a radical discontinuity between Jesus and us. We praise him, we honor him, we believe in him, we love him, and we maximize how great the gap is between him and us. He’s way way up there – and we’re way way down here – and we like that arrangement very much, because if we’re good in believing the right things or behaving the right way, he will bring us way way up there with him someday, and the cake will be sweet.
On the other (Christian) path, the less-traveled track, Jesus did some wonderful, amazing, and difficult things so that we will join him and do those wonderful, amazing, difficult things as well.”1
There is an old story that goes – there was once a man who attended a fair and saw another man leading a beautiful, well-groomed horse. He asked, “Is that a saddle horse?” “No,” the owner replied. “This horse will buck off a saddle. Nothing can stay on its back.” “Well,” the man asked, “Is he a driving horse?” “Nope,” said the owner. “He was hitched up once to a cart, but he tore it all to pieces.” “Well, what is he good for?” the man asked. The owner replied, “Style, man, style. Just look at the picture he makes.”
That same man attended a church the following Sunday. He saw lots of people clad in fine clothes sittng in a beautiful sanctuary. Afterward, he asked the pastor, “Do many of these folks visit the sick and the elderly?” “No,” the pastor replied, “Very few do.” Then he asked, “Do many of these folks have a passion for making disciples?” The pastor replied, “Most of my folks have never shared the Gospel.” He then asked the pastor, “do many of these folks tithe their incomes to serve the poor.” Sadly, the pastor shook his head no. This time the man didn’t respond but he thought to himself, “There’s that horse again. Nothing but style.”
“In every age the Lord asks his people: are you going to play church or be the church? Does your discipleship have substance or is it mostly style? Is your focus on showmanship or servanthood? Do you want to be just a religious social club? Or, will you help me build my Kingdom by giving your time, talent and money…cheerfully, systematically, and sacrificially? In Olympic competition, divers and gymnasts get points for style. But not in the Christian life. Our standard is faithfulness.”2
When Jesus sent his 12 friends out into the world, he didn’t say to them – go out and make believers. Rather he told them – go out and make disciples. He told them to go into the world and do as he did – proclaiming the arrival of God’s Kingdom, casting out evil, healing the sick – and finding others who would do the same. It seems clear to me that for Jesus discipleship wasn’t about believing, it was about doing. After all, you can believe in Jesus and still not follow him, you can worship Jesus without doing the things he says.3
Why do you think Jesus said the things he did about loving one’s neighbor, loving one’s enemies, caring for the poor, standing up against injustice, turning the other cheek and doing good to those who hate you? Why do you think Jesus did the things he did like dining with prostitutes, tax collectors, and outcasts, healing the sick, feeding the hungry, speaking out on behalf of the poor? I mean think about it, why? Why urge us, show us, press us to think as he thought and act as he acted? Was it so we can get into heaven? Was it all about our salvation? I don’t think so. I think Jesus said and did all these things because he knew that without a change of heart on our part, without us dying to self and rising to his way of life – loving, serving, forgiving – we would destroy ourselves and at the same time we would destroy the world.
Some would argue that Jesus said and did all these things to show us how we can protect our souls so that when we die, we go to heaven. But I don’t believe he was thinking much about getting into heaven at all. I think he was concerned about the fact that if left to our own devices, we would annihilate ourselves. He was pointing at us and pointing into our future and saying – if you want to survive, if you want this world to be any kind of a reflection of God’s good creation, then this is how you must be, these are the kinds of people you must become. It is almost like Jesus’ life marked a critical moment in the evolution of the human species. To survive, he was telling us, we must become more like him, we must evolve into Christ. As Soren Kierkegaard once said, “save us from the error of wishing to admire Thee instead of being willing to follow Thee and to resemble Thee.”
In closing my friends, the world needs disciples now more than ever. The days when Christians could claim any kind of righteous self-satisfaction simply because they believe the right things, are long gone. The world needs people who are devoted to following Jesus and not just believing in him. Now you might ask yourself, what can I do? How can I possibly make a difference when we face so many big, complicated problems? I mean there is a war in Ukraine, and a possible coup going on in Russia. There are hundreds of thousands of refugees across the world risking their lives to find a better life, many of them losing their lives like the hundreds who drowned off the coast of Greece when their boat capsized. There is unprecedented political turmoil in this country. Many Americans no longer trust our institutions or each other. What are we to do in the face of these and so many other issues? Well, just remember that Jesus lived, worked, and died in an area slightly smaller than New Jersey and yet he changed the world. So, look around you at your life, in your little corner of the world and try to imitate our Risen Lord. Because every act of kindness, forgiveness, justice has a ripple effect and lots of ripples all together can make a fairly sizable wave.
Therefore, love your neighbor wherever you can, make peace wherever you can, seek forgiveness wherever you can, stand up for the vulnerable wherever you can, feed the hungry and care for the sick wherever you can. For as Bishop Curry reminds us, “the work of the gospel, the core of discipleship, is to follow our Savior in the way of God, breaking down dividing walls and divisive barriers and building up bridges of reconciliation that lead to a new humanity, a new creation, a new heaven, and a new earth.”
Finally, no matter what comes your way remember that you are loved. In our gospel for today Jesus says, “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all counted. So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.”
As the old hymn says: Whenever I am tempted, Whenever clouds arise; When songs give place to sighing, When hope within me dies, I draw the closer to him, From care he sets me free; His eye is on the sparrow, And I know he watches me; His eye is on the sparrow, And I know he watches me. Amen
1 Brian McLaren, Christian Century, 10 September 2019
2 Story and quote aDributed to the Rev. Bill Bouknight.
3 Adapted from Richard Rohr, Belief or Discipleship? Tuesday, January 22, 2019