September 8, 2019

Thirteenth Sunday After Pentecost
Deuteronomy 30:15-20
Psalm 1
Philemon 1-21
Luke 14:25-33

Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ,
 grace and peace to you from the one who chose life for all. Amen
 
We have some pretty stark choices
before us in our lessons for today,
 
 Moses starts us off in Deuteronomy,
 he’s addressing the Israelites
just before they enter the promised land,
 
 they’ve wandered in the desert for 40 years,
learning how to be a free people
while still being taken care of by God,
 
but the manna will stop when they cross the Jordan river,
and there will be other people there
 and it will be time to put the lessons learned
 over the past forty years to the test.
 
 You are free to choose,
Moses tells the people
 and here are your choices:
life and prosperity,
death and adversity.
 
And he urges them to choose life.
 
That seems like a pretty obvious choice doesn’t it? 
 
The comedian Eddie Izzard does a bit
 where he says,”Cake or death That’s a pretty easy question anyone can answer that.
‘Cake or death’
 ‘uh cake please’ 
‘very well, give him cake’
 ‘ah thanks very much’
 ‘you, cake or death?’
 ‘ah cake for me too please’ 
‘very well, give him cake too, we’re going to run out of cake at this rate, you cake or death?” ‘Death please, no cake, cake, cake, sorry’
 ‘you said death first’
 ‘I meant cake’
 ‘oh alright’
 
Life or death, that seems like a pretty easy question to answer doesn’t it?
 
But of course
because we’re humans
we make it more complicated than that.
 
After the initial offering of life or death
 Moses goes on to explain what living out that choice looks like:
Choosing life looks like obeying the commandments
 loving God, and walking in his ways
 
“But,” Moses continues
“if your heart turns away and you do not hear, but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall perish.”
 
Serving other gods is the choice of death
 and here’s the thing,
those other gods, those false idols
make it seem like they are the better choice,
 
whether it’s because following them is easier
or more comfortable
 or even more exciting,
 
they disguise death in flashy shiny things
that grab our attention for a moment
but ultimately lead to death
 
because in making these choices
 we’re serving ourselves,
we’re thinking of our own lives and comforts.
 
Life as God defines it
 is bigger than just ourselves,
life encompasses all of creation,
 life is lived in community with others and God,
 that’s what the rules God gives the people are about,
 living with God and others in community
 
and ironically,
to us at least,
 choosing life means giving up some things,
 namely being self-centered.
 
And that’s hard
 because the messages we receive on a daily basis
 tell us that we should be thinking about ourselves (and families) first
 and these false idols lead us astray
promising life with quick fixes
or the next great thing
 when all it leads to is death. 
 
Choosing life is hard.
 It’s what Jesus is talking about in our gospel for today,
 it’s one of those readings
 where we want to put a question mark at the end of the proclamation,
 the gospel of the Lord?
 Because it doesn’t really sound like good news does it?
Hating family and giving up all possessions
 
 but here Jesus is in the process of choosing life
 and he’s trying to communicate
 to those following him
just how radical choosing life is.
 
 Jesus is on the road to Jerusalem
 and the cross where he will die
so that all may live,
 
 in dying he will destroy death
and bring about everlasting life for all.
 And yes that sounds backwards and foolish
but that’s how our God, the author of all life works.
 
So Jesus turns to the crowd following behind him,
waiting for him to do miracles and overthrow the Romans
and he asks them to consider just how far they’re willing to go,
 what they are willing to give up to be his disciple,
 to choose life,
 
when you choose life Jesus says
 it means caring for the whole community,
especially the most vulnerable,
 
and sometimes you will get caught between caring for your family
 and the most vulnerable
and with Jesus, the most vulnerable come first
 
And Jesus says
when you follow me
you’ve got to be willing to make your resources
 available to the community,
if it’s a choice between your things and someone who is hurting,
 they come first.
And boy how foolish you will look
 if you say you’re going to follow me
 and then change your mind partway through. 
 
“See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity... Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying him and holding fast to him; for that means life to you and length of days…”
 
Choosing life should,
well, it should change our lives.
 
Following Jesus
means doing things that seem foolish to the world around us,
 like taking time on Sunday mornings
 to gather with a community broader than our family,
 
it looks like using our time, talent, and treasure
for the sake of people we don’t even know
because we believe that their needs should be taken care of
 in the same way ours are
even if that means we use less for ourselves.
 
Choosing life
 means that we care about all lives
 with a special emphasis on the marginalized,
 understanding that our call to love and serve our neighbors
expands around the globe,
 that in Christ we are one body
and when one part hurts all the parts hurt.
 
Choosing life means
that if they way we’ve done something in the past
 hurts others we must acknowledge that hurt and change our ways.
 
So, what’ll it be? Life or death?
 
It’s an easy question to answer,
it’s a hard choice to live out,
 
 and it seems that no matter how hard we try,
we always seemed to be lured away again
 by the ease and comfort of just focusing on ourselves
 
And God knows that’s going to happen
 which is why Jesus,
 fully God and fully human,
chose life for all
and lived out that choice
 through the cross all the way to the empty tomb
 
Which means when we fail,
there is forgiveness and the chance to try again,
joined to Christ in baptism
each day we die to sin and rise to new life in Christ
 each day a new chance
to chose life so that all may live. Amen