[Sad to say, through the miracle of technology, there is no audio file for his homily. But the text is below.]
Today we are going to talk a bit about deliberation in discipleship. Just as there are no anonymous Christians, it is impossible to be a disciple without being intentional. Discipleship takes planning and deliberation. There are no accidental Christians.
We Alaskans are pretty good about planning. Many of us live here because we like to head out into the wilderness. But you and I both know that you don’t go into the wilderness without planning.
Sadly, we read all too often in the paper about people who did not prepare correctly with disastrous and sometimes fatal results.
It’s no different being a disciple of Jesus Christ. That’s what he’s telling his disciples today in the gospel. Essentially he is telling them, and us, that if we would follow him, we have to know what we are getting into.
“If anyone comes to me without hating
his father and mother,
wife and children, brothers and sisters,
and even his own life,
he cannot be my disciple.
Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me
cannot be my disciple.
And he goes on. You don’t start a construction project without first doing the math to see if you can afford it. You don’t go to war with a strong foe without a reasonable chance of success.
We do no go into the wilderness without planning and deliberation. We don’t start building projects without planning and deliberation. We don’t go into battle without planning and deliberation.
Why then would you ever think that you could enter into the dessert of contemplation, that you could build a life centered on Jesus, or that you could do battle with devil without planning and deliberation?
There is no discipleship without deliberation. There are no accidental Christians.
Yet, so often we try to do exactly that. We try to be disciples on the fly. We try to ad lib our way through the life of virtue. Here is one of my favorite prayers of an accidental Christian:
Dear Lord,
So far I’ve done all right.
I haven’t gossiped,
haven’t lost my temper,
haven’t been greedy, grumpy, nasty, selfish, or overindulgent.
I’m really glad about that.
But in a few minutes, God,
I’m going to get out of bed.
And from then on,
I’m going to need a lot more help.
This is a cute prayer, kind of funny, and it does emphasize how we need to depend on God, but it really doesn’t require anything of us. You and I both know that it’s not just about avoiding the wrong things. It’s about ordering our lives with Christ at the center so that the world may “see the good things we do and give glory to the Father.”
So, if we are going to be intentional disciples, it will take planning and deliberation. But where do you start? Here are three easy steps:
Step 1 – Involves getting our priorities straight, especially when it comes to relationships. Does Jesus really want us to hate our father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sister, even our very life? I don’t think so. But he is saying without apology that if you put any other relationship, even your most cherished ones, before your relationship with Christ, then your priorities are out of order. We must put Christ in the center, because it is our relationship with Christ that gives context and meaning to all our other relationships and gives them life.
Step 2 – Once we get our priorities rightly ordered, take inventory of how you are spending your time and your resources. It’s very simple. Show me your calendar, show me your checkbook or your Alaska Airlines Mileage Card statement and I will tell you what your priorities are.
Step 3 – Organize your physical space to make room for Jesus. Now, I don’t have a house to live in right now, but most of you do. Very likely you have a place to eat, a place to sleep, perhaps a place for the TV. If you are lucky you may have a garage in which to put your car. Is there a place in your house dedicated to prayer?
These three simple steps can make all the difference in the movement from being a consumer of religious goods and services to an intentional disciple of Jesus Christ.
1. Examine the priorities of your relationships
2. Take an inventory of how you spend your time and resources
3. Organize your physical space to make room for Jesus.
It is especially important that we do so, because we know that sooner or later our faith will be tested and the cost of discipleship will become manifestly clear.
We have a very clear example of this in the second reading. What’s going on? The letter is written by St. Paul in his later years to a wealthy Christian named Philemon. We know that Philemon was wealthy because he owned slaves. One of these slaves was named Onesimus. At some point earlier he had run away from Philemon and eventually sought out the Apostle Paul in Rome. At some point he became a Christian. Now, Paul is sending him back to Philemon with the very letter we read today, asking that he be received, not as a slave, but as a brother in Christ.
Philemon has a problem. By the laws of that day, (which thank God are not the laws of our own day), he has every right to punish Onesimus and re-enslave him. Yet, Paul is asking him to receive him as he would Paul himself. What can he do? His faith is asking him to do one thing, but the socio-economic impact would be devastating. What about his other slaves? What would they think? What about the neighbors?! He is being asked to reorganize his entire household according to a whole new way of thinking. What is he going to do?
We do not know what Philemon eventually did. There is no return letter or record what happened next. But since this letter is included in the canon of Scripture, I like to think that he did the right thing. But one thing I do know is that like Philemon, we too are asked to reorganize our lives and our households around our relationship with Christ.
We need to
1. Examine the priorities of our relationships
2. Take an honest inventory of how we spend our time and our resources
3. We need to organize our physical space to make room for Jesus.
It is not easy,and like Philemon, it may rock our world.
But there is no greater call than to be a Christian. Perhaps not doing great and extraordinary things, but perhaps doing the ordinary things of life with an extraordinary love.
Our Lord makes it abundantly clear.
There is no discipleship without planning and deliberation.
There are no accidental Christians.