All the baptized are united with Jesus in death and resurrection, but a baptized life that isn’t lived out in relationship with God through Jesus Christ, is about as effective as a $20 bill given you by a friend as a gift that you just store away in your wallet and never use. Baptism has infinite value, a valued that is given to us, but that value is unlocked when we use it. And so it is that when we call ourselves Jesus’ disciples, we are owning our baptism, we are owning our identity as a Christian, as ones bearing the name of Christ, Christ-ian. We are using that identity. But what does that mean? What does life as a disciple of Jesus mean. Baptism unites us with Jesus in resurrection, and nothing can take that us away from us. But what are you going to do with that now?
Let us pray. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Believe it or not, I seriously considered signing up for the military. It’s true. The Navy. There were several reasons why I wanted to join the navy—none of which are listed out in the Village People’s first hit single “In the Navy” in their 1979 album Go West. No—I wanted to join the Navy for a few different reasons.
When I was considering joining the Navy, I was in my first year of seminary. I had completed four years of college, including a year aboard in Germany. And now in seminary, I was taking out more loans to pay for school—even bigger loans than undergrad. And so the first reason I was looking into joining then Navy was the promise that signing up for the military meant the United States government would forgive all my school debt. A good deal! Serve your country and pay off your education.
The second reason I was considering signing up was because by the time I graduated from seminary with an M. Div, a degree called a Masters of Divinity, I could become a chaplain. I’d go to officer’s school in Newport, Rhode Island and after 13 weeks, I’d be a commissioned officer in the United States Navy. In fact, a chaplain in the Navy has an equivalent rank of Lieutenant. Another good reason to sign up for the military. Go to officer’s school for 13 weeks and come out a commissioned Lieutenant in the United States Navy.
The third reason the Navy was appealing was family history. Pappy Rager was a second class petty officer in World War II, and my Uncle Lynn was a second class petty officer in Vietnam. My father also thought about joining the Navy, but my grandparents refused to sign his paperwork since he hadn’t yet turned 18 when he was talking to the recruiter. So there was family history too.
But the most important reason I wanted to join the Navy had nothing to do with any of that stuff. The biggest reason I wanted to join the Navy, and not any other branch of the armed services, was the uniform. There’s only one thing classier than the Navy dress blues, and that’s the Navy dress whites. Oh, how I wanted to walk around in that white uniform with my chaplain officer’s insignia. So I put myself to the task of looking into what the requirements were for signing up.
Since I’d be headed to officer’s school, I figured—hey, I might be getting out of basic training! That’s fabulous. So that was my biggest objective, seeing if I needed to do basic training or not if I went into the military and straightaway as a commissioned officer. I couldn’t find a direct answer to that question, which started to raise some red flags for me. Did I have to do basic training and officer’s school? That seemed a tad much, especially since I’d already have my eight years of post-high school education behind me. So I talked with a recruiter. Turns out, yes, everyone who goes into the military, no matter if enlisted or commissioned, has to do basic training. Well—count me out. I wasn’t doing that—not for any dress blues or dress whites, no matter how nice the ensemble is. And so that’s why, in part at least, I’m standing before you today in this pulpit wearing this fabulous white robe and green vestment over top it. I knew basic training wasn’t for me. I wasn’t cut out for it.
Jesus in today’s gospel lays out some pretty striking conditions for those who think they’re cut out to be his disciples. This passage comes on the heels of last week’s gospel where he calls the twelve apostles and gives them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness. Some pretty exciting stuff! Sign me up!
But then immediately thereafter, Jesus makes it clear what it takes to be his disciple. You think you’re cut out to be Jesus’ disciple? People will malign you as if you’re part of something crazy, as crazy as demon worship.
You think you’re cut out to be Jesus’ disciple?
You better be ready to concern yourself with every little thing the world over, not just the flashy, attention-grabbing stuff. God loves things as insignificant as annoying sparrows who build nests under our porches or in our garages—and you’re going to have love that stuff too if you’re Jesus’ disciple.
You think you’re cut out to be Jesus’ disciple?
Be prepared to own your relationship with God, even if it makes you unpopular. You think you’re cut out to be Jesus’ disciple? It might mean rethinking all your relationships—even the ones you hold most dear, even your family. Jesus makes it pretty clear that with all the fabulous authority given us as his disciples, there is a high cost. He’s asking us today if we really understand what we’re excited about when we think of ourselves his disciples, when we call ourselves Christians?
Are we really cut out to be Jesus’ disciple?
What is at the heart of discipleship?
Well, Jesus tells us that today, after he lists out all these things. “Whoever does not take up the cross,” he says, “and follow me is not worthy of me.” And he further adds, “those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.” So what’s that all about? To put it in quintessentially Lutheran terms, what does this mean?
It’s about sacrifice. Simply put, sacrifice.
A life as Jesus’ disciple means a life of sacrifice.
It’s a way of life, not just something we nonchalantly call ourselves. We have been united with Jesus in death and resurrection through the water of baptism, and so therefore are united with him in newness of life. This is a great thing for us. Our union with Jesus in mind, body, and spirit is intended by God for our joy; for our help and comfort, in prosperity and adversity. It’s a union with Jesus in victory over death, but that victory is a victory he won through sacrifice—not for himself. A victory he won for our sake and shares with us, and so united with him, our victory in him, when we own it, when we call ourselves his disciples, when we call ourselves Christians, it’s not for ourselves. But instead it’s for the sake of the same world that Jesus loves.
And so life as a disciple of Jesus, a follower who owns it and thinks they’re cut out for it, such a life is not to be entered into unadvisedly or lightly, but reverently, and deliberately. Such a life is to be entered into aware that it will demand from us things we never could imagined. Life as a disciple of Jesus demands we rethink the way life works.
In this month of June, this Gay Pride Month, we as disciples of Jesus must rethink what it means to say we love someone. What does it mean to be a family? Is God challenging old notions of loving partnerships, through relationships that long have been abhorred? How do we respond as disciples?
Just this week, we saw the Titan submarine tragedy where five people died going to explore the Titanic shipwreck. A terrible loss of life that captured the world’s attention. But how does a disciple respond? What of all the immigrants who make the trek under duress, sometimes over water, to better their lives and their families’ lives, risking everything, and yet the world pays little-to-zero attention? Or even worse, looks at such people with scorn? Any loss of life is sad, but the whole Titanic thing was needless death, while at the same time the capsized barge of immigrants who foundered off the coast of Greece, over 500 dead, barely made the news. Isn’t it kind of sad that the world doesn’t seem to care about that? How do we as disciples respond?
Or the natural world around us, that we live in? God has given us dominion over creation, but far too many believe, far too many Christians believe that entitles us to use the world and its resources, from animals and plants, to water and minerals, for our own benefit without regard for the fine balance of ecology and for generations to come. How does a disciple respond?
Or the whole poisonous, narrow-minded, selfish parody that counts for public, political discourse in our country and around the world today. We have divided ourselves senselessly into camps—no, into teams, like rooting for the Patriots over the Eagles, but with real-world consequences that affect real people. There is no rationality. There is no attempt at compromise. Compromise is seen as weakness, not virtue! And far too many Christians have aligned themselves with one team or another, blindly confusing political ideology with faithfulness. Isn’t it interesting that the word ideology and idolatry share a common, ancient root? Our so-called primitive ancestors seem to have had more insight into the human condition that we really want to afford them credit for. How is a disciple of Jesus supposed to respond when politics compels suspicion, backbiting, showboating, and general meanness?
A disciple does what Jesus would do. A disciple responds with sacrifice. It might be mean stepping back and humbling yourself. It might mean speaking out and looking the fool, or risking saying something that is unpopular. It might mean relationships that have long been important to you but are unhealthy for you and for others need to come to an end. A disciple of Jesus, someone truly cut out for a life as a Christian, is someone who lives as Jesus lived—taking up the cross and following him. That is to say, in loving first and considering the cost second.
When we own that name, Christian, when we sign up for a life as Jesus’ disciple, when we join with him in death and resurrection and gain all authority over everything and everything that would strive against God—unclean spirits, to cast them out—when we share with him in newness of life, we take on a life of sacrifice like he did, in loving obedience to God’s will. In this, we find true fulfillment, true life. In this, we gain life…
You think you’re cut out to be Jesus’ disciple? Take up your cross and follow him.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The Rev'd Daniel W. Spigelmyer, Jr. 