DECISIONS, DECISIONS?

September 4, 2022
13^th Sunday after Pentecost
Jer. 18:1-11; Ps. 139; Philem. 1-21; Lk. 14:25-33
Rev. Denise Clark-Jones

How many decisions do you think you make in a day? I Googled that question, and on the first page of articles, the number ranged from 122 to 35,000. Obviously, the researchers had different criteria for what constitutes a decision. We make many decisions without even realizing it because they have become reflexive: for example, hitting the snooze button after our alarm clock after it rings. We also make decisions that don’t seem like decisions because they have become habitual; for example, making coffee in the morning or going for a run before breakfast. What I also gleaned from these studies is that we spent a lot of time deciding what to eat. We also change our minds about our decisions a lot. We look to others to help us make our decisions, and wisdom and honesty are the characteristics we look for in determining who we ask to help us with our decisions. Every one of us has gone through a series of decisions before we decided to spend this hour sitting in this sanctuary this morning. Not all our decisions in a day are life-altering, but daily decisions can have a cumulative effect on our identity formation.

We began our scripture readings with God speaking to the prophet Jeremiah concerning God’s decision about the fate of Israel. God uses an illustration common to daily life in ancient Israel, a potter making a clay pot, to reveal the process behind God’s decision-making.  The theological tension between God’s omnipotent authority and human free will is played out using this metaphor of God as the Master Potter and Israel as the clay. When the potter is not happy with the product made on the potter’s wheel, the choice is to throw away the pot or re-form the clay into a new pot. Thus, the clay can be interpreted on one level as being Israel, but on another level as being God’s mind. God’s vision of the pot changes with the decision to form a new pot. A pot must be useful to the potter. If it is defective, it will not be useful to the potter’s purpose in creating it. God can change God’s mind, just as the decision to scrap the defective pot or reform the clay is the potter’s prerogative. If Israel is interpreted as including the malleability of the clay, she can submit to the potter’s hand and participate in her own re-formation. God’s decision to rework the clay, thus allows Israel to choose between submitting to God’s authority and will or continuing her own path that leads to destruction.

This past week we heard our president say in a speech that this country is at a similar crossroads in decision-making: Do we continue as a democracy or not? Many individual and group decisions have been made to get us to the present reality with our division of purpose and process. That cumulative effect of decisions has changed who we are as a nation and how the rest of the world perceives us. If we perceive our nation as being “under God,” that is submitting to God’s authority above all others, we have a tremendous responsibility to be re-formed back into God’s intentions for a just and peaceful nation.

The epistle reading for today sounds like a personal letter but it is, actually, a public letter to the Christian congregation that met at Philemon’s house. Paul uses this deceptive ploy to persuade Philemon to do the right thing. We know that Philemon was a wealthy man because he had a house big enough for a group of Christians to congregate on the Sabbath, and he had slaves. The eyes of the congregation would have been watching Philemon, who Paul had placed in the proverbial “hot seat.”

Paul’s letter is both diplomatic and cleverly persuasive. He makes a pun on Onesimus’ name, which means “useful.” He puts forth the argument that Onesimus will be more useful to Christ’s mission if Philemon allows him to return to Paul than if he remains a slave in Philemon’s household. Paul acknowledges that Philemon has already suffered financial loss during the time that Onesimus had run away. He magnanimously agrees to cover Philemon’s losses, but slyly reminds Philemon that he owes his very life to Paul for bringing him to Christ. In a subtle and indirect way, Paul informs Philemon that Christian discipleship has a cost. This is also Jesus’ point in our gospel reading from Luke.

We read that this crowd that appears as the audience is a “Palm Sunday” crowd. They are enthusiastic and hopeful that Jesus will save them from the forces that stand against them. They are ready to follow Jesus. Jesus is on his journey to the cross, but the crowd doesn’t realize that. The great preacher, Fred Craddock, described the crowd as representing the tension between “Galilee and Jerusalem, peasants versus power, laity versus clergy, Jews versus Romans, Jesus versus the establishment.” (1) Jesus doesn’t say: Come with me and I’ll fix these problems you’re dealing with.” Jesus tells them to stop and think what they are asking and consider the cost they are willing to pay to change the world Jesus’ Way, which is to become useful disciples for God’s kingdom.

Then Jesus goes into shock-talk mode: ²⁶“Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple.” Hate your family!  That doesn’t sound biblical… It isn’t. Hate your life? Is he talking about self-loathing, suicide even? That isn’t biblical either. Here Jesus is using the word, “hate,” as a commonly used Semitic hyperbole. In this context, “hate” means “to love less” or “to detach oneself from.” (2) Here Jesus is saying that following him is more important than anything else.

In truth, many modern families have come to idolize their families. For example, if you believe being together for recreation on Sunday morning is a higher priority than being together for re-creation at Sunday worship, you have made a decision that affects who you are and who you are teaching your children to be. Hating your life? Humility is the proper approach to God, but not to the point of devaluing yourself. The Bible tells us we are made in God’s image, that we are beautifully and wondrously made. Here Jesus is saying if you love yourself MORE than God you will not be a disciple who is useful to him.

Jesus includes two parables as illustrations, then ends with another frightening cost of discipleship. Again, Jesus is speaking in hyperbole. What he is telling these would-be disciples is that if you love your possessions more than you love God you cannot be his disciple. Throughout all the Scriptures there is a consistent message: “Anything you love more than God, is your god.” Jesus was putting the pressure on his audience, and now us, that being a disciple must have a cost to us or it is not true discipleship and does not further the kingdom of God on earth.

Jesus told the crowd that to be his disciples they had to carry the cross – he didn’t say everyone had to die on it. He knew he would be the one who would pay that price and it was the cost God, and Jesus was willing to endure for us. To carry the cross is to see discipleship through to the end – not to dabble in discipleship when it is convenient, but the very times when it isn’t.

We may not be asked to sacrifice our physical lives, but we are asked to give up ourselves as the center of the universe and center ourselves in our relationship with God. We are also asked to give up our illusions that we are the potter, when, in truth, we are the clay. It is God who has formed and continues to form us. When we resist, we are still a clay pot, but one that is so far from the Potter’s design that we are useless vessels for God’s kingdom on earth.

So, where’s the payoff we all want for our efforts? Jesus wants disciples who are willing to keep lifting the cross high because this is how the transformation comes. This is how we become the new creations that God calls us to be. Jeremiah’s harsh warnings also came with a comforting assurance. No matter what travails the world brings that would break us, God the potter will reshape us as “useful” vessels of divine love.  If we seek help in our decisions to be disciples from the One who is wise and trustworthy, our decisions can become reflexive and habitual, making the decision-making process involved simply a part of our being as Christian disciples. With repentance, turning toward the Giver of Life and all good gifts, God, the Potter will reshape us into Christ’s image.

So, we come to Christ’s table in humility. We come in hope for a world that more resembles God’s kingdom. We come with love for all who share this meal with us.

Amen, may it be so.

Notes:

1. Craddock, Fred B. Luke. Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching. Louisville. John Knox Press, 1990. p. 181.
2. Boring, M. Eugene am Craddock. Fred B. The Peoples’ New Testament
3. Commentary. Louisville: John Knox Press. 2009. p. 237.

© Rev. Denise Clark-Jones, 2022, All Rights Reserved
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