Following Jesus to become like Jesus

Sermon preached at St Mary’s Lapworth at 11am Mattins
Sunday 27th June 2010 – Trinity 4, Proper 8, Year C

Readings: PS 77: 11-end 2 Kings 2: 1-2 & 6-14 Luke 9: 51-end


In our gospel reading we heard about people following Jesus. Some of them said to Jesus, “I will follow you” and to some of them Jesus said “Follow me”. And the people who follow Jesus were called disciples, and the business of following Jesus we call discipleship.
Sometimes we make the mistake of thinking that there were just 12 disciples of Jesus. Actually there were lots of disciples, and also lots of women, who followed Jesus. But there were 12 disciples who (Mk 3: 14) Jesus designed apostles and who would often call aside and speak only to them. But there were clearly lots of people who Jesus seemed to trust with his message. In Luke 10 he sends 72 people in pairs on ahead of him to the towns which he planned to visit. At the end of John chapter 6 we read that many of Jesus’ disciples were put off by Jesus’ teaching “I am the bread of life” and started to go away. Jesus asked the 12 if they were going to leave too, but Peter said, “Lord, to whom can we go. You have the words of eternal life.”
So Jesus had many disciples, and different ways he also calls each one of us to be disciples, that is followers of Jesus. And I think we have to grow in appreciation and respect for all the different ways in which Jesus calls different people. Some are called to follow him very directly and personally, through a life of intense prayer. Some are called to follow him primarily through practical service to family and friends and to the church. Some are called to follow him through painful or tragic situations. Some people seem called to follow Jesus indirectly, through relationship with people who are closer. And at different times in our lives all of these different experiences can come to the fore ofr each one of us. So the key thing for each one of us is to follow Jesus in the specific way that he asks us to follow him in each present moment of our life. We follow him by seeking to do the will of God, and following the commandments and teaching of Jesus (which are about loving God and our neighbours) in the way that Jesus asks of us right now.
And why do we want to follow Jesus? Because Jesus leads us in the way that leads to eternal life. Those words of Peter really do sum it up, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of Eternal life.” (John 6: 68). Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. (John 14: 6). Jesus is life, the eternal life, and he wants to share that life with us. But, as well as truth, Jesus is also the way to that life, the route we must walk to find the life. It is walking that way, the way of Jesus, moment by moment, day by day, that slowly draws us closer to Jesus the truth and the life. And this happens because as we walk the journey Jesus grows within us. We become like little Jesuses. We become like the one who we follow.
There was a lovely example of this in our Old Testament lesson. Elisha was the servant to Elijah. He was a true disciple of Elijah. He followed Elijah, leaned from him and ultimately became like him. It seems that when Elijah went up to heaven Elisha inherited his spirit. Certainly he was able to perform the miracle of parting the waters of the river, just as Elijah had done. Certainly he went on to become a great prophet in his own right. Well we too when we follow Jesus, start to become like Jesus. Jesus said, “A disciple is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully qualified will be like the teacher. (Luke 6: 40). So we seek to become like Jesus our teacher. And I think it is rather shocking how completely like Jesus we ultimately become. Jesus, when is putting James and John straight for wanting the best seats in heaven, still confirms to them that, “You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with.” We follow Jesus even through these difficult things and certainly we ultimately share in Jesus’ glory (e.g. 2 Thess 2: 14).
Jesus is very clear about the cost of discipleship. Ultimately it costs us everything, nothing can be held back. In our gospel reading today Jesus seems deliberately provocative and uncompromising in his call. To one man who wants to follow him, he says “Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” Jesus emphasizes that the journey he calls us to takes us away from home. For some people that can mean literally leaving home to travel, but for all of us it means leaving the comforts of our old ways of thinking and being, and walking always towards our home in heaven. The New Testament tends of think of us as strangers and pilgrims on earth, walking towards our real home in heaven. (e.g. 1 Peter 1: 17, Heb 11: 13 ff). Then there are two other people who want to follow Jesus, but they want to go back and say good-buy to their old lives first, which seems after all a simple matter of politeness, but for Jesus it is not radical enough. He wants to see a bold, decisive and immediate choice to follow Jesus.
And if Jesus seems to be unreasonably demanding here, let’s remember other assurances that he gives about discipleship. He also describes his yoke as easy and his burden light. In the long term I am sure that this is true. Avoiding the call of Jesus might seem easier in the short term, but the lives that we develop independent of God never really work and eventually they can only fall apart. In the long term it is much easier to build our lives in conformance with God, because these lives have an eternal future.
So, as we spend some moments reflecting on our discipleship, let’s try to be radical in our choice of Jesus. Let’s try to follow what Jesus wants from us moment by moment, day by day. Let’s joyfully follow Jesus the teacher, and by the grace of God, let’s become small Jesuses active in our world today. In this way we can be sure that we are using our lives well, both in this world, and by journeying towards Eternal life. Amen