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In this week's scripture lesson we find some of those "hard sayings of Jesus."

"Keeping the Faith in the Tough Times" Cicero United Methodist Church Jack Keating

June 27, 2010 5th Sunday after Pentecost     Text: Luke 9: 51-62

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In this week's scripture lesson we find some of those "hard sayings of Jesus." And each of these sayings are in response to a person asking Jesus about discipleship. Two of these sayings concern the kingdom of God.

"As they were going along the road, someone said to him, "I will follow you wherever
you go. And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." (Luke 9: 57-58 NRSV)

It seems to me that this saying has to do with personal comfort.

Eugene Peterson's The Message puts it this way .... "Are you ready to rough it? We're
not staying at the best inns you know?" I think Jesus is telling this person that the Kingdom
must come before personal comfort. Be prepared to rough it. If you choose to follow Jesus
and be kingdom people, living in kingdom ways, it won't be easy. Kind of like the difference
between camping in a modern motor-home with all the amenities in the well groomed
campground, or camping in a tent in the woods; just you, what you can carry and the black
flies.

Kingdom life can be a life on the move, always changing, an unpopular kind of life,
according to Jesus. As an old song, sung by the country crooner goes ..... "if you get cranky
without your silk hanky, you'd better stay home."

"And to another he said, "Follow me." But he said, "Lord, first let me go home and
bury my father." But Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God."

And this saying has to do with priorities, I think. Jesus seems to be saying that allegiance to family members or others before the Kingdom of God won't do. No matter how good your intentions may be. Even a father's funeral, isn't enough. And you just don't miss your father's funeral, now or in the ancient Middle East. That was the ultimate insult, and the fastest sure way to cut yourself out of the inheritance.

Yet Jesus seems to be saying the kind of allegiance we normally show to our family or our best friends, that and more should be shown to the Kingdom of God. Those seem to be interesting words as we prepare to celebrate the Independence Day holiday here in just a few days. Allegiance to the Kingdom of God above all others .....

"Another said, "I will follow you, Lord; but first let me say farewell to those at home." Jesus said to him, "No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God."

This time, once again, Jesus seems to be saying that the Kingdom must be absolutely
first. Finding the kingdom, and gaining access to the kingdom requires our absolute  concentration. Just like plowing a straight furrow.

Now I'm no farmer. I've only driven a farm tractor once and that was a long time ago.  And I didn't even drive it in the field. But I know how much concentration it took not to impale a car or something with the bale spear out in front. I can only imagine the concentration it takes to plow a straight furrow ..... concentration which needs to be sustained over the entire field. The first pass is just as important as the last. Look back, lose your concentration, let your mind wander, and the nice straight rows become winding and useless.

A year or so ago, the town of Clay painted a new yellow double line on my favorite shortcut home, Crabtree Lane .... right down here off of Route 11. And when you drove that road it was embarrassingly apparent that the driver of the painting truck was either texting on his cell phone, eating a ham sandwich or maybe asleep at the wheel. Because those yellow lines looked like something my almost 3 year old grandson might have painted. Now it's since been repainted but you can still see the evidence of the first attempt to line the road.

Not paying attention results in shoddy work.

So too with the Kingdom of God. It requires attention and concentration over the long haul. According to Jesus, if you and I expect to be a part of God's kingdom, now and forever, we need to be serious about our work. We can't wander. We can't look back. Once we start, if we aren't committed, we're in trouble. No matter how hard it might be; no matter what may come along to distract us; we have to press on with the task at hand. "No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God."

So, after spending some time with this text over the last week, it strikes me that there night be two different ways to look at these sayings of Jesus. We can look at them from the perspective of persistence and we can look at them from the perspective of grace.

Perspective of Persistence

All of these sayings tell us that we must be persistent. If you're going to seek God, then seek God. If you are going to work for the kingdom, then work for the kingdom. Even in the beginning of the passage in the story about the Samaritan village, Jesus shows his persistence. The scripture says, "Jesus set his face toward Jerusalem."

From this perspective, like Jesus we need to set our face toward God's kingdom.  Keep at it. Don't let set backs or road blocks stop you. Like a hurdler running a race, just because one hurdle falls doesn't mean you stop running. You can still win. When troubles come, pray, act, work, overcome. When things don't work out the way you planned, do your best with what you have.

It was in 1955 that Colonel Harlan Sanders retired at age 65 and he had little to show for himself, except an old Cadillac roadster, a $105 monthly pension check, and a pretty good recipe for chicken. Knowing he couldn't live on his pension, he took his chicken recipe in hand, got behind the wheel of his old clunker, and set out to make his fortune.

His first plan was to sell his chicken recipe to restaurant owners, who would in turn pay him a residual for every piece of chicken they sold - 5 cents per chicken. The first restaurant owner turned him down. So did the second. So did the third. In fact, the first 1000 sales calls he made all ended in rejection. Still he continued across the country, often sleeping in his car to save money. Prospect number 1009 finally gave him his first "yes".

After two years of making daily sales calls he had signed up a total of 5 restaurants. But still he pressed on, because he knew he had a great recipe and he believed that someday the idea would catch on.

Of course, you know how the story ends. The idea DID catch on. By 1963 he had over 600 restaurants across the country and in 1964 future Kentucky governor John Brown bought him out making him a multi millionaire. He spent the rest of his life promoting Kentucky
Fried Chicken until God called him home in 1980.

Sanders learned at a young age to rely on God. Trust. Be persistent. This is stubbornness at its best. Jesus is saying, "Be stubborn for the Kingdom. Don't make do with the mediocre. Don't stop until you are there."

To each of the people Jesus speaks to, his answer is always the same, "no matter what happens, proclaim the kingdom of God." Be persistent. If you give up, if you turn back, if you aren't 150':'0 committed, you aren't fit for the kingdom."

Like the person wanting to bury their father, for those persistent to live the kingdom life, even in the face of death, we must proclaim the Kingdom of God at hand. As much as the Kingdom of God is some yet to be completed thing of the future, Jesus repeatedly told us that the Kingdom of God is at hand; here among us; now. So don't just bury your father, weeping and wailing, following tradition around funerals. Instead, proclaim the Kingdom of God.

And that brings us to the second way we can look at these sayings.

Perspective of Grace

Now, I don't know about you, but when I hear these sayings, I find myself struggling with the question, "if this is what it takes to be fit for the Kingdom of God, then who measures up?" And that's I guess why these are called hard sayings. It's hard to be willing to give up your personal comfort and control. It's hard to just strike out, not knowing where God is leading and not knowing how we'll fair. It's hard to leave behind our families and our friends and always, every single time, put the kingdom first. It's hard to be so single-minded about the kingdom that nothing else distracts us. And, frankly, if that's what it takes to get into the Kingdom of God, I for one am in trouble.

I readily admit it, at times I get distracted from seeking God's kingdom. At times there are other concerns which take first priority. At times my family, or my friends, are more important than what's going on here at church, or even what God is saying at that particular time. And I think I can safely guess that each of us can echo those sentiments. There are times when the kingdom life is the furthest thing from our minds.

So who is fit for the Kingdom of God? Does this mean we aren't?

I guess if we measure our fitness by these sayings of Jesus then the answer to that question is probably, "Not me." Which means that once again we find ourselves in the need
of God's grace.

You see, that first message of persistence inherent in this passage is a good message. We need, I think, to hear it and out it into practice.

But there is a stronger message here. It's the message that says, for most of us, no matter how hard we persist, we can't make it on our own. We need God's help and God's forgiveness to be "fit for the Kingdom of God." We need Grace.

A couple of weeks ago, at the Garage Sale, when I was emptying the POD unit somehow we ended up talking about Grace. You've heard me say it before; "Grace is not getting what you do deserve, and instead getting what you don't deserve."

That's the good news of Grace. Even if and when we don't deserve and aren't fit for
the Kingdom, because of Jesus we will get in. If we are willing to admit our unwillingness, our inabilities, and seek God and God's grace, then through the wonder of the Cross, God sees us as fit to be a part of the Kingdom; part of the Kingdom now and part of the Kingdom yet to come.

So while we persist and stubbornly work on seeking and proclaiming the Kingdom of
God, no matter what happens, we ARE able to do so within the context of God's never ending
Grace.

We ARE able to work at letting God lead us, not having a place to rest our heads, always on the move, trusting in God.

We ARE able to keep trying to put God's kingdom first, in all our choices and in every part of our lives.

We ARE able to concentrate on a kingdom life over the long haul, not looking back. We ARE able to do these things and we ARE able to be considered "fit for the Kingdom of God" because we live in the context of Grace. It may be amazing and it may be beyond our human comprehension, but we know it is still true.

Throughout the coming week, I'd encourage you to think about two questions that Jesus seems to be asking of the folks in this morning's scripture lesson, just as he asks them of each of us today       .

1. How far am I willing to go for the Kingdom of God?

2.  How do I react when faced with hardship on my journey with God? Do I knuckle
under and struggle on or do I give up and walk away?