Proper 8(A) + Discipleship is easy; discipleship is costly + 6.29.14

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(http://www.sandiathey.net/Forgiveness.html)
M. Campbell-Langdell +
All Saints, Oxnard
(Genesis 22:1-14, Psalm 13, Romans 6:12-23, Matthew 10:40-42)

I wouldn’t say I’m God’s gift to the art of preaching, but I can say that a help that God has given me in this vocation is the gift of listening to the Spirit quickly, or at least trying to. This means that many times, after I have read over our lectionary readings for the coming Sunday, I quickly begin to form a little of what I will say. If often takes a little while longer to read comments or sometimes translate a portion of scripture or otherwise deepen my message but this expedience is a special help in a bilingual congregation wherein I work almost double the usual time on my sermon because I always translate it, too!
Not so this week. I've been gnawing like a dog with a bone all week on this text with Abraham and Isaac in Genesis, what the Jews call the Aqedah, or the binding of Isaac. I was trying to sort out how a God of love could ask this of his faithful servant Abraham. I read several viewpoints. That this story is often read as demonstrating a change in the Jewish religious culture from the sacrifice of the firstborn son to the slaughter of animals, a basis of Jewish temple worship that lasted many years, until the time of Jesus.[1] Someone reminded me that of course Abraham did not live in a world of one God, but of many Gods.  And many worshipped a god who demanded child sacrifices. So it is possible that this story that shows Abraham about to sacrifice his son actually shows that in the end God does not desire this kind of sacrifice. God opens up a way not only for Abraham to show his faithfulness, as we have traditionally read this passage, but God also shows how our one true God changed the mindset of the time from focus on something as abhorrent as child sacrifice to something that might work a bit better for everyone at the time, the sacrifice of animals.
Rather than seeing cruelty here, then, I began to wonder if God was, perhaps, showing just the lengths of sacrifice we may need to go to with God in order to combat the forces of evil in this world. One commentator explained that this was a way to show that we, along with God, may have to be willing to sacrifice much in order to overcome the forces of evil in the world. He reminded me that the name Isaac means "laughter" and that God and Abraham risked the death of all the laughter in the world at this dark time. But that God’s grace is also powerfully present here, as we see in the provision of the ram and as we see in Jesus’ sacrifice for us all those years later.[2]
But all this did not help me entirely. I still I have questions about this scripture. I feel better about it, which is good, since it is one of the foundational of the scriptures of our Judeo-Christian religion, but I would still like to understand it better. However, in the process of reading and studying, I came to some conclusions about this meeting between Abraham, Isaac and God. First, I began to think about the theologian Dietrich Boehoeffer and his concept called "the cost of discipleship." He says that the grace of God does not come cheap. That, yes, God provides it freely, but we usually have to do something to become better people in the world and follow Christ. And sometimes this is personally costly. Bonhoeffer knew whereof he spoke, because he was a Christian in Germany during the Nazi era. The church in Germany had decided it was best not to rock the boat and collaborated with the Nazis. But Bonhoeffer decided he had to speak out against the Nazi regime and began to take steps to bring it down. These steps were controversial, and he ultimately lost his life in his efforts. You can decide for yourself if you would have done the same, but Bonhoeffer had a point. There is often a cost to following Christ with one’s whole being.
It’s costly to follow God without knowing that everything will end well. We trust that in God’s grace and mercy there will be a ram, an opening, a happy ending. But sometimes we do not know how it will work out. Everything seems dark. I could not imagine how Abraham felt on that mountain, before seeing the alternative path open before him, before seeing the angel and the ram in the thicket. We have to trust sometimes when it seems bleak ahead.
And we have to continue in conversation with God, or better said, in listening to God. Most of the time we talk to God, but how much time do we spend listening to God? How would it have been if Abraham had gone to the mountain on his appointed mission and had not been open to hearing the angel? If he had not kept listening to God? Even if he had heard the angel, possibly he would not believe him or her. We must spend time in prayer and listening to God's voice in order to be open to the ways in which he provides us angels and rams.
Finally, discipleship is costly, but today's gospel reminds us that sometimes, it’s simple. The simple act of giving a glass of water to a follower of Christ does not escape the notice of God. Sometimes it is the most humble, the most basic thing, like listening to someone who is in pain, or recognizing the humanity or the needs of a brother or sister in Christ, that makes a difference.
So I'll end with two stories-one about the “easy” cost of discipleship and the other an example of how difficult it is to follow Christ at times.
This Thursday I blessed the home of some parishioners who have been through a difficult time of late. After the blessing, one of the pair, a man, saw that I was thirsty and gave me a glass of water. This simple glass of water was exactly what I needed to continue my ministry that day.  It was a small but needed blessing.
Yesterday I saw in the newspaper about the family of Chris Prewitt, the teacher who died in April as a result of being hit by the car of a driver under the influence. They pleaded for mercy for the woman who hit him. They said they forgave her. They said it's not that what she did was right or OK, but that they think that the deceased would want her to take steps to address her problems, to heal and make a new life. Reading the article, I saw that the woman who was driving hugged Prewitt’s widow, crying, and Mrs. Prewitt said, "We forgive you, but it’s time for you to forgive yourself." And finally the woman's father went to Prewitt’s widow and talked with her; afterwards saying, "The way I see it, he saved my daughter."[3]  One assumes that he means that this event was a wake-up call to save her from her problems. Can you imagine how hard this was for Prewitt’s family to say this? For his widow and his sister and say they forgive the person who in effect killed their husband and brother? I do not know their faith backgrounds, but I do know that their actions seemed Christian to me. They seemed to me the actions of a costly discipleship.
May we learn from them, as we keep on listening to God, and trusting that God's mercy will lead us to glory and peace in the end.



[1] Scott Hoezee, Commentary on Genesis 22:1-4 (for June 29, 2014), from Center for Excellence in Preaching: http://cep.calvinseminary.edu/thisWeek/index.php.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Marjorie Hernandez, “Forgiveness: Ventura family urges compassion as driver gets 4-year prison sentence,” VC Star (June 28, 2014).

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