Proper 18 C + Eyes Open Discipleship / El discipulado con los ojos abiertos + 9/7/25

 

Eyes Open Discipleship / El discipulado con los ojos abiertos
Proper 18C, Luke 14, Philemon, [Deuteronomy 30, Psalm 1]

St Paul’s Emmanuel, Santa Paula/ All Santos, Oxnard
The Rev. Alene Campbell-Langdell, traducción por MCL

 

At the beginning of our gospel reading today is a small phrase that could easily get overlooked, “Now large crowds were traveling with Jesus” (Luke 14:25). Al inicio de este evangelio escuchamos de una muchedumbre que sigue a Jesús porque acaba de hacer unos milagros asombrosos.  Jesus has just done some amazing miracles.  Remember the woman bent over and all twisted up inside for 18 years?  Healed. No solo sano a la mujer jorobada pero también libro a un señor con articulaciones hinchadas. Sanados. ¿Se puede imaginar? Can you imagine?  The feeling in the air had to have been electric! El ambiente debe haber sido emocionante hasta que, cuando Jesús se siente para comer, y comparte sobre no tomar el mejor puesto, deben de haber sentido que estaban en el cielo. So much so that when Jesus sits down to eat and shares some wisdom about not grabbing the best seats for yourself and giving without expecting anything in return, all those around him can think is “this is what being in heaven must feel like!”  So when Jesus leaves to continue on his way to Jerusalem, the crowds follow.  Imagining the scene this week, I kept coming back to the lyrics from Sister Act:

I will follow him
Follow him, wherever he may go
There isn't an ocean too deep
A mountain so high it can keep me away

I must follow him
Ever since he touched my hand I knew
That near him I always must be
And nothing can keep him from me
He is my destiny[1]

Puedo imaginar a la gente cantando con entusiasmo, todos en aquel momento de la decisión de seguir a Jesús:

I love him, I love him, I love him
And where he goes I'll follow, I'll follow, I'll follow…

¿Es en respuesta a este entusiasmo ciego que Jesús dice- sabes lo que estás diciendo cuando dices que me vas a seguir? Esto no es algo liviano. It is in response to this blind enthusiasm that Jesus turns around and says in essence, “Do you know what you’re getting yourself into?  Have you actually stopped to count the cost?  Saben donde termina este camino - en la Cruz.”  Bill Brosend writes that Luke 14:33 is his “favorite verse to explore with those who insist the Bible must be read literally, ‘So therefore, none of you can be my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.’”  And then he jokes, “To which I usually add, ‘Can I have the keys to your Lexus?’”[2] 

Una comentarista nota que él le gusta explorar estos versos cuando alguien quiere leer la biblia literalmente. Leen que tienen que dejar todo para seguir a Jesús, luego él dice, ahora, dame las llaves a tu auto 😊. Luego sigue diciendo que nuestra única posesión literal es la cruz si leemos esta escritura literalmente, y no podemos amarnos a nosotros mismos, lo que no hace sentido. He then continues, “[Reading the sayings in this Gospel] literally means our only possession is a cross, our only feeling self-loathing, and our response to those we are taught to honor and cherish is hatred…. that literally makes no sense.”[3]

Asi que, regresamos la advertencia de Jesús para los discípulos demasiados felices de seguirlo. So, we are back to Jesus’ caution to these would-be enthusiastic disciples.  Do you know what road you are on- hint – it leads to Jerusalem? 

¿Han notado en que camino estamos y que llega a Jerusalén? Esto tiene que ver con el otro salmo de hoy, Salmo 1, que empieza con las palabras: “Bienaventurado el que no anduvo en consejo de malos.” Ahora, la palabra bienaventurado aquí puede también significar “los que caminan en el camino bueno.”

It is this concept of considering what road we’re on that is at the heart of Psalm 1 (the alternative psalm for today), which begins with: “Happy are they who have not walked in the counsel of the wicked.”  Several commentators point out that the word translated in verse 1 as “happy” literally has the meaning of walking in a certain path, moving forward, or knowing you are headed in the right direction.  Psalm 1 says that the way to know you’re on the right road is twofold: avoiding the scoffers and meditating on God’s law. 

Sin embargo, noten que la palabra para meditar en el hebreo no significa que vamos a recibir pasivamente, sino que tenemos que leer, cuestionar y interaccionar con la palabra de Dios.

However, Yolanda Norton points out that the word for meditating in Hebrew is less “passive reception of God’s word,” and more reading, questioning, discussing, and engaging “the text in ways that impact our daily living.”[4]

San Pablo nos muestra como luchar con la verdad del evangelio en lo cotidiano. Cuando escribe a Filemón sobre Onésimo, la esclavitud es la ley de la tierra. Pero son Hermanos en Cristo, asi que él tiene que pedir por su parte si sea posible que el sea liberado. ¿Cómo puede alguien ser propiedad y hermano a la vez?

Paul provides us with a master class in what it means to wrestle with the truth of the Gospel in the light of our daily life.  Paul writes to Philemon in a cultural time and space that couldn’t even imagine a world where some people weren’t the property of others.  And yet, Paul’s zeal for following Christ has led him to share the gospel with Philemon’s runaway slave, Onesimus.  And now, Paul is uncomfortable.  Paul believes firmly that Onesimus is now a believer, another follower of Christ.  That makes Onesimus part of Paul’s and Philemon’s family in Christ.  Yet, how can someone be your brother and also be your property?

Sobre este texto, algunos han dicho que están imaginando un nuevo camino donde lo que es normal cambia. Vemos a Pablo luchando con el costo del discipulado.

In discussing this text, Matt Skinner and Joy Moore used expressions like “imagining a way forward when the norms don’t look contestable” and “you don’t even have the words for what you are looking for.”[5]  We can see Paul struggling with truth and the cost of discipleship in real time, “I am sending him, that is, my own heart, back to you” (vs. 12).  “[He is] no longer…a slave but more than a slave, a beloved brother” (vs 16). 

Pablo, entendiendo el costo del discipulado, dice: “Si te ha hecho algún daño, o si te debe algo, cóbramelo a mí.”  (vs. 18). Pablo no deje que nada le impide en seguir a Jesús.

Paul is wrestling with the cost of following Jesus, of not allowing family, or possessions, or anything else to get in the way. 

At this point, we, along with the crowds following Jesus, might be rethinking our initial enthusiasm:  is this perhaps an ocean too deep, a mountain too high?

Tal vez nos preguntamos: ¿este océano es demasiado profundo? ¿Hay un costo demasiado en seguir a Jesús? Hasta sus parábolas parecen anticipar estos pensamientos.

 Jesus’ parables almost seem to anticipate this: doesn’t it make more sense to wave the white flag before we go into battle completely outnumbered or start building towers that we can’t finish?  We are not told how the crowd responds in this moment.  I suspect that is intentional.

No nos dicen como responde la gente en ese momento – sospecho que es con intención. Porque como los que escuchan las escrituras, tenemos que hacer una decisión también. Pero recordemos que ningún discípulo es perfecto. Toma a Pedro, quien fallara y regresara a ser un líder poderoso.

 As readers, we are part of that crowd, and the decision is up to us.  Yet, lest we fall into despair, we should remember that no disciple is perfect.  Peter will declare his willingness to die for Jesus only to deny him almost immediately afterwards.  The parable that immediately follows our reading today tells the story of a shepherd leaving 99 sheep out in the wilderness to go search for one sheep that was lost.  It is ridiculous hyperbole intended to remind us that, while making the choice to follow Jesus is costly, we never do it perfectly or alone. 

No lo hacemos solos- si somos como la oveja perdida o los noventa y nueve, siempre habrá momentos en los cuales sentimos un poco perdidos.

There will always be times that we forget where our priorities lie, when we get frightened by the cross ahead, or struggle to let go of someone or something. And when that happens, our shepherd will come and find us.

Y cuando pasa esto, nuestro Buen Pastor nos encontrara. Es nuestro trabajo meditar, luchar, leer o escuchar, cuestionar la verdad del Señor y dejarnos estar llevados de regreso cuando queremos huirnos. Sabemos el costo, pero también el amor que encontramos en seguir a Jesucristo.

This is discipleship to meditate, read, question, and wrestle with the truth, and then to allow ourselves to be found and brought back when we become frightened and run away.  We do not take this road lightly or casually. We know the cost, but we also know the One who will come back to get us again and again.  And because of that, there isn’t an ocean too deep or a mountain too high to keep us away from God’s love. 

 

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[1] Paul Mauriat / Franck Marius Louis Pourcel / Jacques Plante / Raymond Louis Auguste Lefebvre

As performed in Sister Act – “I Will Follow Him” (2007) © Les Ed. Jacques Plante (Lyrics available online at https://genius.com/Peggy-march-i-will-follow-him-lyrics)

[2] William Brosend (2006). Conversations with Scriptures: the parables (Harrisburg, NY: Morehouse Publishing), p 75.

[3] Brosend (2006), p 75

[4] Yolanda Norton (Sept 4, 2022). “Commentary on Psalm 1” (Published online at workingpreacher.org). 

[5] Matt Skinner and Joy J. Moore, Working Preacher Podcast, August 29, 2022.  Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10fNOLmoa6o