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KINGDOM MARKETING ~ September 5, 2010 ~ CYCLE C www.graceworkspublishing.com Twenty Third Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ The Text: Luke 14:25-33
What do the following three advertisements have in common? ●Miracle pill helps you lose weight while you sleep! No exercise. No dieting. ●Huge Labor Day sale on all cars in stock! No money down, and no payments until 2011. No credit, bad credit, no problem. ●Earn huge money from home. No experience necessary. Guaranteed profits within 30 days. Did you hear the common theme? They all promise big benefit with little effort or expense. And the appeal of this type of advertisement is obvious. It works. Or at least it works if the measurement of success is increased sales and profits for the merchant who paid for the advertisement campaign. For it is true, many people will be drawn to quick fixes and easy answers, like flies drawn to the smell of a picnic. But such advertisements, though they may create “ka-ching” for the cash register at the merchant’s shop, they usually create frustration and failure for the customer. The hard and wise truths are still true; if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. There is no free lunch. When the advertisement promises easy shortcuts to solutions which are earned normally only through hard work and lasting commitment, remember the Latin warning, Caveat emptor (“let the buyer beware”). Contrast this marketing strategy with the invitation to the Kingdom of God offered by Jesus in our Gospel lesson today. Great crowds were swelling around Jesus already, which would have been success enough for most modern marketing campaigns. But then, just as he had the multitude hanging on his every word, with the tipping point for market dominance at hand, Jesus offered this trifecta of requirements for entrance to his disciple band: ●Unless you hate your mother and father, you cannot be my disciple. ●Unless you deny your life, take up a cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple. ●Unless you renounce all of your worldly possessions, you cannot be my disciple. Wow. Can you image how stunned the crowd must have been to hear that set of requirements! You can be sure Madison Avenue did not create that advertisement campaign for Jesus. What is Jesus doing here? Does he really mean that we must hate our parents, renounce all earthly possessions, and give up our very lives, if we are to follow him? Who could be a Christian, and who would want to, if that is the criteria for following Christ? What are we to do, and how do we respond, to such a hard saying from Jesus? First, in order to understand these statements, we must understand the Semitic idiom Jesus employs. Do not get hung up on the harsh word, “hate”, Jesus uses in reference to the relationship one has with parents, and even one’s own life. In the language patterns of first century Palestine, the use of the word pair “love-hate” was often used simply to exaggerate a comparison between two levels of love. So, when Jesus calls would-be followers to “hate” their parents and “love” the Kingdom of God, he is simply making the strong point that the relationship with God must be the highest priority, the greatest love, of a person’s life—even greater than the highest and noblest of earthly relationships like parent/child, or husband/wife, or a teenager’s BFFL (“best friends for life” for those of you who do not text or tweet). In a backhanded way, the fact that Jesus chose to illustrate his point with the love one has, and should have, for one’s parents, is a high compliment to that relationship. And in case we need an illustration of how this command of Jesus is lived out, all we have to do is witness the faithful and consistent love Jesus had for his mother, and for Joseph, to know he does not advocate some sort of destruction of family values in order to be a Christian. So, it is not that we must hate our parents, or our own life, in order to be a follower of Christ, but that our love for God must be greater even than the highest, the most noble, of earthly relationships. If we love our country, our careers, our NFL team, our addictions, more than Christ, our priorities are out of sync with being a follower of Christ. And even our love for family, and our sense of self-preservation and self love, however important these are, must pale in significance when placed side-by-side with the love we have for God and His Kingdom. This is Jesus’ point in these sayings. Second, even when we understand the Semitic idiom Jesus used in these statements, we must not lose the stunning high calling he demands of his followers. Jesus was not harsh with his language, but that does not mean he was soft or easy either. Even those who heard Jesus utter these words that day in Galilee would have been shocked by his words. He clearly was not marketing the Kingdom of God with an easy call, a free lunch, and a quick fix. Quite the contrary, these words of Jesus are meant to stir us from slumber, like a crisp trumpet call of reveille, or a slap of cold water on the face. He deliberately means to set the bar high for entrance to his disciple band. And the very fact that following Jesus will require sacrifice is the reason for the brief parables of the unfinished tower or the general going to war. Jesus wants us to count the cost, to weigh the offer he makes, to decide whether we are really willing to follow him all the way. Better to waver and waffle prior to the decision, than to do so after the commitment. Just ask a golfer who must commit to her swing after deciding what club and ball flight she wants. The time for second thoughts is over once the club begins to swing. Even so, Jesus is calling followers who intend to finish, not just start and make up their minds along the way. Because the way behind Jesus is steep at times, and the path is strewn with perils, even as it is with enormous joys. So, that is the marketing call of Jesus. If we look for similar marketing today, the examples are much fewer and far between. But you might remember the Peace Corps slogan, as young people are asked to consider giving up a few years of their lives for little pay in an impoverished part of the world, with the phrase, “It is the hardest job you will ever love.” Or the recent Marines ad, “We don’t accept applications—only commitments.” This is more like the spirit of Jesus’ invitation to discipleship. He too is looking for the few who are daring and willing to be part of something difficult, something remarkable, something eternal. Is that person you? Or me? Are we ready to say yes to the hardest, and the most rewarding, life possible? |
