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+ + + In Nomine Jesu + + +
Please join me in prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Generally speaking, younger people look forward to being older and being able to do more than when they are younger, and older people look backward to being younger and being able to do more than when they are older. After a certain age, as we get older and suffer from various conditions, we notice that our minds and bodies are not able to do what they once did. Of course, there are some things that at least some of us never were or are able to do, and, along those lines, today’s Gospel Reading gives us an example of something that none of us ever is able to do on his or her own, as the Gospel Reading addresses our “Ability to be Jesus’s disciple”.
Or, maybe we should say the Gospel Reading addresses our in‑ability to be Jesus’s disciples. For, in today’s Gospel Reading, Jesus makes three statements about those not able to be His disciples. First, Jesus says the one who comes to Him but does not love Him more than family members and his or her own life is not able to be His disciple. Second, Jesus says the one who does not bear his or her own cross and come after Him is not able to be His disciple. And, third, Jesus says anyone who does not renounce all that he or she has is not able to be His disciple. In between those three statements, the Divinely‑inspired St. Luke uniquely reports Jesus’s giving two easily‑relatable illustrations—one about not being able to finish a tower and the other about not being able to wage war—both of which illustrations essentially call us to sit down and seriously consider our in‑ability to be Jesus’s disciples.
“A thing half-done is worse than a thing never begun,” one commentator on today’s Gospel Reading wrote; let me repeat that: “A thing half-done is worse than a thing never begun” (Jeremias, Parables, 196). Presumably the one who lays a foundation and is not able to finish a tower would have been better off not having started the tower and being mocked by all who see it unfinished. And, presumably the king who goes with 10‑thousand out to war against another king with 20‑thousand would have been better off not having gone to war and having had to unconditionally surrender (Jeremias, Parables, 196 n.20). Perhaps they had more resources that they could have put into their respective projects that would have resulted in a different outcome; Jesus does not explicitly say, instead He focuses on our in‑ability to be His disciple.
When we sit down and seriously consider the matter, counting the cost and deliberating our ability, we should come to the same conclusion about our in‑ability to be Jesus’s disciples. At times we sinfully love family members and our own lives more than we love God. At times we sinfully do not bear our own crosses. At times we sinfully are not ready, if necessary, to give up everything that we have. We sin against God in these and countless other ways, not to mention our sins against one another—thoughts, words, and deeds; what we have done and what we have left undone—for we are sinful by nature. On account of any of our sins or even our sinful nature alone we deserve both death here in time and torment in hell for eternity—worse than salt that has lost its taste, of no use either for the soil or the manure pile, but thrown away (or, better, “cast out”, for us to where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth [Matthew 13:48‑50])—all that, apart from our turning in sorrow from our sin, trusting God to forgive our sin, and wanting to do better than to keep on sinning—not that we can even do that without God’s first calling us to so repent and believe and by that call enabling us to so repent and believe. When we so repent and believe, then God forgives us. That we are unable on our own to be Jesus’s disciples does not mean that we should not try to be Jesus’s disciples but rather that we should recognize from where our ability to be Jesus’s disciples comes.
We might say that God the Father counted the cost and deliberated His ability in order to bring about our salvation. God the Father loved the fallen world by giving His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16). That Son perfectly loved God, bore His cross, and renounced all that He had—for us and for our salvation. There on the cross, Jesus effectively built His Church and defeated the enemies who came out against Him (Matthew 16:18). There on the cross, Jesus died in our place the death that we otherwise would have deserved. Jesus’s death on the cross was the price not only of our but also of the world’s redemption, and Jesus accomplished that redemption by God’s all‑powerfulness coupled with His human weakness. For, God is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think (Ephesians 3:20). And, now God freely forgives our sin as we trust Him to do so for Jesus’s sake, and God freely forgives us in ways that might otherwise seem unable to do what they do.
God’s Word read and preached announce His forgiveness to groups like this one, and God’s Word connected with water in Holy Baptism, with the pastor’s touch in individual Holy Absolution, and with bread and wine that are Christ’s Body and Blood in the Sacrament of the Altar effect His forgiveness to individuals who receive them in faith. Holy Baptism uniquely brings us into the Church that Christ Himself builds and rescues us from death and the devil who goes out against Him. After we privately confess the sins we know and feel in our hearts, pastors in Holy Absolution give us forgiveness as from God Himself. And, the Sacrament of the Altar is our food for the way through this life, strengthening and preserving us in body and soul to life everlasting. God’s forgiveness given in Word and Sacrament transform us into disciples and thereby enable us to do what otherwise we would be unable to do, such as forgive one another as God has forgiven us. A good example of that is Philemon’s forgiving Onesimus that we heard St. Paul request in today’s Epistle Reading (Philemon 1-21; confer Nordling, CPR 29:3, p.44).
“Christianity is the easiest religion in the world and at the same time the most difficult one,” another commentator on today’s Gospel Reading wrote; let me repeat that: “Christianity is the easiest religion in the world and at the same time the most difficult one” (Arndt, ad loc Luke 14:32, p.345). Salvation is a free gift from God that, unless we reject Him, He enables us to receive by faith. But, as Jesus’s disciples we are constantly struggling with opposing forces, at least trying both to love what is good and to hate what is evil. We at least try to love God more than our family members and our own lives. We at least try to bear our own crosses. We at least try to be ready, if necessary, to give up everything that we have. And, with daily repentance and faith, we seek and receive God’s forgiveness for when we continue to fail, as we will, in those and other ways.
Our inherent human abilities may come and go as we are younger or older, but the “Ability to be Jesus’s disciple” that God gives us through His Word and Sacraments is constant no matter our age. As we heard in today’s Old Testament Reading (Deuteronomy 30:15-20), God lays out the choice that He enables us to make between life and good, death and evil (the same choice of the two ways that we sang of in today’s Psalm [Psalm 1; antiphon: v.6]). Repenting and believing are the difference between the blessings and the curses. Let us with sorrow over sin and trust in God to forgive our sin for Jesus’s sake always receive His blessings, for God is our life and length of days, that we may dwell eternally in the land that He has promised to give to us.
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +