on the road again

From my sermon on 6/27/10 from Luke 9:51-62

With a sermon title like this and living in Austin, Texas, we have to sing Willie Nelson's "On the Road Again."

On the road again, just can't wait to get on the road again. The life I love is making music with my friends, and I can't wait to get on the road again.

On the road again, going places that I've never been. Seein' things that I may never see again, and I can't wait to get on the road again.

On the road again, like a band of gypsies we go down the highway. We're the best of friends, insisting that the world keep turning our way, and our way .....

I love to travel. I think it is some of the best education. By the way Cathy and I are about to leave on a month's tour of Australia and New Zealand. I may not deserve it, but I need the rest.

Luke in this passage has Jesus on the road again. He has set his face to go to Jerusalem. Two Greek words for journey and going are used total of 8 times in these brief verses. Jesus joins others from our Bible--Abraham and Sarah, who are told to leave their home, family, and country and go to a land that I will show you, and Moses, who sets out from Egypt with his people to go to a promised land. Jesus began this process from the very beginning. Remember the birth story from Luke where Mary and Joseph leave their native Nazereth for Bethlehem for the census, and Jesus is born there.

Jesus has set his face to go to Jerusalem. It takes him 10 chapters in Luke to get there. Only Luke has this travelogue. It is not a straight line. There seems to be no organizing principle. Jesus pause, prays, and plays along the way. He only seems to want to spend as much time with his disciples as possible. Why? Because what happens in Jerusalem. Jesus will be rejected, killed, and raised again from the dead. Jesus is tryig to prepare his followers for what is to come.

In this context, we can understand some of the language of this passage. He sends messengers ahead to a village of Samaritans. They reject him, because his face is set on going to Jerusalem. Jesus is reaching out to these half-breed heretics from the beginning, but they can't receive him because his focus is on road ahead. Please don't beat up on the Samaritans. On this Lukan Journey, they will become the heroes in 2 stories, the Good Samaritan, and the healed leper. Jesus does not call for retribution on them here.

The responses to the 3 would-be disciples seem harsh too. The first says he will follow wherever Jesus goes. Jesus' reply is that he though foxes have holes and birds have nests he has nowhere to rest his head. It is as if the census workers track him down, and ask "What is your address?" His response, "On the road again." Jesus is asking us walk along. It is not to a place but a person, not a destination, but a destiny.

The second is invited to follow but declines till he can bury his father. We don't like what Jesus says about leaving the dead to bury the dead. He is asking us to walk from death to life. We can get caught up on focusing on negative things. We can get caught up in trying to control things, even our families. These beautiful children we baptize today don't belong to the parents, but to God, who alone holds life and death in his hands. Our lives are caught up in what Jesus does in Jerusalem, in his life and death and resurrection.

The third says he will follow, but only after he goes back to his family to say good-bye. Jesus says no one who puts their hand to the plow and turns back is fit for the kingdom of God. Try this when you leave the parking lot today. Put the car in drive, but only look in the rear view mirror as you drive. I hope you don't really do this. I think sometimes on Loop 360 some peopel do. What happens? You get in a wreck. I once served a church where almost all of the conversations were about "we used to." We used to have 600 in worship. We used to have 250 in the youth group. We used to elect bishops. While the neighbor changed around them, and they dwindled, all they could talk about was the past. We are called to walk into Christ's future, on the road again.

In this vein, I need to tell you that starting my 4th year with you, I am growing uncomfortable with our being comfortable. We have been at a plateau for at least 10 years now. I am going to be challenging us to live into our new vision statement, Following One, Serving All. I think we are good about going out and serving. We have 2 youth mission teams going out right now. I think we are less good about following Jesus, about going with him.

I had my "wellness conversation" this past week with my therapist. Each year we pastors can visit with a health professional to check in and see how crazy we are. I was sharing about this vision statement with her. She reflected that there was a parallel going on in me. The depth I wanted for the congregation was the some depth that I wanted for myself. I wanted to grow closer to Jesus and I wanted that for the congregation. I still have some good years left. I would love to go this journey with you.

We say life is a journey. John Wesley whose birthday we celebrate said, "We are going onto perfection." We have 12 steps groups that take us toward healing. The early Christians were called "the Way."

This church is called to be "Following One, Serving All." To that end Pastor Jim and I are working on steps to help people along a pathway to discipleship. I apologize for not making this more clear in the past. At each stage we will be giving you limited choices about what to do next. This comes from my new favorite book, entitled Nudge, which says don't overwhelm people with too many options. Lay out a few and nudge them in the right direction. So you can start with my Methodist 101 class, go to a Bible survey or a prayer class, then onto a deeper Bible class like Disciple and so forth.

Jesus was on the road again for 10 chapters in Luke to spend as much time as he could preparing the disciples. He wants us to spend as much time as we can with him to get to know him and to become like him.

The strange good news is that Jesus is homeless. The other part of the good news is that Jesus himself is the home. We get to know him on the road again.