A sermon based on Luke 14. 25-33. You can listen to it below, or read the script underneath (the audio and the script don't match perfectly).
Jesus has gathered quite a reputation for Himself by this point in Luke’s account. People are coming from all over to hear Him speak and see what He’ll do next. But Jesus isn’t interested in having lots of followers, unlike our culture of today where, especially my generation, are obsessed with how many followers you have on Twitter or on Instagram, where politicians ride or die based on how many people they can whip up to follow and agree with them.
Jesus isn’t interested in this. He would much rather a small band of truly dedicated disciples who truly love Him and will follow wherever He goes instead of thousands of followers who just want to catch a taste of the action. It’s quite the antidote to our modern preoccupation in the Church with numbers. Jesus would much rather a small congregation who are truly dedicated to Him and to sharing the Gospel than have the place bursting with people who are just coming along for the ride. It’s quite the contrast isn’t it. And to weed out those who are just along for the ride He sets the expected standard, he lets them know what they are to expect in following Him. No doubt He lost quite a few people after this, there are a few times in the Gospels when Jesus says stuff and the writer says that because of what he had said many stopped following. But Jesus doesn’t care, He wants true disciples who have actually counted the cost of following Him. And to explain this He gives a few short parables. And so, if you will allow me, I’d like to follow suit by telling you a story. In New York City on Amsterdam Avenue between West 110th Street and 113th Street stands the Cathedral Church of St John the Divine. Built specifically to rival the nearby Roman Catholic Cathedral of St Patrick, to outdo them in every respect (which I might add, might not be the best motivation for building a cathedral). In 1892 the Bishop laid the foundation stone and work began, and very quickly hit their first issue; in digging down for bedrock to lay the foundation they had to excavate down 72ft (22m in new money). So, before they had even got above ground level a huge amount of money had already been spent. No doubt to outdo the Roman Catholics the 8 columns inside were massive, 50ft tall, 150 tonnes of granite each. They had to build a special barge to transport them to New York. In 1899 the first services began being held in the crypt. 8 years later one of the architects died, causing further issues but undeterred the large central dome was completed just 2 years later, key to a Romanesque style cathedral. But by this point some of the trustees were having misgivings about the style. Fashions had moved on, and with one of the architects already dead they decided it was time for a change of direction and so they fired the remaining architect and got a new one to build the nave in a more gothic style and to make the existing structure more gothic. In 1911 the choir and crossing were opened and in 1916 they began to lay foundations for the nave. In the early 20’s they went on a fundraising drive to raise $10 million. Money which meant work continued unhindered through the great depression. Finally, on the 30th November 1941 the cathedral was opened end to end. One week later Pearl Harbour was bombed, the US entered WWII and work ceased on the cathedral as the bishop decided the money was better spent on works of charity and the manpower was needed for the war effort. The Dean in 1972 encouraged work to begin once more, whilst the cathedral existed end to end, it was by no means finished. The next section of the South tower was begun in 1982 and another 55ft was added, albeit in a different stone. And then 10 years later in 1992, construction stopped again and the scaffold was left to rust against the stone work. In 2001, 7 days before Christmas, fire broke out in the unfinished North Transept, taking with it the gift shop (perhaps God shares my dislike of cathedral gift shops) and threatening the sanctuary and the whole cathedral until it was extinguished. By this point the Dean announced that continued building work would be put on hold, as it was costing far too much money. Moreover whilst they were building new, the older stuff was starting to fall down and there would be nothing left to add new things to if they didn’t address it. So in 2005 the cathedral had the unfinished tower capped and restoration began, finished, if you’re interested, in 2008. So there it stands on Amsterdam Avenue between West 110th Street and 113th Street stands the Cathedral Church of St John the Divine, or as it’s nicknamed, St John the Unfinished, with lopsided towers at the west end and a hotch potch of styles inside and out. A mix of Romanesque crossing, a gothic nave, English, French and Spanish gothic style chapels along with Roman, Norman and Byzantine styles. Arguably the largest Anglican Cathedral in the world. Still standing after everything it has been through, but still incomplete. The Bishop speaking in 1892 could not have anticipated or comprehended the challenges and the costs ahead. So I ask us, have we truly counted the cost of following Jesus? Are we prepared to keep digging down through all the stuff that we came with to find solid bedrock to build on? Are we willing when we learn of new things about our faith to pause, to reflect and to consider whether some of it needs tearing down to accommodate the new or are we simply at risk of following contemporary fashions and trends? Have we counted the cost of when difficulties come or disaster strikes, will our faith hold when family members die or when we lose our house or job. Do we know God well enough to hold firm or will the cost be too high? Are we holding loosely to the things of this world so that when we lose possessions, when God calls us to give up things or stop listening to or watching things we like or give our possessions away we are able to freely, are we able to allow the gift shops in our lives, the nice but unnecessary extras to burn down? Are we willing, as Jesus did, to take up our cross and follow Him? It’s not just a metaphor even for his listeners then. In Jerusalem they would have seen people going through the city with their cross on their way to Golgotha, it wasn’t a concept which only gained meaning after Jesus’ crucifixion. And it’s not a passive acceptance of everything that comes your way but an active giving up of oneself, of loving Christ so much that by comparison you hate everything else; your family or even your own life for the sake of Christ. It’s not just the ordinary suffering of life, getting sick or your kids keeping you up at night ‘we all have our crosses to bear’. But willingness in actively pursuing Jesus to suffer the most humiliating and brutal form of death we’ve ever come up with. To suffer persecution and suffering and difficulties because of our faith. It’s not about perseverance in the face of life’s usual trials but about the hard slog of following Jesus. And will we keep pushing on, keeping on paying the cost, or will we like the Dean of St John’s decide that the cost is too high, that we’ve already come far enough, and that it is better to stay where we’ve got to than to continue pressing on? Consider the cost, even if you’ve been following Jesus for many years or if you’re just starting out, consider the cost. And if you find that it’s too high, for whatever reason, I encourage you to come and chat with one of the clergy team to talk it through. Because the cost is high, no doubt, but the prize is worth so much more. The assurance of God’s love, of sins forgiven, of a life well lived now, and of eternal life in the world to come. God demands a high price, but He gives back in abundance. Amen
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorAn Anglican Curate in my 20's I was raised in an Anglican Church, went to a Youth Club run by an Evangelical Church, attended a Baptist Church while at Uni and was a member of a New Monastic Community after graduating. As such my faith has been influenced by these experiences and traditions into what I hope is a more rounded viewpoint. Archives
September 2022
|