3rd Sunday after Pentecost (Prop 8 – C)
Luke 9:51-62
June 29, 2025
Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
The text I have chosen for this morning’s sermon is the Gospel from St. Luke.
When you’re a kid, you don’t usually realize how much your parents sacrifice for you. They work long hours to buy clothes and Christmas presents, they put their desires behind that of their children, they give up their dreams in the hope that the children will obtain theirs. They give up vacations and days off ff to travel to dance competitions and baseball tournaments. What kids also don’t realize is that usually the parents don’t mind. We want our kids to succeed more than we did. We want our children’s dreams to come true. We want what is best for them, and we’ll sacrifice whatever’s necessary to achieve that. Sure, it’s not a lie to say parents can be disappointed in the way things have worked out for them. However, we make these sacrifices because we love our children and they’re the most important things in our lives.
Just as kids don’t usually realize how much their parents sacrifice for them, we don’t usually realize the significance of Jesus’ sacrifice for us. We’ve heard it so many times we listen with half an ear and fail to realize the magnitude of His life and death. The whipping He received from the hands of the Romans was horrific and frequently fatal. But that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m telling you that in order for you to be forgiven and saved, Jesus spent six hours on the cross. During that time, He endured Hell for you. Hell, the place of unrelenting torture. While the cross was heavy, it couldn’t compare to the weight of your sins on His holy shoulders.
He carried this weight because He loves you. He sacrificed a home, heavenly and earthly, so you can enter the room which He prepared for you in His home. He loves the world which hates Him, He forgives those who wrong him. He loves and forgives you time and time again. Praise God He is gracious, because without Him, you wouldn’t have a shot at heavenly glory.
Jesus sacrificed Himself for us in ways which we can never repay. What can you give God in thanksgiving for the death of Jesus? What can you possibly do? It doesn’t matter because Jesus isn’t asking to be repaid. He’s asking you to love God with your whole heart, soul, and mind and to love your neighbor as yourself. We do love God, everything we do for the Lord is out of love. He sacrificed for us; therefore, we sacrifice for Him. So…what are you willing to sacrifice for Jesus?
In the Gospel, Saint Luke tells us about three potential followers who were unwilling to make the necessary sacrifices to be Christ’s disciples. The first man said: “I will follow you wherever you go.” I think we can assume this man is serious and he really is willing to follow Jesus everywhere. Perhaps he saw the crowd or the popularity of Jesus. Maybe he was caught up in the fervor. Jesus diagnoses the problem. The man doesn’t comprehend the costs of discipleship. Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” Christ’s reply is a warning that disciples must be willing to embrace discomfort.
In the United States we’re pretty comfortable and we don’t need a wandering lifestyle to be a disciple. Still, to follow Jesus is to surrender all guarantees of comfort, but boy, we do like our comfort. We’ll follow Jesus as long as it’s not too cold or too hot, too windy or too snowy, too early or too late. As long as there aren’t any distractions. It can also be uncomfortable to fight against our sin. It’s easy to coast along, doing what you do, not worrying about the consequences of your sinful actions. It’s uncomfortable to see a temptation and then look the other way. It’s uncomfortable to tell your family and friends and co-workers, no and that what they want goes threatens your faith and discipleship. Paul says though in the Epistle: “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” Christianity is hard. It’s about fighting sin, satan, and temptations by Jesus’ power. It’s not about earthly comfort. It’s about eternal joy.
Jesus never had a problem with coming right out and saying what needed to be said, and while it necessary, sometimes the words came out kind of harsh. Take the second guy in the Gospel. Luke writes, “To another He said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Christ’s response is uncharacteristic; the man just wants to bury his father. We don’t know if his dad recently died or if he wanted to wait until his father died to follow Jesus. The result was the same: the man had more pressing concerns than following Jesus. By saying, “Let the dead bury their own dead” Jesus is teaching us that we are to let others deal with secular issues because we’re to be focused on heavenly things and heavenly goals.
Nothing, not even family, can be allowed to take us from the path set before us as disciples. Of course, Jesus isn’t telling you to ignore you sick parent or child. God made it abundantly clear we have obligations to our family. Rather Jesus is condemning our tendency to let so many things boot Him from His spot atop the priority list. We must continually ask ourselves: “Do I want to serve Christ in His kingdom? Am I tempted to let human relationships and earthly needs keep me from serving the Lord with my whole heart? If I must decide between a call to serve Christ at once or some earthly duty which needs attention, which comes first?” Service to Christ requires our wholehearted and our undivided attention. Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.” He’s specifically talking about the love of money, but this applies to anything we try to serve while also serving Jesus. If Jesus isn’t always first, we’ve sinned.
All the Scripture readings for today teach that the life of a follower of Christ is one of self-denial and self-sacrifice. Our service to the Lord must come first in our lives. Whatever earthly things stand in the way of such service must be put aside. We see this in the third man. He seemed ready to serve Christ. However, there was a personal matter which he wanted to take care of first. He wanted to say good-bye to his family. This isn’t unreasonable, is it? The man’s desire here isn’t just to say goodbye to his family, it’s also to keep his toe in his old life. Would he be able to keep his desire to serve Christ after he saw his relatives? Would they try to persuade him to stay at home? Again, Jesus looked into this man’s heart. Jesus knew that he was giving an excuse for not following Him at once. His desire to see his family was stronger than his desire to serve the Lord. He was only half-hearted in his profession of faith. His unspoken request is that Jesus let him have just one last good time with family and friends. Jesus says, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” You can’t long for a sinful past, you can’t try to follow Jesus while keeping a toe in your previous life. A divided heart is unbefitting a Christian. You can’t sit on the fence and fall off on the side that suits your mood or the times. Jesus told us that the first and greatest commandment is “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind.” Are you loving God with your whole heart when you love other things or people more than Him? You’re not.
In the first verse of the Gospel Luke writes, “When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.” This phrase isn’t as simple as it appears. Jesus didn’t just decide to go to Jerusalem. He set His face like a stone. Nothing was going to stop Him or dissuade Him from His holy mission. He would turn neither to the left nor the right as He journeyed to His suffering and death. Jesus took this journey to His suffering and death so that you are forgiven and free to serve Him. You are made holy by His blood and as one who is forgiven you serve Him faithfully always keeping Him your number one priority, letting nothing stop you or dissuade you from being His disciple. There aren’t any perfect disciples, there aren’t any who never sin. All we see are people like us, Christians who fail. When you sin, when you’re tempted, look to Christ whose face is set like a stone, promising you that nothing can make Him love you any less than He does right now and there is nothing that will ever keep Him from forgiving you. And why? It’s simple really. He sacrificed it all for you.
Amen
Now the peace which surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen