A Sermon of The Rev. Dr. David A. Killian, Rector
All Saints Parish
Brookline, Massachusetts
Fifth Sunday after Pentecost
June 27, 2010
Scripture: 2 Kings 2:1-2,6-14; Galatians 5:1,13-25; Luke 9:51-62
I
This past Tuesday, as I was riding the T downtown for a meeting at the cathedral, I picked up the Metro newspaper on the seat next to me and read this headline: "Some ready to 'give everything' for soccer." The article described how soccer enthusiasts were getting up very early in the morning to watch the world cup on television. "I'll give up everything for the game," said a fan who was the first to arrive at a sports lounge at 7:30 am to watch the game between Portugal and North Korea.
Now, I was thinking, when this fan said that he would "give up everything for the game," he surely was indulging in hyperbole. He didn't mean that he literally would give up his home or apartment or car or all of his possessions. What he probably meant was, "The world cup is very important to me and I am willing to inconvenience myself and give up a few hours of sleep to watch my team play."
Sports inspire us to something beyond ourselves. No doubt you heard about the players at the Wimbledon tournament this week who played the longest tennis match in history. John Isner and Nicolas Mahut took over eleven hours and three days to play five sets and 183 games – the last 138 of them in the final set. To put what these two men did in perspective, in other sports this would be a 60-inning baseball game or a 10-quarter NFL playoff game.
You might ask, "Why is the preacher talking about sports this morning? What has sports got to do with our Scripture readings?" Well, the connection to sports came to me from today's reading from the second book of Kings about Elijah's ascension into heaven on a chariot of fire. A line from a William Blake poem, "Bring me my chariot of fire," was the inspiration for the title of the academy award-winning film, "Chariots of Fire." The line from Blake's poem in the popular hymn Jerusalem is sung at the end of the film. The film is about the competition of two British athletes at the 1924 Olympic games in Paris, France. One of them, Eric Liddell, is a Scottish Christian who runs for the glory of God. The other is Harold Abrahams, an English Jew who runs to combat prejudice. Liddell and Abrahams overcome such great odds to win at the Olympics that their achievement is likened to Elijah's fiery ascent to heaven. They rose above themselves and the expectations of others to gain something heavenly and special.
II
Today's Gospel passage from Luke is not about sports or chariots of fire, but it is about calling us to rise above ourselves and our lowered expectations to achieve something heavenly and special.
Luke's Gospel presents three would-be disciples who want to follow Jesus. In each case Jesus challenges them to do something more heroic. Jesus is confrontational instead of comforting. He uses hyperbole typical of rabbis of the time to wake up the would-be disciples.
We are not meant to take Jesus literally about neglecting one's duties to bury one's father or refusing to say good-bye to one's family. There are numerous other times in the Gospels when Jesus speaks about honoring father and mother and keeping the Ten Commandments. No, Jesus' confrontations with the would-be disciples are intended to wake them up and disturb their ordinary way of thinking.
III
The Indian Jesuit priest Anthony deMello says that spirituality means waking up. He tells a story which he heard on Spanish television about a father who knocks on his son's door.
"Jaime," he says, "wake up!" Jaime answers, "I don't want to get up, Papa." The father shouts, "Get up, you have to go to school." Jaime says, "I don't want to go to school." "Why not?" asks the father. "Three reasons," says Jaime. First, because it's so dull; second, the kids tease me; and third, I hate school. And the father says, "Well, I am going to give you three reasons why you must go to school. First, because it is your duty; second, because you are forty-five years old, and third, because you are the headmaster." Wake up! Wake up! You've grown up. You're too big to be asleep. Wake up! Stop playing with your toys.
Anthony deMello spent his life as a spiritual guide trying to help people wake up to the possibility of living a fuller Christian life. This is the point of today's Gospel passage. Jesus is trying to wake us up to the possibility of living a fully aware and responsible life, so that we, like Eric Liddell, the athlete in the film "Chariots of Fire" know that our life has meaning and that is God is vitally present. Liddell said, "I believe that God made me for a purpose, but He also made me fast. When I run, I feel God's pleasure." You and I are not Olympic athletes, but we have been created for a purpose. Each of us is called to give glory to God by the way we live, work and interact with others.
After winning gold in the Olympics, Liddell became a missionary to China. He said, "We are all missionaries. Wherever we go, we either bring people nearer to Christ, or we repel them from Christ." Today's Gospel challenges us to make a difference in the world, to bring people closer to God's love by who we are and what we do.
In the Eucharistic Prayer today, we will pray, "Deliver us from the presumption of coming to this table for solace only and not for strength; for pardon only and not for renewal." The would-be disciples in today's Gospel were seeking solace in their struggles, but not the strength that would energize their following of Christ. They were seeking pardon for their sins, but not renewal and transformation. Solace is good, pardon is good, but they are not enough.
Jesus is calling us to a fuller life. He is calling us to be awakened, energized, and transformed. And he is here today to meet us and to feed us with the bread of strength and the cup of renewal. Each time we come to this table we meet the living Christ who strengthens and transforms us so "that we may worthily serve the world in his name." When we come to this table, we like Elijah are lifted beyond ourselves, transported to a realm of love, and renewed to be Christ's hands and heart to heal a suffering world.
Amen.