Twelfth Sunday after Trinity 2022 St Andrew’s Milngavie
Dear All
Today we celebrated the 12th Sunday after Trinity. We welcomed Harry to play.
Notices for this week:
Tuesday 10am Prayer Group in the Garden Room.
Wednesday 7pm NWRC All Saints Jordanhill
Thursday 10am Said Eucharist followed by coffee in Friendship House
Saturday September 17th – All Saints Cakewalk – Start at Oscars Café 11.30am, Easterton Farm Park near Mugdock G62 8LG and walk to Niall and Mairi’s house, Ardbeg, Easter Carbeth, G63 9AS, the what3words reference is valley.dockers.speeches – about 5 miles, where tea will be served. Bring your own picnic lunch. Lifts will be organised to the start point for collecting cars after the tea. All very welcome.
Readings for next Sunday – Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity – Exodus 32:7-14 1 Timothy 1:12-17 Luke 15: 1-10
Today’s reading’s – Deuteronomy 30:15-end Philemon 1-21 Luke 14:25-33
Any good project manager will tell you, it is always important to be able to see a job through, to be able to finance it and to have a satisfactory and agreeable outcome. I’m sure we can all think of examples in life when we have been successful in this endeavour and times when we haven’t. I only have to look at my half done up house, various unfinished pieces of knitting and sowing to know where I stand.
And so Jesus reminds us….. “ What king, going out to wage war against king will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppress the one who comes against him with twenty thousand?” Luke 14:31
Jesus then goes on to remind us once again of the cost of disciple ship. He uses very dramatic language to make his point, he speaks of true commitment and dedication. “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters and yes, even life itself cannot be my disciple” Luke 14:27
This is difficult language and certainly doesn’t sound appealing. But Jesus always used strong and descriptive language to ensure his disciples understood their vocations. There were no half measures, he wanted them to know that nothing and no one must come between them and their discipleship.
We are told by Luke that great crowds were accompanying Jesus. He knew that he was on his way to Jerusalem to be put on trial, to suffer and even to die. The crowds have seen the miracles, witnessed the healings, heard him offer the promise of joy and glory to all people including the downtrodden and opposed. They had seen all the good stuff.
They had delighted in Jesus’ ministry that was bringing hope and relief to so many but at the same time they wanted to be part of the next stage of the action, to share the immediacy of events as they happened. So, Jesus lays bare the truth of what will happen. He needs to warn them. He wants followers – not hangers on, sincere disciples – not opportunists. He needs disciples who are equal to the challenge, disciples who can face the cross.
Today Jesus asks the same, in principle, of us. Following Christ can demand a lot of us, it can come at a cost, and it can take its toll. At times we may have to make painful choices and decisions about lifestyles attitudes, friendships, activities, and jobs but if our discipleship does not contain questions about these elements of our lives perhaps, we are living more like hangers on, missing the point. Are we following Christ for the rewards: the friends, the tradition rather than because we are committed to HIM and to the gospel.
All situations in life have their moments – good and bad – moments of feast and moments of famine. Moments of party and moments of grind. In this passage what Jesus is asking us is, are we the party people? or are we the workers?
During the summer, some of you will have been to weddings enjoying the celebration and fun. But what follows a wedding is the really testing time and that is true for all relationships – the sharing of the thick and thin of everyday life.
It’s the same here in church, at Christmas and Easter we celebrate the major festivals with much enthusiasm, but as we all know the following Sundays are just as important.
In this passage Jesus calls us to be the partygoers and the workers, it’s a tough passage with a challenging message. And we might ask ourselves in our modern day how does this fit? People are pushed and pressed as it is and they are worried about the future, so they don’t need further challenges and certainly not ones that require us to give up all our possessions and turn their backs on family and friends!
Ultimately all Jesus really asks is for us to commit ourselves to him, to make the effort because in the end this way of life, a relationship with God will bring us greater joy and fulfilment, perhaps more than we could have imagined.
In the OT Moses in a similar vein is encouraging the Israelites to follow God and observe the commandments to flourish and receive the lord’s blessing.
But if we are daunted by the high demands of Christ, let us remember that we are not left to fulfil them alone. He who called us to the steep road will walk with us, every step of the way – and be there at the end to meet us.
Amen