St. Gregory’s Church Woodstock
Sunday, 25 January 2009,
Third Sunday after Epiphany
The Rev’d Susan Auchincloss
Picture yourself as Simon or Andrew, or James or John. You wouldn’t be fishing, but you would be in the midst of your own livelihood, whatever it is, and in the midst of your on-going relations with family and friends. In short, you had a life. Suppose you were not already a follower of Jesus, but one day he stopped by your desk and said, “Follow me.” Why would you do it? This morning I want to explore that question, the question of what motivates us to become disciples. Behind that lies another question: have I given a wholehearted yes?
When Stuart and I lived in Prague we used to worship with a congregation of the Church of England. The congregation used a beautiful little church which belonged to a Protestant denomination, the Czech Brethren. In addition to using their sanctuary, we used their fellowship hall for the coffee hour. This was located across the street from the church, and on the fourth floor of an apartment building. The fellowship hall was kept locked; but one of the Czech Brethren who lived in the same building kept the key. One day I was delegated to go ahead to open the fellowship hall after the service. I knocked on the man’s door and it was opened by one of the most radiant human beings I have ever met. He was a man in his eighties, I guessed, with white hair like a halo and bright blue eyes. If you stood him next to a youthful athlete or even a child and asked yourself, “Who seems most alive?” You would have answered without hesitation, the old man.
To follow Christ through the decades of the Communist regime
entailed suffering. The man had been excluded from any dignified employment,
nothing that would have allowed him to use his intelligence and skills. He and
his family had suffered financially as well. But each passing year only seemed
to add to the brightness of his eyes and the smile lines around his mouth. If
such a one as this said to me, “Follow me,” I would have. Whatever he had –
some mysterious vitality – I would have wanted the same. It would not have been
a rational decision, nor an emotional decision; but a whole-being decision, a
decision of the soul. This is how I imagine Jesus’ disciples responding when
Jesus said, “Follow me.”
That being said, we know that many people did not follow Jesus. They came, they listened, and they turned their backs and they returned to their same lives. How is it possible that God offered them joy beyond measure – and even showed them what it looked like in Jesus – and they said no? Let me tell you a true story. It is one I have told you before, but it bears re-telling. Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D., recounts it in her book, Kitchen Table Wisdom.
A young man in the prime of his life went out skiing one winter’s day. He became lost in the mountains and it was three days before rescuers found him. The temperature had been below freezing for those three days, yet he had managed to survive. His feet, however, had become frost bitten, and gangrene set in. They flew him to a special hospital in New York. A special team of vascular surgeons operated on his feet, hoping to save them from being amputated. For several weeks it was not clear if the surgery had succeeded or not. Then the left foot began to improve. The right foot, however, got worse.
Amputation was the only course, but the young man flatly refused. He became sicker and sicker, for the toxins from the gangrenous foot spread throughout his body. His family, his friends, his fiancé all pleaded with him to allow the amputation. No go. Finally one evening his fiancé broke down. She tore the engagement ring from her finger, and shaking and crying, she shoved it over the swollen, black little toe of his right foot. “I hate this damned foot!” she sobbed. “If you love this foot so much why don’t you marry it!” The next day he scheduled the amputation.
What does this story have to do with following Jesus? The story illustrates, in a way we are not likely to forget, the difference between commitment and attachment. Commitment and attachment may seem like two words for nearly the same thing; but they are poles apart. Attachment shuts down life; while commitment opens up larger life. The young man was attached to his foot – and not only literally. He could not give it up. Yet he had committed himself to his fiancé. Which was the stronger swung in the balance, until he finally saw the connection between attachment and death; and between commitment and life. Then he could make the choice with conviction. He chose life.
We saw a similar choice between attachment and commitment on Tuesday. You could call it the sub-text of President Obama’s Inaugural Address. The call to follow him came right at the start. He spoke about “the task before us;” not what he and his administration would do for us. After the call he made it clear: we must choose, either to follow or not to follow. He said, “The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.” In short, he is calling on us to make a commitment. The commitment will call for struggle and sacrifice.
To be sure, as Obama acknowledged, the counter-weight of attachment is real. “There are some,” he said, “who question the scale of our ambitions - who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans.” He recognized that there are those who “prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame.” He spoke of “standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions.” Doesn’t that describe someone who is clinging to a gangrenous foot?
Obama spoke in political terms, naming the promise of equality, freedom and happiness; and he said, “Follow me; let us make them real.” It is a call to commitment, to letting go of attachments. Is that not Jesus’ message exactly, only in spiritual terms? “Follow me,” Jesus said to Simon and Andrew, James and John, and he says to us. “Together we shall make real the kingdom of God, a spiritual kingdom marked by equality, freedom and happiness. Equality, because each of us is equally precious in God’s sight. Freedom, because each of us can be free from the oppression of sin. Happiness, because to practice the presence of God is the greatest happiness there is and it does not end with death.
Let us imagine ourselves back at our desks, or some other place in our daily rounds. Jesus has just stopped by and said, “Follow me.” To borrow Obama’s terms, Jesus is inviting us to “find meaning in something greater than [our]selves.” Again, to borrow the inaugural language, Jesus adds “There is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.” Together we can “carry forth that great gift of freedom and deliver it safely to future generations.” Friends, Jesus gives us a choice. Perhaps we have made it already, and yet we cannot renew it too often. Is there anything standing in the way of saying a whole-hearted ‘yes’ to Jesus? In terms of today’s story, I would put it this way: let us schedule the amputation. Amen.