Preaching to the Multitudes
David C. Myers
September 9, 2007
Jeremiah 18:1 - 11
Luke 14:25 - 33
Text: "Now large crowds were traveling with Him; and He turned and said to them, . . ." (Lk 14:25)
Success has its distinct advantages; not that it's ever on our minds. After all, doesn't everyone want to be successful? Yet the recognition that comes to the person who has accomplished much may have a down side. He or she knows that a mediocre performance will not go unnoticed. Eyes will be watching to see whether the good record of the past will be maintained in the future. There is a lot of pressure to achieve more and more, to keep showing positive results, to out-do whatever he or she has already done. That pressure is felt by the young executive on the fast track, the top sales person in real estate, everyone who has excelled in some way.
It's felt by preachers, too - or so I'm told. If a preacher manages to attract a large crowd, this doesn't go unnoticed. "He/she must be doing something right," people will say. Then the size of the crowd becomes the measurement to evaluate whether the preacher continues to do things right. So the successful preacher has to be careful: careful to say the sort of things that folks are eager to hear; careful not to antagonize the congregation; careful not to demand too much from listeners.
It boils down to customer service. We do, after all, live in a consumer age. Find out what people want or believe they need and give it to them. If a preacher intends to see the crowds grow, that preacher can't very well be guided by what she or he thinks people need. After all it's not all about the preacher. Rather what the congregation believes they need is what matters. As a recent book customer service puts it, "Sticking to your own definition of service, without asking customers what they want and expect, is always a mistake." The careful preacher doesn't make that mistake.
Well, wanting to be a careful, successful preacher, I thought I would . . . you know . . . just kind of "check out" what Jesus did when He preached to large crowds. Well, shouldn't Jesus be my ultimate example for how to preach? And, . . . and behold, in this morning's lectionary Gospel reading we come to a point in Jesus ministry where He has a very successful record. He has accomplished a lot for an itinerant preacher. His impact was obvious. Wherever Jesus went, teaching and healing, people came. The numbers multiplied. No doubt the people followed Jesus for a variety of reasons. For some it was a spiritual hunger. For others the hunger of their growing stomachs was reason enough. Some gravitated to Jesus out of curiosity. Others came to hear Jesus speak words of eternal life. But the important thing was that they all came together and they made "great multitudes."
What preacher doesn't want to speak to "great multitudes?" It is the opportunity for which every preacher dreams. It is energizing, exciting. And, of course, it is quite a challenge to keep the crowds coming back for more. A preacher can't be too liberal or too conservative; too negative or too boring. I suspect that Jesus knew this well. So Jesus carefully considers his words, carefully crafts His sermon, and turns to the sea of faces and says:
Whoever come to me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters; yes, even life itself cannot be My disciple. Whoever does not carry the cross and follow Me cannot be My disciple. . . . So therefore, none of you can become My disciples if you do not give up all your possessions.
So there.
Take that!
There you have it: Jesus' message to a large crowd.
Can you imagine the reaction? I half-expect the next line of Scripture to read, "And the following day a small group followed Jesus." Such a radical message with its shocking rigorous demands was not likely to further His success in swelling the ranks of His followers. I think it's pretty clear that Jesus was not in touch with the feelings of His congregation. People don't want to hear their preachers tell them that they have to give up every last thing they possess and love in order to be viewed as good solid members. Certainly Jesus was not working out of anything that resembled a customer service model of ministry.
Could it be that Jesus was more interested in the quality of his followers than the quantity of the crowd? Most religious leaders today ask for no more than small, modest sacrifices. We don't want to thin the ranks too much. But apparently Jesus wasn't interested in giving people a little spiritual uplift to help them get through the week. He wanted His followers to get ready to do great things in the name of God.
And there is a huge difference.
I once heard a preacher welcome his congregation by saying something like this. "Considering the hard work that Jesus asks us to do I am surprised so many got dressed up in suits and dresses to come here this morning." And Jesus does call us to hard, difficult, get your hands dirty kind of work - clothe the naked, feed the hungry, set at liberty the oppressed, heal the sick. Being a Christian is not really all that easy, and seldom would its uniform be "Sunday-go-to-meetin'" clothes!
Perhaps some of you read in the September issue of Highlights the little note I put in about the worship for the month: "Caution: The lectionary readings from Luke may be hazardous to your current lifestyle." This week may be a prelude to that. Throughout Luke's Gospel we are told, from the very beginning, that Jesus is indeed the long-awaited Messiah, God-with-us. Then the rest of Luke's Gospel is spent trying to show that while we were expecting a certain kind of Messiah, God had something different in mind; that the God we were expecting is not the Jesus that is God's Son.
It's another way of saying, "be careful what you pray for, you might get it."
And it's not unlike what was read from Jeremiah a few moments ago. Jeremiah goes to a potter's house and is watching him take a vessel that was spoiled and re-worked it into another vessel. And then it dawned on Jeremiah - or as he says, the word of the Lord came to me - that God could do that - God could reshape all of Israel just as the potter reshaped the spoiled vessel - if Israel turned from the way of the Lord.
Perhaps one the sicknesses' prevailing in our churches is that we have made worship, prayer, and education the be all and end all of "church". Don't get me wrong - it's not that worship, prayer and education isn't important. But if I read my Bible correctly that was but three components of Jesus ministry. In fact Jesus describes His ministry very powerfully when he quotes Isaiah saying, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because God has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor, He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those that are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." (Luke 4:18 - 19)
If that is the Messiah that we worship; the Messiah that called us to be Christians in the first place, perhaps we should be much less modest in our attire than what we are now wearing. Jesus calls us to get our hands dirty.
Certainly that agenda that Jesus used to define His ministry would not be reflected in most church's budgets. Check out the percentage of money that goes to doing the work the Jesus did - healing, setting people free, feeding, clothing folk; sometimes it's called missions. Sadly to say that for most churches it is nowhere near the majority of the budget; sad to say in most churches it barely even approaches a tithe (10%).
Oh, I had a little fun at the beginning of the sermon with how Jesus spoke to the multitudes. But Jesus knew that many of the people who gathered around Him were curiosity seekers. They came to Him to be amused. When they no longer saw Him serving their purpose they would be gone. Jesus was not particularly impressed with keeping then around. He was eager to get His followers prepared to be used by God, like a potter uses clay when shaping a vessel. That preparation is not something to be taken lightly.
Annie Dillard tells of a time when she was on a ship near a coast when she spotted a large moth on the ship's railing. It appeared to be panting. It was a sphinx moth, a heavy-bodied creature with small wings. Like hummingbirds, they have to move their wings very quickly in order to achieve flight. To be capable of flying at all they have to supercharge their muscles with oxygen. She watched the moth as it got ready to take off. It seemed to be revving up like a jet on a runway.
Unintentionally she startled the moth and it took off before it was completely prepared. She saw it fly over the water. But soon it began to lose altitude and it splashed into the water and drowned. It paid for its lack of preparation with its life.
Jesus did not want His followers to falter like that. He wanted them - and us - to understand the struggle, the persistence, and the perspiration required to all who genuinely go the way of the God revealed in Christ. Jesus Christ calls His people to great things. He wants us to soar in faith, but we cannot do so without prayerful preparation.
In order to do something significant with your life the first step is to be absolutely clear about your priorities. Or as my wife Deb says, "first you have to care." Jesus knew this truth and so He insisted that His followers get clear about what is finally and utterly important in their lives. Only when that priority is fully embraced can life in its fullness be known.
Following Jesus does not just happen. God calls us, asks us to be like moist clay so that we can be molded to do God's will. Though Jesus calls His disciples to give up all, this renunciation prepares our lives to receive all that Jesus offers. Jesus calls us not simply to suffer, as though there is some virtue in that experience. Rather, Jesus calls us to be servants - do things that Jesus did as a servant: heal, teach; eat with the poor, welcome sinners, and even was peoples feet.
You see, we may have to give up some things - perhaps even some things we love. That will be like death to us. But then as we follow Christ, be a servant like Christ, we will gain much - and that will be our resurrection. Isn't that the meaning of resurrection? Out of death comes new life?
Living life to its fullest with a focused and sacrificial faith commitment of service is at the very heart of our faith. We can find our mission in many places. In the Book of Acts just before being taken up to the heavens Jesus urged His disciples to witness faith in this way: "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem and in all of Judea, and Samaria and to the ends of the earth." (Acts 1:8) All we have to do is be open to the world around us.
I have a favorite Peanuts cartoon that I would like us to use as a responsive reading. It helps us understand that we can be God's witnesses right here and now, in Chevy Chase and all the District, in Maryland and Virginia, in the United States, and to the ends of the earth. It is important to really get into the words your reading. In particular I would like the women to read Lucy's part. We men will read Charlie Brown's lines and begin.
