When they came to the other side, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me what I can do for you before I am taken away.” Elisha replied, “Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit and become your successor.”
“You have asked a difficult thing,” said Elijah. “If you see me when I am taken from you, then you will get your request. But if not, then you won’t.” As they were walking along and talking, suddenly a chariot of fire appeared, drawn by horses of fire. It drove between the two men, separating them, and Elijah was carried by a whirlwind into heaven. Elisha saw it and cried out, “My father! My father! I see the chariots and charioteers of Israel!” As they disappeared from sight, Elisha tore his clothes in distress. Elisha picked up Elijah’s cloak, which had fallen when he was taken up. Then he returned to the Jordan River, struck the water with Elijah’s cloak and cried out, “Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” Then the river divided, and Elisha went across.
Luke 9:57-62
As they were walking along, someone said to Jesus, “I will follow you wherever you go.”
Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens to live in, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place even to lay his head.” He said to another person, “Come, follow me.” The man agreed, but he said, “Lord, first let me return home and bury my father.” But Jesus told him, “Let the spiritually dead bury their own dead! Your duty is to go and preach about the Kingdom of God.” Another said, “Yes, Lord, I will follow you, but first let me say good-bye to my family.” Jesus told him, “Anyone who puts a hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God.”
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While I was working on this sermon yesterday afternoon, I was also watching one of the Star Trek movies, the Search for Spock. In the story Captain Spock has given up his life for the rest of the crew of the Enterprise, but before he died, he put his living spirit into safekeeping with the ship’s doctor, Leonard McCoy. In response, the crew essentially hijack their old ship and go in search of the physical body in order to rescue Spock. The physical and spiritual parts of Spock can be reunited, but not without significant physical and psychological danger to both people. Having explained the purpose and the risks, the Vulcan High Priestess says to McCoy “The danger to thyself is grave, but thee must make the choice.” McCoy responds “I choose the danger.”, and then mutters in an undertone, “Helluva time to ask!”.
A little later, Captain Kirk is discussing his choice to risk everything. Spock’s father says to him “But at what cost? Your ship, even your son!” The answer is telling. Kirk responds “If I hadn’t done it, the cost would have been my soul.”
Some people have no option for choice - unless that choice is to live or die. Sometimes they do not even have that choice. For us, choice is one of our freedoms. We can choose just about anything we wish, and some things we don’t. We can choose our friends, choose our spouses, choose what to eat, what to wear - to go to a movie or not, to travel, to read, to think. We can choose what to believe, choose if we want to eat or not, answer email or phone, read or watch TV. The times where we make choices are endless.
Many of us would likely say we are Christian by heritage - but at some point there is a choice we have to make too - and that choice is what discipleship means for us in this day and age, and if we are willing to accept the cost of discipleship - because discipleship costs: it costs from our pocketbooks, sure, but it costs far more in our everyday lives.
While Jesus was travelling, someone asked if he could go along. "I’ll go with you, wherever," he said. Jesus was pretty sharp to this would-be disciple: "Are you read to rough it? We don’t know where we are sleeping from day to day.” Jesus was probably able to tell from the man’s clothes whether or not he could do it.
He said to another "Follow me." That one said, "Sure, but first I have to make arrangements for my father’s funeral." Jesus’ response was a little cryptic - “Let the spiritually dead do the burying. Your business is life, not death. The message is critical - Announce God’s kingdom!"
Another one said, "I’m ready to follow you, Master, but first let me get things settled at home, and then I can come with you."
Jesus said, "Anyone who looks back has already lost. Seize the day. Go forward, regardless of risk"
In 1977 Oscar Romero was the bishop of El Salvador. At the time sharecroppers had no rights and rich landowners and the military kept each other in business. Priests who stood with the sharecroppers and fought back were considered "subversive."
It wasn’t long before this quiet priest became archbishop Romero. He was torn between sharecroppers and subversive priests who promoted violence, but on the other hand were the landowners, military, and President-elect. Then, a close priest friend of his was murdered, and he went to the village where the president-elect had closed that priest’s church. The militia had turned it into a barracks. Romero simply said he was there to take the Eucharist - the soldier opened fire on the cross and the altar. Romero left, but came back - put on his clerical robes, and then resolutely set his face toward the church; two priests joined him, then the village people. Romero and the people walked into the church, and Romero cried out, "I have come to retake possession of the church, to strengthen those who the enemies have trampled."
Romero, a priest, had not realised where following Jesus might lead him. The learned Romero knew intellectually about Jesus, but the man who took back the church knew personally the human cost of discipleship, and in the end it led to his assassination..
Well, we aren’t Jesus, or Romero. Most days we just do our jobs, and then go home and have a life with family. But Jesus, Elisha, Romero, and the fictional characters of Spock, Kirk and McCoy know that the decisions are not easy and often go against accepted logic. It may mean going against our culture, giving up a good job as captain of a starship; it might even mean doing something totally contrary to what or families might ask or expect. It is a choice between the good and the best.
Nowadays, most churches don’t talk a lot about discipleship. We are suspicious of those religious groups which do. But the reality is that it’s not possible to be a Christian without being a disciple. Just saying we are Christian, and showing up at church - is only the first step. Discipleship - following Jesus wherever that might lead - is a difficult choice - but it is a choice between the good, and the best. Jesus calls us to sleep in the hard places, to stick our necks out in the difficult times, to take risks.
Is there any good news here? Of course - the good news is that if we take up the mantle left behind, God goes with us no matter what the risk. Jesus left his mantle behind; it is our role to choose to pick up the mantle and follow - wherever that leads.
Sources:
1. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
2. An Easy Choice? Homily based on Luke 9:51-62 by Rev. Thomas Hall
3. http://www.victorshepherd.on.ca/Heritage/Oscar%20Romero.htm
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%93scar_Romero
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