For The Duration

Anybody planning on moving to Florida soon?

Just when you thought California was going to be the new hurricane central, Idalia came back and reinstated Florida as number one. It wasn’t as bad as Hurricane Ian, but it was bad enough. And yet a lot of people still dream of retiring to Florida. I’ll wager, though, that 90% of the realtors they talk to when looking at houses never mention hurricanes. Sanibel Island’s web page doesn’t mention hurricanes. Panama City’s doesn’t either. Or Tarpon Springs, or Daytona Beach, or Key West, or - well, you get the idea. I don’t like hot weather, so I’m not tempted to move to Florida under any circumstances, but far too many people believe the ads, yearning for year-round summer, and don’t want to think about the downside.

Everybody wants to escape the bad times. Everybody wants to trade up, to get an edge, to make their lives easier or safer. And in the first century, for the Jews, pretty much the only hope the ordinary people had for things to get better was the coming of the Messiah. There had been traveling rabbis for decades, preaching liberation and even sometimes healing people. So it wasn’t unusual that large numbers of people flocked to Jesus. They all needed something, and they all had different expectations. Some wanted to be healed, some wanted economic or political change, and some just wanted to say they’d seen the man everyone was talking about.

But Jesus had this problem. Jesus had the nasty habit of telling the truth. When people came to him, he talked about negative things like “discipleship” and “picking up your cross,” hard roads, and narrow gates. Jesus wasn’t much of a salesman, was he? If he wanted people to follow him, why didn’t he wait until they had signed on the dotted line before he mentioned the hurricanes?

Whenever Jesus had a large crowd following him, clamoring to come near and maybe even to come along, Jesus always went and said something the people didn’t like. They would say things like, “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?” [Jn 6:60] A few verses later, John tells us that “because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him.” [Jn 6:66] And then Jesus made matters even worse by asking the twelve who were left, “Well, what about you? Are you in or out?”

I can picture Peter, can’t you, saying something like “Jesus, of course we’re sticking with you but you really need to tone down your rhetoric. I mean, you’re scaring them off in droves with all this talk about how hard it is to be your disciple! Bring ‘em along gradually, why don’t you, let ‘em get used to the idea a little at a time, or there won’t be anybody left for you to preach to, and all your work will be down the tubes!” But Peter, thank God, didn’t have a clue about modern marketing techniques. Peter just said, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.” [Jn 6:68-69]

Peter’s statement must be ours as well. If Jesus really is the Son of God, if he really is the way, the truth, and the life, then the cost of discipleship is whatever he says it is. If he isn’t, then hey. We can decide for ourselves how seriously we want to take it.

Well, we’re here because we’ve made that leap, most of us, haven’t we. But how many of us have actually left anything behind, as Peter and John, James and Andrew left their nets and boats beside the sea of Galilee when Jesus called?

People are attracted to Jesus, to the Gospel, for many different reasons. Some are good, but some are not so good. In our consumer society, one of the things that experts on church growth talk about is marketing, how to attract people. What’s the secret? Is it hiring a youth director, changing to contemporary music, putting on a professional multi-media Sunday morning extravaganza? Not that there’s anything wrong with those things. We need to take our children seriously, we need to honor God with music that lifts the heart, we need to bring our best to worship. But maybe - just maybe - we should be raising the bar by challenging people rather than by catering to them.

Jesus was never impressed by how big the crowds he attracted were, even though it impressed - and threatened - the Pharisees. Because even though large crowds flocked to him, most of them came as consumers, for what they could get out of the experience right there and then. And I’m afraid that in an awful lot of apparently thriving congregations today that’s exactly what’s going on. Preacher Cleavon Matthews puts it this way: “Great multitudes will follow as long as there is no price to be paid, no contract to sign, no commands to obey, no orders to follow, no sacrifices to surrender, no gifts to offer, no commitments to keep, no burdens to bear, no suffering to share, no hardship to handle, no effort to exert, no pills to swallow, no limitations to learn, no scriptures to study, no worship services to attend, no prayers to pray, no cooperation to communicate, no battles to fight, no pledges to promise, no covenants to keep, and no standard to uphold.”