St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Wesley Chapel, FL
Preacher: The Rev. Adrienne R. Hymes
Proper 18/Year C: September 7, 2025
Gospel: Luke 14:25-33
Lord, take our minds and think through them. Take our Lips and speak through them. Take our hearts and set them on fire for Christ’s sake—Amen.
At the very beginning of this church planting journey, long before any heavy lifting had begun, there was a lot of interest and much enthusiasm. I soon learned that for many interested persons, planting a new church meant that they would happily fill a seat on Sundays. In having truthful conversations about the demands of the journey ahead I told the non-sugarcoated truth: “If you’re looking for a church where you can show up for Mass and leave; we’re probably not what you’re looking for right now. But, if you’re looking for a life-giving adventure in the Lord, filled with uncertainty, which will challenge you spiritually, physically and emotionally, please prayerfully discern a commitment to this growing ministry.”
As you might imagine, the demanding realities of church planting resulted in a few people falling away. While their experiences were different, they all shared the similar realization: “I’m sorry; I didn’t really know how much work this would be.” To be fair, I didn’t fully understand how much work this would be. Do we ever really know the costs of any commitment until we start to faithfully walk in it?
We enter our gospel narrative today with Jesus addressing a crowd of his followers. By this time in Luke’s gospel, Jesus’ public ministry was in full swing and Jesus had become a celebrity with the growing crowds as he traveled from Galilee to Jerusalem where he will suffer and die. Jesus knew the fate that awaited him, but the scripture gives us no hint about whether or not the enthusiastic crowds understood what they were actually participating in as they followed this celebrity, Jesus.
Had Jesus’ enthusiastic followers known that they were traveling with him on a death march, would their enthusiasm have waned? Would they have had the stomach to commit to bearing the weight of being Jesus’ disciples for the long haul? A commentary on the cost of discipleship by William Barclay tells a story about someone who was talking to a great scholar about a certain young man. The person said to the scholar, “So and so tells me that he was one of your students.” The great scholar answered, “He may have attended my lectures, but he was not one of my students.”[1]
Such was the case for the enthusiastic followers of Jesus who would be challenged to decide whether or not they would be “attendees” of Jesus’ ministry or actual “students,” disciples of Jesus.
Jesus turned to the crowd, and educated them about the cost of discipleship. “Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple,” Jesus said. “Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.”
This statement may sound harsh to our 21st century ears, but the word “hate,” in this Semitic context, means “to turn away from” or “to detach oneself from.” Jesus warned that anything or anyone held dear to one’s heart, can cause an enthusiastic follower of Jesus to lack follow through, lose focus and fall away.
God requires a loyalty that surpasses all other loyalties in one’s life, and that necessarily requires detaching and reprioritizing so that God becomes the object of their unwavering loyalty. Jesus’ expectation for his disciples was that they be “all in,” for the duration of God’s mission. Just as the builder of a vineyard tower carefully estimates the costs of materials and manpower, Jesus also needed to determine whether or not he had people, human resources, upon whom he could depend, to be effective vehicles for spreading the gospel message after his death.
Jesus told the truth about the cost of discipleship and what it meant to become his disciple so that anyone who would choose to do so would do it with wide open hearts and eyes. Anyone who spreads the falsehood that all you need to do to be a good Christian is to show up to church where there’s comfortable seating, great music, and friendly people, does a great disservice to anyone seeking to be Jesus’ disciple, and seeking to build the kingdom of God. There is actual work to be done and actual personal sacrifices to be made.
There is a real cost of discipleship. Though the cost can be expressed in many currencies, we must tell people the truth—that this life we live is not easy; it is not focused on fun or convenience.
Discipleship is a life of discipline, sacrifice and inconvenience. Jesus knew this and lovingly offered an early “out” for unwitting, enthusiastic followers.
As faithful followers of Jesus, we remain committed to life-long formation into the full stature of Christ—each of us growing into our own sense of discipleship, while growing together in our shared purpose of building up God’s kingdom here on earth. As we approach the five-year anniversary of St. Paul’s mission status in this diocese this October, I am compelled to state the still-relevant, and even more urgent, non-sugarcoated truth: If you’re looking for a church where you can show up for Mass and leave; we are still not the place for that kind of expectation; we are still planting. As Jesus said, the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.[2]
Just as Jesus needed to determine whether or not he had people, upon whom he could depend, to be effective vehicles for the gospel message after his death, we must each determine whether or not we, ourselves, are committed to faithful kingdom building through the vehicle of St. Paul’s that will witness to our savior, Christ’s, transforming power long after we are gone.
So, here you ARE blessing us with your presence in worship. St. Paul’s needs you—and we need you actively serving in leadership and ministries beyond Sunday morning. There is much work to be done. If you’re still on fire for a life-giving adventure in the Lord, filled with uncertainty, which will challenge you physically, emotionally and transform you spiritually, prayerfully discern what it will take for you to re-commit to nurturing the life of this church.
This is the soul wrestling of a willing disciple on an inconvenient life’s journey of taking up one’s cross to follow Jesus. This is the spiritual wrestling that I encourage you to engage in your personal prayer time with God and in your conversations with other wrestling souls at your coffee hour tables and other gathered ministries. The question to offer to God in prayer is this: Will I be an “attendee,” a spectator, of Jesus’ ministry or will I be an actual “student,” a committed disciple, of Jesus?
May we RECOMMIT ourselves to our lifelong discipleship in Christ so that when we meet our savior and teacher, Jesus, face to face, he will recognize us and say, “I know that you faithfully attended my lectures and you are my beloved student.” Amen.
[1] Barclay, William. The Gospel of Luke Revised Edition (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press), 1975, p. 196.
[2] Matthew 9:37
