It is my favorite time of the year, because March Madness is upon us. The NCAA Men's basketball tournament is my favorite sporting event and it begins this weekend. Last year I had the privilege of actually attending the championship game in Indianapolis, and it was one of the best games I have ever seen, and a very memorable experience all around. More than sixty teams, some real underdogs, all vying for the right to called the best team in the land.
Although some of these teams are just happy to there, other programs will consider their season a disappointment if they do not win it all. That's the harsh reality for athletes: there can only be one #1. But, truth be told, the National Collegiate Athletic Associations' number one ranking pales in comparison to the command that God gives and the expectation that Jesus lays out here in Luke chapter 14. What God demands from his disciples is this: He needs to be your #1. There can be nothing more important to you than Him. Jesus asks you to think about it; to count the cost. Can you do it? Do you even want Him to be #1 in your life? Your answer is extremely important, because Jesus goes on to say that salt that loses its taste is no good, and it gets thrown out. If you're into a comfortable Christianity where nothing is really expected of you and you hope you don't really have to do anything in Jesus' name, this message is not for you. Clearly, we need a renewal of priorities, starting now.
Kind of scary, isn't it? This is not the gentle Jesus of our imagination; this is the real Jesus, God in the flesh, the teacher, saying to you and me, "There can only be one #1. I've got to be it. If not, you're just pretending at this." And somewhere deep in our hearts, we know that this is the type of commitment that is called for when it comes to life with Jesus. The faith in us, fighting for life, allows us to sense that God should be #1 in our lives, and that our decisions and actions ought to be in harmony with God's #1 spot. But all too often, we let go of that lifestyle. There are other concerns, other issues, other people that we prioritize above Jesus, the Son of God. Our families are an excellent example, and it is no coincidence that Jesus uses that example himself.
At first, the language here is extremely off-putting. When Jesus talks about hating father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters and even your own life, well, we almost make a little mental deal to ignore Jesus here—to pretend that He didn't just say that. But good scholarship tells us that in Biblical Hebrew, the word 'hate' can mean loving someone less than another. You don't hate them in the sense that you despise them; but "hate" in this Hebraic figure of speech means that there is a pecking order. Both are loved, but there is a favorite. So it would be valid to translate verse 26 this way: "If you want to be my follower you must love me more than your own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, more than your own life." Now that takes the weird "hate" part out of it, but it still leaves us with an extremely difficult choice. But there can only be one #1. There will be a personal price to pay in your family if Jesus is your #1. It's true. Same thing in your daily work and your friendships. Nothing can be more important than Jesus, not sports, not your boyfriend or girlfriend, not your hobbies, not your business, not your own personal comfort. It's not hard to figure out what you love more and what you love less—just look at the decisions you make every day and where you're spending your time. It's not hard to tell where God is on your list. There can only be one #1.
A campus pastor tells of a visit with a young woman at the University of California in Berkely:
She was a brilliant student from South America, lived at International House, and had visited our University Lutheran Chapel with friends. When I called on her, she explained that she had tried to find God all her life, but without success. "Every night for nine years I read my Spanish Bible," she told me, "and prayed for faith. But God never gave it to me."
We talked some more, and finally I asked,"Did you ever pray for forgiveness?" She was silent. Then, as we talked, she made the comment that she had never broken any of the Ten Commandments. Intrigued, and not having approached anyone this way before, I went through the commandments with her, starting with the last. No, she had never coveted. No, she had never stolen. No, she had never had an adulterous thought. No, she had never sworn, etc. Finally, we got to the first commandment. "Is there anything, anything at all," I asked, "that you would place before giving yourself wholly up to God?"
She paused wistfully. "I will have to say…" and then she spoke firmly, "if anything—anything—would come in the way of my pursuing my diplomatic career, it would have to go."
The tragedy in this instance was that this dynamic young woman was gradually going blind. But her real blindness was in not seeing the Savior, who wanted to reach out and give her faith, but only through forgiveness, which she didn't think she needed.
Is there any area of your life in which you place God second? If Jesus' words have hit a nerve with you, then the thing to do is be honest. Be honest about how impossible it seems to put God at #1 in your life. Ask Him for the forgiveness that only He can offer. Come to Jesus, and look at the commitment He made to you. Jesus loved His Father more than He loved Himself. That's how He could empty himself of all majesty to become truly human. That's how He could be obedient to His Father and carry out the mission that had been given Him. What's equally true is that Jesus loved you more than He loved himself. That love, not the nails, held Him to the cross, where His total commitment to you resulted in His suffering and death. Because Jesus loves you more than He loves himself, you are spared from having to deal with sin and death on your own; you are spared from eternal separation from God. To use the Hebraic figure of speech, Jesus hated Himself and loved you. Otherwise He would have never gone near the cross. But he did. His love for His Father and His love for you is the only explanation "why."
When you trust in this Jesus and when you have been connected to Jesus through Baptism, you have access to His commitment. The apostle Paul urges us to remember our baptism and to daily "put on Christ." That is just the renewal we need every day. I don't think we really realize the great power we have been given access to. Through baptism and faith, Holy Scripture promises that we share in the mind of Jesus. We share in the humility of Jesus. We share in Jesus' way of life, which values and loves others more than self. When Jesus starts talking about carrying our own crosses, this is what He's getting at, and let's take his advice: let's count the cost, here. What does it mean to carry a cross for Jesus?
First, carrying a cross for Jesus means dying to self, meaning, I'm not # 1. This is a good thing. It means freedom from lusts and passions and being controlled by them. It means freedom from a life of trying to get more, newer, better stuff and never, ever being satisfied.. Secondly, carrying a cross for Jesus means living a life of love and sacrifice. When God is #1, we are free to commit ourselves properly to relationships that are supposed to bring blessing into our lives. That's by God's design. He wants us to serve and love our spouses, our children, our co-workers, our friends and everyone with whom we live. We can get those relationships right, because our most important relationship is right.
Too often, we stunt our own spiritual growth, because we're afraid of total commitment to Jesus. We're afraid that if we take this step, we'll miss out on something or lose the things we like. And, in truth, you will lose old ways of thinking and acting. But take a second to see what you gain when you carry a cross for Jesus. You lose old ways that lead to despair and death. You gain new life in which every moment is meaningful; no work is wasted; new life that never ends, lived at your risen and living Lord's side. There can only be one Number One. Gladly, willingly, thankfully, make it Jesus, and be renewed in your priorities. Amen.
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