Trinity 10                A bumpy ride following Jesus

A speeding motorist was caught by radar from a police helicopter in the sky. An officer pulled him over and began to issue a traffic ticket. "How did you know I was speeding?" the frustrated driver asked. The police officer pointed sombrely towards the sky. "You mean," asked the motorist, "that even he is against me?"

Do you know anyone who you could call an aggressive driver -someone who drives like they are mad at everyone on the road? Or have you ever tried to follow someone like that? Maybe you’ve been going somewhere and agreed that the other person would lead the way, and you would follow. It doesn’t take more than a few minutes to work out that you are in for an adventure. You find yourself driving faster than you’ve ever intended to drive and taking corners at speeds you aren’t sure your car is intended to take corners at. You grip the steering wheel tightly, and maybe start to think that perhaps you don’t really need to get where that person is going - you’ll just catch up with them later!

Perhaps you’ve seen one of those car bumper stickers which says, WWJD –which stands for, “What Would Jesus Drive?” I think the goal is to make you think about buying a car that represents good stewardship of the Earth. Something inexpensive and fuel efficient, after all, this was a man who rode a donkey on the biggest day of his public ministry. Whatever he would drive, I suspect I know how he would drive. If we were in the car behind him, we’d be hanging on tight, tyres squealing. You see, the most deceptive thing Jesus says in the whole Bible are those simple words, “Follow me.” It sounds pretty simple. Surely, we can do that. Can’t we? But I say: Hold on tight, it’s going to be a bumpy ride and our gospel passage today, is a bumpy ride story.

Peter, remember Peter. Last week’s text had Jesus declaring that Peter would be handed the keys of the kingdom. Here was the rock upon which the church would be built. And where is he this week? He’s a stumbling block to Jesus. Why - because Peter was not ready for the bumps and curves and the speed of following Jesus. Jesus started telling the disciples how he was going to go to Jerusalem and suffer and die and be raised. Well, the last part sounded okay to Peter, but the suffering and dying part, didn’t sound so good. And I’m sure we understand. This is his great friend, his teacher, his master and companion. Suffer and die. Of course, Peter protests. So would I, wouldn’t you? So, Jesus has to make it clear. Following him is going to take the disciples places they never would have gone on their own. Following Jesus is going to be a wild and scary ride at times. Following Jesus is going to mean they have to give up the things they want and do the hard things that scare them or hurt them or just plain make them uncomfortable.

There is an important distinction to make here. Often, when preachers give sermons on this text, they pick up that phrase about denying yourself and picking up your cross and make that the central theme of the passage. They explain in great detail the ways we need to deny ourselves and the sufferings we need to inflict upon ourselves to obey the Lord. Now, I’m not opposed to self-denial. I am not here to tell you suffering is not part of discipleship. But it is not the point. You see, the key word in this entire passage is not “deny” or “cross” – although they are important words. The most important word is “follow.” Our Lord is always on the move.

Remember St Paul – how appropriate that he met Jesus on the Road to Damascus and spends the rest of his life on the move for God. Each Sunday, we each go to church to meet God. If we are worshipping correctly, we come here to praise him for all the wonderful things he has done. But too often, we turn worship into a cross to bear, don’t we? We might say to someone, ‘I don’t care if you want to go or not, this is Sunday morning. You are going to church. If Jesus Christ could go to the cross for you, the least you can do is get out of bed on Sunday morning.’ We start to act as if things that are not miserable can’t be good for us. We start to act as if church has to be painful and boring and hard to sit through. Otherwise, we aren’t denying ourselves! It is the ‘eat your spinach’ theory of church life. Sure, it’s horrible, but it will get you into heaven. And besides, I had to sit through even worse when I was your age! Yes? No!

We come here to worship God. What is worship? Well, it’s celebration. It is supposed to be something we look forward to doing. But as wonderful as worship can be, it is not the point, either. This hour or two we spend on Sunday morning is like a pit stop – a place to refuel. As one preacher once said, you can sit in your garage all day and that does not make you a car. We can sit in these church pews every Sunday until kingdom comes and that does not make us followers of Jesus.

To follow Jesus, we have to go through those doors and out into the world. And where will Jesus take us? Well, that’s the bumpy part I was talking about before. Jesus is going to take us out to find sick people who need someone to visit them and take care of them. Jesus is going to take us out to find people in prison who need to know the Lord loves them. Jesus is going to take us to the place where children are neglected or abused or ignored or not given a chance to grow up to be the people God wants us to be. Jesus is going to take us to places where people are sure that they don’t much need this Jesus guy or all those annoying church people.

Jesus is going to take us to the naked and the hungry and the thirsty. He’s going to take us to people who need actual clothing and actual food and actual water, and he’s going to take us to people who need spiritual clothing and emotional nourishment. He’s going to take us there, if we are willing to follow. And, I’m telling you, following him to these places is going to make us uncomfortable. It is going to make us set aside things we’d rather do. Who wouldn’t rather go a social gathering or watch a good programme on television than sit by the bed of a person who is dying? By following Jesus, we are going to have to deny ourselves. We are going to have to take up the cross. We are going to meet people who are not grateful. We are going to meet people who mock us and yell at us or dismiss us as do-gooders. We are going to fail sometimes and be told to try again. When we follow Jesus, we end up – whether we want to or not – denying ourselves and taking up our cross.

Living where I do, at the bottom of Reigate Hill, I am not a great enthusiastic user of the M25. Every time I go on it, it seems to be blocked or running so slowly that our journey takes at least twice as long as I ever imagined. It’s so much more exciting to set off across country where, even if you can’t drive quickly, the route is often far more interesting. Jesus too has a different road he wants to lead us down. It is not smooth. It is not going to be fun all the time. Indeed, sometimes keeping up with Jesus is going to scare us and make us do things we would never do if it were up to us. But there is a sweet reward on that road. There is a loving Lord who will be with us for every twist and turn. He’ll be the one up ahead, blazing down the asphalt like his tail in on fire.