Where's the Easy Button?

Luke 14:25-33

Now large crowds were traveling with him; and he turned and said to them, “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. Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? If he cannot, then, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.

One of my favorite TV networks is HGTV, and one of my favorite television shows is Love It or List It.  Each episode of this show focuses on a couple who own a home that no longer suits them. It may be too small: Perhaps there aren’t enough bedrooms or bathrooms for their growing family. Or the floor plan may be a problem. The kitchen and bathrooms may need a complete renovation. The couple is divided about what to do. One person loves the home and wants to stay. That person thinks that if they just make some changes to the home, they can stay. The spouse thinks the solution is to leave – sell the house and buy another.  

Two professionals compete to get them to either love the home or list it. The interior designer – Hillary -- promises to fix their problems so they’ll love their home again, but they must give her tens of thousands of dollars for the renovations. The real estate agent – David -- wants them to sell their house – list it -- and buy another. He shows them homes that he thinks better meet their needs.

The show follows a predictable pattern. Almost always, once construction begins, Hillary  encounters unexpected major problems in the home.  I cringe whenever Hillary begins work on a basement. “Don’t do it!” I want to say. “Don’t go down there!” Because I know the workers will discover pipes that leak so badly that the house is actually floating on an underground lake. The wiring will date back to the time of Benjamin Franklin; it’s so primitive that it’s a miracle the house hasn’t burned down yet. And the workers will discover that the overhead joists are so weak that virtually nothing is supporting the first floor. It’s amazing the kitchen hasn’t collapsed into the basement yet. The contractor tells Hillary that the repairs – which must be made – will be very expensive. She then has to explain to the homeowners that she’ll have to cut way back on the planned renovations because there won’t be enough money for everything they’ve planned. The house will be rewired, the pipes replaced, and the joists will now support the kitchen floor, but they won’t get the renovated kitchen or new bathroom they wanted.

Usually, the homeowners’ response is anger: “Hillary, you should have known about these problems before you began the work!”

Haven’t they watched the show before? Because I don’t know if Hillary should have known before she began the work, but the homeowners should have known. I want to say to them, “Don’t you watch the show? Don’t you know that the minute construction begins, the contractor will find big problems in the house that have to be addressed?  That fixing these unexpected but serious problems will take most of the money in the budget? That she’ll have to cut back on the projects on the list?” Anyone who watches the show regularly will know that they’ll be lucky to get half of what they expected. Whatever amount they budgeted, there won’t be enough to pay for everything. They should have mentally doubled it before they began.

“For which of you,” Jesus says, “intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’ “

Jesus then goes on to talk about a king going to war, who must decide if he can win against his enemies with half the soldiers.  If he decides he can’t win this war, he sends representatives to ask his enemy for peace terms. 

Jesus has already told his followers that they must hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself if they want to be his disciple.  Jesus is speaking not just to the disciples: He’s speaking to us. Whatever we value most – our possessions, our families, or even our lives -- we must be ready to give them all up to follow Jesus.

Hate is a strong word: the opposite of love. What’s wrong about caring about our families? Shouldn’t we love our parents?  We have to bear in mind that in the culture in which Jesus lived, people often used hyperbole. They exaggerated. That was the way they talked. So when Jesus told people to cut off their hand, his disciples understood that he didn’t mean it literally. He was exaggerating to make a point, much as we might say “I almost died of embarrassment” or “my boss is going to kill me.” We don’t mean it literally. Then as now, people used hyperbole for emphasis, to make a point. And here, Jesus is making an important point. I think Jesus is both warning and asking – warning that following him won’t be easy – it may demand everything from us -- and he’s asking for total commitment.

If we want to be Christians – to follow Jesus –  we have to be willing to sacrifice things that we value. We don’t have to hate our parents, but we may – because of our faith -- have to make choices that people we love disapprove of. We don’t have to literally give away everything we own and take to begging on the streets and sleeping on park benches, but we do have to prioritize God over money. We do have to make our commitment to serving Jesus more important than acquiring possessions.

Christians in third world countries who may experience real persecution and risk losing everything, including their lives, for their faith understand what it means to give up everything for Christ. Compared to them, we have it so easy. We risk being ridiculed, our unpopular with some people, but we don’t risk losing our possessions or even our lives. For us, following Jesus can seem easy. But if it seems easy, are we really following Jesus?

Recently an office supply store has had an ad campaign centered around the idea of a big red Easy Button. No matter what the office crisis is, the problem is solved immediately by pressing the Easy Button. Jesus isn’t an easy button, and truly following Jesus is not easy. Jesus is not going to immediately make all our problems go away, as if we’d pressed the Easy Button. Jesus warns us that following him will be the exact opposite of easy. It will demand that we be willing to risk everything. And if we commit to following Jesus, we need to know in advance that this is likely to be costly. We may have to sacrifice. To go on the journey with Jesus, we will certainly have to open up our whole selves to transformation, but we will be the journey of a lifetime. Who knows where it will take us? But if we listen and follow, if we’re willing to risk at all, we will enter the Kingdom of God. And that will be better than anything we sacrifice.

Another of my favorite HGTV shows is House Hunters International. Each episode of this show follows an American or Canadian person or family who’s moving to a foreign country – Japan, or Italy, or Morocco, for example – as they find a home to rent or buy. A real estate agent shows them three homes that should meet their needs, and they must choose one.

Now I’ve noticed that at the beginning of the show, the international house hunters

always talk about how much they’re looking forward to the experience of living abroad.

They want an authentic, enriching experience of living in a foreign country, and they want to embrace the culture. They want to live like the people of that country live. When they get to the house or apartment, however, it’s a whole ‘nuther story. There they talk like they’re still in California or Texas or wherever they came from. “No elevator?” they ask in surprise, as they climb a long flight of stairs. “The kitchen is so small,” they complain. “And no stainless steel appliances? No dishwasher? And that’s the refrigerator?” When they reach the bedroom, it’s “Our California king bed won’t fit!” On and on, they express surprise that so many features of their American home are missing.

Now remember, they told the real estate agent that they wanted a home with all the charm of their new country. But as it turns out, they only wanted the charm on the outside, because when it comes to the inside of the house, they still want to like Americans. They want it easy and comfortable – and familiar. They want the outside of the house to look Japanese or Italian or Moroccan, but the inside had better look American. Because no matter what they say, the home hunters usually choose a house that -- on the inside -- is as close to an American home as they can find. They’ve traveled to Japan or Italy or Morocco, but in important ways, they haven’t moved.

I think being a Christian can be like that. We can say we want to be Christians. We can look like Christians on the outside, because it’s really not hard to look like a Christian – wear a cross, carry a Bible, go to church, tell people we’re Christian. But what’s happening on the inside? Are we really Christian on the inside? Do we even want to be? Or do we not really want to change and risk being uncomfortable? Are we willing to give up the things we’re used to, the things that we think make us happy, in order to embrace a radically new way of living?

Looking like a Christian on the outside is easy. What’s difficult – and what really matters –  is being a Christian on the inside. What’s difficult – and what really matters –

is letting ourselves be changed on the inside, so that we may bear the image of Jesus inside. That image includes the cross. What’s difficult – and what really matters – is getting up each and every morning and trying to live that day as Christians, even when it’s difficult, and even when following Jesus is more costly than we anticipated.