Pastor Christa von Zychlin

Our Savior’s Lutheran Church  Hartland, WI.  53029

June 27, 2004  Pentecost 4

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“Let the dead bury the dead”  That’s a gripping phrase isn’t it?  And I can’t get it out of my mind.  Let the dead, bury the dead.  What do you suppose Jesus means by that for us today?

In Luke chapter 9 verse 51 Jesus made up his mind to go to Jerusalem.  He has his ‘eyes on the prize” as the saying goes.  The prize is his cross, and nothing is going to interfere with that.  Jesus is going to get there, to the showdown with death & the devil. 

Have you made up your mind about something, recently, or are you in the process of doing so?   When you make up your mind, it means you leave a lot of other choices behind.  They’re dead choices, and you’re moving on.

A couple of our members made up their mind to start a new business a few months ago.  They saw a need and entrepreneurs that they are, they decided to go for it.  And now they’ve invested 10’s of thousands of dollars in equipment and  have a staff of eager young high school employees, they’ve bought these very funky blue shirts with the company’s logos, they’ve taken care of all the legal paper work and fees…and as of April they’ve been ready to go… and what’s their new business?   It’s a  lawn watering service!   (Think about that in the spring of 2004)  Of course it’s the worst year it could possibly be out of 100 years probably,  but you know what?  They’ve got their eyes on the prize.  They’ve decided here’s where we’re investing ourselves our time our money our possessions…. Maybe more of their possessions than they’d like.  What I’m impressed with is their attitude. 

John says, we’ve got 5 big projects lined up, as soon as  the faucet in the sky turns off, we’re ready to go! “   He and Tina have their eyes on the prize, they’ve made a decision, and they’re not looking back.  Let the dead bury the dead.

A couple of our couples have rather recently made up their minds to get married.  There’s a cost to getting married.  A huge cost and I’m not talking about the wedding itself.  (Which public disclaimer here – you can have a perfectly elegant and very meaningful Christian wedding for virtually no financial cost, but that’s another sermon for another day)

But when you decide to get married, you’re saying, I’m going to stick with this one partner as the one with whom I share my money my body my future so that these become our money, our bodies, our future.  This one partner, and no other.  That’s costly!  And I’m leaving behind all other romantic relationships.  I’m  not going to be seeing that old boyfriend or old girlfriend, I’m not going to be dwelling on that old relationship. If it’s a second marriage and the couple is Christian, they’re saying, I’m  asking God’s forgiveness over the death of my first marriage and at a Christian wedding service the couple is  publicly asking God to bless the marriage and to be the Lord of their new home together.   They’re leaving behind the old.  Let the dead bury the dead.  They’ve got their eyes on what lies ahead.

Third example, we have a member who’s an artist and she says she has to literally turn people away from her lakeside home so that she can focus on her work.  She has an exhibit scheduled for her paintings the beginning of July.  She’s a wife and a mother and a grandmother, she’s very hospitable and welcoming and people & ministry oriented, but she’s got her eyes on the prize, the exhibit in July.  And that means she has to put up a little sign that says “Please don’t disturb me.”  It’s not that she doesn’t love her family and friends, but right now, she’s got a specific calling from God she needs to fulfill.  And WANTS to fulfill.  That’s the beauty of it as Christians.  God’s spirit LEADS us to certain goals and ventures, sometimes  God leads us to individual people and sometimes God leads us to very specific projects.

Fourth example, we have Dave Watry & Kathy & Bear Bauer who are leaving behind other projects & things they could be doing this summer, and heading overseas to Lithuania, to live very modestly in teeny tiny apartments, to teach English and to share the Gospel life with people very different from themselves, experiencing the global Church of Jesus Christ.    It’s a calling, and they’ve each had to say “NO” to other important things they could have been doing this summer in order to say YES to this specific call to Christian ministry.

It’s something to make up your mind.  God gave us a beautiful & terrible gift called “free will” which means we get choices in life.  It’s part of what makes America great, the extent to which people can choose:  We can choose how we use our money.  We can choose our marriage partners.  We can choose our churches.  We can choose  our professions, and a lot of our political arguments within the United States are about what really constitutes free choice… the choice of a woman over her body or the choice of a fetus to live & have choices to make in life.  The individual choice to “marry” as a same sex couple or a society’s  choice for affirming the unique properties of the life long commitment between one man and one woman.  Or more locally, will having a spanking new hospital in Oconomowoc increase choice and access or actually narrow it down the road when the older hospital possibly goes out of business, or when Milwaukee city hospital resources are diverted to suburban “choices”?

(Another disclaimer – I’m not, today preaching on any of those topics, I’m saying that both sides in many of our political arguments, are based on the belief that choices are good, and how do we maximize true choices for the most people.)

As a Christians, our choices are informed by the fact that God, through his Son, the man Jesus Christ,  made a choice for us, not just as individuals, but for the whole human race.

Jesus made up his mind to go to Jerusalem.  It’s not an accident.  He chooses it.  Jesus ends up leaving behind his family, his friends, the possibility of marriage, the cheering crowds, his father’s carpentry business, his mother, the homey peace of village life, in order to give up his life, so WE could have life. You could say, he narrowed his choice, to expand ours.

Because of Christ’s choice for us on the cross, we now get to choose what we want our ultimate goal in life to be.  And the Scriptures tell us the best ultimate choice we can possibly make in life, is to follow Jesus.  Follow Jesus.  Keep our eyes on the Prize, life with the man who, as it turns out, is the door way to God himself.  

And then God through  the Holy Spirit helps us to make those penultimate choices we are privileged to make along the way:

To start a new business, or to celebrate a wedding, or to create something beautiful, such as a treasure of paintings, to go out on a mission trip to Lithuania, Appalachia, Alaska, or to serve a refugee family in Waukesha.

To do all those things with the spiritual gifts of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, gentleness, self control.

And not look back.

Let the dead bury the dead.  We Christ followers have places to go, and new things to do, as we follow the man who made up His mind to go to Jerusalem, and not look back.

Amen.

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