WHAT MUST I DO NOW TO FOLLOW JESUS?
The Rev’d Richard Schaper
25th of February 2018, 2nd Sunday in Lent
Based on Mark 8. 31 – 38

Today’s sermon is different from what I usually try to preach—because today’s gospel portion is different from what we usually hear proclaimed. What we usually hear proclaimed is: the immensity of God’s love for us and for all creation. This indeed is how St Mark the evangelist begins his account of the gospel. Chapter one, verse one: “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ.” Jesus Christ is Good News because Jesus incarnates the immensity of God’s forgiving love. “For God SO LOVED the world that he sent his only beloved Son….”But today’s gospel portion focuses not on God’s love for us, but rather on our response to God’s love. Today’s gospel verses are the hinge-point of Mark’s gospel—St Mark’s narrative is 16 chapters long and these verses are the conclusion of chapter 8. In them Jesus says: “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”

The theme that Fr. Ellsworth has set for our Lenten Sundays is: “Hard things that we need to learn to say.” The hard thing that we need to say in response to today’s gospel portion is: “What must I do NOW to follow you?”

To begin following Jesus—or to stop following Jesus—requires more than a click on his homepage on the internet.

To become a follower of Jesus is to become a disciple, a student, a learner. Responding to God’s love in Jesus means more than simply taking a single step—even if it might be in the right direction. To follow Jesus as he invites us to in today’s reading is, rather, to undertake a long obedience in the same direction. This phrase comes—surprisingly—from Friedrich Nietzsche who advises that:

The essential thing “in heaven and on earth” is…that there should be long obedience in the same direction; there thereby results, as has always resulted in the long run, something which has made life worth living.

To follow Jesus requires taking not just a single step but rather putting one foot in front of another and another and another in the same direction. To be a disciple of Jesus is—as the word “disciple” directly implies—to choose and take upon one’s self a discipline.

In the weekly Buddhist discussion group that I’ve been participating in among workers on the wooden tall ship “Mathew Turner” we have been reflecting on the importance of discipline in following a spiritual path. I offered to my fellow crew mates the verse from the book of Hebrews that has long meant so much to me, where it says: “Discipline no doubt is never pleasant and can even be harsh at the time; yet in the end it yields for those who have been trained by it, the peaceful harvest of an honest life” (Heb. 12:11)

Jesus says: “Take up your cross and follow me.” This is how we follow Jesus. We embrace Jesus’ discipline, his way of living, his way of being with and among other people.

One area of Christian discipline to which I have devoted my service among people in the Bay Area is that of stewardship of the financial assets that God has given us. When a stranger would ask, “What do you do?”, I sometimes respond with “I’m a financial theologian.” “What is a financial theologian? What do you DO?” I meet with people like you and I ask them to articulate what matters most to them in life. What is most precious to you in life? What is it that if it were taken away from you your life would no longer have meaning? Your deepest values—your faith, really. Then I help them to bring their financial assets into alignment with what they say are their values—so that their life more nearly makes a consistent statement about what they want to stand for as they go through life and when they leave it.

So often I find that people’s money and people’s values have not really been brought together. They have not yet discovered how instrumental their financial assets can become in making a difference that they want to make in the world—and discovering the joy that this can bring.

What I have done, for example, for a young person seeking pointers on managing income, from her first real job, is to introduce her to 3-S budgeting. The first S is Saving. Begin by saving the first ten percent of what you make. The second S is Sharing. The second ten percent of what you make is for sharing with other people in the larger human family who have less than you do—or who are working on behalf of those who have less. Finally, the third S is for Spending. Eighty percent of your income is for meeting your own living expenses, needs and desires.

Of course this is just a simple template to begin with—like training wheels on a bicycle. But it gives you place to start—and gets you used to the joy of giving away 10%— a tithe—of your income.

But the real focus of my stewardship ministry has not been managing cash flow as one goes through life. My focus of interest has been much more on what we do with the leftovers when our life on earth is over. Charitable estate planning has been my special interest because I have found is an often a neglected area of Christian discipleship and opportunity. However modest a person’s circumstances, if you wish nevertheless to make a significant difference by making a significant gift—then this may be how you may do so.

Our Book of Common Prayer (p. 445) speaks of “the duty of all persons to make wills, while they are in health, arranging for the disposal of their temporal goods, and not neglecting, if they are able, to make bequests for religious and charitable uses.” (p. 445) Probably most of us have already executed a will or trust—but you would be shocked to learn how many people—even Episcopalians, even Episcopalians of means—have not done so, and so whose remainders will be distributed not as they may have wished but merely by default according the probate code.

1. When Peg and Bill (Dutch last name) graduated from the University of Michigan and married, they decided not to have any children of their own out of consideration for world population growth. But accidents happen. Each time after they completed adopting a child, Peg got pregnant. So they ended up with four children. Recently when they designed their estate plan, they decided to make their parish their fifth child—so each would get twenty-percent. 
2. Many of you will remember Gail Greenwell who after serving St Stephen’s became rector of Epiphany, San Carlos. Gail invited me to join her in meeting with one of her senior members in his home where he confessed:

I’m not on the vestry now but I have been on vestry many times through the years and I have seen what happens to the budget when a major supporter dies or leaves the parish—it leaves a big hole in the budget. I don’t want this to happen when I die, that why I asked if I could meet with you.

What I advised this gentleman, and what he did, was to endow his pledge. You may endow your annual gift to the parish by multiplying the amount by twenty and making this a bequest to the endowment fund. Then the endowment fund will go on annually distributing your pledge amount forever—in perpetuity supporting the ministry to future generations that has meant so much to you in your generation. Pay it forward, as they say.

1. Other people have just tithed on their estate as during their lifetimes they tithed on their income. When it occurred to my father to take this approach, he felt very satisfied because he had been a tither his adult life as a Christian.

Of course there are many different ways that faithful stewards find to include their church and their charities in their estate plans. (During the session after worship today, Bob McCaskill and I will share some stories of very creative ways that St Stephen’s members have arranged to do this.)

The way that this sermon has gone you might almost think that Jesus had said, “Take up your estate plan and follow me.” — which he did not exactly say. However, the gospel record and Christian history make it clear that Jesus’ demand was even more radical than this. Mark’s gospel begins with Jesus call to the four fishermen—who left their boats and their father and followed him. St Francis stripped off his pricey designer clothes in public before the bishop, returned his clothes to his father, and embraced Lady Poverty. 

We each have to decide for ourself, in every stage of our life anew, what it is that is being asked of us to respond to God’s immense love for us and for the whole world. This season of Lent gives us occasion to revisit our response to God’s love, and to make fresh choices.

What must I do now to take up my Christian discipline and follow Jesus? As we prepare to come to this Table, all we need do is to turn our empty hands upwards, and approach with a hungry heart. God will not let us go away hungry.