Sept. 10, 2023
Today we’re focusing on discipleship as we celebrate Jubilee Sunday. Our Gospel reading is about church discipline, and at first glance it’s a difficult to see how it relates to discipleship. But as I read the passage over a few times this week, I was struck by the fact that Jesus keep brings up doing things in groups: of two or three, or the whole church.
If we look at the original Greek, this passage uses the word “ekklesia”, which we translate as “church”. It’s a word Christians wouldn’t have used to describe their community until well after the time of Jesus’ ministry on earth. It suggests that this is one of those Gospel readings where you can see the early church trying to figure things out. It seems that Matthew’s community is thinking deeply about what it means to be a disciple. So I want us – like them – to think this morning about the nature of discipleship, and how discipleship and community relate to each other.
We might start by simply asking ourselves what “disciple” means for us. So – and this is not a rhetorical question – what do the words “disciple” or “discipleship” make you think of? Maybe we think of someone sitting alone, buried in Scriptural study or prayer. Maybe we think of people who are “holier than thou”. If these are our images of discipleship, it can be hard to see ourselves as disciples.
Our idea of what discipleship means changes radically if we think about it in terms of being an apprentice. Apprentices seek out someone who’s already skilled in a field, and then they engage in hands-on learning under the master’s supervision. When we think of ourselves as apprentices, we start to think of ourselves as believers making a life-long commitment to learning as we work under the direction of the Master, Jesus Christ.
The other important part of this morning’s Gospel is the idea that Jesus is present among us when two or more gather in his name. It’s easy to think that the miracle of the Incarnation ran its course when Jesus returned to the Father. But Jesus’ birth fulfilled the prophet Isaiah’s words: “the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Emmanuel – God with us”. Jesus’ name is more than just a name. It’s a promise to be with us. So when we gather, we need to take seriously the reality of God, the ongoing presence of Christ, and the movement of the Holy Spirit.
It’s vitally important to remember this, because society constantly tempts us to be individualists. Oh, it’s all right to join with other people in a faith community to pool resources to support our common interests, to find support in others, and do charitable works. But we’re tempted to bring an individual mindset to the church – to place our selves at the center of our Christian life, instead of God’s grace. And when we do that, we miss the real gift: that God has chosen to be with us.
Being in community is the antidote to this temptation. When we gather in Jesus’ name and affirm that God is present, not just in our worship but in our apprenticeship, our community is filled with the goodness and mercy that marks Christ’s presence. We move from being a collection of individuals focused momentarily on the same goal, and instead truly become the Body of Christ, grounded in the love of God.
So – what does all this mean for our discipleship?
First – to build on my sermon from last week, we have to discern how the Spirit is calling us to join with what God is already doing in the world. True apprenticeship with the Master brings life and energy. And so: what brings us life? Today we’re celebrating Jubilee Sunday. Our Jewish ancestors in faith celebrated a Jubilee every 50 years – a year when God’s generosity was made known through the forgiveness of debts and the freeing of slaves.
On this Jubilee Sunday, your debts are forgiven. If your work on behalf of God’s kingdom doesn’t bring you life and energy, but instead drains you, this is your opportunity to discern whether you should continue with that. You can step away – no questions asked. But – and here’s the kicker – this doesn’t give us a free pass to do nothing. God is calling us all to be apprentices – to be life-long learners and laborers. We’re going to be passing around sheets outlining the different discipleship opportunities we have at Christ Church. I want us all to take a few minutes after the sermon to ponder what we might be drawn to.
Second, this Gospel reading directs that the kingdom’s work be done in community. It can be too easy to see the church as just another human institution – with tasks as nothing more than jobs to be completed. Check the box, check the box, check the box. The reality is that the Spirit calls us into work in twos and threes, fours and fives, and even more. Every task we face isn’t just a task, but an opportunity to build community as we immerse ourselves with Jesus in a shared life of service and sacrifice.
Knowing that we’re in the presence of Christ transforms how we approach the work God calls us into, and how we collaborate with the others who are called into that same work. So the questions each of us have to answer today are: how is God calling me into apprenticeship? And, how will our efforts strengthen our bonds as the Body of Christ? Answering those questions, my friends, will be life-giving. Life-giving for ourselves, for each other, for the church, and for the world. Amen.