When I read the gospel just now, I read it wrong. That is to say, I read it normally, the way we'd usually read or hear it. But, guess what? Reading (or hearing) it that way is wrong, and we need to make it right!

Don't think “church.” Don't think “Labor Day” weekend. Think Hurricane Earl. A family of four are huddled in the car, having waited just a little too long to try and escape the ravages of Hurricane Earl where they were staying. Now--in the middle of the day--it’s nearly as dark as night. Visibility is about zero as Dad tries to keep the car on the road in the wind and the rain. Meanwhile, in the back of the car, the two kids in the family are completely oblivious to the danger all around them. In fact, they’re beginning an argument--a loud argument--over which movie to watch in their DVD player.

What's going to happen? You know what's going to happen! It could be Mom. It could be Dad. Either one of them is going to turn around and make it abundantly clear to those little darlings that they'd better stop, and stop this instant! Something urgent is going on and they'd better start appreciating it or get out of the way!

Look (using an annoyed parent’s tone of voice)! You’re acting as if everything is normal and hunky dory. It isn’t. If you want to stay in this car with me, you’d better get with it and respect what’s going on here!

Are we clear? Good! Then let's listen to today's gospel the right way; the way it should be heard.

Once when large crowds of people were going along with Jesus, he turned and said to them, “Those who come to me cannot be my disciples unless they love me more than they love father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and themselves as well. Those who do not carry their own cross and come after me cannot be my disciples. If one of you is planning to build a tower, you sit down first and figure out what it will cost, to see if you have enough money to finish the job. If you don’t, you will not be able to finish the tower after laying the foundation; and all who see what happened will make fun of you. ‘You began to build but can’t finish the job!’ they will say. If a king goes out with ten thousand men to fight another king who comes against him with twenty thousand men, he will sit down first and decide if he is strong enough to face that other king. If he isn’t, he will send messengers to meet the other king to ask for terms of peace while he is still a long way off. In the same way,” concluded Jesus, “none of you can be my disciple unless you give up everything you have.”

That’s the right way to read that passage! Jesus has just stopped the car, turned around and told us that, despite what we may have thought when we walked in here today, everything is not hunky dory! In fact, if we want to continue traveling with Jesus (his word for it is “following” him), there are three things he expects from us.

Did you catch them? At first, they’re downright shocking. First, Jesus wants you to love him more than you love anyone else--your parents; your spouse; brothers and sisters; even your children and even yourself. Jesus is first.

Next, Jesus wants you to carry your cross each and every day. But what does that mean? Since a cross was an instrument of torture and death and, since carrying it meant that you were literally walking toward your own suffering and death, that’s what Jesus means when he asks that, whoever wishes to follow him, do this on a daily basis.

But wait! As if things weren’t hard enough already, Jesus adds a third condition--a third requirement--for those who wish to follow him. “Give up everything you have.”

Do you want to keep traveling with him? Love him more than anyone else, including yourself. Each and every day, carry your cross. Give up everything you have.

I wouldn’t blame you if you feel like getting out of the car! But, before you do, remember that this is the same Jesus who say, “Let the children come to me. Do not hinder them.” It’s the same Jesus who said, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

The situation is, however, urgent. Let me explain. Jesus has just had dinner with the Pharisees and, when he saw the way they tried to elbow their way into the positions of greatest honor, he told a parable against them. A man was looking forward to throwing a banquet. He had invited all his guests. But, when it came time for them to arrive, they gave trivial excuse after trivial excuse. “I’m busy!” “I’m doing something else!” In disgust, the host wrote out new invitations, opening his doors to anyone who would attend.

It may not be so clear to us but it was crystal clear to Jesus’ audience. A parable about a banquet is a story about the Kingdom of God. The host--God--had invited people like the Pharisees to the party but, as was clear from the way they were acting, they were too busy with other things to bother coming. God was therefore issuing new invitations, opening his doors to anyone who would attend.

So that’s what Jesus was doing. In fact, that’s still what Jesus is doing, right now, through those that follow him!

The situation is urgent but not necessarily in a Hurricane Earl-type way! God has opened his doors to everyone and anyone who wishes to come in and join him. God has given Jesus the job of extending a warm and welcoming invitation for everyone to attend. And, if we wish to follow him, that’s our job as well!

Next week we’ll hear Jesus tell a parable to us, not to the Pharisees. In it, he’ll talk about the earnestness that everyday people like a shepherd or a poor woman show as they search high and low for something precious to them that they’ve lost. Then, when they find it, Jesus reminds us, they’re happy and they celebrate.

This is the urgent situation that, right here and right now, Jesus reminds us about. This is the urgent situation that, right here and right now, Jesus asks us to join him.

Join him for the joy of it! Join him for the fun of it! But join him in the urgency of getting those invitations out! God is planning a party and he is inviting everyone who wishes to be part of it!
Invite them to church. Invite them to Sunday School. Invite them to communion. But, most of all, invite them to the Kingdom of God. It’s urgent! In Jesus’ name. Amen!