Following Jesus Christ is costly.  Count the cost.  Think through what you will be giving up to be a Christian.  Jesus Christ wants disciples to rise up, giving up the bad decisions of the past, giving up destructive patterns, giving up priorities contrary to the calling to follow Jesus, giving up the easy life….

You may be called to give up your life. /to a life of poverty.  / people disagreeing with you.  /Hating you.  The word HATE used in this scripture  is disturbing. It is supposed to make us uncomfortable. I am saddened by how many preachers water down the word HATE because it can’t possibly mean to be as harsh as Jesus uses it. When you make a commitment to Christ you may be called to put aside that which you love.  / be a different person. 

Jesus wants people whose commitment is long term, when the world gets messy, when the people you immerse yourself in keep on being stupid.  People who don’t quit.  I heard about a guy that quit his job at the helium factory. Why, asked the boss.  I’m just so tired of the way you talk to me in that tone of voice…. 

Like last Sunday, today’s scripture is set in the middle of a feast.  Chad showed us a picture of his most memorable meal.  I have a picture of a memorable recent meal I didn’t even eat.  Forest did.  My son turned 22 and sent us a picture of his birthday Burrrr-ger.  Here it is….He made it himself as a cook at Little Big Burgers in Portland… What’s the white stuff you ask?  Ice cream.  This is a burrrrr-ger….

We celebrate with food.  Jesus tells a story with a purpose in today’s scripture.  The story centers on a banquet.  A party.  The meal is compared to the Kingdom of God.  The kingdom is like a feast/party. 

The book of Luke, as all the books of the Bible, is written with purpose.  Luke is not telling us the story of Jesus just so we can know facts. He writes to persuade those who hear to make a commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ ~ to be disciples.  the problem.  It’s what I am calling a 2nd Generation Problem.  Luke is writing to people who did not see Jesus when he was in the flesh.  Luke 1:1-4….

What is the most memorable meal you’ve ever had?  Do you remember it?  Do you remember where you were?  Can you picture it in your mind?   Not necessarily the best food, but the most memorable.  The one you can still smell, or see, or taste in your head… 
 
One of the most memorable meals I’ve ever had wasn’t just one meal, It is a series of meals, it is having a Polish Sausage in Chicago on Taylor street while I was in college.  The place was located in a single wide trailer just off the highway on Taylor street, just blocks from the University of Illinois Chicago. You ordered at a window and then had to stand outside and eat it.  The one rule we had when we would go there is that you absolutely positively couldn’t eat in your car.  You see what made the sausage delicious wasn’t the sausage, although that was good, it was the grilled onions, mounds of grilled onions, piled high and deep.  There were so many onions on it that if you ate it in the car the car would smell for a few days, and not only would just your car smell you yourself would smell.  So there was absolutely no eating in the car.  I still remember in the winter standing outside at 1 am eating a sausage in 20 degree weather, watching the steam rise off of it.  My friends and I loved that place.  We would go at least once or twice a week…  I even got to know one of the men who worked at it by name.  His name was Silvia.  My roommate and I would talk to him every time we went.    I remember coming back a few years after I had finished college and he remembering me.  That’s how much I ate there during college.     I will never forget that place… Here is a picture…

I lived a few blocks from the UW Campus in college.  One day I was waiting for a bus on the Ave, the main street in the U. District.  Suddenly a homeless man, a Vietnam vet, is briskly walking towards me.  In seconds he was in my face yelling at to quit staring at him.  I didn’t know what to say…I stuttered out a denial. He got in another scolding for good measure, and as fast as he came he turned and hurried away.  I looked around.  Nobody else was looking at me, I think they were all not wanting to get involved.  I sat there in stunned silence.  Not sure what to think… The main problem://///GUILT.////  The man was right.  I had been staring at him ~~ his scruffy appearance, his story, why he was in that position, was he lazy, was he mentally ill, sizing up his appearance…I thought I could get away with it because he was walking across my path, but he caught my staring eyes…and he knew I-was-looking-down on him.  Thank you Lord for sending this angel of a man to teach me a valuable lesson to do my best to treat people with dignity and respect. 
 
In this Bible lesson, Jesus confronts the religious leaders about not showing proper respect for an ill man.  The real problem is not Sabbath keeping/customs.  The reason the religious leaders are silent (twice in these short verses it is said they have nothing to say but remain silent) ~ they don’t like the man!  The sick man is used as a prop.  

Answered Prayer: God hears us.  Do we hear Him?  When we feel God is not hearing our prayers, maybe, maybe, it is us who has the hearing problem.  I love this old joke:
 
An elderly man feared his wife was getting hard of hearing. So he called the doctor for a hearing test. The doctor said he could see her in two weeks, but meanwhile, suggested a test to give the doctor an idea of the scope of the problem: “Start 40 feet away and speak in a normal voice to see if she hears you. If not, go to 30 feet, 20 feet, and so on until you get a response." That evening his wife is in the kitchen cooking dinner;  he's in the living room, "I'm about 40 feet away, I’ll see if she hears me when I talk."
      "Honey, what's for dinner?" He calls. No response.
       He moves about 30 feet away. "Honey, what's for dinner?" No response.
       He moves to the dining room, 20 feet away and shouts, "What's for dinner?" No response.
      On to the kitchen door, only 10 feet away. "HONEY, what's for DINNER??". No response.
      So he walks right up behind her and screams:  "HONEY, WHAT'S FOR DINNER??!?!"
 His wife turns to him a rage and screams.
 "CHICKEN, CHICKEN! For the FIFTH TIME, WE'RE HAVING CHICKEN!!!"

When we feel God does not hear our prayers, maybe it’s us who has the hearing problem!